Book News: Music Industry Books Abound & I Get Obsessed With Book Lists

Some weeks seem heavy on book-related movie news. This week, news from the book world seems to be largely music-related. Some highlights:

• Pretty Hate Machine by Daphne Carr: Journalist Carr wrote this book as an in-depth look at Nine Inch Nails' debut album. Galleycat reported this week that she is also selling a handcrafted edition on Etsy for only $25.
• Radiohead gave away free copies of the newspaper The Universal Sigh this week at various points around New York City. According to Galleycat, this was part of the promotion for their recently self-released album King of Limbs.

 I love lists more than the average person. It probably stems from my slight OCD. (Okay -- full on OCD in some cases -- as in: Don't. Touch. Things. On. My. Desk. This works particularly well with my middle school-age students, as you might imagine. Also, towels must be folded just so. Papers -- while there can be stacks of them -- must be straight and at right angles to whatever surface they are laying on... Yes. It just goes on and on.) The LA Times: Books website is one of my favorite book-news-related destinations because it is the king of lists -- for books, anyway. Be still my heart. Two amazing lists came out this week:

• "10 Mad Men Books to keep you going until 2012" via their book blog Jacket Copy: I'm not even a Mad Men watcher, but I  know that millions watch the AMC series. One of these days, I will get around to watching it. Perhaps these books will make me finally take the plunge!
• "The Reading Life: The nine best baseball books": I am always on the lookout for books about sports, especially to give as gifts to the males in my life (my dad, boyfriend's dad, even boyfriend on occasion).

Another fun site for book lists is LibraryBookLists.org. Featured lists include:

• Death at the Theater: Mysteries with Drama (literally)
• Drowned Towns (both fictional and non)
• Murder by Toaster: Mysteries with Surprisingly Lethal Weapons (bonsai trees, computer mouse cords, exploding cows, and more)

Since this has turned into a list-y kind of Book News post, here are three more book list links:

• EW's 12 Real Books by Fake People  (Whose authors are primarily soap opera actresses, but with Castle and How I Met Your Mother stars, too.)
• NPR's ongoing Three Books... series (Devoted to explaining our world using three books per topic. According to their website: "Why three? We live in a three-dimensional world, colored with hues that break down into a trio of primary colors. Three is a number that allows for conversation, completion, and understanding.")
• NPR's Reading List: Books to Help You Understand Japan (Lengthier than the 'Three Books...' segments. It works in tandem with the LA Times list I posted several weeks ago featuring books about earthquakes.)

Don't forget to sign up for this week's first-ever Favorite Reads Giveaway (Kaye Gibbons' Ellen Foster). Visit the blog on Monday for this week's winner and to find out what the next Favorite Reads Giveaway book will be!

This weekend, I will be continuing to enjoy The Help on audiobook from Audible.com, River Jordan's new memoir Praying for Strangers, and the upcoming (previously released in Ireland) Semi-Sweet by Roisin Meaney. All are excellent so far. Happy reading, and have a wonderful weekend!