Courtesy of Paparazzi Princesses

Bria Williams and Reginae Carter

Sometimes it's hard to have pity for paparazzi-plagued celebrities. After all, they signed up for the gig, and they're copiously compensated for any given troubles. But celebrities' children are another story. It can't be easy to read about your parents' sex tapes, jailtime, or cheating scandals in the daily rags.

So to combat public misconceptions about celebrity kids and create new summer reading material for teens, the 14-year-old duo of Reginae Carter (Lil Wayne's daughter) and Bria Williams (Miami resident/rap star Birdman's daughter) wrote a book dubbed Paparazzi Princesses.

We spoke to the girls ahead of their Coral Gables book signing this Saturday on being in the spotlight, their own lifelong dreams, and handling the haters.

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Laurence Leamer/Wikipedia CC

Best known locally for his controversial bestseller Madness Under the Royal Palms, about Palm Beach society's lives of gilded desperation, author Laurence Leamer is back with another compelling read. This one covers the story of coal royalty, criminal greed, and death deep in the earth.

Making an appearance at Coral Gables' Books & Books tomorrow, the part-time Palm Beach resident will discuss and sign copies of The Price of Justice. Newly in print, it tells the tale of two attorneys' 15-year slog through a swamp of corruption to hold coal baron Don Blankenship accountable for miner fatalities, environmental destruction, and predatory business practices.

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Ry Greenberg

What's David Lynch's next project? According to screenwriter/filmmaker Alan Greenberg, it's his very own, long-in-limbo script, Love In Vain, inspired by/about blues legend Robert Johnson.

Speaking from his home in Portland, Oregon, in advance of his appearance at Art Center/South Florida in Miami Beach this weekend, the 62-year-old Greenberg broke the news with the casual but excited air of a man who has patience to spare. After all, he has been waiting for this moment for 30 years.

"Years went, and people like Martin Scorsese were signed to do it for Warner Brothers. Then, later, HBO was going to do it. It's the greatest film never made, and now finally, this week, we're closing the deal on the financing, and David's standing by all excited," Greenberg claims.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Lynch denies any plans are underway. More information after the jump.

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Doomed.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby has seen several different interpretations, the most recent of which is Baz Luhrmann's frantic, visually overwhelming film opening in theaters tomorrow. But each version has one thing in common: a tragic love story between Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan -- one that mirrored the difficult relationship between Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda.

Like Daisy, Zelda was the quintessential flapper, and initially rejected the man she loved for financial reasons. Unlike Daisy, Zelda ended up married to her Gatsby -- but the Fitzgeralds' love story didn't end much happier than F. Scott's novel.

In 1939, 14 years after The Great Gatsby's first edition was published, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald tried one last time to save their failing marriage with a trip to Havana, Cuba. That disastrous trip is the basis of author R. Clifton Spargo's Beautiful Fools: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald.

See also:
- The Great Gatsby, With DiCaprio and Maguire: Great but Not Always Good

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Courtesy of Mark Okun

We've got a pretty interesting mixed bag of characters in this town. You name it, you can find it down here, from Cuban Canadians to Mexican Ukrainians and every amalgamation in between. So it would make sense that Mark Okun, author of A Short Jew in the Body of a Tall W.A.S.P. (A Gay Melodrama in 13 Acts), would be right at home doing a reading in Miami Beach, where he's been visiting his hairdressing clients for decades.

The book follows Mark's life, from growing up as the gay adopted son of Jewish parents in New York state to finding his calling as a stylist in his adolescent years, to mad nights and misadventures fueled by cocaine, acid, and his own personal exuberance. His narrative is constantly close to the bone, from being HIV positive, to finding sobriety, and eventually meeting his birth family on national television. It's a harrowing journey and a story that will fascinate and surprise you.

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Forget everything you think you know about the history of our sunny state -- 'cause it's all a bunch of bullsh*t. What lies beneath the pristine beaches, sweeping mansions, and roller coasters is a whole lot darker. That's the premise behind former journalist and author TD Allman's new book, Finding Florida.

"It is the first objective history of Florida. Every other one, you can go look at them, they're either all propaganda for racism or to come down for the sun -- everything's wonderful here. I just tell the truth about Florida. It's a fascinating story," Allman says.

See also:
- Will Orlando Push Miami Out as Florida's Most Economically Important Metro Area?
- 2012 In Weird Florida Crime and Drugs: Part Three of the WTF Florida Awards

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Richard Blanco is tired. Sitting in the lobby of the Adrienne Arsht Center's Ziff Ballet Opera House, where he'll take the stage tomorrow in a free reading, he apologizes for his gravelly voice, strained after a long day of media appearances and interviews like this one.

"I'm starting to feel a little bit weary, doing this, doing that," he laughs. "Following my mother's example, I'm just one of those people who can't say no. So I'm starting to learn that I can't be in three places at one time, stuff I never really had to negotiate."

It's an overwhelming feeling that most poets don't get to experience, he admits. But then again, most poets don't get hand-selected by the White House. Most poets don't share their stages with Beyoncé. Most poets don't get to read their work in front of an entire nation. Richard Blanco is not most poets.

See also:
- Miami Poet Richard Blanco Chosen as the 2013 Inaugural Poet for President Obama

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Wikipedia

For Twi-hards everywhere, there's only one deity worth worshiping, and she's a brown-haired, Mormon mother of three from Hartford, Connecticut. We're speaking, of course, of Stephanie Meyer, New York Times bestselling author and instigator of the biggest mass psychosis since the re-election of George W. Bush.

Meyer, unarguably one of the world's most famous writers, is making an appearance at Books & Books in Coral Gables on Tuesday, February 19. And for members of Team Edward and Team Jacob, she'll be signing copies of her books and making tween dreams come true.

Twi-hards we are not. But we do have ten pressing questions for the woman who single-handedly hijacked pop culture for the past four years (at least). So for those who plan to brave the fandom, we've put together a handy list of things to say to the wordsmith herself.

See also:
- Author Nancy Rommelmann Reading at Panther Coffee Tonight
- Seven Local Authors at Miami Book Fair International You Should Know

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photo via dymaxicon

Author Nancy Rommelmann

If you're like most of the population these days, your attention span has probably dwindled down to nothing. Between tweets, status updates, and all kinds of little flashing messages popping up on T.V., you can barely take in a whole movie--let alone a book.

Well, if you're trying to restore some of that long-lost brainpower, or just want to get out of the house, author Nancy Rommelmann will be reading from her new book, Transportation, tonight at Panther Coffee.

See Also:
- Biscayne Books: Finally, a Bookstore In the Neighborhood, And Book Groups, Too
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A monster corporation edging out a locally owned business -- it's a tale as old as You've Got Mail. (Hey, remember when AOL was culturally relevant?) Coconut Grove's quaint cafe/bookseller, Bookstore in the Grove, is the latest to face this modern fate.

Luckily, the iconic local spot isn't closing entirely, just relocating. But the store is being bumped to make room for office space. Isn't it already hard enough for a brick and mortar bookstore to make it in the age of Amazon and Nook?

See also:
- Best Place to Get Free Wi-Fi - The Bookstore in the Grove
- Get a Date with the Yuppy Club at the Bookstore in the Grove

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