Book News, In Brief

Today's indie bookstore reach-around is brought to you by Edward Nawotka.


David vs. Goliath -- part II! (How much do you wanna bet Goliath wins this time?)


You know those 'bestselling e-books' that Amazon keeps hyping? Over 50% of them are giveaways.


American Book Review asked writers to speculate -- in one sentence or less -- on the future of fiction. Here are the responses.


Director Bryan Singer has offered the first concrete quote as to what the hell the next X-Men film is going to be about, and it sounds like a yoai fanfic writer's dream: Professor Xavier and Magneto's tumultuous relationship as twenty-somethings.

Book News, In Brief

Q: Are Americans are getting fatter because of their recent reading habits? A: Of course not, but the link needed a hook.


It's only slightly less depressing than those 'Local Bookstore to Close' articles: Local Bookstore Taking Painful Steps to Stay Afloat.


The NYTimes asked a handful of authors to explain how they decide which books to throw away and which to keep. Needless to say, the trash talk is as tepid as the praise is rhapsodic.


Local lawmaker hopes to make it tougher for pervs checking out kids checking out books. (Or: Quincy, MA is considering an ordinance that would ban Level 3 sex offenders from libraries.)

Book News, In Brief

"A brilliantly ambitious article, this is, without a doubt, the editorial of the day...and possibly the decade."


Wanna-be writers of limited skill have reason to rejoice: Publishers are now begrudgingly accepting submissions from the merely "insanely great."


Librarians, like everyone else with even an infinitesimal investment in the written word, are nervous about what's gonna happen when Google scans the world.


Inspired by the publishing industry's recent ebook release announcements (and using the film industry's many missteps as a measuring stick), Booksquare has put together A Long, Detailed Look at Distribution Windows.


After initially announcing that they would be closing close to 200 Waldenbooks locations in the first few weeks of January, Borders now promises to save twenty of those stores. Question: Is this the big box bookstore's attempt at spinning themselves some positive PR? Cuz it still sounds grim.

Book News, In Brief

Timely topic! While I giftwrap this copy of Nanny Returns: A Novel that I'm giving to my stepmother, please entertain yourselves with EW's Would you buy a book that makes you cringe as a gift if you know the recipient will love it?


A year-end list to make you slit your wrists! The LA Times momentarily forgets that they cut out the Books Section of their newspaper to make room for more film premiere photos, then asks, The decade in reading: How bad is it?


Don't go getting any ideas! Now that movies and music are available for free download online, arts & entertainment obsessed shoplifters have found a new favorite thing to steal: Books. (Don't worry, booksellers: With the rampant rise of e-books, the thieves will soon be downloading these, too.)

Over-Priced Auction Results(or: some of the gifts you won't be getting this Christmas)

Reuters puts a pillow to the face of your absinthe soaked sense of entitlement, reporting:
A first edition of Lewis Carroll's classic book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There -- dedicated to the real life Alice who inspired the story -- was sold at a U.S. auction for $115,000, auctioneers said on Thursday.
Click here to read the rest.


Get ready to see some eyeliner streak. Amoeblog dashes your inner goth's gimmie-gimmie fantasies, announcing:
At Christie's Auction House today in New York, an 1827 first edition copy of an Edgar Allan Poe poetry collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, was sold for $662,500 -- the most ever for a 19th century book of poetry. The 40-page collection, and Poe’s very first publication, was inspired by the work of British poet Lord Byron.
Click here to read the rest.


Anne fans, put down your outstretched hands. The Canadian Press reports:
A first edition of Anne of Green Gables has sold for a record $37,500 at auction. The sale was made Friday at Sotheby's in New York and eclipses the previous record of $24,000 for the same title, which was set in June 2005. Sotheby's says only eight first edition copies of the Lucy Maud Montgomery book have appeared at auction over the last 35 years.
Click here to read the rest.


The AFP casts out the demons responsible for your unbridled lust over heathen texts, testifying:
A first edition of Charles Darwin's seminal On the Origin of Species found in a family's toilet in southern Britain sold for more than 100,000 pounds Tuesday, Christie's auction house said. The book, which was first printed in 1859, was bought for just a few shillings in a shop about 40 years ago, and kept in a bookcase in the guest toilet at the family's home in the Oxford area.
Click here to read the rest.

Happy holidays!

Book News, All Bad

Marvel Comics has announced a new superhero series written and drawn solely by women. Its name? Girl Comics. Johanna Draper Carlson rightly rails against this.


The city of Laredo, TX is about to become the largest city in the U.S.A. to have no bookstores. Boot shops, gun shops, and liquor stores, on the other hand, remain as plentiful as unpaid border guards.


Author Philip Pullman has copped to his disappointment over the failure of Hollywood to complete the film trilogy of his series of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials. Um, has he seen the first one? Cuz it sucked.


PW reports, "Bob LiVolsi, founder of independent e-book retailer Books On Board, grabbed the spotlight at the MediaBistro eBook Summit, charging Amazon.com with 'predatory Pricing' and lamented the lack of antitrust enforcement in today's marketplace." Amazon, unsurprisingly, has yet to respond, choosing instead to wait the year or two it takes for Books On Board to go bust. The bastards.

