Jimmy Carter is losing Carter Center board members left and right over his recent book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. (I have it here in the house but my husband is reading it first.) I gotta tell you, I just don't buy Pres. Carter as a liar. I don't think he's perfect, but it's really really hard for me to believe that he lies in this book (or stole it from someone else). Would this much continued furor be happening if the book was pro-Israel? I doubt it.

Vanessa Redgrave to portray Joan Didion on Broadway, in what has to be a piece of inspired casting.

Philip Pullman fans take note: the first Sally Lockhart mystery will be on PBS's Masterpiece Theater Sunday, February 4th. (Scroll down a bit on the link to see the listing.)

Bookmunch talked to Ian Sansom about The Case of the Missing Books, due out this month in the US and recepient of a boxed review by Booklist. It sounds great, very funny and very bookish. (The Guardian also enjoyed it when they reviewed it last year.)

Bookburger talked to Cecil Castellucci, who has rapidly become one of my favorite writers and such a cool chick that I swear I'm going to find a way to meet her and make her my best friend for life. (Did that sound stalkerish? I didn't mean for it to sound stalkerish...) (link via Gwenda) Here's a bit of the interview:

Describe your ideal place to write:
How about in Paris at a cafe with a moleskine notebook and a fountain pen in the 1920s. Oh, you mean now? A cafe, with wireless and working plugs and a good view out of a window or a fabulous porch so I can day dream. Also, I like writing in bed, with my iPod blasting a great music piping out a soundtrack to go along with the words flowing onto the page.

Robert B. Parker, one of my all time favorite writers, has a YA book due out in April: Edenville Owls. Loosely based on his own childhood, it involves a basketball team that must band together to uncover a mystery and save someone. More on this as Penguin puts up a page for the book, but I already have an ARC and plan to review it this spring.

Speaking of ARCs, I also just received Brent Hartinger's latest: Split Screen. As a big fan of The Geography Club and its sequel, I am way excited to see this book show up. No idea when I will review it, but it will happen - I promise!

Subterranean Press is determined to bankrupt me. Consider Sky Horizon from David Brin:

"Some of the Math Club nerds have got a real live alien! They're hiding it in a basement rec room."

Time to do some investigating of his own. Only, who could he turn to for help? The skateboarding "X" crowd? The varsity climbing team? When it it came right down to it, should he turn to the least likely ally of them all?

Or how about this, D.A. by Connie Willis:

Theodora Baumgarten has just been selected as an IASA space cadet, and therein lies the problem. She didn't apply for the ultra-coveted posting, and doesn't relish spending years aboard the ship to which she's been assigned.

But the plucky young heroine, in true Heinlein fashion, has no plans to go along with the program. Aided by her hacker best friend Kimkim, in a screwball comedy that has become Connie Wills' hallmark, Theodora will stop at nothing to uncover the conspiracy that has her shanghaied.

And finally, Tim Pratt's year-end list of what he did/saw/thought/enjoyed/etc. from 2006 is one of the more inspiring I've read. There are several bookish entries worth following up on, but I must admit this was my favorite bit:

Best New Crack: Oh, god, this has never been easier to decide: Cheddar Beer chips. Holy mother of divine space lizards, that's some good stuff. Heather and I only allow ourselves to buy one small bag, very occasionally, because if we had more in the house? We would eat it most constantly.

"Holy mother of divine space lizards" just became the next thing I must teach the five-year old. Thanks Tim!