The Page Turners book club has existed since 2003 and members range in age from the mid-20s to late 60s, says Assistant Library Manager Erin H. Oh. Members take turns acting as facilitator (and providing refreshments), and get to know each other more intimately through lively discussions. The club meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the Arbutus Library. New members are welcome. Info: 410.887.1451.

Now reading: Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

Liked a lot: Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, and The Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg.

Not so much: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and What Matters Most by Luanne Rice 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Book Clubs
        

You can start your weekend off with a little music and literature at Atomic Books' book party. The free event features Eamon Espey and Leah Hayes, signing Wormdye and Funeral of the Heart, respectively. The musical portion of the evening is provided by Hayes, with Greg Gregory Rano and Amy Cavanaugh. The fun starts at 7 p.m.

If you prefer your books with a few snacks, Towson's Ukazoo Books is hosting its monthly Books 'N' Brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday -- bring your books and an appetite.

Later that day, local author Tessa LaRock will sign and discuss her book Semus Bracelet at Greetings & Readings. Her fantasy novel set in Egypt will bring a little romance, war and magic into your life.

And though the heat suggests otherwise, football season is just around the corner. Join Foxsport.com columnist Aaron Schatz as he discusses his Pro Football Prospectus 2008 at the Johns Hopkins Barnes & Noble on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

So there you go, music, food, fantasy and sports. If you can't find something fun to do this week, you can't blame me.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Book It
        

Harry Potter devotees, you didn't really think J.K. Rowling was going to retire quietly, did you? She announced today that she will publish a book of wizarding fairy tales and donate millions in proceeds to her charity for children, according to the Associated Press.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, to be published December 4, is mentioned in the seventh and final Potter book as having been left to Harry's friend Hermione Granger by the headmaster of their school, Hogwarts. Rowling initially only produced seven copies of The Tales, bound in leather and decorated in silver and moonstones. She gave six to people closely connected to the Potter books, and the seventh was bought at auction by Amazon for about $4 million.

Bloomsbury Publishing will now publish editions with an introduction by Rowling, selling for $12.99. Amazon will produce as many as 100,000 collector's edition copies, which will aim to replicate the look and feel of the original book and sell for $100.

"The new edition will include the Tales themselves, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and with illustrations by me, but also notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore, which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive," Rowling said in a statement.

Of the five stories in the 157-page book, only one, "The Tale of the Three Brothers," is told in the Potter novels. It appears in the final Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

She said the proceeds would be donated to the Children's High Level Group, a charity she founded to help the 1 million children across Europe living in large residential institutions.

Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Children
        

Baltimore's caught in its typical July/August funk of heat and humidity. So is Washington, where the Post's book blog, Short Stack, is recommending novels to beat the heat. Among them: Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston, and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.

For a novel, I'd recommend Willa Cather's My Antonia, which makes you feel the grip of a deadly winter on the plains. And if we broaden the choice to nonfiction, I'd add Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, mountaineering books that are chilling in more ways than one.

What would you recommend for a cool summer read?

Photo of Mt. Everest by Adeel Halim, Bloomberg News

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Recommended
        

Speaking of Drew Daniel from Matmos, I recently caught up to the author/area musician/associate professor at Johns Hopkins and asked what keeps his nose in a book.

Personally, if I were in a band with MY boyfriend, I'd just run away to Europe and play music all the time. But I guess there's no health insurance with that plan.

To diverge a bit from our regularly scheduled book discussion, Matmos released an album earlier this year, Supreme Balloon, and if you're at all interested in experimental music, or want to hear what the Baltimore scene sounds like these days, check them out. But wait, there's more! Daniel, who apparently never sleeps, also has a side project called Soft Pink Truth.

Between all this bookwriting and musicmaking, Daniel was kind enough to explain his own reading inspirations:

My own summer reading has pinballed between recent examples of what we could call pop-neurology (Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music, Kagan's What is Emotion and Damasio's Looking for Spinoza) and some of the classic works from the Renaissance that seem to weirdly resurface in the recent texts (Spinoza and Descartes).

What drives me to read is a simultaneous desire to know what the current state of the conversation is, and my desire to "double check" that conversation against what has already been established. I like the resulting anachronistic feeling, and I think reading can usefully connect you with distant communities and foreign expertise.

Can you tell he has a Ph.D. in English literature?

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a new memoir that recounts her childhood in Baltimore's Little Italy and her path to political power. Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, which is detailed in an article in today's Sun, will probably trigger lots of memories for people who lived through that era. Pelosi says she also hopes the memoir will encourage women and girls who ask her for advice and guidance.

To hear the San Francisco congresswoman's own words, mark Sept. 23 on your calendar. That evening she will read from her book and sign copies at the Enoch Pratt's Central Library in downtown Baltimore. The program, which begins at 7 p.m., is free to the public.

The Central Library is a fitting site for Pelosi, who writes about her time in the Mencken Room. The memoir also notes that her first public position was on San Francisco's library commission.  

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I asked Kate Khatib from Red Emma's to provide me with a few store's musical favorites. Her picks were:

Space is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra, by John Szwed

Rip It Up and Start Again, by Simon Reynolds

33 1/3: 20 Jazz-Funk Greats, by Drew Daniel (Actually, we love the entire Continuum 33 1/3 series - they're little books written about some the greatest - or most intriguing - albums of all time. We hosted an event with Drew Daniel of Matmos talking about his 33 1/3 contribution on Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats, but we also love Chris Ott on Joy Division, John Dougan on The Who, and Andy Miller on the Kinks.)

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, by Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton

Love Saves the Day, by Tim Lawrence

Chuck D: Lyrics of a Rap Revolutionary, by Chuck D

Have you got a few of your own favorite musical reads? Let me know about them, and I'll send you a new one to check out, including The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: A Memoir, Rock Star Babylon and I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Check It Out
        

The list: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger; Gaynor Arnold, Girl in a Blue Dress; Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture; John Berger, From A to X; Michelle de Kretser, The Lost Dog; Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies; Linda Grant, The Clothes on Their Backs; Mohammed Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes; Philip Hensher, The Northern Clemency; Joseph O'Neill, Netherland; Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence; Tom Rob Smith, Child 44; Steve Toltz, A Fraction of the Whole.

Care to lay odds on the winner? Take a shot even if you haven't read them all. (Who has?) Readers who guess right will be entered in a Read Street drawing for a copy of the Man Booker prize winner. My bet (and I sure haven't read them all): Netherland.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Whatever
        

Sometimes you just need pictures to go with the words.

Lauren Weisberger, who wrote The Devil Wears Prada, has written a new book perfect for summer reading: Chasing Harry Winston, the sex-and-great-cocktails  story of three girlfriends in New York.

Listening to Charlotte Parry on the audiobook made me long for the movie version. I wanted to see the apartments, the clothes and the restaurants. I guess I wanted Sex and the City or Friends or both. Something - anything -to distract from the silly girl talk.

Twentysomething female angst doesn't much appeal to me. I am soooo over that. But I gave this one a chance cause it is on the top of all sorts of beach read lists.

And while we are being snarky ... Parry mispronounces the name of the famous National Football League coach who is now GM of the Miami Dolphins. Bill Parcells' last name is not pronounced like something UPS leaves at your door.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

I got a flashback to "Miracle of 34th Street" -- the scene where Macy's new store Santa starts sending customers to Gimbels. Outrageous! But it certainly made me a Tattered Cover fan.

Has anyone had a similar experience? How's the service you get at chain or independent bookstores? Is it better than, say, restaurants or department stores?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Bookstores
        

 I guess those Canterbury rappers aren't the only musicians with literary aspirations -- the musical and literary worlds seem to be meeting all over the place, which makes sense, once I realized that some of my favorite poetry has come in lyric form.

A few of my favorite songwriters are sharing their insights and inspirations through blogs and books of their own. Even David Byrne is getting in on the blogging action. And Ryan Adams actually quit blogging so he had more time to work on his poetry.

And how about that Art Garfunkel? I guess it's not surprising he's a heavy reader, but he's chronicled the last 40 years of books he's read. I can't tell if I'm jealous of his initiative or amused, but either way, I'm impressed.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Whatever
        

A Los Angeles gallery has adopted Nancy's theme of pretty books, with an exhibition that revisits classics such as The Tin Drum and To the Lighthouse. Pictured here is Ryan Callis' take on the Bible, one of the artworks in the "Cover Version" show at the Taylor de Cordoba gallery.

