The story revolves around a London banker who moves to Provence after inheriting a vineyard. But when he arrives, he meets a California woman who claims that she owns the place. The Fox project film has a tentative September start date in Paris.

Crowe was last in theaters with the boxing drama Cinderella Man, which bombed at the box office, not helped by his concurrent arrest for allegedly throwing a telephone at a hotel clerk. Scott last directed Kingdom of Heaven, which also did poorly domestically but considerably better overseas. Scott's sword-and-sandal epic Gladiator netted Crowe a best actor Oscar in 2001 and also won best picture.

While his book is expected to touch on terrorism and security issues, it's been described as much more of a memoir, going back to his Delaware childhood and taking readers through his more than thirty years as a senator (a period that included a 1988 presidential run). One insider praised Biden for his authorial talent, calling him "a very thoughtful writer." No word on a ghostwriter. Random did not have a comment by press time.

Simple yet profoundly effective, it embodies the radically common sense notion that with a complete and current inventory of all your commitments organized and reviewed in a systematic way, you can focus clearly, view your world from optimal angles, and make trusted choices about what to do (and not do) at any moment.

GTD includes an easy, step-by-step, highly effective method for achieving this relaxed, productive state. It includes:

Capturing anything and everything that has your attention

Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps

Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them

Keeping current and "on your game" with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)

1. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (67%)
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (61%)
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (47%)
4. Goosebumps by R.L. Stine (41%)
5. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (37%)
6. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (36%)
7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (33%)
8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (32%)
9. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner (29%)
10. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (29%)

The country's biggest book publishers have proved willing in recent years to back veteran editors in the launch of new imprints. This enables editors to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time focusing on authors. "These days you've got to be an entrepreneur," said Jamie Raab, publisher of Warner Books. "As an editor you've got to buy, you've got to edit, and you've got to publish. That's a fairly new development."

Ms. Raab said that Mr. Karp will have autonomy in his new post, but noted that all advertising and marketing spending will be done in the context of "the big picture." Mr. Karp wanted more autonomy at Random House and clashed with his bosses there over marketing and ad spending for his books. In an interview, he declined to compare the two situations. "I'll be buying primarily nonfiction, but I'm open to fiction as well," he said. "The past isn't a prologue."

Copies of the audio version of the book were also widespread on file-trading networks such as BitTorrent. A lawyer for author J.K. Rowling's agents, Christopher Little, said his firm was working to combat the piracy but admitted that some illicit copies would probably slip through. "We have put in place some countermeasures but I can't disclose the specifics," said Neil Blair. "We have sent takedown notices (against Web sites hosting the illicit copies) but we haven't filed any lawsuits."

Even thousands of illicit downloads would be no more than a drop in the ocean for a book that sold 8.9 million copies in 24 hours. But the Potter piracy is likely to add to media companies' fears that online file-trading is a threat to nearly every aspect of their businesses.

Rowling has railed against unauthorized "Harry Potter" e-books on her Web site in the past. "You should NEVER trust any Harry Potter e-books offered for download from the internet or on P2P/file-trading networks," she wrote in January, warning they may also expose users to computer viruses or fraud.

"It actually never crossed my mind. Michael Jackson was not an ingredient or inspiration to the character at all," Depp says.

"A few people have mentioned it and it kind of took me by surprise. I can on some level understand it, the look a little bit may evoke that. But you could just as easily think of some reclusive germophobe like Howard Hughes as well. Roald Dahl wrote this character in 1964 and Michael Jackson was a wee lad then."

Burton's response to the Jackson thing is to laugh derisively. "Here's the deal: Michael Jackson likes children, Willy Wonka can't stand them," the director says. "To me, that's a big difference in the whole persona, y'know?"

Becks is believed to be furious that dad Ted secretly spent six months penning the biography David Beckham: My Son. Astonishingly, gas engineer Ted failed to mention to Becks he was putting together the 50,000-word book, featuring up to 300 never-before-seen pictures of the footballer. The biography is almost certain to earn a six-figure sum for Ted, who still works full-time. And he is hoping he can "retire" on the proceeds.

