M2 Best Books articles from December 2003

M2 Best Books archives from December 2003

GBP1million renaissance book found in school.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A rare renaissance prayer book, with an estimated value of GBP1m has been found at a school in the UK. The 'Book of Hours' was discovered by a British Library curator at St Edmund's...

School left with no library materials in legal wrangle.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The contents of a Scottish school's library are unavailable to students following a legal dispute between storage company Pickfords and Ballast Plc who were refurbishing the school. ...

Book cover gives ammunition to American right.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Book jackets on US editions of books often differ to the ones on the UK editions, in some cases even the title is changed. For Paul Krugman the changes made by his UK publishers have thrown...

UAE to hold 22nd World Book Fair.(United Arab Emirates)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Sharjah Department of Culture and information in the United Arab Emirates will hold its 22nd World Book Fair between 6 and 15 December 2003. The fair will feature over 100,000 books...

Sinn Fein president's book ad banned.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A radio advert promoting a new book by the president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, has been banned by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. The radio campaign, which was due to be start...

WH Smith hopes staff can help plug pensions gap.(WH Smith Group PLC)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Bookseller WH Smith has opened talks that could lead to the company asking staff to contribute up to 8% of their salaries to plug a pensions gap of GBP150m. WH Smith has announced that...

Publishers try to sidestep discount negotiations.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Publishers that are feeling the pressure to give discounts to booksellers have apparently started to try and avoid awkward negotiations by cutting cover prices themselves. Picador and...

Agathe Von Trapp debunks the myths in 'The Sound Of Music'.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD As a member of one of the most well-known families in the world, Agathe Von Trapp has done a remarkable job of staying anonymous, but now at the age of 90, she has decided to set the record...

Fired Boeing executive's book flies into trouble.(Michael Sears' book on management and business ethics)(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD As predicted by reports last week, former Boeing executive Michael Sears' book on new management and business ethics, 'Soaring Through Turbulence', has run into trouble. Publisher Wiley...

O'Reilly to release digital photography guide for professionals.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD For people ready to step up to the next level of digital photography, publisher O'Reilly is releasing the 'Digital Photographer's Handbook', written by professional photographer Ken Milburn....

Brazilian author wins 2003 Juan Ruflo Literature Prize.(Rubem Fonseca )(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Brazilian author Rubem Fonseca has won the 2003 Juan Ruflo Literature Prize, a leading Latin American literary award. The 78-year-old, whose most famous works are 'The Prisoners' and...

Kerstin Ekman receives August award.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Swedish author Kerstin Ekman has received this year's August prize for her book 'Skraplotter' (Lottery tickets). Ekman is the only author who has received the award twice. Nils...

Saudi poet killed in Algerian ambush.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Saudi poet and magazine publisher Talal al-Rasheed has been killed in an ambush in Algeria. Rasheed, well known in the Arabic world, was killed as he returned from a hunting trip in the...

Grammar book becomes surprise bestseller.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A book about English grammar, 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation', has become a surprise bestseller. Author Lynne Truss was surprised by the interest in...

Scholastic announces 'Read for 2004'.(Brief Article)
December 2, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Friday 5 December 2003 will see the Scholastic Read for 2004 event taking place in classrooms worldwide. Last year Scholastic said that 5 million children and 27,000 teachers from over...

Former royal speech writer wins children's book award.(SF Said)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A debut novelist, and former speech writer for the Crown Prince of Jordan, has won a Nestle Smarties Book Prize, the only literary award voted for by children. SF Said's 'Varjak's Paw',...

Publisher gives away 7000 books to commuters.(Lemniscatt; Netherlands)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Dutch publishing company, Lemniscatt, distributed 7000 free books on trains in Holland to promote reading and drum up business during the Christmas season. Lemniscatt staff placed over...

Watkins acquired by Duncan Baird.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Duncan Baird Publishing has acquired Watkins Publishing, with the aim of strengthening the marketing and commissioning for the imprint. Watkins will remain focused on publishing...

Online Spanish book distributor closes.(iLeon)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Despite its recent expansion, iLeon, an online distributor of Spanish and English language books, has closed after three years. Since the company's inception in November 2000 it has...

Random House merges literary and commercial divisions.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD More changes are afoot at Random House, where the group is to merge its literary and commercial divisions into one unit, dividing the group into four self-contained divisions - Ebury,...

Elizabeth Cowling wins British Academy Book Prize.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Elizabeth Cowling has become the first woman to win the British Academy Book Prize. Cowling, of Edinburgh University, won the third annual award for her work 'Picasso: Style and...