I'm no art critic, but some of the works didn't seem to be much better than the original covers.

Some, such as Faten Kanaan's The Tin Drum, are remarkable. But others left me cold. And if Nancy hated the Catcher in the Rye's classic, minimalist red cover (I don't understand how she could feel that way, either), she would hate the new look, hyphenated Moby Dick.

But they're worth a few minutes for a bookish diversion.  

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The Internet is a magical place, with many wonders to share.  

This little project reminds me of my middle-school English teacher who tried to get us to memorize Longfellow's Evangeline to song. I guess she was way ahead of her time.

And if any of you have similar artistic leanings, you know where to find me.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Whatever
        

Randy Pausch, a terminally ill professor whose farewell lecture at Carnegie Mellon University became an Internet phenomenon and best-selling book, died today, according to wire reports. He was 47.

Pausch, a computer science professor and virtual-reality pioneer, died at his home in Chesapeake, Va., of complications from pancreatic cancer, the Pittsburgh university announced. When Pausch agreed to give a theoretical "last lecture," he was participating in a long-standing academic tradition. But a month before giving the speech, Pausch received the diagnosis that would heighten the poignancy of his address.

Originally delivered last September to about 400 students and colleagues, his message about how to make the most of life has been viewed by millions on the Internet. Pausch expanded it into a best-selling book, "The Last Lecture," released in April.

Yet Pausch insisted that both the spoken and written words were designed for an audience of three -- his children, then 5, 2 and 1. "I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children," he wrote in the book.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Obituaries
        

If you find yourself taking a stroll down The Avenue, and the weather is a bit too punishing for your tastes, stepping into breathe books is about as refreshing as you can get.

I'm not just talking about the air conditioning -- although that is nice -- I'm talking about the tinkly music and the gurgling fountains in the wonderland Susan Weis has created in her New Age book store.

Whether you're looking for enlightenment or a healthy recipe, breathe books has the tools to help you live the life you want.

Plus, the store's logo is pretty cool.

Over a table filled with rose quartz, hematite and amethyst, a sign hangs urging patrons to keep any cell phone conversations "short, sweet and quiet." I think this sums up this newcomer's experience pretty well; this is the perfect place to come if you're looking for a little peace.

A little background

Breathe books began in 2002, when Weis took a business trip to L.A. and happened upon a 35-year-old metaphysical New Age shop, the Bodhi Tree Bookstore. Standing in the store, Weis says she was overcome with inspiration.

"I was looking for something to do with myself," she says. And there, in the reincarnation section, "Breathe books came instantly."

Two years later, Weis opened her store in Hampden.

"Hampden is it," Weis says. "It's a very special community. ... This is where I come to buy all my gifts, so this is where I wanted my store." Her "buy local" mentality is reflected in her membership to IndieBound and the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance.

Clientele

When asked about her typical customer, Weis is quick to respond: "White women over 40." And from my visit, this is accurate: While there was a lone man who seemed to have come of his own accord, the remaining patrons matched her description.

"People who investigate, who explore alternative paths of living have a bit more time, money, resources to do it," she explains. "But that is starting to change."

She mentions the popularizing influence of Oprah Winfrey, and the uncertainty of a post-Sept. 11 world as motivators for people from all backgrounds to explore the metaphysical. And the store's centralized location, near affluent communities, the Johns Hopkins University, and many hospitals, brings many open-minded customers.

Popular sections

Weis says that her Buddhist and meditation selections are big sellers, followed by health and healing, and nutrition.

But she also notes that books aren't the only thing keeping her store in the black. "In the metaphysical world, the sidelines pay the rent," she says. Her own store is 70 percent books, 30 percent gifts.

Events

Weis maintains a busy schedule at her store. This month alone, breathe books held more than 60 events, including psychic readings, dances, meditation groups and author appearances.

And if that's not enough, this summer she's taking a group to India. And if you can't make the trip this year, there's always next summer. Something tells me Weis isn't going to slow down anytime soon.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Bookstores
        

While in Denver this week, I visited The Tattered Cover, one of America's most prominent independent bookstores and one of those recommended by readers for places to visit on vacation (see our U.S. map). Though the name conjures up images of a dark, dusty shop loaded with used books, The Tattered Cover deals in new books from some outstanding locations.

Pictured here is the E. Colfax Avenue store, in the former Lowenstein Theater; what was once the orchestra pit now is one of many reading areas. In historic LoDo, the Tattered Cover has another large, airy store in a 19th-century building. I picked up a copy of Pete Dexter's Deadwood to get a taste of the Old West and John McPhee's Rising from the Plains for the really old west. I'm drawn to interesting locations, whether they're indies or a chain location such as Barnes & Noble's store at the Inner Harbor.

What makes a good bookstore to you? Is it the selection, the workers, reading areas or something else entirely?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Bookstores
        

I admit it, I totally judge books by their covers. In fact, my hatred of Catcher in the Rye probably began with its lame cover design.

And on the flip side, I make a lot of my reading decisions based on the pretty, pretty books displayed.

I mean, sure, subject matter is important, but good first impressions are everything, right?

So when Entertainment Weekly published a list of the 25 best book cover designs of the past 25 years, I was definitely excited.

While I've read a few of them -- and was admittedly attracted by the amazing designs -- there are plenty new ones I can't wait to open up.

And this list has made me realize I'm actually a huge fan of Chip Kidd's work. This guy designed the covers for Jurassic Park, Glamorama, All the Pretty Horses and most recently, When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

When I write my masterpiece, I know exactly who's designing my cover.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Whatever
        

It's a pretty quiet week coming up, so I thought I'd highlight a few exhibits the Baltimore City library has available. If art doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will. And I hear you can even pick up a few books there, while you're at it.

This is Our Land: Discovering America and the World Through Original Illustrations from Children’s Books. This traveling exhibition of 80 original artworks by well-known illustrators, from the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., is on display at the Central Library 400 Cathedral St., through Aug. 2.

A Line in the Sand. This is a photographic exhibit chronicling Maryland’s fight against domestic violence and the people who have led the way, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the House of Ruth. It's at the Central Library through Aug. 9.

From the Ashes of a Dream: Race and Revitalization Since Martin Luther King. The traveling exhibition from the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture will be at the Orleans Street Branch through Sept. 8.

And for more traditionally bookish events, see the Read Street Calendar.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Book It
        

 There is possibly nothing so satisfying in this world than making a list and then checking it off. It's the feeling of accomplishment, I suppose. So when a friend directed me to this blog, I wasn't just interested in the musings of another bookworm. And it's not that he's trying to conquer Peter Boxall's list of 1001 books to read before you die.

It's the list he made -- a spreadsheet, to be precise -- in which you check off what you've already read, and plug in your age to see exactly how many books you have to read for the rest of your life to finish the list. (I've got about a book a month.)

Best of all, the spreadsheet is yours to download for free. I love this blogger.

OK, I know, for someone who isn't quite so list-obsessed, this is a little intense. But for me, this is the ultimate competition. And while I don't actually like many of the books on the list, I've got to admire a guy like Boxall who's willing to put it out there.

It may not be a perfect list, but it's an ambitious one...and just the type to knock me out of my rut whenever I'm looking for another excuse to read.

(Photo by woodsy a stock.xchng.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Check It Out
        

Here's a hilarious news item from across the pond: According to British news reports, the commissioning editor of BBC's Book at Bedtime was blasted for airing "inappropriate" and "disturbing" tales. Caroline Raphael said Helpless by Barbara Gowdy, about the stalking and abduction of a nine-year-old girl by a repair man, was "extremely well written". But she acknowledged that it may

not have been the best book to feature after another "dark" story, The Behaviour of Moths, by Poppy Adams. I guess the criticism was well-received: the current selection is H.G. Wells' horror classic, The Island of Dr. Moreau. If Raphael gets the boot, maybe Stephen King can be the new host. I'd suggest reading The Other, which rally chilled me. Any other suggestions for a nightmare-inducing read?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Whatever
        

John McIntyre, who heads The Sun's copy desk and writes the You Don't Say blog, says we shouldn't get too excited about proposed punctuation such as the tentative hyphen, the elevated ellipsis or the fini. He reminds us that other recent reforms have gone nowhere. The interrobang, a question mark/exclamation point combo, was left wondering: why me?! The snark, a reverse question mark noting satire, was a huge success, though it does not show up on my laptop's keyboard.

