Chuck Palahniuk is heading out on tour in support of his latest novel, Pygmy. Rather than do a regular book store tour, Chuck is doing something a bit different:

Amy Hempel, Chuck's favorite writer, interviews the bestselling author at this event for Pygmy is now located in Webster Hall's majestic Grand Ballroom, 125 East 11th Street. $35 Tickets. Ticket includes a signed copy of Pygmy & 2 drinks. Tickets for sale in the store & online. General Audience: Webster Hall's doors open at 5:30PM. Bring your ID. If you ordered online, give name of person who ordered ticket at Webster Hall Doors. TICKETS WILL NOT BE MAILED NOR DO YOU NEED TO PICK THEM UP BEFORE MAY 6. If you purchased a ticket in the store, bring ticket & receipt to Webster Hall. To purchase a ticket click here.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK TOUR DATES
May 5 - Boston, MA - Brattle Theatre
May 6 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
May 7 - Baltimore, MD - Enoch Pratt Library
May 8 - Philadelphia, PA - Free Library of Philadelphia
May 9 - Washington, DC - Borders Books & Music

Here are some upcoming book events. If you know any others of interest, let me know in the comment section.

READINGS & LECTURES
6/15 - B&N Union Sq - Joe Scarborough & the Morning Joe crew
6/16 - McNally Jackson - Walter Kin & Douglas Rushkoff
6/17 - B&N Union Sq - Artie Lange (Howard Stern Show)
6/17 - McNally Jackson - Kate Christensen
6/18 - Bluestockings - Douglas Rushkoff
6/18 - McNally Jackson - Maggie Estep & Joe Meno
6/18 - B&N Tribeca - Lauren Conrad
6/22 - B&N Union Sq - Chuck Klosterman
6/22 - Borders Columbus Circle - Dominick Dunne
6/22 - Housing Works - Samantha Hunt, Rachel Kushner and Nathaniel Rich
7/15 - B&N Union Sq - Dr. Cornel West
7/22 - B&N Greenwich Village - Jessica Hopper (The Girls' Guide to Rocking How to Start a Band, Book Gigs, and Get Rolling to Rock Stardom)
8/13 - Borders Columbus Circle - Pete Fornatale (Back to the Garden)

I'm just waiting for Tomw Waits to write his own autobiography, but in the meantime, it seems his most recent biographer is in some trouble. Here's the story:

Record company executive Herbert Cohen claims music journalist Barney Hoskyns and Random House defamed him by accusing him of embezzling royalties from Tom Waits in the biography, "Low Side of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits."

Cohen, who says he discovered Waits when the singer was 21, claims he also has managed Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt and others.

Cohen claims the book depicts Waits describing litigation against him involving stolen royalties; Cohen claims it never happened.

Hoskyns allegedly quoted Waits as saying, "I thought I was a millionaire and it turned out I had, like, twenty bucks."

Cohen denies ever litigating copyright issues with Waits, though he acknowledges he settled a lawsuit with the singer-songwriter in 1983. Media reports indicated that Waits filed that lawsuit because Cohen's company, Third Story Music licensed, two of Waits' songs for commercials without the singer's permission.

After the surprise success of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, small publishers have been scrambling to create "new / old" books. One of the hottest titles was a completely unauthorized follow-up to Catcher in the Rye called 60 Years Later.

Not surprisingly, publication of the book has halted by the courts after J.D. Salinger filed a lawsuit to protect his masterpiece (Frank Portman would disagree with that statement).

Not only has the New York Post been covering the story, but they also published a recent photograph of the reclusive author. Yes, that's him in the photograph.

It's not a parody, it's not a critique -- and it's not for sale, a Manhattan federal judge said yesterday in temporarily barring publication of an unauthorized follow-up to J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye."

Judge Deborah Batts slammed Fredrik Colting, the Swedish author of the book -- who uses the pen name J.D. California -- and his publishers, saying their claims that "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye" is a critical examination of central character Holden Caulfield were "problematic and lacking in credibility."

The judge's 37-page ruling -- which remains in effect until the case can be decided at trial -- sided decisively with reclusive "Catcher in the Rye" author Salinger, who filed a lawsuit blasting "60 Years Later" as "a rip-off, pure and simple" of his 1951 classic.

