HAPPY HOLIDAY AND NEW YEAR!!

Literary Barbie wants to wish all of you a happy holiday and safe new year!!

Thank you to all the readers who have supported us throughout the year!

Next year will be big and we are definitely excited!




*Literary Barbie and Family*

Irving explores bisexuality in latest best seller

(Reuters) - Author John Irving's latest book, "In One Person," is his most politically charged novel since his 1980s best sellers, "The Cider House Rules" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany."

Irving's 13th book is about a bisexual boy from rural Vermont named Billy Abbott who has crushes on the wrong people, including his town's transgender librarian. He learns to navigate his relationships in a world that consistently views him as suspect.

After its release last month, "In One Person" quickly became a best seller and earned praise from Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
Irving, 70, spoke with Reuters about the politics of his latest novel, bisexuality and recurring themes in his work.

Q: LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues are a hot political topic right now, but the discourse doesn't touch much on the "B" or "T" as frequently. Why choose to write Billy as bisexual and include several transgendered characters?

A: "For many gay men of my generation, the bisexual man was disbelieved. He was perceived for the most part as a gay guy who lacked the courage to come all the way out of the closet. I think young gay men today are far more accepting or tolerant of the bisexual man than many gay men of my generation were. It was purposeful on my part to make Billy a bisexual so that he would feel the sting of that solitariness and be aware of the distrust of his gay and straight friends alike.

"That was a deliberate choice, just as it seemed only logical to me for a character like Billy that he would find these two transgender women at either end of his life - of different ages and from different eras - very sympathetic if only because he recognizes that they are as marginalized and distrusted by society as he is.

They are as you say the "BT" part the "LGBT" abbreviation, but they get a little less attention - that's all. I was very conscious of making that choice for exactly those reasons. If you're going to test the waters of our tolerance for sexual differences, well let's really test it."

Q: "In One Person" takes place over Billy's lifetime, so he is about your age when he is looking back and retelling things. From that perspective, how do think the plight of sexual minorities has changed over that time?

A: "I guess you could say that our tolerance for sexual differences is better or different than it was in the late 1970s when ‘The World According to Garp' was published. But if I felt our tolerance of sexual differences was perfect, I don't think I would have had this novel on my mind for 10, now almost 12 years, or I wouldn't have written it at all. So I wouldn't say that our tolerance of sexual differences is what it should be.

"Witness the Republican Party, witness the lineup of clowns who are indulging in righteous gay-bashing, right up to (Mitt) Romney's ascendance to the throne, and Romney has subscribed in kind. His position on gay rights issues is lamentable, to be kind."

Q: In the book you draw a lot on plays and novels - "Madame Bovary," Norwegian playwright Ibsen, Shakespeare. Why?

A: "It seemed that the childhood of this character was fortunately imaginative. He had some preparation from the world of theater and the world of books for the sexual difficulties he would face. I think literature is a support system for many people who find themselves in a sexual minority. It isn't just that he has the support or encouragement of a good, albeit unusual librarian, and that he has the love of an unusually good stepfather. In Shakespeare, in Ibsen, he finds some pretty powerful testimonies for sexual differences."

Q: Certain themes surface repeatedly in your novels - some politically-tinged issues, unusual sexual relationships, absent parents, wrestling, New England, etc. Why these common threads, and what motivates you to return to them?

A: "Many of the so-called common things you mention to me are kind of superficial landmarks, like the landscape of northern New England.

"I would say a more common thread that doesn't often get mentioned to each of my novels is an element of predetermination, an element of fate. Where they are going is something the reader can see from very early on, this novel being no exception - a story that begins in the 1950s and '60s and you're already listening to the voice of an older man as you have in 'In One Person.'

"It's the story of a bisexual boy, and you're meeting various gay friends and lovers. I'm not giving anything away, but the reader knows an AIDS epidemic is coming, and many of these characters you're meeting are not going to get through it. There's always an element of that kind.

"Everyone from Sophocles to Shakespeare to Thomas Hardy to Nathaniel Hawthorne - their most interesting work was about challenging sexual relationships. I don't think there's anything new about it.

