The Romantic poet John Keats may have suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, brought on by his mother’s indulgent drinking habits. Nicholas Roe’s new Keats biography (due out November 13) calls attention to the poet’s small head, weighty upper lip, and stocky upper body as evidence of the syndrome, which may have left him vulnerable to the tuberculosis that killed him at the age of 25. While some doctors find fault with Roe’s diagnosis, we’re glad for the chance to explore the relationships that drove Keats to write his "Bright Star" masterpiece -- as told through Roe’s engrossingly moody language. [via the Daily Mail]

Over the weekend, Lena Dunham, whose HBO series Girls is the blueprint for a certain portion of today’s twenty-something crowd, handed her debut essay collection over to Random House in exchange for $3.5 million.  In “Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s Learned,” Dunham will share more of the work, love, and friendship stories that brought her television fame -- in a voice her publisher is ranking up there with Helen Gurley Brown, David Sedaris, and Nora Ephron. [via the New York Times]

Monty Python founder John Cleese will write a memoir celebrating his fifty years of sleeping parrots, excellent walking, and the technical difficulties of sermonizing in biblical times. His story, acquired by Random House, will take you though his days as a shy schoolboy to his attempts to practice law and teaching, and straight into his days at Cambridge University’s Footlights theater club, where he stumbled upon future fellow Flying Circus member Graham Chapman (while taking a silly stroll across campus, we imagine). [via the New York Times]

Soon-to-be memoirist Chrisann Brennan was Steve Jobs' high school girlfriend and the mother of his daughter Lisa. Her written recollections of the pre-Apple Jobs, due out next year via St. Martin’s Press, are not likely to add to the story of what made Steve the face of technology -- but they will provide more reading for those who just can’t get enough of the man’s mythological life. [via USA Today]

Elijah Wood will star in biopic about a journalist who goes through puberty really, really late. “The Late Bloomer” will be based on the memoir "Man Made: A Memoir of My Body," written by former US Weekly and People writer Ken Baker (he’s now a correspondent for E! News). Back in 2001, Baker was diagnosed with a brain tumor that had unexpectedly delayed his teenage development -- which resumed for the then-twenty-seven-year-old once the tumor was removed. Director Randall Einhorn will guide the diminutive Wood through this oddly appropriate role. [via the Chicago Tribune]

If you’re looking for real insight into the brooding Pete Townshend’s rock-n-roll life, his memoir “Who I Am” isn’t the book for you. Instead, it offers full coverage of The Who’s musical evolution during Britain’s shift from World War II destruction to its Cold War-induced sense of alienation -- an explosive cultural landscape that found its musical expression in Townshend’s and his bandmates’ screaming guitars and vocals held up by pounding drums. Townshend also lays down an original (and, yes, fawning) look at the music and persona of Jimi Hendrix and startlingly candid assessments of Mick Jagger’s attractiveness, plus unsurprising cocktail-party-style banter on his struggles with drugs and infidelities. [via the New York Times]