1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien

2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

3. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

4. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus - John Gray

5. 1984 - George Orwell

6. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - J.K Rowling

7. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

8. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

9. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

10.Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank

In his crude, expletive-laced account, Simpson suggests Nicole all but drove him to kill her. He describes her as the "enemy." She is taunting him with her sexual dalliances, he says, and carrying on inappropriately in front of their two children.

On June 12, 1994, Simpson attends his daughter Sydney's dance recital. He writes that he is in a foul mood after the performance, stewing over the behavior of his ex-wife. He is due to fly to Chicago late that night. But first he races to Nicole's Bundy Drive condominium in Brentwood. He parks in the dark alley behind her condo and dons the knit wool cap and gloves he keeps handy to ward off the chill on the golf course. He also has a knife in the Bronco, protection against L.A. "crazies." He intends to scare her. He enters through a broken back gate-he's told her a "million times" to get the buzzer and latch fixed?and encounters Goldman, who is returning the glasses of Nicole's mother, Juditha. She had left them at Mezzaluna, where the Brown family dined after Sydney's recital and where Goldman is a waiter. Simpson accuses Goldman of planning a sexual encounter with Nicole, which Goldman denies. Nicole tells Simpson to leave him alone. Goldman's fate is sealed when Kato, Nicole's Akita, emerges and gives him a friendly tail wag. "You've been here before," Simpson screams at Goldman.

At Simpson's criminal trial, to explain how one man could have killed two people, the Los Angeles County coroner theorized that Simpson knocked out Nicole, then quickly slit her throat before turning to Goldman. If the book's account is true, the coroner's hypothesis was correct-almost. Simpson writes that his ex-wife came at him like a "banshee." She loses her balance and falls hard, her head cracking against the ground. Goldman assumes a karate stance, further angering Simpson. He dares the younger man to fight. Then, in the book, Simpson pulls back. He writes, "Then something went horribly wrong, and I know what happened, but I can't tell you exactly how."

Simpson writes that when he regains control of himself, he realizes he is drenched in blood and holding a bloody knife. Both Nicole and Goldman are dead. Simpson heads back to the alley but before getting into the Bronco to flee, strips down to his socks. He rolls his bloody clothes and the knife into a small pile. (That's an important detail. The police never recovered those clothes or the murder weapon, but they did find Simpson's socks-with Nicole's blood on them-at the foot of his bed at his Rockingham estate.) As he nears his house, Simpson sees the limo that will take him to the airport for his Chicago trip. He steals onto his estate via a darkened, hidden path that takes him directly behind the guesthouse where Kato Kaelin is living. Simpson describes how he stumbles into an air conditioner for Kaelin's room, making a terrific racket-just as Kaelin told police he had heard.

With the exception of some copies pilfered from warehouses, the entire 400,000 print run of If I Did It ? in which Simpson "hypothesized" how he would have killed his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman ? was slated to be destroyed. As with most celebrity tell-all tales, however, Simpson's rights to the material will eventually revert back to him. Though the exact contractual language has not been made public, a source close to Simpson tells TIME that O.J. gets certain rights returned 12 months after the original publication date ? which means he should be in a position to resell his book before next Christmas.

Several European publishers are said to be clamoring to print the story in their respective territories. Murdoch's high-profile rejection has only made the book more attractive. (Imagine the cover blurb: "The book that Rupert Murdoch doesn't want you to read!") Indeed, soon after the cancellation, says the source, Simpson's camp asked Murdoch's representatives to surrender the rights earlier than the original deal stipulates so that Simpson can cash in overseas.

Fred Goldman, Ron's father, filed a lawsuit last week against both Simpson and Lorraine Brooke Associates, described by Goldman's lawyer as a "sham entity" formed to funnel the book's proceeds to the ex-football star. Goldman hopes not only to retrieve the $880,000 he says News Corp. paid Simpson as an advance, but he also wants Murdoch's company to give him all rights to If I Did It ? print, audio and other peripheral sources of income from the project. "There was originally an indication they might be open to such an idea [turning all profits over to the victims' families]," says Goldman. "If they want to be through with this, they should have no problem turning over those rights to us." Adds Goldman's attorney, Jonathan Polak, "We're seeking to unwind all the transactions, including the transfer of the intellectual property." And so, alas, we will have to expect new chapters in the history of the crime of the last century.

