Last week Woolworths officially filed for bankruptcy is here, with distributor EUK going into receivership along with the Woolworths’ stores division. Improbably, book distributor Bertram’s appears to have been spared, even though it was always listed as part of the EUK division. Deloitte, which had been advising Woolworths’ lenders over the past month, was appointed […]
Archives for November 2008
Redstone "Sells" Midway for Tax Loss
As part of the restructuring of his heavily indebted assets Sumner Redstone’s holding company National Amusements will transfer their 87 percent stake in Midway Games to investor Mark Thomas for about $100,000, along with transferring that unit’s $70 million of debt. (It had a market value of $30 million on Friday.) But NA “is expected […]
Buckely's Forthcoming Family Memoir
Christopher Buckley discusses his forthcoming book LOSING MOM AND POP, due for release in May. Discussing it in VF’s January issue, Buckley says: “I honestly had no intention of writing about them [his parents]. But I’m a writer, and when the universe hands you material like this, it would seem an act of conscious omission […]
Cruise and Amazon Deny Pressure on Scientology Book
Amazon spokesperson Patty Smith and a representative for Tom Cruise both deny that the Amazon UK removed from sale John Duignan’s THE COMPLEX under pressure from the actor after he visited the company’s Seattle headquarters. The book critical of Scientology was taken off of Amazon UK after an unidentified “noncelebrity” alleged that the book’s “false […]
Newspaper Picks
The NYT has picked and picked and picked. The Book Review posted its list of 100 Notable Books for 2008, and critics Michiko Kakutani and Janet Maslin selected personal top 10 lists. Only 5 of the critics’ picks are on TBR’s list which, as usual, features a number of books by New York Times’ staffers […]
Philly's Oldest Indie to Close
Robin’s Bookstore, started and “believed to be Philadelphia’s oldest independent book seller, is calling it quits at the end of January.” With sales falling “as much as 15 percent in recent months,” owner Larry Robin says business has gone “from bad bearable to bad unbearable.”Inquirer