Genre: Not Genre-Specific

On August 14 the judges of the 2006 Booker Prize announced a list of nineteen semifinalists. The annual prize, worth £50,000 (approximately $94,900), is sponsored by the Man Group investment company and is given for the best novel of the year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or Ireland.

Five authors are among this year's Celebrity 100, a ranking of the highest earning and most popular celebrities in the world, published annually by Forbes magazine.

Amazon.com recently optioned screen rights to Keith Donohue's best-selling debut novel The Stolen Child (Nan A. Talese, 2006). It is the online retailer's first venture into feature films and the creation of content not limited to its Web site.

Perseus Books Group announced yesterday that it had acquired Consortium Books Sales and Distribution, Inc., the company that provides distribution, sales, and marketing services to independent publishers such as Akashic Books, Copper Canyon Press, and Seven Stories Press.