Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:

Penguin and Random House have reached an agreement to combine—creating the largest book publisher in the world [2]. (Wall Street Journal)

With Hurricane Sandy lashing much of the East Coast, it's best to stay home with a good book—Flavorpill has an essential stormy weather reading list [3].

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Kolbert writes of the timing of this hurricane: "Coming as it is just a week before Election Day, Sandy makes the fact that climate change has been entirely ignored during this campaign seem all the more grotesque. [4]" (New Yorker)

On his blog, author Caleb Crain shares a speech he delivered recently at New York Law School concerning how the digitization of books can harm research [5]. (Steamboats Are Ruining Everything)

Book Riot explains how to care for older books [6].

"The final blow-up of what was once a remarkable, if minor, talent." This was what a New Yorker reviewer wrote of Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!  Publishers Weekly lists twelve more terrible reviews of classic literature [7].