Terrified of what will happen on New Year's 2000, Randall Knight embarks on a coast-to-coast Cassandra tour, urging his family, friends and ex-girlfriends to take the looming crisis seriously and prepare for Doomsday. The children's puppeteer throws R.K. Raccoon, Salmon Ella and a pile of paranoid, pessimistic studies he downloaded from this new thing called the Internet into his Oldsmobile. His goal is to rouse a nation that would rather distract itself with a soap opera about the president and an intern.

His first approach is to calmly present people with the facts as he sees them. But after his own family stages an intervention to stop him from being the real Y2K casualty ? and Randall responds in a very funny scene by crashing a party thrown by his sister and brother-in-law, a Lewinsky-obsessed reporter for CNN ? he finds himself celebrating Thanksgiving at a survivalist's camp in Texas and wondering what went wrong.

"I think everyone is familiar with the phenomenon of the boss from hell, the over-the-top person who can ruin your professional and personal life," said Clark, 29, who worked with Regan in New York for almost a year. "I'm sure this happens in many jobs, but you do hear a lot of stories about it occurring in the world of publishing."

Perhaps it was just a matter of time. If Lauren Weisberger's vicious portrait of Anna Wintour and the fashion world in "The Devil Wears Prada" could be turned into literary and cinematic gold, why couldn't the book world ? teeming with behind-the-scenes intrigue and a rogue's gallery of opportunists ? offer similar literary fodder?

For the record, Clark said her book is fiction and is not a specific portrait of anyone. But she concedes that "it's based on things I've lived and things I've imagined. It's pretty much out there by now, what she [Regan] is like. And I think the O.J. Simpson thing was truly a low point. But I don't have much more to add."

The New York gossip world, however, has been buzzing ever since galleys of Clark's 274-page book began circulating last month. The publisher, Warner Books, has openly touted the Regan connection, sending reporters a juicy item from Lloyd Grove, a former New York Daily News columnist, who described Vivien Grant, the novel's main character, as "a wildly abusive, foul-mouthed, pantsuit-wearing publisher who favors down-market bestsellers about strippers and pimps, boasts about her sexual escapades to overworked staffers and carries on an extramarital affair with a New York City public official who ? presumably unlike Regan's onetime paramour, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik ? likes to be photographed wearing lipstick and lingerie." Claire Truman, the young protagonist in Clark's book, thinks she's heard it all as she comes to work for Grant. But nothing prepares her for a boss who calls at all hours, makes brazen intrusions into her private life and throws vulgar tantrums.

"Houghton Mifflin is thrilled to be publishing Philip Roth's ninth and last Zuckerman novel in October 2007, 28 years after the publication of "The Ghost Writer," Houghton Mifflin publisher Janet Silver said today in a statement.

According to Houghton Mifflin, Exit Ghost is a "portrait of the artist as an old man." "Bedeviled by the powers he's lost, fearful of losing the powers that remain -- and that are vital to his vocation -- Nathan Zuckerman returns to New York after 11 years of living as a solitary, reclusive writer in the rural hills of western Massachusetts.

"His encounters in New York with a new generation of writers and with an old, dying friend produce revelations that gravely unsettle him and make of the final Zuckerman book a moving study of obsession, forgetfulness, resignation, and ungratifiable desire," the statement reads.

But next week The Baltimore Times will join The New York Amsterdam News, The Philadelphia Tribune and several others in introducing Blacks & Books, a monthly insert focusing on books by or of interest to readers of African descent. The project was conceived by Ken Smikle, president of the Chicago-based market research and media consulting company Target Market News, which in March acquired the respected bimonthly magazine Black Issues Book Review.

