Books & Literature

Tom Perrotta is the author of "Election: The Novel" which the new film "Election" is based upon. The book is set in a New Jersey high school amidst a hotbed of political activity: students are voting for their school president. earlier books, The Wishbones (1997), and, Bad Haircut (1994), were in similar fashion observing the agonies of growing up in suburban New Jersey.

Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe, Frederick Kempe. As a journalist, he's covered Germany for over twenty years, and is also the son of German immigrants. His new book "Father/land: A Personal Search for the New Germany" (Putnam) is his exploration into his family's past in Germany, and an analysis of Germany today.

Actor and now author Bill Murray. He's co-written the new book "Cinderella Story : My Life in Golf." with George Peper. Cinderella Story is really two books. The first is a string of anecdotes about Murray's club-wielding adventures with a number of celebrities including: Jack Nicklaus, John Denver, Clint Eastwood, and Hunter Thompson. The book is also an autobiography of a kid who started out caddying for 60 cents a half-hour with his brothers.

Singer Mel Torme died Saturday at age 73 of complications from a stroke. We'll hear an interview Terry Gross did with Mel in 1988. For more than 50 years, Torme was one of most accomplished and versatile pop and jazz singers. Known for years as "The Velvet Fog," Born Melvin Howard Torme to Russian-Jewish immigrants in Chicago on Sept. 13, 1925, Torme first made his reputation in the Big Band era as a songwriter, arranger, drummer and singer. He later sang in MGM musicals.

Maureen Corrigan reviewed A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler and Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman.

The Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura. He's got a new memoir called, "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up." (Villard).

Former chief United Nation's hostage negotiator Giandomenico Picco. He has written about his experiences in the new book "Man without a Gun: One diplomat's secret struggle to free the hostages, fight terrorism, and end a war." (Times Books) Picco helped negotiate the release of more than a dozen western hostages being held by Islamic militants in Lebanon. He currently serves as president of GDP Associates, an international consulting firm in New York city, and is founder of the Non-Governmental Peace Strategy Project based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Whole Woman" (Knopf) Germaine Greer's followup to her 1970 classic "The Female Eunuch."

Editor in chief of Simon & Schuster Michael Korda. In his previous memoir, "Man to Man" he chronicled his ordeal with prostate cancer. In his new book "Another Life: A Memoir of Other People" (Random House) he tells about the world of publishing and his rise from assistant editor to editor in chief. Along the way, Korda worked with writers Jacqueline Susan, Graham Greene, Tennessee Williams, and Harold Robbins.

Writer Kurt Andersen is a columnist for The New Yorker, and was co-founder and editor of Spy magazine. He's just written his first novel, "Turn of the Century" (Random House) a sprawling, satirical, futuristic novel of sorts set in February 2000.

Niall Ferguson is the author of "The Pity of War: Explaining World War I." (Basic Books) Ferguson is Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford. (England) His other books include "Paper and Iron," and "The House of Rothschild." Ferguson talks about why W.W.I was the century's worst war and why he blames Great Britain for prolonging the war.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan gives us her "summer reading list." She recommends: "The Drowning People," "A New Song," "Other People's Children," "Last Rites," and the reprinted classic "Fail-Safe."

Congressman Richard Gephardt. He's the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and has written a new book, "An Even Better Place: America in the 21st Century" (Public Affairs). In it he writes about the "cycle of destruction" in politics, the personal attacks on the character and integrity of politicians by other politicians and how it effects the country at large and our sense of democracy.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new novel, "Another World," by British author Pat Barker.

Marcus J. Borg and N.T. Wright are co-authors of the new book "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions." The two scholars offer dramatically different views on Jesus and his teachings. Marcus. J. Borg provides liberal interpretation of Jesus. He is the author of "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time." N.T. Wright takes a more traditional view of Jesus. He is author or Jesus and the Victory of God."

Irish playwright, actor, and stand-up comic Brendan O'Carroll. He's also the author of a trilogy of novels. The first is "The Mammy," (Plume) followed by "The Chisellers" and "The Granny." O"Carroll also appeared in the film "The Van" and will be in the film version of "Angela's Ashes."

Actress Camryn Manheim. She recently won an Emmy Award for her role as attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's "The Practice." When she went up on stage to receive the award she joyously exclaimed "This is for all the fat girls!" She's written a memoir about her struggle to accept herself and her weight. It's called "Wake Up, I'm Fat!" (Broadway Books).

Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller have co-written the new book "Feel this Book: As Essential Guide to Self Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction." (Ballantine Publishing) In this parody of self-help books, the two dispense such wisdom as "You mother lied; looks are everything," to "Being poor sucks.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Best American Short Stories of the Century." (Houghton Mifflin) John Updike, Editor; Katrina Kenison, Series Editor.

Former U.S. Senator from Maine, George Mitchell. After leaving the Senate he chaired the Northern Ireland peace talks. His new book is about that, "Making Peace: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Negotiations that Culminated in the Signing of the Northern Ireland Peace Accord, told by the American Senator who Served as Independent Chairman of the Talks" (Knopf).