It's often the case that the most strained moments in books are the very beginning and the very end - the getting in and the getting out. The ending, especially: it's awkward, as if the writer doesn't know when the book is over and nervously says it all again.

The Iron Curtain may be a thing of the past, but Mother Russia is as mysterious as ever.

Almost the first thing you see after entering the Houdini exhibition at the Jewish Museum is a large-screen film of Harry Houdini hanging by his ankles upside-down from a tall building, high over a sea of men in fedoras, and thrashing his way out of a straitjacket.

Gelsey Kirkland has had more than her share of demons, as her two distressing memoirs - and her violently checkered career - attest.

I still take acting, singing, and dance classes. I think no matter where you go in your career, you can always learn more and better yourself.

I don't have to prove a point to anybody. The only thing I do is continue to do my job and all the outside press can do and say what they want to because that's their right and their industry.

Someone asked me the other day, 'What is your most memorable moment in your career?' and by far, China was. Being so close - the medal race was one part of the story, and there were a few incidents through the event that amounted to that massive drama at the end that cost us the medal.

When I met my wife, I felt as though I really had something to play for, and my career went to another level after that.