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Aussie Writer Gets 3 Years for Thai Insult

Self-published book that sold 7 copies dissed the monarchy

(Newser) - An Australian writer has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for insulting Thailand’s monarchy in one passage of a self-published book, the BBC reports. Tough “lese-majeste” laws shield Thailand’s monarchy from criticism and led to Harry Nicolaides’ arrest as he was leaving the country. He pleaded...

Vonnegut Protégé Will Share His Wisdom

Ex-lover plans volume of late writer's letters

(Newser) - Aspiring novelists, Kurt Vonnegut has some advice for you: “Write a play.” It’s easier. That, and other nuggets of wisdom, will be available for the first time when Vonnegut’s private correspondence with one of his students is published in April, the New York Post reports. Loree...

More Americans Reading Fiction: NEA

Study indicates literary decline might be reversing

(Newser) - The percentage of Americans reading fiction has increased for the first time in years, a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicates. The reported 50.2% of the population who picked up a book for pleasure marks a turnaround from a statistical decline in literary culture over...

462 Books a Year? No Big Deal for One Critic

LA Times critic explains her incredible literary appetite.

(Newser) - Determined to read more this year? Critic and columnist Sarah Weinman may be able to help, if her standard doesn't intimidate: She plowed through 462 titles last year. "I read a page not necessarily word by word,” she tells the Los Angeles Times, “but by capturing pages...

Diet Books for a Skinny 2009
 Diet Books for a Skinny 2009 
Jan 10, 2009 5:11 AM CST

Diet Books for a Skinny 2009

Menu: Lemon juice, meditation, and a lunchbox of meat

(Newser) - Another year, another diet book. What's new? The Wall Street Journal dishes the skinny—and the zany—for 2009:
  • I Can Make You Thinner, Paul McKenna: Train your brain to only eat when hungry (hypnosis cd included).
  • The Lemon Juice Diet, Teresa Cheung: The initial recipe—lemon juice, water, maple
...

Barbie's Secret: Creator Was Kinky Swinger

New book looks at man behind the doll

(Newser) - If you always thought Barbies were a little creepy, this might be why. The doll's creator was a "full-blown seventies-style swinger" with "a manic need for sexual gratification," a new book reveals. Jack Ryan, who was once married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, held orgies at his LA...

Fake Holocaust Memoir May See Light as Novel

Henry Rosenblatt working to find outlet for disgraced story

(Newser) - Herman Rosenblat’s Holocaust memoir was exposed as fake, but that doesn’t mean no one can profit off it: A small New York press is considering publishing the work as fiction, Gawker reports. Rosenblat, who even fooled Oprah a la James Frey, spun a touching but debunked story about...

Need a Blurb? Meet the Usual Suspects
Need a Blurb?
Meet the Usual Suspects
OPINION
Jan 7, 2009 5:43 PM CST

Need a Blurb? Meet the Usual Suspects

New writers' book jackets reveal the top 10 lazy comparisons

(Newser) - Blurbs for hot new writers' books unfailingly liken them to a handful of known quantities, Chris Rovzar observes in New York. Here are some of the most-abused blurb comparisons:
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald or Edith Wharton. Writing about crumbling, decadent high society? "If you're a boy, you're Scott; if you're
...

Laura Bush Lands Memoir Deal
 Laura Bush Lands Memoir Deal 
Jan 6, 2009 8:20 AM CST

Laura Bush Lands Memoir Deal

First lady signs deal to write White House memoir

(Newser) - Laura Bush has signed on with Scribner to share her take on the Bush years with the world, Politico reports. The first lady is being paid a sum believed to be between $3.5 million and $5 million, reports the Wall Street Journal, and will offer a "candid and...

Borders Cans Top Brass After Dismal Holiday Season

Bookseller reports 12% drop over '07, replaces CEO, others

(Newser) - Borders will immediately restructure top management to counter a steep slide in sales, the Ann Arbor News reports. CEO George Jones has been replaced with Ron Marshall, a turnaround expert with book experience. Other top spots were shuffled to veterans of the Michigan-based company. The bookseller announced today that its...

