Category: Books

George W. Bush to release memoir on November 9
NEW YORK (Reuters) ñ George W. Bush, whose presidency was marked by the September 11 attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will release a memoir on November 9, his publisher said on Monday.
The book, “Decision Points,” will center on 14 decisions Bush made in his eight years as president, including “his flaws and mistakes, as well as his historic achievements,” The Crown Publishing Group said in a statement.
Bush will do a national tour to promote the book, which will sell for $35, said Crown, a Random House imprint, which is part of the German media giant Bertelsmann AG.
The former Texas governor left the White House in January 2009 with one of the lowest presidential approval ratings in history, with the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the financial crisis weighing on his legacy.
“President Bush brings readers inside the Texas Governor’s Mansion on the night of the hotly contested 2000 election; aboard Air Force One on 9/11 in the gripping hours after America’s most devastating attack since Pearl Harbor; inside the Situation Room in the moments before launching the war in Iraq,” said the publisher.
Bush also writes about “his historic and controversial decisions on the financial crisis, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iran, and other issues that have shaped the first decade of the 21st century.”
The book will also discuss Bush’s decision to quit drinking, his discovery of faith and family relationships.

Beatty denies bedding 12,000 women
An attorney for Warren Beatty has denied reports a salacious new biography about the Hollywood actor was authorized, insisting the book contains many “false assertions” about the star.
In Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America, writer Peter Biskind documents the Bonnie and Clyde veteran’s high-profile romances with actresses Jane Fonda and Joan Collins, and spectacularly alleges he has slept with more than 12,000 women.
But Beatty’s lawyer Bertram Fields insists previous reports confirming the book was sanctioned by the 72 year old are false – and he’s warning fans and media outlets not to believe everything published in the new tome.
In a statement to the Huffington Post, Fields says, “Mr. Biskind’s tedious and boring book on Mr. Beatty was not authorized by Mr. Beatty and should not be published as an authorised biography. It contains many false assertions and purportedly quotes Mr. Beatty as saying things he never said.
“Other media should not repeat things from the book on the assumption that they are true or that the book is an authorized biography.”

‘Late Show’ bandleader Paul Shaffer says he’ll visit pal Phil Spector in prison
TORONTO – “Late Show” bandleader Paul Shaffer says his friendship with convicted murderer Phil Spector has not wavered in the wake of the music producer’s incarceration.
The late-night TV sidekick said Friday that he even plans to visit Spector in prison as soon as he gets the chance, noting they’ve been friends for 20 years.
“We went out to hear jazz together and I got to be in the recording studio with him watching him work,” Shaffer said during a brief stop in Toronto to promote his recently released memoir, “We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives.”
“I think of all the things that I’ve gotten to do, all the wonderful people that I’ve played with, being in the recording studio with Phil Spector tops them all. And of course now he is in prison. I hope to visit him, I still consider him a friend and what can you say? A terrible way for a guy like that to be remembered. He is a great artist, still.”
Shaffer said he hasn’t spoken with Spector since before the songwriter was charged in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Spector was convicted earlier this year and is serving 19 years to life in a California prison.
Still, Shaffer says he considers himself “a loyal friend.”
“When he and I were hanging out he was a great friend and a great supporter of mine and came to my aid in a number of places that I can remember,” said Shaffer, who is originally from Thunder Bay, Ont.
Spector’s musical influence on Shaffer is one of the many anecdotes included in the light-hearted book, which steers clear of divulging any dirt or touching on well-publicized celebrity scandals.
The memoir includes stories from Shaffer’s days at “Saturday Night Live” providing the musical backdrop for comics including Gilda Radner and John Belushi, his longtime friendship with fellow Canucks Martin Short and Eugene Levy, and backstage encounters with musical legends including Bob Dylan and Ray Charles.
It also delves into his early days as bandleader of NBC’s “Late Night with David Letterman,” and later on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman.”
On Friday, Shaffer steered clear of commenting on any of the recent controversy surrounding Letterman, who admitted to sexual relations with female staffers on the CBS talk show.
Shaffer said he’s been told that he cannot speak about it while legal proceedings are underway.

