Obama Chooses The Wire Writer for Summer Read
Barack Obama has chosen a crime novel by Richard Price, a writer from hit US television show The Wire, as one of his holiday reads.
The writer's thriller Lush Life is one of a number of books the US president has taken on his break.
Another book by a writer of the series, George Pelecanos and his novel, The Way Home is also part of Obama's literary summer feast.
Price's book follows an investigation into a supposedly random shooting in Manhatten while Pelecanos' work examines the chaotic relationship between a father and son in Washington DC.
Bill Burton, deputy press secretary, made the announcement about Obama's holiday reading during a presidential briefing.
"And here's what's on the reading list, because I know that some folks have been asking - it's long," he warned.
The list of books includes the two novels by Price and Pelecanos, Tom Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded, Kent Haruf's Plainsong and John Adams by David McCullough.
Obama has previously described HBO series The Wire as his favourite television show. Read More»
Moonfire Book Launched to Celebrate Apollo 11 Mission
A limited number of copies of a new book being published to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission are to be sold with a piece of moon rock.
Of the 1,969 editions of Moonfire due to be published, the final 12 will include a piece of lunar rock ranging in weight from 0.4 grams to 30.34 grams dependent on price and specification.
Creed Poulson, public relations manager at Taschen America, said that these editions could be worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars".
Taschen is publishing the book, written by US author and journalist Norman Mailer, who died in 2007.
Moonfire features Mailer's account of the mission undertaken by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins in 1969.
The writer's take on events was originally published by LIFE magazine, which he then extended for the book Of a Fire on the Moon, excerpted for this edition.
His insights into the historic occasion are set alongside a number of photographs, images and maps from NASA's vaults and private collections with many of them being published for the first time as part of this work.
Moonfire is being sold with a free image of Aldrin walking on the moon which has been signed by the astronaut.
It will be the first book by Mailer to be published posthumously. Read More»