Book News for the Week of December 19-23

In case you've been too busy getting last-minute holiday errands done, here's what you missed in the world of books this week:                                                                                                                                                        

Publishers Weekly says that book sales are lackluster this holiday season.                                                                                                                                                          

The Daily News reports that Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum closed this week after roughly two and a half years in existence. (Check out our story on the space in the Spring 2014 print issue.)

image source: Wikimedia Commons                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Hyperallergic's Claire Voon chronicles the preservation and recent restoration of medieval wall murals at Stratford-Upon-Avon thanks in part to William Shakespeare's father.                       

Clare Ansberry at the Wall Street Journal explores the origins of the holiday carol "Winter Wonderland."

Happy holidays! 

Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. public domain