New Winnie-the-Pooh book goes on sale
LONDON (AFP) ñ A new book of Winnie-the-Pooh stories — the first to be published in 81 years — went on sale on Monday, featuring a new character alongside the absent-minded, honey-loving bear.
“Return to the Hundred Acre Wood” is a collection of 10 new stories featuring Pooh and his three friends Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore, and is the first to be published since 1928 when “The House At Pooh Corner” was released.
The tales of Winnie-the-Pooh, which were originally created by British author A.A. Milne and illustrated by E.H. Shepard, have been translated into 50 languages around the world.
The characters have also featured in Disney cartoons and a wide range of spin-off merchandising for children.
The characters were based on toys owned by Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, and the stories take place in the Hundred Acre Wood, which was based on a forest near the author’s home in East Sussex, southern England.
Written by author David Benedictus and illustrator Mark Burgess, the new book was approved by the Trustees of the Pooh Properties and is published by Egremont.
Pooh’s new friend Lottie the Otter is described by the publishers as “a feisty character who is bound to cause a stir in the Hundred Acre Wood.”
“Lottie has her own very definite ideas about how things should be done. She believes that one must always follow the correct etiquette,” said Benedictus, who says she embodies Pooh’s values of “friendship and adventure.”

Stewart Copeland Tells Police ‘War Stories’ In New Book
The Police drummer Stewart Copeland doesn’t want to make his new book, “Strange Things Happen: A Life With the Police, Polo, and Pygmies” (HarperStudio) a conventional autobiography. “It really isn’t because of all the stuff I left out, the boring stuff — I was born here, then I moved there, then I went to this school, then that school…Who cares?” Copeland tells Billboard.com. “These are war stories.”
Many of those, not surprisingly, come from his days with the Police, though Copeland acknowledges that “the eight years of Police supremacy back in the day (i.e., the 80s) get a little bit of short shrift.” But that, he adds, was by design. “The first part (of the Police), I told that story with my movie (“Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out”). Sting and Andy (Summers) both wrote books about it and covered it very well, I thought,” he explains. “But the last third of my book is all about the reunion tour, which, unlike the first eight years, is untold.”
Copeland adds that he hopes “Strange Things Happen” also portrays what he feels is a more insightful and accurate view of the famous volatility that is part of the Police’s legend.
“I think I did succeed in clarifying the conflict in the band,” he explains. “It has always been too easy to assume it was just a clash of egos, and that was always very frustrating for me because it’s so far from the truth. In fact, we are very selfless in the Police, all three of us; we really leave our egos at the door and go in there and take a pasting from each other — and we take it. That’s what life in the Police was all about. It was always a clash of musical ideals…We were fighting over the right things.”
“Strange Things Happen” isn’t solely about the Police, of course. Copeland writes about his CIA agent father, his youth in the Middle East and England, and his other musical experiences, including the all-star Oysterhead with Primus’ Les Claypool and Phish’s Trey Anastasio, jamming with Rage Against the Machine and Foo Fighters and the time he nearly went on tour conducting an orchestra for the Moody Blues. Copeland also chronicles his transition into film scoring and writing classical and operatic music.
He notes that a large number of his “war stories” didn’t make the cut, but rather than a second book Copeland envisions publishing them episodically in magazines — which, he says, was his original intention for all the tales before he was “persuaded to save them and put them all in a book.”
Copeland, whose score for the theatrical production “Ben Hur Live” that’s now touring Europe, is currently finishing a concerto for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra that will premiere in 2010. He’s also finalizing a commission from a British opera company. As for another Police reunion…
“Who knows,” Copeland says. “I mean, I intend to be on the planet here for another 50 years; who knows what’ll happen. To escape from the Police we had to melt down the cage and…dismantle the huge behemoth that grew up around the band. The three of us had to get away from it. As to whether or not we do it again, who knows.”