"We're trying to bring an otherwise unheard black perspective about things happening in book publishing across the board," said Mr. Smikle, who is publishing Blacks & Books from Black Issues' small, book-stuffed suite of offices on the 15th floor of the Empire State Building. "I have long thought that black newspapers were underutilized in that area." The first cover story: Senator Barack Obama and his current best seller, The Audacity of Hope.

Contributors will include Black Issues regulars, as well as freelancers, established authors and newspaper journalists. In addition to reviews and features, there will be a best-seller list, author interviews, a literary calendar and a children?s and young-adult section.

What would Halloween be without a little trick-or-treating? This year, make exploring some of these classic spooky tales part of your treat. Discover who famously uttered "nevermore," why Van Helsing was forced to behead the "bloofer lady" and how Ichabod Crane met his untimely end in a tranquil glen called Sleepy Hollow.

Since we've digitized the full text of these stories and novels, you can search every word. But that's not all -- whenever you see a Download button, you're free to download, save and print a PDF version to read at your own pace. And if you decide you want to buy a bound copy, "All editions" will show you multiple editions, many of which are available for purchase.

He said the Gordimer was robbed of cash and jewelry when three unknown men gained entrance to her home at about 10:30 a.m. local time on Thursday. Gordimer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, is noted for her novels and short stories about the inhumanity of apartheid. Several were once banned in her own country.

Tsunke said in a statement released Saturday that the unarmed men held Gordimer and her domestic worker up. One of the men took Gordimer to a bedroom and demanded she open the safe. She handed over cash and jewelry, but would not part with her wedding ring from her marriage to art dealer Reinhold Cassirer, who died in 2001. "The suspects then locked both Gordimer and her domestic worker in a store room and fled the scene," Tsunke said.

He said the domestic worker, whose name he did not know, had managed to press a panic button, triggering an alert with a security company. Tsunke said guards arrived about half an hour later and released the women. He said a case of house robbery and common assault was opened but no arrests had been made. South Africa has become notorious for its high rate of violent crime and there is concern about the negative publicity about the country before the soccer World Cup it will host in 2010.

Norman Buckley, 44, began his thefts after breaking up with his long-term girlfriend. He made more than £11,000 from sales of books on eBay but hardly spent any of the money, claiming the sales gave him a buzz.

Among books he stole was a 16th century Geoffrey Chaucer, worth £35,000, and a volume of political works by Coleridge, Shelley and Keats. He also took broadsides - newssheets detailing the history of Manchester - including one that contained an account of food riots in 1757. An antiquarian books expert in Somerset became intrigued when he saw a copy of John Donne's Elegies, from 1654, for sale on eBay. He saw the Manchester Libraries seal on it, then contacted the library. Staff subsequently contacted police.

Buckley, who worked part-time in the local studies and archive team, was arrested at his home in Hulme, Manchester, in March, on suspicion of theft, and dismissed from his job. When police raided his flat they found 400 books. Buckley pleaded guilty in August to 10 specimen thefts and asked for 445 offences to be taken into consideration. At Manchester crown court yesterday, he was ordered to perform 250 hours' community service. Judge Clement Goldstone said his 15-month jail term was suspended for two years because he had helped police to find the books.

Denise Fitzpatrick, for Buckley, said he had become depressed after his girlfriend left him: "Norman Buckley's motivation for taking these books was not financial. It was an emotional release."

This year's book award finalists are an eclectic, and even unlikely, mix. It's not just a matter of geography but also of aesthetics; the books reflect a national literature in transition, with shifting perspectives, shifting priorities. Several books, fiction and nonfiction, draw their inspiration from the events of Sept. 11, but even more there are experiments in style, in format, as well as forms and genres that had gone unrepresented. Gene Luen Yang's "American Born Chinese," a finalist in the Young People's Literature category, is the first graphic novel ever nominated for a National Book Award. Yang teaches computer science at a Bay Area high school.

