Dan Brown's latest conspiracy thriller looks to be 'big, big'

Dan Brown's first novel since 2003's The Da Vinci Code is triggering more speculation than any book since the end of the Harry Potter series.

The Lost Symbol (Doubleday, $25.95) will be released Sept. 15 with a first printing of 5 million copies. That's the largest print run since the 12 million copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007.

If Brown's last novel — which has sold more than 80 million copies — "was big, then the new one will be big, big," says Barnes and Noble's Sessalee Hensley, citing "pent-up demand."

She says 50 stores asked for advance copies: "I had to explain there aren't any."

Just the novel's cover, released by the publisher last month, has been enough to trigger Internet debates about the symbolism of images of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, seen through a keyhole on the book's spine. MORE

Closest Companion by Geoffrey C. Ward

Closest Companion is the highly acclaimed and surprisingly engrossing secret diary of Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, Franklin Roosevelt's sixth cousin, who spent more private time with FDR during his years in the White House than any other person. Expertly edited by the eminent historian and bestselling author Geoffrey C. Ward, the diary begins on FDR's inauguration day in January 1933 and ends on the day Roosevelt died in April 1945. Including thirty-eight letters that FDR wrote to Daisy, this volume is a significant contribution to history, offering unique and intimate details of FDR's relationship with Winston Churchill and other wartime leaders, his decision to run for an unprecedented fourth term, his deteriorating health, and his hopes for the postwar world. But at bottom, Closest Companion is a love story like no other, one that provides dramatic new insights into the character and private life of one of America's greatest presidents. MORE

Product Details
Simon & Schuster, July 2009
Trade Paperback, 464 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4391-0314-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0314-2

Diane Dimond's New Book: Be Careful Who You Love, Inside the Michael Jackson Case

The explosive definitive account of the Michael Jackson saga, chronicling the King of Pop's battles against child molestation charges from 1993 to 2005, from award-winning journalist

Diane Dimond, who broke the story first, over twelve years ago

Michael Jackson has long captured the world's attention, first as the dynamic lead singer of the Jackson Five, then during his highly successful breakout solo career. But somewhere along the line Jackson transformed himself into something hardly recognizable and was investigated -- not once, but twice -- for crimes we could hardly imagine.

Even now, after his unexpected acquittal on multiple charges of child molestation, there is a sense that the real truth behind the allegations is not known. The character of Michael Jackson -- from his humble beginnings to his rich career and the birth of Neverland Ranch -- is destined for great debate among fans, journalists, historians, and psychiatrists for years to come. In the meantime, there is Diane Dimond, the journalist of record on the Jackson case.

In November 2003, when the Santa Barbara county sheriff's department conducted another raid on Neverland Ranch, Diane Dimond and her camera crews were the only ones there to capture the moment and report the news to the world. Now, for the first time, Dimond recounts the multifaceted details of the Jackson case, utilizing her extensive notes and sources. What she tells us is a shocking story.

Be Careful Who You Love will take you behind the scenes and into the courtroom of one of the most controversial cases of the decade, while giving readers a dramatic glimpse of one reporter's vigilance and unending quest to uncover the truth. MORE

'American Adulterer' offers compelling, clinical look at JFK

It takes a great deal of audacity and no less imagination to dissect the libidinous mind of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, but British doctor-turned-novelist Jed Mercurio comes equipped with a little black bag, ready to operate.

Mercurio, who created the BBC medical dramas Bodies and Cardiac Arrest, delivers a compelling — if sometimes distressingly clinical — historical fiction that gives the 35th president's life as an unrepentant "fornicator" a full physical.

"The subject," as the author refers to JFK throughout the novel (lending his observations a physician's cool detachment), "takes the view that monogamy has seldom been the engine of great men's lives."

Central to the book's premise is that this great man has been saddled with a laundry list of debilitating afflictions, including Addison's disease, thyroid deficiency, gastric reflux, peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, prostatitis, urethritis, mysterious fevers, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis and asthma.

Racked with pain, relentless intestinal distress, his movements stiffly hogtied by a back brace, Kennedy is medicated, probed and punctured by a team of doctors in search of the correct chemical cocktail — all to keep the illusion of health and vitality alive for the sake of the nation.MORE

Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' is The Hot Book This Summer

A debut novel set in 1960s Jackson, Miss., The Help has been building an audience through word of mouth, supportive booksellers and the publisher's relentless promotion of Stockett and her novel.

It has turned into one of summer's sleeper hits.

"There's a moment right now for this book," says Amy Einhorn, whose Putnam imprint publishes The Help. "It's the tipping point where people are telling other people that they just need to read this."

Stockett's novel tells the story of white Southerner Skeeter Phelan, 22, who persuades the African-American maids in Jackson to help her write a book about their experiences — good and bad — working for white families.

"The story is so well told," says Rona Brinlee, owner of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Fla. "You can feel the time period so viscerally. You become so attached to these women. They are so at risk and you have to know what's going to happen to them. It's a page-turner." MORE

Random House Buys Rights to Jackson Autobiography

Publishers including Random House have bought the rights to reprint Michael Jackson’s best-selling 1988 autobiography, “Moonwalk,’’ Random House said Friday.
The book, in which the late pop icon talks of his fame, music career, and family, will be released in October following his death last month. It will sell for $25.

The US and Canadian rights were bought by Harmony Books, an imprint of Random House. Harmony will print an initial run of 100,000 copies.

