The Johns Hopkins University Press will hold its annual public sale Thursday (3/26), offering books for $3 per pound. The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Glass Pavilion, next to Levering Hall on the Homewood campus.

I'd like to give you a preview of the books, but the sale is open to Hopkins students, faculty and alums today, so there's no telling what leftovers will survive.

Bring your shopping cart, pack mule or pickup truck. See you there!

Sale proceeds go to the Johns Hopkins University Press Staff Development Fund to underwrite professional development activities for Press employees. For more information, click here or call 410.516.6900.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Unlike some other works, the roughly 40 short stories are just as delectable read with your ears as they are with your eyes, and are guaranteed to keep you laughing even in the midst of rush-hour traffic.

Titles available from (among other sources) the Enoch Pratt Free Library are Carry On Jeeves, Very Good Jeeves and The Code of the Woosters.

The stories almost all concern Jeeves' efforts to extract his employer, Bertie Wooster, from romantic entanglements and scrapes with the law. Bertie is a good-hearted, dim-witted member of the British idle class with a seemingly endless income, making him easy prey.   

The delights of these audio books are threefold. Wodehouse is the kind of author who works extremely hard to make his prose slide down without apparent effort.  A few choice examples:

"He was white and shaken, like a dry martini."

"Proceed, old gargoyle -- you have our ear."

"He had the look of an ostrich that had swallowed a door knob."

The second great pleasure of reading Wodehouse is of the frivolous world he creates of England in the Roaring Twenties. It is a world of maximum leisure and minimum responsibility, a world in which wearing a black tux to dinner instead of white tie and tails was considered dressing down. It's a world where fashionable young gentleman rarely stepped outside their front doors before noon, and where the ultimate hardship is holing up in a luxury hotel without the ministrations of one's personal valet.

Knowing what was coming -- i.e., World War II -- you might not want to live in that England. But it sure is fun to visit.

Many of the Jeeves books are narrated by Alexander Spencer, who, with his light, plummy voice and gift for understatement, makes an ideal Bertie.

What, ho. 

Posted by Mary McCauley at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

I ask the question after re-reading more than 325 comments posted about the Stephen King/Stephenie Meyer fan-feud. Many are teeming with misspellings, the sort that grate on the soul.

I've made my peace with those common in texting and Twittering: u, cant, ur, omg, lol, idk. Others are counter-culture spellings -- lyfe, skilllz, etc. -- that impart a certain edginess. I can live with them, too.

But I still wince at the uncaring construction of words: arguements, dimond, jelous, pshychatic, accusitions, audiance, critizizm. One commenter, invoking the First Amendment, noted that everyone "has a write to his opinion." Another, referring to vampire lore, wrote about driving "a steak through the heart."

Colleague John McIntyre has noted on his You Don't Say blog that the English language has always been resistant to rule-making: "The first thing to remember is that English was created by illiterates. Peasants who ripped apart respectable Anglo-Saxon and turned it into some ungodly goulash mixed with Norman French and Latin. English has been lifting promiscuously from other languages ever since, and its mongrel nature makes its spelling a dog’s breakfast."

Describing David Wolman's book, Righting the Mother Tongue, McIntyre continues: "The multitude of efforts to simplify English spelling, some by solitary cranks, others by societies of notables, have gone nowhere, and probably never will. ... The Internet, [Wolman] speculates, with its millions of writers, professional and amateur, wielding and transforming the language, may be as hugely transformative as those generations of Anglo-Saxon peasants who laid the foundation of modern English."

The question for us all: How much slippage can we tolerate? I get ticked off every time I drive home and see the misspelled road sign: Marbelhead Road. But there are larger issues at hand than the misguided public works department. Will all writing someday slip soundlessly into a weird sort of Internet dialect: i mist u 4eva!!!!!!!! Or will we be subjected to a mash of misspellings: King is jelous becuz Meyer took his audiance; he shudnt b critizicing. Or -- shudder -- both.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (55)
        

OK, Amazon. You win.

Remember me? I’m that reviewer who panned your original Kindle. "Poor design," I said. "What do you mean I have to pay $10 for an e-book?" I whined, and "Why can’t I keep track of my progress through a text on this thing?"

Well, you took a design lesson from Apple. The Kindle2, which hit the market several weeks ago, is sleek, lightweight and easy to hold. Those buttons that used to run down the entire edge of the device are now limited to a few inches, so clumsy individuals such as myself are less likely to skip through untold pages and become completely lost.

That USB cable doubling as a power adapter was an especially nice touch. There’s nothing I hate more than opening up my latest piece of technology and finding enough wires to truss up my loved ones. (Not that I would ever do such a thing.)

And don’t think I haven’t noticed that I can read for days without having to recharge the device — even longer if I turn off the wireless mode.

The Kindle2 cover is even less bulky, fitting more naturally in my hand.

The 16 levels of gray scale make the screen clearer. While I do miss color pictures, the new Kindle application for iPhone and iPod Touch can provide my fix. Syncing the application and the Kindle so that I can start and stop reading on either device? Well done, Amazon.

I was especially happy to see that those silly little dots were gone at the bottom of the screen, which were supposed to let me know how far along I was in the book. While Kindle2 still has a status bar, the addition of a number to tell me what percentage of the text I’m through helps me keep track of the progress of a story.

Buying books and periodicals is simple and quick — maybe a little too simple and quick for impulse readers like me. And including access to Wikipedia and the New Oxford American Dictionary makes me a happy little nerd.

The selection of books available still leaves a lot to be desired, though. And Google’s announcement last week that it’s delivering 500,000 free e-books for the Sony reader must have hurt a bit. Don’t get me wrong, Kindle’s 245,000 titles, mostly new and popular, are nothing to sneeze at; but all those free texts Sony is offering, many of them old classics? That would have been a nice addition.

Nonetheless, your e-books are getting cheaper, and the editing is greatly improved, though there were still a few repeated lines that shouldn’t have gotten past your editors.

I’m still not entirely happy with no touch screen, but maybe the e-ink technology isn’t compatible. I’ll buy that, for now.

But at $359, would it have killed you to include a reading light? Bottom line, this won’t be replacing my bookshelf any time soon.

Call me old-fashioned, but I like the book in my hand, and I know I’ll actually find all the titles I’m looking for in their original form. But as a travel companion, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather bring to work or play.

(Photo by lusi on stockxchng)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

More darkness in the sad legacy of Sylvia Plath. Her son, Nicholas Hughes, killed himself on March 16 -- 46 years after his mother committed suicide and almost 40 years to the day after his stepmother did the same, according to the AP. Hughes, who was 47 and was a professor of marine biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, had battled depression, his sister said.

