Speaking of new books, a few weeks back, This American Life re-ran #203 "Recordings for Someone." One of the segments tell the story of the famous "Little Mermaid" phone message. You can sort of read about that over here. Anyhow, in that episode of TAL you can also hear the source of the sample "I can't find the books, they must be in La Jolla," which appears in a song by The Books, on their album "Lost and Safe" (one of my favorite records of the '00s). The Books' new record, The Way Out comes out July 20. Watch a new panic-attack-inducing video here.
Also, check out Conrad Bakker's awesome Book Club project here (pdf). (Mr. Bakker was one of my art professors back in college. Conrad and I also both have done covers for the poet/comedian Aaron Belz, who also incidentally has a new book out, a real book. See him read if you get a chance.)