Square Pegs

This week’s top bestseller list comes from Powell’s. Mostly because we admire the chutzpah of those Oregonians. They’ve shoved Dan Brown down to the number three slot (Brown also occupies the fourth and fifth and ninth spots). Other Booksquare favorites, Neal Stephenson and Lynne Truss, make the list as well. For those who prefer a spot of tradition from your lists, we also offer you the BookSense and Publisher’s Weekly info. You know, the sad thing is we could spend our lives doing a list of bestseller lists. But we won’t. Portland Top Twenty BookSense Bestsellers Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller List

So Bill’s initial print run will exceed Hillary’s. In the end, it’s all about what’s remaindered, right? If Knopf is smart, they’ll keep the cover price below $25 so people will have to buy one more book to get the free shipping from Amazon. The book will be called My Life. Word is that Bill thought of the title himself. Yeah, with that kind of creative thought, I can’t wait to crack the binding. Bill’s book set to top Hillary: Print 1.5M copies for June debut

Supposing I accept the concept of hip Canadian writers (and, as I’m not sure I accept the concept of hip American writers, this is a stretch), I still have to wrap my brain around the concepts of: a) CanLit (Canadian literature), and b) HipLit (should not require explanation). And now it turns out the young CanLitters (you can see where this is just too much) are going Prairie, abandoning the drugs and excess that defined their predecessors. Are you with me? Yes, right, better to read the article. Lost in transition: Young Canadian writers of urban fiction are moving on.

Today’s PW Newsline is reporting that the New York Times Book Review is looking at ways to increase volume (by making reviews shorter) and to add more mass market (i.e., the stuff people buy and read) reviews. Sam Tanenhaus, the section’s editor, spoke at PW’s annual summit in Manhattan. Publisher’s Weekly

Publisher’s Lunch has scooped Drudge!!! Today’s Lunch reports that the publication date for Bill Clinton’s long-awaited (okay, I admit it — I hardly even give the book a passing thought) memoirs has been set. The book will precede the national conventions. Bill is apparently scheduled to meet with his publisher’s salespeople. Oh well, the scoop is less scoopy. The cat is out of the bag. Bill’s book will be published in late June 2004. He’ll speak (and, I suppose, sign or take photo ops) at this year’s BookExpo America. Expect large crowds and men in black. Publisher’s Lunch Clinton’s memoirs

And finally, for those of you who don’t head major corporations or have unique insight into the nineties, there is another option for publication: the hanger-on. In this case, Kevin Spacey’s brother (a Rod Stewart impersonator. Go figure.) will spill the dirt on the brother he affectionately calls a “weirdo.” Yeah, with family like this, who needs paparazzi? The good news is the bidding war has only just begun. My Brother Kevin Spacey’s a Lying Weirdo

Nothing like Monday morning for celebrity book deals, huh? Tina Brown, late of Vanity Fair and Talk and, I think, still a host of her own television show, was given beaucoup bucks to publish a story of the heady, crazy nineties. Set in a time where the poor grew rich and then poor again, The Icarus Complex will lay bare our greatest follies. Tina Lands a Random Book Deal

It is common knowledge that those who head successful multi-national corporations are excellent writers. After all, they have the time to spend crafting clever sentences and all that crafty stuff that makes for compelling reading. Okay, I’m making all this up. Just as Jack Welch before him, Sandy Weill of Citigroup will author a tome filled with management advice. Who reads this stuff? Head straight to the last item for the scoop. Rush & Malloy, 4/26/2004

I know it’s mean to make fun other people, but I can’t help myself. Seriously kids, if you’re gonna plagiarize, do it right. This is the age of the Internet and we can discover your secrets easily. Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11