Harmony Books spokesman Campbell Wharton declined to comment on the terms of the deal made with Jackson’s estate.More

A Memoir of Noodles, Neuroses

I’ll say this for “The Ramen King and I’’: I’ve never read anything remotely like it. Andy Raskin’s memoir manages to weave together such disparate strands as romantic betrayal, Japanese cuisine, the dot.com boom, and an exhaustive personal history of Momofuku Ando, inventor of the instant noodles popularly referred to as ramen noodles. In its finest moments, the book is peculiar and riveting.
Raskin, who has a degree in computer science from Yale and a master’s in Japan studies, would seem an unlikely memoirist. But he does possess a crucial ingredient: ample neuroses. “I should not want attention or validation. I should give things another shot. I should be more organized,’’ he writes, in his self-lacerating introduction. “I should be friendlier with the guys who run the body shop. I should keep things under wraps. I should not be suffering from what the inventor of instant ramen identified - just prior to inventing instant ramen - as the Fundamental Misunderstanding of Humanity.’’

But Raskin’s real problem, as he sees it, is one of intimacy. He keeps pushing women away, or throwing them over, and eventually winds up in a 12-step-type program where his sponsor instructs him to write letters to a figure he admires. Raskin chooses Ando. He spends the rest of the book trying to orchestrate a personal audience with the entrepreneur. We can all breathe a sigh of relief that Raskin - who also has an MBA from Wharton - didn’t choose Jack Welch. MORE

Author E. Lynn Harris Dies at Age 54

Long before the secret world of closeted black gay men came to light in America, bestselling author E. Lynn Harris introduced a generation of black women to the phenomenon known as the "down low."

Harris endeared such characters to readers who were otherwise unfamiliar with them, using themes and backdrops familiar to urban professionals, conditioned by their upbringings, their church leaders or their friends to condemn and criticize homosexuality in the African-American community. A proud Razorback cheerleader at the University of Arkansas who struggled with his own sexuality before becoming a pioneer of gay black fiction, Harris died Thursday at age 54 while promoting his latest book in Los Angeles.

Publicist Laura Gilmore said Harris died Thursday night after being stricken at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, and a cause of death had not been determined. She said Harris, who lived in Atlanta, fell ill on a train to Los Angeles a few days ago and blacked out for a few minutes, but seemed fine after that.

An improbable and inspirational success story, Harris worked for a decade as an IBM executive before taking up writing, selling the novel "Invisible Life" from his car as he visited salons and beauty parlors around Atlanta. He had unprecedented success for an openly gay black author and his strength as a romance writer led some to call him the "male Terry McMillan."

In 15 years, Harris became the genre's most successful author, penning 11 titles, ten of them New York Times bestsellers. More than four million of his books are in print.MORE

Carrie Prejean, Dethroned Miss California, Writing a Book

Regnery Publishing announced Monday that it has signed dethroned Miss California Carrie Prejean to a book deal.

Her book, titled "Still Standing," will give her side of the controversy that ensued after that infamous answer she gave at the Miss USA pageant concerning gay marriage.

The publisher says the book will address: What happened behind the scenes at the pageant, why she answered Perez Hilton's question the way she did and what really led to her losing the Miss California crown. MORE

Author Details Story of Incarcerated Vocal Group

It sounds like a film script: five African-American men incarcerated at the Tennessee Shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftate Penitentiary in Nashville during the '40s and '50s form a vocal group and release a hit record. But the story is true.

The blues quintet, dubbed The Prisonaires, was led by Johnny Bragg, who was serving 594 years for multiple counts of rape, and included William Stewart, serving 99 years for witnessing the murder of a man; Marcel Sanders, facing one to five years for involuntary manslaughter; Ed Thurman, serving 99 years for murdering a man who killed his dog; and John Drue Jr., serving three years for larceny.

They made history with their song, "Just Walkin' in the Rain," which was released on Sun Records in 1953.

Jay Warner, a six-time Grammy-winning music publisher and the founder of National League Music recounts The Prisonaires story in "Just Walkin' in the Rain: The True Story of the Prisonaires: the Convict Pioneers of R&B and Rock & Roll" (Renaissance Books, $25).

The tale is complex and inspiring as it deals with the issues of civil rights and prison reform, but its main focus is on the relationship between Bragg and the governor of the time, Frank Clement.

"It's really two men from opposite ends of the social and political spectrum who find a need in each other. MORE

Book News: Gillispie Authoring Book About Coaching Experiences

Billy Gillispie is writing a book about his life and experiences as a college basketball coach, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.

Gilispie and free-lance writer Steve Richardson have been writing the book for three years and recently made a formal agreement to see it through to its completion. The book is titled the The Billy Gillispie Story.

"I am just really excited about what we have done so far," Gillispie told the paper. "And I look forward to continuing on this project. It has been a lot of fun so far, and I am sure it will be a lot of fun to complete. I have more time to do it now."

Gillispie was fired by Kentucky in March after two frustrating seasons with the program. He previously coached Texas A&M and Texas-El Paso. MORE

Close pal to issue Farrah Fawcett book next month

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A close friend of late "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett will publish her personal diaries about the 'actress' three-year struggle with cancer next month.

"My Journey with Farrah: A Story of Life, Love and Friendship," by Alana Stewart, will come out on August 11 _ less than two months after Fawcett succumbed to anal cancer on June 25. The book is thought to be the first insider's look at Fawcett's illness.

Stewart, the ex-wife of rocker Rod Stewart and a friend of Fawcett's for 30 years, said she was encouraged to go into print by Fawcett herself and by Ryan O'Neal, the "Love Story" movie star who was Fawcett's long time companion. MORE

Bestselling Authors To Attend 2009 National Book Festival

Washington, D.C. (CNS) - A bevy of bestselling authors will be on hand to make presentations at the ninth annual 2009 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. The popular event will be held on Saturday, September 26 at the National Mall.

Bestselling authors David Baldacci, John Grisham, John Irving, Julia Alvarez, Judy Blume, Ken Burns, Gwen Ifill and Jodi Picoult will all be attending the festival. Celebrity chef Paula Deen will also be there to present.

The event is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, with President Barack Obama and first Lady Michelle Obama acting as Honorary Chairs. Last year, the festival had over 120,000 people attend and is free and open to the public.

