Great Regulars: While Penguin, Macmillan and Apple are continuing

to fight the accusations, Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins agreed to settle with the justice department in April. Last week the three publishers agreed to a $69m (£44m) settlement fund to compensate readers who bought ebooks between 1 April 2010 and 21 May 2012, as well as to cease existing agreements under the so-called agency model, which allowed the publisher rather than the retailer to set the price of ebooks.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Ebook price-fixing: judge approves settlement with publishers

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[Susan] Pepin concluded that "after a thorough examination of both of these women's facial features as viewed from the 1847 and 1859 daguerreotypes, I believe strongly that these are the same people".

Amherst has also searched the Emily Dickinson Museum's textile collection and has found at least one fabric sample in a blue check it believes is a candidate for the dress the woman supposed to be Dickinson is wearing in the image. It is planning further work by a textile expert to determine whether the two are the same.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Emily Dickinson gets a new look in recovered photograph

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In an open letter, published yesterday in the Independent on Sunday, [Julia] Donaldson pleaded with [Maria] Miller to take a different course on libraries from her predecessor Jeremy Hunt. About to embark on a six-week tour of the UK's libraries, Donaldson wants to "draw attention to the erosion of the library service which is happening in so many local authorities, and to the current government's utter refusal to intervene or to provide any leadership".

Donaldson said that nearly 250 libraries are currently either under threat of closure or else have been closed or left council control since April this year, while 2,159 library staff posts, out of a total of 20,924, are set to be cut.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson urges Maria Miller to protect libraries
then Alison Flood: The Guardian: Library closures attract little sympathy from Ed Vaizey

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Too much? No, because Amazon reviewer "Nicodemus Jones" agrees: the book is a "modern masterpiece", and "whatever else it might do, it will touch your soul". A reader wondering whether or not to make a purchase might be convinced by this breathless praise: the only problem is, Jelly Bean and Nicodemus Jones are both the pseudonyms of Ellory himself, who was outed this week by fellow crime writer Jeremy Duns as the author of 12 glowingly positive writeups of his own books on Amazon, as well as two reviews critical of his fellow crime authors Mark Billingham and Stuart MacBride.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Sock puppetry and fake reviews: publish and be damned

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