Bill Clinton reads Jacket Copy, among other things

On July 4, I posted about the literariness of former President William Jefferson Clinton. You might have missed it -- understandable. A lot of people aren't reading blogs on the Fourth of July.

But someone was on the computer and told someone, and so on, and shortly thereafter Bill Clinton made his way to Jacket Copy. This was before, I assume, he was called on to help bring two journalists home from North Korea. In a window when he wasn't working with his foundation, taking meetings about the global economy, supporting Harlem businesses and doing all the other things he does. Heck, he used to be president: I have no idea where he finds the time to read a book blog. I'm just a blogger and I can barely find time to do laundry.

But read it he did. How do I know for sure? Because he offered a correction: His dinner with Bill Styron was in 1994, not 1999. Thanks, Mr. President. It's fixed now.

The main part of his note was to let me know what he's been reading lately. And I think that he wouldn't mind if I share that list with you. Here's a list of books Bill Clinton has been reading lately, from his own pen:

1. Steven Johnson's "The Invention of Air" and "The Ghost Map," esp. #1
2. Tom Zoellner's "Uranium"
3. Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," his best book.
4. John Bogle's "Enough"
5. Selden Edwards' "The Little Book"
6. Richard North Patterson's "Eclipse"
7. Andrew Greeley's "The Cardinal Sins" (now almost 30 years old)

If I had to guess, I'd wager the reason he made time to read a book blog was because Clinton, an author in his own right, really enjoys books. In that way -- even though he used to be president -- he's just like us.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: A letter from former President Clinton. Credit: paperhaus via Flickr.

Buying books in Bangalore, Screech and more book news

In case you're going to Bangalore anytime soon: save this great piece about the city's bookstores, new and used, with recommendations from locals. These days, street sellers aren't recommended. “Most pavement guys stock popular titles and bestseller novels that are pirated," says travel writer and photographer Arun Bhat. The pirated books' quality is often lousy, and some are printed with missing pages. "The booming piracy is mainly because of the pricing. A bestseller is usually expensive and by the time it appears in a second-hand store it could be a few years," Bhat explains.

Curious readers in the U.S. won't have to wait too long for the delayed book by Dustin "Screech" Diamond. While the "Saved by the Bell" alumnus may have been cut out of the recent reunion for People Magazine, he's still, um, the most overexposed, if you count his 2006 sex tape. Earlier this year, Gotham Books dropped the planned memoir from Diamond; the publisher cited scheduling issues in an Observer article, although the article says that may not be the end of the story. Now Transit Publishing -- which you'd think might be busy enough rushing an unauthorized Michael Jackson bio to shelves -- has said it will release Diamond's "Behind the Bell" on Sept. 29.

Perhaps Diamond's book, which is said to detail "sexual escapades," would be right for a reading at -- of all places -- the British Library. That esteemed institution, according to an essay in the London Times last week, is a hotbed of sexual tension. Because books are sexy.

All libraries are, of course, petri dishes of simmering lust, but the BL is extreme: its walls contain more erotic pressure than an oil rig, a North Sea fishing trawler and several series of "Mad Men" combined. And it turns out that I’m not alone in thinking so. In 2005, Olivia Stewart-Liberty reported in The Spectator that “the whole building sighs with hothouse groans, which swell and fade to muffle other sounds”; in 2006 a gay website exposed the British Library as a cottaging ground and the regular BL readers who I’ve discussed it with concur.

Not that we can agree as to why. Explanations put forward include: the intrinsic erotic appeal of women in pencil skirts, stockings and Sarah Palin spectacles telling you off; the intrinsic filthiness of all librarians (after all, Casanova was one); the enforced silence and bookish atmosphere, which conspire to make you want to do something loud and physical in response; the safety (the theory goes that people feel free to flirt without feeling obliged to take things farther); the presence of books, which after all, are intrinsically sexy and have been connected to seduction for hundreds of years; the unexpected corners.

Our friends at Bookninja point out that it's fine to be um, moved by books, but the library-as-erotic-hothouse may be entirely subjective. "Don’t assume that the librarian is giving you smoldering looks," the blog cautions, "when really she’s wondering if she should call security."