He says we already have plenty of punctuation marks and we should figure out to use them correctly, instead of gumming up everything with new options. I don't doubt his sincerity, though I wonder whether he is subconsciously voicing opposition from the International Union of Copy Editors and Taste Arbiters, which would conveniently avoid any costly punctuation-retraining programs.

I am undeterred, and my Campaign to Adopt the Fini is not finished. How's them apples?! 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

One of the great things about the Internet is that you don't need to know real people to get good book recommendations. (It's also kind of the creepy thing about the Internet, but that's for another post.)

So when I'm feeling slightly anti-social, or want to break free from what I and the people I know would normally read, I take a cue from Web sites like Shelfari and GoodReads. On these sites, not only can you create your own virtual library, you can review what you loved and hated, and join groups that have similar tastes to yours.

Shelfari, for instance, has groups that include Cook's Books, Movie Lovers, Friendship for Universal Peace and Readers in Thongs. Of course, I joined this last one for research purposes...I haven't yet figured out the source of its name, but don't worry, I'll get to the bottom of it.

GoodReads also sends you an e-mail whenever one of your friends adds a book to their virtual bookshelf, so you can keep track of what the people around you are reading. I find this service to be a little more intrusive, but I guess now I'm prepared to ask Carla what she thinks of Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson, rather than the latest episode of Big Brother 10. (TEN?)

And of course, if you're a member of either of these sites, look me up. I'd love to take a few reading cues from some Read Streeters.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Perhaps the biggest distraction when listening to a recorded book is the over-eager efforts of a reader to give characters different voices. I am thinking of Anna Fields' attempts to give Emily's father a Southern baritone when reading Anne Rivers Siddons' Sweetwater Creek. She sounded absolutely silly.

But producers of the recorded version of Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart eliminated that distraction by actually casting the book. There are different readers -- Nicole Poole, Stafford Clark-Price, James Frangione, Danielle Ferland and Jennifer Ikeda -- for each point of view, and it is wonderful.

Granted. Picoult's book alternates between these points of view. There are not half a dozen people in the same room having a conversation. Each is remembering events. But the large cast gives the book a depth and realism that a single reader could not create.

Something of the same is true for Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. Two readers, probably of Indian descent, read her collection of short stories about the attempts of Bengali-Americans to assimilate. The accents of Sarita Choudhury and Ajay Naidu gave the book real texture.

These techniques are almost as good as the BBC recordings of Agatha Christie's mysteries. Those recordings had sound effects, too!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

So we've been throwing a lot of recommendations at you, but I've had a lot of people ask me the same question: What happens if you're in a book rut?

We've all been there before: Nothing looks interesting. You feel like you've read all the good books out there, and you're sick of being disappointed by the latest must read. (The Historian, I'm looking at YOU.)

So this week, let's focus on what keeps us bookworms going. Is it a subject you can't get enough of? A favorite personality who's delving into the literary world? A friendly competition among friends?

Or maybe you've never been in a rut. If so, I want to know your secret!

(Photo courtesy of lusi at stock.xchng.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Whatever
        

I was so excited by Sunday's post about the creation of the Tentative Hyphen that I decided to invent my own punctuation: the Fini.

A period is usually a fine way to end a sentence. But when there's a forcefulness attached to the words, I worry that the period will roll away. It is, after all, just a tiny black ball. I suppose an exclamation point could barricade the words, but that has been soooooo overused as an ending for e-mails: Thanks!

The fini, by contrast has a mass, a permanence, a sense of completion. So there.

Here's your chance to revolutionize the language. What's your punctuation invention? 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Kill the Colon, our rant about obscenely long book titles, drew a great suggestion from Patrick, a Read Street regular. Thinking about punctuation marks, he recalled that he had invented the Tentative Hyphen.

He wrote: "It looks like a squiggly hyphen. Its widespread use would improve writers' spelling immensely. Take the adjective upside-down. It gets spelled three ways: upside-down, upsidedown and upside down. With my Tentative Hyphen, the word would look like this: upside~down.

"The TH is kind of a joker in the deck. ... If the correct spelling is upside-down, the TH represents an ordinary hyphen. If the correct spelling is upsidedown, the TH disappears. If the correct spelling is upside down, the TH represents a space. With a Tentative Hyphen, the writer can't go wrong."

I love the idea. There must be more possibilities out there. What do you propose for a new punctuation mark? Now back to Patrick ...

"A writer needs every break he or she can get. It is a natural progression for two words, such as post man, to gradually become one hyphenated word, such as post-man, and finally a single unhyphenated word, such as postman.

"Heck, we fought a bloody war in a country without reaching a consensus on whether the nation's name should hyphenated. Were we in Viet-nam or Vietnam? Well, we were in Viet~nam. Today, do we send e-mails or emails? For sure we send e~mails. ...

"Because I invented the helpful Tentative Hyphen, it seems only fair that computers be programmed to ship me a nickel each time one is used. Once I've accumulated a sufficient sum that odd noises in my car no longer make me worry about how much the problem will take to fix, the Tentative Hyphen can become free. It will be a gift from one bad speller to all the others."

Image from BBC

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

On Tuesday, we'll see several new thrillers, with plots that stretch from Russia to Arizona.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown, $20). The greatest superpower of all isn't to be part-spider, part-man, or to cast magic spells - the greatest power is the power to create. Daniel X has that power.

Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (Putnam, $26.95). The death of a journalist leads Gabriel Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He's playing by Moscow rules now.

Damage Control by J.A. Jance (Morrow, $25.95). In the Coronado National Monument, an elderly couple's car goes off the side of a mountain and into oblivion. Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady investigates.

Publishers Weekly, amazon.com

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In Sunday's Arts & Life section, check out a review of The Other, the latest from David Guterson, whose debut novel was the hit Snow Falling on Cedars. His provocative new novel is about the transitory nature of choice and identity: how we become who we are destined to be, and what gets us to that place and keeps us there.

You can also get some recommended reading that will allow you to recharge your spiritual side. Among them:

Reflections of a Peacemaker: A Portrait Through Heartsongs by Mattie J.T. Stepanek. Stepanek, a Maryland boy who died of a neuromuscular disease before he reached age 14, produced books of extremely insightful poetry. This is a child's amazingly mature faith-based perception of what is important in life.

Forgiveness: A Legacy of the West Nickel Mines Amish School by John L. Ruth.
Many people were surprised by the response of an Amish community to the shooting deaths and wounding of their schoolchildren in 2006. Forgiveness is basic to their Christian tradition and is described and clearly discussed by a Mennonite writer who relates it to other religions as well.

My Life With the Saints by the Rev. James Martin. The saints can be our friends and role models as we go about our daily lives. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

 Towson's Ukazoo Books has something for everyone: a wide (and cheap) selection of children's books; a large mystery section, complete with taped body outlines, a couple of comfortable reading rooms for flipping through books or holding a meeting, and local artwork throughout.

But what impressed me most about this used (and new) bookstore was that, in talking to store manager Olivia Tejeda, they are eager to expand their offerings, both in books and events, for the Towson community. And the community is responding, making Ukazoo a part of their lives.

"One of our customers proposed to another last night," Tejeda told me last week. "It's just amazing."

A little background

Ukazoo began a little more than a year ago, when two local brothers, Jack and Seth Revelle, decided to take their online book business offline. The brothers got their start in the book world selling textbooks in college. The business got serious, and after seven years, they had three warehouses' worth of books stockpiled, the beginnings of Ukazoo's inventory.

Clientele

You can find just about everyone in the store, "depending on what time of day it is," Tejeda says.

During the day, moms come in with their children to take advantage of their low prices -- all books are $2.98, unless otherwise marked, and many are actually less than that -- and seniors roll in around mid-day. "We have more than 100,000 used titled, and none of them are more than $10," Tejeda says. "I think that's attractive to seniors on a budget." 

And, of course, after 6 p.m., the town's college students start to appear.

Popular sections

Tejeda reports that their general fiction section is a big crowd pleaser, as well as their mystery and kids sections. And with free coffee, tea and wifi throughout the day, customers find a lot to stick around for.

