A Bud Light commercial during the Super Bowl has kicked up some controversy. In case you missed it, the ad features a couple of male softball players (Marmots, the shirt says) who notice that Bud Light is being served at an all-women book club. They scrap the softball and  make themselves at home. GalleyCat said the ad was "mocking book clubs, male readers, female readers, and book reading in general." Commenters called the ad "totally obnoxious," "dumb," "insulting to intelligent women and men."

As an avid reader and long-time softball player, I say this is much ado about nothing. It's a beer commercial, folks, not a political manifesto about the inherent characteristics of all men or all women or all book clubs. And I laughed at the kicker: Woman says, "Do you like 'Little Women'? " And scruffy guy answers, "Yeah, I'm not too picky, you know."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Good news for ex-pat Americans wandering the streets of Paris: Brentano's is preparing to reopen, after months of being dark. The Bookseller reports that the store at 37 avenue de l'Opéra closed last summer -- after 113 years in business -- when its rent in the tres chic neighborhood tripled. But the lease and brand were taken over by Iranian-born Farokh Sharifi, who plans to broaden the lines of merchandise. About 35 to 40 percent of the store will be devoted to English-language books.

The opening would restore another famous name to Paris' bookstores. When I last visited the city a couple of years ago, I loved being surrounded by books -- there seemed to be a store on every corner and second-hand-sellers (les bouquinistes) lined the walls along the Seine. If only the book culture could be as strong in America. I didn't get a chance to wander into Brentano's -- and now I'm sorry. I did enjoy spending time in two English-language bookstores on the Left Bank -- Shakespeare & Company and the Village Voice -- as well as the large French chain, Gibert Jeune.

Speaking of literary Paris, "The Letters of Sylvia Beach" is scheduled for an April 12 release. She's the Baltimore-born woman who ran the original Shakespeare & Company and published James Joyce's "Ulysses." Her letters to luminaries such as Joyce, Richard Wright, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound in the pre-war period make for interesting reading about a vanished era.

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Baltimore's Enoch Pratt library will get a prime time appearance Tuesday, in the premier of "Past Life" on Fox. Rooms in the Central branch will play several roles, including those of FBI and lawyer's offices. Here's Pratt director Carla Hayden examining a set in the board room. (She may be wondering why she doesn't get a director's chair.)

"Past Life" -- about investigators who use clients' past lives to help solve their cases -- has strong literary ties. It's written by David Hudgins, who adapted "Friday Night Lights," and is inspired by "The Reincarnationist" by M.J. Rose. Unfortunately, we won't see a lot of Baltimore. Although the pilot was filmed here last spring, the series was shot in Atlanta. 

Photo courtesy of the Enoch Pratt Free Library

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According to Pratt Library's director of communications, Roswell Encina, the Central Library at 400 Cathedral St. will be open today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Unfortunately, all other branches are still closed.

Be careful, out there Read Streeters!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, Towson University English professor Diane Scharper reviews "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." As we noted earlier on Read Street, the book examines the ethical issues surrounding a poor black woman from Baltimore County whose cells triggered a breakthrough in medical research -- and spawned a lucrative enterprise that her family was left out of. Jeremy Singer-Vine offered a succinct look at the issue in Slate.

Here's an excerpt from the review of Rebecca Skloot's book: [She weaves] an unwieldy mix of memoir, biography, social and scientific history into an engaging whole. Using concrete details and quoting the African-American dialect of her subjects, she brings the Lacks’ family alive, especially Deborah, the youngest daughter. All of which gives Henrietta Lacks another kind of immortality — this one through the discipline of good writing.

Scharper also takes a look at "Becoming a Doctor" by Lee Gutkind. From her review: A doctor’s job is as big as life. That point informs [this] collection of memoirs edited by Lee Gutkind, who directed the creative nonfiction conference at Goucher College and is editor of the “Best Creative Nonfiction” series. Only a few of these essays can be considered “best.” Some are written poetically and seem like prose poems; others have a strong narrative drive; still others feel like rambling recollections whose theme has become clouded.

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Categories: Reviews
        

Stuck in Maryland's winter wasteland, roads clogged by snow, you might be tempted to reach for the bottle of absinthe as you sit reading. But beware, drink and drugs doomed many artistic geniuses, including, many speculate, Edgar Allan Poe. Life -- yes, it lives on, in pixelated form -- has an interesting gallery of "Famous Literary Drunks and Addicts." It starts with Charles Baudelaire (booze, opium) and includes such luminaries as Louisa May Alcott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Which leads to the question: What's the role of drink and drugs (and even madness) in sparking literary creativity?

