Jessica Hopper's Girls' Guide to Rocking Gets Infomercials, Tour

By Ani Vrabel at 10:36 AM on June 10, 2009

All parents know the standard warning lectures they must give their pre-teens: Stay away from sex, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, violence and anything that'll rot your teeth. But we here at Paste would like to suggest that one more conversation be added to that list: When it comes to mass-produced teeny-boppers, just say "no." ...  read more

Amanda Palmer Plans Book, Shows, Releases

By Julia Askenase at 9:50 AM on June 10, 2009

After taking in years of punk-cabaret entertainment with the Dresden Dolls and the release of a killer, Twin Peaks-inspired solo effort, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, it might have seemed difficult to imagine the next page in the storied career of AFP (That's "Amanda Fucking Palmer." Her words, not ours). Hell, you might've considered enlisting the services of the Log Lady to predict what was in store....  read more

Chip Kidd to Pen Batman Comic for DC

By Gray Chapman at 2:21 PM on June 9, 2009

Graphic designer, novelist and comic-phile Chip Kidd has announced that he will write a full-length Batman comic for DC. The news came via Twitter (where else?) from one of the audience members at the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest, who witnessed Kidd's announcement and promptly spread the good news throughout the nerd world....  read more

Dark Night of the Soul Online Store Opens Its Doors for Limited-Edition Book

By Angela Pham at 6:03 PM on June 5, 2009

Sure, the music recorded for the Dark Night of the Soul project may not be available for sale, but the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch/Everyone Else in the World collaboration is still a hot commodity. Banking on the limited-edition book for its sales instead of the legally troubled music, the store is now open for business....  read more

J.D. Salinger Sues Over Catcher Sequel

By Julia Askenase at 9:10 AM on June 5, 2009

If J.D. Salinger continues to have his way, Holden Caulfield and his red hunting hat will remain within the sanctity of yellowed paperbacks pored over in high-school English classes and re-read for decades. That means no television, film or theater adaptations, thank you. And certainly no book sequels....  read more

Paste Tweets the Indie Rock ABCs

By Josh Jackson at 10:19 AM on May 29, 2009

We found a new use for Twitter today, as we began republishing the entirety of An Indie Rock Alphabet Book, 140 characters at a time. Beginning with A for Animal Collective, we'll hit a different letter—and band—each day through June 17. Sure, it's no Moby Dick or Alice in Wonderland, but then again, we're not leaving it up to a bot to Tweet....  read more

Pre-Order Ryan Adams' Book, Get Bonus Chapbook

By Rachel Dovey at 3:00 PM on May 18, 2009

As previously reported, Ryan Adams is dropping books like they're albums. Well, maybe not quite, but he is getting geared up for the release of his second poetic volume, Hello Sunshine, which Akashic Books has just made available for pre-order....  read more

New Book Publishing Television Show, Open Book, Premieres on LinkTV

By Gray Chapman at 9:48 AM on May 14, 2009

We lit buffs aren't exactly a target market for television networks, so we often get shafted when it comes to enjoyable television material. And no, CW, that Age of Innocence-themed Gossip Girl episode doesn't count. Now, however, LinkTV is airing a show that might make any bookworm switch off the flashlights, emerge from beneath the covers, and turn on the TV....  read more

Guided By Voices' Tobin Sprout Releases Children's Book

By Muriel Vega at 4:00 PM on May 12, 2009

One former Guided By Voices member in particular probably has the best children's book author name in the business: Mr. Sprout. As luck would have it, Sprout has traded the microphone for a pen (for a moment, anyway) and put his talents (and name) to the test in his first children's book, Elliott....  read more

Amazon's Kindle DX Release Ignites Blogging Bonfire

By Rachel Dovey at 9:11 AM on May 11, 2009

Amazon's digital reader Kindle is being heralded by the press with a mixture of fear and adoration better suited to an apocalypse than a machine. But, according to some, the Kindle could turn out to be just that for the publishing industry....  read more

Jonathan Safran Foer's Nonfiction Book, Eating Animals, Coming in November

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 4:40 PM on May 7, 2009

Jonathan Safran Foer wrote two of the most zealously admired novels of recent years, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. But for his third book, the nonfiction Eating Animals, the vegetarian and occasional vegan turned to longtime personal questions about his diet. ...  read more

Go Buy a Book: Today is International Buy Indie Day

By Joe Shearer at 1:43 PM on May 1, 2009

Recognizing the waning demand for books in today's depressing economic climate, a network of independent booksellers has declared today, May 1, Buy Indie Day....  read more

Ricky Gervais' Children's Book Series to Get 3D Film Treatment

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 3:30 PM on April 30, 2009

Ricky Gervais and Universal's Illumination Entertainment have announced plans to adapt Gervais' Flanimals children's books into a feature 3D animated movie. ...  read more

Pulitzer Prize winners include Elizabeth Strout, Lynn Nottage, W.S. Merwin and more

By Rachel Dovey at 11:52 AM on April 21, 2009

It's that time of year again, when the stars align to produce three great events (usually) in the same month. We get Easter, Coachella and the Pulitzer announcements all wrapped up in a pastel-colored package, complete with blossoming trees and warm weather. It's like Rogers and Hammerstein took over the universe for a few weeks, and we're all suddenly compelled to break into song....  read more

AmazonFail postmortem: furor subsiding, hacking denied

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 11:04 AM on April 15, 2009

It began with a quiet post by an author on Sunday, but by Monday, it was a national controversy and an instant go-to for anyone out to prove the power of Twitter. ...  read more

Wikipedia trounces Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopedia to death

By Matt Goodlett at 11:29 AM on April 8, 2009

"F*%$! accuracy!" So seems to say the world in our high-speed, internet-crazed culture where the free, web-based, cooperative encyclopedia Wikipedia has just dealt the death blow to Encarta Encyclopedia. Maybe you recall your professors telling you that Wikipedia is not an official source? Or maybe you work for a magazine that does not verify its facts based on Wiki's word? ...  read more

Michael Crichton's last two novels to be published posthumously

By Muriel Vega at 5:20 PM on April 6, 2009

HarperCollins plans to publish two posthumous novels by Michael Crichton, the best-selling author of Jurassic Park and creator of ER. He left behind one finished novel, Pirate Latitudes, and about one-third of an untitled novel, after his death in late 2008. Pirate Latitudes will be published on Nov. 24, 2009, followed by the currently untitled thriller, which is to be published in late 2010....  read more

Christopher James wins National Poetry Competition

By Rachel Dovey at 9:54 AM on March 31, 2009

Poet Christopher James won this year's National Poetry Competition for his piece "Farewell to the Earth." Judges included Brian Pattern, Frieda Hughes and Jack Mapanje....  read more

Jon Hamm joins James Franco in Howl

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 10:00 AM on March 27, 2009

Jon Hamm, the eminently likeable actor who is the face of Mad Men, has gone in the past couple of years from relative obscurity to one of the most sought-after talents around. After his side gigs as Tina Fey’s beau on 30 Rock and as a faux Lex Luther, he’s signed on for a supporting part in Howl, the indie drama about the obscenity trial of Allen Ginsberg (to be played by James Franco). ...  read more

Anthony Hopkins to play Ernest Hemingway

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 10:36 AM on March 25, 2009

Ernest Hemingway’s fiction is famously difficult to develop for the screen, but perhaps his life will translate a little easier. ...  read more