Ted sent a rough draft of the book - due to be published by Pan Macmillan in October - to his 30-year-old son's home in the Spanish capital of Madrid for his perusal last week. "I talk about everything. The book is all about the early days right the way up to Madrid. But there's no dirty stuff in it - I wouldn't do that." Ted continued: "David didn't always know I was doing it - but I'm really chuffed with it. I've sent him a copy, but I haven't had a response yet because he's away now." Ted added: "I've been writing it for some time - a little bit longer than six months. It would be nice to earn enough from it so that I could retire." But friends of David and wife Victoria say they are privately furious that Ted wrote the book without even telling them. One said: "David and Victoria were stunned. They find it amazing Ted could have kept this under his hat for so long."

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince averaged better than 250,000 sales per hour, more than the vast majority of books sell in a lifetime. Sales for the sixth installment of Rowling's fantasy series easily outpaced those for Potter V, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which came out in 2003 and sold 5 million copies in the first 24 hours. Acknowledging that some stores quickly ran out of books two years ago, Scholastic has already increased the print run for Half-Blood Prince from 10.8 million copies to 13.5 million.

The Scholastic numbers are for the United States only. Sales figures from Britain are expected Monday. Anticipated from the moment fans finished Potter V, the new book has been available virtually everywhere, from price clubs and supermarkets to the Scholastic Web site. Holton said Sunday that a big factor in the new sales record was a six-fold increase in the number of Potter bookstore parties, from 800 to 5,000, with both superstores and independent retailers dramatically increasing their participation.

Even allowing for deep discounts on the $29.99 release, Half-Blood Prince still easily generated more than $100 million in revenue. It's not only the richest opening in publishing history, but tops the combined estimated take for the weekend's top two movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wedding Crashers.

"Aeon Flux is one of the most dynamic action heroes out there, and the futuristic world she inhabits is a playground of bizarre and fascinating adventures just waiting to be told," said Kennedy. "From her first appearance in Peter Chung's brilliant animated shorts to her upcoming incarnation in Paramount's live action feature film, she has become one of the most intriguing characters to ever kick flip her way out of trouble."

Set 400 years in the future, Aeon Flux follows the harrowing tale of the head operative of the rebellion to topple a totalitarian regime. As with the animated series that inspired the film and comic book, expect plenty of action and (with luck) a fitting death for Aeon Flux at the finale. For those unaware of the animated series, which gained notoriety as shorts played on MTV's Liquid Television, the original cartoons featured no dialogue and a spectacular death for its star at the end of each episode.

Perhaps the evil wizard Lord Voldemort had something to do with it. Customers who preordered the eagerly anticipated sixth installment of the "Harry Potter" saga on Amazon.com and walmart.com were in for a shock this week when the retailers mistakenly e-mailed them to say their books might arrive later than expected.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rushed to calm shoppers' worries and put a recorded message on walmart.com's toll-free customer service number assuring customers that the books would arrive on July 16 as promised. "If you are calling in reference to the Harry Potter release notification that you received on July 12 that indicated the release date had been changed to July 20, please be advised that the e-mail was sent in error," the message says.

Amazon.com e-mailed customers to say its notice that books might be delayed "was sent to you in error." "We sincerely apologize for the concern we caused with this incorrect message, and hope you will be thrilled to know that we've begun preparing your order for shipment and we are confident that it will be delivered on Saturday, July 16," the e-mail to customers reads. Amazon.com spokeswoman Patricia Smith said a few thousand customers mistakenly received the notices. "It was a complete goof on our end," Smith said. "I don't know if it was human error or computer error, but the bottom line is, it was an error."

"My goal with this book is to help people turn their passions into successful businesses, as I did myself through many of the things I learned over the years," said Martha Stewart. "While the advice I impart in the book was developed through my own experiences as an entrepreneur, many of the examples I provide can apply to anyone about to start or build or expand a venture, whether it is a business, a philanthropic endeavor, or a personal improvement program."

Madonna says she wrote the Kabbalah-themed children's books Mr. Peabody's Apples, Yakov and the Seven Thieves and her latest, Lotsa de Casha — but our inside source says otherwise. "All of Madonna's books are written by the Kabbalah Center's official ghostwriter, Eitan Yardeni," we're told. "Eitan also writes all of Yehuda and Phillip Berg's books and the Kabbalah Books for the Center. Last summer, he flew to London to help Madonna write the last book, but she didn't really do anything." A rep for the Material Mom didn't return calls.

Madonna has always acknowledged that the "inspiration" for her series of message-centric picture books from Callaway/Penguin comes from her Kabbalah studies and teacher. But is the Kabbalah Center providing more than a creative spark?