Palin finishes memoir, ‘Going Rogue,’ out Nov. 17
NEW YORK ñ That was fast.
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, has finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced, and the release date has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, her publisher said.
“Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project,” said Jonathan Burnham, publisher of Harper. “It’s her words, her life, and it’s all there in full and fascinating detail.”
Palin’s book, her first, will be 400 pages, said Burnham, who called the fall “the best possible time for a major book of this kind.”
The book now has a title, one fitting for a public figure known for the unexpected ó “Going Rogue: An American Life.”
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, has commissioned a huge first printing of 1.5 million copies. Sen. Ted Kennedy’s “True Compass,” published by Twelve soon after his Aug. 25 death, also had a 1.5 million first printing.
As with the Kennedy book, the digital edition of Palin’s memoir will not be released at the same time as the hardcover. “Going Rogue” will not be available as an e-book until Dec. 26 because “we want to maximize hardcover sales over the holidays,” Harper spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said Monday.
Publishers have been concerned that e-books, rapidly becoming more popular, might take away sales from hardcover editions, which are more expensive.
Palin, who abruptly resigned as Alaska governor over the summer with more than a year left in her first term, has been an object of fascination since Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, chose her as his running mate, making an instant celebrity out of a once-obscure public official.
During last year’s campaign, pundits questioned whether Palin hurt McCain’s presidential bid by “going rogue,” or defying his campaign’s control.
Although Democrat Barack Obama easily won the election and Palin was criticized even by some Republicans for being inexperienced, she remains a favorite among conservatives and is a rumored contender for 2012. Interest in her is so high that a fan recently paid $63,500 to have dinner with her, part of an Internet auction for a charity that aids wounded veterans.
Palin, 45, spent weeks in San Diego shortly after leaving office and worked on the manuscript with collaborator Lynn Vincent, a person close to her said. She was joined in San Diego by her family and her top aide, Meghan Stapleton, then spent several days in New York working around the clock with editors at Harper, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to comment and asked not to be identified.

Singer Anne Murray to promote autobiography with cross-Canada book tour
TORONTO – Anne Murray is hitting the road with a cross-Canada tour, but this time it’s to promote her upcoming autobiography, “All of Me.”
The singer’s publisher, Knopf Canada, says Murray will visit 13 cities beginning Oct. 29 in Toronto. The book is set for release Oct. 27.
It promises to outline Murray’s 40-year career, starting with her humble beginnings in the coal-mining town of Springhill, N.S.
Murray achieved her first gold record in 1970 with “Snowbird,” and went on to rack up a string of top-selling hits including “Talk It Over in the Morning,” “What About Me” and “You Needed Me.”
Her book tour will stop at retail outlets across the country, in cities including Dartmouth, N.S., Moncton, N.B., Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, as well as the Ontario cities of London, Burlington, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.

Mackenzie Phillips says she had sex with her dad
CHICAGO ñ Former child star Mackenzie Phillips said Wednesday that she had a decade-long sexual relationship with her father, pop superstar John Phillips, who also taught her how to roll joints and injected her with cocaine.
Mackenzie Phillips, 49, writes in her new book, “High on Arrival,” that she had sex with her father on the night before she was to get married in 1979 at age 19.
Phillips wrote in her book: “I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father.” John Phillips, who died in 2001, was the leader of the 1960s group the Mamas and the Papas.
She told “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in an interview that aired Wednesday that her siblings “definitely have a problem with this.” Winfrey also read a statement from Genevieve Waite, John Phillips’ wife at the time of the alleged abuse and Mackenzie’s stepmother. Waite’s statement said John Phillips was “incapable, no matter how drunk or drugged he was, of having such a relationship with his own child.”
Phillips, 49, who starred on TV’s “One Day at a Time,” said the sexual relationship with her father lasted a decade and ended when she became pregnant and didn’t know who had fathered the child. She had an abortion, which her father paid for, and “and I never let him touch me again.”
Phillips’ mother is Susan Adams, the first of John Phillips’ four wives. He was also married for eight years to “Mamas and Papas” singer and co-founder Michelle Phillips.
Phillips has long acknowledged having drug problems, and she told Winfrey that she first tried cocaine when she was 11 years old. Her father did drugs with her, taught her to roll joints and injected her with cocaine. Phillips said she’s been clean for a year after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine and entering a drug treatment program.
She said she confronted her father in the early stages of the abuse, which she described as rape.
“My dad said, ‘Raped you? Don’t you mean when we made love?’ And in that moment I thought, ‘Wow, I’m really on my own here,'” Phillips said. She learned to turn her anger toward herself and “boxed it away” rather than think about the drug-fueled incest, she said.
Phillips said she doesn’t hate her father, who died in 2001 of heart failure at the age of 65.
“I understand that he was a very tortured man and … passed that torture down to me,” she said.
Phillips said the sexual relationship, although she believes it eventually became consensual, was “an abuse of power” and “a betrayal” on her father’s part. She said she forgave John Phillips on his deathbed.
“I can’t be the only one this has happened to,” Phillips said. “Someone needs to put a face on consensual incest.”
Half-sister Chynna Phillips told US Weekly that a “part of her died” when Mackenzie Phillips first told her about the sexual relationship in 1997.
“They were both doing drugs together,” the former member the 1990s pop group Wilson Phillips told the magazine in Friday editions. “After long nights of heroin use, she’s claiming that she once woke up and that my father was on top of her having sex with her. Was he actually raping her? I don’t know. Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes.”
“Celebrity Rehab” host Dr. Drew Pinsky told “Extra” that the topic of Phillips’ incestuous relationship came up while shooting the upcoming third season of the VH1 reality TV series. Pinksy said he and Phillips talked about the relationship, but out of respect for her family, she told him she did not want those discussions televised.
“What’s unusual about Mackenzie’s case is there’s a romantic quality to the relationship,” Pinksy said.
Mackenzie Phillips’ book was in the top 20 on Amazon.com as of Wednesday afternoon, but it wouldn’t be the first popular book about consensual incest. In 1997, novelist Kathryn Harrison had a best-seller with “The Kiss,” a memoir about her affair with her father.
John Phillips, who also had an acknowledged history of drug abuse, co-founded the Mamas and the Papas and helped write its biggest hits, including “California Dreamin'” and “Monday Monday.” He also helped organize the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which helped introduce Jimi Hendrix to American audiences.

