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By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - A British writer whose debut novel about mothers at the school gate sparked a seven-way bidding war between publishers has attributed the overnight success of her book to striking a chord with women used to negotiating the politics of female groups. The hype around "The Hive" led …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dan Brown's "Inferno" kept a tight hold on the top spot of the U.S. best-sellers list on Thursday for the fourth straight week. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Inferno" by …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fans of Greg Iles' Penn Cage books can look forward to several more of the thrillers with the announcement of a new trilogy, the first of which is slated for release in May 2014, the publisher said on Tuesday. "Natchez Burning" will kick off the trilogy in which Cage's father, Dr. Tom Cage, stands accused …

By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - When Harper meets Kirby, he is a grown man and she is a child. He gives her a toy pony, tells her he'll be back, then vanishes - into Chicago in the 1930s and a mysterious house that opens onto other times. Later, he tries to kill her. "The Shining Girls", by South African Lauren Beukes, …

By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Banks have failed, the yen has fallen and Japan's economy has collapsed, leading to political turmoil. Its great ally, the United States, abandons it. Then comes the final straw: an attack by North Korean guerrillas posing as Korean tourists. "From the Fatherland, With Love", by veteran …

By Nigel Stephenson HAY-ON-WYE, Wales (Reuters) - Europe has an extraordinary opportunity to re-introduce wolves, bison and beavers and allow its citizens to reconnect with their wild side, an environmentalist and author said. George Monbiot told an audience at the Hay Festival of literature on the weekend that some 30 …

(Reuters) - Former Beatle Ringo Starr is lifting the lid on a collection of previously unseen photographs of the Fab Four in their heyday from his personal collection, in a new photography book due out next month. "Photograph," which will be released as an e-book on Apple's iBookstore on June 12, will coincide with a Grammy …

By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - A new novel about a neo-Nazi plot to assassinate Germany's first Jewish candidate for Chancellor has shed a timely light on the right-wing extremist violence that has plagued the country since 1990 and was swept under the carpet for years. Political thriller "The Jewish Candidate" by …

By Ana Nicolaci da Costa LONDON (Reuters) - American short story writer Lydia Davis won the fifth Man Booker International Prize for fiction on Wednesday for a body of work that includes some of the briefest tales ever published. Davis, a professor of creative writing at the University of Albany, is best known for work …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dan Brown's "Inferno" held on to the top spot on the U.S. best-sellers list on Thursday for the third consecutive week. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Inferno" by Dan Brown …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mystery and science fiction writer Jack Vance, whose works included "The Dragon Master" and "The Last Castle," has died at age 96, according to a statement posted on his official website on Wednesday. Vance passed away at his Oakland, California, home on Sunday, according to the statement at www.jackvance.com, …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A first edition copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, "The Great Gatsby," will be up for sale next month and could fetch up to $150,000, Sotheby's said on Thursday. The book, which once belonged to the critic and author Malcolm Cowley, will go under the hammer along with a group of Fitzgerald's …

By Billy Cheung NEW YORK (Reuters) - Award-winning author James Salter, who completed his last full-length book more than 30 years ago, has released a new novel that chronicles a life drawn from many of his own experiences. Like Salter, the main character in "All That Is" leaves the military to embark on a literary career. …

By Vidya Ranganathan SINGAPORE (Reuters) - There is a new gold rush in the Asia-Pacific: rising incomes and consumer spending by Asia's fast-growing middle classes that is generating unprecedented opportunities for multinational firms. If western firms recognize those opportunities in markets for consumer and luxury goods, …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Inferno," Dan Brown's latest book, maintained the top spot on the U.S. best-sellers list on Thursday for the second week. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Inferno" by Dan …

LONDON (Reuters) - British author Helen Fielding's comic creation returns to battle her insecurities in a third novel entitled "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" due out in October, her publisher Jonathan Cape said. The fictional 30-something Londoner, who sprang from Fielding's newspaper column in the 1990s to become a …

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 …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Inferno," Dan Brown's latest book, shot 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. "Inferno" by Dan Brown (Doubleday, $29.95) - …

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 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 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 …