Texas Pages

A bit late this week because of the holiday, but here's what's waiting for you at the bookstore and library:
* The Enchantress of Florence, by Salman Rushdie (Random House, $26). Chronicles Florence, Italy, and the Mughal empire during the Renaissance.
* Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science, by Richard Preston (Random House, $26). Delves into the most bizzare and horrifying prospects of modern science. (Mr. Preston's The Hot Zone remains the single most terrifying bit of nonfiction I've ever read.)
* Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters, by Richard A. Clarke (Ecco, $25.95). Examines and offers solutions to the country's national security disasters.
* Black Out, by Lisa Unger (Shaye Areheart Books/Crown, $23). Follows a woman whose idyllic family life is threatened by her forgotten past. (Ms. Unger is one of my favorite thriller authors; her two previous books and this one are all heart-stoppers.)
* Blood Noir, by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley, $25.95). The 16th novel with vampire hunter Anita Blake.
* Chasing Harry Winston, by Lauren Weisberger (S&S, $25.95). From the author of The Devil Wears Prada, this comedy follows a trio of Manhattan friends who decide to change their lives.

Wednesday is the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth. We'll mark it by running a review of the new James Bond novel Devil May Care, penned by Sebastian Faulks.

Which looks to be a literary treat for Bond fans. (Check back for an excerpt as well.)

Those of us who care about such things know that there is a vast difference between the world Ian Fleming created and the one portrayed in the movies. The books are cool and sometimes sinister; the movies are slick and often silly.

But every now and then, the lines blur. Which is how you end up with this scene in London today to promote the book's release:

(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

More photos below ...

I've been speculating for a while about what the film adaptation of The Road might look like.

Apparently, the answer is Pennsylvania.

With a little bit of Mount St. Helens, says The New York Times.

Onetime Dallas Cowboy Herschel Walker has written about struggles off the field with Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

And he recently spoke with columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor about it.

Follow that link for photos, video and more.

When I met Stephanie Klein a couple of years ago in Austin (read the interview here), she was living a kind of literary dream life. She'd turned her Sex in the CIty lifestyle (she hates that cliche, but it fits) into a hugely popular blog and signed a juicy book contract with the not-yet-deposed Judith Regan, the first part of which was the memoir Straight Up and Dirty.

But even then, she said that work was just a prelude to the book she really cared about -- a memoir-in-progress about attending "fat camp" as a youth. That book has now come out as Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp. And staff writer Jamie Knodel just interviewed her ahead of her two local appearances.