Jodi Picoult's New Novel: Handle With Care

Handle with Care: A Novel

Jodi Picoult has been steadily releasing books, nearly annually, since 1992. Picoult has said that, for her, the creation of a novel is much like the development of a baby in that it takes nine months.

For the many authors who release books quickly, it can be said that oftentimes the hastiness of finishing the novel detracts from the quality of the work. However, Picoult's 16th novel, Handle with Careis no less poignant than her others.

Although many of her previous novels have been bestsellers, Picoult's fame skyrocketed with her 2003 novel, My Sister's Keeper. It has managed to remain in the public eye more so than her other novels because it has been adapted to a film (which will be released this summer) including such actors as Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin and Abigail Breslin.

Picoult's novels juggle issues such as a school shooting, a mercy killing, sexual abuse, a suicide pact and the appearance of stigmata. However, with nearly every novel focusing on different controversial issues that make the headlines daily, they each share a common thread. When it comes down to it, Picoult's novels are about relationships between people, and that is what primarily makes Picoult's novels so gripping.

As she does in her other novels, Picoult weaves the tale in Handle with Carewith the use of multiple points of view. Each chapter takes on a different voice, molding to the central characters' thoughts. However, unlike her other novels, each voice speaks in the second person, addressing "you." The "you" to which each narrator refers is Willow O'Keefe.

Read the rest of Christina Warner's review here, or get a copy of Handle with Care now!

The History of Tea Revealed in New Book: Espionage, Empire, and Adventure of the World's Favorite Drink

For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Sercret Formula of the World's Favourite Drink

The opening to this intriguing book makes clear how high the stakes once were over something as mundane as a cup of tea: "There was a time when maps of the world were redrawn in the name of plants, when two empires, Britain and China, went to war over two flowers: the poppy and the camellia." It's grandiose, startling and not actually untrue.

This brisk little study gives a compelling sketch of the world of globalisation before the age of instant information, and transforms a modest Scottish botanist into a swashbuckling pirate capitalist, who incidentally changed the way we all have breakfast.

Robert Fortune was born in Edrom, a village in the fertile Merse of the Scottish Borders. He started work in Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden, and transferred to the Royal Horticultural Society's experimental hothouses at Chiswick, where he was headhunted to undertake a journey to China. The First Opium War had just ended with a British victory and unprecedented access to the hitherto forbidden empire.

Fortune's first trip resulted in the introduction of numerous, now familiar species: the white wisteria, the winter jasmine and the kumquat, scientifically called the Fortunella.

His second trip had a far more specific purpose. The Opium War was sparked by the Chinese Emperor's decision to forbid Britain importing opium – the profits from which allowed the British to buy tea in return. Britain had a monopoly on the poppies required to make opiates; China had a monopoly on camellia sinesis – tea. In the wake of the war, the Emperor Daoguang authorised experiments to produce their own opium. The British, likewise, sought to secure an indigenous tea crop. Fortune, as the botanist with most experience of China, was sent to secure seeds and cuttings of the finest Chinese teas, and to discover the exact processes for preparing the leaves for consumption. It was, in effect, industrial espionage on a massive scale.

Read the rest of review here, or get a copy of For All the Tea in China now!

Mystery of Percy Fawcett's Last Adventure Solved: New Book on Amazon Adventure

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

I've been waiting for this book since 2005. That's when David Grann's article about explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest to find the mythic city of El Dorado in the Amazon appeared in The New Yorker.

The story has everything to fire the imagination: Romance, nostalgia, bravery, monomania, hardship, adventure, science, tragedy, mystery.

No wonder Brad Pitt snapped up the movie rights before The Lost City of Zwas even published.

Fawcett was last in the line of heroic explorers that included Henry Stanley, Richard Burton and Ernest Shackleton - men who left Europe in search of adventure and science in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Taking the Amazon as his specialty, Fawcett led a number of expeditions before disappearing into the jungle in 1925, when he was 57.

The mystery of Fawcett's last expedition, which also claimed the life of his 21-year-old son, Jack, has proved to be an irresistible obsession. Dozens of explorers sought to follow his steps and find El Dorado, which Fawcett cryptically called "Z." Grann calculates 100 or more of them perished.

A New Yorker who prefers elevators to stairs and doesn't even like camping, Grann came under Fawcett's spell, too. He examined the explorer's papers at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Through a Fawcett descendant, Grann uncovered a previously unknown cache of diaries that pointed to the actual path the explorer took on his last expedition.

