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WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S " ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY " I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS FRIDAY'S " ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY" AUDIO BOOK CHOICE IS..... TEN YEARS LATER The Audio Book BY FRANCINE PASCAL ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK: Now with this striking new adult novel from author and creator Francine Pascal, millions of devoted fans can finally return to the idyllic Sweet Valley, home of the phenomenally successful book series and franchise. Iconic and beloved identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are back and all grown up, dealing with the complicated adult world of love, careers, betrayal, and sisterhood. WANT MORE SWEET VALLEY RIGHT NOW?? Become a fan of Sweet Valley Confidential on Facebook or Twitter. Click for an audio excerpt ABOUT THE AUTHOR: FRANCINE PASCAL is the creator of the Sweet Valley High series and one of the world's most popular fiction writers for teenagers and the author of several bestselling novels...

This Week: Author Philip Bobbit, Jacques Steinberg on Clear Channel Radio, Back Page essayist Stephen Koch plus best seller news. Popout Original audio source (12bookupdate.mp3)

He may have lost the interest of the public, but Saddam's prose starts promisingly enough. Until the bear sex Saddam Hussein's Zabiba and the King was the first book in my library of dictator literature. I got it for Christmas 2004 after the fall of the Ba'athist regime, but before the big man swung from the gallows. The cover reflects this: a panicked, bearded Saddam stares out at the reader, heavy bags under his eyes. Who, me torture and murder opponents? Nah you're thinking of another Saddam, the guy with the military moustache. It's a strange choice of image, since Zabiba was first published three years before the second Iraq war, when Saddam was still in power and creating an edition of the Qu'ran written in his own blood . I wasn't even sure I'd include Zabiba in this series, since second-division dictators like Saddam tend to lose the public's interest upon exiting the world-historical stage. But Sacha Baron Cohen is planning a film adaptat...

The writing life sounded so glamorous, didnt it? When you first started writing, you watched people struggling with their problems and knew you could help if only they would listen. So you took to the page with metaphorical fist raised, hoping your words would cut through conventional thinking and inspire a revolution. But it was hard much harder than you thought it would be to gain traction. Worse, it was lonely . The sad discovery was that it was nearly impossible to get people to read something they didnt already agree with. Sure, you could commiserate with and take solace in the company of other (misunderstood) writers. But it wasnt clear any of those real people out there with real problems were listening at all. Before you decide to hang up your cape forever, let me introduce you to Michael Daly , a mild-mannered crusader from the world of science. The story of his struggle might be just the insight you need to set the world on fire with your ideas. Heretics Learn from y...

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S " BAFFLING BINGO DAY " I'M EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS THURSDAY'S "BAFFLING BINGO DAY" MYSTERY BOOK CHOICE IS..... TOYS BY JAMES PATTERSON & NEIL McMAHON ABOUT THE BOOK: James Bond and Jason Bourne have just been topped! A battle for the world is set into unstoppable motion and Hays Baker is the only one who can save it. Hays Baker and his wife Lizbeth possess super-human strength, extraordinary intelligence, stunning looks, a sex life to die for, and two beautiful children. Of course they do--they're Elites, endowed at birth with the very best that the world can offer. The only problem in their perfect world: humans and their toys! The one with the most toys--dies The top operative for the Agency of Change, Hays has just won the fiercest battle of his career. He has been praised by the President, and is a national hero. But before he can savor his triumph, he receives an unbelievable shock that overtur...

The Queen said to Alice in Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking Glass, Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. What if the impossible things, werent all that impossible, but rather doable, and they were the six most important things to do to on your list, and what if you could accomplish them all, maybe not before breakfast, but before lunch. Now wouldnt that be a great way to start your day! You will have crossed off six important things (not minor tasks, but the stuff youve been procrastinating on for days, weeks, months), and now your afternoon is free of guilt. In fact, youre so excited by the possibilities youre really on a roll and youre anxious to see what else can accomplish today. Imagine if you did this every day, just think how productive your life could be, how good you can really feel about yourself, and what if some (if not all six) of these important things are actually taking you a step closer to your goals? Most people start th...

WELCOME TO BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S " WEDNESDAY MEANS WINNERS DAY ". I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS WEDNESDAY'S WINNERS THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED BY EMAIL AND HAVE UNTIL NOON, APRIL 1 , TO REPLY WITH THE INFORMATION OR A NEW WINNER WILL HAVE TO BE CHOSEN! *********************************** TASTE OF HOME COMFORT FOOD DIET COOKBOOK ! I HAVE ONE BRAND NEW HARD COPY OF THIS COOKBOOK TO GIVE AWAY TO A LUCKY READER THE LUCKY WINNER IS: #54 Margie *********************************** STAR WARS-CLONE WARS FAN GIVEAWAY ! THE CLONE WARS BY KAREN TRAVISS AND THE CLONE WARS ANIMATED DVD ADVENTURE I HAVE ONE COPY OF EACH STAR WARS-CLONE WARS ITEM ABOVE TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY WINNER! THAT WINNER IS: #62 MRWriter ***************************************! A LONELY DEATH An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery BY CHARLES TODD I HAVE ONE ADVANCE COPY OF THIS EXCITING MYSTERY TO SHARE WITH ONE OF YOU THE WINNER IS: #24 traveler **************************************** THE L...