Events

Ukazoo has an amazing number and variety of events, many recurring monthly. The first Saturday of every month, the store hosts a brunch for its customers, with coffee, bagels and the like, from 9 a.m. to noon.

There are also creative writing events, which for now are pretty generalized. "But we're seeing what it morphs into," Tejeda says, hinting that there may be more specialized writing exercises for science fiction, poetry, mystery and other genres. And you can't forget (because I won't let you) the haiku review held on the third Thursday of every month.

In addition, Ukazoo holds an open-mic night on the first Thursday of every month, inviting local poets, playwrights, authors and musicians to share their creations with the Ukazoo crew. You can visit their MySpace page for more information each month.

(Photo courtesy of ukazoo.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Bookstores
        

Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook Deceptively Delicious is back atop the best-seller lists (#1 nonfiction in the Wall Street Journal, #2 in Publishers Weekly), which must just frost Missy Chase Lapine's cookies. You recall that cookbook author Lapine says Seinfeld stole her idea of pureeing veggies and sneaking them into the foods that finicky kids eat. The dispute is still being fought in court.

Meanwhile, Lapine has published a cookbook that seems aimed at me: The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (in the Kitchen!): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals any Guy Will Love. Now that my daughter's home from college for the summer, she and my wife have teamed up to make me an experiment in attitude adjustment. They have paraded obscure foods such as quinoa, swiss chard and even sweet potato ice cream before me, in a not-so-subtle campaign to get me to lose weight and eat healthier.

They do not buy my argument that dark chocolate is as healthy as any vegetable. If they discover Lapine's book, there's no telling what havoc will ensue. Spinach-and-broccoli infused chocolate chip cookies, anyone?

Photo by Rob Loud/Getty Images

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Whatever
        

The local literary scene just got a bit richer, with new editions of Passager and jmww, two Baltimore-based journals.

The latest issue of Passager showcases winners of its annual poetry contest for writers older than 50. The journal, which was founded by Kendra Kopelke and is published at the University of Baltimore, was created "to explore the imagination during the later years and to hear the passion that is so often attributed to the young."

The summer issue of jmww, edited by Jen Michalski, offers poetry, nonfiction, fiction and reviews by writers in the Baltimore area and elsewhere. Contributors include Jéanpaul Ferro, Merle Drown and Michael Downs.

Here's a poem from Passager...

Barbara Young, 77, is a frequent visitor to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center near her home. In the fall, thousands of geese land at the center during their migration. 

The Wheeling of Geese

That wheeling, that wheeling, may cause tears
If you stop to stare at a sky clouded
With Canada geese who have flown up
From a field and now wheel round and round
As one until the Great Mystery
Tells them all is right for the journey;
Then oh how like tiny gymnasts they tuck
Their legs against their bodies and
Push their necks forward, straining, straining
To be elsewhere.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

This vibrant club, more than five years old, has a varied membership (including a nurse, social worker, teacher and accountant) and reading list. That includes classics, ethnic works and biographies, says Judith Anora, who organizes the book list in coordination with the local library. New members are embraced: They receive a welcoming brochure, bookmark and list of past books. Members also stay close by traveling together, to places such as Cape May. 

Now reading: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

Liked a lot: The Known World by Edward P. Jones, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Not so much: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Book Clubs
        

Think you're a haiku master? Try taking your skills to Ukazoo Books in Towson tonight, and let the audience decide. Or just take a bunch of friends and have a little fun. If you're a crowd-pleaser, you'll even walk away with a few prizes. The sign-up begins at 6:45 p.m.

If you want to share the book love with the younger members of your household, TJ Perkins, author of the Kim and Kelly Mystery Series, will be at Greetings & Readings at noon Saturday.

That night, check out the 510 Reading Series as they present Savannah Schroll Guz, author of "The Famous and the Anonymous"; Rupert Wondolowski, author of "The Whispering of Ice Cubes"; and Sean Carman, satirist and contributor to Huffington Post.

And for a special treat, join Sun reporter Julie Scharper on Sunday at Clayton Fine Books as she shares of bit of her work that you won't see in The Baltimore Sun. The event starts at 3 p.m.

For more information, and more bookish activities, visit the Read Street calendar.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Check It Out
        

I'm assuming if you're reading this blog, you either love books, or Dave and I have personally twisted your arm. Many of you have provided some great suggestions of books that you love.

But here's a question: What do you give to the child who hates to read?

It's kind of a foreign concept to a bookworm like me, but I know there are lots of teachers and parents out there looking for a little help. So I visited the Parents' Choice Web site for a little help. Sure enough, they have a list, aptly titled "What-Kids-Who-Don't-Like-To-Read-Like-To-Read: The Reading List. While their suggestions only range from 4-11, it's definitely a good start.

So happy reading! And keep your own suggestions coming!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Book It
        

Over on the New York Times book blog, there's a spirited debate about the perfect novel. Suggestions have ranged from the well-read -- The Great Gatsby is an early favorite -- to the obscure (Herb ‘n’ Lorna).

I don't get the excitement over Gatsby, but maybe it's just because I can't get the white-clad Robert Redford and Mia Farrow out of my head. If pressed over a couple of glasses of wine (that seems to how the Times debate started) I might pick All the King's Men.

But let's start at the beginning: Can there be a "perfect" novel, and if so, what is it?

I'll throw in another question: Is there a perfect book club novel? My pick here (and maybe overall): Cold Mountain.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Book Clubs, Recommended, Reviews
        

I wrote recently about a local union's push to disrupt the mystery writers convention in Baltimore, by asking attendess to boycott the convention hotel. At risk is an October event that could draw as many as 2,000 attendees, including Lawrence Block and Laura Lippman.

This week, I talked about the issue with Jon Jordan, who with his wife Ruth (they also run Crime Spree magazine) organized Bouchercon 2008. He said the contract for the hotel was signed in early 2005. After the hotel changed hands and became the Sheraton City Center, the union dispute broke out, and the convention was caught in the middle.

Reneging on the contract would be disastrous, he said. "This has nothing to do with us being unsympathetic to the union. We can't afford to breach this contract. ... It would bankrupt us."

The Jordans, who live in Milwaukee, are not some deep-pocketed corporation. Ruth is a pharmacy technician; Jon is a machinist. But they love mysteries; in fact, they met at the 1999 Bouchercon.

They also attended the 2004 Bouchercon in Toronto, and when few people came forward to organize future conventions, they stepped in. "It's such a big part of our lives, we wanted to make sure there would be one," Jon said. A few months later, they were in Baltimore scouting locations, and settled on the hotel that then was a Wyndham. 

The Jordans don't get paid for organizing, and any money left over goes to the next Bouchercon. That's why the union pressure, which has included phones calls and emails to attendees, is so maddening. Jon said, "It's unfair to put us in the position of having to takes sides. We just want to have our convention."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Bouchercon/Charmed to Death
        

I was browsing through a bookstore recently, when I discovered what looked like a neat little picture book. Titled Grimm's Grimmest, I picked it up, thinking it would be useful for any discussion on children's books. Inside, I found this little gem:

Once upon a time there was a child who was willful, and would not do what her mother wished. For this reason God had no pleasure in her, and let her become ill, and no doctor could do her any good, and in a short time she lay on her death-bed.

When she had been lowered into her grave, and the earth was spread over her, all at once her arm came out again, and stretched upwards, and when they had put it in and spread fresh earth over it, it was all to no purpose, for the arm always came out again.

Then the mother herself was obliged to go to the grave, and strike the arm with a rod, and when she had done that, it was drawn in, and then at last the child had rest beneath the ground.

OK, so I already knew that the fairy tales I had read as a child were a little cleaned up. But THIS? It's horrifying.

Fairy tale scholar (I'm not making this up) Maria Tatar, who edited the book and provides a little historical insight, explains that the stories are better understood as urban myths than actual bedtime stories for children, sort of a medieval version of the Hook Man, I guess.

So if you have a more macabre friend whose childhood you want to bend totally, I'd say get 'em this book. It is fascinating, even if Tracy Arah Dockray's illustrations are a little off-putting. And for those of my generation, think Alvin Schwartz' Scary Stories, but with some historical appeal.

