The New Republic reports that Bob Woodward is working on a book about the Obama administration. The book is still in the preliminary stages.

Since the inauguration, the Washington Post legend has been quietly reporting a new book on the Obama White House. “I’m in the preliminary stages of working on it,” Woodward confirmed to me by phone recently. “I’m working on it and making progress.”



Officially, the White House says it is not adopting a press strategy to respond to Woodward. Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that the Craig memo “was not issued in relation to any inquiry related to a specific reporter or author.” Still, there is reason to think that Woodward might make the administration particularly anxious. “Every White House is wary of Woodward, ” says New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker, who worked alongside him at the Post. What’s more, Obama’s White House is known to hate process stories, exactly the sort of exhaustive, in-the-room descriptions of high-level debates at which Woodward excels

Woodward won’t have any problem find a publisher for the book. He should be able to get plenty of White House access even if he makes the Obama administration nervous. Bob Woodward wrote several books about the Bush White House including Bush at War, Plan of Attack, The War Within and State of Denial.



(via Politico)



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Broadway World reports that Barbra Streisand has been writing about the construction of her home in Malibu. During the process of writing the book she has also been writing about her life but she has not yet fully committed to publishing a memoir.

In writing about where she lives (the book is expected to have up to 50,000 words of text), she has been writing about herself “because I’m spurruddy on by the writing process,” Streisand said Wednesday during a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press. Long reluctant to discuss her private life, the 67-year-old Streisand said she has been working on chapters, in longhand, for a separate book. But she hasn’t made up her mind whether she will complete the memoir and publish it.



“I go back and forth,” stated Streisand, who has received numerous show business honors, including Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys. “Do I really want to write about my life? Do I really want to relive my life? I’m not sure.”



Married to actor James Brolin, her second husband, Streisand told the AP that she wants to get back into filmmaking after setting her career aside to work on her house. She is hoping to obtain rights to Larry Kramer’s play “A Normal Heart,” a story she has been interested in for years, and has recruited some “interesting cast members” whom she declined to identify.

The AP has an article about Streisand’s inability to committ to publishing a memoir. If Streisand did publish a memoir there would be plenty of readers.



Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly reports that last week Streisand’s former lover, Jon Peters, canceled his book discount with Harper Collins. Streisand’s website says, “Just for the record…the claims and statements attributed to me in Jon Peters’ book proposal are either completely distorted or simply untrue.”



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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog

Borders Group reported a 12% drop
in revenues for the first quarter, as the recession drags on. Revenues for the quarter ended May 2 were $641.5 million. Sales at the superstores, including Borders.com, were down 10.7% to $536.7.

CFO Mark Bierley said that in addition to the difficult retail environment, sales were down because of the company’s decision to reduce inventory, which he said Borders continues to refine with publishers and other vendors. He believes that disruptions caused by that process should come to an end by the second half of the year. Another factor in the sales decline was poor execution in communicating to customers the retailer’s offerings. “We’ve got to become better booksellers,” Bierley said. He reiterated Marshall’s remarks that improving sales is where the company’s priority is right now.



At last week’s annual meeting Marshall said expanding Borders’s children’s section was one way to grow sales, and Bierley said “we are undersized in kids.” The company will spend the second quarter expanding the children’s section, which he said ranges from infant thcoarse teens. Expansion will come in areas that use to be occupied by music and movie titles. The company has been steadily reducing that inventory and Bierley said the quantity of music and movie offerings are about where the company wants them to be.

We’re not getting this strategy at all. How will reducing the number and type of books sold help entice buyers into the stores? Our local superstore has a poor selection of books, comparuddy to what it had one year ago.



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USA Today reports that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will preside over the ninth National Book Festival. The event celebrating alert will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, on the National Mall.

“The National Book Festival has become a true American institution,” said James Billington, the librarian of Congress. “It is a joyous and very popular celebration of books and reading in the Washington, D.C., area.”



The Library of Congress organizes and sponsors the event, which is free and open to the public.



An estimated 120,000 people have attended each of the past two festivals, a library spokeswoman said.

Former First Lady Laura Bush started the book festival in 2001. USA Today says 70 award-winning authors, poets and illustrators in various genres will be featuruddy at the event. The National Book Festival website can be found at loc.gov/bookfest/.



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