Dave and I thought it would be fun to review a book after we'd both read it. His choice? The 2008 Man Booker Prize-winner The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, who just so happens to be a journalist, published at The Wall Street Journal and Time.

The story is narrated by an Indian "entrepreneur," Halwai. Halwai relates his story to the prime minister of China, writing to the man after hearing that he is visiting India. Halwai, a man from a lower caste, decides that the prime minister isn't going to learn the truth about India unless he hears it from Halwai himself. 

The catch? That company Halwai owns and operates was purchased with money he stole after murdering his employer.

So let's go beyond the obvious issue of a wanted man corresponding with the prime minister of China, in which he admits to his whole sordid crime. It'll make the rest of the book a lot easier to get through. But it does lead to my least favorite literary character: The unreliable narrator.

Sure it's fun, seeing exactly how many grains of salt a reader will swallow before the gig is up, and they reach for a refreshing new read. And following a madman into the darkness of his own soul can be plenty illuminating. But my problem with this guy is that he's not even charismatic. He's just a bore.

If it weren't for the fact that I'd promised Dave to read it, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first chapter. Halwai is self-important, self-involved, self-just-about-everything-you-can-think-of, and Adiga doesn't do a good enough job of explaining the setting without making me feel like a racist white girl. Is India really this backward, this segregated, this hopeless? Well, I don't know.

But I did finish the book, and to be fair, it got better. Halwai isn't completely unsympathetic, and the moral of the story -- that poverty leads to desperation -- is a good one. After driving a family of filthy rich men around the country, while seeing his rural countrymen dying in the mud, I can certainly understand the disdain and hatred Halwai lets loose in the first few pages. But how is anyone going to know that if they can't get past those first few pages?

Not everyone has a Dave to push them to the end. And now I eagerly await his verdict.

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reviews
        

I generally subscribe to this adage about sports books: The smaller the ball, the better the writing. There are lots of great books about golf and baseball, but few about basketball and bowling.

Where does that leave non-ball sports? Horseracing has produced winners such as Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit. Bike racing has Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike. Swimming? Uh, nothing springs to mind.

Seems Michael Phelps has a wide-open field for No Limits: The Will to Succeed. (Which originally had the working title Built to Succeed.)

So with the book due out Dec. 9, it's fair to consider this: Will you read it? Buy it as a gift? And for those who say yes, is that because he's a likeable local guy, raised in Rodgers Forge and returning to Baltimore, or because you want to learn his secret to Olympic gold?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Marylandia
        

If you haven't closely followed the comments in our discussion of annoying phrases, you may have missed some great examples of mangled English. Not surprisingly, many deal with medical terms, which are foreign to most folks.

Melanie, a medical secretary, offered these gems: It is always important to get an accurate diagnalysis. For instance, information in the lungs could be ammonia. Or you could have a torn spleen in your arm (I swear I’m not making this up). Your vaginacologist or occupedist will know for sure. You may need rehability to restore your equiliberty. I could go on and on ... . If you’re still laughing and choking, there is always the hemlock maneuver.

And Hank had this: A member of our golf group has had occasion to go to the St. Agnes Hospital Imaging Center for an MRI. Upon his return he told us of his experience at the Imaginary Center. We all felt better after that one.

Reminds me of an anecdote (NOT antidote, another misused word) from my friend Les, who is a doctor. After examining a patient with heart problems, Les recommended that the man stop eating red meat. A few weeks later, when the patient returned for a checkup, Les asked how the new diet was working. The patient's wife said it was a problem, because she had to cook his steaks a lot longer now -- to make sure they weren't red!

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

Just in time for holiday cocktail party chatter, we have The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive your mind, complete your education and converse confidently with the culturati.

David Kidder and Noah Oppenheim have produced this follow-up to their best-sellers, The Intellectual Devotional and The Intellectual Devotional American History.

The authors focus on Western Culture, covering artists, works, icons and consumer products...everything from the Slinky to War and Peace. Dividing their topics in to 3- to 5-minute segments, one for each day of the week, 52 weeks, these guys cover a lot of ground.

 Among the topics are Mozart, Freud, Cole Porter, the Beatles, Einstein, and flag-pole sitting! The only problem with listening to this book  is when they talk about paintings or sculture. You wish you could see the picture.

This is the perfect set of CDs for the driver with a short commute, or the one who drives the sports carpool.

And if the current economic tumult has you unwilling to listen to NPR, talk shows or radio news, this is the perfect antidote. And you'll be suprised at how much you don't know, or how much you've got wrong.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

The wait is nearly over for Michael Phelps fans who want an inside look at his incredible Olympics. His new book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed, will be released Dec. 9.

Publisher Simon & Schuster says the book ($26 list price) will provide "insights from the Beijing Games, the pool, and the team, giving readers an up-close view of Michael Phelps's record-breaking performance. Phelps also shares anecdotes about his family, his coach, his passion for the sport, and lessons learned from unexpected challenges and obstacles."

The 240-page book was written in a rush after the games by Alan Abrahamson, a former Los Angeles Times reporter who was part of NBC's Olympics team. 

If you want a signed copy, Phelps will be at the Inner Harbor Barnes & Noble on Dec. 13, starting at 12:30 p.m. If you can't wait that long, he'll have a publication-day signing at Barnes & Noble's store at 555 Fifth Avenue in New York. (On the store's events calendar, he's sandwiched between the Jonas Brothers and former President Jimmy Carter -- quite impressive company.)

For complete coverage of Phelps' performance in Beijing, including photos and video, click here. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Marylandia
        

I think it's safe to say that if you find yourself reading this blog, you have an affinity for books. Maybe you even have an affinity for journalists.

Well, lately I've discovered that my love of books and journalism often intersect. A few fantastic reads I've enjoyed recently include Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates, Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, Mary Roach's Stiff and Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle.

Books about the Puritans, the Western diet, cadavers and a dysfunctional family. What do they have in common? All written by journalists.

Baltimore itself can claim many of this breed of writer: H.L. Mencken, Stephen Hunter, Laura Lippman, Leon Uris, David Simon; and I'm sure I'm forgetting many that you'll remind me of soon enough.

Of course, they don't all change the world with their writings, like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein over here. But whether they're fleshing out their beat outside the constraints of a daily deadline, or simply letting their imaginations run wild in a work of fiction, it's entertaining and often enlightening.

(UPI photo)

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

This week's new books include: Cross Country by James Patterson (Little, Brown, $27.99) The home of Alex Cross’ oldest friend is turned into a horrific murder scene, and the destruction leads him to believe that he’s chasing a new breed of killer. As Alex and his girlfriend become entangled in the deadly Nigerian underworld of Washington, D.C., they discover a gang of  teens headed by a diabolical African warlord.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $27.99) Gladwell (The Tipping Point) once again proves masterful in a genre he essentially pioneered — the book that illuminates secret patterns behind everyday phenomena. His gift for spotting an intriguing mystery, luring the reader in, then gradually revealing his lessons in lucid prose, is on vivid display.

The Private Patient by P.D. James (Knopf, $25.95) In James’ 14th Adam Dalgliesh mystery, the charismatic police commander pursues the murder case of Rhoda Gradwyn, a 47-year-old journalist murdered soon after plastic surgery. And he knows the case may be his last.

Why We Suck by Denis Leary (Viking, $26.95) Dr. Denis Leary uses his common sense, and his biting and hilarious take on the world, to attack the politically correct, the hypocritical, the obese, the thin — basically everyone who takes themselves too seriously.

Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon by Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt Jr. (Knopf, $50) In honor of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, an extensively researched, lavishly illustrated consideration of the myths, memories and questions that arose in the years between his assassination and the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922.

Dying for Revenge by Eric Jerome Dickey (Dutton, $25.95) The third entry of the Gideon trilogy (after Waking with Enemies) offers intrigue, deception, murder and sex in exotic locales, with a noir sensibility and keen attention to setting. As killers pursue Gideon through London, Nashville, Atlanta and countless Caribbean beaches, Dickey’s detailed location descriptions give his over-the-top violence and sex a vivid, realistic grounding.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Lately we’ve been ranting about annoying words that clutter our speech and writing -- a discussion sparked by Oxford University research on the 10 Most Annoying Phrases. That list included the business-y "at the end of the day," the oxymoron "fairly unique," and redundancies such as "at this moment in time." To which I’d add "exact same."

