ON BOOKS - The Bookseller
Katie Allen is The Bookseller's media editor.

After the hoo-hah over Peter Mandelson’s heavily extracted and reviewed memoirs The Third Man two weeks ago, the attention now shifts to ex-PM Tony Blair, and his former counterpart across the waves, George Dubya. Outrage has been stoked by Blair’s promotional schedule for his forthcoming memoir A Journey (Hutchinson), which includes a signing at Waterstone’s flagship Piccadilly store on 8th September. While some elements of the press have criticised the “control freakery” of the event, the Stop the War coalition has called for a boycott of Waterstone’s stores and has pledged to protest outside every branch on that day.

Hot on his heels, or at least pub date, is George W Bush’s book Decision Points. Random imprint Virgin has acquired the title, on the controversial US president’s accounts of 9/11, the Iraq War, and Katrina, among other momentous events during his time in power, from Crown in the US. It will be published on 9th November, two months after Blair’s tome.

In other news, sales of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories have rather inevitably been boosted by the recent modern-day BBC1 three-parter, which ended on Sunday with a promise of more series to come. While this year’s Man Booker longlist is the most popular since 2001 (when there were 24 titles on the list). Christos Tsiolkas’ divisive novel The Slap is the bestselling of the Booker dozen.

And on the box, the BBC has revealed an all-star cast for its four-part adaptation of Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White, recently rejacketed by publisher Canongate. Romola Garai will play young prostitute Sugar while Gillian Anderson will play madam Mrs Castaway