Book news: Hall & Oates star planning memoir

Plus: Khloe Kardashian’s angle on beauty; Reese Witherspoon to narrate Harper Lee’s book; and T C Boyle wins US$30,000 short-story award.

John Oates, one half of the singing duo Hall & Oates plans to publish a memoir late next year. Rick Diamond / Getty Images for BMI / AFP

John Oates, the dark-haired half of the million-selling singing duo Hall & Oates, has signed a book deal. St Martin's Press has announced that Oates is working on a memoir that will draw upon his "pretty detailed" journals to tell an "intimate and fascinating" story about his life and career. The as-yet-untitled book is scheduled for publication late next year. Oates and Daryl Hall had a run of hits in the 1970s and 1980s, including Rich Girl, Private Eyes and Kiss on My List. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year.

Khloe Kardashian’s angle on beauty

Khloe Kardashian is really not into being too thin. The reality-TV star and entrepreneur is working on an advice book on how to develop “strength and true beauty” in a “culture that worships skinny”, publisher Regan Arts has revealed. The book, which does not yet have a title, is due to be published on November 3. Kardashian said that she wanted to inspire readers to “create their own true strength and beauty, inside and out”.

Reese Witherspoon to narrate Harper Lee’s new book

To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee's new novel, the year's most talked-about literary release, will have some added star power for the audio edition: Reese Witherspoon. The Oscar-winning actress will narrate Go Set a Watchman, HarperCollins announced. Lee, 88, stunned the world by agreeing to the release of the novel, which is due out in July. It is only her second published work after To Kill a Mockingbird, which came out in 1960. The new book was written before Mockingbird and takes place in the 1950s, 20 years after the setting for her first novel. Watchman will feature the lawyer Atticus Finch, Scout and other characters from the first book. Witherspoon, a Louisiana native, said she considers it "an honour and privilege to give voice to the Southern characters" she has loved since childhood.

Boyle wins US$30,000 short-story award

T C Boyle has won a US$30,000 (Dh110,000) lifetime achievement award for short-story writing. The 66-year-old is this year's recipient of the Rea Award, which is presented to authors who have made a significant contribution to the art of short-story writing. The judges praised the "variety, hilarity, ambition and achieved talent" of his work and called him a "genuine American original". Boyle has published more than 100 stories, include Sinking House, Swept Away and The Underground Garden. He is also a highly regarded novelist, most recently of The Harder They Come, which was published this year. Previous winners of the Rea Award include Eudora Welty, Alice Munro and John Updike.