Nicholas Hughes was only 9 months old when his parents, Plath and poet Ted Hughes, separated, and still an infant when his mother died in February 1963, the AP said. A few months earlier, she had written of Nicholas: "You are the one/Solid the spaces lean on, envious/You are the baby in the barn."

Plath, of course, was famous for her novel The Bell Jar, which told of a suicidal young woman, and through the "Ariel" poems. I read her novel in college in the early 1970s, as part of a course in feminism -- the  movement was really gathering steam at the time. It was a tumultuous period in America (this hardly seems like the same America sometimes) and I remember Plath's work for helping to expose a rather sheltered teen to the complexities, difficult choices and darkened corners of the world.

More from the AP: The immediate cause of [the Plath/Hughes] breakup was Hughes' affair with Assia Wevill, and Plath's fame would long haunt her husband, hounded for years by women who believed he was responsible for her suicide and by a procession of scholars and fans obsessed with the brief, impassioned and tragic marriage between the two poets.

Ted Hughes would relive the tragedy not only through the constant reminders of Plath, but also through the suicide of Wevill, his second wife, who in March 1969 killed herself and their 4-year-old daughter.

Hughes, England's poet laureate, was reluctant to discuss Plath until near the end of his life when he published the best-selling "Birthday Letters," a collection of deeply personal poems that came out in 1998. He died of cancer the same year.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Obituaries
        

Among this week's new releases is The Long Fall (Riverhead, $25.95) by Walter Mosley. He introduces us to ex-boxer, hard drinker Leonid McGill, an old-school private eye in New York; here's an interview from Barnes & Noble. That may be hard for fans of his Easy Rawlins books, but Mosley isn't looking back. At last fall's appearance at the Baltimore Book Festival, he had some advice for those folks: Go back and re-read your Rawlins favorites. Also out this week:

True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine, $27) Rivals and half-brothers Moses Reed and Aaron Fox try to crack the case of a missing student.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi, Volume I by Aaron Allston (Del Ray, $27) Luke Skywalker is arrested for failing to prevent Jacen Solo’s turn to the dark side. But it’s only the first blow in an anti-Jedi backlash.

The Skinny On Losing Weight Without Being Hungry (Broadway, $24.95) Weight-loss specialist Dr. Louis Aronne shares the diet plan that has worked so well for his many patients.

Pursuit by Karen Robards (Putnam, $24.95) Rookie lawyer Jessica Ford is the only survivor of a car crash that kills the first lady, and she worries that the crash was no accident.

The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist (Bantam, $26) Awakening from a fevered delirium, Celeste Temple finds herself in a fishing village on the remote Iron Coast. She and her travel companions are soon launched into a quest that will draw them one by one into a realm of reckless, lawless terror.

Publishers Weekly; amazon.com

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

You have my official Kindle 2 review to look forward to tomorrow, but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek now.

Basically, this is a story of love and redemption, and me eating crow.

While I maintain that the original Kindle was horribly designed and I didn't miss it one minute after it had been sent back to Amazon, Kindle 2 has broken my anti-technology spirit.

How much did I love it? I've already ordered one for myself.

Kindle 2 is smaller, lighter and, well, prettier than its predecessor. Amazon has more titles that interest me, as well as periodicals -- although I'm still not paying for blogs that I can already read from my home computer, work computer and iPhone.

And while I don't dive into the text-to-speech hullabaloo in my review, I will say here that it is pretty disturbing. Especially if you have it read aloud any passage from Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. There's something about a disembodied robot voice talking about bras and drug overdoses that just creeps me out.

So Dave and I are now officially at odds. I see many posts in the future, me pegged as the heretic bookhater, him as the anti-progress luddite. But either way, I'm standing my ground on this one: You are wrong, Mr. Rosenthal.

Oh, and Claude, let me know if you want to have a Kindle playdate sometime.

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

Recently on Read Street, we’ve discussed a topic dear to my heart (and stomach): Baltimore’s best places to eat and read. I developed the habit in my years as a reporter, traveling around the mid-Atlantic and beyond. When you have to eat by yourself, there’s nothing better than a good book to shake that sense of alone-ness.

You need the right restaurant, one that’s not too noisy, not too dark, not too rushed. The food must be right, too -- one-handed food (pizza) is good; two-handed food (burrito) is bad. 

When the stars are aligned, it’s a great way to pass time. What could be better than pairing The Flaneur with steak frites at Marie Louise, the new Mt. Vernon bistro? Or A Passage to India with a plate of chicken korma at Cafe Spice in Towson? Let me know if you have other favorite "Eat-N-Read" spots.

Here’s what some readers have recommended:

I always found Mick O’Shea’s between two and four on weekdays to be a good atmosphere for undisturbed reading. Three, maybe four people in the whole place ... music is at a comfortably non-distracting level, and no one bothers you. — WP Tandy

With one side of its dining area sheathed in floor-to-ceiling windows, The Northstar Bistro (1417 Thames) gives perfect light for reading. ... Great MX: lively yet undominant. Plus, free Wi-Fi. — LauravilleMom

The Towson Library! ... Get a coffee drink and one of Jay’s mom’s homemade cupcakes at the connected coffee bar (’Spro), and take it to the quiet lounge. Best of all, the reading material is free. — Paula

Baltimore Coffee & Tea, especially the new shops in Annapolis and Frederick. Most of my reading (including books) is online, so the free internet access is great. ... The only drawback is they are bustling in the early a.m., so I shoot to stop by late morning and clock in some time between meetings. — Triple L

The Red Canoe in Lauraville. A savory muffin, something warm to drink, and a seat by the front window make me very happy. -- Bonnie

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

The Baltimore Sun's newest blog, Garden Variety, started last week, and today contributor Susan Reimer (yes, the erstwhile Read Street audiobook reviewer) discusses gardening books. Here's an excerpt -- check out her blog for the complete post:

Tracy DiSabato-Aust ... has taught me, and a great many other gardeners, how to keep gardens looking sharp and well-cared for. She’s the author of The Well-Designed Mixed Garden and The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, which is the best-selling title under the Timber publishing imprint and widely considered the bible of perennial maintenance.

She’s taken a different tack with her latest book, 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants. All the plants are show-stoppers, but they have another advantage. They have passed Tracy’s test for toughness, beauty and durability. These are plants for the busy gardener who doesn’t have time for staking or heavy fertilizing, wants lots of blooms and doesn’t need anything that has to be babied through a hot August.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, read a review of Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (And Redeeming Promise) Of Our Country by William Greider. Here's an excerpt from the review by Glenn C. Altschuler, a professor of American Studies at Cornell University:

For decades, William Greider acknowledges, he has played the role of Cassandra, "warning of dire economic consequences ahead and being mostly ignored." ... In Come Home, America, (Rodale / 328 pages / $25.95) Greider reprises his critique of corporate and finance capitalism and proposes new structures for the shattered economy. By turns informative and impractical, provocative and polemical, the book at its best asks tough and timely questions about the relationship among government, public purposes and private corporations. ...

