Between the Covers 06/10/13

What's really going on in the world of books

Following July’s story about a weird new brand of erotica starring a sexy were-hedgehog (like a werewolf only ... you get the picture), we receive news of an even newer, even weirder, contribution to mucky books

Taken by the T-Rex by Christie Sims and Alara Branwen is part of a new genre known as “dinosaur erotica”, and is billed as dangerously steamy: “Warning: This is a tale of beast sex. It is not for the faint of heart and is not your mother’s erotica...” It stars Drin, the chief huntress of her tribe, to whom men and sex hold no allure. In case anyone’s mother is reading we won’t go into detail but it’s when “the thrill of the hunt soars through her blood” that it all starts.

All this, and still no clown porn, as called for by Caitlin Moran following the publication of How to Be A Woman. Poor show! Publishers at Penguin must all have been given copies of their new title The Curve, by Nicholas Lovell, and told to read closely. The book argues that businesses must “embrace free”, and offer a range of products and price points. Last week Penguin announced that The Curve will be available in 11 different formats, priced between nothing (for an e-book) and £10,000 (for an author masterclass). Other non-fiction titles soon to be published by Penguin include In My Shoes, the memoir of Jimmy Choo co-founder Tamara Mellon, and Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath: The Triumph of the Underdog, so future marketing strategies may involve trying to appear unthreatening in big heels.

While David Cameron’s idea of self-reliance is baking his own bread in a £100 bread maker (his excuse for not knowing the price of a loaf), Barack Obama’s is more philosophical. He has named Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay Self-Reliance among his favourite books, alongside Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and Parting the Waters: America in the King Years by Taylor Branch, as well as Lincoln’s writings, Shakespeare’s tragedies, and the Bible. And we bet he kneads his own dough.

No ghost, clown, zombie or bad review can harm Stephen King. Waterstones’ bestseller chart, just in, shows that he has five of the top 10 horror books, including two entries for the same book, The Shining, at two and nine. Good news for our reviewer.