More books about pope in the works

U.S. publishers are wasting no time cranking up the presses for new books about the life and legacy of Pope John Paul II, whose own writings have jumped to the top of bestsellers lists in the days since his death.

Just hours after the pope died on Saturday, News Corp.’s HarperCollins unit and Bertelsmann’s Doubleday division announced separate plans for new books about the pope and his yet-to-be-named successor.

Readers have been snapping up John Paul’s books in recent days. Three of his titles -- “Memory and Identity,” “Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words” and “The Way to Christ” -- were all ranked in Amazon.com’s list of the top 10 bestselling books on Monday afternoon.

Among the books on the way is a yet-to-be-named tome from HarperCollins about the end of the pope’s life and the beginning of the next chapter in Vatican history. The book, to be published later this year, will be written by George Weigel, a theologian who wrote “Witness to Hope: The Biography of John Paul II” in 1999.

Doubleday said it plans to publish two books about the next pope. One will be a collection of the new pope’s writings and the other will be a biography and account of the Vatican’s pope selection process.