Greider calls for a "popular formation" of citizens committed to confronting politicians "with tough demands and nagging intrusions." If it acquires the requisite scale and skills, he suggests, the formation just might force them to reduce defense spending in the United States to the combined total of the 10 next-biggest military powers. This "modest" proposal, he points out, would cut the Pentagon’s budget by about $180 billion.

Greider is equally apoplectic about the disastrous impact of globalization on American workers. Lower prices for goods, he insists, do not come close to compensating for the devastating losses in jobs, wages and national wealth. Trade deficits make the gross domestic product $1.5 trillion smaller. And the hundreds of billions in debt held by China (and other "emerging" countries) will surely come back to bite us.

In the context of a worldwide recession, alas, Greider’s proposed solutions seem unworkable.

Capping U.S. trade deficits through a general emergency tariff authorized under the charter of the World Trade Organization would almost certainly lead to a disastrous tariff war. A corporate income tax tied to adherence to "standards that promote the public good" and/or how much "value added production remains at home versus how much moved abroad" would be difficult to enforce — and is equally likely to result in retaliation from countries intent on protecting their own industrial sectors. ...

And so Greider is doing what he does best: the work of Cassandra. He’s helping ordinary Americans understand what they need to know about those who hold power. He’s challenging them to do something about it, even though he knows that, in all likelihood, "nothing much" will happen. And he’s deriving satisfaction from the role he plays "in keeping unsanctioned ideas alive for the next generation, passing them forward to whoever inherits the democratic faith."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Reviews
        

With the continuing economic meltdown, many families are rethinking vacation plans. Author Susan H. Magsamen, who lives in Hunt Valley, has some tips for economical travel. In a book released this week, The 10 Best of Everything Families: An Ultimate Guide to Travel, she offers lists on topics including children's museums, family reunions and extreme adventures. Magsamen, who will sign copies of her book at Greetings & Readings in Hunt Valley from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, spoke with The Baltimore Sun's Michelle Deal-Zimmerman about family travel. An excerpt:
 

With the recession, families are having a hard time affording travel. What are your best tips for doing it on the cheap?
Find things that are really close to you. What is the natural habitat in your area? What are the regional specialties? What are the foods that define your area? You start to get a better idea of who you are and where you live.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle's holey, colorful children's book marks its 40th birthday (anniversary?) today. It was always a favorite with my children, who enjoyed the colors, the counting and the story itself. Anyone who has read it knows the joy of watching a child grasp for the illustrations, following the track of the caterpillar by worming little fingers through the holes in the fruits.

Carle's masterpiece has sold more than 29 million copies and been translated into 47 languages. It continues to sell about 650,000 copies a year.

Carle, 79, told USA Today that his original idea was A Week With Willi Worm, featuring a green bookworm that grew fatter and fatter. It ended with a lament: "Poor Willi." When his editor objected, they played around with other posssibilities, before Carle hit on the ending: a butterfly "It became a story about hope," Carle said. "This little, fat ugly thing ends up flying into the world as a beautiful butterfly."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

So, while it's ever so much fun to regale you with what I'm reading, I think it's way past time that I start sharing the spotlight. So I'm creating a new weekly tradition: Freebie Friday.

The concept is simple: You tell me what you're reading, how you're liking it (and why), and then one of you gets a free book. I know, I know, I'm too kind.

Since this is the first week, I'll go ahead and continue my own sharing, but from now on, these posts are all about you guys.

I'm in the middle of The Good Thief, by Hanna Tinti. I've been looking forward to this one for about six months now, and so far I haven't been disappointed. Tinti's channeling some hardcore Charles Dickens, as the story follows a young one-handed orphan boy and his misadventures with a slew of characters. The only difference? It's set in 19th-century New England.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of Dickens: He tends to ramble in many different directions, and while I'm the type of reader always watching out for hidden meanings, he just exhausts me with dead ends and run-on stories.

So while I'm enjoying The Good Thief now, I recognize that it could turn on me at any moment, or you know, the other way around.

Enough about me, what about you? Share your story, and you could be the proud reader of Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible (whew!), by David Plotz. And if you haven't seen Plotz' Bible blog, you can check out the funny here.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Freebie Friday
        

First of all, GO TERPS!

Ahem. Now, back to business.

Saturday night, the 510 Reading Series continues with appearances by Leni Zumas, Marion Winik, Rupert Wondolowski (whom you may have heard on WYPR's The Signal) and Deb Olin-Unferth: authors of novels, creative nonfiction and short stories. With four authors, you're bound to leave the event with plenty to add to your TBR list.

On Sunday, Laura Lippman continues her readings in support of her latest book, Life Sentences. She'll be at the Lutherville Borders at 4 p.m.

Baltimore historians will enjoy the Barnes & Noble Johns Hopkins event Monday night: Paul K. Williams and Gregory J. Alexander will discuss and sign copies of their book A Brief History of Charles Village. As a former resident, I've got a bit of pride in that little neighborhood, and I recommend any event to highlight it.

And the history continues Tuesday, with Seth Rockman's Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore, which explores the diverse work force in post-Revolutionary Baltimore, and how race, sex, nativity and legal status determined the economic opportunities and vulnerabilities of working families. I think that's a subject we're all a bit interested in right now. The event is $10 for the general public, $5 for Hopkins museum members and free for students. Call 4100516-5589 to make reservations.

(Photo: Associated Press)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

In a week when Baltimore's mayor proposed cutting back library hours, the closing of Libraries for the Future seems even more ominous. The nonprofit organization, which announced its closing Wednesday, said it was a victim of the hard economic times, according to Library Journal.

Oddly, it was created in 1992 amid a similarly harsh recession, when libraries also faced budget cuts. LFF advocated for libraries nationally and assisted with programs on such issues as literacy and wellness.

Luckily, many programs will continue in individual libraries. But it's a shame to see such a prominent advocate leveled by the recession, just when libraries need it the most. And libraries will need all the help they can get to deal with the seismic changes as e-book devices such as the Kindle gain popularity. Will there even be libraries in the future?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Former President George W. Bush, who called himself "The Decider," has signed a deal to write a book about how he made decisions.
"I want people to understand the environment in which I was making decisions. I want people to get a sense of how decisions were made and I want people to understand the options that were placed before me," Bush told the AP.
The book, tentatively called Decision Points, is scheduled for a 2010 release. Bush will concentrate on about a dozen personal and presidential choices, such as giving up drinking and his relationship with his father, the AP said. He will also write about sending troops to Iraq and his highly criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.
Now that should be interesting.
Bush's wife, Laura, has already signed a book deal, as has key adviser Condi Rice.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

I've always been a HUGE fan of Adam Gopnik's non-fiction writing in his books and for The New Yorker. He has such an interesting way of looking at the world that I'll buy virtually anything he publishes sight unseen.

