Mar 18th, 2010 · Based on a popular novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows the unlikely partnership between a brilliant young hacker and a discredited investigative journalist who team up to solve a 40-year-old murder. Hollywood already plans to remake it, but you're better off catching the original.
Mar 18th, 2010 · Jeff Kinney's wildly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid novels capture the hilarity and angst of kid life through the eyes of one amiably clueless 11-year-old. The film version, says critic Scott Tobias, is a noisy pileup of humiliating slapstick — and its protagonist's more endearing traits get lost in the translation.
Mar 18th, 2010 · Lionel Shriver's novel So Much for That tells the story of Shep Knacker, who is about to retire to a tropical island when his wife gets diagnosed with cancer. To keep his insurance, Shep has to keep his hated job, but he soon discovers that even the full coverage of the fully employed may not be enough to keep him afloat.
Mar 17th, 2010 · Sebastian Faulks' satirical novel is a weeklong tour of modern London, woven together in Dickensian style. Dickens' 19th century characters dealt with class conflict, wealth, poverty and true love. Faulks' contemporary characters deal with terrorism, greed, the Internet and — because some things never change — true love.
Mar 17th, 2010 · Turkish novelist Elif Shafak's new novel, The Forty Rules of Love, takes us into the life of a middle-aged Jewish woman from central Massachusetts, who as a reader for a literary agent, has just picked up a copy of a novel by a modern Sufi mystic.
Mar 17th, 2010 · The movie version of Steig Larsson's best-selling thriller has already broken box-office records in Scandinavia. Now it's headed for the U.S., where the sexy, violent novel was a No. 1 best-seller. Will fans be as willing to squint at subtitles as they were to read a translated book?
Mar 16th, 2010 · Gold Dust Saloon owner Ruth McDonald uses an innovative "three share" model to provide health coverage for her workers. The restaurant is one of 30 employers in a Colorado program that provides low-cost coverage to small businesses.
Mar 16th, 2010 · Linda Wertheimer hails a Dickensian novel of London in the boom days of 2007, before the banking bust. An encore by child detective Flavia de Luce (Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) is both creepy and laugh-out-loud funny. And So Much for That finds the hilarity in a relentless tale of runaway health care costs.