"In addition to the use of Caulfield as protagonist, '60 Years' depends upon similar and sometimes nearly identical supporting characters, settings, tone, and plot devices to create a narrative that largely mirrors that of 'Catcher,' " Batts wrote.

She said the 90-year-old Salinger -- who was recently confined to a rehab center after breaking a hip -- "is likely to succeed on the merits" of his copyright-infringement claim, "as well as the presumption of irreparable harm."

"Defendants have taken well more from 'Catcher,' in both substance and style, than is necessary for the alleged transformative purpose of criticizing Salinger and his attitudes and behavior," Batts wrote.

"60 Years Later" was set for publication in the United States late this summer before Salinger -- who has steadfastly refused to license the rights to his novel -- filed suit.

During a court hearing last month, Batts said she had read both books and agreed with Salinger -- who did not attend -- that the new book was substantially similar to his own.

While on his Everything That Happens Will Happen On Tour, David Byrne kept a journal on his website of his adventures biking through the various cities he traveled through.

On September 17th, the journal entries will be compiled into a book called The Bicycle Diaries, which will be published through Penguin.

He'll be reading from the book on September 22nd at Barnes & Noble Union Square. Special guests are expected.

In 2006, Byrne published Arboretum through Dave Eggers McSweeneys simprint.

I wish the rest of the publishing industry were willing expand on the potential of books the way Nick Cave and his UK publisher are with his new novel, The Death of Bunny Munro. It would probably boost an industry that has yet to really embrace digital media.

Later this month, Nick Cave's new novel The Death of Bunny Munro – the story of a sex-maniac travelling salesman taking his last road trip – goes to market through the iPhone App Store, in an enhanced edition that is being launched before the print version.

The Enhanced Edition does some of the things we're now accustomed to seeing as standard in electronic texts: you can faff with fonts, change colour, bookmark it, and so on; and there's some smart social networking stuff attached. But it also includes enhancements that could have a noticeable effect on the experience of reading. Instead of paginating the book conventionally, it's presented as a continuous vertical scroll (one geek-pleasing trick is that you can adjust the scrolling speed with the angle of tilt of the phone), and the App includes an audiobook that syncs with the written text. Pop on the headphones, thumb the screen and Cave's voice picks up where you left off.

This is interesting. It could be regarded as a gimmick, but if it catches on, it will subtly change the way we experience fiction. If you half-read, half-listen to a book, your experience of reading will partly be shaped by the voice of the audiobook; your memories of the text will be coloured by how you took it in, passage by passage. The other thing is that it comes with a soundtrack, composed by Cave and Warren Ellis, one of his Bad Seeds.

Cave will read from Bunny on Monday, September 14th, at B&N Union Sq.

Frank Portman, a.k.a Dr. Frank of The Mr T Experience, is releasing his second novel "Andromeda Klein"! The book is the second book from the author of 2006's "King Dork."

Read an excerpt from "Andromeda Klein" after the jump.

Today is the 36th Annual New Year's Day Marathon Benefit Reading, which takes place at the St Marks Church in Manhattan. The event kicks off at 2pm and goes late.

This years reading my likely turn into a bit of a celebration of the life of Jim Carroll, who was a frequent participant in these festivities and who passed away last September.

Among the people confirmed for this year's poetry readings are Philip Glass, Lenny Kaye, Legs McNeil, Maggie Estep and Patti Smith.

Required reading.

Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose book “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling leftist alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale, Mass.

The cause was a heart attack, his daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said.

Published in 1980 with little promotion and a first printing of 5,000, “A People’s History” was, fittingly, a people’s best-seller, attracting a wide audience through word of mouth and reaching 1 million sales in 2003. Although Professor Zinn was writing for a general readership, his book was taught in high schools and colleges throughout the country, and numerous companion editions were published, including “Voices of a People’s History,” a volume for young people and a graphic novel.

“A People’s History” told an openly left-wing story. Professor Zinn accused Christopher Columbus and other explorers of committing genocide, picked apart presidents from Andrew Jackson to Franklin D. Roosevelt and celebrated workers, feminists and war resisters.