On what the process of writing this book taught him: “…I kind of came to the conclusion after I did finally get married that love and relationships are just a series of horrific losses with hopefully one win. The best you can hope for is at the end of the day you get one win, so it’s kind of the opposite of everything else we do in our lives, and I thought that that was kind of interesting.”

And what did Halpern’s dad think of his second book?

“He liked it. He actually liked it a lot. It’s funny because I don’t think he would ever pick this off the shelf to read it, but I don’t think he would pick Sh*t My Dad Says off the shelf to read it either.” Halpern admits, his dad did have some reservations about how the book would affect the writer’s own marriage. “He thought that the idea of the book was a good idea, but he’s like, ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for your marriage to write this book.’”

However, Halpern’s dad had no reservations about helping his son remember the time he walked in on his parents having sex when he was a kid, so he could include that scene in the book. “[M]y dad was like, ‘Sure, let’s do it.’” Though his mother was mortified by the whole idea. “What’s funny is that she didn’t want to read that story when I was first going through it, and then she got a copy of the book early and she called me on the phone and said, ‘So everyone’s going to know that you walked in on me and your father having sex!?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, God, this is such an uncomfortable conversation to be having.’”

By Stephen King

Summary:
Fans of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series will rejoice with the release of the new book The Wind Through the Keyhole. Those who have been jonesing for more stories about the Gunslinger Roland Deschain and his adventures through Mid-World, will get the rush of plunging into the author’s incredibly detailed Western/Sci-Fi/Fantasy world for the eighth time. This book, considerably shorter than the last few novels of the series, is a detour that falls between the fourth book Wizard and Glass and the fifth book Wolves of the Calla, in the Dark Tower timeline. As Roland and his ka-tet (Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy) take refuge from a destructive storm, he recounts a story from his youth, the hunt for a vicious shape-shifting serial killer. The teenage Gunslinger investigates the murders, and befriends a young boy left bereft in the wake of the shape-shifter’s violence, comforting him with a mythical legend. Thus begins an intricate story within a story, crafted with King’s signature style and imagination.

What critics are saying:
A USA TODAY review gave King high praise for his latest novel. “The Wind Through the Keyhole, combines two of the author’s more masterful skills: creating short stories with similar themes in a single package, and writing chapters set in his Western-tinged fantasy The Dark Tower series…On anybody else’s typewriter, this might have turned into a mess. King, however, shows himself to be an ace storyteller yet again, spinning yarns like a favorite relative about a hero and his adventures in a world like our own but just slightly skewed.”

Listen to Stephen King read an excerpt from The Wind Through the Keyhole in an exclusive Entertainment Weekly audio clip.

By Jack Whyte

Scottish history buffs and fans of historical fiction will have no trouble immersing themselves in The Forest Laird: A Tale of William Wallace, the first novel in the new Guardians Trilogy by Jack Whyte. The bestselling author of the Dream of Eagles series and The Camulod Chronicles, Scottish born Whyte imagines the early life of one of his homeland’s greatest heroes. The author conducted in-depth research into his subject, even traveling throughout Scotland on a fact-finding mission. Unfortunately little documentation remains of the freedom fighter’s life before his stunning victory against the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297. However, this absence of fact is fertile ground for the mind of an historical novelist, and the writer fills the void with very interesting and well-developed characters.

Many of us only know the story of William Wallace as told in the movie Braveheart. But, The Forest Laird, is much more than just a re-hashing of the movie plot. Whyte’s choice of narrator, James Wallace, an ordained priest, and cousin to William, makes the story very personal. In writing about William, Father James seeks to reveal an extraordinary, yet flawed human being. He is very different from the icon of freedom that history has shaped, who is more myth than man. The priest rails against those who paint his cousin’s memory “in false and garish colors” and “who seek to use his greatness for their own ends.”

The first third of the book, arguably the most engrossing portion, tells of the Wallace boys’ early childhood and entry into young adulthood. James and William grow up together, and after their family is brutally slaughtered by a rogue group of soldiers, they are raised by a Welsh bowman named Ewan Scrymgeour. The archer is a huge hulk of a man with a frighteningly mutilated face caused by an accident in his youth. Though he is outwardly scary, Scrymgeour proves to be a loyal friend to the Wallace family, and emerges as one of the book’s most likable characters. He teaches the boys how to handle a bow and a quarterstaff, as supplements to their academic education from the nearby abbey. Like Scrymgeour, the boy William grows to love the longbow, and develops a talent he will use throughout his life. The paths of the cousins begin to diverge as their interests draw then to different vocations. As James delves deeper into intellectual and religious pursuits, he finds his cousin’s lack of imagination and inability to see life in shades of gray rather puzzling. “I know that Will saw life, particularly in later years, in black and white: bad and good, darkness and light, perfidy and honor,” the priest reflects.

