Just in time for Banned Books Week, which starts tomorrow, a San Francisco man has graciously donated two books to the hometown library of V.P. candidate Sarah Palin. Incensed to read that Palin had considered banning books at the Wasilla, Alaska library, Mike Petrelis took it upon himself to send the library two copies each of Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate, classic children’s books that explain gay lifestyle. The library is still reviewing the donation.

This season’s poster child for self-publishing has to be 24-year-old fantasy fiction author Christopher Paolini. In 2002 the home-schooled teenager delayed college to write his first novel Eragon, and published 10,000 copies himself. Another teenager visited Paolini’s hometown in Montana while on vacation, bought the book, read it and recommended it to his dad – who happened to be satirical novelist Carl Hiassen. The Florida writer passed the book to his editor at Knopf, who bought the original and commissioned two sequels. Last weekend, Paolini’s newest book Brisingr sold 550,000 copies the day it went on sale. The trilogy has sold over 16 million so far.

Since 1993, artist Nina Katchadourian has been constructing displays of sorted books, selected from libraries and arranged so that the titles read in sequence. The Stanford native has done over 130 such book clusters to date. Her newest exhibit, “A Fugitive, Some Maps, Cute Animals and a Shark,” opens October 4 at San Francisco’s Catharine Clark Gallery.