"This promises to be one of our most exciting author lineups ever," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington in a press release. "This year's National Book Festival truly offers something for everyone, with books by popular and award-winning authors in many genres and for all age groups." MORE

Jay-Z Close to Book Deal With Spiegel & Grau

Jay-Z is close to finalizing a book deal with the Spiegel & Grau imprint of Random House. The literary agent repping the rapper, Matthew Guma, had no comment, but sources say the book will consist of Jay-Z commenting on and telling the stories behind his lyrics.

Sources said that when Mr. Guma originally approached editors and publishers earlier this summer, he was talking about doing a bundle of three books: One was going to be a traditional memoir, one was going to be a business book, and the third was the one that Spiegel & Grau ended up acquiring.MORE

Justin Timberlake Proposes Book About Golf

Justin Timberlake Out With a Book Proposal on Golf
Justin Timberlake wants to write a book about golf! Sources say lit agent David Vigliano—who has recently repped books by celebrities like Shannon Doherty and Clay Aiken—sent editors a short proposal by the singer last month. Mr. Timberlake has been a golf fanatic for years, getting his first taste of the game as a boy and later playing it with a group of roadies during the last *NSYNC tour. Today, he regularly competes in charity tournaments, and even owns an environmentally friendly golf course in his hometown of Millington, Tennessee. MORE

The King of Vodka

The King of Vodka
The Story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheaval of an Empire
By Linda Himelstein
In this sweeping history of vodka scion Pyotr Smirnov and his family, distinguished journalist Linda Himelstein plumbs a great riddle of Russian history through the story of a humble serf who rose to create one of the most celebrated business empires the world has ever known. At the center of this vivid narrative, Pyotr Smirnov comes to life as a hero of wonderful complexity—a man of intense ambition and uncanny business sense, a patriarch of a family that would help define Russian society and suffer from the Revolution's aftermath, and a loyalist to a nation that would one day honor him as a treasure of the state.

Born in a small village in 1831, Smirnov relied on vodka—a commodity that in many ways defines Russia—to turn a life of scarcity and anonymity into one of immense wealth and international recognition. Starting from the backrooms and side streets of 19th century Moscow, Smirnov exploited a golden age of emancipation and brilliant grassroots marketing strategies to popularize his products and ensconce his brand within the thirsts and imaginations of drinkers around the world. His vodka would be gulped in the taverns of Russia and Europe, praised with accolades at World Fairs, and become a staple on the tables of Tsars. His improbable ascent—set against a sobriety crusade supported by Chekhov and Tolstoy, mounting political uprisings and labor strikes, the eventual monopolization of the vodka trade by the state—would crumble amidst the chaos of the Bolshevik revolution. Only a set of bizarre coincidences—including an incredible prison escape by one of Smirnov's sons in 1919—would prevent Smirnov's legacy from fading into oblivion. More

Dan Brown Book Cover Revealed

Dan Brown Drumroll: The Book Cover Revealed
Showing a blood red wax seal, cryptic symbols and a shadowy skyline of the Capitol, the cover hinted at the setting for the book in Washington D.C. — “though it’s a Washington few will recognize,” said Jason Kaufman, Mr. Brown’s editor. “As we would expect, he pulls back the veil — revealing an unseen world of mysticism, secret societies, and hidden locations, with a stunning twist that long predates America.” Mr. Brown had previously written that the book would be “set deep within the oldest fraternity in history,” the Masons. The new novel, which is being published by the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on Sept. 15, features Robert Langdon, the protagonist of “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons.” Knopf Doubleday is planning a 5 million first print run in hardcover. MORE

Nigella Christmas

Here is everything you could wish for to make your life and your Christmas easy and enjoyable: from party canapés, cocktails and manageable mass catering to scrumptious Christmas cakes and puddings; from no-fuss brunch to quick and easy homemade presents (chutneys, preserves and other delectable standbys) and edible tree-decorations. There are mouthwatering recipes with a seasonal twist and simple menus for feeding friends over the extended holiday season with minimum stress and maximum enjoyment. And, of course, exciting and inspiring variations for the Main Event itself - from her traditional super-juicy turkey with all the trimmings, to festive ginger-glazed ham and the Ultimate Christmas Pud; from goose, rib of beef, stuffed rolled pork, all the way to a special vegetarian Christmas feast, a chocolate pudding for Christmas pudding haters, a French Yule Log, Australian Christmas Pud and the Boozy British Trifle.MORE

Mortal Friends: A Political High Society Winner

Set amid politics and high society in D.C., new novel keeps you guessing
The “Beltway Basher,” a local serial killer, has just struck again, and Reven Lynch, the narrator of novelist Jane Stanton Hitchcock’s briskly entertaining “Mortal Friends,” is (guiltily) agog. “I must admit I was fascinated by these ­current crimes,” says Reven, a ­fortysomething ­divorcee about town—in this case, Georgetown.

A decorator turned proprietor of a fashionable antiques shop, Reven is pretty, blond (with a little help), well-connected (her best friend, ­Violet, is the wife of a banking heir) and full of easy, breezy small talk. About her unusual first name: It’s “never” spelled backward. “I was basically a mistake,” she tells ­people. “My parents never thought they’d have me.”

Actually, Reven’s got the never thing down pat. She never pays her bills on time, can never keep a ­secret, never looks much below the surface, never makes smart choices about men. Her romances tend to follow a pattern: “a whoosh of ­enthusiasm followed either by a fast puncture or a slow deflation.”
Book Details

Mortal Friends
By Jane Stanton Hitchcock
Harper, 334 pages, $25.99

She is drawn into the Beltway Basher case when an inscrutable detective, convinced that the perp is a Washington bigwig, solicits her aid in traversing the rough terrain known as high society. It “had ­always been a question in my mind,” Reven muses early in the novel, as she edges into the murder investigation. “Would I recognize evil if it came close?” Hint: It’s going to come close, really, really close. More

Micheal Jackson's Books

There may be thousands of books written about Michael Jackson, but only three have ever been written by Micheal Jackson. Below are the three books that Michael Jackson wrote and are featured here as a tribute to his legacy.

