As reported yesterday, the only book that was cancelled in the closure of ReganBooks was 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel. Peter Golenbock's version of the baseball legend's life story—told through Mantle's first-person narration—had sparked controversy from the beginning, and in the end, Michael Morrison told the Associated Press, "With all the press attention on this book, and all the controversy surrounding it, Peter and I agreed it would probably be best if it would have a fresh start somewhere else." Morrison added that he liked the book and had read it twice. The NYT sports bureau got an expanded rationale: "There was so much unfair attention paid to the book based on what happened with Judith [Regan]. People were lumping the two books [7 and If I Did It] together." (Which, you may recall, is what we told you all along, although it's a shame the Sirius conversation I had with Golenbock and Regan on the subject will probably never see the light of day.)

The Times also got a reaction from Golenbock to the cancellation: "I'm disappointed. But I certainly have prospects. There is serious interest out there for it." No word yet on how this affects the Mantle biography Jane Leavy is supposed to be writing for David Hirshey at HarperCollins, mentioned in PW's original coverage, but we'll see if we can't get some phone calls made later this morning.

While I was sipping scotch at the Jura writer's retreat party last night, I ran into St. Mark's Bookshop co-owner Robert Contant and Marilyn Berkman of the Women's National Book Association. When I mentioned to Berkman that I was looking forward to running into her again at a WNBA reception coming up Sunday, she told me they wouldn't be able to make it, as that'll be their 17th wedding anniversary. "But it's a double anniversary," she smiled as I pulled out my camera. "Saturday'll be the 27th anniversary of our first date!" Congratulations to the happy, and very literary, couple.

Today is National Mammography Day, and Cancer Vixen author Marisa Acocella Marchetto is sponsoring free breast exams at St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today for women 40 or older (35 if there's a history of breast cancer in your family already). The center is located at 325 West 15th St. If you live/work in the city, and this is something you've been putting off because you've been worried about how to afford it, I strongly encourage you not to bother coming back to the office after work—go and have the exam done.

(spotted on The Beat)

• New ALA study reports how frequently federal, state and local agents are demanding records from libraries. According to one librarian, "the findings are completely contrary to what the Justice Department has been trying to convince the public."
• USA Today calls Judith Regan "a book and movie agent." A rep from Project for Excellence in Journalism comments, "This is the dark side of synergy."
• Neal Pollack is the Greatest Living American Writer. Neal Pollack is Dead.
• Page Six reports that "Tara Reid is the front-runner for the lead in the movie/TV adaptation of She's Got Issues by Stephanie Lessing, slated to hit bookstores the weekend of July 4." Happy birthday, America. You've got issues.

• Pope John Paul II's books top Amazon.com's bestseller list. [NYDN]
  
• The SF Chronicle predicts that Oh the Glory of It All, by "troubled rich kid" Sean Wilsey, will become the "juiciest gossip in years," thanks to an excerpt in the current New Yorker. [SF Chronicle]
  
• PW (sub req'd) reports that Ian McEwan's readings have been drawing crowds of 500+. [PW]
  
• Chistropher Reeve's widow, Dana, signs with Ann Godoff at Penguin to write a memoir of her marriage with Reeve. [contactmusic.com]
  
• The Times relays JSF and Malcolm Gladwell's recent real estate dealings. [NY Times]
  
• Alicia Keys settles her lawsuit with former agent Noah Lukeman, who brokered a deal for her with Bantam. Keys later "teamed up with a second agent ... for a more lucrative deal elsewhere." [KGET.com]

• Scholastic announces a 10.8 million print run for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due out July 16. [USA Today]
  
• "The International Booker is shaping up to be the literary equivalent of the World Cup: which is to say, the British have once again invented a global sport they have little hope of ever winning." [Telegraph]
  
• "Using his own coin," Scott Rudin acquires Ian McEwan's Saturday. [Dark Horizons]
  
• Del Ray announces it will release its novelization of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in hardcover, with an announced first printing of 650,000. [AP]
  
• Unfortunately, "the Kimberly Bell book tour, even without a publishing deal, has begun." [ESPN]

Or, wait, sorry. Got that quote a little wrong:

"The Bush administration is so secretive that they gave new value to books," said Sam Tanenhaus, editor of The New York Times Book Review. "People turned to books to find out what was going on."

(FYI: The previous post contains the same link. No need to click both unless it's a really slow workday.)

Some folk regard best-seller lists as quirky cultural thermometers. Others write them off as a sign of the Apocalypse.

Let's pretend for a moment that, given enough traumatic head injuries per year in America, some people (who may or may not call the middle states home) actually do equate bestsellers with the Apocalypse. Now, would these people be more likely to a) pay attention to the bestseller list, for it contains clues pertaining to the World's Upcoming and Fiery Demise, or b) "write off" the bestseller list because, after all, it's only a sign of the Apocalypse?

• A freelance writer drops his plagiarism suit against Kitty Kelley "after realizing that he was likely to lose because he had failed to register his copyright with the United States Copyright Office." [NY Times]
  
• Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer fired over "Memogate," signs a six-figure deal with St. Martin's to write The Other Side of the Story. [Crain's New York]
  
• mb's David Hirschman interviews new Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch. [mediabistro.com]
  
• The Independent takes a look at the mounting competition to Lynne Truss's upcoming etiquette rulebook, Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door. [Independent]
  
• After pulling out of a film "in order to write his autobiography," Sean Connery cancels the autobiography, including the deal with the ghostwriter slated to write it. [London Times]