The cousins grow into men, and the pace of the book slows, as William and James lead very separate lives. Father James, ensconced in Glasgow Cathedral, is somewhat sheltered from Scotland’s political upheaval. But, William, now a man with a wife, experiences the strife with English soldiers first hand, and lives an outlaw life deep in the interior of Selkirk Forest. He and his comrades have firmly lodged a thorn in English King Edward’s side, launching guerrilla-style attacks to defend the rights of Scotland’s citizens. Yet as the story progresses, the Reader grows impatient to see The Wallace come forth as a hero fully formed. Apparently, forging a true hero is a slow business. William becomes the definitive leader of a growing community of outcasts, yet largely remains “an unknown, a desperate man fighting for his beliefs at the head of a small band of willing but untrained followers…”

Events in the last third of the book unfold gradually. The cousins are united again, as Father James is assigned to minister to the growing flock in Selkirk Forest. Though, most of the action and turmoil of the invaded Scotland is conveyed by forest visitors in a series of fireside chats. Many historical figures and political maneuverings on both sides of the border are discussed at length, which will please anyone with a passion for history. However, too much time is spent ruminating on the significance of the rise of the burgesses, wealthy merchants with allegiance to no singular lord, and the fragility of the feudal system. These factors no doubt have a serious effect on the political and economic future of Scotland, but it seems as though some of these conversations could have been consolidated in order to avoid repetition and move the narrative along.

It is the brutal personal tragedy at the story’s climax that finally galvanizes William into swift, steely action. Glimmers of the man who is to become a Guardian of Scotland begin to appear. Strangely, the book does not end with the event that William Wallace is renown for, the surprise Stirling Bridge victory. The battle is alluded to briefly in the closing paragraph, but the novel closes with the man on the brink of his destiny, ready to wreak a revenge that will echo through out history. There are two more volumes to be written in this trilogy, featuring Robert the Bruce and Sir James (the Black) Douglas, so it is likely the battle will be addressed later in the series. Whyte does well in creating a sympathetic hero, whose passion, anger and sense of righteousness make him all the more real. The Forest Laird is rich in character and historical detail, yet it tells only part of the story. Rather than A Tale of William Wallace, it is more accurately just the first chapters of his remarkable life.

“It was logical, but it didn’t turn out to be true. It turned out if I had a Twitter feed of a 100,000, four of them were interested in my book. So, tweeting is really only good for one thing — it’s just good for tweeting … It is rewarding, because it’s just its own reward. It’s sort of like heaven.”

Martin soon found Twitter to be a gold mine for new comedy ideas, and truly enjoyed the candid responses that his millions of followers gave to his jokes. “When people started responding, I found they were really writing well. … I was promoting my album Rare Bird Alert, and I tweeted: ‘Rare Bird Alert number three on Amazon. I’m happy as a clam. Wait — are clams really happy?’ And a responder said, ‘The chilling sound of clam laughter has caused many fishermen to quit the sea.’ … I felt like I was looking at kind of a new form of comedy, in a strange way, that was talking and response and talking and response.”

The new book features some of Martin’s most popular Twitter comedy riffs on topics ranging from jury duty to holiday song lyrics, as well as the clever responses by some of his Twitter followers. “I’ve always believed that there are funny people everywhere, but they’re just not comedians. In fact, some of my best comedic inspirations were not professional entertainers…These things appear on people’s phones in the middle of the day. It’s not like people are gathered in a hall and they’re expecting something funny. You know, talk about the unexpected,” Martin concluded.

“Yet of all the liberties afforded to prisoners, access to a library, and the materials and classes it provides, can be one of the most useful in preparing them for life outside of prison. The majority of inmates in America’s prisons have low levels of education and some can barely read, write, or use a computer. These are all skills that are necessary to make it on the outside without returning to a life of crime, and prison libraries offer inmates the chance to learn all of these things and more,” the article states.

Among the most important benefits cited in the blog is the fact that inmates who pursue education are less likely to end up back in prison. “A study of inmates in 2003 found that participation in education programs while in prison helped reduce rates of re-arrest, re-conviction, and reincarceration by significant amounts, with only 21% of those who participated in education programs ending up back in prison versus 35% of non-participants.”

Another key advantage is elevated literacy levels. “A 2003 study on literacy behind bars found that prison inmates who used the library daily had higher average literacy when reading prose and documents than prison inmates who used the library less frequently, whether they went weekly, monthly, or never at all. While those who used the library daily had the biggest difference in language literacy levels, prison inmates who used the library at any rate had better literacy when it came to math than prison inmates who never used the library.”

Preparing prisoners for life on the outside, as well as providing materials for inmates to assist in their own legal matters and raising self esteem, are just a few reasons why libraries are invaluable to the incarcerated population in this country.

Last fall, Burton debuted the website RRKidz, where fans can purchase Reading Rainbow DVDs. As stated on the website’s home page there are also plans to expand the RRKidz multimedia company by creating an immersive reading app for tablets. “The center-point of the App is books,” explained Burton. “Wonderful, lightly enhanced digital books for children. However we’re also very interested in delivering an enriching experience to kids, much like classic Reading Rainbow did on TV.”