This sense of the unconventional is particularly prevalent in the fiction category. The list of finalists featured none of the highly regarded works from big names that one might have expected. Missing are "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, "Everyman" by Philip Roth and "Thirteen Moons" by Charles Frazier. Many expected to see a nod for Thomas Pynchon's long-awaited novel "Against the Day."

Perhaps the most surprising finalist was Los Angeles writer Mark Z. Danielewski's "Only Revolutions," an experimental, nonlinear novel involving two parallel narratives, one running front-to-back, the other back-to-front. The book comes with instructions, advising readers to move back and forth between the storylines in eight-page chunks.

The biggest name on the fiction list was Richard Powers, a highly regarded novelist whose "The Echo Maker" is about a man with Capgras syndrome, a rare condition that leads its sufferers to believe that their loved ones have been swapped with doubles or robots. Fiction judge Marianne Wiggins, a Los Angeles writer who was nominated in 2003 for "Evidence of Things Unseen: A Novel," said she and her colleagues winnowed 258 novels. She argued in vain on behalf of McCarthy's "The Road." As for Pynchon, she said, "It was patently obvious it wasn't a contender."

The Indian-born novelist Kiran Desai triumphed last night by winning the £50,000 Man Booker prize with her second novel, The Inheritance of Loss, a story replete with sadness over globalisation and with pleasure at the surviving intimacies of Indian village life.

She beat the bookies, who put her fifth out of six in the award shortlist, rating her as a 5/1 outsider, compared with odds of 6-4 on Sarah Waters' The Night Watch, the favourite.

At her first attempt Desai, 35, not only became the youngest woman to win but achieved a victory which repeatedly eluded her mother. The esteemed Indian novelist Anita Desai - to whom The Inheritance of Loss is dedicated - has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker. On hearing the result Desai said: "The debt I owe to my mother is so profound that I feel the book is hers as much as mine. It was written in her company and in her wisdom and kindness."

This year's head judge, Hermione Lee, left no doubt that it was "the strength of the book's humanity" which gave it the edge after a long and passionate debate among the judges. "It is a magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness," Professor Lee said. "Her mother will be proud of her."

Bret Easton Ellis had to cancel the promotional tour for the paperback version of his Lunar Park novel due to a broken foot. The American Psycho author tripped on some stairs as he was leaving a dinner party in West Hollywood, fracturing his ankle.

Now he'll hawk the book from home via phone interviews. The situation reminds us of the time a Post colleague broke his ankle, and a rival columnist quipped: "At least it's not his writing foot."

Laura Albert, the woman who perpetrated the J.T. LeRoy literary hoax, finally 'fesses up. The literary hustler sits down for an interview with the fall issue of the Paris Review, marking her first interview since she was exposed as a hoaxster by the New York Times in February 2006. In the interview, Albert is unapologetic, even defiant, and - surprise, surprise - claims she is the real victim in a Q&A with Senior Editor Nathaniel Rich.

"She doesn't at all deny it," said Philip Gourevitch, editor of the Paris Review. "She lays it all out in an unapologetic confession. I think the mood is she feels she is misunderstood," he said. Albert, a 40-year-old woman, wrote fiction in the guise of a male many years younger, recalling life as a heroin addict, a homeless teen, victim of child abuse, teen prostitution and transgender bias.

Her works include two novels, "Sarah" and "Harold's End," as well as a short story collection with the now ironic title, "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things." As her literary following grew, people clamored to meet and interview J.T. LeRoy in person, so she eventually convinced Savannah Knoop, the half sister of Albert's longtime partner Geoffrey Knoop, to partake in the charade.

Sales of the book, "For One More Day," will be supported by a marketing effort that will include in-store signage, a 25-city initiative to encourage customers to discuss the book at Starbucks stores, and a charity tie-in to promote literacy.

Starbucks declined to disclose the terms of the deal with the book's publisher, Hyperion. The company, which is based in Seattle, has parlayed successful sales of music compilation CDs into a small but profitable business that has included deals for exclusive content with musicians like Bob Dylan and Alanis Morissette. This year, Starbucks extended its reach into the entertainment business through a deal in which it promoted the low-budget film "Akeelah and the Bee" in its stores.

