Once upon a time, buying your Thanksgiving turkey was easy. You went to your neighborhood grocery store and picked up whichever frozen bowling ball they were selling. No more. Today, a high-end grocery may sell as many as a half-dozen types of turkey, and telling one from another takes a bit of homework.What’s the difference between frozen and fresh? It’s not as obvious as you think. And then you’ve got organic, free-range, pastured and heritage birds.Here’s a handy guide to some of the definiti

Gala dinner by Michelin-starred chef at The PlazaThe Plaza will provide a gala dinner prepared by Italian chef Philippe Leveille, whose restaurant Miramonti L’altro in Italy received two Michelin stars for 13 years. French-born Leveille is known to add a French edge to his Italian dishes. Leveille will use luxury ingredients such as caviar, truffles and foie gras for the gala dinners on Nov. 26 and 28, accompanied by Albert Bichot wines. The first gala dinner will be held at 7 p.m. at the Maple

Korea will introduce a new book price control system on Friday in an effort to salvage its moribund publishing industry. But whether it will be sufficient to turn around Koreans’ dwindling interest in books remains an open question. “The new measure is about taking the bubble off book prices and bringing about a healthier ecosystem in Korea’s book industry,” said Kim Hee-bum, vice minister of culture, sports and tourism. “It is intended to plug loopholes in the existing regulations, which have l

Not many people can say that they were close with the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, even though he was known for his folksy disposition and down-to-earth upbringing. Kim Soo-kyung, a 65-year-old woman of many titles including poet, businesswoman and book editor, however, confidently refers to Roh (1946-2009) as one of her friends. They first met at a Korean barbecue restaurant in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, in 1989. They ate together, went to a noraebang (karaoke) with other friends and talked

There was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and MeBy Brooke Shields (Dutton)Brooke Shields, the iconic model-actress-Princeton grad, entered the literary scene in 2005 with her memoir about postpartum depression. This time, she sheds light on the relationship she shared with her mother, and it’s a well-crafted and insightful read from beginning to end. It would be a shame to dismiss “There Was a Little Girl” as a celebrity tell-all. Instead, it’s a thoughtful, poignant and provoking sto

Woman with a GunBy Phillip Margolin (Harper)Phillip Margolin takes a lighter approach with “Woman with a Gun,” an entertaining novel that, however, lacks the tight plotting and insight into the law of his legal thrillers.Instead, “Woman with a Gun” is more like a Lifetime movie with pedantic dialogue, a few improbable twists, romance and revenge. Still, some of us like Lifetime movies and, despite its flaws, “Woman with a Gun” makes one want to know what’s behind the photograph of a woman at the

Rain ReignBy Ann M. Martin (Feiwel & Friends)If Rose Howard’s family was well off, she’d be a “special” girl who was considered smart and quirky by the teachers at her private school for children who have Asperger’s syndrome.But Rose, the main character and the narrator of “Rain Reign” by Ann Martin, has a dad with a sometimes job in a garage and a career drinking in the nearby bar, so instead Rose is a bit of trouble. She disrupts her fifth-grade class, gets kicked off the school bus and bugs m

The EscapeBy David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)One of the most compelling characters in David Baldacci’s thrillers is John Puller, a crackerjack investigator of military crimes. In “The Forgotten” and “Zero Day,” readers learned that Puller has an older brother, Robert, who is serving a life sentence for treason. In “The Escape,” Baldacci reveals the reason for Robert’s imprisonment. The story begins on a stormy night in Kansas. There’s a major power failure at Robert’s maximum security p

The world is about to change.Europe in 1450 is a godly place, and books are sacred and scarce. Each is hand-lettered by a scribe, directed by the hand of the Almighty.In Alix Christie’s telling of how Johann Gutenberg’s revolutionary printed Bible took form, overcoming the idea of a mechanically produced holy book is a serious concern. Peter Schoeffer, a young scribe who is the apprentice of the book’s title, views the idea as the work of the devil.Schoeffer, an actual historical figure who was

Herbie Hancock has had the kind of career that’s unlikely to ever be duplicated. Appearing on landmark recordings with Miles Davis as well as his own band in the 1960s, Hancock memorably scaled to even greater fame while fusing jazz and funk with the Headhunters in the ’70s and becoming the first crossover hip-hop artist in the early ’80s with the Grammy-winning “Rockit.”It’s a life marked by sonic evolution and a restless, even relentless drive toward creative expression that remains undiminish

Olivier Theyskens, former artistic director of Rochas, Nina Ricci and Theory, talks about fashion design ahead of Herald Design Forum next week

This is the fifth in a weekly series that examines the expanding role of design in the run-up to the Herald Design Forum 2014 on Nov. 26. ― Ed.Over 300 people from their 20s to their 60s camped out in the rain in front of an H&M store in Myeong-dong, downtown Seoul, in the early morning of Nov. 6.Some were office workers who took a day off to stay up all night in the queue.With tents and sleeping bags on the streets, they were there to get a piece of “Al Wang,” (“Wang” means king in Korean) thei

During his short life, Yi Yook-sa (1904-44), a Korean poet and independence activist, composed only about 40 poems. Yet his compelling poems, written during the darkest period of modern Korean history, captured the heroic spirit of the Korean people’s resistance and the nationalist movement against Japanese colonial rule. “The Vertex” is an anthology of 36 of Yi’s poems, in both Korean and English, compiled and translated by Lee Sung-il, a professor emeritus of English literature at Yonsei Unive