Web Novels Let Readers Drive the Plot

Weekly installments end with a choice

(Newser) - Fantasy fans who’d like a role in the action can turn to literature’s latest incarnation: the online Web-novel, or wovel, NPR reports. Readers can click and read a chapter each week. Then, “at the end of every installment, there's a binary plot branch point with a vote...

Publisher Yanks Kid Spinoff of Holocaust Fake

Refunds offered for picture book based on hoax love story

(Newser) - Publishers are now pulling a picture book inspired by a Holocaust love story revealed to be a fake, Publishers Weekly reports. Lerner Publishing has announced it will cancel reprints of Angel Girl and offer refunds for returned copies. Herman Rosenblat's memoir Angel on the Fence was canceled by another publisher...

Minneapolis, Seattle Top List of Most Literate Cities

Read all about it

(Newser) - New York may be America's cultural capital, but Seattle and Minneapolis top the list as the nation's most literate cities, reports LiveScience.  The rankings are based on newspaper, magazine, and online news readership, library usage, book purchases, and educational levels. The two cities also topped the list last year....

Rove: Bush Is a Bookworm
 Rove: Bush 
 Is a Bookworm 
OPINION
Dec 26, 2008 8:30 AM CST

Rove: Bush Is a Bookworm

(Newser) - Bitter liberals may believe the president is an illiterate buffoon, but in 2006 the president read a whopping 95 books, and, just for good measure, read the entire Bible front-to-back, Karl Rove assures us in today’s Wall Street Journal. “In the 35 years I've known George W. Bush,...

Oprah-Endorsed Holocaust Memoir Attacked as Fake

Experts say author's Buchenwald love story couldn't have happened

(Newser) - The Oprah-hyped author of an amazing memoir of love and Holocaust survival is being labeled the latest publishing fake by some researchers, the New Republic reports. Herman Rosenblat tells a poignant story of how a young girl saved him when he was a child prisoner at Buchenwald by giving him...

Recession Shreds Publishing Industry; Is Literature Next?

Until outfits learn to cope with digital challenges, it'll be a tough go for writers

(Newser) - The publishing industry has been battered in the past month, as large houses hemorrhage editors and consolidate divisions, leading some to wonder if literary publishing will ever be the same, Jason Boog writes on Salon. The list of ills is long: too-high advances paid to a dwindling number of sure...

Japan Fetes Genji , World's First Novel, at 1,000
Japan Fetes Genji, World's
First Novel, at 1,000
Glossies
Dec 20, 2008 6:39 AM CST

Japan Fetes Genji, World's First Novel, at 1,000

Three very different English translations available to get you caught up

(Newser) - Japan is celebrating the 1,000th birthday of The Tale of Genji, a story penned by a woman in an imperial court that is widely regarded as the first modern novel, the Economist reports. The chronicle of an aristocratic aesthete’s sexual adventures is many things to many readers, including...

Black Berates Newser Founder From Jail
Black Berates Newser Founder From Jail
OPINION
Dec 17, 2008 1:40 PM CST

Black Berates Newser Founder From Jail

News mogul attacks biography's depiction of rival Murdoch

(Newser) - Convicted felon Conrad Black has skipped time in the exercise yard to pen a review from prison of the new biography of his old rival Rupert Murdoch. Black complains that biographer Michael Wolff is at once too deferential and takes "extreme psychological liberties" in The Man Who Owns the ...

9-Year-Old's Dating Book Headed for the Big Screen

Fox buys movie rights to How to Talk to Girls

(Newser) - Alec Greven, 9, knows more than How to Talk to Girls: He knows how to land a movie deal. Fox has purchased the rights to the fourth-grader’s self-help book, which offers advice like combing your hair and acting less hyper, the Hollywood Reporter notes. Fox paid in the low-to-mid...

Morrison Tops Times 10 Best Books List

NY Times names its top 10 for 2008

(Newser) - Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison's most recent novel and nonfiction books about two wars feature on the New York Times list of the 10 best books of the year. They include:
  • A Mercy: Morrison's tale of 17th-century slaves and masters is "part Faulknerian puzzle, part dream-song."
  • 2666: Chilean author
...

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