Read Streeters' suggestions fell mainly into a few concise categories – damning evidence of the forces that shape the way we talk and write. Here’s a summary, with each commenter's name:

From business: "It is what it is" (Dave T), "low-hanging fruit" (matt), "on the radar" (Thomas), and "going forward" (Lauretta). The commenter Gorelick, who must be a marketing executive, had a tidy list of his own, including "what happens in...stays in...", variations on "priceless," and "this is not your grandfather’s or mother’s or father’s) bingo hall, knitting class, driving range, etc."

From sports: "He gave 110 percent" and "one game at a time" (Jenn), "take it to the next level" (Dave T), and "athleticism" (Sarah).

From politics: "my friend" and "truth be told" (Sunni), and "Joe the plumber" (J),

Syllable- and word-creep: "Synergize" and "incentivize" (Corinne), "actionable" (Thomas), "in order to" (Baltoreader), and "wide variety" (Erika), I’d add "gifted" and "tasked."

But the funniest suggestions were annoying phrases that are mangled or misused. Some examples: "It just doesn’t pass mustard" (Corinne), "massive Christian burial" (Jennifer), "I could care less" (Heather) and "for all intensive purposes" (aeb).

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (49)
Categories: Whatever
        

On the book page of Sunday's Baltimore Sun, you'll find Liz Atwood's review The Widows of Eastwick By John Updike (Knopf/320 pages/$24.95). Here's an excerpt from the review:

It’s been 30 years since the three witches haunted the sleepy town of Eastwick, R.I., under the tutelage of the devil incarnate, Darryl Van Horn. In their prime, the three divorcees teased lovers, taunted rivals, explored their sexual and mystical powers and lounged around in Horn’s hot tub. But even witches grow old. Do they still have what it takes to make magic?"

John Updike, one of America’s greatest living novelists, reprises the memorable characters from the Witches of Eastwick — Alexandra, Jane and Sukie — in this story about the need to cling to life in the face of deterioration and death. Updike has a knack of turning what might seem sophomoric tales into grander explorations of life’s greater truths, and he does so again here as the aging witches confront the loss of their powers.

While Widows is a sequel to Updike’s 1984 popular novel, readers need not have read the first to appreciate what has become of the once lusty and powerful trio. Each conjured up husbands and went their separate ways — Alexandra to the desert in New Mexico, Jane to Massachusetts and Sukie to Connecticut. Widows begins with Alexandra, the oldest and most earthy of the witches, who has recently lost her cowboy-potterer husband. ... 

Updike’s witches are not the sort found in MacBeth or The Blair Witch Project. The power of these witches is contained within aging and deteriorating bodies. Sabbats are held in the early evening rather than midnight so they can get to bed at a respectable hour. They don’t fly on brooms. Alexandra’s trips are limited because she must share a car with the others.

The frailty and futility of their efforts to reconvene the coven become clear when they try to resurrect their supernatural powers in a healing ceremony the night Jane had a tell-all X-ray. This time, they attempt to apply their powers for good: "Years ago, we grabbed what we wanted from the town and then left. Now we’ve returned to give something back," Alexandra says.

Updike’s description of how she prepares shows for the night is one of the high points of the book. With his artist’s eye he describes how Alexandra tries to conjure magic from the most mundane items, drawing a sacred circle with granules of Cascade, using a broom shaft as the door to the netherworld, lighting the scene with scented candles from the grocery store. The other two witches take such a light-hearted approach to the whole proceeding that the evening resembles a sorority initiation more than the healing ceremony it was supposed to be.

In the end, the ceremony fails to summon all of the magic the witches had hoped for. The three whom the town hated and feared, turn out to be old women who are vulnerable to age, illness and death. And yet while Updike makes the witches suffer, he does not strip them of all their power. While they not immortal, they are not without hope.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reviews
        

 If you've ever wanted to write a sonnet about your favorite album, now's your chance.

Well, actually, it's your chance to write a whole book about it. 33 1/3 Books is requesting proposals for future projects, to be published in 2010 and 2011. But be quick! The deadline for ideas is Dec. 31st.

The 33 1/3 series is simple: to write a book about a seminal album in musical history. Previous publications include Dusty Springfield, Radiohead, Joy Division, ABBA, Elvis Costello and Jeff Buckley.

For more details about how to submit your own proposal, visit the blog. And for the first time, you can actually submit more than one album for consideration.

So far, proposals include Yo La Tengo, Jefferson Airplane, The Zombies, Van Halen and The Fall.

Surprisingly, Fall Out Boy's book has yet to be written. I'm sure it's just an oversight, right? I mean, they've already published one on Celine Dion and Slayer!

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

Looking for something to do with the kids this weekend? The Enoch Pratt Free Library kicked off its "Children's Book Celebration -- Books Come Alive" with the Grinch (courtesy of the touring musical) yesterday at the Northwood Branch.

The celebration continues Saturday, from 10 to 3, with activities at the Central Branch. Among the highlights: at noon, there's storytime with Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld (hope it's not selections from David Simon's Homicide). At 12:30 p.m., Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Principal Percussionist Christopher Williams will provide a musical demonstration and readings including Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain and Anansi the Spider and the Moss-Covered Rock.

The Pratt Web site has details of all events downntown and at other branches.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore's Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winnning author who has chronicled the life of Martin Luther King, has  another career -- just in case the book thing doesn't work out. He (pictured on the right) and a couple of college bandmates have reunited to produce a new CD called The Blue Album, an homage to the Fab Four. The latest from Off Our Rocker will be released Monday, and judging from cuts available online, it ain't half bad, especially "You're Gonna Lose That Girl."

Here's a bit of the group's light-hearted promotion: "OverTime, their 2006 debut CD, has gone plastic to sell dozens of copies. ... Now the dream continues. Here is The Blue Album, your share of pure wannaBeatles zest and devotion." Other members of the group are Bill Guy, a retired attorney who has recorded Christian music, and John Yelverton, a real estate developer.

Photo by Diane Guy via the Off Our Rocker Web site

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Meet the Author
        

Can you think of anything better to do tonight than celebrate your First Amendment rights? Ignore the rain, and head out to Gallery 221 tonight at 7 p.m. The Speak Freely open mic event features performances by Ron Williams, Christine Stewart and Eric Goodman. And it's free, with refreshments! Although they wouldn't reject a donation or two.

Saturday afternoon, you can continue indulging your love of poetry at Ukazoo Books. The store is hosting a local poet showcase, including readings, discussion, a Q&A session and book signings. Meet Mark Bradley, Shirley Brewer, Lewis Bryant III, Katherine Cottle and Barbara Morrison.

Tuesday afternoon, you can meet local poet Gregg Mosson and author Elise Levine, whom Margaret Atwood named one of Canada's most important emerging writers. No pressure or anything. They'll be at the Cook Library at Towson University at 3:30 p.m.

Don't see something that interests you here? Not to worry, there are plenty of other bookish events in the area, just check out the Read Street calendar.

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Book It
        

 We all know my love of haikus. But of course, there's more to the world of poetry than counting syllables. 

If you want to explore more right here in Maryland, the Academy of American Poets, founded in 1934, knows exactly where to send you. For instance, did you know Dorothy Parker's remains were buried in Baltimore? Or that the University of Maryland's Department of Women's Studies hosts the poetry of Dickinson, Browning and St. Vincent Millay online for everyone to enjoy? There's a lot more to us than "The Raven."

So whether you're interested in finding new inspiration for your own poetry or discovering a new appreciation of the genre, just take a look at the world -- and the state -- around you.