Read the rest of Chauncey Mabe's review here, or get a copy of The Lost City of Z now!

An Interview with Watchmen Creator Patrick Wilson

Watchmen

Corey Stulce: "Is the whole Watchmenphenomenon starting to become overwhelming?"

Patrick Wilson: "It's something to get used to. I'm glad it's finally coming out. Its funny, it's sort of a slow roll, opening up to everything."

CS: "Did you know the source material going in?"

PW: "I heard of it, but I didn't know it very well. Luckily, I've got a friend who's a diehard comic fan. As soon as I told him that I was sent the script, he was, ‘Oh, God.' He was equal parts nervous and excited, as most fans are. It's been a long time coming. I got pretty quickly why it meant so much and why it still means so much to comic fans. I ran out and grabbed the graphic novel and got on board for quite a ride."

CS: "Some early photos released from the filming look like they matched up pretty well with the frames in the comic. Was the book used a lot on the set?"

PW: "All the time. I took my Watchmen (Absolute Edition)to work every day. Right by the monitors with the camera, there was always a copy earmarked with the scene you were shooting that day. There are so many iconic images. I did my part to give that faithfulness to the script. I feel like the artwork is as important as the words and can be as informative."

CS: "What was going through your head the first time you put on the costume?"

PW: "It wasn't painted; it was still black. I remember looking at myself and thinking, ‘Wow, this is my version of Batman. I look like Batman.' It was pretty cool, I gotta say. I kept calling my buddy - throughout the course of this, we got a lot closer, actually. I knew he would get so excited. I called him and said, ‘I just tried it on,' and would sneak a little picture or two to him. ‘OK, destroy it as soon as you see it,' that sort of thing."

CS: "What was the neatest thing you got to do in costume?"

PW: "Plenty of stunts, truthfully. A lot of the fighting was really phenomenal. Always when you do a movie, a perk is learning a new skill. For this, all the martial arts training was something I had never done."

Read the rest of the interview here, or get a copy of the original Watchmen here!

Yoko Ogawa's New Book: The Housekeeper and the Professor

The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel

Last December the death of a man named Henry Gustav Molaison made headlines in The New York Times and around the world. He was famous in scientific circles for not being able to remember anything new longer than 15 minutes, due to an accident. He had spent the later part of his life in a Connecticut nursing home being a subject known only as H.M. in psychology experiments.

A similar malady, but a more humane fate, has befallen the "professor" in this deceptively elegant novel, which was a best seller and a movie in Japan. A car accident has robbed him of the ability to remember any new memories for more than 80 minutes. For him time stopped in 1975, when he was a prominent math teacher and the famed pitcher Yutaka Enatsu was mowing down batters for the Hanshin Tigers. He lives in a ramshackle cottage in his sister-in-law's backyard, doing math puzzles and walking around with reminder notes stuck to his suit, the most prominent of which says, "My memory only lasts 80 minutes."

The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Noveltells of the adventures, such as they are, of the remarkable virtual family formed by the professor's new cook and cleaner, the single mother of a 10-year-old boy whom the professor calls Root because his flat head reminds him of the mathematical sign for a square root. Nobody except Root really has a name. Every morning the housekeeper, who narrates the story, has to introduce herself and her son to the professor all over again. He, in turn, as he does whenever he is stuck or flustered or has extended his 80-minute window, is likely to ask her shoe size or her telephone number. He always has something amazing to say about whatever number comes up.

Read more of Dennis Overbye's review here, or get a copy of The Housekeeper and the Professor now!

How Textbooks Distort History and Religion: New Book Documents Errors

The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion

According to the recently released The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion,textbooks commonly used in America’s schools are misinforming K-12 students about subjects ranging from history to religion and politics.

"It is shocking to find the kind of misinformation we discovered in American textbooks and supplemental materials being used by schools in every state in the country," said Dr. Gary A. Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, based in San Francisco.

The book, released by the IJCR, is the result of a five-year study conducted by Dr. Tobin and co-author Dennis R. Ybarra, who examined 28 textbooks on history, social studies and geography. They noted at least one of these textbooks is used in schools in each of the 50 United States.