Please note that the information given regarding the publisher, year of publication, ISBN number, and number of pages refers to the U.S. version and there may be differences in other versions.
Moonwalk
'Moonwalk', by Michael Jackson, will always be a classic must-read for any MJ fan. Published in 1988, this autobiography was written by Michael after being encouraged to do so by his friend, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It is an account of his life up until 1988 when he still lived at Hayvenhurst, his Encino, California home. This wonderful book, written in an upbeat tone, has 6 chapters and includes beautiful color and black and white photos. Michael dedicated it to Fred Astaire.

Publisher: DoubleDay (division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, USA)
Year of publication: 1988
ISBN number: 0-7493-1338-2
Number of pages: 283
Languages the book is available in: English, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish (publisher: Plaza & Janés)


Dancing The Dream
'Dancing The Dream', by Michael Jackson, published in 1992 and dedicated to Michael's mother is an extraordinary book and very dear to Michael's heart. It is filled with inspirational essays and poems written by Michael himself. The writing is lovely and every time you read a passage or poem you can see new dimensions and find more to think about. The poetry and prose are complex and thought provoking and every bit as moving as any song or melody we love by Michael. The book has lovely color and black and white photos with an amazing introduction by Elizabeth Taylor. Many people have reported reading some of the poems aloud to others and winning great acclaim and new Michael Jackson fans each time.

Publisher: DoubleDay (division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, USA)
Year of publication: July 1992
ISBN number: 0-385-42277-6
Number of pages: 149
Languages the book is available in: English, Chinese, German


Moonwalker - The Storybook
'Moonwalker Storybook', a 74-page book illustrated with scenes from the screenplay by David Newman. Michael, Katy, Sean and Zeke are four good friends enjoying a game of soccer when their lives are suddenly endangered by the diabolical Mr. Big, an evil mastermind who kidnaps Katy and is determined to destroy anything or anyone standing in the way of his evil dreams - even Michael. Speeding cars, hot dancing and amazing chases are all part of the fun and excitement of 'Moonwalker'. A movie to remember and a story you'll want to read again and again. Actually a great find for all the "Moonwalker-lovers" since the book has been out of print for many years now.

Publisher: Doubleday (division of The Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, USA)
Year of publication: 1988
ISBN number: 0-385-26154-3
Number of pages: 74
Languages the book is available in: English, Japanese

Satchel :The Life and Times of an American Legend

This Baseball Patriarch Could Really Pitch Himself
How fast could Satchel Paige throw a baseball? It’s hard to know because there were no radar guns to measure ball velocity when Leroy Paige, better known as Satchel, became a pitching star of the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. In his discerning, empathetic and hype-free new Paige biography, Larry Tye cites the eyewitness account of one of the white reporters who finally began paying attention to Paige in 1934: “All you can see is something like a thin line of pipe smoke.”
When asked if he threw that fast consistently, Paige, who would become famed for choice aphorisms, replied: “No, sir. I do it all the time.”

How many teams did he play for? In another of the authoritative assessments that enliven “Satchel” Mr. Tye weighs the amount of barnstorming done by Paige and notes that this tireless, Bunyanesque athlete found places to play no matter what the season. MORE

At Home With Books

At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries
Less a book about libraries, as its Dewey classification asserts, than an interior-design album, this lavish tome yet stresses the importance of books in the lives of even the rich and famous, even when they're not writers. Oh, some whose book troves appear do write for a living: for instance, poet Richard Howard, whose small New York apartment walls are near-totally covered with books. Others whose entire names are famous include designer Bill Blass and Rolling Stone Keith Richards, but of the rest, a few just have impressive surnames (Rothschild, Getty, Biddle), one has a title (the duke of Devonshire), and the remainder have monikers as discreet as their fortunes are large. A terrific browsing book, thanks to Christopher Simon Sykes' tasteful photos, helpfully concluded by a resource directory of tony rare-book dealers, book fairs, bookbinders, sources of library furnishings, etc.More

Micheal Phelps Tells How To Train A T.Rex

How to Train with a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals
What does it take to win eight gold medals?
Napping away three summer vacations?
Eating enough broccoli to fill the back of a pickup truck?
Swimming the length of the Great Wall of China three times?

Michael Phelps is an American swimmer. He holds the record for winning the most gold medals (8) in a single Olympics (2008). He has won 16 Olympic medals, 14 gold and two bronze. He holds seven world records and has over 20 World Championship medals. After returning home from Beijing in 2008, Michael used the well-publicized $1 million dollar Speedo bonus to start the Michael Phelps Foundation through which he hopes to encourage children to lead healthy, active lives, and to continue to grow the sport of swimming. He now resides in Baltimore, MD with his dog Herman.

Ward Jenkins is an illustrator and animator. This is his first picture book.MORE

Commencement By J. Courney Sullivan Delivers

The Girls of Summer
J. Courtney Sullivan’s “Commencement” is one of this year’s most inviting summer novels. It tells of four Smith College dorm mates who reunite for a wedding four years after graduation, and it manages to be so entertaining that this setup never feels schematic. In a novel that’s what Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Prep” aspired to be (i.e., a smart, discerning book about school years) Ms. Sullivan introduces strong, warmly believable three-dimensional characters who have fun, have fights and fall into intense love affairs, sometimes with one another. Smith’s feathers may be ruffled by the candor with which Ms. Sullivan describes campus life.MORE

Simon & Schuster Adds 5000 Ebooks

Major Publisher Simon & Schuster Succumbs to Siren Song of eBooks
Social publisher Scribd and CBS-owned megapublisher of “real” books Simon & Schuster have just announced an agreement to sell Simon & Schuster eBooks in the Scribd Store.