Imagine my disappointment, then, at finding his newest book about Darwin and Lincoln to be tough sledding.

Angels and Ages (Random House / $24.95) is a 211-page riff on a fascinating historical coincidence: Both the 16th U.S. President and the scientist who pioneered the concept of evolution were born on Feb. 12, 1809. And both men profoundly changed the world.

Eagle-eyed readers will note it's shout-out to Baltimorean Daniel Mark Epstein's 2008 book, The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, and it's "loving and funny" inventory of the contents of the couple's Springfield house.

Gopnik greatly admires Lincoln, whom he describes as surpassingly pragmatic and shrewd. "His rhetorical genius," Gopnik writes, "lay in making cold calculation look like passionate idealism." But Gopnik adores Darwin, and for me the liveliest passages in the book were when the author describes his introduction to The Origin of the Species, which Gopnik read as a teenager at the behest of his mother, and on the beach.

"It's a Victorian hallucinogen," Gopnik writes, "where the whole world suddenly comes alive

and begins moving, so that the likeness between seagulls and sandpipers on the beach where you are reading suddenly becomes spookily animated, part of a single restless whole, with the birds' giant lizard ancestors looming like ghosts above them. What looks like the fixed, unchanging solitude of the beach and ocean suddenly becomes alive to, vulnerable to, an endless chain of change and movement. It's a book that makes the whole world vibrate."

That's fine writing, and it made me want to immediately run out and buy the Origin,which until now, I have inexplicably never perused.

Though it contains biographical elements, Angels and Ages is closer to a philosophy of rhetoric. Gopnik demonstrates that Lincoln's speeches and Darwin's scientific writings are a new type of argument that reflect a sea change in society's values. Before Darwin and Lincoln, romantic idealism predominated. By the time both died, logical reasoning held sway. Both thinkers persuaded others to accept such radical new notions as emancipation and natural selection by building an irresistible argument through the careful accumulation of small facts.

The problems with Angels and Ages are twofold:

Gopnik at times assumes that the reader has not only a familiarity with Darwin and Lincoln, but with Darwin scholarship and the details of Lincoln's cabinet. He expects us to be conversant not just with Carl Sandburg, John Stuart Mill and Stephen Crane -- who at least are taught in high schools -- but also with Alfred Kazin and "the now insufficiently appreciated Van Wyck Brooks" who probably are not. (Brooks and Kazin were American literary critics.)

Were Gopnik to fully explain every reference, the book would be four times as long as it is. But the consequence is that our vastly learned author sets a pace so brisk that relatively few readers will be able to keep up.

The second problem is related to the first. Gopnik sometimes packs a sentence with so many heavy ideas that it exceeds the weight and size limits on most commercial airlines. If a reader has to unpack each thought and strew its component parts about the airport floor, carefully scrutinize each element for its purpose and utility, and then reassemble it all into a more compact package, that reader is likely to cancel his trip.

Here's a question for the rest of you: I can't get enough of good writing, and Lincoln, Darwin and Gopnik (in his lighter, leaner mode) provide plenty of examples of the art form. I'd love it if you'd send in your favorite paragraph by one of these three authors, with a sentence explaining why it moves you. 

Posted by Mary McCauley at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reviews
        

Have you got a bunch of old books hanging around that you know you're never going to read again, but just can't get rid of? Like maybe your old set of Charlie Brown's 'Cyclopedia?

I LOVED my 'cyclopedias, and you can tell, because they are completely covered in little Nancy drawings. And they're not very good. The world is lucky I decided not to explore my artistic side.

Anyway, BookJournals.com may be the answer to your book clutter. For $10, Ex Libris Anonymous will rebind your book, keeping about five pages of your choosing, and add blank journal pages for you to sketch or list everything your heart desires. My poor books had no idea how much doodling they were going to endure.

Of course, you can also buy the journals they've already designed, including Little Golden books, Dr. Seuss and Hardy Boys, primarily from the '60s and '70s.

Just don't lick them.

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

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's proposed 2009-2010 budget, which was released today, calls for cuts in jobs and services, including closing most libraries one day a week. The library shutdowns are part of a budget that also would close some swimming pools and community centers, and lay off as many as 153 workers.

Under the plan, all city libraries except the Central and Southeast Anchor branches will be closed on either Mondays or Fridays. The spending plan calls for some of the most austere cuts in recent memory to fill a $65 million hole in the $2 billion budget. The City Council must still approve the plan for the budget year that begins July 1.

It's a shame libraries have to be closed wholesale, but I'm glad at least two will stay open every day. I don't like to think of a library-less city, even for a day. One option is for city residents to use nearby Baltimore County libraries, since cards are interchangeable. But that's just shifting the burden and cost to the county.

If you have an opinion about the budget, e-mail Dixon at mayor@baltimorecity.gov or find contact information for City Council members here.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Goucher College professor Elizabeth Spires has a fascinating new book that pairs her poetry with photos of the folk art sculptures of William Edmondson. I Heard God Talking to Me is accessible to both young and old, and the poems are as plain as Edmondson's cut stone. Here's a snippet from "Porch Ladies": But here on the porch/everything moves slow,/slow as molasses,/slow as a seven-year itch, slow as the day before Christmas./Slow, we tell you. Slow!

We asked Spires about the book and the creative process.

How did the idea for this book develop? I became interested in William Edmondson's stone carvings on several trips to Nashville (where he lived and worked in the 1930s and 40s). I like the strong sense of presence and individuality that each figure has, as well as the whimsy and humor in many of his pieces. ... He seemed like the perfect artist to introduce to young readers. I'm now finding out, however, that both adults and children like the book and really respond to his life story and his art. 

Are you generally a fan of folk art? I love folk art, especially its simplicity, directness and naivete. Edmondson was a master stone carver, but completely self-taught. He was not afraid to approach the stone in a direct, simple manner. Nonetheless, his style is completely his own and very original.

Was your writing process different because you were describing things, rather than concepts? I would describe my process as 'playful.' I have often written poems in the voices of other people, in the voices of mythic figures (see my book I AM ARACHNE) and even in the voice of a mouse (THE MOUSE OF AMHERST). I decided in I HEARD GOD TALKING TO ME to let each carving tell his or her own story. Thus the poems are monologues spoken by the figures themselves. I also found quotes from Edmondson (taken from old newspaper interviews) that I arranged into four poems, so that the reader could 'hear' William Edmondson talking.