New York publisher heads for liquidation - report.(Context Books)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Context Books, a small independent publisher based in New York City, reportedly looks set for liquidation after failing to file a formal reorganization plan, a requirement of its Chapter 11...

Fears for Murdoch collection.(Dame Iris Murdoch)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD There are fears in the UK that the library of Dame Iris Murdoch could be sold to the United States. The collection of 1,000 books is on the market for GBP150,000, a price which has been...

Latin-American gay dictionary set for release in March 2004.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The very first Latin-American gay dictionary is reportedly being prepared by a Brazilian, an Argentine and a Chilean. Coordinator of Queer Studies at Buenos Aires University, Carlos...

Nordic Council literature prize candidates announced.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The candidates for the Nordic Council literature prize 2004 have been announced. For Denmark, the authors Vibeke Gronfeldt and Peter Nielsen have been nominated, for Finland Kari...

'Brick Lane' causes Bangladeshi backlash.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Critically acclaimed debut author Monica Ali has become embroiled in a row with the Bangladeshi community in the UK over their portrayal in her book 'Brick Lane'. Community leaders from...

Banned DH Lawrence paintings to go on show.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Replicas of paintings by author DH Lawrence are to go on public display, 70 years after they were banned and called an 'outrage upon decency'. The replicas will go on display in...

Search for new Paris Review editor narrows.(reports indicate position will go to either Brigid Hughes or John Jeremiah Sullivan)(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The search for the successor to the late George Plimpton as editor of the Paris Review has reached a new stage according to sources. Two names are now left, Brigid Hughes, the Review's...

Stephen King hospitalised with pneumonia.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Best-selling author and recent recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, Stephen King, is recovering in hospital from a bout of...

Doubleday signs up Phyllis Grann as senior editor.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Phyllis Grann has reportedly returned to her editorial roots with Doubleday. Grann will become senior editor at Random House's Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, acquiring six to ten...

Online Information 2003 dominated by publishers.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD About a third of the 250 exhibitors at Online Information 2003 in London are STM and professional publishers. The exhibition, which opened on 2 December, should attract over 11,000...

New biography charts influence of Stan Lee.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A new biography of Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk and other comic book icons, shows how important Lee has been to pop culture. As head of Marvel...

Bad sex award goes to Indian author.(Brief Article)
December 4, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The award for the year's most embarrassing and ridiculous description of sex in fiction has gone to Indian author Aniruddha Bahal, for the sexual encounters in his book 'Bunker 13'. The...

REVIEW: Orts and All - More Ribald Rhymes and Gay Doggery.(Book Review)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Clive Murphy's third book of verse takes a cynical, cutting view on life and gay lifestyles. Many of the poems seem to mock the apparent promiscuity that pervades the London (UK) gay scene,...

REVIEW: Genetic Destinies.(Book Review)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD I approached this book with trepidation, there is something frighteningly complex about the world of genetic science that I will never grasp, and so it scares me. There is a quote on the...

Independent store announces good and bad news.(Ruminator Books)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Troubled Minnesota independent bookstore, Ruminator Books, announced both good and bad news yesterday. The good news was that the Minnesota Department of Commerce has allowed the store...

The Centre for Children's Books to get new GBP6m base.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Centre for Children's Books in the UK has raised GBP6m to build a national centre dedicated solely to children's books and inspiring creativity in young people. Established in 1996...

Bertelsmann launches Chinese joint venture.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD German media giant Bertelsmann AG has acquired a 40% share in a private Chinese book chain based in Beijing. The deal is the first to take advantage of China's State Press and...

Comic book celebration may be cut short.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A new book celebrating the influence of comic book art of Marvel and DC comics from the post war era has become clouded in controversy as neither of the two comic giants had been consulted...

Reed Elsevier expects slow 2004.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Anglo-Dutch academic publishing house Reed Elsevier has announced that it expects a slow rate of growth in 2004. The publisher blames a soft education market and increased investment as...

Amazon meets with IDA Ireland over new European centre.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Amazon.com is reportedly in talks with IDA Ireland with a view to setting up a European operations centre in Dublin. The IDA, a government agency that oversees industrial development in...

New book follows George Washington's Christmas homecoming.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD In time for the holiday season, a new book recounts the journey made by George Washington back to his home in Mount Vernon in time for Christmas, after defeating the British in the War of...

France gets 'Order of the Phoenix'.(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The French edition of 'Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix' has been released, with preorders of over 250,000. The French translation has been at the top of Amazon France's...

McSweeney's publishes seven-volume Vollerman book.('Rising Up, Rising Down' by William T. Vollerman)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Independent publisher McSweeney's has released William T. Vollerman's first work of non-fiction since 1992 called 'Rising Up, Rising Down'. The 3,298-page work is a study of violence...

