CNN-IBN Book Club Edition II

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SNIPPETS SNIPPETS SNIPPETS The Prime Minister no less is releasing NR Narayana Murthy's A Better India A Better World in the Capital next week, though I'm sure we'll all want to hear a lot more of the political storm, now that the good doctor's taken his gloves off against LK Advani. Waiting to hear more on talented young actor James Franco's literary debut. News came out last month that the 30-year-old (of Milk & Spiderman fame) has signed a book deal with Scribner, for a collection of short stories... When does it come out? Watch this space! US Senator John McCain's 24-year-old daughter Meghan McCain, who now blogs for the Tina Brown-headed The Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com) is writing a book, due for release next year. She's already written a children's book, but reports suggest this one's on being a Republican. And Young. And Progressive. Speaking of....

Your one-stop shop to all the books news

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Some snippets first, the late Michael Crichton left behind ONE finished novel, which will be released next year, according to his publishers. Also there's a half-finished one that they will have a co-writer pitch in on. The king of magical realism, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has rubbished those reports that he's never going to write again - he's WRITING, folks, he says, just that he's going to decide what is publish-able. And the young writer of Indian and Pakistani heritage, Aatish Taseer, making waves with his A Stranger to History, has already sold the rights to his first novel, that's to Penguin, ahead of the London Book Fair this month. Except for India, that is where Picador continues to be his publisher. Now when it comes to reading, I get sent books all the time - many, many pleasurable reading experiences translate on-screen, into interviews or stories.......

Jade Goody, RIP

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Jade Goody's tragic death, captured like most of her life in full public glare, put the spotlight firmly back on cervical cancer. She was 27. By the ICMR's standards, she was eight years too young to even be recommended a pap smear test for cervical cancer screening. That's presumably what doctors here in the country will tell young women, for fear of "offending sensibilities" and discussing sex-related issues. ((And yet ironically, quoting research done by our health team, a study by Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that in India Cervical Cancer peaks between the ages of 21-28)). In the US, keep in mind, it's a recommended test every year, from the ages of 18 onwards - the age determined by sexual activity. We don't want to talk about young people being sexually active, never mind the host of sexually transmitted diseases they're....