The investigation uncovered 500 misrepresentations about Islam, Christianity and Judaism, including disparate treatment of the three religions. For instance, the authors found that the teacher’s overview for World Cultures and Geography: Eastern Hemisphere and Europe (McDougal Littell) suggests that "Judaism is a story of exile" and "Christians believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah." In contrast, about Islam, the same textbook stated: "The Qu’ran is the collection of God’s revelations to Muhammad." (Emphases appear in The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion.) The authors note that the wording dealing with Judaism and Christianity implies those religions are based on fables, whereas the language about Islam suggests that it is a religion based on fact and should be treated with due reverence.

Likewise, the glossary entry regarding Judaism found in World History: Continuity and Change (Holt, Rinehart and Winston) states: "Ten Commandments: Moral laws Moses claimed to have received from the Hebrew God Yahweh on Mount Sinai." The glossary entry for Islam, on the other hand, is definitive: "Qu’ran: Holy Book of Islam containing revelations received by Muhammad from God."

Tobin and Ybarra note: "Many textbooks serve as apologists for Islam in a way that they do not for Christianity, Judaism, or any other major religion. No religion should be presented in history textbooks as absolute truth, either on its own or compared to any other, or they all should be."

Read more of Maxime Myer-Smith's review, or get a copy of The Trouble with Textbooks now!

Tax Free Retirement: Planning for the Future in Today's Economic Times

Tax Free Retirement

In today’s economic climate, everyone is re-thinking their retirement. Not only are baby boomers just now hitting retirement looking over their financial portfolio, but so are young adults just starting out on their retirement planning and investing. With the crash of the stock market and the financial ruin of many investment firms and banks, there is good reason to rethink one’s retirement. However, there is an even bigger reason to make sure your planning for retirement is on track. That reason is tax. With the major bailout packages put up by the U.S. government to kick-start the economy and rescue the banks, a massive amount of debt has been placed on the common person. This debt, to be paid off through taxes over a 30 year period, translates into you having to pay more taxes. And if you don’t plan now, those higher taxes are going to come out of your retirement savings and investments – all of which will have a serious impact on your later years.

I’ve been thinking about this myself, although retirement is many years away. So instead of reading various newspapers and magazine articles on the subject – often pitched one way or the other depending on the political/economic leaning of the editor, I decided to look into the advice of someone who was actually doing what they preached. There is no better method of making a decision then to see someone else living the life you want and to find out what they did to get there. In my case, since I’m not at the retirement age, I wanted to find someone else who was thinking a little long-term. That example is Patrick Kelly, and his new book Tax Free Retirementexplains what he believes in, what he is doing, and how he is doing it.

After reading Patrick’s book on investing and retirement, I found his philosophy to be refreshing, straightforward, and possible for someone with little money to risk. Basically, Tax Free Retirementadvocates following nine central tenants:

• Planning Ahead
• Zero Procrastination
• Avoiding the Wrong Side of Mr. Interest
• Pulling Off the Desire for Instant Gratification
• Not Following the Masses
• The Inertia Factor
• A Desire to Think Long-term
• A Generous Outlook
• Remembering that the Future Will Arrive

Based on these nine central tenants, Patrick argues that one can properly invest for their retirement, and in the process make sure that their later years are as golden as they want them to be.

In advocating nine central tenants for retirement planning, Patrick also outlines four “hidden retirement traps.”

• The Tax Trap
• The Access Trap
• The Distribution Trap
• The Death Trap

These traps are the result of not planning ahead and getting hit with a lot of taxes when you begin to take money out of your retirement savings. Patrick’s genius strategy, one that I have personally implemented, is to invest into Roth IRAs and Universal Life Insurance plans. Most investors and financially savvy people know about Roth IRAs and their benefits (money is taxed on the way in, not on the way out so all profits are tax free), but what most people don’t know is that Universal Life Insurance policies can also be used to accumulate tax-free money.

How? Well, I can’t give it to you in the detail that Patrick does in Tax Free Retirement(get a copy, it will pay off many-fold with the detail and clarity of planning he provides). However, the basics are simple for me to describe. Basically, you put money into a Universal Life Insurance plan that holds its cash value. When you hit retirement, a loan is taken out on the cash value of that policy. Since the government does not tax loans, you can pay off the loan with the extra value accumulated in the life insurance policy – and in the process take home the accumulated profits with no tax.

Again, my explanation is simplistic and may not make sense. That is what Tax Free Retirementis for. Get a copy now, and start putting your money in tax sheltered retirement accounts so that when you are ready to retire, you will have plenty of tax-free savings to live on.

Get a Copy of Tax Free Retirement Now and Start Saving