Ash Ra Tempel’s second album, Schwngungen

This August, as we prepare to unleash a bunch of incredible books into the world, MobyLives will be taking a bit of a breather. We’ll still post the occasional news item or feature, but for most of this month we’ll be posting a roundup like this every morning. We will, of course, remain active on Twitter and Facebook. We hope you have a great August, and that you’ll keep checking in with us!

• The brilliant and generous Alan Cheuse, author and longtime book reviewer for NPR‘s “All Things Considered,” died on Friday, from injuries sustained in a car accident. His daughter Emma Cheuse writes of his passing, “In his honor tonight, please raise a glass of wine (or whatever you may be drinking), tell a joke, hug someone that you love, be kind, and read a great story.” (Caring Bridge)
• NPR’s obituary of Cheuse is also worth a read.”Alan embodied the spirit of ambitious, far-ranging writing that characterized modernist writing at the time,” says Robert Pinsky. (NPR)
• Longtime Knopf editor Carol Janaway died yesterday after fighting cancer. She was 71. Janaway started at Knopf in 1970 and worked as an editor, translator, and executive in the company. She edited books by Nobel Prize-winner Imre Kertesz and E.O. Wilson, and won the Friedrich Ulfers Prize for her German translations in 2013. (Yahoo)
• Have college textbook prices really risen over 1000% over the last four decades? (NBC News)
• Thomas Piketty booster Paul Krugman hates the economist’s newly translated 1997 book: “Releasing this youthful effort as if it were a new contribution does a disservice to readers, and I’d argue to the author himself.” (The New York Times)
• The Strand has a previously released story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Temperature,” in their current issue. (The Strand)
• Door-to-door textbook salesmen in Northern Kentucky are NOT, I repeat NOT, human traffickers. (Facebook)
• Hank Green—John Green‘s brother, video creator, and one half of the very popular VlogBrothers– writes about Facebook’s approach to video, which, according to him, mostly involves cheating, lying, and stealing. (Medium)
• “I got better reviews for my novel and my autobiography than I ever got for my music.” Celebrated novelist Rick Springfield–also known for “Jessie’s Girl”–is starring in a Meryl Streep movie. (The New York Times)

A Song for Tuesday: “Darkness: Flowers Must Die” by Ash Ra Tempel