Book News, In Brief

A shout-out to the sell-out who spoke out about selling her soul to Chicken Soup For The Soul. Or: Victoria Patterson talks turkey about 'Chick Soup-ing' her story, The Kindness of Strangers.


Congratulations to one of my all-time favorite cartoonists, Gilbert Hernandez, on being awarded a 2009 Rasmuson Fellowship in the category of literature. If you haven't read any of Beto's Palomar stories yet, get to it!


A "microanalytical examination" of an "illustrated miniature manuscript" of The Gospel of Mark found the kid-sized codex to be a fraud. That said, the faithful don't give a f*ck what scientists are able to disprove, so who cares?


First Publishers Weekly made a Best Books of 2009 list that didn't have any women, now they've come under fire for their unintentionally offensive 'Afro Picks' cover. Quick, before Hanukkah's over, can they pull off The Whoopi Goldberg Trifecta?


Do you obsess over J.D. Salinger's copyright and speak fluent legalese? Then head on over to the law offices of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz's website, where they've posted the transcripts to the entire Salinger vs. that guy who wrote the unlicensed sequel court case.


A gold and ivory retractable toothpick belonging to Charles Dickens is going up for auction in NYC next week. A word to my Secret Santa: Although I enjoyed A Muppets Christmas Carol as much as the next guy, please remember, I want a case of Sugar-Free Red Bull, not this bit of bacteria-laden memorabilia.

Book News, In Brief

According to The Wall Street Journal's review of Barnes & Noble's e-book, the Nook, old fashioned books have nothing to worry about.


The Chicago Tribune has compiled the perfect time-waster for literary trivia nerds: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Biggest Bestsellers.


Boston.com asked some "prominent Bostonians" to name their favorite comics from childhood. The results prove the old cliche -- New Englanders are a tasteful, educated lot.


The Guardian UK looks into a new trend in kids lit that's so controversial it's already been a 'Hot Topic' on FOX News and The View: Holiday books that intentionally take the Christ out of Christmas.


A new documentary about Fidel Castro, Fidel Anecdotes, contains a nice anecdote about the homophobic dictator's unexpected reaction to the copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula given to him by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. To read it, click here.


The New York Times tattles on US booksellers importing UK copies of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. While this is in direct violation of the hood's staunch, 'Stop Snitchin'' credo, it's kinda refreshing to see us portrayed as money-hungry hustlers instead of mild-mannered librarians. Holla!

Book News, In Brief

The winners of this year's Pimp My Bookcart awards have been announced. Although highly impractical, my favorite is The Lexington Public Library's third place winner.


An 87-year-old WWII veteran who stole one of Hitler's art books back in 1942 has come forward to return the book. Cuz heaven forbid a genocidal madman's possessions go missing.


In an effort to assist the nation's countless crumbling brick and mortar bookstores, HarperCollins has announced that they will join Hatchette and Simon & Schuster in delaying the e-book release of certain titles.


On the flip side, US magazine and newspaper publishers Conde Nast, Time, Hearst, Meredith, and News Corp. just announced that they would soon be launching a digital newsstand for "the electronic devices of the future."


The Guardian UK is out to hurt some feelings, asking their readers to list their picks for The Worst Books of the Decade. Then, as if to put a preemptive halt to the haters of hate's hate, they went and asked their readers to share their favorites.


Alfonso Frazetta, the no-acclaim son of legendary cartoonist and illustrator Frank Frazetta, was arrested on Thursday after driving a backhoe into an Allentown, PA museum owned by his father. The 52-year-old disappointment was attempting to steal $20 million worth of his pop's paintings.

Big Box Bookstores Are Like The Hydra...

...Cut off one chain retailer, and another will instantly pop up to take its place.

The Times Online reports:
Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer and scourge of bookshops everywhere, is planning a surprise invasion of the British high street.

Property landlords said that the American company, which has a market value of $59.1 billion (£35.6 billion), had launched a secret search for bricks-and-mortar stores to support its rapidly growing website. It is understood to be scouring the country for high-profile sites just as the Borders book chain is shutting up shop.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Book News, In Brief

It's this week's winner of The Last Book I'll Ever Read award: An American made, Gossip Girl 'manga.'


The NYTimes investigates the curative powers of the brown bag book cover, linking aesthetics with acceptance in When Bad Covers Happen to Good Books.


The Guardian UK puts sell-out sonnetists in the hot-seat, asking some of today's most successful poets, What's with all of the poetry-prostituting in crap-culture advertising?


A top Australian design firm was recently hired by the State Library of New South Wales to create an ad campaign that would make the 100-year-old Mitchell Library "sexy." They came up with a font. As to whether it's an EPIC FAIL or visual Viagra, you decide.


CNN exhumes a pile of bones and bodices, dares to ask, What Really Killed Jane Austen? (As an aside: Could classics crossed with crime fic be the next big genre mash-up? Is CSI: Meryton the next Pride & Prejudice & Zombies? If so, I call copyright.)


A first edition of Anne of Green Gables is slated for sale at a Sotheby's auction this Friday. While pundits predict it could fetch up to $25,000, the fact that an original copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane and Other Poems sold for $662,500 last Friday makes me think that you and I are waaay too poor to bother bidding.