AbeBooks' Reading Copy

More madness from Britain! Or is it? This could be best piece of literary marketing seen in decades. Knit Your Own Royal Wedding could be the book of 2011. Well done to the Ivy Press. Look at Kate and Wills on the cover, and there’s two little corgis too.

A man, and a former homeless man at that, has been shortlisted for a major romance writing prize. Tom Gamble, who slept rough in London and now lives in Paris, has been acclaimed by the Romantic Novelists’ Association for his debut novel, Amazir.

Here are some very good literary pick-up lines in case you see that hot librarian or have a crush on the assistant in your local bookstore. I like the simplicity of the Oscar Wilde line from Dorian Gray ““The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

With love in the air as Valentine’s Day looms, AbeBooks can offer a dose of hard reality with our latest list of recommended reading material. We have selected 25 examples of fiction featuring adultery, deceit, abuse, torture, obsession, murder, lies and poor decisions made in the name of romance. It’s a sort of anti-Valentine’s Day [...]

Candace Bushnell’s new book ‘The Carrie Diaries’ takes us back in time to introduce Carrie Bradshaw as a teenager.

The Washington Post has an interview with a wise-cracking Danielle Steel, who clearly wants to become a stand-up comedian when she grows up. Speaking of growing old, Danielle Steel isn’t. I’ve been in this job for five years now and every year she becomes younger. I can only think of Dorian Gray – she must [...]

The newest addition to Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High series sees the Wakefield twins nearing their thirties. Sweet Valley Confidential is due out in early 2011.

Erich Segal, the author of Love Story, died on Sunday after suffering a heart attack. He was 72. The book, which was turned into a huge movie starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw, was published in 1969 – he was a classics professor at Harvard at the time.

It’s Twilight week still … The Daily Beast has photos a dozen Twilight fans tattoo’s. While not the first to get literary ink I wonder if the series has the staying power to justify permanent body art.

Emily Bronte’s Mr Rochester voted the most romantic literary character.