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Shiva behind a Bangalore shopping center. Credit: aplumb via Flickr

Tacky book publicity gambit of the week

With Michael Jackson's memorial dominating headlines this week, it's hard not to think about death. Or pop stars. Or people who are obsessed with the death of pop stars. Or, if you happen to be a publicist, how you could turn this new frenzy of attention to your advantage. Jacket Copy received this press release yesterday:

The unfolding of Michael Jackson's will and estate, and the confusion surrounding it, is a stark reminder of the importance of providing a plan for those we leave behind. Although a majority of Americans are aware that they need a will, about 70 percent don't have one. The irony is that for many, the legalities involved are not very complicated. Estate planning is largely the same.

Stephen Maples, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wills and Estates, Fourth Edition," is available to comment on the process Michael Jackson's family or others will have to contend with when dealing with the estate of a family member or friend who has recently died. He can discuss aspects to writing a will and how to start getting affairs in order.

Indeed. Well, they've gotten their publicity. But I won't be calling the "Idiot's Guide" author. Nor would I recommend that anyone who wants to leave their affairs in order begin at the idiot level; I'd say a lawyer is a safer bet.  

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: The hearse containing Michael Jackson's casket arrives at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Chinese writers pen Michael Jackson book in 48 hours

Two Chinese writers locked themselves up with coffee and cigarettes, no cellphones and no sleep for 48 hours -- and emerged with a finished Michael Jackson biography. "Moonwalk in Paradise" hit shelves this weekend, fewer than 10 days after the pop star's death. The newspaper China Daily reported:

The 130,000-word book, titled "Moonwalk in Paradise -- the Michael Jackson biography," written by Jiang Xiaoyu and Xing Han, and published by Chinese publishing house Xiandai was available for pre-order sales online on Friday and on bookshelves Saturday. ...

A report in China Youth Daily said the writers never met or interviewed Jackson and simply wrote the story from their "accumulated knowledge about the king of pop."...

[co-author Jiang Xiaoyu said] "I am not only a music critic but also a fan of the King of Pop, so I understand what fans really need.... fans cannot wait for months." 

Jiang Zengpei, a Chinese publisher, expressed concern about "instant books" like this one, which have begin making regular appearances in China. "Many instant books have been fabricated with information from other books or the Internet. Publishing, an important part of the culture industry, should be creative work."

Although U.S. publishers may be trying to rush Jackson products to shelves, domestic efforts are hardly instant. The earliest Jackson books will include an updated version of J. Randy Taraborrelli's 1991 biography "Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness," coming out as "Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story: 1958-2009" on Aug. 5 from Hachette, and "Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson" due Aug. 18. 

Here in L.A., Jacksonmania continues: Over the weekend, 1.6 million people signed up for a lottery for the memorial to be held at the Staples Center, and the winners queued up this morning -- radios blaring Jackson music, of course -- to pick up their tickets.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Michael Jackson with mime Marcel Marceau in rehearsal in 1995 for an unaired HBO television special "Michael Jackson: One Night Only." Credit: Kathy Willens / Associated Press

An American writer: Lewis Black

Comedian Lewis Black was born in Washington, D.C., in 1948 and brought up in Silver Spring, Md. He first did stand-up when he was studying at the University of North Carolina, and he went on graduate from the Yale School of Drama. A long career in the theater -- including the 40 plays he's written plays -- has been eclipsed by his intense, ranting comedy persona, made popular on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."

Black's most recent book, "Me of Little Faith," came out in paperback last month.

In a video on his website, he gives advice to aspiting writers.

I would just like to say to those of you who are thinking of writing a book: don't. Unless of course you get great joy out of sitting at a desk and staring into space wondering why you agreed to write a book, and now you haven't got one thought in your head... What's the worst thing about writing a book? Remember what it was like when you were a kid Sunday, late afternoon, just after a really great weekend -- you hadn't thought about school at all. And just as the sun begins to fade into darkness, you hear your mother: she says, 'did you do your homework?' that's what every day is like until the book is written... you have homework every day. It never stops. It's always there... there are few things worse in this life than homework every day.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Lewis Black in West Hollywood on June 29. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images

Unauthorized Michael Jackson bio: Remarkably timed

A Montreal publisher has incredible timing -- its unauthorized biography of Michael Jackson had just gone to the printer on June 24, the day before the pop singer's unexpected death. Publisher Pierre Turgeon halted the presses so author Ian Halperin could write a new ending, and the book, previously titled "Michael Jackson: Return from Exile" quickly became "Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson."

