Wire Book/Publishing News

Rankings for hard-cover books sold in Southern California, as reported by selected book stores:

Rankings for hard-cover books sold in Southern California, as reported by selected book stores:

As the public joined the frenzy around Facebook Inc.'s Wall Street debut, well-connected institutional investors were hearing a more sobering message: The social network's main business, advertising, was sputtering.

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, May 24:

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Facebook Inc. could be on the hook for $1 billion or more in damages if plaintiffs' lawyers can prove allegations that the company and its bankers misled investors in its initial public offering.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Less than two months after agreeing to pay about $1 billion for photo-sharing application Instagram, Facebook Inc. introduced a similar app Thursday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Less than two months after agreeing to pay about $1 billion for photo-sharing application Instagram, Facebook Inc. introduced a similar app Thursday.

Already grappling with regulatory reviews of its troubled initial public offering, Facebook Inc. and the Wall Street banks that shepherded the deal are now under fire from lawmakers and lawyers.

Congress is getting involved and investors have become angry, but despite another rough day for Facebook at least its stock price finally closed with a daily gain.

Two congressional committees are looking into the troubled initial public offering of Facebook Inc., aides said Wednesday.

Facebook Inc. is set to open an office in Dubai next week, its first location in the Middle East.

"Karma" by Carly Phillips; Berkley (2012), 384 pages, $7.99 (paperback)

What will become of Mexico? How can a country so powerful, so concerted, so modern, be so impotent, so chaotic, so backward? And how can Mexico, and all Latin America, take ownership of their futures?

PHILADELPHIA - Buzz Bissinger has already called someone a moron on Twitter this day, but really, the virtuosic vitriol that has characterized his Twitter feed has been somewhat subdued lately.

This month I'm wondering if crime fiction is the only genre where writers die and their characters keep solving murders without them. Last summer Jeffery Deaver continued Bond's covert activities in "Carte Blanche," Anthony Horowitz kept the game afoot with Holmes and Watson in "The House of Silk," and now Ace Atkins has taken up Spenser's sword in Robert Parker's "Lullaby" (Putnam, $26.95) released at the same time as Atkins' own "The Lost Ones" (Putnam, $25.95).

-"Bring Up the Bodies," by Hilary Mantel; John Macrae/Henry Holt (432 pages, $28).

-"Gilt, by Katherine Longshore; Penguin (416 pages, $17.99, ages 12 and up)

-"The Lower River," by Paul Theroux; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pages, $25)

-"The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat," by Thomas McNamee; Free Press (339 pages, $27)

-"Are You My Mother: A Comic Drama," by Alison Bechdel; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (290 pages, $22)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Most everyone from this part of the country knows the rugged beauty of the Ozarks.

LOS ANGELES - Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday but expects to emerge from restructuring by the end of June.

"Calico Joe" by John Grisham; Doubleday (198 pages, $24.95)

Much of the attention on Facebook last week focused on founder Mark Zuckerberg and his chief lieutenant, Sheryl Sandberg.

"Satan Is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers" by Charlie Louvin and Benjamin Whitmer; itbooks (320 pages, $26.99)

As Facebook shares continued their slide, regulators launched inquiries into whether privileged Wall Street insiders were alerted to the company's weakening financial projections, leading them to shun the stock or dump shares just as buying was opened to the public.

Jamael "JGood" Goodman posted his intentions on Facebook just hours before he shot his girlfriend to death and then committed suicide.

Facebook has agreed to settle a lawsuit that alleges the social network's so-called Sponsored Stories advertisements benefited from the "Likes" of users without giving them compensation or a chance to opt out.

Facebook didn't wait long after its IPO to begin shaking things up again and messing with its layout.

At Meghan's Place Eating Disorder Center in Modesto, Calif., clients used purses and shoes to make art that helped them explore their ideas about body image and their sense of self.