(Photo by forwardcom at stock.xchng)

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Fellow book blogger Heather Johnson alerted me to a controversy about bloggers who post tough reviews -- and get hammered. It all started when a blogger dissed a self-published author's book, and got a snide, anonymous comment, as well as threats of legal action for posting an excerpt and the book's cover.

Outraged bloggers offer strong defenses -- for two examples, try The Book Lady and Both Eyes. Some even say they do not post negative reviews, to avoid offending anyone.

I agree that any author who puts his/her work out in the public has to expect some heat. You win some, you lose some. And authors should deal with criticism gracefully. No picking fights with well-meaning reviewers.

I haven't blogged long enough to know whether self-published authors are more volatile about criticism. But every election we have a similar debate within the newsroom about covering independent, self-financed candidates. They demand the same attention as the Democratic and Republican candidates, and criticize us for not providing it.

Unfortunately, bloggers have to expect some heat too -- it comes with being a critic -- and I think it's wrong to pull punches on a review. After working as a reporter and editor -- and getting pressure from Republicans and Democrats, developers, activists and athletes -- it doesn't faze me. But it must be tough for folks who blog out of a simple love of reading. I feel for them. I'd hate to see the kind of vitriol spewed in political blogs find its way to book blogs.

I also feel for the bloggers who face legal threats, and aren't backed by company lawyers. But  bloggers are safe using small excerpts to make a point in a review -- that's a fair use of the material. (Consider how Google excerpts copyrighted newspaper stories every day for its news summaries.) I'm less certain about the issue of using cover art (and this is not a legal opinion), but I'd say that an author who sends a book out for review has to expect that the cover art could be used, so that would be protected, too.

Of course, it wouldn't be right for a blogger (or anyone else) to make T-shirts or coffee mugs from cover art without permission. And it would be problematic if a blogger got hold of a book (say, the latest Harry Potter) before publication and used escerpts or the art. Those could infringe on the publisher's property rights,

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

Great news for the folks in Baltimore who maintain the memory of Edgar Allan Poe. Today, the Mystery Writers of America named the local Edgar Allan Poe Society and the Poe House as the 2009 recipients of the organization's Raven Award.

The award, to be presented at an April awards dinner in New York, is for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing, the MWA said. Among past recipients of the award are the Library of Congress, Center for the Book, and President Bill Clinton.

According to MWA's President Harlan Coben, choosing the Poe Society and Poe House is doubly appropriate: "Not only does 2009 mark the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday, but Mystery Writers of America has long-considered Poe a patron saint. In fact, the Raven Award, itself, is named after Poe's famous poem, and our Edgar® Awards -- or 'Edgars,' as they're more popularly known -- are awarded annually to authors of distinguished work."

"The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore is especially proud to receive the honor of the Raven Award during the bicentennial of Poe's birth," Jeffrey Savoye, secretary/treasurer of the nonprofit, all-volunteer Poe Society, said in an MWA news release. "Generally, we have been quietly carrying out our mission since 1923, promoting the best information available about Poe's life and works. It is gratifying to find that, occasionally, our efforts do not go unrecognized."

Poe House curator Jeff Jerome added,  "I’m honored beyond words to be chosen for such a prestigious award. For 30 years I’ve been aggressively promoting the life and works of Eddie and this award has validated these efforts. The first thing I’m planning to do after receiving this award is to visit the Poe Grave and share it with Eddie."

As Coben noted, 2009 will be a huge Poe year. with a events planned by Baltimore's tourism group and the Poe House. Of course, Read Street will keepe you posted about all things Poe. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Edgar Allan Poe
        

I recently had the pleasure to trade a few e-mails with Maryland's Poet Laureate Michael S. Glaser. He's held the position since 2004, and he has spent the years traveling the state, teaching the love of poetry, both his own and others.

Glaser is the author of A Lover's Eye, In the Men's Room and Other Poems, Being a Father and Fire Before the Hands. You can sample some of his poetry at his Web page on the St. Mary's College of Maryland site.

So what does an award-winning poet read? Glaser names his favorites, "William Stafford, Lucille Clifton, Mary Oliver, Derek Walcott, Hafiz and Rumi, Naomi Nye, Denise Levertov, Langston Hughes, Li-Young Lee - ah but there are hundreds and with every day and every mood my favorite poets and favorite poems change!"

I had planned to write up an entry as I usually do, but -- shockingly enough -- I feel the man's words come across much more powerfully without my help. For more information about poetry in Maryland, read on.

"What draws me most profoundly to poetry is that, for me, good poetry is invitational -- it invites thoughtful and engaged contemplation and conversation, and in that way it can even become transformational. I try to honor that by structuring my talks and readings in a way that enables people to listen carefully, reflect and then to participate in a discussion of the ideas and feelings that the poems they have been listening to evoked.

"I think that all arts are similarly invitational, but poetry is the form that best suits me because I find that to write poetry is to engage in one of the most personal and profound acts of freedom I know. Each and every choice one makes in writing a poem requires a deep sense of personal integrity. When it is all working, reading or writing good poetry engages me in the life of the moral imagination, and that is an experience that I aim for and treasure.

"There are similar experiences in all art forms (and I would define "art form" broadly, for engaging in, living/loving life fully and intensely is an art form to be sure!). For me personally, however, poetry helps me live with a sense of wonder. It helps me stay connected to the sacred otherness of the world in which I live and the sentient people and things with whom I share life on this fragile planet.

"As I have travelled around the state, I have found a genuine hunger among many people for the kinds of engaged, humane thinking and authentic use of language that poetry both invites and offers. The opportunity to talk with others, to share my favorite poems and poets with them ... the opportunity to engage with Marylanders, both young and old in thinking about the blessings and choices our lives offer us has been for me a tremendous privileged and honor.

"My term as State Poet Laureate is soon ending ... and the governor has appointed a committee to determine who the next Poet Laureate of Maryland will be (more information can be found on the Web Page of the Maryland State Arts Council.) My work as a writer and speaker and workshop leader will, of course continue, but I do look forward to a less intense schedule and more time to focus on the great joy I get from being deeply engaged in my own writing."

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Check It Out
        

Wally Lamb's first two novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much is True, were huge sellers, thanks to Oprah's book club. It took Lamb a decade to create The Hour I First Believed, which was released this week. His book tour was scheduled to start yesterday at the University of Connecticut (he's a huge Husky basketball fan -- just like me). Here's an excerpt from an interview with Publishers Weekly; click here for the complete version.

PW: Your original deadline was 2004. Were you worried when that deadline was approaching? Lamb: The first year was spent spinning my wheels. As the approaching deadline neared, the story had taken hold but I knew I had a lot of work ahead. ... I hadn’t meant to get involved in teaching at Connecticut's York Correctional Institution for women and later editing my incarcerated students’ stories for publication. But as much as that robbed time and energy from me, it also aided the novel. 

PW: Do you still teach that writing workshop? Lamb: I’m still very much involved in the workshop. ... I’ve never been involved with writers who have been so enthusiastic and involved in creating and revising their work. I didn’t know that the women would give me more of an education than I was giving them. As I was reacting to their writing, they would give me feedback to the chunks of chapters I would bring in.

At the same time I was reacting to a school shooting that had happened in Paducah, Kentucky. A cousin of mine had two daughters at that school and I began to think about how people could survive that experience. ... I didn’t feel like I could fictionalize this story. I felt like I had to interface my characters with the real characters of Columbine. I hope that I’ve done it responsibly so it doesn’t cause more suffering.

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

Later this year, I'm heading to Paris to visit my daughter, who is (in a manner of speaking) studying there for a semester. On any vacation, I like to read books about the area and its people, and visit sites with literary connections,

So I'm seeking recommendations from Read Streeters. I'm reading Gregor Dallas' Metro Stop Paris, which discusses Parisian history and culture through links to routes and stops on the Metro. Some of the links are very tenuous, but it has whetted my appetite.  

What books about France should I pack in my suitcase? If you know any interesting bookstores, or places with rich literary history, include them, too. I've read a lot about the city's literary cafes, but wonder whether they are too mobbed with loud, camera-toting  American tourists (oh, wait, that would include me).

p.s. Recommendations for choclatiers and patisseries are also welcome.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Zap2it.com, a Web site that reviews and previews your favorite television shows and movies, has released a list of the 16 sexiest writers on television.