"Unmasked" is likely to be one of the first posthumous Michael Jackson biographies to hit shelves. There are rumors that an American publisher has already bought the U.S. rights.

According to a report in Quill & Quire, Turgeon's company, Transit Publishing, was launched sometime after the 2005 bankruptcy of his earlier house, Trait d'Union. In March of this year, Turgeon pleaded guilty to fraud charges in Quebec and was fined. He's also been found to owe a former partner $600,000. But since the new company is not connected to the old one, the partner says, "He is off the hook."

Ian Halperin has experience writing unauthorized bios of musicians, including "Celine Dion: Behind the Fairytale," "Who Killed Kurt Cobain?" and "Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain." He has claimed -- most recently on June 29 in a piece in the Daily Mail -- that Michael Jackson was dangerously thin and that he had a genetic condition that damaged his lungs, leaving him unable to sing.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Rusty Kennedy / Associated Press

Chuck Barris's new camp murder mystery

Sometimes a title grabs you, and in this case it was a book with the somewhat silly murder-mystery title "Who Killed Art Deco?" And when I picked up a copy from our book room -- an advance, without the final art -- I was surprised to see that the author was Chuck Barris.

That Chuck Barris. The host of the 1970s TV hit "The Gong Show" and creator of "The Newlywed Game." The one who wrote the pop song "Palisades Park." Whose memoir, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," said he had worked for the CIA, something so preposterous that it was almost believable. It was later turned into a film of the same name; George Clooney directed.

So what's an ex-TV-host, ex-possible-CIA-assassin to do at age 80 but write a murder mystery?

With all the skepticism in the world, I picked up "Who Killed Art Deco" -- and promptly read the first 96 pages. It's silly and swift and filled with off-kilter characters that Barris nails in a few sentences. "Eddie Cantelone was a twenty-five-year-old lying, sleazy scuzzbag," and "Hattie Strange ... and her husband, Morgan Strange ... were far more hateful and bigoted than most of the members of the Methodist church congregation they belonged to." In other words, it's really fun.

Depending on how you count, it's either Barris' third novel or his fifth (two of his six books are in a mysterious fictional-memoir zone). He's got it down.

If you want to read a book that's a bit like "The Royal Tennenbaums" meets "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" with a dead body thrown in -- on page 97, to be exact -- "Who Killed Art Deco?" is totally your style.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Chuck Barris at Book Soup in 2007.

Credit: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images 

Michael Jackson's bookstore visits leave a collectible behind

Michael Jackson wasn't the only celebrity who'd shop at Elliot Katt Books on the Performing Arts in West Hollywood, but he was, perhaps, one of the friendlier ones. "The owner got to know him fairly well," says Malcolm Bell, a friend and colleague. "On one occasion he asked him to sign a copy of his book."

That's where the personalized edition of Michael Jackson's 1988 biography comes in. Bell listed the book on EBay today for $999 (the "Buy it Now" price is $1,500).

"I think there's a lot of fans right now that would like to have this book," Bell said, noting that Jackson's death had left him in shock. "It brings back memories of Elvis Presley's passing."

Elliot Katt's bookstore, which carried high-end books on the performing arts, has been closed for some time. Six or seven months ago, he left just one item from his collection with Bell to sell on commission -- his signed "Moonwalk" by Michael Jackson.

Bell runs the independent Mystery and Imagination Bookstore in Glendale with his wife. Katt's bookstore, he says, was a "fine-quality cinema bookshop." Now in his 70s, Katt has retired, Bell says, to Arkansas -- far from the neighborhood where a pop star was a regular customer.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

When can we read John Sayles' new book?

