Obituary note: Author and journalist Dominick Dunne, "who chronicled the misdeeds of the rich and famous with wicked glee," as the Los Angeles Times put it, died yesterday. He was 83.
In its obituary, the L.A. Times observed that "Dunne--with his silver hair, tortoiseshell glasses and Turnbull & Asser finery--became a celebrity in his own right, who openly sympathized with crime victims, skewered the perpetrators and rode in limousines to his front-row seat at their trials."
The New York Times noted that Dunne "never hesitated to admit that his sympathetic stance stemmed from the murder of his daughter, Dominique, by John Sweeney, her ex-boyfriend, in 1982."
"He never pretended to be objective in covering trials," said Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. "He was always writing from the point of view of the victim because of what happened to his daughter, and he had a riveting way of knowing, almost like Balzac, what to tell the reader when."
Dunne's last novel, Too Much Money, is currently scheduled for publication in December.
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Google is adopting the ePub digital book format for distribution of more than one million public domain books that Google has digitized, "giving the standard a significant boost in the ongoing tussle for a dominant digital book format," the Los Angeles Times reported. In recent months, "ePub has emerged as one of the dominant formats for digital books."
Brandon Badger, Google's product manager, observed: "We're excited to now offer downloads in ePub format, a free and open industry standard for electronic books. It's supported by a wide variety of applications, so once you download a book, you'll be able to read it on any device or through any reading application that supports the format."
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Aspen Book Store, Aspen, Colo., "the little bookstore tucked into just under 300 square feet at the Little Nell Hotel," plans to close September 8, the Daily News reported. The decision by owner John S. Edwards "is based on a range of reasons. On a personal level, he is ready after working six to seven long days per week for 20 years to try something else in life--perhaps in publishing, perhaps in the hotel business--and take some time off to get to his own pile of books he's been meaning to read."
"I'm fortunate to have spent as many years as I have in Aspen," said Edwards. His current lease is up for renewal next month, and, since the hotel is shutting down this fall for renovations, he observed that "it is a good transitional point."
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Noting that even bookstore appearances are being crowdsourced now, GalleyCat reported that Melinda Blau co-author of Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter . . . But Really Do, is trying an alternative to the traditional bookstore event: "Instead of going to those bookstores and talking about the book, however, Blau is inviting her Facebook friends (and other potential fans) to go into stores and have strangers take a photo of them with the book, then send her the picture for an online collage."
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Random House has created a Facebook group called "I have more books than Facebook friends" to help promote E.L. Doctorow's new novel, Homer & Langley, which chronicles the curious lives of the Collyer brothers, who accumulated so many books and newspapers over the years that they were literally killed by their accumulated clutter. Random House calls its Facebook page "a celebration of all who hoard literature," and is sponsoring a contest there: "Post a picture of your literary clutter. Best photo wins a prize (um, not that you need a prize . . . it's all about bragging rights). But a first edition signed copy of E. L. Doctorow's new book Homer & Langley could be in your future if you play your cards right."
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The companion website for Get High Now (Without Drugs) by James Nestor was named one of Time.com's Best Websites of 2009. "Get High Now is a science site disguised as mind-expansion. There are 40 audio and visual illusions (or, if you must, 'hallucinations') to be experienced and, after reading about the brain science that explains them, understood."
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Dan Brown update: International edition. Gulf News reported that in Dubai, The Lost Symbol's September 15 release date is highly anticipated: "Local bookstores Magrudy's and Jashanmal Bookstores started accepting pre-orders for the book in May and June respectively, and have registered approximately 300 orders already."
"We have 200 pre-orders for our Dubai store already and are expecting more closer to the launch date," said Narain Jashanmal, general manager of Jashanmal books. According to Gulf News, the "store is expecting to order a total of 10,000 copies of the book for its stores in Dubai and Bahrain."
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British publisher Kraken Opus "plans to release a book on wine that will retail for a whopping £640,000 [US$1.04 million]," according to CBC. The "850-page book, titled The Wine Opus, will feature a list of the 100 best wineries in the world. . . . With the purchase of the book, readers will also receive six bottles of wine from every winery listed."