The Scirbd store itself just launched last month. About 5,000 Simon & Schuster titles will be available through the Scribd store. Those titles will then be readable on Scribd.com, computer desktops, and various mobile devices. Simon & Schuster will also make thousands of printed titles available for preview with links to purchase from other outlets.
“Simon & Schuster is a major force in book publishing and is again leading the industry by recognizing the power of the social web to influence reading and buying behavior,” said Scribd CEO and co-founder Trip Adler. “We’re thrilled to offer our users a one-stop solution for discovering, sharing, and buying written works of all kind, including bestselling books by one of the world’s top publishers.”

The Simon & Schuster content also will be available through the storefront and will also be discoverable by browsing Scribd’s categories such as “books” and “business.” The publishing house will also be able to take advantage of social recommendations made through Scribd’s social features, which include Twitter and Facebook integration.
MORE

Book News: Barbra Streisand Pens Book About Dream Home

Streisand Writing About House, Pondering Memoir
Barbra Streisand has finished building her dream house and started to think about her life.

The singer, director and actress has reached an agreement with Viking for "A Passion for Design," an illustrated book scheduled for fall 2010 that includes photos of the Malibu, Calif., oceanfront compound she worked on for more than five years, and of other residences, back to her early years in New York.

In writing about where she lives (the book is expected to have up to 50,000 words of text), she has been writing about herself "because I'm spurred on by the writing process," Streisand said Wednesday during a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press.More

Book News:Just Like Family: Inside the Life of Nannies, the Parents They Work for, and the Children They Love

How Do Nannies Manage? Gingerly
nytimes.com

Early on in Tasha Blaine’s nonfiction narrative about the lives of three nannies, one of them, called Claudia, tries to determine whether her employer will be working from his home the next day so she can plot the children’s schedule. Ms. Blaine describes Claudia walking “gingerly” over to her employer’s office area, moving some papers on his desk and flipping through his calendar to try to glean some insight.
It is not exactly what parents most fear catching on a nanny-cam, but a sensitive moment nonetheless, one of many that Ms. Blaine, a Barnard graduate who worked briefly as a nanny herself, captures with even-handed compassion in her book, to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt next month. Maybe Claudia, who works for a well-to-do family in New York, senses that she is inappropriately crossing a line — except that Ms. Blaine has already shown the myriad ways she is privy to the family’s most intimate secrets. Unspoken, but implied: She can be present for blowout fights, wash their dirty laundry, and help raise their children, but she can’t look at a calendar?More

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin to write memoir after deal with HarperCollins

You knew it was coming: Sarah Palin is ready to tell her side, agreeing to publish a memoir with HarperCollins. The book comes out in Spring 2010 — the year she is up for re-election."There's been so much written about and spoken about in the mainstream media and in the anonymous blogosphere world, that this will be a wonderful, refreshing chance for me to get to tell my story, that a lot of people have asked about, unfiltered," the Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate said during a brief telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.
Palin's memoir, currently untitled, will cover her personal and political life, from her childhood in Alaska and last year's campaign to her political beliefs and her family life, including the pregnancy of her teenage daughter, Bristol Palin, who gave birth in December to a baby boy, Tripp. (She and the baby's father, Levi Johnston, have since ended their relationship.)MORE

Senator George McGovern

George McGovern Plugs New Lincoln Inspired Book
Former presidential candidate and South Dakota Sen. George McGovern attended a signing last weekend at Books & Books for his new work on Abraham Lincoln.
George McGovern grew up admiring Abraham Lincoln.So when Arthur Schlesinger, former editor the American President Series, approached the former South Dakota senator and presidential candidate to write a biography, McGovern said he would do it only if he could write about Lincoln.However, President Bill Clinton already had signed up to write about Lincoln. Schlesinger said ''this may come as a surprise to you, but a guy who actually gets to the White House outranks someone who [didn't],'' said McGovern, who ran for office in 1972 as a Democrat against incumbent Richard Nixon. ``I said let me know if Bill Clinton changes his mind.''And about a year later, Clinton said he didn't have the time to commit to the series, and McGovern was able to write Abraham Lincoln.More

Dick Cheney

Cheney Seeks Book Deal on Bush Years and More
With his sustained blitz of television appearances and speeches, former Vice President Dick Cheney has established himself as perhaps the leading Republican voice against President Obama.
Not a bad time, then, to be in the market for a multimillion-dollar book contract.
Mr. Cheney is actively shopping a memoir about his life in politics and service in four presidential administrations, a work that would add to what is already an unusually dense collection of post-Bush-presidency memoirs that will offer a collective rebuttal to the many harshly critical works released while the writers were in office. More

Books In The News

Newly Released Books
Newyorktimes.com

The summer reading season kicks off this weekend, and if May’s books are any indication, the beaches of America will be dark and chilly this year. The list is replete with period pieces in which characters survive (or don’t) hard times. A novel of commerce is filled with market-rigging and subterfuge. A murder mystery throws in Satanism for good measure. And did you know that killer gases can lurk below the placid surface of a lake? Yikes! What will June bring? MORE

Books In The News

Vampire-Loving Barmaid Hits Jackpot for Charlaine Harris
newyorktimes.com

MAGNOLIA, Ark. — Charlaine Harris was sitting in the small dining nook of her suburban cedar-and-stone home one afternoon last week when she took the call from her editor in New York. After she hung up, she yanked both fists down and let out a triumphant, “Yes!”
Ms. Harris, the author of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery romance novels, had just heard that the latest book in the series, “Dead and Gone,” would make its debut on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list this Sunday in the No. 1 spot. It was a first for Ms. Harris, who has published 26 novels in nearly three decades and sold the original book in the Sookie series, “Dead Until Dark,” for just $5,000 nine years ago. MORE

