Book News, In Brief

Finished every book on the Obama Reading List? Then why not travel back in time to the days of our "First Black President," Bill Clinton, and catch up on Bubba's Lit Picks?


The blurbs on the back of an MTV Books release will look a lot like the front tables at The Ivy: A bunch of celebrities, a couple rock stars, and maybe one or two high profile literary luminaries...if there's room.


An autographed copy of Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf recently sold for 21,000 pounds sterling. For those of you too poor (or too young) to have snagged the mass murderer's autograph, remember, Cheney's book tour starts in 2011.


The endless barrage of We Love the Google Settlement/We Hate the Google Settlement press releases is becoming a bit monotonous. Or, to put it another way, were any of you even the slightest bit tempted to click either of those links?


The Kindle is quickly losing traction as the e-Book of choice. Its chief rival? Apple's always updating iPhone. According to GalleyCat, "between April and July, the number digital book applications users skyrocketed by 300 percent."


Oprah Winfrey is getting sued for a trillion dollars by author Damon Lloyd Goffe. Goffe claims the almighty O ripped off his book, A Tome of Poetry, in her internet published work, Pieces of My Soul. For me, the real jaw-dropper here is the fact that Ms. Winfrey has allegedly sold 650 million copies of the $20 book -- online!


Warning! This is one of those effed up author anecdotes that will pop into your head every time someone mentions one of their books. Still with me? I'll keep it brief: While writing Lord of the Flies, author/teacher William Golding not only "experimented" on his pupils, he attempted to rape a 15 year old girl. On the bright side, you high school kids now have an inscrutable new angle for this year's LOTF/Summer Reading book reports!
(Editor's Note: J.M., you are one sick f**k.)