News: Tom Clancy, Dave Eggers's Circle, And Malcolm And Goliath

So I was sick for a total of two weeks due to a low-grade infection, according to the doctor. Though the fevers have subsided, my energy levels are about that of a newborn goat's. I'd shed about 4kgs, my appetite shrank, and had no coffee of spicy stuff for nearly three weeks. But enough about me.

• Big news of last week: the unexpected passing of Tom Clancy, who was 66 years young.
• Some things you shouldn't do in a bookstore.
• Boston-based author and independent bookstore owner Jaime Clarke begs readers not to buy his book from Amazon.
• Did Ian Fleming write Casino Royale to fit into his wife's social circle?
• Dave Eggers says he has never read the book he’s accused of plagiarising: Kate Losse's Facebook memoir, The Boy Kings. Losse alleged that parts of her book were used for Eggers's The Circle. Meanwhile, someone wonders why Eggers, who is said to have "zero interest in the tech world", wrote a 500-page satire about it.
• Literary rogue Andrew Shaffer 'reviews' the so-called fake review service Fiverr.
• Subeditors are not just spellcheckers. The real work begins after all the typos are fixed.
• E-books price people out of reading, says Art Brodsky.
• Speed-read: Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath. For an edgier summary, there's the digested version.
• We're not the only country with leaks... up to 10,000 books for 100 students?
• Reading literary fiction helps us read people better, it seems.
• So yeah, why do we eat popcorn at the movies?