Books/Publishing News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Journalist Bob Woodward's impending book on President Barack Obama focuses on the war in Afghanistan and military decisions in Pakistan, publisher Simon & Schuster said Tuesday. Full Story »

LONDON (AFP) - Peter Carey could scoop the Booker Prize for a record third time after the Australian author was named on the shortlist Tuesday for one of the world's most prestigious literary awards. Full Story »

LONDON - Australian writer Peter Carey moved closer to a literary hat trick Tuesday when he was named a finalist for fiction's prestigious Booker Prize, an award he has already won twice. Full Story »

"The Grand Design" (Random House, $28), by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow: Cosmologists, the people who study the entire cosmos, will want to read British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking's new book. Full Story »

"Trail of Blood" (William Morrow, $24.99), by Lisa Black: The discovery of a body that appears to have been hidden for over 70 years spurs a contemporary murder spree in "Trail of Blood," Lisa Black's latest novel featuring forensic scientist Theresa MacLean. Full Story »

PARIS (AFP) - Sexist, obscene, racist were the accusations thrown at Michel Houellebecq over his previous novels. Now it's plagiarism, after France's best-known living writer allegedly cut and pasted chunks of Wikipedia into his new book. Full Story »

CINCINNATI - A federal bankruptcy judge in New York on Friday approved the sale of most of the assets of Ohio-based newspaper chain Brown Publishing Co. to the company's lenders for about $21.8 million. Full Story »

CHICAGO - The first week of the final season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will include a selection for Oprah's Book Club. Full Story »

CHICAGO - Sara Paretsky's latest installment in her series about feisty, female private detective V.I. Warshawski opens with the heroine outside a Chicago nightclub, the bloody body of a woman who was just shot to death in her arms. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Less than three weeks before publication, Bob Woodward's new book finally has a cover design and a title: "Obama's Wars." Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book. Full Story »

1. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larsson (Knopf) Full Story »

Best-Selling Books Week Ended August 22 Full Story »

NEW YORK - Billionaire financier Ron Burkle said Thursday he will appeal the dismissal of his lawsuit against bookseller Barnes & Noble over its shareholder rights plan. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Ron Burkle plans to appeal a Delaware court ruling that upheld an anti-takeover "poison pill" put in place by bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc . Full Story »

NEW YORK - Tao Lin's new novel is based on a true story, his own. Full Story »

LONDON - Tony Blair regrets banning fox hunting, but not invading Iraq. He was captivated by Princess Diana, intimidated by Queen Elizabeth II. He heaps praise on President George W. Bush but calls his close colleague Gordon Brown a man of "zero" emotional intelligence. He acknowledges that some find him delusional, and says he possibly drank a bit too much. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Former British prime minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday he could have not have imagined what he called the "nightmare" that unfolded in Iraq but still did not regret joining the U.S.-led invasion. Full Story »