The list includes Californication's Hank Moody, 30 Rock's Liz Lemon and of course Carrie Bradshaw.

And in case you don't recognize the blonde bombshell in the picture, that's Smallville's Chloe Sullivan.

But I was surprised at the characters the list left out: The West Wing's Sam Seaborne, the title characters from The New Adventures of Lois and Clark, and what about Rome's Gaius Maecenas? I wouldn't throw him out of bed for eating dormouse. (Sorry, that was a little Latin class humor.)

Anyway, what do you think? Any television writers you'd love to write you a sonnet or two?

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Among the comments on our TGIF -- annoying phrases list, Jenn blew the whistle on athletes' cliches. Her complaint: "I also hate when people, particularly athletes and guests on "Maury," go above the figure of 100% in talking about their efforts or their certainty that they are, in fact, not the father. You can't physically give more than 100%. You can't give 200% or 110%, you can only give 100%!!"

I'm with you 110%, Jenn. Here are a few more football phrases I hate:

Physicality -- as Todd Heap, shown here, said Sunday "In the first half we didn't [play with] the physicality we wanted."

Seasoned veteran

Smash-mouth football

Throw the football (as opposed to what, a cat?) 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Whatever
        

When I was in middle school, my mom gave me a book titled One Hundred and One Famous Poems, compiled by Roy J. Cook. It's the most boring-looking book I've ever seen, and actually goes to show that (sometimes) you can't judge a book by its cover.

Before I opened it up, I never really thought much about poetry, but afterward I fell in love with the works of Longfellow, Whitman, Dickinson and especially William Cullen Bryant's Thanatopsis.

I feel most of the poetry that speaks to me today is accompanied by music. Which makes me wonder what poets a modern anthology would include. Just self-described poets? How about spoken-word artists, rappers, songwriters? What would you include in your own anthology?

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Barack Obama is the hottest name in publishing. On the weekend after he became the country's first black president-elect, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father, ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, according to the Associated Press.

Both hardcover and paperback editions of Audacity of Hope were out of stock Sunday on Amazon. Sales are up even in Arizona, home state of his opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Demand also has surged for Change We Can Believe In, a collection of Obama's speeches and policy proposals that had been selling modestly; for Barack Obama in His Own Words and for such works about him as Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope, a children's book by Nikki Grimes, and Robert Kuttner's Obama's Challenge, a call for a sweeping, progressive economic agenda.

In other campaign-related book news, Politico reported that Richard Wolffe, who covered the presidential election for Newsweek, will write a book called Renegade: The Education of Barack Obama for the Crown imprint of Random House. The book is scheduled to come out in June 2009, and will include material from Wolffe's campaign reporting and interviews with Obama and members of his inner circle

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

This week's new books include: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (HarperCollins, $29.95). While his wife fights to recover from a horrific crime, a schoolteacher discovers a cache of old diaries, letters and newspaper clippings that reveal his family’s dark past.

You: Being Beautiful by Dr. Michael F. Roizen and Dr. Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press, $26.95). This follow-up to Roizen and Oz’s best-seller, You: Staying Young, targets three dimensions of beauty: looking beautiful, feeling beautiful and being beautiful.

Just After Sunset by Stephen King (Scribner, $28). This collection of 13 tales shows King molding the themes and set pieces of horror and suspense fiction into nuanced blends of fantasy and psychological realism.

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck (Threshold, $19.99). A warm and poignant tale of family, faith and forgiveness that offers us a glimpse of our own lives.

Call Me Ted by Ted Turner with Bill Burke (Grand Central, $30). Entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner tells his life’s story.

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card (Tor, $25.95). In the wake of his victory over the alien Formics, 12-year-old military genius Ender Wiggins is hailed as a hero, but governments that trained him intend to portray him as a monster.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison (Knopf, $23.95). Acts of mercy may have unforeseen consequences as we learn in this story of a plantation slave in Maryland who gives up her daughter to a relatively humane northern adventurer.

Rickles Letters by Don Rickles (Simon & Schuster, $25). The comedian spouts off to celebrities, living and dead.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Occasionally we'll bring you posts by Oline Cogdill, who reviews mysteries for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and other newspapers. Here's her take on Charlaine Harris and the red hot Southern Vampire books: 

As a critic, it is always rewarding to see an author whose work you’ve admired reach a level they deserve. As a reader and fan – and yes, I consider myself both – it’s equally rewarding to know that others share your enthusiasm for an author.

For the past couple of years, Charlaine Harris has been getting the attention she’s long deserved. And this year, the HBO series True Blood based on her Sookie Stackhouse series opened a whole new fan base for this author. ... In person, Harris is gregarious with a quick wit and an easy Southern accent. As a writer, she never fails to entertain.

I discovered Harris with her novel Shakespeare's Landlord (1996), her first Lily Bard novel. Lily Bard is a house cleaner and crime survivor who lives a solitary life in a small town. Her tenacity, her determination and the way the author shaped the character rang a bell with me. I then quickly moved on to Harris’ novels about Aurora Teagarden, a librarian with an interest in true crime literature.

Both these series were terrific but it’s when Harris branched out and created her own sub-genre in mysteries -- the Southern Vampire Mystery -- that her books really took off. Dead Until Dark, the first Sookie Stackhouse novel, was published in 2001 and won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery. Set in Louisiana, it had a regional perspective, a lot of humor, a bit of eroticism and a plot that while included violence was really more cozy than horror.

In her novels, vampires have come out, so to speak, thanks to a synthetic blood manufactured in Japan. But not everyone is so accepting of vampires who have been know to, well, be vampires. Sookie Stackhouse, however, is sympathetic. She’s a waitress in a small town and, because of her ability to read minds, she knows what it’s like to be different.

Harris’ novels re-imagined as a series has become a perfect fit for HBO, with Sookie Stackhouse played by Oscar-winner Anna Paquin and the executive producer Alan Ball, who created the hit Six Feet Under and won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1999 film American Beauty. True Blood airs Sunday nights on HBO with numerous encores.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

 I want to start by saying I REALLY hate clowns. So receiving mail with a big scary clown doing a Mona Lisa impression is not the best way to endear me.

Luckily, William P. Tandy has refreshing writers with good stories on his side. But for my sanity, Tandy, please avoid the evil clown faces in the future.

Personal highlights from this issue include a collection of vignettes detailing the life and times of a Baltimore bartender, an unholy rat jihad, a haunting piece of poetry courtesy of Susan Beverly and a treatise on football that will make any diehard fan reconsider their disdain for the comic-book geeks in their life. Benn Ray's got your number, No. 1 Ravens Fan.

Curious about this zine thing I keep blathering about? Share your own mini-story about Charm City with us, and get a chance to win one for free. Sure, they only cost $3, but I know how much you guys like winning stuff.

Dave and I will pick the best story and send the zine your way.

Anecdotes including scary-big rats, hons and similarly only-in-Baltimore run-ins encouraged to apply. And I apologize for the clown -- I'll try to avoid such illustrations in the future.

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Reviews
        

Last Sunday’s quiz on Baltimore’s literary heritage generated very few incorrect answers -- the most stumbles came on questions 3 (pictured here) and 5. Folks around here really know their authors. And as we mentioned earlier, we'll send a new book to all who submitted answers.

Commenter Sally Lemmon noted that she’s a cousin to Dashiell Hammett. She wrote: He used to bring his grandmother (Old Mrs. Dashiell as we called her) down to visit. My mother used to say Dashiell was the "thinnest man" she ever knew!

Thanks again to the University of Baltimore’s Literary Heritage Project for supplying much of the quiz information. We’re already dreaming up new quizzes; if you have ideas, let us know. The answers:

1. Dashiell Hammett, whose works include The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, was a Pinkerton investigator here. His base was the Continental Trust Building, from which he derived the name of his detective, the Continental Op.

