California Literary Review

E-book University: Universities may be the most likely footholds for the growth of new digital reading practices, as a just-released survey conducted by the digital content management company Ebrary in Palo Alto, Calif., suggests, and as two recently announced agreements between university presses and digital solutions companies confirm. [Publishers Weekly]

Rushdie Wins the ‘Best of the Booker’ Prize: British author Salman Rushdie won the “Best of the Booker” prize on Thursday to mark the 40th anniversary of one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. [NYT]

Arthur C Clarke’s last words – from beyond the stars: He gave the world 2001: A Space Odyssey and the concept of the intelligent computer in the form of the murderous Hal. He predicted geostationary satellites and space stations. Now, four months after his death, Arthur C Clarke prepares to dazzle the world one final time when his last novel is published. The Last Theorem was bought for a six-figure sum by the publisher HarperCollins earlier this year. [Independent]

Fire Claims Vineyard Literary Landmark: The many authors who call Martha’s Vineyard their year-round or summer home are reeling from the closure of a much-loved bookstore that has been a center of the island’s literary life. The Bunch of Grapes Bookstore suffered water, heat, and smoke damage this holiday weekend after a blaze broke out at an adjacent café Friday morning. [NY Sun]

Thomas Disch, Novelist, Dies at 68: Thomas M. Disch, an author, poet and critic who twisted the inherently twisted genre of science fiction in new, disturbing directions, including writing his last book in the voice of God, died on Friday in his Manhattan apartment. He was 68. [NYT]

Why is David Benioff swapping the big bucks of Hollywood for the genteel world of literary fiction?: The settings for his projects are equally global in their influences. He focused on the New York boroughs in his debut, Greek mythology for the big screen take of Troy, and now the Russian wastelands. City of Thieves is a blackly comic tale of friendship and survival during the siege of Leningrad in the Second World War. [Independent]