As we continue to tabulate the consensus very best books of 2021, the roster has remained one of the most interesting and competitive we have seen in years of aggregating. Distinctions are fine, with all of the top titles receiving similar totals of “picks” from across the lists we monitor. At the very top, works of fiction and nonfiction are closely matched for “book of the year” honors — and across the top 10, the list is more balanced than usual, with five works of nonfiction and six novels. (Eight are from Penguin Random House, with one each from Simon […]
Archives for December 2021
AAP Asks for Preliminary Injunction to Block Maryland’s Library Law
On December 16, the AAP filed documents seeking a preliminary injunction against the state of Maryland that would block a new law requiring publishers to license ebooks to public libraries “on reasonable terms” from going into effect on January 1. That requests follows the organization’s suit filed on December 9 against this precedent-breaking legislation. The organization argues: “First, AAP is likely to succeed on the merits of showing that the Maryland Act is preempted by federal law. The Maryland Act impermissibly intrudes into federal copyright law by implementing a state-law compulsory licensing scheme that deprives copyright holders of their exclusive […]
Lagardere Board Prepares for Tender Offer
Ahead of the coming tender offer from Vivendi to buyout the remaining shareholders of Lagardere, the company’s board appointed an ad hoc committee. Soon that committee will recommend “an independent expert in accordance with the General Regulations of the French Financial markets authority.” Separately, Joseph Oughourlian has resigned from the board now that his company Amber Capital has sold their shares to Vivendi.
People 12/17
Mary McCue has been promoted to senior director, publicity and strategic communications at Random House Children's.
Half Price Books Employees Vote to Unionize at Three Locations
Employees at Half Price Books locations in St. Paul, Roseville and Northtown (Coon Rapids), MN voted in favor of unionization on Thursday. They are the first HPB locations among over 120 outlets to win union recognition for their workers. Those unionized employees join United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 663 and 1189. A St. Louis Park, MN location is in the middle of its own unionization vote; the NLRB will count those ballots on Jan. 3.
It’s “Premature” for State to Collect Cuomo Earnings
This week, New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics ordered that Andrew Cuomo must turn over the profits from his book, American Crisis, for ethics violations. But the New York Attorney General’s office stated in a letter that before it collects the money, the ethics commission must produce an investigative report, the AP reports. The report must include “a record of the administrative process, and the statutory authority for the decision, the amount of the imposed fines and penalties, and a determination concerning the appropriate amount of disgorgement attributable to the violation of law,” the letter said. The report must […]