New Dan Brown novel tops 2 million mark
NEW YORK ó Dan Brown’s new novel has passed the 2 million mark and bested Bill Clinton’s My Life in the record books.
Doubleday announced Tuesday that hardcover, audio and e-book sales for The Lost Symbol topped 2 million copies for its first week of release in the United States, Britain and Canada. The total is “well over” 2 million for English-language editions worldwide, according to Doubleday spokeswoman Suzanne Herz, who declined to offer a specific number.
Herz did say that around 5%, or 100,000 copies, of The Lost Symbol were sold as e-books. Doubleday released the digital edition at the same time as the hardcover despite industry worries that e-sales might take away business from the more expensive paper text.
Amazon.com reported last week that first-day sales for The Lost Symbol were higher on its Kindle e-reader than in hard cover. E-books, a fast-growing portion of an otherwise slow market, have been estimated at anywhere between 1% to 5% of total sales.
The Lost Symbol didn’t approach the more than 8 million copies that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold in the first 24 hours, but the weekly results were an all-time high in North America for Doubleday’s parent company, Random House Inc. Herz said that the previous record holder was Clinton’s memoir, published in 2004. The Lost Symbol came out Sept. 15 with an initial print run of 5 million books that was soon raised to 5.6 million.
The book is Brown’s first since The Da Vinci Code, an international phenomenon published in 2003. The Da Vinci Code has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide.

Shake-up for Cdn. book industry
TORONTO – Canada’s book industry is facing a major shake-up with news that a new company will handle some subsidiary rights deals for at least two major publishers, which will result in layoffs.
Random House of Canada and McClelland and Stewart both announced Tuesday that they’ve inked deals with the Cooke Agency International, a new offshoot of the Cooke Agency, a team of Toronto-based literary representatives working for more than 100 authors.
Both deals involve contracting out work on foreign subsidiary rights, permissions, and domestic book club sales to the Cooke Agency, which will eliminate departments in both publishing companies.
Random House said it could no longer justifying maintaining its subsidiary rights department, which seeks foreign-rights sales for a limited catalogue of titles.
Three employees were laid off: Jennifer Shepherd, vice president and director of rights and contracts; Ron Eckel, rights associate director; and Fiona Harvey, domestic rights associate.
Two McClelland and Stewart employees were laid off: Marilyn Biderman, vice president and director of rights and contracts; and Krista Willis, rights manager.
In a release, Cooke Agency president and co-owner Dean Cooke said the creation of the new company to work on behalf of Canadian publishers will allow rights agreements to be reached in a “more efficient and effective way.”
“In speaking to various publishers, it is clear that there are challenges in maintaining a foreign rights business, and that changes were imminent in the way publishers handle this business,” he said.
“We’re all getting on the same planes to go to the same places to sell a handful of titles. This is an area where success and strength can best be leveraged by a list of titles with greater range and depth.”