books
Be Scared: Dick Cheney's Memoir Due in August
Jim Newell · 05/19/11 11:14AMAmerica's most huggable teddy bear, Dick Cheney, has been working on his memoirs from his CIA-bunker house ever since leaving office. It should have been on bookstore shelves for a year or so by now, former vice president's rather serious heart problems got in the way. But now that's all over! In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir will hit shelves on August 30, so grab your sleeping bags and head over to the nearest bookstore entrance now.
How Viral Copies of a Naughty Bedtime Book Changed Publishing
Ryan Tate · 05/16/11 11:57PMDonald Trump Is Writing a 'Policy Book'
Jim Newell · 05/12/11 03:57PMGuess whose turn it is now to accept a fat welfare check from the world of conservative publishing imprints? It's Donald Trump's turn, naturally! The skinny-mouthed death hologram has signed on with Regnery Publishing — the folks behind bestsellers from Michelle Malkin, David Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and whoever else sucks — for a "policy book," to be written on a crash schedule and released late this summer.
Levi Johnston's Book Cover Is Basically Perfect
Jim Newell · 05/11/11 03:02PMFormer Alaskan youth hockey player Levi Johnson, who knocked up Bristol Palin three years ago, was famous for two more years after that, and now is not very famous, has a hot new book comin' out. Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs will hit stores September 27, and now the cover has been released. Look up and to the right — there it is! Oh, golly. [via Political Wire]
Star Jones' Book About The View Is Not About The View
Brian Moylan · 05/03/11 05:16PMDid you know that Star Jones has a new book out? Yes! It's called Satan's Sisters and it's about five women who co-host a daytime talk show. Oh, no, no, no, it's not about The View. No, really!
Comments of the Day: What's So Bad About Atlas Shrugged Anyway?
Richard Lawson · 04/27/11 06:10PMToday we heard that the producer of the new Atlas Shrugged Part 1 movie might not make parts two and three because the first one has been such a flop. Good, many of you said, because that book stinks. Or does it? One commenter wanted to know what's actually wrong with Ayn Rand's paean to individualism.
The 'Advertising in Books' Wall Has Been Breached
Hamilton Nolan · 04/26/11 11:24AMHarry Hurt III (pictured, with pal) used to write a column in the New York Times business section called "Executive Pursuits," in which Harry Hurt went off and did something wacky and upscale and wrote about it. It always struck me as a wholly unnecessary exercise in self-absorption, which had nothing to do with business at all, except for the fact that Harry Hurt is a rich guy. Now, he's back—pioneering the use of advertising and product placement in books. Oh. Good.
Congratulations to Dan Abrams for Selling 6,000 Copies of His Ladybook
John Cook · 04/22/11 11:11AMIn case you missed him on CNN, Fox News Channel, Good Morning America, The View, The Joy Behar Show, The Rachael Ray Show, Dr. Phil, and The Gayle King Show, Dan Abrams has written a new book about how people who don't have penises wash their hands more than people who do have them. As of last week, it had sold 6,169 copies, according to BookScan.
Is Child's Hallucinatory Trip to Heaven 'Real?' USA Today Investigates
Hamilton Nolan · 04/21/11 10:34AM'Three Cups of Tea' Guy: I'm Sloppy, Not a Liar
Hamilton Nolan · 04/19/11 09:08AMSteve Jobs Is Almost Done Talking To His Biographer
Ryan Tate · 04/11/11 12:22PMWalter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs is coming out early next year, indicating Isaacson's interviews with the Apple CEO and his family are close to completion. It's a testament to former Time Inc. CEO Isaacson's interpersonal skills that he's managed to pry into Jobs' life for more than a year now without alienating the notoriously feisty and secretive Apple founder.
Bernie Madoff Loves Danielle Steel
Max Read · 04/09/11 04:20PMConvicted Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff has a lot of time to kill in jail. So what does he do? Well, for one thing, give jailhouse interviews—such as this most recent one to the Financial Times—where he can rail about the banks he believes (more or less accurately, in our estimation) were complicit in his scheme. But also: Keep up with his mail (of which he gets "lots," all from "well-wishers"); work at the prison commissary ("10 a.m. to 7 p.m., four days a week"); and, apparently, work on "ethics courses," for which he's been solicited by "several business schools," including Harvard and Northwestern. Oh, and also, read:
Natalie Portman's Dad Shopping Around His Novel
Seth Abramovitch · 04/06/11 03:26AMHave you read Misconception, a page-turner of a "reproductive thriller," self-published by fertility specialist Dr. Avner Hershlag? Well, you might want to jump on that baby now, before a major publisher buys it and hikes up the price considerably. That's because Hershlag — who happens to be the dad of Natalie Portman — has been shopping the book around.
The Future of Libraries Is Bookless
Hamilton Nolan · 03/29/11 11:39AMBill Ayers Again 'Admits' He Wrote Barack Obama's Memoir
Jim Newell · 03/28/11 02:40PMOne of the all-time Top Five, or really Top One, Barack Obama conspiracy theories is back in the news! Did you know that Barack Obama's terrorist friend, former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, secretly ghostwrote the president's memoir, Dreams From My Father? This story has been around for several years and still comically emerges from time to time, like right now. The wingnuts have caught Ayers "admitting" that he wrote Barack Obama's book, again, when he was clearly making fun of them for ever believing something so stupid.
Valerie Plame Wilson to Dethrone Tom Clancy
Jeff Neumann · 03/19/11 10:52AMFormer CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson — whose identity was illegally publicized by right wing columnist Robert Novak via Scooter Libby and (most likely) Dick Cheney, among others — is starting a series of female spy novels. She spoke to the Times about what it's really like to be a woman in the world of espionage. Hint: Hollywood is full of shit!
Borders' Revitalization Plan: Anything But Books
Hamilton Nolan · 03/14/11 09:25AMAndy Rooney Hates E-Books
Matt Cherette · 03/06/11 08:55PMAll Books Must Now Appeal to Cracker Barrel Patrons
Hamilton Nolan · 02/28/11 01:02PMNow that Borders is dying, book publishers are collectively asking themselves, "Huh, where do we sell all these stupid books, now?" I mean Barnes & Noble is okay and all, but it's gonna take more shelf space than that to show off all those fancy attractive book covers designed to make people forget they could be buying this copy much cheaper used, on Ebay. The solution? Placing books in every kind of store, anywhere, that sells anything at all.