And does anyone even read fairy tales to their kids anymore? With Dr.Seuss, Harry Potter et al., I'm worried that no one under the age of 10 knows who Rumpelstiltskin is anymore.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Whatever
        

Susan Reimer's away, so I'm subbing on the topic of audiobooks -- sort of. I confess that I've only listened to one: Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard. And though it did make the utterly boring drive between Baltimore and Pittsburgh go faster, I found it hard to follow the thriller's action and plot. Since then, I've stuck to paper.  

But eager to please in Susan's absence, I found a captivating article about an early, albeit non-mobile, version of the audiobook. Cigar Aficionado (I don't smoke, I just read the magazine for the articles) described the Cuban tradition of bringing readers into cigar factories. For more than a century, they have read newspapers and books to workers rolling cigars at long tables.

Apparently the workers are a responsive audience. They would tap their chaveta (a semi-circular blade) on the worktable as a sign of thanks to the reader, or throw it to the floor as a sign of disapproval, according to the article. 

The tradition continues across the island, the article says, with readers usually starting each day on newspaper headlines and progressing to a book.  Most readers are women.

Yoandra Rodríguez, 24, who has been reading in the Partagas factory for four years, was quoted: "My passion is reading. I begin at 9 a.m., and I read the newspapers until 10:30 or 11. Afterwards, we listen to a play on the radio for an hour. Today, we listened to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The rest of the day I read novels."

Photo from Cigar Aficionado

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

Nancy's call brought back warm memories of reading to my children. We stuck mainly to standards such as Dr. Seuss' managerie, Miffy the bunny, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Madeline (with digressions into sharks and jets).

But recalling this Curious George book reminded me of a gaping hole in my library: books about bicycling. As a dedicated rider, I'm enthralled each summer by the Tour de France's grueling competition and gorgeous scenery. I'd love to end the day with a book about cycling, but...

There's an axiom about sports books: the smaller the ball, the better the writing. There are many great books about golf but few (none?) about basketball. So where does that leave cycling? Why can we produce a great biking movie, Breaking Away, but no book? It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong was inspiring, but not a biking book, really. If you have suggestions, help!

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Whatever
        

I'm moving on from comics this week, I swear. But I just received my favorite birthday gift of 2008 (well, it's a tie between this and my new cymbals): Owly.

This black-and-white graphic novel follows the adventures of Owly as he befriends Wormy (not a creative name, but appropriate), conquers the scary woods at night and grows a garden that puts mine to shame.

It's possibly the sweetest book I've ever read, and while it's in graphic novel form, it also segues perfectly into this week's topic: children's books!

Now I'll admit, I've been a big wuss and I've avoided children's books, mostly because you don't mess with people's favorite childhood memories. And there are so many children's story times at libraries, bookstores and the like that we haven't even attempted to tackle the subject.

But this week, all bets are off.

Tell us about your kid's favorite bedtime story, the perfect place to go for storytime and how Shel Silverstein is a genius. Or maybe how much you hated Little House on the Prairie. Don't worry, I won't judge you -- much.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Whatever
        

This week's releases include thrillers for kids and adults. You'll find yourself looking for lemurs, skiers and prostitutes. All are due out Tuesday.

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, by Eoin Colfer (Disney-Hyperion, $17.99). Ages 9-12. In the sixth book of the series, Artemis' mother has contracted a deadly disease -- and the only cure lies in the brain fluid of African lemurs.

Say Goodbye, by Lisa Gardner (Bantam, $25). Prostitutes are disappearing, one by one, with no explanation, and no one but FBI agent Kimberly Quincy seems to care.

Just Too Good to Be True, by E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday, $23.95) This is a sweeping novel about mothers and sons, football and beauty shops, secrets and lies.

Killer View, by Ridley Pearson (Putnam, $24.95). When a skier goes missing at Sun Valley's Galena Summit, Sheriff Walt Fleming quickly assembles his crack search-and-rescue team and heads out into the snowy night. Within minutes, a shot rings out, and one of their team is dead.

Rules of Deception, by Christopher Reich (Doubleday, $24.95). The twisting story line revolves around Jonathan Ransom, a 37-year-old surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, whose wife is killed while mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps. As Ransom struggles to come to grips with this tragedy, he receives two mysterious baggage claim tickets addressed in her name.

From Publishers Weekly and amazon.com

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In Sunday's Arts & Life section, get insights into George H.W. Bush's leadership style -- and a feud with Henry Kissinger -- revealed by Bush's time as a U.S. representative to China. The China Diary of George H.W. Bush: The Making of a Global President shows how some advice from mom led him to seek bonds of trust with the next generation of China's leaders. His year in China laid the foundations for the pragmatic, prudent, personal foreign policy as president.

Also, find capsule reviews of new children's books. Among them:

A Kitten Tale, by Eric Rohmann (ages 4-8). Three playful kittens are fearful about the impending snow, and one can't wait to play in it. A beautifully illustrated story about curiosity and overcoming fear.
 
Clementine's Letter, by Sara Pennypacker with illustrations by Marla Frazee (ages 6-9).
Clementine has made it to third grade, and likes her teacher because she understands his rules. When the teacher has the opportunity to go on a research trip to Egypt, Clementine can't stand the thought of his leaving and has to do something.

The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd (ages 9-12) Ted and Kat watch their cousin Salim go for a ride on the London Eye Ferris wheel, but he doesn't get off. Has he been kidnapped or run away, or is the young boy lying on a cold slab at the morgue? Preteen readers will enjoy this thriller with well-developed characters.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

 By the end of the month, Atomic Books will be gone.

But don't worry -- it's just moving down the street, to the bigger space currently occupied solely by Atomic Pop.

With the merger, owner Benn Ray says he hopes to have a little more down time and a lot more room to showcase the many toys, gadgets, artwork and books.

 "The new location is just going to be called Atomic Books, but we'll still carry everything from both stores, plus have a little more space to expand," Ray says.

So if you thought you spent too much time in the stores now, just wait till everything's all together; I expect I'll have to retrieve my boyfriend from the place on a regular basis.

You can, of course, keep up with all the changes at the official Atomic Books Blog, as they move their books over to the Falls Road location. Or find them on Facebook. Or MySpace. In fact, they're pretty much impossible to hide from.

A little background

"This year, Atomic Books turned 16!" Ray says. "As a store, we're old enough to drive."

The quintessentially Baltimore book store began with Scott Huffines, a friend of Ray's who started it all in a small space on Read Street. "Scott started Atomic Books as a store that specialized in alternative, underground and fringe publications, comics, zines, weird books, self-published items, outsider art and fiction, etc. -- basically the sort of really cool stuff you couldn't find anywhere else."

The store moved from Read to Charles, from Charles to Maryland Avenue, and then Huffines was forced to file for bankruptcy. So in 2001, Ray and his fiancee/business partner opened their Atomic Books on The Avenue.

Clientele

Atomic Books boasts of a loyal and diverse customer base. "We have regulars who come in from New York, from Philly, from D.C., Richmond ... as well as, of course, a lot of Hampdenites, Baltimoreans and Marylanders," Ray says.

They see people of all ages, he continues, "and I would say we have an equal mix of male and female customers."

Popular sections

With the motto "Literary Finds For Mutated Minds," Atomic Books unabashedly specializes in the hard-to-define and sometimes downright weird.

"We still focus on carrying stuff the other book stores can't, don't, won't and shouldn't, so we get a lot of people who feel their interests have been marginalized by mainstream culture." That includes a large section on tattoos and body modification, BDSM, art, punk rock and cult films, to name a few. "We have sections on serial killers, sideshow freaks and circuses, conspiracies, strange science." And of course, the store offers a large selection of alternative comics, graphic novels and zines.

Events

Atomic Books hosts various events throughout the year, many that don't necessarily relate to books, but the DIY culture the store thrives on, including art shows and musical performances. There are plenty of activities for booklovers, however.

"We usually bring Found Magazine to town once a year," Ray says. "We frequently host McSweeney's readings and signings." And expect a grand re-opening celebration to come in September.

"Basically, we're super-sizing Atomic Books, and we're very excited about it." Ray explains.

And for a taste of what they're offering now, Ray has a few recommendations for you:

American Virgin Volume 4: Around the World, by Steven T. Seagle, Becky Cloonan and Jim Rugg
Batman: Batman and Son, by Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert, various
Fart Party, by Julia Wertz (this one is courtesy of Atomic Book Co.)
Red Colored Elegy, by Seiichi Hayashi
The New York Four, by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Bookstores
        

So I know I've already mentioned my love of xkcd, but I thought it would be appropriate to revisit my favorite Webcomic this week, and then ask all my favorite readers for a favor.

