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Monday, April 30, 2012

ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending

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Sunday, April 29, 2012

'Think Like a Man' success boosts book sales

By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man was the No. 1 hit at the box office last weekend, bumping off The Hunger Games. Not surprisingly, Steve Harvey's best-selling advice book, released Jan. 31 as a movie tie-in paperback, rises to No. 40 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list. (The hardcover reached No. 1 on March 12, 2009.)

"The movie is selling books because we all want to believe there are magic formulas that will ensure the fairy-tale ending," says Dawn Davis, Harvey's editor at Amistad. "And while Steve doesn't offer that, you do get to see a big-screen version of how things might play out if you follow his advice, such as the 90-day rule."

That would be no sex for the first 90 days.


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More to Come Soon

More to Come Soon!

Monday, April 16, 2012

INDIA: A Sacred Geography

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Sunday, April 15, 2012

ISLAND OF VICE: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean up Sin-Loving New York

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More to Come Soon

More to Come Soon!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

BOOK WORLD bestsellers — March 11, 2012

Notable additions to the list this week include the new memoir from the late Anthony Shadid, whose tragic death while on assignment in Syria stunned the journalism community, and Jodi Picoult’s new novel, the #1 debut of which shows she still has the magic touch ...

BOOK WORLD

Bestsellers — March 11, 2012

[click on the author’s name to be linked to Book World’s review]

NONFICTION HARDCOVER

1. THE START-UP OF YOU: ADAPT TO THE FUTURE, INVEST IN YOURSELF, AND TRANSFORM YOUR CAREER

(Crown Business, $26). By Reid Hoffman & Ben Casnocha {2}

2. STRENGTHS FINDER 2.0: ... ONLINE TEST FROM GALLUP'S “NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS”

(Gallup, $24.95). By Tom Rath {71}

3. THE POWER OF HABIT: WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO IN LIFE AND BUSINESS

(Random House, $28). By Charles Duhigg {1}

4. AMERITOPIA: THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA

(Threshold, $26.99). By Mark R. Levin. Claiming that the American Dream (individualism) is at risk, courtesy of a rise of utopian fervor. {7}

5. BECOMING CHINA’S BITCH: AND NINE MORE CATASTROPHES WE MUST AVOID RIGHT NOW

(Turner, $27.95). By Peter D. Kiernan {1}

6. HOUSE OF STONE: A MEMOIR OF HOME, FAMILY, AND A LOST MIDDLE EAST

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26). By Anthony Shadid {1}

7. BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS: LIFE, DEATH, AND HOPE IN A MUMBAI UNDERCITY

(Random House, $27). By Katherine Boo {4}

8. THINKING, FAST AND SLOW (FSG, $30)

By Daniel Kahneman. The Nobel Prize winner (economic sciences) examines the modes of thought that fuel our decision making. {12}

9. STEVE JOBS (Simon & Schuster, $35)

By Walter Isaacson. The life of the offbeat, visionary founder of Apple, based on numerous interviews with Jobs himself. {19}

10. THE BLOOD SUGAR SOLUTION: THE ULTRA-HEALTHY PROGRAM FOR LOSING WEIGHT, PREVENTING DISEASE, AND FEELING GREAT NOW!

(Little, Brown, $27.99). By Mark Hyman {1}

FICTION HARDCOVER

1. LONE WOLF (Atria, $28)

By Jodi Picoult. It’s the day of reckoning when a father’s serious accident compels his estranged family to grapple with long-ignored issues. {1}

2. KILL SHOT (Atria, $27.99)

By Vince Flynn. Readers are given a “prequel” of sorts with a chronicle of agent Mitch Rapp’s first year in the CIA. {4}

3. PRIVATE GAMES (Little, Brown, $27.99)

By James Patterson & Mark Sullivan. A very au courant mystery, featuring murder at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. {3}

4. VICTIMS (Ballantine, $28)

By Jonathan Kellerman. Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis rush to nab a killer who leaves some rather gory corpses behind. {1}

5. CELEBRITY IN DEATH (Putnam, $27.95)

By J.D. Robb. It’s murder at a film premiere party at which Lt. Eve Dallas is a guest. {2}

6. I’VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (Dial, $26)

By Sophie Kinsella. A phone — one lost, one found — scrambles a young woman’s happily engaged bliss. {3}

7. WATERGATE (Pantheon, $26.95)

By Thomas Mallon. An inventive take on the presidential scandal; who did erase those missing 18½ minutes of tape? {2}

