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.

I am an unabashed Rodgers and Hammerstein fan. And with the turn of the calendar page, I am reminded of the song. So let’s begin to think about summer.

While she may be retiring from Congress after the current session, but she remains an inspiration to us all! I can only hope Ms. Bachmann turns to writing novels as her next career move. In the meantime, her life has been transformed into a bodice ripper. Talking Points Memo has the story.

But she has a ways to go to make the list of top villains from literature. Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, has weighed in on his choices for the top ten bad guys for the Guardian.

Not to pick on the Minnesota Congresswoman too much, as she isn’t the only one with some, well, “ethical” problems. It seems even Nobel Laureates can do less than honest things. A letter written by Rudyard Kipling in which he admits to plagiarism is now up for auction.

Kipling’s career spanned a great many monarchial reigns in Great Britain, including both Victoria and Edward’s. ABEBooks has a nice article on Edwardian first edition books with their usual flair for great jacket art here.

If you happen to be between books at the moment, you might want to check out what the good folks at the New Yorker are currently reading to get some ideas.

It is sad to note the passing of Father Andrew Greeley this past week. Although his novels were not my cup of tea, he had a fine mind and was an outspoken man of the cloth. The New York Times recounts his life and work here.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux is one of our finest literary publishers and their on-line column Work in Progress is always worth reading. Here John Freeman talks about the work of Jeffrey Eugenides.

HuffPo has an interesting article on the original names for some novels. I’m not surprised by Lolita being tentatively called Kingdom by the Sea with all the allusions to Edgar Allan Poe in it. I don’t think, though, that Dubliners was ever going to be called Ulysses in Dublin. Joyce conceived the idea for Ulysses as a story for inclusion in Dubliners, but I think he always meant it to be called by the name we know it now.

I do have some squabbles though with this list from Flavorwire, on the best Cold War novels. A number of these are pretty forgettable (though the cover art is cool). Tinker, Tailor would be my number one choice, followed by The Manchurian Candidate and Our Man in Havana (which is very funny). And From Russia with Love is the best work in the Bond series. But the rest of them live in well-deserved obscurity.

More from the Great Bookshelves department! CubeSmart has these ideas for your design consideration.

And it is June! Time to roll out the grill and have yourself a real nice clambake. Publishers Weekly has some suggestions for books on grilling here.

So bon appetit! Please enjoy this youtube presentation of June is Busting Out All Over and let us know what is on your nightstand this weekend.