The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith

Meet Mma Ramotswe, the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging proprietor of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. With her mission to "help people with problems in their lives," she sets up shop in her native Botswana and is immediately called upon to sort out various problems from a wayward daughter to a missing 11-year-old boy. Good thing Mma Ramotswe, with her undeniable wit and charm, is up to the challenge.

Soon to be a feature-length TV movie on HBO from The Weinstein Company/New Africa Films, starring Jill Scott, Anika Noni Rose, Lucian Msamati, Idris Elba, David Oyelowo, Colin Salmon, and John Kani, and directed by Anthony Minghella. Screenplay by Richard Curtis and Anthony Minghella.

Read an excerpt and interview with the author, print our free Reading Group Guide, read Alexander McCall Smith's Guide to the World of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and visit the official Web site.
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The Dying Animal
by Philip Roth

For years, David Kepesh--white-haired and over sixty, an eminent cultural critic and star lecturer at a New York college--has made a practice of sleeping with adventurous female students while maintaining an aesthete's critical distance. That is, until he meets Consuela Castillo and finds himself dragged--helplessly, bitterly, furiously--into the quagmire of sexual jealousy and loss.

The basis for the upcoming major motion picture Elegy from MGM/Lakeshore Entertainment, starring Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard, Dennis Hopper, and Deborah Harry, and directed by Isabel Coixet. Coming August 8, 2008.

Print our free Reading Group Guide.
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Choke
by Chuck Palahniuk

Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be "saved" by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor's life, go on to send checks to support him.

Sonon to be a major motion picture from Fox Searchlight Pictures, starring Angelica Houston and Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), and directed by Clark Gregg (What Lies Beneath) from his own screenplay. Coming September 26, 2008.

Read an excerpt, go behind the book to read about the inspiration for Choke, and visit the official book site.
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