Give me more! I need more distraction in my life, and I'm always up for a good laugh. So if there's a great Webcomic that you want to share, hit me!

In return, you'll receive a free graphic novel. I've got about eight of them here, so comment while supplies last! Titles include Krazy: The Delierious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art; Kyle Baker's Nat Turner and Gareth Hinds' The Merchant of Venice.

Yeah, that's right, Shakespeare.

(Comic courtesy of xkcd.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Whatever
        

Reader Craig sent me a CNN article from earlier this week about Walmart's decision to take a cherished Mexican comic off their shelves.

Fans of the comic, which has been around since the 1940s, insist that the morals that Memin Pinguin has instilled in generations of children far outweigh any appearance of racism.

Critics say the image of a young Cuban-Mexican boy, and also of his mother, is offensive and has no place on the bookshelf. In fact, a Mexican stamp in 2005 inspired a similar round of criticism.

Clearly, this comic incites passion from both sides. But when does a national tradition become an outdated, unneeded detriment, especially in today's global environment?

Posted by Nancy Knight at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Whatever
        

If you're looking for something a little different to start your weekend off, Constellation Books in Reisterstown is hosting an evening of wine, music and munchies Friday night. The wine's provided by Vino 100, with other beverages for those who choose not to indulge.

Saturday morning, Ukazoo Books invites Baltimore artist Rebecca Bridges to teach a book-binding class, in which participants learn the history of the craft and create handmade books, hard and soft cover, from old books. The class is $12, and advanced registration is required.

If you're planning a trek to the beach this weekend, take a detour to Mystery Loves Company's Oxford store Saturday to see Ellen Byerrum sign her new fashion mystery, Armed and Dangerous.

And looking ahead, comic fans can meet Gary Panter, Steve Niles and Dr. Revolt at Atomic Pop, as they celebrate the release of their free graphic novel The Lost Ones.

To plan more bookish fun, check out the Read Street calendar.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Book It
        

The main culprit: the colon. The aforementioned SDYSYOLSAOWDSW avoids the offending punctuation, but consider the best-seller Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies ... Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It. Or Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness. Even the short colon-ial titles are annoying -- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (as opposed to what, A Bicycle?),

This isn't a new issue. The Chronicle of Higher Education has written about moves by academic publishers to simplify titles, and noted that colons were common in 18th-century literature. Still, a colon seems condescending. Do marketers think we're too dumb to buy a book unless the entire premise is spelled out on the cover? Do they think we lack the inquisitiveness to at least read book flaps?  

How would modern marketers colon-ize the classics? Ulysses: A day like, and unlike, any other as Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom eat, argue, ponder and theorize while roaming the streets of Dublin in search of ... something.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

When I asked Comics Kingdom to provide me with a few recommendations, they didn't disappoint. These people know their comics, and they're happy to share them with you. For more recommendations, and some great reviews, you should also check out their blog.

Employee Matthew Terl starts us off with Y The Last Man, written by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. "DC and Marvel are largely wrapped up in line-spanning crossover events that are pretty much inaccessible to the average reader, although they're both perfectly good on their own merits," Terl says of Marvel's Secret Invasion and DC's event, Final Crisis.

He also suggests Locke & Key, a horror miniseries by Joe Hill, who's doing his dad -- Stephen King -- proud. 

Another employee, Bryan Preston, notes that comic books are banking in on their popularity on film. "Marvel is putting out a ridiculous number of books to complement their summer offerings, and I know the Robert Downey covers are selling well online. There was also a new Hulk one shot almost every week it seemed, leading up to the movie." He recommends Locke and Key, Kick-Ass, Fraction and Brubaker's Iron Fist, Grant Morrison's Batman, Captain America and Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and X-Men Legacy. 

Comics Kingdom co-owner Driana Pearlman offers up Weapon X, by Barry Windsor-Smith. "This was my gateway book in to comics from being an avid reader of novels," she says. "To this day I still recommend this book as a true integration of the comic art form where the story is told through and interwoven use of words and drawings - you cannot just read or just look at the art to get the full woof and weave of the tale." And as Wolverine's origins are revealed many casual fans will recognize Hugh Jackman's rough character from the X-Men trilogy.

She also recommends the Watchmen trade paperback, which includes the entire story arc of the series that influenced the darker image of comics, leading to movies such as Batman Returns and Dark Knight.

She describes Fables, by Bill Willingham as a modern take on fairytales. "The creatures and people of our childhood tales have been forced to leave their Homeland to seek refuge in our world. The non-human looking "fables" have to live sequestered on a place called the Farm. This is not a book for kids."

And if you want to stay close to home, try local artist Michael Bracco's Birth and Novo. "Birth is an example of a comic told with little or no text and Mr. Bracco has created a visual feast that hits hard at the human core through his uniquely drawn non-human characters. It made me cry." Pearlman says.

"Graphic novels and trade paperbacks have definitely gained in popularity in our store in the last 5 years," she continues. "We work enthusiastically with teachers and schools to get comics in the hands of kids to encourage reading, donating hundreds of comics each year. Will those kids be back as adults? I certainly hope so. Comics offer a beautiful way of telling Story that is now richly being explored by creative minds, it would be a real loss to see it fade.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Check It Out
        

News comes of the death of Thomas M. Disch, a prolific American author who made even science fiction seem more twisted. He shot himself in his Manhattan apartment Friday, according to the New York Times obituary, after a string of personal setbacks. He was 68.

Disch created poetry, plays, criticism and books -- among them Camp Concentration and 334 -- as part of the "new wave" of science fiction writers with a more literary style. Oddly, though, he may best be remembered as the creator of The Brave Little Toaster -- his book was made into an animated movie. (A song from the movie.)

He never shied from controversy. In 1990, one of his plays triggered a court battle. The Roman Catholic Church sought to evict a theater company from a former parochial school where it staged a play about a cardinal who kills a pregnant woman while driving drunk. Disch said church officials were trying to censor his play, "The Cardinal Detoxes."

Photo by Jaime Spracher/The Free Press

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Obituaries
        

Here on Read Street, we love to give away books to thank our loyal readers, and what better occasion than our upcoming 200th comment! (That's way better than what you got -- nada -- for watching the Simpsons' 200th episode)

Nancy and I have compiled a stack of new releases. There are guilty pleasures: Rogue, by Danielle Steel and Married Lovers, by Jackie Collins. Or thrillers: Foreign Body, by Robin Cook and The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci. Or more weighty books: Golda, by Elinor Burkett or The Forger's Spell, by Edward Dolnick.

Whoever makes the 200th comment (we're almost there) gets first choice, #201 gets the second choice and so on, until the stack is gone.

Illustration courtesy of Fox Broadcasting Co.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

 Recently, Geppi's Entertainment Museum curator Arnold Blumberg was kind enough to answer a few of my burning comic questions: In specific, what is the difference between comic books and graphic novels? His verdict: Not a thing.

"... The division between 'comic books' and 'graphic novels' is a false one largely created from a marketing point of view," he says. "All comic books and graphic novels are comics -- a literary art form created by the blending of words and pictures (and frankly sometimes just sequential art with no words at all)."

So in an attempt to bring back readers who saw comic books as, well, child's play, the industry got wise. Blumberg does note, however, that many graphic novels are often single volumes with a more mature approach, as opposed to "the more popcorn-like superhero slugfests" many envision. 

But that cutesy image of comic books was pretty well annihilated by Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, Blumberg says. And yes, that is the same Frank Miller who is responsible for Sin City and 300 -- and he just so happens to be from Olney.

Blumberg also points out that Art Spiegelman's Maus earned him a Pulitzer Prize. If that doesn't say "grown up," I don't know what does.

And if you haven't had a chance to visit Geppi's yet, Tuesdays are half-price admission. Looks like you have plans tonight!

 (Photo courtesy of geppismuseum.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Whatever
        

Rick Bragg's final book in the trilogy of his family life that began with All Over But the Shoutin' demonstrates perfectly the quandry faced by those of us who love audiobooks.

