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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If the Academy Awards handed out those plastic trophies so popular at elementary school sports banquets, where the clumsy but well-intentioned kids are encouraged to come back and try again next year, "Hit and Run" and its writer, star and co-director Dax Shepard would be picking out tuxedos. …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - When it comes to mining a medical malady for laughs across multiple platforms, standup comic Mike Birbiglia is a master. He has already spun a standup routine, a segment on the radio show "This American Life," an autobiographical book and a one-man off-Broadway show out of the sleep disorder …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Patrick Goldstein, the longtime "Big Picture" columnist at the Los Angeles Times, has penned his final column, he announced in his column that appeared on the web Tuesday night. Goldstein has written "The Big Picture" for 12 years, during which time, he recalled in his final column, he never …

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - First Watergate, then 9/11, now the U.S. economy. The next book from Bob Woodward, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, will detail how President Obama and congressional leaders handled the economic crisis. Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that "The Price of Politics" would …

(Reuters) - Molly Ringwald is perhaps best known for playing the teenage protagonist in 1980s film classics "Pretty in Pink" and "Sixteen Candles," but the now 44-year-old mother of three has published a novel focusing on the decidedly adult topic of betrayal - marital and otherwise. "When It Happens to You" centers on …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Gone Girl" kept its position at the top spot of Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) …

SYDNEY (Reuters) - He's three meters (nine feet) long, weighs as much as a small fishing boat and can eat the combined weight of two small children every day. But "Dhyum the Dugong," the main character in a new children's book, has pressing issues on his mind. He wants to teach people how to save dugongs, endangered sea …

(Reuters) - Popular phrases such as "man cave," "bucket list" and "game changer" are among the new entries in the 2012 update of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, according to a list released by the company on Tuesday. "Sexting" - the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone - and "f-bomb" - …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. Navy commando who authored a soon-to-be-published book about the raid in which he and fellow SEALs killed Osama bin Laden could face investigation because he failed to clear the book with the Defense Department before publication. Fox News made public on Thursday what it said was the …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government was surprised by the news that a Navy SEAL who participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan has written a book about the operation in which the al Qaeda leader was killed, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Gone Girl" held on to the top spot of Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 1 2. "Friends …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Divided by the abduction and murder of their teenage sister decades ago, two brothers in a small Ohio town must overcome their adversarial relationship when faced with a new killing that has seemingly random ties to each of them. In "The Prophet," the ninth novel from 29-year-old Michael Koryta, one …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Action movie "The Bourne Legacy," with new star Jeremy Renner, raced to the No. 1 spot on U.S. and Canadian box office charts with an estimated $40.3 million in ticket sales over the weekend. New adult comedy "The Campaign" debuted in second place, winning $27.4 million at domestic theaters. The …

TOKYO (Reuters) - Writer Andrew Motion, England's former poet laureate, is taking a new generation of readers back to "Treasure Island" in his latest book, which follows the characters from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure. In "Silver: Return to Treasure Island," Jim Hawkins is four decades older and runs an inn …

LOS ANGELES, Aug 5 - Following are the top 10 movies at North American box offices for the weekend starting Aug 3, led by "The Dark Knight Rises" at No. 1, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters. 1 (1) The Dark Knight Rises....................$ 36.4 million 2 (*) Total Recall.............................$ 26.0 …

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - The death of author Gore Vidal at the age of 86 brought tributes from around the globe on Wednesday, as friends and fans mourned the passing of the man remembered as one of America's literary giants. Vidal, whose biting observations on politics, sex and American culture in novels, plays and essays …

TOKYO (Reuters) - Aaron Burr, a lawyer and politician in the early years of the United States, has long had a reputation as a villain, mainly due to his famous killing of political rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804. But in his book, "The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr," author Henry Brands paints a vastly different picture …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Friends Forever" jumped to the top of Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Friends Forever" by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $28.00) …

LONDON (Reuters) - The magic of J.K. Rowling seems to have worn off for British readers as erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" outsold all seven Harry Potter books on Amazon.co.uk on Wednesday, making author E.L. James the website's best-selling writer ever. The novel also became the website's biggest-selling book of all …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Best-selling author Kurt Andersen isn't a spy, but that didn't stop him from writing his latest novel about a group of friends who hatch a James-Bond-like plot amid the tumult of the 1960s in the United States. "True Believers," which hit shelves earlier this month, tells the tale of a celebrated lawyer, …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For more than 30 years, author William Boyd has won acclaim for writing complexly plotted page-turners often set in unique historical milieus, from World War One-era East Africa to 1936 Los Angeles. His latest novel, "Waiting for Sunrise," features Lysander Rief, a young British actor seeking treatment …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" dominated U.S. and Canadian box offices for a third time, holding firm to the weekend's No. 1 spot and leaving the debut of science fiction remake "Total Recall" in distant second place. "Dark Knight Rises" racked up an estimated $36.4 million in ticket sales …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "The Watch" ranks among career lows not only for its stars (including Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill), writers (among them Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) and director (Akiva Schaffer, who gave us the underrated Andy Samberg vehicle "Hot Rod") but also for Costco, which plays a key role …