Did you write the poems in the presence of the sculptures themselves? I was lucky enough to be able to see a wide variety of Edmondson's work --- some of it in museums and some on private collections --- and yes, some of the poems were created from the notes I took when I was looking at various figures.

How did you recreate Edmondson's thoughts for poems such as "A Vision" and "The Gift"? Those two poems use Edmondson's own words. I selected some of his stories and anecdotes and 'spliced' them together to give the reader a sense of the way he approached his art. Basically, he believed that he carved by divine inpsiration; the title of the book is another Edmondson quote where he described his artistic process to a reporter for the Nashville Tennessean. In 1930 or 1931, Edmondson heard God talking to him and that was the beginning of a seventeen-year career where he produced over 300 limestone figures.

As you researched his life, what did you discover that surprised you? I was and am surprised by how much I continue to love his work, how I emotionally respond to it. It is still growing on me! I believe the way he went about making his art --- in a simple, unpretentious way, without any regard for fame or fortune --- is something all artists and writers should aspire to.

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

Baltimore-born Millard Kaufman, the screenwriter who helped create Mr. Magoo (check out this YouTube short) and published a bawdy novel at age 90, has died.

Kaufman, 92, died Saturday of heart failure, according to a spokeswoman for McSweeney's Publishing, which published "Bowl of Cherries" in 2007, the AP said. In 1949, he wrote the screenplay for the short film "Ragtime Bear," which featured the first appearance of Mr. Magoo, a near-sighted senior voiced by "Gilligan's Island" actor Jim Backus. He was nominated twice for an Oscar — for the story and screenplay of "Take the High Ground" and for the screenplay of "Bad Day at Black Rock."

Born in 1917 in Baltimore, Kaufman graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1939. After college, he worked as a reporter for Newsday and New York's Daily News before joining the Marines and serving in World War II. After the war ended, Kaufman moved to Los Angeles with his wife, Lorraine, and began his screenwriting career.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Obituaries
        

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Read Streeters! 

I hope you're all wearing your green today, and maybe you even plan to enjoy a bit of corned beef and cabbage (I've never been able to, not for want of my grandmother trying) or, dare I say it, green beer? And might I suggest some readings with those holiday classics? 

Here are a few Irish authors I've enjoyed over the years:

Samuel Beckett: This Nobel Prize-winning playwright and poet may not be the happiest guy to spend the day with, but he sure packs a punch. Waiting for Godot may be a quick read, but it will have you analyzing the meaning of life for weeks to come: Is it about politics, war, religion, the author's own life? Those Irish are deep, man.

Maeve Binchy: A little on the lighter side, Binchy is probably best known for the film adaptation of her novel Circle of Friends. She's written more than a dozen novels, as well as an award-winning play. Her novels tend to focus on the lives of Irish women, but usually have a bit more emotional heft than your average chick lit. Also, my grandmother was a huge fan, and she was never wrong.

James Joyce: If you think I'm going to suggest you read Ulysses, you've got another think coming. I've never read it. Dave assures me that no one has, but I still feel a touch of guilt every time I see it. However, his collection of short stories, Dubliners, is very fine -- not very cheery, but that's what your drinking companions are for, right?

Frank McCourt: Technically an Irish-American, McCourt's first memoir, Angela's Ashes -- for which he won a Pulitzer -- was a success in every sense of the word. And while I couldn't work my way through 'Tis, and haven't even picked up Teacher Man, I can whole-heartedly endorse Ashes.

George Bernard Shaw: The man won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar, and this guy on the Internet will explain to you why Al Gore is no Shaw. If you think you know Pygmalion based on the classic movie My Fair Lady, you are wrong. And the ending will shock you. And it's totally worth it; go get it now.

Bram Stoker: One word: Dracula. 

Jonathan Swift: Who doesn't think of a man tied to the ground by hundreds of tiny men as soon as they hear the title Gulliver's Travels? The satire was supposed to poke at human pride, but with imagery like that, my younger self was just amazed at this guy's imagination.

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde: Yeah, how about THAT for a name? Wilde is one of my favorite authors, but if I had to pick a couple that you should definitely check out, they'd be The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray is lyrical and spooky, and there's a reason the character keeps returning to screen and page.

I'm sure I've missed some greats, including Yeats, whom I've never read, and now feel I must. Maybe that'll be part of my St. Patrick's Day celebration.

As Wilde would say, enjoy your alcoholiday, be safe and I do hope tomorrow morning is kind to you.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Over the years, some of my favorite dinner companions have been books. I'm not a loner, a rebel (as Nancy believes); but I developed the habit while traveling as a reporter. When eating by yourself, there's nothing better than having an engrossing book handy, to disperse that sense of aloneness.

A good book is only half the battle, though. You also need the right restaurant -- one that's not too noisy, not too dark, not too rushed. I do a lot of reading at the Charles Village Chipotle, but it has taken me months to perfect a system of holding my chicken burrito, keeping my book flat on the table and turning the pages. (Borrowing one of the metal utensil holders helps.) Another favorite, for summer, is the patio at Donna's at Cross Keys.

So help me and other Read Streeters find the best "eat-n-read" spots in the Baltimore area. Let us know your favorites. We'll even pick out a few comments for a giveaway of new books.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Marylandia
        

In the "Cash In on a Hot Trend" department, this week we get a look at how Twilight, the phenomenally popular (except with me) teen vampire tale was made into a movie. The new books:

Twilight: Director’s Notebook by Catherine Hardwicke (Little, Brown Young Readers, $18) The director of the Twilight movie tells how she transformed Stephenie Meyer’s novel into film.

Eyes on the Horizon: Serving on the Front Lines of National Security by Gen. Richard Myers with Malcolm McConnell (Threshold Editions, $27) The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff talks about his career in the military, the unforgettable events of Sept. 11 and the global war on terror, outlining the mistakes he believes were made by the White House, Pentagon leadership and the intelligence community.

Fractal Time: The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age by Gregg Braden (Hay House, $25) A look into the future based on the ancient view of a cyclical universe.

From Amazon.com and Publishers Weekly

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Girlie post alert!

I've stumbled upon a couple of delightful pieces of jewelry, and since they are tangentially related to reading, I'm sharing them with you. If you need a little more testosterone in your reading material, I'll try to get Dave to write a review of one of the many books on baseball we've been receiving lately.

Until then, you're stuck with Pretty Things that Nancy Likes.

