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Fat may not be the new vampire, but teen lit is alive with positive plus-size characters

Like never before, teen lit is alive with plus-size characters who take on their school tormenters and get the guy, soaking up self-esteem as football heroes and big-girl models.

Sony announces $399 e-book reader with wireless connection, taking on Amazon’s $299 Kindle

NEW YORK — Sony Corp. plans to offer an e-book reader with the ability to wirelessly download books, injecting more competition in a small but fast-growing market by adopting a key feature of the rival Kindle from Amazon.com.

Upcoming IREX e-book reader to include wireless access to Barnes & Noble e-bookstore

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — IREX Technologies Inc. said Monday that its upcoming electronic reader will include an application for accessing Barnes & Noble Inc.’s e-bookstore.

Reader’s Digest, laden with debt amid falling circulation, files for bankruptcy protection

Reader’s Digest Association Inc., publisher of the iconic general interest magazine that began gracing American homes in 1922 and now reaches a worldwide audience of 130 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday as it faces falling print circulation in the Internet age and looming debt payments.

Reader’s Digest, laden with debt amid falling circulation, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Reader’s Digest Association Inc., publisher of the iconic general interest magazine that began gracing American homes in 1922, on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it faces falling print circulation in the Internet age and looming debt payments.

Phones and PCs put e-book reading within easy reach, no Kindle needed

NEW YORK — A few weeks ago, Pasquale Castaldo was waiting at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a delayed flight, when a man sitting across from him pulled out an Amazon Kindle book-reading device.

Google to let Creative Commons license holders distribute work on Google Books

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. is now enabling authors and publishers who release their work under Creative Commons licenses to distribute it through Google Books, a free service that allows users to search and read books online.

More blood, Mr. Darcy? Supernatural spins on Jane Austen are monster success for publishers

LONDON — It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen novel in possession of added gore will be a surefire best-seller.

Clean sweep: Readers prefer “Julia” to “Julie”

NEW YORK —On paper and on screen, “Julia” is stealing the show from “Julie.”

Stockin’ up: Free e-books offerings are the latest craze

NEW YORK — James Patterson’s latest best seller, “The Angel Experiment,” is a little different from his usual hits. The novel isn’t new; it came out four years ago. Readers aren’t picking it up at bookstores, but mostly on the Kindle site at Amazon.com.

In latest bid for e-book customers, Sony will release $199 Reader, a third off Kindle price

SAN FRANCISCO — Electronic books are often mentioned in the same breath as Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle digital reader. Now e-book rival Sony Corp. is determined to recapture consumers’ attention with a smaller reader that’s also $100 cheaper.

A blog that became a memoir, that’s now a movie, Julie Powell of Julie & Julia found rare fame

NEW YORK — Julie Powell says she wasn’t thinking book or movie deal when she began blogging her recipe-by-recipe adventure through Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

More books in more places: New e-book reader to use AT&T network, imitating Amazon’s Kindle

NEW YORK — Following in the footsteps of Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle, another e-book reader is set to get a wireless connection from a cellular carrier, letting it access books anywhere there’s a signal.

With kids as young as 5 hooked on Harry Potter, parents struggle with older, darker themes

It’s a little-kid rite of passage: lugging Harry Potter to and fro, begging for toy wands and Hogwarts birthday parties. But the boy wizard is nearly grown, and the love of magic he inspires in the very young is now tinged with pure evil, dripping with teen hormones.

Shares of Barnes & Noble fall, analysts tepid on new e-bookstore

PORTLAND, Ore. — Shares in Barnes & Noble Inc. slipped Tuesday as the bookseller’s plans for a new electronic bookstore received a tepid response from investors and analysts.

Barnes & Noble goes after Amazon with new e-bookstore that offers titles in multiple formats

PORTLAND, Ore. — Barnes & Noble Inc. on Monday stepped up its fight in the small but highly competitive market for electronic books with the launch of a new e-bookstore offering titles to be read on a variety of devices.

Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘Angela’s Ashes,’ dies of cancer in NYC at 78

NEW YORK — Frank McCourt, the beloved raconteur and former public school teacher who enjoyed post-retirement fame as the author of “Angela’s Ashes,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning “epic of woe” about his impoverished Irish childhood, died Sunday of cancer.

Kindle minus the reading: Pirated copies of Orwell’s “1984″ pulled from Amazon.com’s e-reader

NEW YORK — A pirated e-book of “1984″ led to an Orwellian moment for Kindle customers.

From Amish fiction to vampire lit, Christian fiction branches out in ways both tame and edgy

DENVER — The Christian book business, optimistic that a little literary escapism might be an antidote for readers in hard times, is turning to bonnets, buggies and bloodsuckers.

Liz Balmaseda’s fictional debut steals from headlines with identity theft, drugs and justice

“Sweet Mary” (Atria Books Hardcover, 242 pages, $24.99), by Liz Balmaseda: Real estate agent and single mom Mary Guevara is preparing for work when U.S. marshals suddenly show up at her door.

Amazon lowers price of Kindle electronic reader to $299 from $359

NEW YORK — Amazon.com Inc. cut the price of its Kindle electronic reading device to $299 on Wednesday in an effort to attract more bookworms and make the gadget a mainstream hit.

“Girls from Ames” chronicles evolution of longtime friendships of 11 women from Midwest town

DES MOINES, Iowa — A year before it became a best seller, author Jeffrey Zaslow wondered if all the time he’d put into his book about the longtime friendship of 11 women would be wasted.

Review: Feeling like a twit on Twitter? Here’s a book for ‘tweeple’ in need of advice

SAN FRANCISCO — Sometimes Twitter can make newcomers feel like twits because the online messaging service isn’t as simple as it sounds.

For 80th anniversary of Anne Frank’s birth, museum will display her actual diaries

AMSTERDAM — The Anne Frank House museum says it will put the teenage Holocaust victim’s diaries and other writings on permanent display to commemorate what would have been her 80th birthday on Friday.

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