The PW Morning Report, November 21, 2008

By Dermot McEvoy -- Publishers Weekly, 11/21/2008 5:50:00 AM

Friday, November 21, 2008

A daily round-up of the latest publishing news: Random House Freezes Pensions; Calvin Trillin—and His Reviewer—Rhyme; Obama Reads Jonathan Alter; Denis Leary on Why We Suck; Poet Donald Finkel Dead; Will Twilight the Movie Hike Book Sales?; Universal Nabs Robert Ludlum; Mystery Writers of America to Honor Burke, Grafton; and Remembering November 22, 1963

Random House Freezes Pensions, reports AP
"Effective December 31," Random spokesman Stuart Applebaum said, "benefits in the Random House, Inc. Pension Plan will no longer grow—but they will not be reduced." Applebaum added that, effective January 1, no new employees "will be enrolled in the Random House, Inc. Pension Plan." The company will continue to offer matching funds, up to 6 percent, for 401k plans

Calvin Trillin—and His Reviewer—Rhyme Their Way Through the 2008 Election
Trillin’s new book, Deciding the Next Decider (Random) is written in rhyme. What’s even more daring is the New York Times Michiko Kakutani reviewing it in rhyme. A delicious moment

Obama’s Reading The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter
TheDailyBeast.com has an interesting piece by Paul Begala on how the President-elect might be influenced by how FDR handled the outgoing Hoover administration—he basically ignored them until he became president. Another terrific book that shows the similarities between 1933 and 2009 is Nothing To Fear by Adam Cohen which will be published by the Penguin Press in January

Denis Leary on Why We Suck in Salon.com
Comedy’s bad boy—now that George Carlin is gone—is getting people all riled up with his new book, which is a good thing, as Martha Stewart is wont to say

Donald Finkel, Poet, Dead at 79, reports New York Times
His 14 volumes of poetry, which were published almost exclusively by Atheneum, included Simeon (1964), A Joyful Noise (1966), The Garbage Wars (1970) and What Manner of Beast (1981)

Will Twilight the Movie Hike Book Sales?
The folks at Little, Brown Young Readers certainly hope so. Reuters says that Stephenie Meyers’ "Twilight" series is reminiscent of the early success of J.K. Rowling

Still Dead? No Problem—Universal Nabs Robert Ludlum, reports Variety
Although Ludlum’s been dead for seven years he’s still a hot literary property. Universal Pictures has made a deal with the Ludlum estate that gives the studio exclusive rights to the Jason Bourne character and first look at other Ludlum novels

Mystery Writers of America to Honor Burke, Grafton, reports UPI
James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton will be the recipients of its 2009 Grand Master Award. The awards will be presented at the 63rd annual Edgar Awards banquet April 30 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York

November 22, 1963—It Still Hurts
Tomorrow is the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the Washington Post Carolyn See reviews November 22, 1963, the novel by Adam Braver (TinHouse). There are three dates in American history that still deeply hurt the soul: December 7, 1941, November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001. I will never forget how New York City looked on that Friday, 11/22/63. It was cool with the bluest sky I have ever seen. I still remember the American flag flying at full staff on the Port Authority Building on 15th Street and 8th Avenue. I wondered why it wasn’t at half-staff for the slain president. There are days of infamy and there are days of infamy. 11/22/63 still hurts so much because this one we did to ourselves