Saturday, July 28

Lurching Midyear
Books Check (4#) -

The runaway global successes of Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games published by rival companies helped cut sales at the Penguin book publishing company and its adjusted operating profit down by about 50% for the first six months of this year.

"Those big bestsellers really did take a lot of air out of the market," according to Marjorie Scardino CEO of Pearson, the parent company of Penguin.

# Some studious types may want to compare the
new Penguin English Library with its 1963 version.

# Scheduled to debut later this year in October, Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe is about immigration and set in Miami. Meanwhile, there is some sort of documentary movie being made about it.

# Fans of author Michael Chabon may be interested in an enhanced eBook sampler being released of his new novel Telegraph Avenue.

...

Thursday, July 26

As The World Churns (2#) -

Dan Christensen has been following the 17-year struggle over the multimillion-dollar estate of Carvel Ice Cream.

:: It continues ::

# TalkLeft reports new
restrictions in the James Holmes Case.

...

Tuesday, July 24

News Notes From Florida -

A Florida resident stole a pharmacist's identity, fraudulently obtained a Florida pharmacist license, and worked at several CVS and Walgreens pharmacies throughout the Orlando area, he admitted in federal court.

# A 57-year-old Florida puppeteer is accused of planning to kidnap and eat toddlers, according to federal documents.

# Floaters: On July 5th, the body of retired school principal William Norman, 76, was found in a Davie canal. A body found in Fort Lauderdale on Monday became the fifth to be found in a Broward canal since July 5th.

...

Monday, July 23

Browsing Around (6#) -

In artzy-fartzy Vancouver
even their police officers are artzy-fartzy . . .

P.O. Sean Sommerville's Snakes and Ladders is one of several Mystery and Crime novels reviewed this weekend by Margaret Cannon. Creole Belle by James Lee Burke is another in this group.

# Cassandra Landry talks to Irish writer Tana French
about designing mysterious murders at the Boston Phoenix.

# "Precisely what's going on with
Mary Portas and Margate? ... There is no
doubt that Margate's Main Street is depressed."

:: Metro Revitalization ::
English Style with Mary Portas ::

# Matt Dojny has created a great summer read in The Festival of Earthly Delights, according to Carolyn Kellogg at the LAT. Loopy Americans Abroad set in a fictional Southeast Asia country.

# Andrew Anthony reviews
The House of Rumour by Jake Arnott.

...