The nonfiction finalists were New York Times reporter (and former Inquirer reporter) Tim Weiner for Legacy of Ashes: A History of the CIA, Philip Gura for American Transcendentalism, Daniel Walker Howe for What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America 1815-1848, Harriet Washington for Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, and Alan Weisman for The World Without Us.
Winners of the 34rd annual National Book Critics Circle prize will be announced March 6.
- Associated Press
It's a boy for Aguilera
Christina Aguilera and her husband, music exec Jordan Bratman, yesterday announced the birth of Max Liron Bratman, at 6 pounds, 2 ounces, on Saturday night. Liron, according to baby-naming Web sites, is a Hebrew name meaning "my song."
More celebrity babies
Courtney Thorne-Smith gave birth to a boy, the actress' publicist said yesterday. Thorne-Smith, 40, who appeared in Melrose Place and According to Jim, delivered the baby, her first, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Friday. The father is Thorne-Smith's husband, Roger Fishman, a media consultant. The couple named their son Jacob Emerson Fishman.
Actor and comedian David Alan Grier, 52, from In Living Color, is the father of a new baby girl. The actor and comedian's wife, Christine Y. Kim, gave birth Thursday, according to People magazine. "We're very happy," Grier told Usmagazine.com. People reports that the infant, Luisa Danbi Grier-Kim - "Danbi" means "sweet rain" in Korean - was 7 pounds, 6 ounces at birth. "I'm feeling euphoric, and David is ecstatic," Kim told People.
Geezers rock the box office
Score one for the geezers. The Bucket List, the tale of two cancer patients who decide to travel the world before they die, led the weekend box office with $19.5 million, according to studio estimates.
"This was definitely a win for the older audience," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said of the movie, which stars 70-year-olds Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.
It was followed by the comedy First Sunday, featuring Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan, with $19 million, and indie film Juno, featuring Ellen Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen, with $14 million. The No. 1 draw for three weeks, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, starring Nicolas Cage, dropped to fourth place, with $11.5 million, followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks, at $9.1 million.