2. Edgar Allan Poe’s literary fortunes improved after he won a $50 prize for “MS Found in a Bottle.”

3. John Dos Passos wrote the U.S.A. trilogy: The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money.

4. F. Scott Fitzgerald came here to seek help for his troubled wife, Zelda. He was the great grand-nephew of Francis Scott Key, who wrote our national anthem.

5. W.E.B. DuBois, author of The Souls of Black Folks, helped found the NAACP. But even as the organization fought for integration, he sought to establish strong African-American institutions.

6. After leaving Johns Hopkins medical school, Gertrude Stein befriended great artists as an ex-pat in Paris. Her friendship with the Cone sisters led to their bequest to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

7. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s expose of the meat-packing industry, helped earn him the nickname “King of the Muckrakers.”

8. H.L. Mencken, the great social critic, was a longtime columnist and editor for the Sun newspapers.

9. Ogden Nash’s light-hearted and fanciful poems have delighted children and adults for decades.

10. Edith Hamilton’s books include Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Earlier this week, I asked CityLit Project's Executive Director Gregg Wilhelm to provide some advice for navigating the publishing world once they'd finished their masterpiece. Here's what he had to say: 

A few years ago, I created a presentation titled " 'The End' Is only the Beginning." I was constantly amazed how writers -- after spending weeks, months, years creating their literary art -- would so blindly cast their manuscript into the publishing winds without knowing the first thing about the business of which they so desperately wanted to become a part.

I was equally amazed at their level of expectations, which were almost always unreasonably high: author tours to all 700 Barnes & Nobles, best-seller lists, guest stints on Oprah.

The trick to a successful writing career, and perhaps any successful career in the arts, is an ability to flip the switch in your head from introverted artist to extraverted salesperson. I'm not talking some plaid-clad car-lot huckster, but someone with a modicum of public-speaking and public-reading skill. The days are gone when a writer like J.D. Salinger could mail in his manuscripts and remain a hermit in New Hampshire (Thomas Pynchon is the only writer who seems to get away with it today). Bottomline, we artists need to engage and entertain our audiences.

Therefore, to prepare writers for the world of publishing, I created a "publishing matrix" as part of the presentation. It explores the four basic ways writers can get published -- subsidy press, self-publishing, independent publisher, or large publishing house -- and compares them across four categories: business model, target audience, the writer's role when it comes to having editorial and design say, the likelihood of chain-store distribution, the money picture, and the level of involvement on the author's part regarding publicity and promotion. A case can be made for any of these four ways to get published, as long as a writer has a set expectation for what she want to get out of the experience.

Feel free to e-mail me (gregg@citylitproject.org) and I'll gladly send you a PDF copy of the matrix.

Flipping the switch is not an easy thing to do, and flipping it back and forth during the creative process is rarely wise. So, my advice to writers is to get the writing done first. Writing is hard enough and, after all, if your art is sub-par the marketplace won't be interested in it. Network, take workshops, go to conferences, READ WELL (a secret to good writing is smart reading), but don't worry about query letters, how many sample chapters are enough to submit and scouring the Association of Authors Representatives Web site until you are truly ready to make the leap.

Today, nearly 300,000 new books are published each year (that’s NEW books, not to mention the perennial classics that still command marketplace dollars and bookshelf real estate). Remember that for fiction -- after years of writing, perhaps months finding the right agent or press, at least 12 months in the production process -- a typical novel has just six weeks to sink or swim. I read in Poets & Writers magazine that only about 20 authors really make their living from writing books (King, Grisham, Brown, Roberts, etc.). Most writers are teachers, freelancers, lawyers or doctors, pumpers of gas or slingers of hash. So keep the day job, carry a pad and pen on you at all times, and steal moments from life's busy pace to write everyday.

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

This Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, Anne E. Carroll reviews Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners by Laura Claridge (Random House / 525 pages / $30). Here's an excerpt from her review:

As a young woman, Emily Post experienced the pros and cons of media attention. On the one hand, the society pages lovingly detailed her attendance at dinners and dances. But on the other, when her husband was caught in an extramarital affair, that, too, was in the news — including on the front page of her hometown paper, The Baltimore Sun. This is just one of the complex realities of Post’s life recounted in  Claridge’s new biography, the first of its kind about the woman who would set the standards for etiquette. ...

Claridge shows her to be a positive and provocative role model for today’s women, given that she struggled with the same questions of purpose — and of balancing her career and her family — that still trouble us. ... [Claridge] offers a rich description of the social developments of the times, arguing that understanding American culture offers a way to understand Post’s mind and the expectations placed upon her.

The reverse also is true: Post’s achievements and writing offer a window through which we can better understand the changes that took place during the decades of her life. Through Post’s eyes — and particularly through her efforts to keep current with social trends so that she could revise Etiquette accordingly — we learn about the Gilded Age, the early 20th century and later developments, particularly changing gender roles and expectations for women. ...

Post’s early impression of etiquette as being only about such mundane questions as which fork to use when at formal dinners made her initially reluctant to write about it. She warmed to the subject only as she came to understand it not as a series of rigid rules governing behavior but as a dynamic system that, if mastered, could allow its practitioners to rise in society. To her, then, it was a subject with profoundly democratic implications.

This book is not an easy or a light read; it includes 445 pages of text, nearly 40 pages of notes and an extensive bibliography. It’s an immensely researched work that straddles the line between academic and popular nonfiction. But readers will find themselves rewarded with fascinating insights into the times through which Emily Post guided us.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

We didn't want folks at Saturday's Baltimore Writers Conference to be hunting for a yellow, pear-shaped cartoon character as they tried to track down keynote speaker Larry Doyle for an autograph.

So here's a photo of Doyle, a former Simpsons writer/producer whose novel I Love You, Beth Cooper won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Doyle's holding his award, presented last month in New York. And thanks to the Read Streeters who helped Doyle figure out the theme of his speech.

The Thurber Award news release noted that Doyle is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and has a monthly column in Esquire. I Love You, Beth Cooper, loosely based on his teen years in suburban Chicago, was adapted for a movie starring Hayden Panettiere.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

My friend Steve Stinson, whose poetry is immortalized on Read Street, alerted me to an Oxford research project listing the 10 Most Annoying Phrases. Researchers monitor books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the Internet and other sources to find overused and misused words.

I commend them for highlighting the inane "at the end of the day," a business phrase that has seeped into everyday conversation. But they missed one that grates on my ears: exact same. What other phrases make your Top 10?

1. At the end of the day

2. Fairly unique

3. I personally

4. At this moment in time

5. With all due respect

6. Absolutely

7. It's a nightmare

8. Shouldn't of

9. 24/7

10. It's not rocket science

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Whatever
        

Charles Colley's first novel, as you read yesterday, has been a long time coming. And the first thing you'll notice while reading it is that he knows every inch of his characters, for good and bad. Every paragraph, while sometimes a bit too Dickensian in detail for my taste, is used to surround the 3-dimensional characters within it -- with love, with tragedy, with vindication.

I won't pretend to understand World War I-era Baltimore very well, but Colley has mastered the trick of time travel. I fell in love with his Baltimore, feeling just a touch of nostalgia and then pride in my city. I walked away with a new appreciation for Charm City and its inhabitants.

Likewise, I'm no expert on the experience of growing old, but following the tortured protagonists Jesse and Jim throughout their lives, you start to feel the wear of the ages. The story centers around these two, as Jim twists his life around to accomodate the love of his life, Jesse. She spends her life helping everyone she can, sometimes to the detriment of her life with her husband, and all the while fighting the ghostly voices she hears in her head and the unexplainable visions that become all-too real.

Eventually, Jim has to help his wife be rid of these voices once and for all, and in attempting to save her he may have to sacrifice his own sanity, or life.

I'm not sure if it's simply a side effect of growing up with a family of storytellers, or the familial basis of the events, but Colley never holds his characters at arm's length -- you know exactly where they're coming from and why. It's refreshing to see an author who doesn't fall into the trap of writing with such an air of detachment that the reader may be thrown out of the story altogether.