Item 1: This beautiful necklace I just bought at Doubledutch Boutique in Hampden. It's a LETTER, in an ENVELOPE. Delivered by a pretty brass bird. It's just about the cutest way to let your favorite reader know you love her.

Item 2: This one's a bit more equal-opportunity. My good friend Miss James, formerly of the BaltAmour blog, presented me with a birthday necklace this summer, with beautiful floral scenes painted on the back of Scrabble tiles. Of course, I completely geeked out all over the place.

While I'm not entirely sure which store she purchased mine from, there are many gorgeous tiles to be found on etsy.com, including at It's All About the Print.

I'm sure that very soon, ever aspect of my life will be covered in letters. I think I'm OK with that.

Oh, and also? GO TERPS!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Over the past week, we’ve been discussing book club breakups. I bet most clubs have lived through some variation of this trauma: the member who drops out suddenly or shows up less and less, the group that collapses entirely.

The discussion began when reporter Mary Carole McCauley made her first appearance on Read Street and wrote about leaving her club. She had participated for a few years, but when several favorite members moved away, she took a hard look at the demands of a club.

"I had to end things. But, how? There are blueprints — thousands — summing up 50 ways to leave your lover, but nary a one on calling it quits with your club. ... Coward that I am, I sent her an e-mail informing [the club’s coordinator] that I would no longer be in attendance and requesting that I be removed from the group e-mail lists."

Everyone in a book club has experienced similar pressures — I have, when, a few days from a meeting, I still have 200 pages to read. Or when I had to read a book I didn’t enjoy (and my own suggestion had been rejected). Other factors also can upset the delicate equilibrium of a club: Are the readings too academic or too shallow? Does one member dominate the conversation? How are new members replaced?

I know of one woman who moved away from Baltimore and was rejected by two book clubs she tried to join -- I guess they were worried about upsetting that equilibrium. I feel sorry for her, but I understand the protective instincts of a club. In my own club, one new member showed up a couple of times and was very engaging. but soon slipped away without an explanation. that created an unsettling emptiness: Did we do something wrong; was it somerthing we said?

Photo by Michael Lutzky, The Baltimore Sun

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

In Sunday's Baltimore Sun, read reviews of two poetry collections with Maryland connections. Here are excerpts from Diane Scharper's reviews of Voices by former Maryland poet laureate Lucille Clifton (at right) and I Heard God Talking to Me by Elizabeth Spires, who teaches at Goucher College.

Voices (BOA Editions / 59 pages / $22.95) Although National Book Award winner Clifton is a woman of few words, she makes each of them count. Her latest book continues Clifton’s tradition of autobiographical Zenlike poems showcasing an instinct for the evocative image and the just-right ending. Most of the poems personify inanimate things as well as plants, animals and deceased family members. Several poems concern growing up a black woman in a white culture. ... Each section explores the ways the poet relates to voices: from those spoken by inanimate objects to those remembered to those "overheard" in the titles of pictures. Serving as a medium, the poet speaks not only for those things that have no voice, but also for the feelings associated with them. All of this is rendered in Clifton’s trademark sound of black colloquialisms. as if spoken by Basho. With no capitalization or punctuation, these poems get their message across through brevity, white space and line breaks as well as Clifton’s genius for hypnotic rhythm.

I Heard God Talking to Me (Farar, Straus & Giroux / 56 pages / $17.95) Spires’ latest book offers short poetic characterizations of the primitive sculptures and tombstones by William Edmondson, an illiterate artist who heard and saw God speaking to him beginning in his early teens. Accompanied by black-and-white photographs of Edmondson and his carvings, the book has a warm tone and a narrative drive — somewhat reminiscent of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. The fascinating story these poems tell is not about the deceased so much as it is about the individual monuments and their relationship to the carver. ... [Spires] quotes from Edmondson’s descriptions of his work as she skillfully imagines what these carvings might say. Figures like "Adam and Eve," "Three Crows" and even an "Angel with a Pocketbook" speak plaintively as Spires subtly captures the essence of their profound yet simple existence.

Photo courtesy of St. Mary's College of Maryland

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

Congratulations to Ariel Sabar, a former Baltimore Sun reporter who has won the 2008 autobiography prize from the National Book Critics Circle for My Father's Paradise. Sabar wrote about his relationship with his father, who grew up in a mud hut in Kurdish Iraq, emigrated to Israel with thousands of other Jews and wound up as a professor of Aramaic at UCLA. My book club really liked the book, which has since been chosen for Baltimore's On the Same Page program. As part of that community reading program, Sabar will appear May 7 at the Center for Jewish Education on Park Heights Ave. Info: 410-735-5000

Here are the other NBCC winners, announced last night, according to Reuters.

Fiction: 2666 by Roberto Bolano.

Nonfiction: The Forever War by Dexter Filkins

Biography: The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French

Poetry: Sleeping it off in Rapid City by August Kleinzahler and Half of the World in Light by Juan Felipe Herrera

Criticism: Children Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter by Seth Lerer

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

I think Ryan Coffman's book, Medicant of the Hidden, Votary of the Sepulcher, wins the High Drama in a Title award, hands down; if that doesn't peak your interest, I'm not sure what will. You can indulge your curiousity tomorrow night at Red Emma's, as Coffman reads selections from his work and shares his inspiration, including the gothic, mythic and macabre.

If you have a free day Saturday, head over to the Enoch Pratt Central Library. It's all movies (based on books) all the time, hosted by The Sun's own Michael Sragow. See the film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous at 10 a.m., and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at 2 p.m.  In between, Sragow will discuss the director of both films, and the subject of his book, Victor Fleming.

On Monday, victims advocate Jennifer Storm will be at Loyola College as part of their Loyola College Speaker Series. She'll discuss her autobiography, Blackout Girl, which follows her journey from addict to professional. Storm will also talk about increasing sexual assault awareness.

Finally, Wednesday evening will see the first meeting of Greetings & Readings new book club. This month's book is People of the Book. If you're interested in joining them for coffee and conversation next month, the book selected is The Camel Bookmobile. Happy reading!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The Bernard Madoff victims list seems endless. Many people and charities got taken -- or completely wiped out -- in his multibillion-dollar investment swindle. But of all the victims, I feel particularly bad for author Elie Wiesel, who has seen and chronicled the horrors of the Holocaust. Enough, already.

Wiesel has ranked Madoff among "the greatest scoundrels, thieves, liars, criminals" in recent years. Still, he seems remarkably disinterested in public criticism, considering he lost millions in personal and foundation money.

Yesterday, he said on WBUR, "I really don’t understand evil. In my novels, I don’t have the perpetrators as protagonists, really. Only the victims. I am on the side of the victims, everywhere, and I try, therefore, to understand them. And I cannot see, why did he do that? Why did he need so much money? And furthermore, to go to poor people!"

