Grateful Dead drummer gets book deal
Founding Grateful Dead member Bill Kreutzmann has a long, strange story to tell. The drummer is working on a memoir scheduled to be published in 2015.
Writers remember Maurice Sendak
“He always identified with his heroes from the past and felt like they spoke to him and encouraged him to do brilliant work. So I thought I would give Maurice a glimpse of the people waiting for him on the other side,” said author Gregory Maguire, who placed a picture of Lewis Carroll near Maurice Sendak’s bedside shortly before his death.
Author: Obama is Lyndon Johnson’s legacy
Author Robert Caro is working on his monumental history of Lyndon Johnson in the age of Barack Obama — and can’t help but wonder if there would have been a President Obama without a President Johnson.
Author Q&A: James Patterson
In the publishing landscape, James Patterson is a titan, holder of the Guinness World Record for most entries on the New York Times best-seller list. More than 240 million of his books have sold worldwide.
Garry Marshall’s ‘Happy Days in Hollywood’
Garry Marshall brought us some of the most memorable names in television sitcom history — so much so that we came to know and love them on a first-name basis: Felix, Oscar, Richie, Fonzie, Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, Squiggy and Mork from Ork. Laughter was the name of Marshall’s game from his earliest days, which he recalls in his memoir “My Happy Days in Hollywood.”
Steamy ‘Fifty Shades’ banned from some library shelves
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Public libraries in several states are pulling the racy romance trilogy “Fifty Shades of Grey” from shelves or deciding not to order the best-seller at all, saying it’s too steamy or too poorly written.
Even in the age of e-books …
‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak dies
Maurice Sendak, the legendary author and illustrator of children’s books who saw the sometimes-dark side of childhood in books like Where the Wild Things Are, died Tuesday in Connecticut at age 83. “His art gave us a fantastical but unromanticized reminder of what childhood truly felt like,” said Stephen Colbert, who recently had Mr. Sendak appear on his “The Colbert Report” on TV’s Comedy Central channel.
John Irving’s usual ‘sexual suspects’
Readers new to novelist John Irving couldn’t choose a better or more timely introduction to the author than with his latest novel, “In One Person.” Longtime fans, however, may have mixed opinions.
Young Adult fiction reviews
Two books about boys in tough towns who are good at basketball explore what it takes to score in the game of life: “All the Right Stuff” by Walter Dean Myers, and “Boy21” by Matthew Quick.
Walter Dean Myers’ lesson to children: Read
Walter Dean Myers, 74, was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in January by the Library of Congress. Since then the award-winning author of more than 50 books has been traveling the country talking to children. His message is simple: “Reading is not optional.”
Heroes will be flying off the shelves Saturday on Free Comic Book Day
Heroes of all sorts await readers Saturday on Free Comic Book Day, with comics shops all over the world planning to give away more than 3.5 million comics to customers — including a special Avengers introductory issue a day after the movie opens. A list of participating retailers can be found online at FreeComicBookDay.com .