New Penny Features A Book

New Penny Goes Into Circulation Today

doobybrain.com
The United States Mint unveiled the first of four new Pennies to go into circulation today which features a depiction of a log cabin in tribute to the early roots of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky. The announcement comes on the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday.
The front face of the Penny will remain as it has been since 1909, featuring the profile of Lincoln’s upper body.
The other 3 remaining back designs are to be rolled out soon. Those designs feature Lincoln sitting on a log reading a book and educating himself, a depiction of him standing in front of the State Capitol of Illinois, and the last one shows the half-finished Capitol dome. So if you start seeing “weird” Pennies, just know that they’re legal tender. MORE

Books In The News

An Obama Bump For Lucky Novelist
yahoo.com
The Obama book bump has struck again.
President Obama told The New York Times during a recent interview that he has been reading Joseph O'Neill's "Netherland," a highly praised novel about cricket, marriage and living in a post 9/11 world.
The hardcover came out last year and the paperback publisher, Vintage/Anchor Books, citing an Obama-cized double-digit increase in sales, announced Monday it has moved up the paperback release from June 2 to this Thursday, May 7 MOREhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090505/ap_on_en_ot/us_books_obama_bump;_ylt=AkjWbn2MLbGttHTRl9.iZ3NREhkF

Books In The News

Travel books: Burma Chronicles and The Best of Britain – Cotswolds

telegraph.co.uk

The Best of Britain – Cotswolds
by Katie Jarvis

The honeyed villages of the Cotswolds are a magnet for rock stars and supermodels, so it's no surprise that the foreword to this guidebook is by erstwhile rock star Alex James, now a Cotswold cheese maker. Indeed, the guide is unnecessarily littered with the many such "celebrity connections". Celebrity endorsement aside, however, it is actually a very well-designed guide to the voluptuous hills and the chocolate-box villages sprinkled across the area.
There is detailed information on the tourist attractions, open houses and best picnic spots, and useful sections on where to eat, sleep or entertain children. It is well written and researched, with colourful anecdotes peppering the text, and is divided into sections organised around the major towns in the region. The excellent index and general design of the book make it very easy to use. More

Book Gadjets

A Book-Vending Machine On Anvil!
living.oneindea.com

An average reader may take several months to complete the copy of "Crime And Punishment." However it will take only nine minutes to print this classic book completely. It’s all owing to Britain’s first "book vending machine." Espresso Book Machine opened for business for the first time on April 27th 2009. It started with a freshly bound edition of Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic. The book is one of more than 400,000 titles that can be printed on demand
at Blackwell bookshop on Charring Cross Road in central London. The firm was uncertain how the 68,000-pound machine – one of only three such printers
in the world – would be used during its three-month trial period.MORE

Books In The News

Mother’s Way: Dr. Laura’s New Book Touts Stay-at-Home Parenting

ljworld.com

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a New York Times best-selling author, radio show host and marriage and family therapist. But first and foremost, she says, she’s a mother.
An unabashed cheerleader of a woman’s right to raise her children at home, her newest book, “In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms,” both gives advice to and advocates for stay-at-home mothers. MORE

Books In The News

Doctor Writes Guide for Cancer Patients

boston.com

NORWALK, Conn.—As director of Whittingham Cancer Center at Norwalk Hospital and medical director of the Mid-Fairfield Hospice, Dr. Richard Frank is reminded daily of the needs of cancer patients and the loved ones in their support networks.

While giant strides are being made in areas ranging from treatment to patient comfort, Frank found that written information that explains cancer -- and many of the factors that surround it -- in plain, understandable language was lacking. His observation was supported by what he would hear from patients.
Nearly eight years ago, Frank began thinking about a book that would address the questions and concerns of his patients. If they needed certain questions answered and concepts defined, the greater population would as well.
"Time and again patients would come in saying, 'What the hell is 'this' ?" Frank says. "I was a sponge for five years, patients would say something that would ring a bell for me. We would talk about the process of metastasis and someone would ask something that was very compelling."
His book "Fighting Cancer With Knowledge And Hope: A Guide for Patients, Families and Health Care Providers" was published last week by Yale University Press. "Listening to my patients, I realized they needed a better resource than was out there to more clearly explain cancer in a realistic, nonthreatening manner," Frank says. MORE

Books In The News

Book Advises 'Travel Therapy' For Whatever Ails You
usatoday.com
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Whether you are recovering from an illness, getting over a lost love, exhausted from everyday stress, celebrating a milestone or reinventing yourself, a new book called Travel Therapy: Where Do You Need To Go? has suggestions on destinations and activities that match your frame of mind.


The new $20 paperback from Berkeley-based Seal Press, by Karen Schaler, has 11 chapters, each one laying out a different situation and the possible travel remedies. Each chapter starts with a quiz to determine your taste, style and mood, then offers a diagnosis and prescription. MORE

Books In The News

In Short Order, Pilot’s Landing on the Hudson Becomes a Book
nytimes.com
Book publishers are not known for quick landings, usually taking more than a year after receiving manuscripts to get them into bookstores. So it is perhaps appropriate that a quick landing — Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III’s fatality-free ditching, after six minutes aloft, of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January — is resulting in a book by Farrar, Straus & Giroux to be published in November, just a blink of a book editor’s bespectacled eye.“Fly by Wire: The Truth About the Miracle on the Hudson,” will be written by William Langewiesche, a pilot and an author of books including “American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center” in 2002. MORE

Books In The News

Author's Journey Grew Into Spiritual Therapy
newsobserver.com
DURHAM -- Imagine a book in which God is a big African-American woman who loves to cook, Jesus walks around wearing a carpenter's belt, and the Holy Spirit is an elusive Asian woman.
That's the Trinitarian formula behind a best-selling book that has stubbornly remained No. 1 on the New York Times trade fiction list for 49 weeks.The book, called "The Shack," is a sensation in churches across the country. On Sunday, its author, William P. Young, visited Newhope Church in Durham to tell about his odyssey from office manager in Gresham, Ore., to blockbuster writer whose tale has sold 6.5 million copies.
MORE

