Crime and Books

At this instant, I should be writing my book about crime, well, criminals of a sort. Instead of that odious duty, I'll post here about books and crime. But not the kind that goes inside the covers. I'm still avoiding that.

1) I had to extract and highlight this from Laura's comment to Elaine's last post where she linked the hilarious Book Reporter's Memo to Eliot Spitzer: "If you spent the $4,300 you were alleged to have spent on the night of February 13th on books, you could have bought 172 hardcover books at an average price of $25..." Read it all.

2) A former member of MI5 is under action by Her Majesty's government over his binding confidentiality agreement. The former agent, who has written a 300-page manuscript, "was decorated by the Queen for bravery, was recruited and trained to develop multiple personalities which he used to penetrate criminal and terrorist networks for more than 15 years." The book and methodology sounds fascinating, but will it compromise national security? The High Court is deciding.

3) Seattle's the Stranger has the entertaining scoop-- if it's not your cardiac arrest-- from a bookstore worker about chasing thieves and the top 5 stolen books. Number 5 is any graphic novel. Wait a minute...My peeps don't buy? A strategic career U-turn may be called for.

4) My own book crime. I lifted the two classics above from my 5th grade classroom's lending shelf and could never bring myself to return them. I still can't, ill-gotten gorgeousness that they are.

5) While designed for obsessive text-messagers, this civic scheme works equally well for people like me who used to walk miles with my nose in a book. Britain's Brick Lane has prudently prevented injury and liability and padded its lampposts for distracted pedestrians. No kidding.