Posh Spice Loves Literacy? Book Sales Up 123% After Beckhams Name Daughter For Author

So THAT was the problem! Pundits have been writing eulogies for the written word with increasing ferocity. Facing bankruptcy, Borders bookstores, one of the largest, closed just this week. The web, it had been pronounced, had driven reading into the netherworld inhabited by Civil War reenactors, trainspotters and square dancers.

But wait! There's a glimmer of light on the publishing horizon.

Victoria and David Beckham (aka Posh Spice and David Beckham...)named their brand new baby girl after Posh's favorite author (who knew?) and the book's sales went viral. So here's the marketing plan: every book gets assigned a celebrity reader and !bingo! so much for illiteracy. Business is just so damned simple sometimes. JL

The Daily Mail reports:

Sales of To Kill A Mockingbird have risen by an astonishing 123 per cent on Amazon.co.uk after David and Victoria Beckham chose to name their daughter after its author Harper Lee.

The novel, which was first published in 1960, rose to number 38 in the bestsellers charts after the power couple's naming of their little girl prompted fans to read the classic book. Talking about how they chose the name earlier this week, David said in a video on his Facebook page they had decided on Harper after Lee, who is Victoria's favourite author.
He said: 'A lot of thought goes into our children's names and Harper was a name that we've loved for a long time for a couple of reasons.
'One reason is Harper's an old English name which we loved and one of the other reasons was Victoria's favourite book is To Kill A Mockingbird and the author was Harper Lee. It's a very strong, passionate book. That's where Harper came from.'

The revelation that it is Victoria's favourite book may surprise some fans, because it was widely thought she had never read a book.
However in an interview six years ago, she insisted she did read books, but didn't usually get a chance to finish them due to her busy schedule.