Our justice system is ill-equipped for this sort of financial serial killer. Madoff headed off to jail today, to await sentencing. But he left behind a staggering list of victims, who will need years to recover -- maybe even more years than the 70-year-old Madoff will live.  

Photo from Startraks

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

As promised, I read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. It's the type of book (YA, vampires, proms, etc.) that generally wouldn't  attract me. But after reading the storm of comments about Meyer's work -- 280+ pro and con -- I was intrigued.

Stephen King started the storm, by saying that Meyer can't write. After reading Twilight, I agree she doesn't have King's polish -- or the sheen of great YA fiction of my era such as A Wrinkle in Time. I cringed at her repetitive descriptions -- "deafening engine" and "earsplitting rumble" in the same paragraph, for example. And how many times do we have to hear how gorgeous Edward Cullen is? Perfectly muscled chest, glorious angel, marble contours are just a few of the phrases.

Even more disappointing was the lack of drama. You'd expect lots of tension in a book where girl meets vampire, but Bella accepts Edward as though he were simply an exchange student from France. More angst is shown over the prom than over Edward's ability to consume her. Only when some roaming vampires appear does Meyer ramp up the tension; that scene was well-crafted. But later she fails to describe the climactic scene -- it occurs entirely "off camera."

That said, Meyer deserves credit for creating an absorbing tale and likeable characters. Her descriptions of high school life ring true: who's taking you to the prom, what are you wearing? And she gives you a feel for the story's primary setting, a small town in Washington. I also cut her some slack for creating non-traditional vampires; she should have artistic license to develop characters, without falling back on the Bram Stoker model. And she sure has tapped into that feeling of electric, impetuous first love, a big factor in attracting young readers. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

Fans of The Time Traveler's Wife, rejoice! Six years after Audrey Niffenegger's gem became a surprise best-seller, she has signed a multimillion-dollar deal for a new book to be published this fall.

Scribner bought the rights to publish Her Fearful Symmetry in the United States, according to The New York Times. The book is a supernatural story about twins who inherit an apartment near a London cemetery and become embroiled in the lives of the building’s other residents and the ghost of their aunt.

Niffenegger is a visual artist and a faculty member at Columbia College Chicago, Center for Book and Paper Arts. Her first novel, published by a small house, sold more than a million copies, the Times said. Her new book is set to go on sale at the end of September; meanwhile the film adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife, is scheduled for a February release.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

As an iPhone addict, I was pleased to hear that Kindle was getting on the application bandwagon. But in Amazon's continued quest for world domination, they've created a pretty lackluster ebook app.

I've got both the Kindle and eReader applications on my phone now, and it's not even a contest. While it's a neat trick that the Kindle and its application sync up so that you can pick up on your iPod touch where you left off on your Kindle, that's the only trick this pony has.

First off, the format of eReader is much, well, prettier. You can change the font/background contrast from dark lettering/light background to light lettering/dark background with the tap of a finger; there are eight different fonts to choose from; and you can change the font size, line spacing, margins and justification -- all with an easy-to-understand menu.

The eReader app also clearly lays out the chapters and page numbers, allowing you to gauge your progress easily. Add to all this the many free books I got when I downloaded the free eReader, and I'm extremely pleased.

Meanwhile, the Kindle app only included the books I had previously purchased when I reviewed the original Kindle.

You can't change the screen's contrast on this application, either, although changing the font size is very simple.

Bottom line? I think this application is handy for Kindle users who don't take their device everywhere, but still want access to their books. (Notice I said books, and not newspapers or magazines, because those aren't supported on the application.)

But for the average iPod Touch or iPhone user, the Kindle application doesn't offer a lot. Other than its very nice start-up illustration, of course.

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

As part of the launch of her new book, Life Sentences, Baltimore mystery writer Laura Lippman will give a reading tonight at the Enoch Pratt Central Library at 7 p.m. Books will be available for sale from Mystery Loves Company. The library is at 400 Cathedral Street in Baltimore.

Laura will have other readings at Baltimore-area bookstores this month; check the Read Street calendar for dates and times. If you can't see her in person, contact virtual Laura, who will be answering questions from readers on Barnes & Noble's Center Stage site from March 16-20.  

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

This week, Baltimore mystery writer Laura Lippman releases her new book Life Sentences. Among the new books:

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (William Morrow, $24.99) Author Cassandra Fallows thinks her next best-seller lies with the story of a childhood friend accused of killing her infant son.

Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster, $25) Private investigator Isabel Spellman is back on the case and back on the couch — in court-ordered therapy after getting a little too close to her previous subject. She reluctantly takes the case of a suspicious husband who wants his wife tailed, thinking it will be easy work. But with each passing hour, Izzy finds herself with more questions than hard evidence.

The Difference: New Research Unlocks the 10 Secrets to Becoming Truly Wealthy by Jean Chatzky (Crown Business, $24.95) Jean Chatzky shares the secrets her groundbreaking research of the self-made wealthy has uncovered so that anyone can break through the barriers that stand between them and true financial freedom.

Amazon.com; Publishers Weekly

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

I'm Mary Carole McCauley, and I'm new to this blog, but not to The Sun. I've devoured books ever since I was 6-years-old and puzzled out the words to A Home For a Bunny. You've read my theater criticism in the  paper, as well as occasional book-related features, but from now on, I'll hang out from time to time on my favorite block in Baltimore: Read Street.

Here's my question for the day: Have you ever broken up with your book club? I have, and I still feel pangs of guilt.

For several years after moving to Charm City in 2000, I hung out with a book group formed by my university alumni association. The club was open to both men and women (which I liked) and we alternated between fiction and non-fiction (ditto).

But then four of my favorite club members moved out of the city, all at once. Our bi-monthly get-togethers inevitably conflicted with a family get-together or occurred on a beautiful Sunday afternoon when I badly wanted to garden. And when I made the mistake of adding up the  number of books I could expect to read for the rest of my life, I realized that too large a proportion was devoted to works chosen by the club that had little genuine interest for me.

The conclusion was clear: I had to end things. But, how? There are blueprints -- thousands -- summing up 50 ways to leave your lover, but nary a one on calling it quits with your club.

At the time, the book group was run by a lovely woman named Sheila. Coward that I am, I sent her an email informing her that I would no longer be in attendance and requesting that I be removed from the group email lists. The response from Sheila, and from other members of the group, were, I have to admit flattering:

Had they done anything wrong? Wouldn't I please reconsider?

No, no, I replied. The problem isn't you, it's me.