Bragg narrates The Prince of Frogtown, the story of the drunken, abusive, abandoning father that is only a malevolent ghost in his first two books. It is amazing and wonderful to hear this Southern tale told in his Southern drawl. You begin to feel as if you are sitting on the steps of a rough-hewn cabin in the Alabama woods while he spins his tale from the rocking chair on the porch.

But it is Bragg's way with language that is his gift - he never went to college but he earned a Neiman Fellowship at Harvard and a Pulitzer Prize. And listening to this book does not allow you to savor slowly his tremendous ability to describe things and people and a way of life - working in the cotton mills of Alabama - long gone. He rumbles on in his thick Southern baratone and there is no chance to read a section over again and draw out the pleasure.

In this book, Bragg alternates between chapters on his no-good father that are heart-breaking and chapters on his late-in-life fatherhood and the stepson he is trying to get used to. Those chapters, in Bragg's words, give the reader "a place to smile and breathe."

It is a wonderful book and a terrifc "listen." Bragg's voice slides over his beautiful language like honey over hot biscuits.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

Wordle! Not only is it fun to say, it's fun to use!

This site takes any collection of words -- a blog entry, an article, an entire book, or a single sentence -- and visualizes it into a "word cloud."

Here, I plugged in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. If there were any questions that Elizabeth is the hero of the story, I think they're squashed now.

After the cloud is generated, you can pick the font and color scheme you like, and then share your cloud with the world through the site's gallery, or just print it out for your own enjoyment.

So go, have fun! And if you're so inclined, come back and share your Wordles with us.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Whatever
        

I hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth of July weekend, and that the return to work isn't too jarring for you. Celebrating truth, justice and the American way (that means barbecuing, right?) is tons more fun than sitting in the office.

But don't let go of that patriotic fervor yet. I want to get back to our roots with a little comic book revival -- although for some of us, it's less revival and more of a revelation. Whether it's rifling through your old Marvel and DC comics, checking out that gorgeous graphic novel, or dragging your friends out to the dozens of comic adaptations that are popping up in theaters lately, it's clear that comic books aren't just kid stuff.

Speaking of kid stuff, whatever happened to the Saturday morning X-men cartoons? Talk about good role models for our youth! Much better than that soggy trilogy they unleashed on us at the movies recently. So join me in celebrating (or mocking) comics this week, whether you read them 20 years or 20 minutes ago.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Whatever
        

A Baltimore-bound convention for mystery writers -- which will feature Lawrence Block and Laura Lippman -- is taking heat from a hotel workers union. The Bouchercon gathering will be based at the Sheraton City Center, where workers and managers have been squabbling over a new contract since 2006. The union has pressed  for a boycott, and has been contacting convention attendees to ask that they not "sleep, meet or eat" at the hotel.

Convention organizers aren't budging. "We are not willing to break the law, dismiss contracts signed in good faith, or jeopardize Bouchercon to do this," says a statement on the convention blog. And Barbara Peters, who with husband Robert Rosenwald will receive a lifetime achievement award, charges the union with harrassment. She told me in an e-mail that union lobbying of attendees "cuts right to the heart of redefining Right to Privacy plus regulating the practices of labor unions who are aggressively seeking to claim or reclaim power. It is wonderfully ironic that the convention they are currently targeting is a gathering of crime and mystery writers, no? This stuff is meat and drink to us, not poison!"

Yolanda Carrington, a boycott organizer, says the union used the convention's publicly available online list of attendees to make contacts. "Nobody is using underhanded methods. ... We have not stolen information. We have not stalked people."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Bouchercon/Charmed to Death
        

Coming on Thursday:

Heart Full of Soul, by Taylor Hicks (Crown, $24.95). American Idol winner Hicks recounts his childhood, his passion for soul music and his years of playing to nearly nonexistent roadhouse audiences.

Killer Weekend, by Ridley Pearson (Putnam, $24.95). The best-selling author’s new thriller series begins with a weekend business conference at an Idaho resort and a sense of impending danger in the form of a threat on the life of a politician who’s about to announce her candidacy for U.S. president.

The Dark River: Book Two of the Fourth Realm, by John Twelve Hawks (Doubleday, $24.95). The Brethren continue to control civilization through a computerized information system, the Vast Machine, and a host of offshoot surveillance technologies.

Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise, by Kate DiCamillo, illustrations by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick, $12.99, ages 4 to 8). The glistening pig isn’t interested in learning about Halloween; and she becomes downright skeptical when Mrs. Watson shows her a pink princess dress she has purchased as a costume.

The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman (St. Martin’s/Dunne, $24.95). If a virulent virus — or even the Rapture — depopulated Earth overnight, how long before all trace of humankind vanished? That’s the provocative, and occasionally puckish, question posed in this imaginative hybrid of solid science reporting and morbid speculation.

Publisher’s Weekly and Amazon.com

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

A reader named Patrick noticed my column about blogging in today's Ideas section and sent a poem for Read Street. I probably would published it simply because it was from a book lover, but he also invoked the Boston Celtics, whose championship I am still savoring, and I was hooked. We all know the feelings that he writes about -- reading for duty vs. reading for joy.

Here's Patrick's intro: At a bookstore, a friend had stumbled onto a book about the Boston Celtics. Knowing I loved the team, he told me, "You should buy this." I heard myself respond, "Ah, I'd just read it." I was going through a lengthy period of buying books that were chores to finish. They were books I wanted to have read. Realizing how stupid I was not to buy a book that I would immediately sit down and read front to back, I wrote this poem.

BOOKSTORE EYES

My bookstore eyes are bigger than my brain.

They gravitate to gray tomes that explain,

with gnarled abstractions and legerdemain,

all that is known of the human terrain,

or would if my mind could make the words plain.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Whatever
        

Congratulations, Hokku Kireji! Your entry has won you this week's prize. I particularly enjoyed the invocation of our blog, which wasn't too over the top (see Dave's shameless pandering to the judge). As a bonus, I believe you'll find your haiku printed in the pages of The Sun in tomorrow's Ideas section.

You can now claim one of these tech-related books as your prize:

Leonard Susskind's The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics; Greg Melville's Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-oil-powered Car and a Cross-country Search for a Greener Future; Christian Lander's Stuff White People Like; or Fritjof Capra's The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance. Just e-mail me with your address, and the chosen tome is yours.

Man, book titles are getting long! Anyway, thanks for all of the inspired entries, and to those who weren't so lucky, fear not! Next week, (and hopefully every week hereafter) you could win your very own Read Street prize. No, I'm not above bribing you people to continue paying attention to us.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Whatever
        

A battle is brewing in Great Britain over publishers' plans to label children's books with "appropriate" age ratings, and opponents have been joined by a formidable author, J.K. Rowling. She signed an online petition of the No to Age Banding campaign, according to a story in the Guardian.

The petition argues that imposing such age recommendations is "ill-conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers and highly unlikely to make the slightest difference to sales." But publishers cite research suggesting that most consumers want the recommendations. Beginning this fall, book covers of participating publishers will bear a logo indicating they are suitable for readers aged 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen.

Some companies are exempt, and others are seeking guidance from their authors, the article says. Rowling's publisher, Bloomsbury, has no plans to introduce the labels, but has not ruled out the idea. What's next, R and PG-13?  

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Children
        

Don't get the wrong idea ... I'm not claiming ownership of the club. I wasn't even there when it was created by some members of Har Sinai congregation. My wife and I have been members for several years, though, joining friends every six weeks or so for great dinners and conversation about books with a Jewish theme.

Now Reading: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne

Liked a lot: The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud, Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon

Not so much: Heir to the Glimmering World, by Cynthia Ozick, God Knows, by Joseph Heller

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Book Clubs
        

The case of an Indiana teacher who got in trouble for assigning Freedom Writers Diary to her class is getting renewed attention these days. Connie Heermann of Perry Meridian High School bucked the wishes of the school board, which objected to the book's strong language, and was suspended earlier this year. Even though she had overwhelming support from parents of her students, and the book was available in the school library.

Now, thanks to a CNN report and a spirited defense by screemwriter and director Richard LaGravenese, who made the movie adaptation starring Hillary Swank, people are learning about the bureaucratic injustice and the clumsy classroom ban. Seems like school boards always step in it when they confront a controversial book, don't they? 

Freedom Writers photo from Paramount

As Independence Day nears, it's a good time to reflect on our freedoms. You won't find "freedom to read" in the Constitution, but it's vital for an informed nation. Yet we still endure challenges to books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Color Purple and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings -- all among the Top 10 Most Challenged Books last year, according to the American Library Association.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I'm going to do a Read Street first.