This Week: Fareed Zakaria on Benazir Bhutto, Pamela Paul on the baby biz, Dave Itzkoff and bestseller news. Popout Original audio source (05bookupdate.mp3)

Anne-Marie Slaughter Barack Obama; drawing by John Springs President Obama made an important contribution to the Libya debate in his speech Monday night by rejecting the over-worked dichotomy between Americas strategic interests and its core values. Most of the media coverage of the debate relied on this familiar trope. On March 16th, at the beginning of the critical week that resulted in a UN resolution and the start of air strikes two days later, the Times reported that senior officials, notably the national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, have made it clear that the United States does not view Libya as a vital strategic interest . After the President made the decision to support a no fly zone, the press continued to refer to this dichotomy, but now asserted that values had triumphed over interests. The Times story of the crucial meetings in which the decisions were madethe story which, not coincidentally, provided the original fodder for the women go to war sagabegan...

LONDON, March 30 British author John le Carre will remain on the shortlist for the biennial Man Booker International Prize despite asking judges to withdraw his name from the list of 13 nominees.I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist of 2011 Man Booker International Prize, said the creator of spy classics including The Spy Who Came In From the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.However, I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn, the 79-year-old, whose real name is David Cornwell, said in a statement.But prize organisers said they would ignore his wishes.John le Carres name will, of course, remain on the list, said Rick Gekoski, chair of the Man Booker International Prize 2011 judges.We are disappointed that he wants to withdraw from further consideration because we are great admirers of his work.Also on the nominees list for the award, the winner of which will be announced in Sydney on May 18, are Philip Roth, Rohinton Mi...

Deciding which living literary great to honour for their body of work is overwhelming, akin to 'sizing up the giants and arranging them in order' Since January 2010, Carmen Callil, Justin Cartwright and I have been reading for the 2011 Man Booker International prize . Never heard of it? Well, it only began in 2005, so let me fill you in. The prize is awarded every two years to a living author, is worth 60,000, the winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel, there are no submissions from publishers and the judges consider a writer's body of work rather than a single novel. This provides a beguilingly open-ended brief. It is up to us judges whom to read, what to read, and how to read, until one day a puff of smoke will go up (in Sydney on 29 May) and a great writer will be honoured. The three previous winners were Ismail Kadar , Chinua Achebe , and Alice Munro . It was hard to know where to start. We listed about 60 authors we thought should be considered...

Self-published author Jacqueline Howett's online meltdown after a poor review quickly went viral, proving the internet has finally removed the line in the sand between reviewers and authors Writers, said the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, fall into two groups: "Those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review." Jacqueline Howett falls into the former category. Her now-infamous online outburst against a two-star review of her self-published novel The Greek Seaman on Big Al's Books and Pals , a website devoted to reviewing the output of the independent presses, is less "bleeding visibly", more an out-and-out gorefest. But Howett can perhaps take comfort amid the opprobrium flung her way from the fact that more successful authors are not immune to such outbursts. Authors frequently bite back, and it is rarely pretty. Just this week, in fact, there has been much to-ing and fro-ing in the...

LONDON, March 30 John le Carre, Philip Roth, Rohinton Mistry and Philip Pullman are among the 13 authors shortlisted for the biennial Man Booker International Prize which will be awarded on May 18 in Sydney.The prize is worth GBP60,000 pounds (RM291,522) to the winner, and living authors whose works of fiction are either originally in English or generally available in English translation are eligible.It honours a writers body of work as opposed to the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction which is awarded for a single book.In 2011, Chinese writers feature in the shortlist for the first time in the form of Wang Anyi, who wrote The Song of Everlasting Sorrow published in 1996, and Su Tong, whose novella Wives and Concubines was the basis of the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated movie Raise the Red Lantern.Three US authors appear Roth, Marilynne Robinson and Anne Tyler and three British James Kelman, le Carre and Pullman.Previous winners of the award were Canadian writer Alice Munro (2...

HOKUS POKUS BY FERN MICHAELS ABOUT THE BOOK: There is no match for the Sisterhood - the seven friends who have taken vigilante justice to a new level - not even the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although the women foiled former FBI director Mitch Riley's plot to frame their friends Judge Nellie Easter and lawyer Lizzie Fox, now they must remain in exile or risk capture. They can't complain about their opulent digs on a remote, luxurious mountaintop, but the ladies desperately miss home. Their wish to return might come true sooner than they expect when they receive a panicked call from Supreme Court Chief Justice Pearl Barnes, who faces blackmail for her own illegal brand of justice. Now the women must not only sneak back into the United States, but also remain undetected as they investigate. But how do you make seven women disappear? With a nosy reporter on the brink of exposing them, the clock is ticking as the Sisterhood tries to create a little magic - and s...