Fussy’s favorites: First half of December

It’s easy to miss the occasional post or two online, so we’ve rounded up some of the highlights from our reader blog the past two weeks.  

Obituaries 

• Remembering author Anne Rice 

• Writer and feminist activist bell hooks has died

Deep pockets  

• The biggest sales at AbeBooks this year 

• Dune bible sells for over $3 million at auction 

• State agency: Ex-Gov. Cuomo must turn over his book deal money 

• British charity saves rare literary treasures from private hands

Charitable efforts 

• Why the Empire of Pain author donated prize money to charity 

• Meet the Book Lady of Danville, Virginia 

A new look at history 

• A descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings has written a book 

• Read an excerpt of The Fortune Men

• A prison cell that likely once held Malcolm X is now a library