The Lowdown

Released: Lois Lowry’s young adult novel The Giver is a modern dystopian classic; the movie version will be coming to a theater near you on August 15.

Tough Love: Chuck DeGroat’s new book, Toughest People to Love, gives readers insight into dealing with difficult people, including themselves. (Eerdmans)

Perfect Match: For some of the better drama writing on network television, you can’t beat “The Good Wife.” Season 5 will be available on disc August 19. (Paramount)

Poetic Times: For an unusual source of “found poetry,” go to the Times Haiku website, where you can find sentences from the day’s news turned into haiku.