His new book Little Children is a satirical take on parenthood and suburbia. Perrotta is also the author of the novels Joe College and Election. Election was made into the 1999 movie of the same name.
Actor Ricky Gervais stars in, writes and directs the hit BBC sitcom, The Office. The show can be seen in the United States on BBC America. Gervais stars as the self-obsessed middle manager David Brent. The satirical The Office is shot in documentary style and follows the goings-on at a suburban paper company where life is stationary. It was just awarded the prestigious Peabody Award. The second season of The Office is available on DVD this month.
The New York Times' James Bennet discusses the situation in the Middle East following the Israeli military's assassination of the founder and spiritual leader of the militant Palestinian group Ham
McGeary's article "Inside Hamas," in which she interviews several leaders of the Palestinian militant group, appears in the current issue of Time magazine. On March 22, the Israeli military assassinated the group's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
From Showtime's drama The L-Word, actor Jennifer Beals and creator Ilene Chaiken. Beals became a star for her role in the 80's dance classic, Flashdance. She's also starred in Devil in a Blue Dress, The Last Days of Disco and The Anniversary Party. On The L-Word, she plays Bette Porter, a gay art curator. Chaiken's previous TV work includes writing Damaged Care and Dirty Pictures. The L-Word wraps up its first season this weekend.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists 1854-67, by Rachel Cohen. It's a book about friendships between American writers and artists and photographers.
Barry's new book is The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. In 1918, the influenza virus emerged, and in the next year killed millions of people. He writes "before that worldwide pandemic faded away in 1920, it would kill more people than any other outbreak of disease in human history." Scientists are still trying to figure out why the virus spread so rapidly and killed so efficiently. The story has relevance today as scientists believe we are due for another flu pandemic.
Sullivan is the author of the critically acclaimed books, The Meadowlands and A Whale Hunt. His new book is Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. One reviewer writes, "in prose worthy of Joseph Mitchell, a... skittering, scurrying, terrific natural history." Sullivan is a contributing editor to Vogue and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker.
John Dominic Crossan is professor emeritus of biblical studies at DePaul University in Chicago. A native of Ireland, and ordained as a priest in the United States, he left the priesthood in 1969. Crossan is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who meet to determine the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels. Crossan wrote the books Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Historical Jesus and Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of The Death of Jesus.
He's the principal scientific investigator for the twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, on Mars. The two landed on the surface of Mars in January, and are helping astronomers to determine whether or not there was life on the planet. Squyres will talk about the many gadgets they created to work on Mars, and what it's like working on "Mars time." Squyres is also a professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
