Publishing Pluto demotion potential boon for textbook publishers? By Carmen on Aug. 29, 2006 - 6:18 AM So postulates LA Times staff writer David Colker, saying that the bad news about Pluto no longer considered a planet might be good for earthbound purveyors of products bearing its image or name. Its takedown last week could provid ...
Authors Lionel Shriver, Back in Action By Neal on Aug. 28, 2006 - 12:34 PM When Lionel Shriver’s Double Fault was first published in the late ’90s, it got good reviews and a 5,000-copy print run, but it had trouble finding its audience at bookstores and faded away without a paperback release. ...
Publishing Former Prez Turns Up at Barnes & Noble By Neal on Aug. 28, 2006 - 9:00 AM If we’d been able to hit the reading circuit last Thursday night, we’d have been able to catch Bill Clinton at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble. No, Clinton doesn’t have another book out yet, but just like ...
Reviews Maybe it would have been better to kill the opening paragraph By Carmen on Aug. 28, 2006 - 8:45 AM Which is why, instead of trying to put this in context or find some justification, I’ll let the opening few phrases of Stephen Thompson‘s review of Vikram Chandra‘s SACRED GAMES in Scotland on Sunday speak for it ...
Reviews Chick Lit: Written by Party-Girls, not MFAs By Neal on Aug. 28, 2006 - 8:30 AM Other than mentioning the dueling op-eds at the Huffington Post, I’ve avoided the Chick Lit vs. Not Chick Lit debate because, well, I’ve got friends and colleagues in both camps and I’ve always held that “c ...
Publishing The impending arrival of Peter Pan, the sequel By Carmen on Aug. 28, 2006 - 8:08 AM The NYT’s Dinitia Smith looks at the hoopla surrounding Geraldine McCaughrean‘s sanctioned sequel to J.M. Barrie‘s classic about the boy who never wanted to grow up – and the lengths publishers will go to e ...
Authors Yes kids, it’s another literary hoax! By Carmen on Aug. 28, 2006 - 7:40 AM Thought we’d had enough what with James Frey (who’s suddenly everywhere, and what’s up with that?) J.T. Leroy and Nasdijj, not to mention a certain young lady named Kaavya? Well add the prankster who fooled A.N. ...
Book Biz We’ve Made It into the New York Times! By Neal on Aug. 28, 2006 - 7:00 AM Well, okay, individually Sarah Weinman and I have already both received mentions in the New York Times over the last two years, but Saturday morning’s “Arts, Briefly” featured an item by Motoko Rich that included ...
Publishing How many times can this dead horse be beaten? By Carmen on Aug. 28, 2006 - 6:02 AM Because I know I’m not the only one to lose count of how many times Tim Waterstone – the founder of the eponymous bookstore chain – gets in the news to say he wants to buy his company back. (It’s seven, for ...
Book Bix Dog Show: Everyone’s a Critic By Neal on Aug. 26, 2006 - 6:22 PM “I got home last night and my dear lab Baci had torn into my new copy of Caleb Carr’s The Italian Secretary,” says Angela Baggetta Hayes, the deputy director of publicity at Goldberg McDuffie. “Is she tryin ...