Borders, Books etc. News Feed

Rushdie wins case against former driver

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie has won an apology in his High Court battle over claims of falsity in a book written about his time living under police protection.

Ron Evans, a former police officer and convicted fraudster, who worked as Rushdie's driver during his spell under a fatwa, published a book entitled On Her Majesty's Service, which was due for publication on August 4th.

The court found that 11 counts of falsehood were contained in the book, whose subtitle is My Incredible Life in the World's Most Dangerous Close Protection Squad.

Swear word removed from Wilson kids' book

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Dame Jacqueline Wilson's book My Sister Jodie has been altered after parents complained that a word was inappropriate.

Publisher Random House says that it has sold more than 150,000 copies of My Sister Jodie and has received just three complaints.

Nevertheless, the publishing house has said that the book will be reprinted with the word in question changed by one letter to "twit".

Blyton tops list of favourite authors

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Enid Blyton has topped a poll to find the UK's favourite author.

The British writer, who has sold more than sold more than 500 million books worldwide, is best known for her Famous Five books of the 1940s and 50s, which follow the adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne and George and Timmy the dog.

In second place in the poll of 2,000 adults commissioned to mark the 2008 Costa Book Awards was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl.

Boys 'need to read more'

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Schools minister Jim Knight has urged parents to ensure that their children, particularly boys, spend more time reading after SATs results showed a drop in reading standards.

The national tests, which were taken by some 600,000 14-year-olds this spring, showed a drop of two percentage points in the number of students who had attained the required reading standard.

Boys in particular seemed to be falling short of expectations, as 36 per cent did not meet the required standard.

Novel 'censored' from Muslim writing competition

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A former recipient of the Muslim Writer of the Year award has expressed his dismay at the censorship of his debut novel.

Dr Max Malik was winner of the top prize in 2007 and has subsequently written The Butterfly Hunter, which covers issues such as suicide bombings, drug abuse, paedophilia and sexual assault.

The organisers of the Muslim Writers Award have admitted that the controversial book was never passed on to judges to read, even though it was just one of five novels short-listed, but they could not explain why.