Tag: Controversy (1-10 of 49)

Feb 22 2012 03:33 PM ET

Bobby Brown shopping Whitney Houston tell-all book?

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Filed under: Books and tagged: , , ,
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Image Credit: Marc Andrew Deley/Getty Images

Too soon? Looks like Bobby Brown’s concert tribute wasn’t his final word about ex-wife Whitney Houston. The R&B singer is reportedly working on publishing a tell-all book about his life with the late pop diva that he initially shopped back in 2008. A rep for Brown told EW, “We do not comment on gossip and rumor.”

But it won’t be easy to get the book to a store near you. Brown isn’t exactly on good terms with the Houston family after making it his prerogative to duck out of the funeral early. On top of that, he signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the couple’s divorce, reports say. The two were hitched for 14 years before their split in 2007. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 22 2012 11:14 AM ET

Mario Puzo's estate sued by Paramount over 'Godfather' novels

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Filed under: Books, Movies, News and tagged: , , ,

It’s “strictly business” for Paramount Pictures, the  studio that distributed the Godfather films. Paramount filed a lawsuit against Anthony Puzo, the son of author Mario Puzo and executor of the family estate, seeking to block a Godfather prequel, The Family Corleone, which is slated for publication by Grand Central Publishing in May.

The lawsuit claims that Paramount authorized one Godfather sequel — The Godfather Returns, published by Random House in 2004 — after Mario Puzo’s death in 1999, but not a second sequel, The Godfather’s Revenge in 2006. The studio claims in the suit that The Godfather’s Revenge “tarnished” the Godfather brand and falsely led consumers to believe the book was authorized by Paramount and that the Puzo estate is planning to use trademarks related to the Godfather films to promote The Family Corleone, written by Ed Falco. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 16 2012 02:33 PM ET

Amanda Knox signs a massive book deal with HarperCollins

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Image Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP Images

Amanda Knox, the 24-year-old American who was imprisoned on murder charges for four years in Perugia, Italy, has signed a book deal with HarperCollins for close to $4 million, the New York Times reports. A heated auction for the book rights had been ensuing for four days.

Four months ago, Knox was released from Italian prison and acquitted of charges that she murdered her roommate Meredith Kercher. During her incarceration, Knox, who studied creative writing, kept a diary that will now help shape the book.

Said HarperCollins in a statement: “Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system. … Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates. She will reveal never before-told details surrounding her case, and describe how she used her inner strength and strong family ties to cope with the most challenging time of her young life.” READ FULL STORY »

Feb 10 2012 02:00 PM ET

Erin Duffy on her Wall Street roman a clef 'Bond Girl'

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Filed under: Books and tagged: , , ,
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After she was laid off from Merrill Lynch in 2008, Erin Duffy decided not to jump back into the Wall Street game. Instead, she used what she saw in the workplace to write Bond Girl, a roman à clef that reveals the behind-the-scenes story of a young woman working in a male-dominated industry. Just before the 2008 financial collapse, 22-year-old Alex Garrett joins the bond sales team at Cromwell Pierce, where she encounters unwanted sexual advances, office pranks, and the type of truly odd behavior that can only be found on Wall Street (wheeling a $1,000 block of cheese across New York; a secretary who throws weekend slumber parties in the office). EW’s Sara Vilkomerson wrote, “Bond Girl is a sparkling debut, smart and snappy but never weighed down by financial terminology. Who knew Wall Street could be this much fun?” Read below for Duffy’s thoughts on the book and women in finance. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 7 2012 01:50 PM ET

Mimi Alford's explosive memoir about John F. Kennedy sex scandal: the buzz so far

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Mimi Alford, a 69-year-old retired church administrator and former White House intern, is poised to share more than you probably wanted to know about John F. Kennedy. Her memoir Once Upon a Secret: My Affair With John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath (out tomorrow) details her 18-month sexual relationship with JFK, which began when she was only 19 and concluded with his assassination. Alford’s credibility and the shocking nature of her claims have fueled advance interest in the book, and tomorrow night NBC will air her interview with Meredith Vieira. EW’s official take on the book is forthcoming, but in the meantime, here are some of the raciest claims from the memoir according to an excerpt in the New York Post:

READ FULL STORY »

