In book design news: you know you're being properly hyped when your next release is given a specially designed this-is-not-the-final-cover cover; and if you're writing about the virtues of thrift, it's probably advisable to put down your cigar for the author photo.

• Could the French version of Dr Seuss – which retains the rhyme and metre – be as good as the English Asterix?

• You can force a pharmaceutical executive to write a book – at least, you can if you're a judge sentencing him over misleading information – but can you force a Canadian politician to read one?

• China Miéville makes a case for the coolness of Tolkien.

• In bookdealing, a poker player's skills may prove far more useful than a scholar's.

• The Millions reveals the Amazon customer-prediction alphabet (UK and personal versions likely to be different).