The New York Times this morning has the second in reporter Motoko Rich's series on the future of reading, focusing this time on video games and whether they are making kids more or less likely to enjoy reading books.  read more »

Writing on the Guardian's books blog, David Barnett reports that a couple of publishers are getting back to basics and doing choose-your-own-adventure books again. He notes a few symptoms of the apparent resurgence.  read more »

• First, the Fighting Fantasy series, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007, has been reissued in full.
• Second, there's a book called You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Hero, which takes mundane contemporary life as its subject and forces the reader to make decisions like, "If you want to have sex with your ex-girlfriend, consider getting back together with her, then think better of it, go to page 183.
  ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/media/choose-your-own-adventure-back-way-clay-shirkify-books#comments Media Clay Shirky Dale Peck Tim Kring Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:21:57 -0400 Leon Neyfakh 72067 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/lineup-april-16-2008

  Felix Gillette braves the crowds outside NBC's Today Show to find Katie Couric's most loyal fans. "'Katie’s hot,' said Craig Bellew, who was visiting from Clarkesville, Ga. 'She should come right back here. I grew up watching her on Today. And it’s easier to say her name then—what’s the other girl’s name? Anyway. She’s hot.'

  Speaking of Ms. Couric, John Koblin looks at how a whiff of a story (Katie Out at CBS?) becomes conventional wisdom in our Print 2.0 world. The New York Times. 'It used to be you came in the next day and your editor would say, "Well, we won today," or she’d say, "Looks like we got beat like a drum," and that would be the end of it. Now it’s this ongoing game of catching up and staying ahead.'"  read more »

  ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/lineup-april-16-2008#comments Dale Peck David Carr Katie Couric Tim Kring Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:47:42 -0400 Matt Haber 67935 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/dale-peck-partners-heroes-kring-3-million-trilogy

  Last week, the novelist and former literary critic Dale Peck closed a gasp-inducing $3 million book deal. Admittedly, $3 million in this case sounds like more than it is. First off, it’s for a trilogy. And second, Mr. Peck has to split it with his co-writer, Tim Kring, creator of the hit television show Heroes. In the words of the agent who sold it, the idea is Robert Ludlum meets Don DeLillo, the story of a man who discovers that he has superpowers because of LSD experiments conducted on him in secret by the C.I.A.  read more »

  ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/dale-peck-partners-heroes-kring-3-million-trilogy#comments Media Dale Peck Tim Kring Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:29:02 -0400 Leon Neyfakh 67889 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/heroes-creator-tim-kring-writing-trilogy-dale-peck-sold-crown-3-million

  Heroes creator Tim Kring is collaborating with literary critic and novelist Dale Peck on a sci-fi/alternative-history trilogy that was sold at auction to Crown yesterday for an advance said to be worth a staggering $3 million.

  According to an industry source, the book is set in America, and runs from the 1960s to the near future. The protagonist is a man named Chandler Forrest whose participation in LSD experiments administered by the C.I.A. has given him superpowers.  read more »

  ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/heroes-creator-tim-kring-writing-trilogy-dale-peck-sold-crown-3-million#comments Media Crown Dale Peck Heroes Richard Abate Tim Kring Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:30:16 -0400 Leon Neyfakh 67701 at http://www.observer.com