Book News

Catastrophe — The Story of Bernard L. Madoff, The Man Who Swindled the World
realvail.com
“Chutes and Ladders”, of course, was (and still is) a board game for small children. If you land on a square with a ladder, you move up the board quickly. If you land on a square with a chute, you slide back down just as fast. First to the top wins.And that pretty much sums up the stock market lately. Up the ladder, down the chute, and few winners.
But some investors lost everything to someone authors Deborah and Gerald Strober say has been called the most hated man in New York. In the new book “Catastrophe”, you’ll read about Bernie Madoff, his scams, and his victims. (“Catastrophe: The Story of Bernard L. Madoff, The Man Who Swindled the World” by Deborah and Gerald Stroberc.2009, Phoenix Books $14.95 / $16.95 256 pages, includes document reproductions) MORE

Book Gadjets

iPhone's killer app: E-books?
news.cnet.com
O'Reilly's Ben Lorica took a look (slides below) at the developers behind the most successful applications on the iPhone and found that electronic books may be the killer app, simply because there is a such of wealth of offerings.
According to ReadWriteWeb, Apple's App Store features about 40,000 different apps. Based on recent data, game developers have on average, 2.3 apps in the store while typical e-book vendors have 18 apps, which obviously stacks the odds in their favor. MORE

Book News

Elizabeth Edwards on John's Affair: I Threw Up!

latimesblogs

The memoir of Elizabeth Edwards, cancer survivor and wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, hits bookstores May 12. "Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities," is billed by publisher Broadway Books as "an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life’s biggest challenges."

One of those challenges was dealing with her husband's admission of carrying on an affair. Elizabeth Edwards took the news hard; according to the New York Daily News, which has acquired an advance copy of the book, she writes:
"I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up."MORE

IT'S FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

freecomicbookday.com

What is Free Comic Book Day?
Free Comic Book Day is a single day - the first Saturday in May - when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE* to anyone who comes into their stores. *Check with your local shop for their participation and rules. MORE

Book News

Book: A-Rod May Have Used Steroids in High School
Yankees slugger refuses to discuss allegations of usage as a teenager.
latimes.com
A new, unflattering biography of Alex Rodriguez reportedly says he may have used steroids as early as high school and even after he joined the New York Yankees.Rodriguez admitted in February to using steroids while with the Texas Rangers from 2001-03 but insisted he stopped before he was traded to the Yankees in February 2004. He brushed off a question Thursday about details from Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts' upcoming book "A-Rod" that cast doubt on his earlier statements.

"I'm not going there," he said, after homering in an extended spring training intrasquad game in Tampa, Fla. Rodriguez has been rehabilitating from hip surgery in March and hasn't played for the Yankees this season.The New York Daily News reported Thursday that Roberts' book offers a portrait of the three-time American League most valuable player as a needy personality who wanted his ego stroked constantly and a player who tipped opponents to pitches in blowout games, hoping the favor would be returned someday. MORE

Book News

The Mogul Who Built Corporate America

nytimes.com

Cornelius Vanderbilt, the great steamship and then railroad magnate, the man who built the original Grand Central Terminal, was not much of a conversationalist. If a man boasted in his presence, he would say, “That amounts to nothing.” If interrupted while speaking, he would stop talking and not resume the subject. Vanderbilt (1794-1877) didn’t need words. His actions spoke with a brute eloquence.

In this whacking new biography of Vanderbilt, T. J. Stiles, previously the author of a life of Jesse James, demonstrates a brute eloquence of his own. This is a mighty — and mighty confident — work, one that moves with force and conviction and imperious wit through Vanderbilt’s noisy life and times. The book, “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt,” is full of sharp, unexpected turns. Among the biggest: Mr. Stiles has delivered a revisionist history of American capitalism’s original sinner, the man who inspired the term “robber baron.” He has real sympathy for the old devil.
The phrase “epic life” is a biographical cliché. But it fits Vanderbilt in every regard: force of personality; degrees of ruthlessness, guile and accomplishment; even sheer life span. He was born less than two decades after the end of the Revolutionary War, while Washington was still alive, and he would live long enough not only to play a significant role in the Civil War but also to do business with John D. Rockefeller. MORE

Book News

Michelle Obama, First Lady of Fashion, Celebrated in New Book

nydailynews.com

As Michelle Obama nears her first 100 days as First Lady, a new book celebrates her fabulous fashion choices. “It’s her journey to the White House through the filter of her style,” says former fashion mag editor-in-chief Mandi Norwood, author of “Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion” (William Morrow, $19.99) out May 5, which chronicles Mrs. O’s signature looks — from the belted purple sheath dress she wore on the night her husband got the nomination, to the $148 White House/Black Market black-and-white print dress she bought off the rack.
“Each outfit has a story around it,” says Norwood, who recalls the yellow J.Crew ensemble the First Lady wore on Jay Leno — which she purchased online for under $340. MORE

Book Gadjets

Pixum EasyBook Photo Book Software Now Mac Compatible
networkworld.com
Pixum, an independent online photo service provider has launched a new software package for creating photo books that is compatible with Mac, Linux and PC computers. Previously Pixum only supported PC users.
Pixum's EasyBook 4.5 software is a free download from the companies Web site. It promises a wealth of simple automated features, which should ensure anyone can make a professional quality photo book from scratch. More advanced users, meanwhile, can tweak settings to create more ambitious and artistic results.
Information Security for Database Professionals: View now
Additional features in EasyBook 4.5 includes an improved assistant tool, a range of new layouts and backgrounds, frames and shadows, fun themed ClipArt and a spellchecker for adding text and captions to your photos. MORE

Book News

New book Details Story of The Herrin Twins

ksl.com

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah mother whose twin girls overcame all odds is sharing their story one page at a time.
Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were conjoined at birth. Doctors gave them a less than 25 percent chance of survival, but three years ago, the girls were separated in a long, difficult surgery.
Today, Kendra and Maliyah are happy, active 7-year-olds. The girls' mother says theirs was a story that needed to be told.
"This isn't just a book about conjoined twins. It's a story about a family just trying to get through different trials," Erin Herrin said.
Proceeds from the book go toward the girls' medical fund. To get your own copy, visit the book's Web site at http://www.utahtwins.com/.

