The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

If you’re reading this post, it means we have survived the foretold Apocalypse and have come out the other side! Congrats, everyone, on a job well-done. Now we have time to enjoy more books and more reading.

And we may have survived because we like to read! The Guardian shared its tips from literature on how to survive Doomsday.

In the world of books, we often have what we call the tie-in. Movies tie into books. Board games that tie into books. What have you. Now here is a great tie-in to a tie-in. HBO’s adaptation of the Game of Thrones debuts season three next March 31st. And what better way to celebrate than to quaff a beverage or two. The New York Times has the story.

Book tours for authors can be grueling. Fawning fans, long travels, if this is Tuesday, this must be St. Paul syndrome. Neil Gaiman has announced that his next tour will be his last, forever. While I’ve heard folks say never again before, I can certainly understand the sentiment. Incidentally, Gaiman has his own HBO production in the works for his American Gods. From the LA Times.

Keep a look out for these writers! Flavorwire has a list of some authors you may never have heard of. I can honestly say, I recognized only one name.

It seems that Kurt Vonnegut was a lusty fellow and had some things to say about an illustrated tome entitled the A B Z of Sexuality, published in 1965, some years before Alex Comfort’s The Joy of Sex.

Speaking of A to Z, The AtltanticWire has this years most abused and overrated words. Again, I can’t say I’ve heard of many of them, but I am not cautioned against using them. Actually.

And while those words may give us grief, the following words make us happy, at least according to Mental_Floss.

Finally Charles Dickens was one of the finest social critics writing in English during the nineteenth century. And the power of his images retains strength and importance. From the end of what he called Stave Three of A Christmas Carol comes the haunting vision of the two children, Ignorance and Want.

Please, everyone, enjoy your holiday. Keep safe, have fun. And let us know what is on your nightstand. Merry Christmas!