Omni Daily News

The Other Russians:  In today's Daily Beast, author and Stanford prof. Elif Batuman shares four of her personal favorites of Russian literature.  And, no we're not talking about the bearded ones (neither Tolstoy nor Turgenev).  Her refreshing picks highlight works from the 20s and 30s that aren't as well known in the West, works from authors like Shklovsky and Platonov (whose work is being published in fine translations by New York Review Books). You can also learn much more about the literary culture of Russia from Batuman's The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them--a customer raves darling since it pub'd last month. 

Crichton's Collection on the Block:  The LA Times reports that the multi-million dollar art collection of the late author Michael Crichton (who died in November 2008) will be auctioned off by Christie's in New York City in May.  Crichton was an avid collector of modern and contemporary masters (including Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andreas Gursky, and Ed Ruscha among others). 

Primed for a Breakout:  In today's New York Times, Richard Eder writes a glowing review of Italian author and mathematician Paolo Giordano's new novel, The Solitude of Prime Numbers.

Moving & Shaking:  Psychologists Vivian Diller and Jill Muir-Sukenick drop by the Today show to discuss Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change.  The duo's candid consideration of where women are emotionally with aging and how they can embrace the process sends their book to the top our Movers and Shakers.

--Lauren