It's no surprise that I'm a fan of the more supernatural themes, as long as they're used as a vehicle and not a gimmick. Colley succeeds in using the ghost story to showcase the relationships in his novel, not to overpower the story with fancy tricks and deus ex machina.

There is drama, conflict, suffering and redemption, with no quick fixes for any involved. It feels real, and for any book that delves into the otherworldly, that is indeed impressive.

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Reviews
        

The Nov. 5 editions of The Baltimore Sun, New York Times, Washington Post and other newspapers have turned into overnight collectors items, as folks scramble for a memento of Barack Obama's historic victory. The Sun, like many other U.S. newspapers, sold put its original press run and had to print thousands more on Wednesday to meet demand. One woman waiting to buy a copy today said she was going to put it away for 30 years, to give to her grand-daughter.

Here at Read Street, we want to share the wealth. We'll give away a copy of that historic edition of the Sun. Just post a comment -- in 50 words or less -- on what Obama's victory means to you and/or the nation.

Nancy and I will pick a winner on Monday, and someone willl get a nice piece of history. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

In case you missed it amid the Obama-mania, the Taste section reviewed three new cookbooks that offer solutions for time-starved cooks. Here's an excerpt from Jill Rosen's review of More Fast Food My Way by Jacques Pepin, Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver and The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri:

Pepin, the gourmand, vows everything in his book is fast and easy. Oliver, the spiky-haired U.K. chef known for laid-back cooking, says he really means it this time with Jamie at Home. Even Malgieri, bound by the science of baking, swears The Modern Baker will save people so much time they’ll want to bake every day.

Pepin, reached by phone in New York where he was recently promoting his book, thinks his latest volume will appeal to anyone who wants fresh, nice food “without working too much.” Homemade, he says, is overrated. ...

More Fast Food My Way isn’t particularly pretty. No one will ooh and ahh about the photography or the utilitarian design. Pepin also repeatedly turns to certain ingredients — anchovies appear in at least eight recipes.

For style, turn to Oliver’s book. Each of the 400-plus pages is filled with great photography and festive, colorfully presented information — even the index has pizazz. That said, Oliver’s no Pepin when it comes to fast and easy. Though Oliver introduces Jamie at Home saying, “It’s about no-nonsense, simple cooking,” more than a few of the recipes have ingredient lists that stretch down the page, many of which call for imprecise and rather nonsensical measurements, such as a “good knob” of butter or a “small wineglass of white wine.” ...

Malgieri, a pastry chef whose previous cookbooks have won a number of prestigious awards, knows how to boil what could be complicated instructions into clear steps. The Modern Baker isn’t necessarily a beginner’s cookbook. It’s a book for cooks who want to bake, but without unnecessary, old-fashioned steps. Malgieri includes some time-saving tips, but mainly it’s his clarity that will spare readers headaches.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reviews
        

Blame my night job.

After spending an incredibly exhilirating -- and incredibly exhausting -- evening/early morning in the newsroom, I slept through most of the day and failed to write my review of local author Charles Colley's slightly creepy, lovingly crafted and uniquely Baltimorean Sisterbaby's Monkey.

So tomorrow, I will share my thoughts on this new piece of Baltimore culture. For now, I leave you with Colley's story, best expressed by the author himself. Take heed, budding authors: Here's a man who had a dream and worked until it came into fruition, on his own terms. How's that for inspirational?

Some folks ask how it feels to be a 20-year overnight writing success.  Others, and I can see it in their eyes, though they’d never say it out loud, wonder why I kept trying, why I didn’t just let it go, after all the heartache, all the fights with my wife when the money was gone, great piles of it, gone because I was holed up writing instead of going back into business, doing what I should have been doing, hoeing that row, toeing that line, doing what was expected of me. I’m not saying I was right to do it.  I’m saying I had no choice.  If you are a writer or an avid reader, you may know what I mean.  It’s a disease.

I have written many novels and none has meant more to me than the first, Sisterbaby’s Monkey, because, while a true fiction, it is grounded in my own family, their history, and the stories that I grew up hearing.  When I was 12 and my sister was 10, our mother contracted cancer that ultimately killed her by the time I was fifteen.  During that time, I replaced her at her manual typewriter, editing my father’s attempts at fiction writing, using the white out bottle until I had to retype the entire page.  I typed hundreds of pages, helping in his attempt to get published, which never happened.  I was bit by writing’s bug back then, infected for a lifetime, hoping I might do what all those novels did for me while she lay dying downstairs.  Reading fiction distracted me from life so totally, that when I lay the book down, I was surprised I was still lying in my bed in the attic, reading with a flashlight until dawn, my fears and sadness closeted for a time.

After our mom was gone, our grandparents showed up most days as we got off the school bus in Timonium.  Nana put a good dinner on the table and caught up the laundry.  They both tried hard to get us past the tears and wailing that always let go, once we were back home.  Their lives were tough, and the characters in Sisterbaby’s Monkey reflect that; my Nana, her true name, Jesse, like the book, as a child sweat shop worker at Clipper Mill in Hampden, my JoJoe as a little bull, carrying hundred pound sacks of coffee beans, one in each hand, up and then down four flights of stairs to the roasting machine in an old pile of bricks along Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. 

They had no skills to help us through our grief.  All they had were their own stories.  They sat me and my sister down in those days and weeks following mom’s funeral, and told us of their early times in Baltimore together, during World War I when they dated and all the years afterward as they aged together.  Uncle George in the Navy during the Great War.  JoJoe installing direct current electricity in his mom’s home, the first on the block to get it.  His grandfather, killed by his own men outside Frederick during the Civil War, the Flu Epidemic after World War I that killed so many in Baltimore and across the globe. Nana feeding the bums off the back porch during the Depression. Aunt Alice and her polio. Listening to the short wave radio during World War II, and calling folks all across America, to tell them that their loved ones were alive, their names read aloud on POW or wounded lists. Not happy stories, but enthralling, everyone with a message of determination, of right conquering wrong, of patience winning out, and, above all, The Golden Rule, and Keeping Your Promise No Matter What.  That is what Sisterbaby’s Monkey is ultimately about, when you get past the ghosts and the voices, the Great War, murder, and a Baltimore that is no more.

Those stories, coupled with our father’s, shaped my outlook on life, got me through that grief, bonded me to those old people, who, in Nana’s words, ‘were ever 18 on the inside no matter what story the mirror told’.  When JoJoe passed at the hospital, during a snowstorm when Nana was unable to visit him one last time, even though they had never been apart in over 60 years of marriage, my father and I were determined that she not stay alone in her home the rest of her days.

A convent down the road from our first horse farm in Long Green Valley had been changed into an old folks’ retirement home and we pushed her to visit there.  She wasn’t buying, saying that JoJoe was in her home, in the wood floor that he had laid with his own hands, in the shade of the red brick that she had picked for their new home in 1950, in the azaleas and flowers that he planted just for her.  They had saved all through the Depression and World War II for that house and he was in there, talking to her from every corner, even though he was gone.

I was saddened at her decision, made as soon as we got in the car to carry her back home.  I went to bed that night and dreamed the novel, twenty long years ago. Though I was not Catholic, there was the ghost of a nun driving the tale, there was the convent as it might have been, long ago.  There were Jesse and Jim, morphed from my grandparents into Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy in the next night’s dream.  I began handwriting this dream, so vivid upon my retinas, so complete in my memory, like no other dream I had ever experienced.  The characters evolved with the writing, the excitement grew, I was outside myself somehow.  I wanted to tell Nana about the dream but I could not, so I asked her for more stories, all that she could give.

They’re in there, most of them, and if not, they will be in subsequent tales of Jesse Mayo and Jim McPherson.  The twenty years, from then until now, saw endless rejections from agents and publishers, but, so what?  I’m here and the story is better than it ever was, because of all the others that got writ while this one percolated, refusing to go cold, like the hot bags of coffee ground only an hour before, that I retrieved from JoJoe’s old top coat pocket, each Wednesday when he and Nana visited our Northwood row house for spaghetti.

