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Review | 'Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife': Writer behind the diary

Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife. Francine Prose. Harper. 322 pages. $24.99.

You read the diary, you've seen the play and the movie. You toured the exhibit at the Holocaust Museum. You're pretty well Anne Frankified. Surely you don't need to read a new book about her or reread the diary.

Q & A | Francine Prose: On Anne Frank

Elinor Brecher, who writes obituaries for The Miami Herald, is the author of ``Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors (Penguin Group, 1994). She asked this of Francine Prose, author of ``Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife'' (Harper, $24.99):

Q: On pages 174-175, you explore the issue of the Diary's potentially positive impact on people faced with moral and ethical decisions. While I agree that it's possible for "one citizen of Ukraine or one Argentine policeman [to] opt for humanity and choose life over death,'' does that really matter anymore? Neither the Diary nor any other Western -- and certainly Jewish -- work of literature is likely to reach -- much less influence -- a huge segment of the world's population, which views morality and ethics through a completely different prism.

A: You'll notice that, like the people I interviewed at the AF Foundation, I say ``one policeman, one Ukrainian.'' Not for a moment do I imagine that literature can be used to turn the

Healing, day by day

N ina Sankovitch is about to achieve her objective.

With the discipline of someone who takes vitamin pills daily, she decided a year ago to read one book a day. As The New York Times reported recently, Sankovitch reads daily then posts a book review each morning on her blog, www.readallday.org. Sankovitch is not far away from reaching the magical number of 365 books.

Sankovitch did not always enjoy so much free time to devote herself to reading. In the past, she was a successful lawyer (a graduate of Harvard). But the death of her sister in 2005 prompted her to look for ways to channel and understand the loss of a loved one.

'Babylon' backlash at Gerald Posner's book signing

There wasn't an empty Eames chair to be found Tuesday night at Design Within Reach, where author Gerald Posner spoke before a packed house at his Books & Books signing peppered with lots of familiar faces.

His book, Miami Babylon , in which this writer is quoted, has debuted to both applause and outrage in Miami Beach. We saw ex-mayor/inmate Alex Daoud , who praised Posner's ``courage to write this book,'' and noticed publicist Tara Solomon , whose presence spoke volumes, considering she canceled plans to throw Posner a party after reading the thing.

Also there: Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower , artist Carlos Betancourt and fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki.

Review | Religious differences and a book club divide in 'You or Someone Like You'

YOU OR SOMEONE LIKE YOU. Chandler Burr. Ecco. 319 pages. $25.99.

Chandler Burr's challenging first novel is many things: a glimpse into Hollywood culture, an argument about religious identity, a plea for the necessity of literature. According to the author's website, it's a book that took many years to write, and it carries the burden of that effort manfully. It's also dramatically different from the author's previous works.

Before his foray into fiction, Burr was best known for two books about the science of smell and the perfume industry: The Emperor of Scent and The Perfect Scent . In 2006, he became the scent critic for The New York Times, an appointment that caused more than a bit of eye-rolling. That derision was sadly misguided, for it turns out that Burr is a hugely entertaining and a boundlessly knowledgeable commentator on the fascinating amalgamation of science, business and art that is the contemporary world of perfume.