Selling the latest book by Albom, author of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and the memoir, "Tuesdays with Morrie," takes that strategy a step further, said Ken Lombard, head of Starbucks Entertainment. "For One More Day," which Starbucks said "focuses on the connection between parents and children," goes on sale in Starbucks stores October 3. It also will be available in traditional retail outlets, where it will go on sale about a week earlier, Lombard said. Starbucks is timing the beginning of its promotion to coincide with Albom's book tour, during which he will visit Starbucks coffee shops in eight cities, Lombard said.

Over the course of the 20 years I've been publishing fiction, a none too subtle transformation has taken place in the design of book covers. My first novel used Henri Rousseau's The Dream, into which the heads of my characters were carefully hand-painted, in the same style, peeking through the foliage. (These days, they would probably just bung in photographs.) The cover of my second novel is a piece of original art (aka, a moon rock), with two crossed drumsticks and a joyful spatter of paint, capturing the exuberance and abandon of the main character, a rock'n'roll drummer.

Yet my latter covers have all capitulated to the computer. By the 1990s, designers were glued to their screens. If you scan Waterstone's today, you will be hard pressed to find any covers employing original art. (One delightful exception is Allegra Goodman's Intuition - congratulations to Dial Press - whose watercolour cover is every bit as exquisite as the text inside. You would never believe that a mere filing cabinet could look so beguiling.) For the most part, designers now just drag photos off the web, and play with backgrounds and fonts at the keyboard. That's why a strange drabness, coldness, and sameness is plaguing the aesthetics of book publishing - and at a time when the pleasures of physical books, as opposed to electronic media, are vital to defend.

*****

I'm not one to complain about the advent of the computer overall, which has made writing so much more convenient. But over-reliance on this clinical technology is estranging in the decorative arts. That's why, at my wit's end this last weekend, I took my cue from Mitchell and hauled out my coloured pencils. I drew my own damn book cover -- luminous, one-of-a-kind, and, like one of Tolstoy's real beauties, not quite perfect. We'll see if my publisher bites. Call me a Luddite if you will -- at least I tried.

The Asti Spumante Code parallels the Da Vinci plot. There is a hero (Jim Crack) and a heroine (Emily) who are trying to figure out a code. Well, kind of a code.

It's more, really, a barcode or a product code, the kind usually found on the back cover of a book.

And instead of searching for the Holy Grail, they're looking for the greatest book that will ever be written.

As Jim explains to Emily, there was once a "more innocent age" before chick lit.

This was an age "when writers wrote books that both men and women read. Some of the earlier writers are a bit obscure, but think Charles Dickens. Think Jane Austen. Think Henry James."

Making sure her eight-year-old son, Jose, is a proficient reader is important to Joanne Ibarra, so books are also important. They just might not be coming from Baytown's Sterling Library anymore. "I don't want to see them. I don't want to see any more books, not right now," laughed Ibarra.

Ibarra laughs it off, but it was a serious situation that all started Tuesday when a Baytown officer pulled her over for a traffic violation near Commerce and West Texas Avenue. The officer issued three traffic citations for disregarding a traffic sign, no insurance, and no driver's license. But then he found a warrant and the cuffs came out. Ibarra couldn't believe the reason for her arrest. "I didn't know you could go to jail for not returning a library book," she said. "It's a violation of the city ordinance," explained Baytown Assistant City Manager Kelvin Knauf.

Knauf said both the city attorney and the library sent Ibarra notices about her overdue book and her $118 fine. After months with no response, a warrant was issued for her arrest and the rest is history. Ibarra says she never received the notices because she moved, but she accepts responsibility for her actions, even though she thinks the consequence was extreme.

Focus Features is in discussions to take international rights on the pic. Sony will distribute domestically. Shooting is skedded to begin this fall in London. Ruby Films' Alison Owen and BBC Films' David Thompson are producing. Scott Rudin exec produces.