Today, I'm telling you to forget the books, and go see the fireworks.

Starting tonight, there are many activities throughout the area where you can enjoy the patriotic spirit around you, through music, food and of course a little light show. Charm City Moms has a list of family-friendly events, and for a more comprehensive list of all the goings-on, check out our events map.

As for after the Fourth, Ukazoo books holds its monthly Books 'N' Brunch on Saturday, which might be a nice way to unwind after the holiday hullabaloo.

(Yes, I just used the word "hullabaloo." Deal.)

And Wednesday, Lia Purpura, poet in residence at Loyola College, reads from her "King Baby" at the Johns Hopkins University book store in Charles Village.

For more bookish events, visit our Read Street calendar.

(Photo by katman1972 at stock.xchng)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Book It
        

Food writer Betsy Block has some recommendations for folks who appreciate both good food and good writing. At the National Public Radio site, she lists three favorites: An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, by Elizabeth David; The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, by Alice B. Toklas; and Alice, Let's Eat, by Calvin Trillin.

Haven't read the first two, but I'll swear by Trillin's book.  Though it's been years since I read it, I can recall a clever turn of phrase about eating Smithfield ham -- he said he was still thirsty from the last time he ate it. And when I drove my son from Baltimore to his new home in Denver, we scheduled our entire trip around a stop at a Trillin favorite: Arthur Bryant's barbecue restaurant in Kansas City.

Thinking about other food books, I came up with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Like Water for Chocolate and Chocolat. Hmmm, do I see a pattern? 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Recommended
        

Kimbooktu blogger Kim Heijdenrijk loves books and all the little gadgets that relate to them, so this week we're going to focus on the technology that makes your reading experience that much better.

"Almost all of the products I write about take my fancy, some of them stand out because of their usability or (unforeseen) message," she says. And so, here is her top five:

Book cataloging Web sites

"People see them as a fun way to catalogue their books, or to show other people what they own. I think every reader with a library of some sort should keep track of their books via one of these Web sites. This way, you can always see what you have. Or had, in case of a fire or flood. Cataloguing your books like this can be invaluable for insurance purposes."

The Book Stool

"I accidently bumped into it in a small Dutch bookstore. The idea is very simple and therefore very ingenious. The, quite cheap, stool is made from card board that can hold 200 kilograms. It comes in different designs, including one that has books all over it. You can use it for anything, but I use it in my library as a seat."

Bookish Christmas cards

"Not only are these cards very personal, since the people I know know me as the biggest bookworm they know. The titles displayed on the card might get them interested." 

A Book Pan

"It is a pan for baking cakes shaped like a book. How original! You can do so many things with it. Recreate someone’s favorite book from childhood, or make up a title that fits the occasion. To show you can do nice things with cake, click the following links to see my wedding cake." 

Not-so-nerdy librarian

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Check It Out
        

My favorite thing about writing for this blog is talking to cool people and finding cool stuff, and calling it research.

Kim Heijdenrijk is one of those cool people, and her blog, Kimbooktu, provided me with hours of fun, er, research. The site bills itself as a place for book gadgets, but you can find your new favorite book shelf, book-based art, books with a political spin and a Web site for your reading pleasure, that makes it look to the rest of the world (read: boss) that you're working hard for the money.

Not that I approve of such things, boss o' mine.

"The blog is a labor of love, even though some people think money has more value." Heijdenrijk says of her site. Instead of littering it with advertisements, she has included one Amazon banner, and when visitors buy something via Kimbooktu, she receives a small percentage. "The little money I make per year allows me to buy a couple of books that I cannot buy here in The Netherlands. This is more than enough for me."

And the inspiration for Kimbooktu? It was a love of what Heijdenrijk calls "book porn."

"I found it strange that there was no Web site containing book porn, as one of my readers described it. Bookish things to drool over, ‘gadgets for book lovers’ to lust for. In short: a candy store for book lovers," she says. "I decided to bring all of these products together on Kimbooktu. I never knew there were so many people like me."

Looking to the future, Heikdenrijk says she believes books will always have their place in the world.

"Reading is not only about the words you read. Reading is an experience. The opening of a book, is the opening of a new world," she explains. "You bring it with you. To the bedroom, the subway, a restaurant. It becomes your friend. When you turn the last page, you say goodbye and place it amongst your other books. To keep them company. One day you will pick it up again. The smell reminds you of days past. You look up that favorite quote. Find that special bookmark. How can any digital reading device beat that?"

Of course, Claude has spoken for some in defense of his Kindle -- and he's probably on the mark, since they consistently sell out on Amazon. But maybe there's room to co-exist.

And for that happy medium, stop by later in the day for Heijdenrijk's top five reading gadgets in this week's Check It Out.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

There's an interesting article in today's Washington Post about Shannon MacDonald, who has created a mini-magazine of book excerpts for Metro riders. Bit o' Lit, which made its debut in May, was born from her frustration at having nothing to read on her commute. For a small fee, publishers pay to have an excerpt included. The current issue includes bits o' The Story of Daniel Sawtelle and Grand New Party (they can also be read online.).

I admit that I'm a tad neurotic about previews, at least at movies. I'm the guy covering my eyes and ears, to avoid being exposed to punch lines and the entire plot (which seems to be the norm in previews). But I like this alternative. Would you read it? Or would you stick with your books, magazines and newspapers?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

While the Internet may be the future -- and some could argue it's also the present -- I say books aren't going anywhere!

For proof, look no further than sites such as PostSecret or Learning to Love You More. Both have spawned a publishing deal and found success beyond the computer, with  PostSecret at our very own AVAM until Aug. 31.

And in a nice touch of serendipity, my fellow blogger Susan Reimer has pointed out another Web-favorite-turned-tome in today's paper, Top Tips for Girls, which bills itself as an "ever-expanding bible of genuine advice." 

That isn't to say that all such translations work well.

Stuff White People Like, the book, hits stores today, and I wasn't entirely impressed.

(Full disclosure: I am a white person, and yes, I do love farmers markets. There's so much food! And pretty flowers! And puppies!)

While the Web site brags of the book's 50 percent more material, (including a White Person Taxonomy, to help clueless Caucasians name their bundles of joy) I found that I missed the often ridiculous comments that inevitably follow each bit of biting, and sometimes completely off-base, social commentary.

But perhaps I'm just expecting too much originality for what is essentially a remake.

If you're looking for a fun gift -- or you're a rabid one who must have everything associated with Christian Lander's site -- I say pick up a copy. It's funny, it's light and it's much less intimidating for an Internet newcomer than a C++ manual.

But if I had my choice of Webby books, I'd love a compilation of xkcd comics, with artist commentary. Or maybe I just want the guy to be my friend. He seems to know a lot about the coming raptor invasion.

So is there a Web site you'd like to see made into a book?

(Photo by woodsy at stock.xchng.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Whatever
        

Each of the three novellas in The Third Angel could stand alone, but the prolific Alice Hoffman, in this her 20th book, has deftly woven together the lives of three women in a family saga across three decades and against the backdrop of a haunted London hotel.

In the first story, it is 1999 and Maddy, a needy and jealous sibling, arrives in London and tries to undo her sister Allie's wedding by sleeping with Paul, the groom. She does not realize that it is Paul's illness that is keeping the reluctant Allie by his side, until, that is, Allie finds herself in love.

The second story takes place in the swinging London scene of 1966. Paul's mother is young Frieda, who rebels against her father's ambitious plans for her by running away to London to become a chambermaid and fall for a drug-addicted rocker.

It is Frieda's father, a country doctor, who tells her that there are, in fact, three angels, any one of which might be riding with him on his house calls: The Angel of Life, The Angel of Death and a third angel, who walks among us and changes our lives in ways we can't predict.

And in the final story, Maddy and Allie's mother Lucy is 12 years old, grieving for her dead mother and chafing at her father's new bride. She comes to London for her stepmother's sister's wedding in 1952 and inadvertantly plays messenger between doomed lovers.

Narrator Nancy Travis does a wonderful job of staying out of the way of Hoffman's skillfully woven narrative, so well constructed that the listener might want to actually read the book in order to track back and forth across time and the pages.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Audiobooks