Feb 6 2012 11:06 AM ET

Subject of Dave Eggers' 'Zeitoun' pleaded guilty in domestic abuse case

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Filed under: Books, News and tagged: , ,
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The New Orleans man whose post-Hurricane Katrina struggles and heroism inspired Dave Eggers’ much-lauded nonfiction book Zeitoun was convicted last year of battering his wife, The Smoking Gun has uncovered. Abdulrahman Zeitoun, 54, was arrested in a domestic abuse incident at the home of his wife Kathryn and their five children. A police report reads: READ FULL STORY »

Feb 1 2012 06:00 AM ET

DC Comics to publish controversial 'Watchmen' prequels. Will you buy them? An EXCLUSIVE first look at artwork, creative details

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Filed under: Books, News and tagged: ,
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Geekdom, get ready to rumble with excitement…or grumble with outrage. Or both. In an announcement sure to ignite a firestorm of fanboy passion and pique, DC Entertainment revealed today that DC Comics will publish a collection of miniseries that will expand upon the world of Watchmen, the influential superhero saga originally released as a 12-issue maxi-series from 1986 to 1987. Marked by bravura storytelling, provocative politics, and gritty violence, Watchmen is best known for deconstructing superhero archetypes embodied by cultural icons like Superman and Batman. (You can read our 2005 oral history about the genesis, creation, and legacy of the series here.) Why might the new comics be controversial? Because Watchmen’s widely revered writer, Alan Moore, who has long been at war with DC for any number of reasons, has absolutely nothing to do with them. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 10 2012 04:25 PM ET

'The Obamas' by Jodi Kantor: The EW Review

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Filed under: Barack Obama and tagged: , , ,
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Jodi Kantor, a New York Times correspondent, says she got the idea for The Obamas back in 2009, when she interviewed the couple in the Oval Office for a piece about their marriage. “After the article was published, I couldn’t stop thinking about the subtle tension I had felt in that room,” she writes. Although she never interviewed either the president or his wife again, she went on to talk to 33 White House staffers. The book that resulted isn’t, as advertised, about the Obamas’ marriage — not just because Kantor never spoke to them again, but also because the Obamas lead a cloistered life in Washington, going out even less than George and Laura Bush, who were famously private. The Obamas doesn’t tell us more than we already know about Barack Obama, either. It’s really a portrait of Michelle — and it’s not a kind one. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 2 2011 06:35 PM ET

'Real Housewife' Taylor Armstrong to write memoir about abuse

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Filed under: Books, TV and tagged: , , ,
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Image Credit: Isabella Vosmikova/Bravo

On the current season of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — shot before the suicide of star Taylor Armstrong’s husband Russell in August of this year — much of the drama has come from the ladies trying to get Armstrong to be honest about whether she was suffering abuse in her marriage. These days, she’s much more forthcoming: Armstrong is releasing a memoir about her marriage, including addressing domestic violence issues, through Simon & Schuster, E! reports.

Scheduled for a Feb. 7 publication, the memoir is expected to reveal details of the Armstrongs’ marital problems and Taylor’s recent efforts as an advocate for victims of domestic violence. There have been no reports as to whether the proceeds will go to charity.

What’s your take on Armstrong’s upcoming book? Has she finally “found her voice,” as she says in the opening credits of the show, and using it for good? Or is this whole business flat-out sickening?

Nov 28 2011 01:00 PM ET

Famous authors: Their rejection letters

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Take heart, aspiring writers! You aren’t the only ones whose manuscript has been rejected by publishers.

Flavorwire has posted a whole host of rejection letters from now-popular works that at least one publisher didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

Sylvia Plath, for example, received this note about The Bell Jar:“I’m not sure what Heinemann’s sees in this first novel unless it is a kind of youthful American female brashnaess. But there certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice….One feels simply that Miss Plat [sic] is writing of them because [these] things did happen to her and the incidents are in themselves good for a story, but throw them together and they don’t necessarily add up to a novel.” Brutal!

Also included are takedowns of Lolita; a children’s book by Tim Burton; and Kerouac’s On the Road. Hugely successful contemporary authors have their war wounds as well: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was turned down nearly a dozen times.

But my favorite isn’t, technically, a rejection letter. It’s a note that Hunter S. Thompson sent to William McKeen, who had written a biography of him.

READ FULL STORY »

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