Pirkko Saisio receives Finlandia award.(for 'Punainen Erokirja')(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Finnish author Pirkko Saisio has received this year's Finlandia literature award for her book 'Punainen Erokirja'. The winner was chosen from six candidates by the literature...

Turkish publisher acquitted of inciting hatred.(Ragip Zarakola)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD A Turkish publisher put on trial for allegedly inciting hatred in Turkey has been acquitted. Ragip Zarakola was charged by the Turkish government after publishing a book called 'The...

Mountaineer wins 2003 Guardian First Book Award.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Robert Macfarlane has won the 2003 Guardian First Book Award for his book 'Mountains of the Mind'. Macfarlane, an English literature don at Cambridge University, collected the GBP10,000...

Publishers and Booksellers look for backlist success.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Publishers and booksellers are making plans to try and carry their successes of 2003 into 2004, without 'The Big Read' promotion in the UK and movie tie-ins. Penguin, which has nine...

Ottackar's add 70,000 sq ft to retail space.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Bookstore chain Ottackar's has turned up the pressure on its rivals by announcing deals for at least seven new stores in 2004/05, increasing its retail space to up to 70,000 sq ft, including...

Penguin and Harper-Collins face off in 'The Big Read'.(Penguin Books Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Penguin and Harper-Collins are squaring up as 'Pride and Prejudice and 'The Lord of the Rings' battle it out to claim the title of Britain's favourite book, in the final of 'The Big Read'....

Authors call for truth in ethnic writing.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Writers Kware Kwei-Armah and Diran Adebayo have said that ethnic writers have a duty to tell the truth about their communities and that, in the wake of anger of the portrayals of Bangladeshis...

Coetzee comes out to collect Noble Prize.(J.M. Coetzee)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Reclusive South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, reaffirmed his dislike of public life when he collected the 2003 Noble Prize for Literature. Delivering his Noble Lecture in Stockholm,...

Anti-Semitic tract removed from display.(Alexandria Library in Egypt )(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Alexandria Library in Egypt has withdrawn the display of a 19th century anti-Semitic tract after United Nations cultural officials questioned its exhibition. The first translation of...

Wiley reports uneven second quarter.(John Wiley & Sons)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Publisher John Wiley & Sons reported an uneven second quarter in which total revenue rose 3% and net income 13%, excluding a one-off USD12m tax benefit in last year's second quarter. In...

REVIEW: The Wired Homestead.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD This collection of written work by some of the world's foremost experts on the Internet and its place in society, provides a complicated and advanced look at how the web has affected our...

REVIEW: The Self-Defence Manual.(Book Review)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Authors Martin Dougherty and Perter Birdsall have created this book to inform individuals of the best methods to keep safe at all times. When I picked up this book I was expecting it to...

UK booksellers in Christmas price war.(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Booksellers in the UK are reportedly offering their biggest discounts ever in the run-up to Christmas, as an aggressive price war with supermarkets hots up. Even bestsellers, normally...

2003 Whiting Writer's Award winners announced.(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The winners of the 2003 Whiting Writer's Awards, presented by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, have been announced at a ceremony in New York. The awards for emerging writers of...

New audio version of 'A Christmas Carol' available.(from Listening Library)(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Just in time for Christmas a new audio version of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' is set for release. The 1992 truncated version, narrated by Patrick Stewart, was a major success...

Underdogs take the big prizes in British book awards.(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD While the big name British authors are picking up awards overseas, the British based literature awards have all been about recognising new talent. With the UK now printing over 120,000...

Shakespeare's Dark Lady unveiled?(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD One of the great literary mysteries may have been solved - that of the identity of the Dark Lady who features in so many of Shakespeare's sonnets. The 400-year old puzzle has drawn much...

New 'Dictionary of National Biography' set for release in 2004.(from Oxford University Press)(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Oxford University Press is to release this year's biggest book, 'The New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'. The 60-volume epic contains 50,000 biographies of great Britons...

Concluding part of Mao Zedong biography set for release.(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The second part of the biography of the late Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the Communist Party of China, is to be released. The 43-chapter book will cover his life between 1949 and his...

New Zealand author Janet Frame diagnosed with cancer.(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD New Zealand author Janet Frame has revealed that she is suffering from terminal cancer. The writer, who was shortlisted for the Noble Prize in October 2003, was told the news on her 79th...

