The Guardian's Books blog has begun its "Not the Booker Prize" competition, where you can nominate a book to win England's second most coveted literary award. Read the wonderfully wry terms and conditions (all twelve of them) before you vote, but think twice before nominating yourself: 2009's winner, Rana Dasgupta, found his triumph to be "very depressing."
Random House reports that it saw a boost in profits in the first half of 2010. Thanks, Stieg Larsson!
As students make their way back to college, powerHouse Books is publishing a reprint of the 1965 cult classic Take Ivy, a collection of paparazzi-style photos shot on American Ivy League campuses, along with style tips by four Japanese fashion buffs. The Huffington Post has a slideshow of some of the best photos, and some good advice from the book: "Simply slipping into a pair of Bermuda shorts is no guarantee that you will look stylish. Strut in a brisk and confident way to complete your style." If you're looking for reading material to stick in the back-pocket of those Bermudas, try one of these campus novels, but literary sartorialists take note: It is impossible to look as cool as Samuel Beckett in shorts.
Armed with a "Typo Correction Kit" of Wite-Out, Sharpies, and crayons, editor Jeff Deck and his friend Benjamin Herson toured the U.S. correcting the vexing errors they saw on signs everywhere. (We wonder how they resisted adding an h to the Wite-Out in their kit). But are they "grammar vigilantes"? Vandals? Well, yes, to the latter charge, the pair had to plead guilty and pay a $3,000 dollar fine after fixing a historic "womens's" sign at the Grand Canyon.
Rest up people: Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Third Annual Dzanc Books Write-a-Thon, which will take place September 2 through 5. Details are here.