8. DEFENDING JACOB (Delacorte, $26)

By William Landay. The son of a noted assistant DA is accused of murder, putting his family in a tailspin. {5}

9. DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

(Knopf, $25.95). By P.D. James. A bit of murder is injected into the milieu of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” {13}

10. CINNAMON ROLL MURDER

(Kensington, $24). By Joanne Fluke. A jazz band’s leader is dead, and it’s up to Hannah Swensen to root out the culprit. {1}

NONFICTION PAPERBACK

1. THE FOX EFFECT: HOW ROGER AILES TURNED A NETWORK INTO A PROPAGANDA MACHINE

(Anchor, $15). By David Brock & Ari Rabin-Havt {2}

2. THE 5 LOVE LANGUAGES: THE SECRET TO LOVE THAT LASTS (Northfield, $14.99)

By Gary D. Chapman. Knowing that special someone. {30}

3. BOSSYPANTS (Reagan Arthur, $15.99)

By Tina Fey. An amusing memoir from the acclaimed former SNL writer, comedian and actress. {9}

4. THE VOW: THE TRUE EVENTS THAT INSPIRED THE MOVIE

(B&H, $14.99). By Kim & Krickitt Carpenter. The wrenching ordeal that began with a car accident in November, 1993. {5}

5. THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

(Broadway, $16). By Rebecca Skloot. How one woman’s death from cervical cancer in 1951 led to the creation of the prodigious HeLa cell line. {52}

6. MINDSET: THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS

(Ballantine, $16). By Carol S. Dweck. Why one’s attitude is as important as talent. {1}

7. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING (Workman, $14.95). By Heidi Murkoff & Sharon Mazell. Fourth edition of the popular guide. {20}

8. HEAVEN IS FOR REAL: A LITTLE BOY’S ASTOUNDING STORY OF HIS TRIP TO HEAVEN AND BACK

(Thomas Nelson, $16.99). By Todd Burpo {60}

9. THE OFFICIAL SAT STUDY GUIDE

(College Board, $21.99). This revised manual offers 10 practice tests and loads of tips. {101}

10. GETTING TO YES: NEGOTIATING AGREEMENT WITHOUT GIVING IN

(Penguin, $16). By Roger Fisher and William Ury. Second edition. {8}

FICTION PAPERBACK

1. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST

(Vintage, $15.95; $9.99). By Stieg Larsson. The Millennium Trilogy concludes with Lisbeth Salander hunting for her failed assassin. {2}

2. THE LUCKY ONE (Grand Central, $14.99; $7.99)

By Nicholas Sparks. True love awaits at the end of the search for a woman smiling in a photo; a new feature film. {5}

3. THE SIXTH MAN (Vision, $9.99)

By David Baldacci. An alleged serial killer’s attorney is murdered before King & Maxwell can confer on the case; the mass market (and third) edition of this novel. {9}

4. REDWOOD BEND (Mira, $7.99)

By Robyn Carr. A flat tire on the way to Virgin River forever alters a young mom’s future. {1}

5. THE HELP (Berkley, $16)

By Kathryn Stockett. A frank chronicle of the lives of several black maids working in a town in 1960s Miss. {46}

6. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

(Vintage, $14.95; $7.99). By Stieg Larsson. First book in the late Swede’s “Millennium Trilogy.” {126}

7. THE TIGER’S WIFE (Random House, $15)

By Téa Obreht. While on a humanitarian mission, a doctor in the Balkans is confronted by the riddles of her own family’s past. {16}

8. THE JUNGLE (Berkley, $9.99)

By Clive Cussler with Jack Du Brul. Juan Cabrillo, and the crew of the high-tech ship “Oregon,” aim to stop a plot of world domination. {1}

9. PORTRAIT OF A SPY (Harper, $9.99)

By Daniel Silva. Art conservator and sometime agent Gabriel Allon parries with an American-born cleric and terrorist. {2}

10. LIVE WIRE (Signet, $9.99)

By Harlan Coben. A client’s missing husband brings athlete-cum-agent Myron Bolitar’s past front and center. {1}

Rankings reflect sales for the week ended March 4, 2012. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright 2012 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the complete list can be found online.)


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Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Political Best — March 11, 2012

Much the same as last week, save for a new title focusing on America’s often testy relationship with the People’s Republic of China ...