The film was originally developed by the U.K.-based Owen and BBC Films, which optioned the book and made a telefilm based on it. Rudin, who worked with the BBC on "Iris," became involved last summer, ultimately bringing the pic to Sony. Portman recently wrapped Mandate Pictures' Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. She also has a role in Wong Kar Wai's indie My Blueberry Nights, filming this summer.

Bana will next star in Warner Bros.' Lucky You. Chadwick directed Bleak House, the series based on Dickens' novel. The Other Boleyn Girl is his first feature.

A wickedly savage fictional rendition of Judith Regan ? the savagely wicked doyenne of the Harper-Collins imprint ReganBooks ? is making the rounds in Hollywood and among gleeful ex-employees of the 52-year-old publishing terror. Rest assured that she won't be publishing former ReganBooks editor Bridie Clark's novel, "Because She Can," which could alternatively be titled "The Devil Wears Pantsuits," though I doubt anyone will take me up on this suggestion.

Instead, Warner Books has scheduled February for the release of Clark's novel, which focuses on Vivian Grant, a wildly abusive, foul-mouthed, pantsuit-wearing publisher who favors down-market best sellers about strippers and pimps, boasts about her sexual escapades to overworked staffers, and carries on an extramarital affair with a New York City public official who ? presumably unlike Regan's onetime paramour, former Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik ? likes to be photographed wearing lipstick and lingerie.

The novel, a copy of which was provided to me by a Hollywood development exec, also contains a couple of lovely shout-outs to this column, which has toiled diligently over the past couple of years to report on Regan's excellent adventures. In one passage, the protago-nist, Claire Truman, receives an E-mail from a friend: "READ TODAY'S LLOYD GROVE ? Then run for cover ? I am scared for you." Clark ? who, like the long-suffering Ms. Truman, worked for ReganBooks as an editor for about a year ? could not be reached for comment yesterday. A ReganBooks publicist told me his boss also was unreachable.

The 30-year-old London-born author took the £30,000 prize, celebrating female writing, at her third attempt. Her previous two novels, White Teeth and The Autograph Man, were shortlisted in 2001 and 2003 respectively but failed to win.

*****

In her acceptance speech at the ceremony at London's Royal Courts of Justice, Smith said she was "stunned" to win. "I have read everything on the shortlist and I know its quality is incredible," she said. "Every writer has aspects of style I genuinely covet. They are extraordinary women and extraordinary writers."

Now, Webb is ready to reveal the characters' fate.

"It was quite a while till I could figure out what they did next," he said.

Home School picks up the lives of Braddock and Elaine about 10 years on, living in upstate New York with their two children and trying to keep Mrs. Robinson at bay.

Random House said it planned to publish the book in Britain in June 2007. It has world rights to the novel, but has not announced a U.S. publication date. Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for the U.S. division of Random House, said the publisher was still waiting to see material from the new book before making any decisions.

Paul Sidey, editor at Random House's Hutchinson imprint, said the book was "short, sharp and very funny. And there is a last hurrah for the mother-in-law from hell."

This marks the first time that Costa has entered the sponsorship market; and both Costa and the Book Awards are this year celebrating their 35th anniversary.

Created in 1971, the Whitbread Book Awards were established to celebrate the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK or Ireland, and have successfully developed into one of the foremost and most prestigious literary awards in the UK.

The Costa Book Awards will take place in late January 2007 at a central London location. Costa will continue with the same format as in previous years with five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Children?s Book and Poetry.

The 15 category judges - three judges per category - have been appointed and include author and broadcaster, Kate Adie and author, Sophie Kinsella. Entry forms have this month been distributed via the Booksellers Association who will continue to undertake the administration of the Costa Book Awards with the book trade. Closing date for publishers to submit entries is Wednesday 28th June 2006.

"The buzz has spread like wildfire," says Algonquin's Michael Taeckens, who sent out "tons of galleys" to independents.

