Random Notes on Wednesday

Noticed this on the Shelf Awareness website:

Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show: John Updike whose new book is The Widows of Eastwick (Knopf, $24.95, 9780307269607/0307269604). The show also offers a tribute to the late Michael Crichton.

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Bookreporter.com has a bunch of new weekly contests starting this holiday season:

From November 7th through January 5th we will spotlight a different title or collection of titles, and readers will have the chance to win one of five holiday baskets filled with winter-themed items as well as two copies of the featured book(s). Why two? One is to keep, of course, and one is for someone on your holiday gift list. We will also include festive wrapping paper to make the gift-giving hassle-free.

This week’s giveaway is featuring The Spy Who Came for Christmas by David Morrell; next week it’s Rita Mae Brown’s Santa Clawed.

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Also in today’s issue of Shelf Awareness, there’s an offer for an advance reading copy (while supplies last) of The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution by Denis Dutton. It’s due out in December, from Bloomsbury Press (“. . . overturns a century of art theory and criticism and revolutionizes our understanding of the arts”).

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Mark your calendar (if you live in the Washington, DC area): On December 4th, 7PM at Politics & Prose Bookstore (5015 Connecticut Avenue NW), Toni Morrison will be the evening's guest author, discussing or reading from her new novel, A Mercy. From the Politics & Prose website: This is a ticketed event. Tickets are $12, or receive 2 free tickets with the purchase of a book ($23.95). Call P&P at 202-364-1919 for ticket and book purchase.