entertainment - "book"

Even for a writer as endearing as Carl Hiaasen, this old-guy sports memoir is an iffy proposition.

HARRY POTTER has been branded boring and inappropriate for young readers.

AP - 'The Gift of Rain' (Weinstein Books, 448 pages, $23.95), by Tan Twan Eng: Set on the Malaysian island of Penang in 1939, 'The Gift of Rain' offers a look at the life of 16-year-old Philip Hutton ? half British, half Chinese ? who feels like an outsider in his family. Lonely and alienated, he strikes up an unexpected friendship that will set the course of his life.

School officials say they are appalled by altered photos including heads on different bodies in hundreds of McKinney High School ...

Though the culture of gun ownership in America is loaded with images of masculinity, women have also played a role in carrying on the tradition. Laura Browder's new book, Her Best Shot, chronicles the history of women and guns in America. She discusses the surprising ways women have embraced guns by defying social taboos.

Thirty years ago you could count the number of poker books on one hand. David Sklansky's 'Texas Hold 'em published in 1976 was probably the first definitive book on poker. Although Doyle Brunson's 'Super System' published in 1978 had more impact, and today many professional players still cite it as the most influential. read more in pokerworks.com

Book critic Maureen Corrigan gives her summer fiction round-up: Lady of the Snakes by Rachel Pastan; The Sister by Poppy Adams; The People on Privilege Hill by Jane Gardam; and Exiles by Ron Hansen.

DEMI MOORE generously booked late-night massages for about 30 crew members of "Happy Tears," the movie she's shooting around town with Parker Posey and Rip Torn. Moore, Posey and crew members turned up around 10 p.m. Friday for massages from the

Legit News: Shepard, LaBute plays to bookend slate -- European premieres of plays by Sam Shepard and Neil LaBute will bookend the fall season at the Almeida Theatre.

Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver has signed on to star and co-produce a TV movie adaptation of the book Prayers for Bobby,...