Hamlet is a sex story. Othello is a sex story. Macbeth is a dysfunctional marriage story. I didn't invent these things, I read about them in so-called classical literature. People have found sexual relationships the most trying and important parts of their lives since before Shakespeare."

Mistress Tells Her Side Of John Edwards Affair In book

(Reuters) - Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' former mistress, writes in her new book that the two-time presidential candidate told her he had at least two previous affairs and also fabricated three other relationships so she would not become too attached, ABC News reported.

Hunter's book, "What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter, and Me," is set to be released on June 26. It follows Edwards' federal trial in North Carolina, which ended in May with an acquittal on one campaign finance charge and a mistrial on five others after the jury deadlocked.

The Justice Department announced last week that it would not re-try the former U.S. senator.

Edwards, 59, was accused of seeking more than $900,000 from two wealthy supporters to conceal Hunter and her pregnancy with his child from voters during his unsuccessful bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination four years ago.

At the time, Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer. She died in December 2010.

ABC News said it had obtained a copy of Hunter's book, in which she defends John Edwards' innocence in the criminal case while also revealing that he had affairs with at least two other women prior to 2004.

Hunter said Edwards made up three additional mistresses - supposedly in Chicago, Los
Angeles and Florida - during the early part of their relationship, which began after they met at a New York City hotel in February 2006, because he did not want Hunter to become too attached to him.

She said Edwards told her he had broken up with the fake mistresses before conceding that he had fabricated them.

Hunter wrote that Edwards confessed to having the other affairs but that he led her to believe that she was the last.

Hunter blames Elizabeth Edwards for driving John Edwards to cheat. She describes Elizabeth Edwards in unflattering terms, calling her "crazy," "venomous," and a "witch on wheels."

Hunter said she regretted allowing John Edwards' political aide, Andrew Young, to publicly claim paternity for the daughter Edwards had fathered.

"Of all the things that happened in my relationship with Johnny the thing that I regret the most is going along with this stupid idea and allowing this lie to go public," Hunter wrote, according to ABC News.

Edwards eventually admitted the child was his.

Hunter later sued Young over ownership of a video of her having sex with Edwards, which in her book she says she filmed at Edwards' request while traveling with him in Uganda.

Hunter said she wrote the book to provide her now 4-year-old daughter, Frances Quinn, with a truthful public account of "how she came into the world."

She writes that Edwards is involved in their daughter's life but does not shed much light on the current status of their relationship.

"I really have no idea what will happen with us," she wrote, according to ABC News. "The jury is still out. But I can honestly say that the ending is of no concern to me anymore. The love is here. And as sappy as it may sound, I love living in love."

Twitter co-founder to publish life lessons in "old media"

(Reuters) - Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is planning to dish up some life lessons that will need more than 140-character bursts.

Stone, 38, is working on a book about creativity called "Things a Little Bird Told Me" that will relate stories from his life and career and encourage others to be think outside the box, Grand Central Publishing said on Monday.

"I've found that my experiences resonate with a very wide array of individuals at different stages in their lives," Stone said in a statement. "I'm excited to create a physical artifact to share the lessons I've learned."

Grand Central's executive editor Ben Greenberg said the book would "reveal how his creativity works and will help readers apply those principles to their own lives."

Stone co-founded Twitter with Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey in 2006, creating a micro-blogging service that allows users to send messages of up to 140 characters and which now has some 140 million active users.

Stone also helped to create and launch social networking site Xanga, blog publishing service Blogger, and most recently, The Obvious Corporation, which aims to help people work together to make the world smarter and healthier.

The Twitter co-founder has previously published two books on blogging, 2002's "Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content" and "Who Let The Blogs Out" in 2004.

"Things a Little Bird Told Me" is due for publication in April 2014.

JK Rowling's first adult novel will be "blackly comic"

(Reuters) - J.K. Rowling's first book for adults will be a "blackly comic" novel set in an idyllic English town where all is not what it seems, its publisher said on Thursday.