Book News

Michelle Obama Gets Own Comic Book

ballerstatus.com

We all knew that the Obamas were popular, but did you imagine either Barack or Michelle on the cover of a comic book?
Thanks to AOL's BlackVoices, we've noticed that Michelle is the star of a new comic book called Female Force: Michelle Obama, slated to hit the stands Wednesday (April 29), as a part of series that includes other powerful political ladies.
Penned by author Neal Bailey and drawn by illustrator Joshua LaBello, the latest installment in the Female Force series offers a visual biography of First Lady Michelle Obama, as she secures her place in American history.MORE

Book News

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Fighting Tell-All Book

mercurynews.com Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are at war with a former bodyguard who's shopping a tell-all book or TV show based on his years working for the couple. Apparently no one's offered to buy Mickey Brett's story yet, but Brangelina's legal team already has landed several body blows, pointing out in news stories that he's been arrested a bunch of times, that he was once questioned in a murder investigation, that he signed a confidentiality statement and that he is, in general, a "pathological liar."
Brett has been a bodyguard for such A-listers as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Richard Gere and Sandra Bullock. His reported project would cull anecdotes from his years with all the stars, but reportedly would focus primarily on Pitt and Jolie.
The case has sent shock waves through Tinseltown, as stars are known to employ scores of guards, nannies, beauticians and other such workers. These employees are required to sign confidentiality agreements, but if someone like Brett can get around this and still publish a tell-all, then the rest of us schlubs will start reading lies about celebrities in books instead of reading them in the tabloids, and the Earth could very well fall off its axis and we'd all freeze to death. Scary stuff, that. MORE

Book News

No e-books for Harry Potter
csmonitor.com
Electronic books may be the fastest growing segment of the publishing world, but some authors are still not interested in participating. You won’t, for instance, find any of the Harry Potter novels in digital format.
Getting permission from an author – or an author’s estate – to release a book in electronic form can be as hard, or harder, than writing it, explains Hillel Italie in a piece for the Associated Press.
There are various reasons why some well known works – including the Harry Potter series, “Catcher in the Rye,” “Catch-22,” “Lolita,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Atlas Shrugged,” “Things Fall Apart,” “The Outsiders,” and “Fahrenheit 451″ – have not been adapted to the e-book format, writes Italie. MORE

Book Gadjets

Apple iPhone "Mediapad" Could Be a Kindle Killer
pcworld.com
Is Apple's rumored "mediapad" entertainment device a threat to Amazon's Kindle e-book reader? I think it is, but the only people who may care are current Kindle owners, some of whom may end up wishing they had waited on their purchase.
As I have said before: The Kindle in kindling.
It is always nice when the industry rumor mill starts validating what I have been saying, namely, that rumors of a ready-to-release Apple netbook actually refer to a supersized iPod touch.
Described as having a larger touch-screen than the Kindle's 6-inch display, while being physically smaller than the Amazon device, Apple's baby has been dubbed a "mediapad."
The larger screen would be a more pleasant way to view movies or the Internet than an iPod or iPhone and the device could have decent speakers, too. By using a touch screen, Apple could save space necessary for Kindle's keyboard, resulting in a smaller device. MORE

Books That Make The News

Coming of Age in Sag Harbor Amid Privilege and Paradox nytimes.com

SAG HARBOR, N.Y. — Colson Whitehead is a living example of why your mother warned you about fooling around with BB guns. He has a BB embedded perilously close to his left eye, a relic of a shooting contest not unlike the one he describes in his new novel, “Sag Harbor.”

“Sag Harbor,” which came out on Monday, is, strictly speaking, Mr. Whitehead’s fourth novel. It’s also a first novel that he has only just now got around to writing: an autobiographical, first-person, adolescent-coming-of-age story — exactly the kind of book he was determined not to write when he was getting started. That was in the early 1990s, he explained recently. Just out of Harvard, he was working at The Village Voice Literary Supplement, where one of his jobs was opening the mail. “I opened all these books,” he said, “and I became very aware of how many really boring first novels there were. I decided I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing.”MORE

Book Gadgets

Amazon Snaps Up E-Book App Maker Lexcycle
CRN.COM
Amazon dominates e-books and e-reading with its Kindle, but the company is already looking beyond the Kindle's immediate reach in a bid to increase that dominance, it would seem.
Amazon on Monday confirmed it has acquired Lexcycle, the company that makes the popular e-reading desktop and Apple iPhone and iTouch application Stanza. Lexcycle was first to confirm the acquisition Monday with a posting on its Web site. The financial terms of the deal were not made public.
"We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition," wrote Lexcycle's principal developer and founder Marc Prud'hommeaux in a blog post on the site. "Customers will still be able to browse, buy and read e-books from our many content partners. We look forward to offering future products and services that we hope will resonate with our passionate readers." MORE

Books That Make The News

'How to Talk to Girls' Author, 10, Juggles Life, School, More

USATODAY.com

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Before author Alec Greven can discuss his third book, How to Talk to Dads (HarperCollins, $9.99, out Tuesday), he has to finish his homework.
And when that's done, his mother reminds him to wash his hands.
Such is life when you're a best-selling author at 10, with a movie deal and national TV appearances scheduled around soccer practice.
But to hear Alec tell it at his kitchen table, he's not the smartest kid in Ms. Downing's fourth-grade class at Soaring Hawk Elementary School, 35 miles south of Denver.
That would be his friend, Reagan Clarke, who "fixed my spelling and stuff" on the first draft of Alec's first book, last year's How to Talk to Girls. It's self-help for the playground set. More