Please visit my Web site at www.charlescolley.com. Read some sample pages, send me a blurb if you like it. Ask for it anywhere books are sold and help an old guy get famous!  I’m determined to print all the recommendations that everyone sends me-on the site, in the book, on the cover, however I can, to prove that readers’ opinions matter more than critics, more than other writers.  As soon as Sisterbaby’s Monkey  is selling well, all the rest of my novels, mentioned at the back of the book, will be printed.

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Nothing like a presidential election win to increase book sales. Barack Obama's historic victory has given another boost to his million-selling books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope, the Associated Press reports.

Both books were in the top 25 on Amazon.com's best-seller list early today, soon after he beat John McCain to become the first black president-elect. Dreams, a memoir released in the 1990s, and Audacity, a reflection on politics that came out in 2006, have far outsold any of the anti-Obama books that came out last summer.

One sobering fact on the Amazon.com list: The No. 1 book at the time of Obama's victory was I.O.U.S.A.: One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt, by Addison Wiggin and Kate Incontrera.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

CNN and Entertainment Tonight report that award-winning author Michael Crichton has died after a little-known battle with cancer.

The prolific writer, (Jurassic Park, Congo, The Andromeda Strain) producer, (ER) and medical doctor was 66.

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In Spirit of Place / Baltimore’s Favorite Spaces by Sarah Achenbach and Bill McAllen (Charm City Publishing / 132 pages / $29.95) Baltimoreans describe their favorite places in the city. The feelings of Greg Otto, Laura Lippman, Bill Struever and others are captured in essays and in McAllen’s photographs. 

Toni Morrison's A Mercy,  (Knopf / 176 pages / $23.95)  shows that kind acts may have unforeseen consequences. This is the story of a Maryland slave who gives up her daughter to a humane northern adventurer.

Tom Jones, the Baltimore-born former astronaut, has co-authored Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System (National Geographic / 224 pages / $35). He and planetary geologist Ellen Stofan pair images of Earth with scenes from NASA’s robotic probes.

The Stranger Comes at Sundown by Jane Kriete Awalt (Rio Grande Books / 202 pages / $17.95), chronicles the trials in handling her husband Bob's worsening Parkinson's Disease. Awalt, who lives at Oak Crest in Baltimore County, wrote a journal about the end of his life; the book also contains resources for families. Proceeds go to the Johns Hopkins Parkinson's Desease and Movement Disorders Center.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Here are the answers to Sunday's quiz on Baltimore’s literary heritage (a fuller description will come Sunday on The Baltimore Sun's book page and on Read Street).

Those who have been watching comments know that there were very few wrong answers. Impressive! Couldn't even stump you on an author who was an authority on Greek mythology.

As a reward, we’ll send a new book to all who submitted answers.

The answers: 1. Dashiell Hammett (pictured here) 2. Edgar Allan Poe 3. John Dos Passos 4. F. Scott Fitzgerald (and great grand-uncle Francis Scott Key) 5. W.E.B. DuBois 6. Gertrude Stein 7. Upton Sinclair 8. H.L. Mencken 9. Ogden Nash 10. Edith Hamilton

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

So you did it! You chose your candidates, you voted on your issues, and now, if you're a news junkie like me, you're waiting around for those returns.

But with this historic election, why sit on the couch with your cat? Go celebrate with a few likeminded -- and by this I mean bookish -- neighbors.

 I've gotten word that Red Canoe is extending its hours for booklovers to linger over their Zeke's coffee and celebrate or commiserate, depending on your political leanings. Atomic Books regulars can watch returns with the Mobtown Shank at Hon Bar tonight. 

And the Towson branch of the Baltimore County library is hosting an election night discussion with the Johns Hopkins University political science professor Matthew Crenson.

You have any other Election Night plans? Let us know!

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Whatever
        

Ever wanted to advise a well-known writer? Here's your chance! Former Simpsons writer Larry Doyle, whose book I Love You, Beth Cooper recently won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor, is speaking at the Baltimore Writers Conference. We asked him for a guest column, and as you'll see, he's seeking some guidance. His post:

As anybody who has been following the news knows, I will be giving the keynote address at the 17th annual Baltimore Writers’ Conference in Towson this Saturday. I will be speaking on a vital and fascinating topic, and I, for one, am dying to find out what it is.

At this point all I know for sure is that the speech should have something to do with writing, although I’m not going to hold myself to that. There might be something interesting in the newspaper that morning that I may wish to read aloud, or something I heard on the radio on the way over, or failing that, I may just riff on the physical appearance of the person introducing me.

I want to assure the organizers of the 17th annual Baltimore Writers’ Conference, who may be concerned that I haven’t written a word of, or even given a thought to, their keynote address, that this is simply part of my process. And if there is one thing we can all agree on, you have to respect the process. At least that’s what I’m always told by movie producers when bad things are happening.

Some writers, as Nancy Johnston noted last week, are bleeders, who pour everything onto the page with the ease of opening a vein. And others are ekers, who worry words into dead perfection. I am neither. My process is this: I never do anything unless and until I absolutely have to. For example, I am still writing this post as you are reading it, so please don’t scroll down too fast.

This may not make me a typical writer, but it does make me a typical worker. I am the American Worker, so much so I’m a little surprised I was not part of the McCain campaign.

Anyway, my point is, I am taking suggestions.

Submit your ideas and questions below, and I’ll either steal them for my speech, or I’ll address them during the question period afterwards, when, by tradition, nobody ever asks any questions. The only question I won’t be answering is “You don’t seem that funny; how did you get to write for The Simpsons?” because I’ve already answered it, in the afterward of the paperback of my book,  and I get a dollar-fifty if you buy one.

And please, make your suggestions as thoughtful and witty as possible. This is a very important speech. Don't make me look bad.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

In the 1950s, legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow asked well-known Americans to share their essential beliefs in a short statement for a radio program he called, "This I Believe."

In 2005, National Public Radio revived the series, asking Americans - well known and not well known - to state their core beliefs in 500 words. This is the second collection of those essays to be released on CD, each one read by the author, something that gives them incredible power.

We hear the pain in the voice of the woman who has lived alone and faithfully to a husband who was sent to prison 38 years ago, just after they married. We hear the determination in the voice of a young woman who still blames herself for not getting involved when she and all her neighbors knew a father was abusing his children and one of those children died at the man's hand. Now, she says, she believes in sticking her nose in where others think it does not belong.

But there there is also the self-involved and workaholic attorney who believes his chocolate lab taught him to open his life to others and to love.

Just as compelling and deeply thoughtful as these 75 essays are the opening remarks of producer Jay Allison, who makes an uplifting case for the courage and goodness of the American heart at a time in our country when we might doubt it.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

I should have seen this coming. Whenever Brad Pitt gets involved with a project, the whole world pays attention.

And so, ahead of the Christmas Day opening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The Movie, we get The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel.

Now, I knew going into it that Fitzgerald has Baltimore ties. But I didn't know this little tale was actually set in 20th-century Baltimore.

With every throwaway line about Charles and Monroe streets and Mount Vernon Place, I got a little thrill. This must be what's its like for Manhattanites whenever they go to a movie.

I read this in one sitting, and it was absolutely charming. I really appreciate it not only for the creativity -- which ties the fantastical so closely to reality -- but also for the flexibility it shows on the part of Fitzgerald. There wasn't a jazzman or boozy flapper in sight.

The origins of the short story, as explained in the afterword by Donald G. Sheehy, a professor of English, lie in a Mark Twain quote.

“This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain’s to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end,” Fitzgerald once explained. So, his short story follows the life of a man born elderly, who grows increasingly younger throughout his life.

Button himself is highly sympathetic, due largely to Fitzgerald's skill. Button is increasingly isolated from everyone around him, and yet proves himself to be the most highly adapted person in the tale. He finds himself shunned and embraced by nearly everyone in his strangely unfolding life, and as the reader, it makes you explore your own feelings on age more acutely.