 

The manuscript clocks in at 1,000 pages and bears the sadly ironic title "Some Time in the Sun." It would be the fourth novel from John Sayles -- would be, that is, if it had a publisher. Josh Getlin reports:

"I've been done with it for six or seven months, and it's out to five or six publishers," he said quietly [to a New York audience who attended a recent reading]. "But we haven't had any bites yet."

John Sayles, Oscar-nominated creator of "Return of the Secaucus 7," "Lone Star," "Matewan" and other movies, is having trouble getting a book deal.

Those who are more familiar with Sayles' film work might be surprised to learn that he is also a National Book Award nominee, for his 1977 novel, "Union Dues." When that book was reissued in 2006, Sayles told NPR, "There is that tension always that I want to create between what's this beautiful thing in the background and what's being said in the foreground, and is there any match to it."

In "Some Time in the Sun," Sayles explores the 1898 war between the U.S. and Spain over the Philippines. In that conflict, Getlin writes, Sayles saw "an eerie precursor of U.S. military exploits in Vietnam." His article continues:

"Some Time in the Sun" -- like his films -- blends vivid human portraits with historical events and brilliantly captures individual voices. In addition to his raucous newsboys, it spotlights African American and white soldiers fighting in the Philippines, fast-buck artists who help create the motion picture industry, and features cameos by Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, William Randolph Hearst, Damon Runyon and other historical figures.

Until -- or unless -- the book finds a publisher, that's all we're likely to read of it.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Jim Beaver's moving story of loss and survival

You might recognize Jim Beaver as the actor who played Whitney Ellsworth on the HBO series "Deadwood"; that was all I knew of him before I picked up "Life's That Way," his memoir that hits shelves tomorrow. I cracked it open with all the skepticism I reserve for Hollywood memoirs, figuring I could toss it aside after a few pages. That would have been a mistake. 

It's not just that Beaver has a powerful story to tell. It's that he writes with a frankness, immediacy and generosity that draws in the reader. It's that voice that compelled friends who got his initial e-mails to share them (the recipient list grew to 4,000). This book is an edited selection of those e-mails, which Beaver began sending out when his family got some very bad news.

Beaver's wife, Cecily Adams, an actress and casting agent and daughter of "Get Smart's" Don Adams, had endured difficult fertility treatments before the birth of their daughter. When the strangely withdrawn toddler was diagnosed with autism, the news was devastating. But things got worse: Six weeks later, they learned that Cecily was very sick. That's when Jim began sending the e-mails, as a way to keep their circle of friends up to date without having to repeat the news: Cecily, who'd given up smoking about 20 years earlier, had Stage 4 lung cancer.

Life is, I've discovered, much harder to live when you're afraid every moment. One still persists, perseveres, plods on into the light, but there's a dull sickness in the gut pervading the journey. One fights not just the cancer, but also the fear of cancer and the myriad other fears that seek to gain strength from their alliance with it. The operative term, though, is "one fights." We fight on.

This determination and anxiety carries through the first part of the book, every step that can be taken, every hurdle that can be surmounted. He is not ceaselessly cheery; he is overtired, overburdened, and calls on friends to pray (or hum, if they don't pray). And while struggling, he often cranes to see the long view.

With all the thousands upon thousands of people suffering from this disease, how can I find her pain and mine so surprising, so unexpected? How can we not all know about this stuff on a daily basis, if so many go through it? Are we really so isolated from the trauma and torment around us? ... How can I not have known what so many people have gone through? The only answer I can conjure is that a kind Providence keeps us blind to the intensity of suffering so as to keep us sane, until that day when the suffering is our own or that of someone we love beyond imagining.

He is, by turns, entirely open and aware of maintaining some boundaries. "I would never want any of this stuff I write to seem cloying or artificial," he writes on Nov. 12. "It might be cloying, to the observer, but there's nothing artificial about it." And then, less than two weeks later: "There are fears and imaginings and speculations and even hopes that pop up uncalled for in the night that you don't even voice out loud to yourself, much less share with the world. So in the interest of full disclosure, this ain't Honest John you're dealing with."

What comes after the jump is something of a spoiler. Proceed with caution.