Gruen has published two other novels: paperback originals Riding Lessons (2004; about an accident that derails a promising horse rider) and Flying Changes (2005; a sequel).

Water for Elephants, her first hardcover, takes place during the early 1930s. The main character is Jacob Jankowski, a college dropout who winds up working as a circus veterinarian. The novel flashes between a nursing home where Jankowski, 93, lives and his circus days.

There's love, danger, cruelty (to people and animals), raunchiness, lawlessness, even murder.

Smonk by Tom Franklin: "Franklin writes like an archangel on a crank binge. I've waited three years for his follow-up to Hell at the Breech so I'm pretty geeked up for this one."

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell: "Woodrell is the least-known major writer in the country right now. I don't even know what this novel's about, but I'm going to buy it the day it's published." (Aug. 7)

For One More Day by Mitch Albom, best-selling author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Albom says his new novel "focuses on the relationships between mothers and sons." It's about a man who loses his mother and years later is given the chance to spend one more day with her. In stores: Sept. 26.

Thirteen Moons, Charles Frazier's first novel since 1997's Cold Mountain. Set in the 19th century, Moons is the story of a young white man adopted by members of the Cherokee nation. Publication date: Oct. 3.

The Innocent Man: A True Story, the first non-fiction title from John Grisham. It's about Ronald Keith Williamson, a second-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 1971 who was convicted in the late 1980s of raping and killing a waitress in Oklahoma. Williamson was five days away from execution in 1999 when he was exonerated by DNA evidence. In stores: Oct. 10.

A Japanese publisher said Friday his company will be the first in the world to put out a novel said to have been completed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein the day before the U.S. invasion that ended his reign. The book, to be titled "Akuma No Dance" (?Devil's Dance?) in Japan, will be published by the Tokyo-based Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co. on May 19, said the company's senior editorial official, Koichi Chikaraishi.

Jordan last year banned publication of the novel, known there as "Get Out, Damned One," because of political concerns. The novel revolves around a tribe living on the Euphrates River 1,500 years ago that succeeds in ousting an invading tribe through resistance. It tells the story of a man named Ezekiel who plots to overthrow a town's sheik but is defeated by the sheik's daughter and an Arab warrior. The story appears to be a metaphor for a Zionist-Christian plot against Arabs and Muslims. Ezekiel is meant to symbolize the Jews.

Chikaraishi said the manuscript was carried out of Iraq by Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, when she fled to Jordan just before the U.S.-led invasion was launched. Raghad has said previously her father finished the novel on March 18, 2003 ? a day before the war began. Chikaraishi said a first run of 8,000 copies of the 256-page Japanese translation would be printed, priced at $14. It would be the first time the book would be published commercially, though a pirated version has been sold in Jordan, Chikaraishi said. Saddam has been credited with writing three other books: "Zabibah and the King," "The Fortified Citadel" and "Men and a City."

Tuesday at Carnegie Hall, the National Endowment for the Arts will announce a competition for grants, up to $20,000 each, to be awarded to 100 communities that select a novel and encourage everyone to read and discuss it. It expands a pilot program last year in 10 cities that had a choice of one of four novels. The Big Read is a response to a 2004 federal report, "Reading at Risk," that found less than half of the adult population reads literature (46.7%, down from 56.9% in a 1982 survey). The sharpest decline was among 18- to 24-year-olds (42.8%, down from 59.8% in 1982).

Literature was defined broadly: any novel (from William Faulkner to James Patterson), poem, short story or play. "We wanted a big program to reinvigorate reading," says Dana Gioia, NEA chairman. "We didn't invent the idea. We're building on it." The Big Read, supported by $1 million from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is the latest twist on the "One Book, One City" program that began in Seattle in 1998 and within a few years spread to 200 communities.

"Many communities tried and liked it but then gave up," Gioia says. "They didn't have the resources to keep it going." The Big Read's pilot program offered a choice of one of four novels: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Gioia acknowledges those books and four new choices are on many high school reading lists and says that's a good starting point. "We wanted books with