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Gov. Martin O'Malley had some good advice today for Marylanders, as the massive snowstorm approaches: "Curl up with a book and stay off the roads." He didn't say which book he'd be reading, there are many to carry you through the whiteout. As we noted during the big December storm, snow is a theme in many excellent books, including "Snow Falling on Cedars," David Guterson's mystery, set against the Japanese-American internment issue. Others: "My Antonia" by Willa Cather's heart-breaking tale of pioneer life; "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," Lisa See's poignant tale of friendship; and "Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life" by Alice Schroeder.

More recently, I read "Tide, Feathers, Snow," a memoir by Marylander Miranda Weiss, who moved with her boyfriend to Homer, Alaska. They live off the land -- and sea -- as much as possible, and her recounting captures both the constant beauty and constant struggle of life in the far north. You'll met pioneers and eccentrics -- often rolled into one -- while following Weiss as she re-evaluates the meaning and direction of her life.

If you want something more current, here are a few well-received novels that can easily be read in a weekend:

-- Noahs' Compass by Anne Tyler

-- Point Omega by Dim DeLillo

-- Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich

Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum

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Another Friday, another impending snowstorm of doom.

Meanwhile, I'm re-reading the Percy Jackson series, because the movie based on the first book, "The Lightning Thief," is in theaters Feb. 12th. Considering there are five books total, that should keep me occupied for a while.

But on to our winner. Congratulations, Julie P.! You've won "You Couldn't Ignore Me if You Tried." I hope it brings back lots of good memories!

Our next giveaway is Jodi Picoult's latest, "House Rules." The novel tells the story of Jacob Hunt, an 18-year-old with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism that makes it impossible for the boy to have friends, live without a routine, or even tell his mother he loves her. So when he's accused of murdering his tutor, his fragile world goes completely out of control.

You know the deal: Tell us what you're reading, and you could be reading this one next week.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Our good friend and dining critic Elizabeth Large has forwarded a request for you guys: Do you have any idea about the title or author of this book?

"I’ve been trying to locate an action-packed best seller I read that I believe was published in the early '90s. Of course, I can’t remember the title or the author, and I read it with Books on Tape, which is no longer renting, so I don’t even have details of a book jacket.

The opening is memorable. A successful businessman with a lovely wife goes to work one day and everyone he sees tries to kill him. They even bring in his wife to get him. He has no idea why. Eventually they evacuate the building to try to capture him (conveniently he’s an ex-Marine so he doesn’t make it easy).

As I remember, this is the only book he ever wrote."

So, any idea what this book might be? I like the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" vibe, so I'm really curious to know myself!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

This week's literary movie is "Dear John," a tear-jerker adapted from the book of the same name by the King of Tear-Jerkers, Nicholas Sparks (who's a high school track coach in his spare time). It's a love story interrupted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Practical Army guy (played by Channing Tatum)meets idealistic girl (Amanda Seyfried), he abandons her to fight Osama, and a "Dear John" letter follows. (Here's the trailer and official site.) Sparks' novels have sparked other romantic movies, including "The Notebook," "Night in Rodanthe" and "A Walk to Remember" -- "Dear John" appears to be another weeper. Here are excerpts from reviews for the new movie:

San Fracisco Chronicle -- Sure, it sounds corny. But director Lasse Hallstrom ("Chocolat") and screenwriter Jamie Linden give the whirlwind romance an appealing, straightforward decency, and Tatum and Seyfried click rather effortlessly. They're not Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams from "The Notebook," but they'll do.

New York Times -- [T]he latest attempt to bring his warm, earnest, therapeutic sensibility to the screen, falls in the upper middle range of Sparks film adaptations. the latest attempt to bring his warm, earnest, therapeutic sensibility to the screen, falls in the upper middle range of Sparks film adaptations.

Miami Herald -- "Dear John" is at its date-movie best in the first half; it's the sort of pretty weeper that will draw young women in droves. Later on the film gets a bit bogged down in its noble ambitions.

Los Angeles Times -- What we don't really have is an actual film but a very long music video with lots of montages of John and Savannah "moments" as they read their letters in absentia, which means neither the fans nor the foes of "The Notebook" are likely to be satisfied.

Continue reading "Dear John movie reviews" »

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