Are You Interested in the Full Story?

Laura Ling, one of the journalists who was recently freed after being held in North Korea, and her sister, journalist Lisa Ling, are said to be shopping a book proposal [6] according to the Wall Street Journal. The book plans to discuss Ling's time in captivity but will focus on “the meaning of sisterhood and journalistic ideals.” Sounds like a worthy read.

Is Dambisa Moyo on Your Radar?

She's definitely one to watch. Moyo, the young Zambian powerhouse, who Time magazine selected as one of its 100 most influential people in the world, is the author of the provocative New York Times bestseller "Dead Aid." [7] She's working on a new book, "How the West Was Lost," that's slated for release in 2010. According to her website [8], the book “examines the policy errors made in the US and other Western economies which culminated in the 2008 financial crisis. It also explores the policy decisions that have placed the emerging world—China, Russia and the Middle East, in pole position to become the dominant economic players in the 21st century.”

Shouldn't We Respect the Wishes of the Deceased?

Publishers Weekly [9] has an advance review of novelist Vladimir Nabokov's unfinished book “The Original of Laura” [10] that's being published by Knopf in November. The work, which Nabokov asked his wife to burn before his death in 1977, is handwritten on more than one hundred index cards. His son Dmitri gave permission for the release of the cards. PW writes, “This very unfinished work reads largely like an outline, full of seeming notes-to-self, references to source material, self-critique, sentence fragments and commentary.” And, “...after reading the book, readers will wonder if the Lolita author is laughing or turning over in his grave.” I'm going with the latter.

Is Reading a Lost Art?

David Ulin, the book editor of the Los Angeles Times penned a rather honest piece [11] about his recent struggles to stay focused enough to read books, a problem that he blames on our society's preoccupation with speed and inability to slow down. Honest indeed coming from a man who makes his living reading. He writes, “It isn't a failure of desire so much as one of will. Or not will, exactly, but focus: the ability to still my mind long enough to inhabit someone else's world, and to let that someone else inhabit mine....In order for this to work, however, we need a certain type of silence, an ability to filter out the noise.” But Ulin reminds us that, "there is time, if we want it." Thus the real question is: do we want to take the time to read?

Curious about What Bill Clinton's Reading?

The LA Times has featured the former president's current reading list [12] which includes Malcolm Gladwell's ”Outliers,” [13] and John Bogle's “Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life.” [14]

Will This Be a Good Movie?

According to Black Voices, Will Packer, the filmmaker behind movies like “Stomp the Yard,” and “Obsessed,” is developing a movie adaptation [15] of Steve Harvey's “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment.” [16] The New York Times bestseller provides obvious and sometimes maddening advice for women from a male perspective. Am I the only one having a hard time seeing the book as a movie? Perhaps it'll be like the black version of the book-turned-movie ”He's Just Not that Into You” [17]?

Too Many Michael Jackson Books?

You really have to be careful what you ask for. Just when I thought there was a need for more books about Michael Jackson, there's a deluge of forthcoming ones. In addition to the J. Randy Taraborrelli biography that I mentioned in an earlier post [18], People and Life magazines are releasing commemorative editions. Biographer Ian Halperin's “Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson” [19] was recently released. Nelson George [20] is slated to write “Thriller” a book examining Jackson and his music. According to Publishers Lunch, Sasha Frere-Jones, music critic for the New Yorker, is working on a book that will “explore the enormous musical and cultural changes wrought by Michael Jackson's body of work.”

Publisher Kraken Opus is already taking pre-orders for ”The Official Michael Jackson Opus” [21] which is slated for publication in December. USA Today [22] writes that the "oversized, 400-page tribute will be driven by photos but also will include essays, illustrations and poetry, at least half of it exclusive - all handbound in leather and enclosed in a silk clamshell case." Want it? You'll have to shell out $165.00. And lastly, Jackson's 1988 memoir “Moonwalk” [23] is scheduled for an October reissue by Harmony Books and will include an introduction by Motown founder Berry Gordy [24]. Oh and as an aside, Janet is still working on her book [25].

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is a writer, speaker, author of books for adults and youth, and the book columnist for The Root. Her most recent book is "The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs." Visit her at feliciapride.com.