BOOK WORLD

(Unofficial) Political Bestsellers — March 11, 2012

[click on author’s name to be routed to Book World’s review]

1. Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America

(Threshold, $26.99). By Mark R. Levin

2. Becoming China’s Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now

(Turner, $27.95). By Peter D. Kiernan

3. All In: The Education of General David Petraeus

(Penguin Press, $29.95)

By Paula Broadwell with Vernon Loeb

4. Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power

(Basic, $26). By Zbigniew Brzezinski

5. Enemies: A History of the FBI

(Random House, $30). By Tim Weiner

6. The World America Made

(Knopf, $21). By Robert Kagan

Drawn from Book World’s bestseller data supplied by Nielsen BookScan for the week ending March 4, 2012 (culled from the top 50 titles sold). The chart may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2012


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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Battles endure over undocumented schoolchildren

About this blog: A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court does
not necessarily mean the end of battles over a disputed issue. The wars over abortion still rage despite the
landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. So, too, with the Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which allowed undocumented children to enroll in Texas public schools and marked a turning point in immigration rights. But the battles over undocumented school children continue, as Michael A. Olivas shows in his book “No Undocumented Child Left Behind: Plyler v. Doe and the Education of Undocumented Schoolchildren,” recently released by New York University Press. Here, Olivas, a law professor at the University of Houston, explores where the law and the nation stand today.

--------------------------

On June 15, we will celebrate the 30th birthday of the Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe. This landmark ruling handed down in 1982 has made it possible for undocumented children to enroll in the nation’s public schools, and it has been widely acknowledged as a success story.

When President Reagan and Congress enacted comprehensive immigration reform in 1986, it was possible for many of these children to become citizens. Even early opponents such as James Plyler, the Tyler, Texas superintendent, later indicated that he was happy the case turned out as it did, inasmuch as these children were permitted to stay and get an education.

The case continues to require vigilance because some states still attempt to enact their own laws on the schooling of undocumented children, as Alabama did when it passed a statute requiring registration of its schoolchildren. The legislators just wanted to put the fear of God (and La Migra – the immigration authorities) into the hearts of the parents, who were lured to Alabama to do the backbreaking work that others don’t do.

The courts enjoined the provisions, although the desired damage had been done: frightened parents removed their children from the schools.

In another recent incident a Texas schoolteacher admonished a child that he should “go back to Mexico.” These kinds of events are newsworthy because they are relatively rare. But the fact is many of the targeted children excel in their academic and personal endeavors and win competitions and awards.

The ongoing debates in the Republican primaries over the DREAM Act — which would provide conditional citizenship to certain undocumented college students — have revealed a great divide on what to do about these children when they reach college age.

Note how Gov. Perry’s immigrant tuition policies, allowing undocumented Texas college students to pay in-state tuition, ran afoul of his opponents in the GOP primary. Herman Cain, in contrast, foolishly advocated for an electrified fence.

State laws do not wisely address the issues — they violate federal law and overreact. They have also shown the interconnectedness and globalization of migrant and farm labor in a way no other means could have. Only federal comprehensive immigration reform can work — we cannot have 50 state immigration policies, any more than we can have 50 foreign policies or forms of currency.

In the end, Plyler is an example of our better angels. Re-reading the case today draws attention to the important issues of incorporation of outsiders into our communities, the strains in the U.S. polity, and the unrelenting meanness of the restrictionists who are still fighting this battle more than 30 years later.

Most educators are drawn to the story’s narrative arc: innocent children brought to a new country where their families live in the shadows. The decision was the best our country has to offer: compassion, a fierce belief in reducing inequality, and political and personal courage.

In our society, then as now, we do not punish our children for the transgressions of their parents.

----------------------------------------------

Follow Steven Levingston on Twitter @SteveLevingston

By Michael A. Olivas  |  11:56 AM ET, 03/14/2012


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Here’s a good ‘One’ about James Brown

James Brown was never a big man, but even as a troubled young man growing up in abject poverty, he was larger than life. RJ Smith's The One: The Life and Music of James Brown crackles with the same intensity Brown used to overcome his destitute beginnings to become the Godfather of Soul, who could whip audiences into a sweat-drenched frenzy with his primal screams and electrifying dance moves.

PHOTOS: James Brown through the years

"He was pint-size, lacking a formidable build, but Brown compensated with a way of moving that gave off waves of energy," writes Smith, a music writer based in Los Angeles. "Even as a teenager, he was able to command attention just by skimming along. He communicated that he was not to be trifled with."

