Judges have cut the 112 entries for the 2008 man Booker Prize down to just 13 titles. The judging panel is made up of a Cabinet Minister, novelist, magazine editor, and a bookstore owner turned TV personality. The Book Shortlist will be announced September 9th and the winner October 14th.
Today’s 13 titles are listed below…

I just read about the LA Times dropping their dedicated books coverage and eliminating staff. Not 10 minutes later I read about The Birmingham News and its plans to trim staff (which is a much nicer buyout deal than handing out pink slips).
I understand the competition and strain that newspapers are under. Plus, your larger [...]

Pausch, author of The Last Lecture, died of pancreatic cancer today. I’m not one for touchy feely anything. That includes motivational books too. Don’t know why. They just never resonate with me. But this book, this video, are the exception (here is a shorter WSJ recap of the video). He is right on. Every word [...]

I just started following Yale Univeristy Press on Twitter. Are there other cool publishers that I’m missing? Please pass along if you know of any.
It’s interesting to follow publishers as they move into new areas. It seems most are hesitant to explore things like Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, etc. So I’m glad to see some trying [...]

My review of Ceridwen Dovey’s first book Blood Kin is up at LibraryThing.

This September 27, nearly 70 authors will swarm the mall in D.C. for the National Book Festival. Organizers are getting the word out about who will be there and already have started posting podcasts with some of the notable names and authors involved. They promise more podcasts soon with authors and famous faces.

Following a Twitter link, from rgriner (who blogs here), led me to this list of “The 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008″ as selected by Entertainment Weekly. It made me sad. Sad, sad, sad.
They call them the new classics with Cormac McCarthy’s The Road at #1 and Jon Stewart’s America at #100. No doubt, [...]

I’ve been looking for a couple more “summer fiction” titles to cram in before the Fall gets here. You know the type… beach-worthy titles that just push you through a quick story.
Well, I found them over at BookChase. His latest review sold me Dan Ronco’s two books. Thank goodness for the blogoshpere. I was spending [...]

I was cruising through the AL.com Book Forum last night and ran across a new book blog in town, Breaking the Spine. I have to say I enjoyed flipping through all the posts and reading all the questions she poses to her readers. Might be fun to keep up with this one!

If I could be anywhere this week it would be up in Buffalo, New York, at this year’s Typecon. It kicked off yesterday and runs through the 20th. I really need to plan my summer vacations better… maybe next year. I mean surely some of the knowledge and skills of these guys would rub off, [...]