Books News Headlines

By Tim Molloy NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Robin Roberts will release a memoir in April 2014 detailing her battle against her life-threatening illness and return to the "Good Morning America" anchor desk. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, is publishing the book, which Jamie Raab, president and publisher …

By Claire Davenport BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Electronic publishing is allowing authors to be more creative and the best ones are successfully blending video and online content with traditional text, says cult writer Irvine Welsh. The author of "Trainspotting" and "The Acid House", who has also written short stories and plays, …

By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - For biologist Frans de Waal, a peaceful species of great ape in Africa is a mirror of humanity and a living argument that empathy and cooperation are far from unique to mankind. "The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism among the Primates", argues that both traits may be …

LONDON (Reuters) - Early reviews of Dan Brown's fast-paced fourth book in "The Da Vinci Code" series labeled it a "clunky" page-turner that will nevertheless delight his fans. Critics said the dark mysteries, mind-bending codes and history-laced tourism in "Inferno" will thrill Brown devotees, but panned the U.S. author …

LONDON (Reuters) - Booksellers are predicting that "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown's latest title "Inferno" will become the biggest-selling book of the year, ahead of its release on Tuesday. Sales of the book, which sees the return of fictional symbologist Robert Langdon, have already reached the highest level of customer …

By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel has dismissed claims in a new book that she was more actively committed to East Germany's communist regime than she has acknowledged, saying she has never kept anything secret about her past. The book, "The first life of Angela M.", says that Merkel, who will seek a third …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "The 12th of Never," by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, climbed to the top of the U.S. best-sellers list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "The 12th of Never" …

By Randall Mikkelsen BOSTON (Reuters) - Paul Theroux said his literary goodbye to Africa at a train station in Luanda, Angola, five decades after he first visited the continent as a Peace Corps volunteer. In his new book, "The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari," Theroux describes a journey through South …

By Jonathan Stempel OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc invests in dozens of businesses, and a new book tries to explain it all to young readers, from A to Z. Two Omaha residents, author Nancy Rips and illustrator Tom Kerr, have teamed up on "My First Berkshire ABC" to teach children about …

By Richard Leong NEW YORK (Reuters) - American chef Richard Blais may be best known for using gimmicks and gadgets in his television appearances but in his first cookbook, "Try This At Home!", he shows his cooking can be fun and tasty without being complicated. The 41-year-old used often used liquid nitrogen and immersion …

By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The final season of "Dexter" hasn't premiered yet, but series star Michael C. Hall is already slicing into his next project for the cable network. Hall is working with Showtime on an adaptation of the Matthew Specktor novel "American Dream Machine," about a talent agent and his …

By Yoko Kubota KYOTO, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese author Haruki Murakami made his first public appearance in his homeland in 18 years on Monday, describing his newest novel, which was an instant-best seller, as a story that takes place in the real world, unlike many of his other novels. "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Baldacci's new book, "The Hit," soared to the top of the U.S. bestsellers list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, …

By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Mystery shadows "A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea", a novel about a girl growing up in rural post-revolutionary Iran while dreaming about her identical twin sister and the wonderful life she must be leading in the United States - if she is alive at all. Crowded security lines at Tehran's airport, …

By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Erotic trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey" helped drive print and e-book sales in Britain to record levels in 2012 with publishers hailing figures on Wednesday as proof that digital books are not killing the traditional market quite yet. Print and e-book sales rose 4 percent to 3.3 billion …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amanda Knox, the American student accused of the 2007 murder of her British roommate while both were students in Italy, paints herself in her new memoir as a naive young woman railroaded by a foreign justice system. Knox, 25, spent four years in prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher while they were …

By Chris Michaud NEW YORK (Reuters) - Few subjects stir French passions more than politics and food, so perhaps it was inevitable that the two realms would eventually collide - and meld - in a cookbook. "French Country Cooking," a compendium of recipes contributed by members of France's National Assembly, serves up a lavishly …

By Nick Olivari NEW YORK (Reuters) - Salesman or scammer, Jim makes and loses several fortunes in North America and the Brazilian jungle, but then loses himself as he runs over anyone who gets in his way. Old and broke he falls in love with - or at least has serious sexual desires for - Mara, a beautiful and ambitious Israeli …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nora Roberts' "Whiskey Beach" debuted at the top of the Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts - (Putnam, …

By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Flicking through an old book about Libyan history he never imagined he could buy under Muammar Gaddafi, Ashraf Hussein points to a picture of Tripoli's main square in the 1920s. "This is where we are standing now, Martyrs Square. Back then it was called Piazza Roma," the 31-year old …

By Li-mei Hoang LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish author Iain Banks, who announced this month he was suffering from terminal cancer, said he was "stunned" by the messages of support he has received from his fans. The "Wasp Factory" author said he was deeply flattered and touched by all the responses left on the website Banksophilia, …

LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran American war correspondent Marie Colvin who was killed in Syria last year was nominated on Thursday for the Orwell Prize, a British literary award for political writing. Colvin, a U.S. reporter for Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, was killed alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik as Syrian …

LONDON (Reuters) - British novelist Hilary Mantel's "Bring Up the Bodies" tale about Thomas Cromwell will take on five challengers in the Women's Prize for Fiction award in 2013 as she attempts to add to her groaning trophy cabinet. The historical bestseller set in Henry VIII's court has already won the Man Booker Prize …