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Three books on my to-read list:

"The Help." "The Politician" and "Game Change."

Each, admittedly, more out of curiosity than the search for great literature.
 

I tried the much-chronicled "Game Change" two weeks ago and Books-A-Million was a book short: It had sold out and was awaiting a new shipment.

"The Politician" promises to be anything but a compelling piece of writing (Mark Binker takes a look at both "The Politician" and "Game Change" on the next Books page) but I am drawn to it like a highway pile-up.

I continue to be fascinated by John Edwards' tragic, self-destructive hubris, as revealed in both books. And still drawn by the few details about the 2008 presidential campaign in “Game Change” not already reported in the media.

As for “The Help,” I noticed it was No. 1 on the Greensboro Public Library’s circulation list as well the national best-seller lists for fiction.

The storyline about black domestic workers is rendered from the point of view of a white woman in Kathryn Stockett’s novel, based in part on her own experiences growing up with a black maid in her household.
Some of the black dialogue the novel quotes sounds like “Gone with the Wind.”

Finally, if you’re into movies, I just read a pretty good biography by Rebecca Keegan of director James (“Titanic” and “Avatar”) Cameron.

Like some of his films, the book navigates the line between the heart and mind of Cameron, who is a famously demanding perfectionist who has reduced some of his actors to tears, to the technology of his movies, which has tended to be as big a star as the stories or actors.

I think it manages that balancing act fairly well, though some who aren’t techno-geeks may get their fill of references to CGI.
 

Two footnotes:

The book notes how Cameron somehow maintains very positive relationships with all of his ex-wives, including director Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) , against whom he is vying this year for Oscar honors.
And he is not crazy about making movies in the South.

Having hated his experience filming “The Abyss” in South Carolina, he had no intention of seriously considering filming “Terminator 2” in Wilmington, even though he paid a courtesy visit to a studio there.