Lonely Planet "stands by the accuracy of its travel guides" in the wake of claims by one of its authors that "he plagiarized and invented sections of the books," according to the International Herald Tribune.
The tempest brewed over the weekend when Australia's Herald Sun and Sunday Telegraph quoted the writer, Thomas Kohnstamm, saying "he made up parts of the books he wrote, lifted information from other publications and accepted gifts in contravention of Lonely Planet's policies." Kohnstamm has since backed away from his claims, telling the Associated Press that his remarks were "taken out of context."
Lonely Planet publisher Piers Pickard said the company is reviewing books Kohnstamm contributed to, but has thus far found no inaccuracies.
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At Cheesecake and Crime Mystery Bookshop and Cheesecake Joint, Henderson, Nev., owners Lendall and Pamela Mains combined their avocations to create "one unique niche in the retail market," according to the Rebel Yell.
"I never thought I would [open a bookstore]," Pamela said. "I was pretty young and the boys were all grown up, and I was just deciding what I wanted to do." When she began thinking about the bookshop, "it occurred to her to include her husband's unique cheesecake," the Rebel Yell noted, adding that Lendall is "an architect by day and a baker by night."
"We want to be unique, but we also want to grow," he said. "There is nothing like a good cheesecake, and we have the number one genre of books, which is mystery crime thrillers, and the number one dessert and they go well together." The shop also sponsors Three Square, "an organization that looks to end hunger in our community."
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"Have you ever testified in a court proceeding of any kind?" her lawyer asked.
"No," she replied.
"Are you nervous?" the lawyer followed.
"Yes," Ms. Rowling answered.
It may sound like dialogue from an episode of Law and Order, but this snippet comes from the New York Times report on J.K. Rowling's testimony in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday.
The Associated Press (via WCBS-TV) opted for a more emotional sampling: "Rowling said she has stopped work on a new novel because the lawsuit in
federal court has 'decimated my creative work over the last month. . . . When Dale Cendali, Rowling's lawyer, asked how she felt about Harry, [she] choked up and replied: 'I really don't want to cry.'"
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Calling the piece "Your Papal Homework Assignment," Slate
offered a reading list of books, articles and websites about Pope
Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church to help readers prepare for the
pontiff's visit to the U.S.
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The Guardian featured an Arabic literature reading list, noting that, "Despite the many obstacles it faces--censorship, a lack of translations, exile--Arabic literature has never been more vital. As the London Book Fair this week celebrates publishing from Arab countries, we asked authors and critics about the challenges of writing today and which works they think the world should have the chance to read."
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"As I was walking down New York's Fifth Avenue last week, I noticed (couldn't help but) the Mitchell Report walking toward me," Martin Levin wrote in the Toronto Globe & Mail, then explained his intriguing lead: "Okay, it wasn't the actual report, but its human personification and impetus--one Jose Canseco, the oversized former slugger who has admitted to taking steroids, to seeing teammates take them, even to hooking them up with willing trainers. It was Topic One in all hot-stove leagues this winter." Now that Opening Day is behind us, Levin showcases a selection of new baseball books.
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Once upon a rap . . . Snoop Dog is planning to release an urban-themed, illustrated children's book series, Where's the Cheese, according to Starpulse.com.
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Did Leonardo da Vinci provide the illustrations for De Ludo Scachorum (The Game of Chess) by Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan friar and Renaissance mathematician who was also Leonardo's friend and collaborator? The New York Times reported that the Coronini Cronberg Foundation "enlisted Franco Rocco, an Italian architect and sculptor whose work has puzzlelike qualities, to examine the book and its illustrations. After a year of study he determined that Leonardo created the design on which the illustrations are based, possibly by building a chess set."
Oxford University art history professor Martin Kemp, "a prominent Leonardo expert, has dismissed the claim. "There is not an earthly chance of them being by Leonardo," he said. "It is not improbable of him being interested in [chess], but whether he had the patience to sit for hours and play, there is some doubt."
His final word on the subject? "The silly season on Leo never closes."
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Effective April 30, Karen Patterson is joining Sterling as v-p, trade and institutional sales, where her responsibilities will include sales to independent bookstores, national accounts, wholesale clubs and libraries. She has been v-p, director of sales, for Random House, responsible for sales to Barnes & Noble, including B&N.com and B&N College Stores. Earlier she was a buyer for B&N and Encore Books and director of merchandising for B&N.
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Effective immediately, Phaidon Press has named Patty Goldstein Northeast sales representative and Risa Kahn West Coast sales representative.
Goldstein will work from Phaidon's New York office and be responsible for sales in New York City and Long Island, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and southern New Jersey. She has more than 15 years of experience in domestic and international sales, and was most recently sales coordinator at Informa Healthcare Publishing. Before that, she was sales manager for the U.S. and Canada for Putumayo World Music.
Kahn will be based in Los Angeles and will be responsible for major markets on the West Coast, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Denver. She was most recently manager of the Taschen Hollywood store. Before that, she worked in the sales department of Taschen America.
Faherty & Associates will continue to represent Phaidon Press to selected accounts on the West Coast.
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Yesterday at the London Book Fair: Dee Robinson, co-owner of Village Books, Bellingham, Wash., with Sebastian Faulks, who at a later fair event, interviewed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (Admirably Brown had read several of Faulks's books.) Robinson is one of a group of U.S. booksellers visiting the fair, a group that includes Neil Van Umm, owner of Joseph-Beth Group (center, in the background).
The Warrior: A Mother's Story of a Son at War (Viking, $21.95, 9780670019618/0670019615, April 10, 2008), is a slim collection of poems that has a decided impact on the heart. The author, Frances Richey, is a poet and a yoga instructor. The fact that her son Ben, whom she raised by herself, graduated from West Point, became a Green Beret and served two tours in Iraq, could be made much of--she is opposed to the war, for instance--but she has something more to write about than their differences in outlook. She is a mother who misses her son, who worries about him, who wants to understand him. In the 28 poems that constitute The Warrior, she charts her terror--"The vertigo started in March/when he told me/he would be deployed"--and her hope with a fierce love.