Mark Bittman, author of such sensational and best selling cookbooks as How To Cook Everything, turns a fresh page here with Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating. It would be a challenge indeed to hype this book any mroe than Bittman does in his introduction, where he states that "If I told you that the same lifestyle choice could help you lose weight, reduce the risk of many long-term chronic diseases, save you real money, and help stop global warming, I imagine you'd be intrigued. If I also told you that this change, while not effortless., would be easier and more pleasant thany any diet you've ever tried, would take less time and effort than your exercise routine, and would require no sacrifice, I would think you'd want to read more." It's safe to say Bittman is right there. Apart from this sort of stirring self advocacy Food Matters, also contains 75 recipes and Bittman's whole scheme for how to "lose weight, heal the planet."...More

Norah Vincent, last book Self-Made Man was a bestseller, a big hit, and a lot of fun. Her new book Voluntary Madness recounts her insider journalist type experience in a mental health facility, which she refers to as "the madhouse," "insanitarium" and "the bin," not the terms in vogue among health care professionals I imagine. In any case after four days of involuntary incarceration Vincent decided that despite her loathing of the experience she "felt centripetally attracted to the subject matter...I knew that in order to write a book about madhouses... I'd have to spend much more time locked away." Voluntary Madness is Vincent's insider's account and scathing denunciation of the mental health system. One can only hope that this book is as entertaining as it is predisposed to bias....More

Brook's bestselling novel, based on the true story of the Sarajevo Hagaddah, People of the Book is out in paperback today. A fine writer and an exceptional storyteller, Brooks has given herself plenty of room to flex her skills in this broad based historical tapestry....More

This was a big week for paperback releases with such books as The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Escape, and Gang Leader for a Day, out today, however Sam Savage's Firman stands out as the most interesting. This is not simple because it literally has a big piece bitten out of it, but rather because it is a book fraught with appeal for book lovers. Firman follows the tale of a rat, Firman, whose family feeds on the remnants of mouldering volumes in the basement of an antiquarian bookstore. Firman takes in the contents of the volumes he consumes, and is drawn in to an exploration of life and literature which his fellow readers should make sure to sample....More

This story of a boy from Africa, who resettles in Minnesota, is told entirely through his poems. It is immediately engaging, warm and filled with interest for middle grade readers....More

There's a lot to be said for a picture book whose combination of humor, inventiveness, and interactive artwork makes each page an adventure for young readers. Thus there would be a lot to be said for Dot in Larryland if I didn't have to run out the door in two minutes. Suffice it to say, therefore, that Patricia Marx's tale of an unlikely friendship between the gigantic Larry and the sub microscopic Dot, illustrated by the always entertaining New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, could have been the subject of a really long paragraph extolling its many virtues. Ah well......More