"We seem to have gotten a donation of Tyra Banks' 'fantasy novel' Modelland," New York City's famous Housing Works Bookstore writes on its Tumblr, "with one copy for Ashley Olsen and one for Mary-Kate Olsen." It's very nice of them to call it a "donation," but the fact that the books still have their Post-It dedications inside makes us wonder if they were ever even cracked open. "So excited to share my fantasy novel, Modelland, with you. I hope you enjoy it!" both notes begin. "SMIZE!" she writes to Ashley; "Stay fierce and fabulous," she advises Mary-Kate. Housing Works is selling both for $100.

When The New York Times reports on the recent trend of parents self-publishing the books their kids write, they present both sides of the argument. Well, kind of. You've gotta love the way they rain all over the parade of Ben Heckmann, an eighth grader who was profiled by his local news.

In Vogue's "Body Issue" this month, Manhattan socialite Dara-Lynn Weiss opened up about the difficult time she had restricting her daughter Bea's diet. It was very hard, Weiss explained, to "deride Bea for not refusing the inappropriate snack" after the 7-year-old's pediatrician had labeled her "clinically obese."

A new study by University College London shows a correlation between literacy problems and health problems. Adults with trouble reading are twice as likely to die within five years as adults with no trouble reading. To be fair, what the study actually focused on was the ability of senior citizens to read and comprehend aspirin instructions.

You promised and promised to buy your barefoot, ignorant loved ones a set of Encyclopædia Britannicas and now you'll never get the chance. The New York Times Media Decoder blog reported today that the edition of the encyclopedia that came out in 2010 will be the company's last, in print.

Have you heard about Fifty Shades of Grey? It's the hot new thing on the literary scene. The New York Times reports that bookstores cannot keep up with demands for the smash hit novel, which was published by an independent press in Australia. Perhaps that's why Fifty Shades of Grey is number one on the e-book fiction bestsellers list, and number three on Amazon.com's bestseller list. The people have spoken, and they demand more porn.

Here's a brief refresher on Ray J: he's Brandy's brother, he made a sex tape with Kim Kardashian, and he was romantically linked to the late Whitney Houston. He's also an author, apparently, with the publication of his new book, Death of the Cheating Man: What Every Woman Must Know About Men Who Stray.

Good news for people who love the Harry Potter series but are maybe too old to be seen reading any of the books in public: J.K. Rowling is writing a novel for adults.

Valentine's Day is all about love, romance, sex, and funding the American greeting card, flower, chocolate, and restaurant industries. What better way to celebrate all that than with a dirty story about James Franco's sex life?

If you think Apple is a vertical corporate monolith, wait until you get a load of Amazon's reported plans: The e-tailer turned tablet maker turned publisher is said to be planning a physical store in Seattle with an eye toward building a national chain. And you thought the literati hated Amazon before.

Today in inspired feats of profound boredom: eBay user The_Heppcat claims he typed the entirety of Moby Dick on four rolls of single-ply toilet paper to win a bet. (Or for the most labor-intensive "Dick up your butt" punchline in human history.)

Game of Thrones is the best show on television and I would happily murder three people of your choosing if you were able to get me a screener of the second season. George R.R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series that the HBO show is based on, is a wizard who created an entire alternate universe from his own imagination.

Denis D. Gray at the AP has a rundown on a new book out about the fascinating exploits of alleged spy Jim Thompson in Southeast Asia. A well known titan of the silk industry, Thompson disappeared in 1967 after going for a walk in the Malaysian highlands. Rumors abound about his death, including that he was eaten by a tiger or killed by the CIA. If those are the rumors surrounding your death, there's a good chance your life was pretty eventful.

Carlos Castaneda. Timothy Leary. Daniel Pinchbeck…mopey Ted Mosby? Josh Radnor, he of How I Met Your Mother and that movie no one saw that kind of looked like Garden State, looks to join the literary titans of tripping with a memoir slated for an April release. One Big Blissful Thing details his journey from a suburban Ohio upbringing to ayahuasca ceremonies in the Amazon. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant that many Amazon tribes use for ritualistic practices. Maybe all that drug use is why he keeps rambling on and digressing with how he actually met his wife?

Have you had the opportunity to settle down with the hot new political gossip book of the past several days, New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's The Obamas? The Gawker Political Desk rarely consumes these White House reporters' bound anecdote collections but, for mysterious reasons, both obtained and made it through 200 pages of Kantor's offering before having to stop due to a total lack of interest in continuing.

If history is any guide, tech companies should absolutely not try and become media companies. But the 25-year-old CEO of precious New York blog platform Tumblr has the fearlessness of youth. Which is why he's recruiting his own writer and editor types.

Notorious class sleeper, D student, failed Oscar host, art enthusiast, multiple PhD candidate, and sometimes actor James Franco is going to ruin literature once again. He sold a novel! To Amazon! About actors! My eyes are getting a workout from all this rolling.

If you're like us, you spent a lot of time this year reading words. But which words were the best words? (Not "amazeballs," for sure.) Here, each Gawker staffer recommends the best things he or she read this year—books, articles, blogs, comics and more.

Peter Braunstein was a former writer for The Village Voice, WWD and other New York publications who became a tabloid sensation in 2005 after he went crazy, raped a woman [Correction: Braunstein was convicted of kidnapping, sexual abuse, robbery and burglary. He was never charged with rape], and went on the run. Aaron Gell (now an editor at the New York Observer), a former colleague of Braunstein's, has revisited the man and tried to make sense of his crimes in his new Kindle Single, Speak of the Devil: How Peter Braunstein went from Fashion Casualty to Tabloid Monster.

Glen Maxey, the first openly gay member of the Texas State Legislature and longtime Democratic activist, spent most of last summer helping a reporter for a "national news outlet" nail down persistent rumors of Rick Perry's sexual relationships with men. The story got killed. So Maxey has published an e-book laying out the evidence. Among the charges: Rick Perry has a small dick.