The title of the closely guarded 480-page novel by the prolific "Harry Potter" author will be "The Casual Vacancy." It and will be available worldwide in English on September 27 in hardback, e-book and in audio form, Little, Brown and Company said in a statement.

The publisher promised it will be "blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising," and offered some general plot details.

Rowling's foray into the adult fiction world begins when a character called Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly, leaving a town called Pagford in shock, before readers will realize that behind Pagford's facade is a town at war, according to the publisher.

"Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupil ... Pagford is not what it first seems," said the statement.

"And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?"

When the novel was first announced in February, Rowling, 46 said the successful "Harry Potter" series had given her the "the freedom to explore new territory." The seven-book series sold 450 million copies worldwide and resulted in eight top-grossing movies.

"The Casual Vacancy" is the British writer's first novel directly aimed at the adult market.

Jazz musician Herbie Hancock to pen memoir

(Reuters) - Jazz musician Herbie Hancock will reveal intimate details of his career in a memoir due for release in fall 2014, Viking Press said on Tuesday.

Hancock, 71, has become a pioneering force in the jazz and blues music world, earning 14 Grammy awards and an Academy Award over his five-decade career, and seeing many of his songs become music staples.

"There are few artists in any genre who have had a career as rich and influential as Mr. Hancock's, and his memoir promises to be not only the record of a remarkable life and career but a singular chronicle of one of the most fertile periods in the development of jazz," said Clare Ferraro, president of Viking Press.

The pianist and composer, from Chicago, rose to fame in the 1960s playing with trumpeter Miles Davis in his "second great quintet," and composed hits such as "Watermelon Man," "Chameleon" and "Cantaloupe Island."

Hancock is currently an ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), pledging to use music to cross cultural boundaries and promote literacy and creativity among youth around the world.

Book celebrating Romney quotes to be published

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A book celebrating quotes from Mitt Romney will be published in May, citing everything from the Republican presidential contender's views on Mormonism to healthcare as well as his corporate background, publisher Threshold Editions said on Wednesday.

"Mitt Romney In His Own Words" will be released in May and compiled by author Philip Hines, who also authored an unofficial quote book on basketball player LeBron James. It will be written in the style of "I, Steve," a book which offered quotes by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs that was rushed to the marketplace after Jobs died in October.

The collection of quotes on "hot button-issues" by the former Massachusetts Governor will be published as a paperback by Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, the publisher said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the publisher described the book as "pro-Romney," but said Romney did not authorize the book.

A description of the book on the publisher's website described it as an "essential collection of Romney's direct quotes, past and present," and "is an invaluable primer that crystallizes his stance on domestic and social issues; national security; the economy; health care; and much more."

It cited several quotes that will be included in the book from Romney's past, including one from Romney's 2007 "Faith in America" speech during which he said, "I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith."

Romney is leading the delegates race for the Republican presidential nomination but is facing a strong challenge from Rick Santorum as the party's candidate to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Author defends "Doonesbury" abortion strip

(Reuters) - "Doonesbury" author Garry Trudeau on Friday defended an upcoming strip that some newspapers rejected and others have questioned because it deals with a Texas abortion law the cartoonist described as "lunacy."

The law, which went into effect earlier this year and requires abortion providers perform an ultrasound before the procedure, is intended to give pause to pregnant women and possibly motivate them to reconsider their decision.

Trudeau said in an email that the "party of limited government," a reference to Republicans, has legislated "onerous preconditions for a perfectly legal procedure" and withdrawn funds for reproductive health services that prevent unwanted pregnancies.

"This is happening in statehouses across the country," Trudeau said in the statement. "It's lunacy, and lunacy, of course, is in my wheelhouse."

A similar bill was signed into law earlier this week by Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell.

The cartoon's story line for Monday through Saturday tells of a woman who goes to a Texas clinic to have the procedure and is forced to get a sonogram, said Sue Roush, managing editor for Universal Uclick, the syndicate behind "Doonesbury."

The cartoon ends with the woman going home to wait 24 hours before having the abortion, as the Texas law requires, Roush said. The woman is a new character in "Doonesbury," she said.