A representative from Callaway Arts & Entertainment, Madonna's publisher, called the story "completely untrue," and noted that the "item mentioned working on the books last summer, when we have had all the manuscripts for Madonna's first five books for well over two years now."

Last fall Madonna spoke to PW and noted only that a Kabbalah mentor "suggested to me, why don't you write children's books and share the wisdom that you've gained as an adult." But she described having the idea for The English Roses herself and added that she "developed the story around" that idea.

Weinberger, reached by phone at his home in Maine, says he and Schweizer exchanged manuscript drafts when they were creating the story of Secret Service agent Michael Delaney, who is falsely implicated in the assassination of the president at Camp David. Although Weinberger drew on his almost seven years as Defense secretary, "I didn't want to use any material that is classified. ... I wanted to be sure that I wasn't breaking any laws or pledges."

Chain of Command also details how a series of terrorist attacks create an acceptance of martial law in a nation that always has "prided itself in being an open and free society," Weinberger says.

The books will be published at a time when John Edwards is traveling around the country testing the waters for a 2008 presidential bid. Elizabeth Edwards' book proposal is being circulated to publishers by Robert Barnett, a Washington lawyer who helped her husband land a book deal. Barnett said he is finding "enormous interest."

John Edwards wrote an autobiographical book, focusing on his law career, called Four Trials, while he was seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2004.

Plummer says he recently discovered he is gay. This can't help but fuel anxiety over the "down low" phenomenon -- black men who date or marry women while secretly having sex with men.

From the divorce filings, we can gather that McMillan, 53, is feeling some understandable anger. She has kicked Plummer, 30, out of her San Francisco area house, intends to enforce a prenuptial agreement that gives him essentially nothing and throws in the allegation that he embezzled $200,000 from her accounts. A judge awarded Plummer $2,000 a month in spousal support, despite the prenup, but that's just provisional and might not last.

McMillan's fiction describes a catalogue of slick, predatory, no-good players. In the movie version of Waiting to Exhale" think of the preening bad boys who obliterate Lela Rochon's self-esteem. Or the smooth-talking married man who strings along poor Whitney Houston. Or the smug, wealthy cad who cheats on Angela Bassett, and unforgettably gets his car torched in return.

Is Plummer just a type of player that the sharp-eyed McMillan somehow missed? And anyhow, by the time they married he was 24. In his mid-twenties, he still didn't have the slightest inkling that he liked guys? Then he moves to the San Francisco area, not exactly Taliban territory when it comes to gay sexuality, and doesn't feel a tingle? So yes, I'm skeptical of Plummer -- I think this might, indeed, be a "down low" scenario.

The novel's plot is not at all gripping nor is its prose elegant, but a bootlegged version has become a hit in Jordan because its author is Saddam Hussein.

The Times of London says the book's sales appeal has been further enhanced by a ban on it by the Jordanian government. The book, titled, Get Out, You Cursed One, is the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign infidels. The Times said its popularity may point to growing sympathy for the former Iraqi dictator among Arabs as postwar Iraq lies in chaos.

Hussein apparently wrote the 186-page book in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion, the Times said. His older daughter, Raghad, who fled to Amman with her sister during the war, decided to publish it in Jordan to highlight her father's legacy and boost pan-Arab sentiments.

In a dedication to her father in the back cover, the daughter wrote: "You, who raised our heads high, the heads of the Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims -- we present to you our souls -- to the father of the heroes, to my beloved and dear father, with all my respect and glory to you."

If nothing else, the Complete Collection has entertained Amazon's customer reviewers, such as the one who noted that "I would easily and gladly send for them this minute, thrill at doing so, eagerly await their arrival, only to be shot dead by my wife when she found out I'd ordered them."

At the risk of spousal gunfire, our first question was, inevitably, "How much does this cost to ship?" And so Jace walked the collection through the checkout process, clicking extremely carefully -- this ain't the time to buy something via 1-click ordering. When you're pretending to buy $8,000 worth of books, the landmarks of Amazon's checkout process can be amusing: You can't get this item gift-wrapped (rats!), but you can knock the price down to $7,959.99 if you sign up for the Amazon Visa card. And while the collection isn't available for free super-saver shipping, the shipping price turns out to be a beyond-reasonable $3.99.