Runeberg award candidates revealed.(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The candidates for the 2004 Finnish Runeberg award, a literature prize, have been revealed. The eight candidates are Johan Bargum, Margaretha Hupa, Rakel Liehu, Sofi Oksanen, Virve...

Complete list of known works by Sibelius published in Germany.(Jean Sibelius)(Brief Article)
December 9, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The German publisher Breitkopf & Hartel is to publish a complete listing of all the known works by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Each piece of work by Sibelius is accompanied by...

REVIEW: Leaves from the Fig Tree.(Book Review)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD 'Leaves from the Fig Tree', the memoir of Diana Duff, is a fascinating and compelling read straight from the first page. The reader is thrown straight into Duff's life with an introduction to...

Bookstores predict Christmas hits.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Ottakar's, Borders, Blackwell's and the independent Dulwich Bookshop have tipped Lynne Truss's 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' to be this year's Christmas best-seller in the UK. Rugby books...

e-book sales on the rise.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Sales of e-books have risen 64% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2003, according to Open eBook Forum, with the value of sales rising 37% from USD1.9m to USD2.6m. It is the first time...

Disgraced Times reporter's book on the way.(New Millennium will print Jayson Blair's "Burning Down My Masters' House")(Brief Article)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The publisher of 'Burning Down My Masters' House' by disgraced New York Times reporter Jayson Blair has said that it is a book full of surprises. New Millennium said that Blair, who was...

Education publishers look to future.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD This week's UBS media conference brought together three major education publishers, all of whom carried the same message: that 2003 and 2004 would only yield, at best, modest growth in the...

Americana Publishing shareholders asked to approve share issue.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Americana Publishing Inc, a New Mexico based multimedia publishing company, has asked shareholders to vote in favour of increasing the number of shares available in the company. The...

Mary Laven announced as new winner of John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Mary Laven has been named as the new winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize after the original winner refused the award. Author Hari Kunzru was originally announced as the winner for his...

Simon & Schuster lose senior non-fiction editor.(Amanda Harris leaves publisher)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Amanda Harris has left publisher Simon & Schuster UK after three years at the company. Harris was senior non-fiction editor, bringing in biographies by athlete Paula Radcliffe, actress...

BCA hopes to mimic crimes success with love.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD BCA, operator of book clubs such as World Books and Escape Fiction, is set to exclusively sell 12 romance novels by debut authors. The promotion called From The Heart will run from...

Hornby scoops 2003 London Award.(author Nick Hornby)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Best selling author Nick Hornby has won the London Award 2003 and was presented with the prize of a first edition of Charles Dickens' 'David Copperfield'. Hornby was chosen by the nine...

Rowling's father sells Harry Potter collection.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD JK Rowling's father has put his collection of signed Harry Potter first editions up for auction. Peter Rowling has not given a reason for the sale but he hoped to raise USD130,000 from...

British Book Awards shortlist announced.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The shortlist for the British Book Awards has been announced, with ten books chosen from 269 nominations. The shortlist includes 'Brick Lane' by Monica Ali, Zoe Heller's 'Notes on a...

Danish police solve 25 year old library theft.(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Danish police have arrested four people in connection with one of the biggest thefts of cultural artifacts in Denmark. Antiques, books, maps and documents - some 3,220 in total - went...

REVIEW: Saracens, Demons, and Jews.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Debra Higgs Strickland's study of monsters, demons and the growth of anti-Semitism in Medieval art fails to rise above the level of dry analysis within the context of the crusades. What...

Business author conducts book signing on train.(Tom Peters promotes 'Re-Imagine' with book signing on Heathrow Express)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD American management author Tom Peters conducted his first ever UK book signing in an unusual setting - a train. Peters, in the UK promoting his new book 'Re-Imagine', signed copies of...

Nelson Book Group announces new fiction imprint.(Nelson Book Group forms WestBow Press)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Thomas Nelson has announced the launch of a new imprint which will publish commercial fiction books, as the Nelson Book Group looks to broaden its publishing list. WestBow Press will...

Doubleday and Knopf launch mass-market imprint.(Doubleday Broadway, Knopf Vintage agree to joint mass-market imprint)(Brief Article)
December 11, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Doubleday Broadway and Knopf Vintage, both Random House publishers, are joining forces to create a new mass-market imprint. Doubleday, known more for its hardback releases, and Knopf, a...

Library receives GBP3m to save Frankenstein manuscript for the UK.(National Heritage Memorial Fund donates funds to Oxford University's Bodleian Library)(Brief Article)
December 12, 2003... M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The UK's National Heritage Memorial Fund has given Bodleian Library at Oxford University GBP3m to save an original Frankenstein manuscript for the country. The manuscript signed by the...