Brown, who was born in Barnwell, S.C., in 1933, was the hardest-working man in show business (at his peak, he did more than 330 one-nighters a year), but he was also a hard man to work for and an even harder one to live with. He was a taskmaster who kept his bands in line with fines, firings and fists. He was also a possessive, abusive womanizer. He had a need to be in control and have things his way. That was reflected in his music, which defied conventions with its driving rhythms. It reshaped R&B in the 1960s and 1970s and had lasting influence beyond.

Smith's excellent biography draws upon more than 100 interviews with band members and studio musicians, ex-wives and girlfriends, business associates, record executives and his inner circle of friends to piece together the story of a musical genius who became a cultural icon and a lightning rod for controversy. He grounds the story in the context of the times through which Brown lived — segregation, the civil rights movement, the disco era — and illustrates how events and social conditions influenced the choices he made.

Through firsthand accounts by those who knew him, Smith digs out the truth behind the many legends surrounding Brown (the genesis of the cape act; the motivations by the famed Boston concert in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination; rivalries with other singers). Those stories also explain Brown's obsession with grooming (he had his hair done every morning and before and after shows) and how his need to be the center of attention affected everything he did. He once told protégé Al Sharpton: "Whatever you do, don't follow the crowd. You got to stand alone and have your own style, your own way of doing things."

In later years, Brown found doing things his way increasingly difficult. In the late '70s, disco slowed his momentum, and his artistic progeny attracted younger fans. Smith chronicles his decline with the same rich detail that he traces the glory years. Despite sporadic hits and renaissances fueled by such films as The Blues Brothers and Rocky IV, the former trendsetter was suddenly desperate to keep up. Tax troubles, a tumultuous marriage to Adrienne Rodriguez and an addiction to PCP took their toll, but Brown was still performing a month before he died at 73 on Christmas 2006.


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Monday, April 2, 2012

'Hunger Games' feeds Andy Cohen's reality passion

What's not to love about The Hunger Games?

Andy Cohen read 'The Hunger Games' during a flight from L.A. to New York and fell in love with the book. Bravo Media

Andy Cohen read 'The Hunger Games' during a flight from L.A. to New York and fell in love with the book.

Bravo Media

Andy Cohen read 'The Hunger Games' during a flight from L.A. to New York and fell in love with the book.

A friend in L.A. gave me the book at dinner one night and told me to read it. He wouldn't say what it was about, "Just READ IT. I promise you'll love it." The next day I flew home and read it cover to cover from LAX to JFK, and finished in the car to my apartment. I was instantly obsessed, quickly doodling "Down with the Capitol!" at work, and had the other two books in the trilogy by the next morning.

The series has something for everyone, from a fully realized vision of the future, a commentary on war and government, a fantastic love triangle, and an incredible take on reality TV. But I think the idea of The Hunger Games as reality show is what really sucked me in.

Suzanne Collins has produced in her books a combination of the Olympics and all three of CBS' biggest hit reality franchises: The Amazing Race, Survivor and Big Brother, with death and murder thrown in as the ultimate in horrific reality-show twists. There's no way a show like that wouldn't capture the attention of entire countries.

Her show-within-a-book is so well thought out, and it contains an incredible underlying truth about propaganda and how reality shows are produced, edited and spoon-fed to consumers hungry for more. (And I might have secretly fantasized once or twice about what a Real Housewives of The Hunger Games show would look like, and which housewife would come out the victor.)

Oh, and doesn't Suzanne Collins have a fantastic eye for fashion? Where does she come up with the clothes?

Catching Fire proved to me just as great as the first book, and I really got into the love triangle. Alas, as sweet as Peeta is, I think I'm more on Team Gale. In truth, I found myself thinking a lot about Finnick as I went on, and by the time he went nuts in Mockingjay, I was feeling like he was my boo.

Ahhh, Mockingjay. I was so excited to read it and wanted it to last forever, so I forced myself to put it down every 50 pages. I sadly was a bit disappointed by the final installment, though I was OK with how we left Katniss at the end.

I can't wait for the films so I can go back to District 12 again and see how the reality show works on the big screen. And I want a Katniss doll, please. And a Finnick doll.

See you at the movies. And May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!

Contributing: Andy Cohen is executive producer of The Real Housewives and Top Chef franchises and host of Watch What Happens: Live on Bravo. His memoir, Most Talkative: Stories From the Front Lines of Pop Culture, will be published in May.

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