Penn Group

Barbara Walters continues to tear the book world asunder with her memoir, Audition.
First, the New York Times ran its review of the book early, in spite of the fact that Knopf warned news outlets not to publish reviews before May 6. Now, journalists, including Doree Schafrir of the Observer, are angry that the Times managed […]

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 Not much to say about this one. Just take a look at the title: Things Unimportant, But Remembered.
Things Unimportant, But Remembered.
I believe this was also the proposed title for Augusten Burroughs’ latest memoir. Just saying.

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  At last! A week of remarkably bad behavior in the book world - bad behavior not entirely confined to J.K. Rowling! This gladdens our headline-hunting little hearts. Below, the best of the bunch.
- The LA Times reports that con artists are calling up bookstores and pretending to be the authors they’ve booked for signings - shortly before […]

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 Barbara Walters, master of televised sympathy, is releasing a new memoir about how much she hates everyone she knows.
Here are a few revelations about the book, gathered from the New York Daily News.
1) Walters had an affair with U.S. Senator William Brooke, the first black senator since the Reconstruction. When he told her that she was the oldest woman […]

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Let’s be honest here: if you were psychic, wouldn’t you know it? Because, you know, you’re… psychic? And know things? Or maybe the author construes “psychic” to mean “given to irrepressible screaming fits.”
In the words of the author, “prepare for a sense of deja vu. Aaagh!”
Aaagh, indeed.

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- A fine German publishing company has perfected the art of Not Getting It. They are printing out the German Wikipedia, binding it, and turning it into a book. Those who miss the “enraged bickering via comment” feature of Wikipedia are encouraged to scribble vigorously in the margins.

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 15-year-old Miley Cyrus - also known as Hannah Montana, also known as Miley Stewart, also known as the inhuman force that keeps your daughter awake at night as she feverishly plots new ways to gain precious, precious tickets - has signed a seven-figure deal with the Disney Book Group for her memoirs.
Let me repeat: 15-year-old Miley has signed a book deal […]

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It’s been a relatively slow week for the book publishing industry. The only real action seems to be coming from the infamous Harry Potter trial. Here’s the salient news of the week. 
- As the Harry Potter copyright-infringement case wound to a close, J.K. Rowling seemed to repent of her harsh words to and about the […]

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Steven Jan Van Der Ark, whose Harry Potter Lexicon is at the center of J.K. Rowling’s copyright infringement case, testified on his own behalf yesterday. Unlike everything else about this case, Mr. Van Der Ark’s testimony actually made sense.
 
For those not keeping track of the case, here’s the back story: J.K. Rowling is suing […]

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By popular request (or, to be more accurate, by the request of the lovely folks who have e-mailed us about this blog), we will now be running a self-published book cover every Tuesday.
For those who object to this feature, we’ve selected a cover especially for you.

Let’s be honest: yes, it is. Also, when you consider that someone […]

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