Book Bits

(from usatoday.com)

Jane Pauley's advice: It's never too late to reinvent yourself, TV personality Jane Pauley writes in her new book targeted to Baby Boomers, Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life. USA TODAY's Jocelyn McClurg interviews the former Today show host about making the most of life's second act.

'Invention of Wings': Will you be reading along to Oprah's Book Club 2.0? Patty Rhule gives the newest selection, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, a perfect four stars, lauding it as "a beautifully written book about the awe-inspiring resilience of America's enslaved people."

Tournament of books: The Morning News' Tournament of Books is back for its 10th year! As they put it: "ToB is an annual springtime event here at The Morning News, where a group of the best works of fiction from last year enter a March Madness-style battle royale." Books in the running range from award winners The Luminaries and The Good Lord Bird to less mainstream choices like At Night We Walk in Circles and Long Division. This year's judges include Jami Attenberg, John Green and Hector Tobar.

Burned books: The Traveler's Library in Lebanon was set on fire Friday by unknown arsonists, destroying tens of thousands of books. The alleged reason: The library's founder wrote an anti-Islamic article online and anti-Islamic writings were in the library.

In better library news: The L.A. Times has published a majestic photo gallery of American libraries, curated from photographer Carol M. Highsmith's more than 25,000 images that are stored at the Library of Congress.

Social reading: Who said reading is a solitary activity? Social reading platform Wattpad, "the world's largest community of readers and writers," doubled in engagement last year, with 41 billion minutes spent on the platform.

Self-publishing trends: The number of self-published success stories are growing, and so are the resources available to authors unattached to traditional publishing houses. PBS' Media Shift breaks down five key trends in the niche industry for 2014.

Howard bio: Artemis Cooper will write an authorized biography of late British novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, who died Thursday at age 90.