Editors from about a dozen newspapers have reached out to Universal Uclick with questions about the strip authored by Pulitzer Prize winner Trudeau, with some newspapers asking about whether an alternate strip will be offered, Roush said.

"I would imagine that some will make that choice" not to run the abortion-related strip, Roush said.

'OVER THE LINE'

In fact, Portland newspaper The Oregonian said on its website on Friday that it will not run the strip. The cartoon "went over the line of good taste and humor in penning a series on abortion using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page," wrote the paper's features editor.

The Los Angeles Times has decided to run the strip in the paper's Opinion section and use an alternate "Doonesbury" in its regular place, Nancy Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the paper, said in an email statement.

"When taken in its entirety the editors of the Los Angeles Times determined that the series is not appropriate for our comics pages," she said.

Media writer Jim Romenesko on his website cited a features editor with Minnesota newspaper St. Paul Pioneer Press who said the publication would run a substitution strip in print and direct readers online if they want to read the abortion cartoon.

It was not immediately clear which other newspapers may have elected to bar the strip, and Roush would not name the publications that asked questions of her company.

Universal Uclick is offering an alternate from a year ago for those newspapers that want it, Roush said.

In 1985, Trudeau and his syndicate reached a mutual decision not to distribute strips that satirized the anti-abortion movie "The Silent Scream" which they thought would be controversial. The New Republic magazine ultimately ran the strips.

The Texas law "Doonesbury" is highlighting has proved controversial since lawmakers approved it last year.

It requires abortion providers to perform an ultrasound on pregnant women, show and describe the image to them, and play sounds of the fetal heartbeat.

Women can decline to view images or hear the heartbeat, but they must listen to a description of the exam.

Carol Tobias, president of anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said the purpose of the law is to help women "make a life or death decision."

"This is an attempt to give women all the relevant information that is available," Tobias said.

A coalition of medical providers sued Texas officials last year over the law, arguing it made doctors a "mouthpiece" for the state's ideological message.

A U.S. district judge blocked parts of the statute, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturned that ruling and allowed the law to take effect.



Literary Barbie

Amanda Knox signs book deal with Harper Collins

(Reuters) - Amanda Knox, the American former college student cleared of murder in October by an Italian court, has sold her memoir to HarperCollins, a spokeswoman for the publishing house said on Thursday.

The HarperCollins spokeswoman declined to comment on financial terms of the deal or elaborate on plans for the book, saying further details would be released in a statement on Friday.

Representatives for Knox, a 24-year-old former University of Washington student convicted of murder while studying in Perugia, Italy, said she would have no comment.

A source familiar with the deal said Knox would tell her story in the memoir, including details of the sensational case and her imprisonment in Italy.

The book deal follows a bidding war between U.S. publishers over rights to any memoir written by Knox with a price tag expected to be well over a million dollars, according to book industry insiders.

The memoir was considered a hot property because the world has yet to hear all the details from Knox, who was found guilty in 2009 of murdering her 21-year-old British housemate, Meredith Kercher, and spent four years in prison.

An Italian court in overturned Knox's conviction in October.

Also cleared was her boyfriend, Rafaele Sollecito, leaving Ivorian drifter Rudy Guede as the only person convicted in a killing investigators believe was carried out by more than one person.

The New York Times has reported that Sollecito has retained a literary agent to shop a book of his own.

Knox was also convicted of slander over statements she made under police questioning that falsely implicated bar owner Patrick Lumumba in Kercher's murder.

Earlier this month her Italian attorneys asked an appeals court there to overturn that conviction as well.

Kercher's half-naked body was found with stab wounds and a deep gash in her throat in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, Italy in November of 2007.

Knox, a former University of Washington student, was released from custody following the ruling and returned home to Seattle, where she has largely avoided the public eye.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to all of you who support us here at Literary Barbie!

We are so excited for this year as we have many things planned that will keep most of you on your toes. 

Many of you are die hard literary heads, and with that in the upcoming months we will be making lots of noise in this new year.

We wish all of you all the best and many blessings as your year presses forward.



Literary Barbie