Book News Round-Up

Happy 4th of July, bookworms!

• There will be no "60 Years Later" for Holden Caulfield. A judge in Manhattan has blocked the publication of the proposed Catcher in the Rye sequel because it is too similar to J.D. Salinger's original work. The reclusive author brought a lawsuit against the author of the proposed sequel last month.
  
• Oprah's going indie! 7 independently-published books are on her "25 Books of Summer" list this year. Though only one independent book has made it past the O-meter in the last 13 years, this year's list boasts a number of indies, including Seth Grahame-Smith's revision of Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
  
• The sci-fi genre includes a wide range of books and sub-genres. There are a few definitive sci-fi books that have even launched the start of a new sub-genre. io9 has compiled a list of these books and their sci-fi spin-offs.
• Entertainment Weekly wants to know how you will prepare for the newest upcoming Harry Potter film. The PopWatch blog argues that re-reading the book before the movie's release means that the movie will lose it's ability to surprise viewers who don't remember the ending. I personally cannot forget the ending of the book, so I'll probably re-read Half-Blood Prince at some point this summer.
• The New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council has released its Spring 2009 Top 10 books for young adults. According to the website, the list is a "bi-annual attempt to identify as many high-quality titles as possible" from the multitude of children's and young adult books published. Included on the Spring 2009 list are Gayle Forman's If I Stay and Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls.
  
• Alice Hoffman might want to rethink her Twitter policy. The author took to Twitter to criticize a reviewer of her latest book. Though Hoffman might have had a point initially, her tweets became excessively harsh and mean, directly attacking the reviewer by name. Hoffman's offense, rather than defense, turned some people off. Her Twitter account was soon deleted and she issued an apology through her publicist. It remains to be seen how this will affect future reviews - and book sales.
  
• At last, a solution to odor-less Kindles. Some book lovers, such as myself, resist e-book readers because real books provide a scent, a smell that distinctly says "book." Now, there's a compromise: Smell of Books, an "aerosol e-book enhancer" that lets you have "the best of both worlds: the convenience of an e-book and the smell of your favorite paper book." What on earth will we think of next?