Book Bits

(from USA Today
By Lindsay Deutsch)


New and noteworthy: Noteworthy books on sale this week include Super Shred, a diet book for those getting a head start on their New Year's resolutions, and Rosarito Beach by M.A. Lawson, a novel that has been optioned for TV by CBS. Plus, check out a review of Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea Hotel by Sherill Tippins (*** out of four).

Elmore Leonard: Byliner has published two previously unseen stories by lauded crime writer Elmore Leonard, who died in August at 87. Both stories, "Confession" and "The Trespassers," were written in 1958 while Leonard worked at an ad agency in Detroit. Leonard wrote 50 novels including Get Shorty and Raylan.

Bibliotherapy: Reading can heal, literally. Doctors are now prescribing books to treat depression, reports The Boston Globe. A program in the United Kingdom that launched in June advocates for "a planned reading program designated to facilitate the recovery of patients suffering from mental illness or emotional disturbance."

Great audiobooks: Rest your eyes and delve into the world of audiobooks with this list of 10 greatest audio adaptions, including Slaughterhouse Five read by Ethan Hawke and Not Taco Bell Material read by author and podcaster Adam Carolla.

Writers' routines: E.B. White never listened to music while writing. Jack Kerouaconce had a ritual of writing by candlelight and praying before he brought pen to paper. Susan Sontag would never take calls in the morning. Whether you're an aspiring writer or simply a fan, Brain Pickings' compilation of the daily routines of famous writers is a fascinating read. Plus, check out the site's visualization of famous writers' sleep habits and literary productivity.

Death of Neruda: While a toxicology report has proven that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda died of natural causes in 1973, some of his family still contends that the famed writer and activist was poisoned by the Pinochet regime. At The Guardian, Neruda biographer Adam Feinstein explains why the death remains a mystery.

'The Last Bookstore': Read a humorous (and very, very bleak) short story by Susan Coll, a writer who works at the Washington, D.C., bookstore Politics & Prose, about the sad state of bookstores. Spoiler alert: It includes Amazon and drones.