< The Ultimate Smut Collection 5 > Selena Kitt

< For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War > Harriet Jacobs

< Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Dover Thrift Editions) > Oscar Wilde

As Hallward tries to make sense of his creation, his epigram-happy friend Lord Henry Wotton encourages Dorian in his sensual quest with any number of Wildean paradoxes, including the delightful "When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy." But despite its many languorous pleasures,The Picture of Dorian Grayis an imperfect work. Compared to the two (voyeuristic) older men, Dorian is a bore, and his search for ever new sensations far less fun than the novel's drawing-room discussions. Even more oddly, the moral message of the novel contradicts many of Wilde's supposed aims, not least "no artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style." Nonetheless, the glamour boy gets his just deserts. And Wilde, defending Dorian Gray, had it both ways: "All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment."
Rerations
< The Picture of Dorian Gray > < Frankenstein > < The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll&Mr. Hyde > < Dubliners > < The Turn of the Screw (Dover Thrift Editions) > Advetized RSSfreaks

< Sweetest Mistress > Alexis Shore

< Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army > Kirsten Holmstedt

In Iraq, the front lines are everywhere . . . and everywhere in Iraq, no matter what their job descriptions say, women in the U.S. military are fighting--more than 155,000 of them. A critical and commercial success in hardcover, Band of Sisters presents a dozen groundbreaking and often heart-wrenching stories of American women in combat in Iraq, such as the U.S.s first female pilot to be shot down and survive, the militarys first black female pilot in combat, a young turret gunner defending convoys, and a nurse struggling to save lives, including her own.
Rerations
< Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq > < Lioness > < The Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning from the War in Iraq > < The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq > < Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital > Advetized RSSfreaks

< Hospital Sketches (Bedford Series in History&Culture) > Elizabeth Cady Stanton

< Snooogles > Liz Borino

< Down the Darkest Road > David Lender

Dani North is a filmmaker who just won at the Tribeca Film Festival for her documentary, The Drugging of Our Children, a film critical of the pharmaceutical industry. When she is handed "whistleblower" evidence about the U.S. vaccination program, she has to keep herself alive long enough to expose it before a megalomaniacal pharmaceutical company CEO can have her killed.

Excerpts from Trojan Horse, The Gravy Train and Bull Street, David Lender's other thrillers, follow the text of Vaccine Nation.
A Q&A with David Lender

Question:Which books or movies influenced you in writingVaccine Nation?

David Lender:Vaccine Nationis intended to be reminiscent ofSix Days of the Condor,Marathon Man,or Hitchcock'sNorth by Northwest. I am a fan of the“average person (or seemingly so) thrust into extraordinary circumstances” genre, so the book was also influenced byThe Bourne Identity, The Fugitive, Enemy of the State, Die Hard, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Man on Fire, andThe Net.

Q:Tell us about weaving real history and drug facts throughout your story.

DL:The facts inVaccine Nationare accurate: the 1986 Congressional grant of immunity to the pharmaceutical industry for liability related to their vaccines for the National Immunization Program, the toxicity of certain ingredients of vaccines, the controversy surrounding the safety and side effects of vaccines, vaccines’ suspected relationship to the autism epidemic, and the recent (2011) Supreme Court decision that absolved vaccine makers from product liability for defective vaccine products.

Q:You deal with some very serious and controversial topics being debated across the country. Why did you choose to take on such polarizing subject matter?

DL:I was exposed to the vaccine debate through my fiancée’s work as a documentary filmmaker in a health-related field, including films on ADHD and related drugging of children, and on vaccines and autism. The issues in the book are real and need exposure. The debate on vaccine safety is increasing: Recent CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] statistics show that 10 percent of parents (up from 2 to 3 percent) are avoiding or delaying vaccinating their children because of concerns about vaccine safety.

Q:You worked on Wall Street for 25 years. What made you decide to start writing?

DL:I always wanted to be a novelist. I made up my mind to do it about 15 years ago, when my investment banking career was in full swing. I just muscled it into my schedule, getting up at 5 a.m., writing for an hour, and then going to my day job, like most aspiring writers. I outlined or edited scenes on planes, in cabs, or in hotel rooms. I write because I love it, but also because I got to the point where I could no longer ignore the compulsion to do so.

Q:You must draw a lot of inspiration from your time on Wall Street. Where else do you find inspiration?

DL:Sometimes it’s someone in my life. Dani North, the protagonist ofVaccine Nation, was inspired by my fiancée, Manette. Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite authors, and reading his stuff frequently gives me ideas. Sometimes it’s just throwing ideas around with friends.

Q:What kind of books do you read, and which authors have influenced you?

DL:Thrillers. What else? Thriller writers who have influenced me include Elmore Leonard, Graham Greene, Frederick Forsyth, John le Carré, John Grisham (although I don’t think he’s ever gotten close toThe Firmagain), Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett, and Thomas Harris.

Q:Which books do you read over and over again?

DL:I think F. Scott Fitzgerald’sThe Great Gatsbyis the great American novel. I read it every year or so.Out of Sightis Elmore Leonard's best, withGet Shortya close second. Nobody does dialogue or backstory like him. I’ll also never stop returning to Hemingway’sThe Sun Also Rises, Forsythe’sThe Day of the Jackal(it may be the best thriller ever written), le Carré’sTinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyandSmiley’s People, and Graham Greene’sOur Man in Havana.

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< What's Done in the Dark: Season II Volume 2 (Season 2) > Solae Dehvine

< I'll Walk Alone: A Novel > Jodi Picoult