Burton scored another win on the Reading Rainbow front last week, when he called upon his 1.74 million Twitter followers to help him gain ownership of the inactive Twitter handle @readingrainbow. Just hours after the Reading Rainbow army had been mobilized, control of the handle was given over to Burton, who will use it to share news of the upcoming app.

“Every day of my life someone comes up to me and tells me about the impact the show had on them growing up,” he concludes. “It’s no secret that our educational system is no longer the platinum standard on the world stage that it once was. This is simply my way of continuing to do what I’ve always done, just in a different medium.”

The Guardian reported that Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, marked the anniversary by visiting the Dickens Museum (formerly the author’s residence on Doughty Street). Here they enjoyed a private reading by actress Gillian Anderson. Afterwards, the royals attended a wreath-laying ceremony on Dickens’ grave, located in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.

Even Google got in on the celebrations today, posting a new Dickens themed doodle on their home page.

Why is it that the writer still strikes a chord with audiences after all these years? “There are many reasons for this. He, more than any other author, stands firmly entrenched in the lineage of English writing. He stretches back into the storehouse of the canon, drawing on the Bible and Bunyan for his morals and absolutes, reaching into Shakespeare for those bumptious personages like Pecksniff and Micawber. He is part of the genetic coding of the way that we think about books,” stated an article in The Telegraph.

“His hypnotic plots are beautifully conceived variants on two of the deepest themes that touch us: mystery and revelation. The entropic weirdness of Bleak House; the thrilling detection of Great Expectations; even the comical niceties of The Pickwick Papers have a sense of urgency to them. His themes are copious, vivid, capable of enormous sweeps and tender delicacies: law, justice, the sense of a diseased society – these are things that never leave us. The range of his characters is huge: if you feel sick at the sentimentality of Jo the crossing sweeper’s death, or indeed at the ‘comedy’ of Sam Weller in Pickwick, you can’t help but marvel at the austerity of Miss Havisham or the cruelty of Ebeneezer Scrooge.”

Take a photo tour of Dickens’ favorite places in London.

The Snowy Day,

Keats, who was Caucasian, found the inspiration for the Peter character years earlier in a 1940 issue of Life magazine that featured a series of photos of a young African-American boy about to undergo a blood test. The images of the sweet, trusting child stayed with the author. “He [Keats] said, well, all the books he had ever illustrated, there had never been a child of color, and they’re out there — they should be in the books, too,” Pope stated. “But was he trying to make a cause book, was he trying to make a point? No.”

When The Snowy Day was first released, it faced some initial criticism from civil rights leaders who felt Keats did not push the issue far enough. “They were worried,” Pope said. “This was a time when the African-American community was fighting for a place at the table, was fighting to be heard … and in the past, when white authors had written about black characters, it had not done well. It was not good.”

Yet, as the book grew in popularity, it was clear that children and adults of all colors and creeds found the story very relatable. Keats received thousands of fan letters from around the country praising his work. “There was a teacher [who] wrote in to Ezra, saying, ‘The kids in my class, for the first time, are using brown crayons to draw themselves.’ ” recounts Pope. “These are African-American children. Before this, they drew themselves with pink crayons. But now, they can see themselves.”

“I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn’t change.

“Will there still be readers 50 years from now who feel that way? Who have that hunger for something permanent and unalterable? I don’t have a crystal ball.

“But I do fear that it’s going to be very hard to make the world work if there’s no permanence like that. That kind of radical contingency is not compatible with a system of justice or responsible self-government.

“Maybe nobody will care about printed books 50 years from now, but I do. When I read a book, I’m handling a specific object in a specific time and place. The fact that when I take the book off the shelf it still says the same thing – that’s reassuring,” the writer explains.

In an article posted on the Time Magazine website, Cain makes the distinction between introversion and shyness and touches on a few introvert virtues. “Shyness and introversion are not the same thing. Shy people fear negative judgment, while introverts simply prefer less stimulation; shyness is inherently painful, and introversion is not. But in a society that prizes the bold and the outspoken, both are perceived as disadvantages.

“Yet we wouldn’t want to live in a world composed exclusively of bold extroverts. We desperately need people who pay what [psychologist Elaine] Aron calls ‘alert attention’ to things. It’s no accident that introverts get better grades than extroverts, know more about most academic subjects and win a disproportionate number of Phi Beta Kappa keys and National Merit Scholarship finalist positions — even though their IQ scores are no higher,” she writes.

As a champion of the introverted personality, the author presents an ideal scenario where the introvert and extrovert work together with great effect. “The two types need each other. Many successful ventures are the result of effective partnerships between introverts and extroverts. The famously charismatic Steve Jobs teamed up with powerhouse introverts at crucial points in his career at Apple, co-founding the company with the shy Steve Wozniak and bequeathing it to its current CEO, the quiet Tim Cook. And the three-time Olympic-gold-winning rowing pair Marnie McBean and Kathleen Biddle were a classic match of dynamic firecracker (McBean) and steely determination (Biddle).”