Sinatra & Reagan

Two books to be published shortly, Sinatra: The Life by Summers & Swan and Reagan's White House Diaries. Alexander McCall Smith's In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Cervantes' Don Quixote  and Paolo Coelho's The Zahir are also included this week.

We spoke of Sandra Howard's new book last week – now it seems that Frank Sinatra, a friend from her days of glamour, is to be the subject of a major new biography which is being serialised in Vanity Fair magazine before its imminent publication. Most of the attention – or publicity – is coming from the claim in the book by Jerry Lewis that Sinatra used to run money for the mob, presumably because his fame reduced the likelihood of his being stopped or searched. Sinatra's mob associations have long been discussed, although Lewis' claim that he carried $3.5m through New York in 1946, coming perilously close to capture, is new detail. CNN readers did however point out that this case would have had to contain 70,000 bills and weigh over ten stone. Sceptical or not, Sinatra: The Life by Summers & Swan will help you judge for yourself. Liable to be duller, if Clinton's memoirs are anything to judge by, will be Reagan's White House Diaries, a day by day account of the Gipper's eight years as President which will be published by Harper Collins next year after the diaries were released by the President's library. Always intended for publication – the man was a professional actor after all – his subsequent illness with Alzheimers will add an extra frisson of interest to the publication. A recent study of Iris Murdoch's vocabulary and syntax showed the process of the disease through her career. A similar examination of Reagan's work might move the diaries to a new realm of historical importance.

The African Haystack

Many people express surprise that the creator of The No.1 Detective Agency series is Scottish, never mind a man, so credibly does the female, Botswanan narrator's voice ring out in Alexander McCall Smith's books. Ma Ramotswe, the agency's proprietor, currently starring in the paperback edition of In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, has had her voice lent to Book Aid International's latest campaign. They are running many events around the campaign including a poll of the 100 best books from Africa and a "Reverse Book Club" where your monthly contribution sees books being sent to African schools and libraries rather than being sent to you. Most intriguing is the Haystack – visitors to the Hay Literary Festival were asked to donate books about Africa or by African authors. These were all piled up in the festival courtyard as a temporary exhibition during the event and then shipped to African (and tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka) libraries once the Hay festivities ended. The idea of not just giving charity but giving something of cultural significance is a salutary lesson to those of us who dump unwanted items on charity stores. African libraries will now be stocked with new, relevant texts rather than our cast off books like the full length ballgown donated to the Goal's tsunami appeal, Perhaps we should remember that if we don't want things, others won't either?

All for Don & Don for All

Hugo Chavez, indomitable President of Venezuela, can be seen putting weight and support behind their Arts and Culture policies this month in a manner that we would dearly love our own politicians to follow. Venezuelan schools, libraries and street-corners are awash with copies of Cervantes' Don Quixote which is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. One million copies are being distributed to mark the anniversary and instantly creating the world's greatest bookclub. It is a bold gesture that marks Venezuela as innovative and willing to truly celebrate the value of national heritage. It also decides the most read / bought book in the world issue; once the Bible is taken out of the running, the BBC claims Don Quixote as the most published book in history. Spanish historians also quoted an unaccredited but recent poll where Don Quixote beat all comers to be the most popular book of all time. Polls can prove anything you want these days but it may be time for a revisit.

Turning War to Gold

The book club circuit and fans of inspirational prose have clutched Paolo Coelho's The Alchemist to their collective bosom. According to its publishers it is approaching international sales of 15 million copies. A simple book that flicked a switch of devotion for its many fans, it turned the Brazilian author into an international success. His new book is set for publication with eight million copies of The Zahir already printed for the worldwide market. Coelho and his publishers do not do things in half measures. The story is of a husband's search for his missing war correspondent wife and has already garnered so much speculation that Coelho was forced to out the Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb as his inspiration. They met when she interviewed him for the paper and the tales of her career covering war zones while trying to maintain a domestic life were the starting point for The Zahir.