Apparently Fitzgerald was quite excited about the prospect of this fantasy genre. Unfortunately, it never really caught on in his lifetime, and so works like Benjamin Button were largely left unnoticed. Until Hollywood rediscovered it, of course.

Of course, I think you should go out and buy this gorgeous work of art right now. But if you want to experience the story without the graphic filter, you will find all 11 chapters here, thanks to the University of Virginia's American Studies department. Enjoy!

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reviews
        

This week's new books include: Divine Justice by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $26.99). John Carr, alias "Oliver Stone," is the most wanted man in America. The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U.S. government to unleash a massive manhunt.

My Word Is My Bond by Sir Roger Moore (Collins, $27.95). Moore offers his memoir and a treasure trove of Hollywood history.

Midnight by Sister Souljah (Atria, $26.95). A young Sudanese immigrant struggles to hold onto his traditional values while growing up on New York’s meanest streets.

Paula Deen’s Kitchen Wisdom and Recipe Journal by Paula Deen (Simon & Schuster, $18.95). Deen offers tried-and-true recipes and tricks for getting out of culinary scrapes.

Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb (Putnam, $25.95). Detective Eve Dallas pieces together the clues in the mysterious death of an East Harlem priest.

Born Country: My Life in Alabama: How Faith, Family, and Music Brought Me Home by Randy Owen (HarperOne, $25.95). Randy Owen shares stories about life on the road with the legendary band Alabama.

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton (Ballantine, $26). A faerie princess is about to bear heirs and ascend the throne of her aunt, but enemies await.

Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra (HarperOne, $24.95). Deepak Chopra captures the extraordinary life of Jesus.

Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript by Bob Dylan and Barry Feinstein (Simon & Schuster, $30). Bob Dylan’s work from the 1960s was inspired by renowned photographer Barry Feinstein’s portraits of Tinseltown.

Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands (Doubleday, $35). Focusing on FDR’s formative years, this biography looks at his willingness to champion the concerns of the poor and disenfranchised.

Jesus Is My All in All: Praying with the "Saint of Calcutta" by Mother Teresa (Doubleday Religion, $9.95). 100,000 copies.

The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever by Frank Gifford (HarperCollins, $25.95). Marking the 50th anniversary of "The Greatest Game Ever Played," New York Giants Hall of Famer and longtime television analyst Frank Gifford provides an inside-the-helmet account.

Recipes for the Good Life by Patti LaBelle (Karen Hunter Publishing, $25). Author, singer, actress Patti LaBelle dishes up more than 100 new recipes.

Amazon.com; Publisher’s Weekly

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

 In September, Wired magazine profiled my dream library. It has jewel-studded books, movie paraphanalia, historical and prehistorical tidbits and gadgets from space.

And an atlast from the 17th-century!

The lucky man who gets to luxuriate in these treasures? Mr. Jay Walker, an Internet entrepreneur responsible for a little thing called Priceline.com.

I wonder if he ever lets William Shatner explore this maze-like wonderland?

So if there's anyone out there who wants to bankroll the Nancy Johnston Library, let me know. Well, it's good to have goals, right?

(Photo courtesy of wired.com)

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Last week, we posted a short quiz on Baltimore’s literary heritage; today we’re expanding it. Answer in a comment and you'll be entered in a book drawing (you don’t need a perfect score to win). Thanks to the University of Baltimore’s Literary Heritage Project, which provided information for some questions. We'll post the answers here on Tuesday.

1. He learned about dirty deeds as a Pinkerton investigator here and wrote his best-selling detective novels, in a distinctive sparse, clipped prose.

2. A failure at West Point and the University of Virginia, his fortunes began to turn when he won a $50 prize in a short story contest in Baltimore.

3. His trilogy, which mixed fictional characters with real-life newsmakers, sought to define America as it flexed its muscles in the early 20th Century.

4. Moving here to help a troubled wife, he continued the writings that made him a symbol of the Jazz Age. His great-granduncle was a famous poet (name him for bonus).

5. He gained fame for exposing racism’s impact and helped found the NAACP. But after moving to Baltimore, he broke with the organization over the issue of integration.

6. Disenchanted with medical school at Johns Hopkins, she went to Paris to write and hobnob with ground-breaking artists.

7. This Baltimore-born writer was famous for piercing investigations of industries such as oil and food, and advocated for the common worker.

8. The social commentary of this cigar-smoking, beer-drinking writer, who joked about the “booboisie,” was often aimed at religious and political leaders.

9. He was a poet for the people, writing humorous verse about husbands and children, cows and dogs.  

10. While headmistress of the Bryn Mawr School, she wrote the book on Greek mythology. But to relax, she really enjoyed reading mystery novels.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Marylandia
        

A few of you may have noticed a strange acronym that keeps popping up on the 'nets lately: NaNoWriMo. It stands for "National Novel Writing Month," and it's a good excuse for all you closet and not-so-closet writers to let your inner Dickens out.

The premise is simple: write a 50,000-word, 175-page novel from Nov. 1st to the 30th.

In the words of my favorite high school English teacher, Mrs. Jones, there are two types of writers out there. There are the "bleeders," who tend to write and write, with a bit of editing while they go, but mostly just letting their words spill onto the page, uninhibited. Then there are the "ekers," who agonize over every phrase, planning and plotting the whole way, seeking perfection before anyone else can skim the masterpiece.

NaNoWriMo is an ingenious way to force everyone into bleeder status, if only for a month.

As their Web site explains:

The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

And with the advent of the blogosphere, it's never been easier to metaphorically put pen to paper. With sites such as livejournal, blogger and tumblr  -- to name a very few -- you can create a free Web site and a fanbase the same day you write your first sentence.

So this month, I encourage you -- get out and write!

Posted by Nancy Johnston at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

This Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, you'll find a review of Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein, (Yale University Press/224 pages/$22). Here's a review excerpt:

Fred Astaire, writes Joseph Epstein, the veteran critic and essayist, "was the very model ... of the democratic dandy, itself an innovative figure." ... Astaire’s career is full of paradoxes like these. Born in 1899 in Omaha, Neb., to a struggling immigrant Austrian father (he was born Frederick Austerlitz II), he had a rougher childhood than the self-consciously proletarian Gene Kelly, on the road with his mother and sister while his father sent what support he could.

Yet he grew up to dress like, and hobnob with, European royalty — and befriend horse jockeys as well — while playing a classic American regular guy. ... Astaire’s singing voice was no better, by the standards of the time, than his looks, but, Epstein writes, he changed popular-singing style from operatic to intimate, and "added a touch of eastern seaboard upper class to the proceedings."

Astaire never claimed to be more than a popular entertainer, but "the great dancers and choreographers of the 20th century all agreed on Fred Astaire’s brilliance." What made all this possible? Epstein refuses to call Astaire a genius, but Thomas Edison’s definition of it fits Astaire: "1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." ...

Perceptive and subtle as Epstein always is, he admits that analyzing Astaire’s inspiration is like trying to analyze magic, but he does his considerable best. "The root and base" of Astaire’s talent, Epstein writes, "... was an astonishing feeling for rhythm. ... Because Fred Astaire heard the music better than anyone else, he danced better to it than anyone else."

And the entertainment world was moving his way. Movie musicals were changing from the mass choreography of Busby Berkeley (skewered once and for all by Mel Brooks’ rotating swastika in the original Producers) to a close-up style that favored Astaire’s kind of dancing. And he sang with such precision and expressiveness that the great generation of American songwriters — Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, the Gershwins — loved to work with him.

Epstein’s strengths show best when he explains why Astaire achieved immortality with Rogers, whom he doesn’t seem to have liked much, instead of with better dancers like Rita Hayworth, Eleanor Powell or Cyd Charisse. ... Besides having the perfect size build, and age for Astaire, Rogers had the perfect screen personality for him. "She was a beautiful doll," wrote Sheilah Graham, "who looked innocent and very happy." She fit Astaire’s dancing, which is, as Epstein says, "energetic, joyous, honest delight."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)