Occasionally (though with less frequency as time goes on) I field an occasional request to renew my membership, and I'd be fibbing if I said I wasn't tempted. I have terrific memories of lively conversations and literary gems that I likely would never have discovered on my own. Among them are the works of Anthony Trollope, of whom I am now an avid fan.

But then I check my calendar and look outside. It's a rare 70-degree weekend in early March and the sun is shining. My niece's birthday is coming up, and my nephew's is fast behind. And a novel that I chose (as opposed to one that was chosen for me) beckons from my nightstand.

Really, it's better this way.

Does anyone out there have a similar story? What were your reasons for leaving, and did you ultimately make the break, or return to the fold? Now's your time to 'fess up.

Posted by Mary McCauley at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Book Clubs
        

This week, Baltimore author Laura Lippman releases her new book, Life Sentences. As part of the launch, she'll appear Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at the Charles Village Barnes & Noble and at 7 p.m. at the Enoch Pratt Central Library. Here's a review by Oline Cogdill, who writes regularly on mysteries for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and often contributes her views here:

A memory can be fragile, fleeting and not all together reliable, but it also can have the power to sustain a life commitment. Several people can experience the same event at the exact time, yet each have a different interpretation.

These vagaries are at the crux of Baltimore author Laura Lippman’s engrossing 14th novel. Not a conventional mystery, Life Sentences is a stunning look at the mystery of life and the gulf between people. Taking her fourth break from her usual heroine, private detective Tess Monaghan, Lippman again shows why she is one of today’s most important authors. Life Sentences is a fresh look at contemporary relationships filtered through the prism of memories, racism, economics and jealousy.

Cassandra Fallows’ two memoirs about growing up in a racially-charged Baltimore in the last 1960s have brought her money and fame. The true stories of this white girl and her four black friends and her father’s remarriage to a black woman were well received, but her novel has barely earned modest sales. Cassandra’s idea for another nonfiction may be her way back to the best-sellers list. What happened to her grade school classmate, Calliope Jenkins, who spent seven years in prison for refusing to answer questions about the disappearance of the infant son she was suspected of murdering?

Lippman knows how to illustrate the depths of the emotional mine fields that challenge girls who will become women. Lippman also writes about men, love, relationships and school girl crushes with a mature eye that both respects and understands these feelings without resorting to the clichéd or the romantic.

Two years ago, her What the Dead Know swept up numerous awards and made it to the top of several best-of-the-year lists. Life Sentences may repeat that.

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

I do believe this is a first in my life: I liked the film version of Watchmen much more than the graphic novel. And I like the original a lot.

Of course, I went in with low expectations, so while I may have been easier to impress than our esteemed reviewer, Michael Sragow, I have to say the movie made me want to go back and read the graphic novel again. And not to nitpick, but to revel in the series' mood and relive all those little moments again.

The moments I didn't want to relive? The film actually improved upon!

Warning to those who haven't read the graphic novel or seen the movie yet: Major plot points ahoy!

For instance, I thought the original ending was a jumbled, convoluted piece of work. Why does the villain create a fake alien monster to squash NYC, when he can simply frame Dr. Manhattan? Everybody's already scared silly of the guy, so USE that fear.

And the movie version does! It's a simpler evil plot, and exactly what I would expect from the smartest man in the world: You can't defeat a godlike man? That's OK, just make him the boogeyman and leave him emotionally shellshocked. No alien invasion needed.

Not surprisingly, the movie version doesn't include the comic book subplot, The Tales of Black Freighter, and I think the movie is better for it. There's enough backstory and character development without it. But for purists, there's more than one nod to the story-within-a-story, with shots of the comics fanboy and his antagonistic friend, the newspaper stand proprietor.

And even better, word on imdb.com is that Gerard Butler -- of 300 fame -- will star in an animated prequel to the movie, based on the Black Freighter, due out March 24.

The casting was pretty much spot on, although I feel that Jude Law was made for the role of Adrian Veidt. Jeffrey Dean Morgan made me sympathize with The Comedian much more than the original book ever did, and the mother-daughter duo of the Silk Spectre I and II rang true to me.

Rorschach, who I feel would have been the easiest character to mess up, was played beautifully by Jackie Earle Haley. He was exactly the shining, crazy angel of vengeance that I had hoped for, and made the movie for me.

Rorschach's narration was cut short in the movie, which I felt was justified so that the first act didn't drag too much. And the only real complaint is that I saw way too much of Dr. Manhattan's Smurfy blue private bits. For a three-hour movie, I'd say that's a win.

But what'd you think, Dave?

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Reviews
        

I made the mistake last week of posting a tongue-in-cheek critique of Kindle2, Amazon’s new e-book reader. Soon, the post, playfully called "10 reasons to hate the Kindles," sparked a nasty backlash on Fark. Milder examples of the constructive criticism included the words knee-jerk, idiotic, pompous and incoherent. Others are unsuitable for a family newspaper. What started it all? Some of you may recall the list's reasons, including: 

You can’t leave it lying on your beach towel when you doze off at Ocean City ... Striking cover art can't be appreciated ... I can’t use my collection of random bookmarks, a ticket from the Paris metro, an Orioles game stub or a museum pass ... The battery never dies on my paperback of The Big Sleep. 

Thankfully, Read Streeters were kinder than Farkers. Maybe you've read enough of my posts to get my twisted sense of humor. Some reasons that commenters added here:

Lauretta: You can’t lend to anyone, meanwhile saying, "You have to read this book."  

Paul: Bookstores ... [the] real search engine, the real browser, with built-in chat rooms!

Cam: [It doesn’t] smell delicious, like a new (and sometimes old!) book does. ... I can’t feel your pages.

Amanda: You can’t just let Kindle fall open at a random page and browse whatever fate wants you to see. There’s a reason we gave up scrolls for pages!

Meanwhile, the folks at LibraryThing had some other great reasons, including: The sound of the pages turning. (There is something very soothing about that sound.) -- megkrahl ... I can't get authors to sign a copy of their book -- andyl ... Origami looks crap when made out of the pages of a Kindle ... MrAndrew 

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

Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, read a profile of Philipp Meyer, 34, who grew up in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood and is winning acclaim for his first novel, American Rust.

The profile by Mary Carole McCauley begins: "It wasn’t apparent to anyone for the longest time that Meyer had hopped the freight train to success — just like the protagonist of his acclaimed debut novel, American Rust. ... For starters: despite a stratospheric I.Q., Meyer dropped out of high school at age 16. After three tries, he elbowed his way into prestigious Cornell University. After graduating, Meyer worked as a trader on Wall Street and made piles of money before deciding that he wasn’t cut out for a life of empty materialism. So he quit, moved into the basement of his parents’ home, and picked up odd jobs in construction. Then, Meyer, who had been writing seriously since college, sold his first novel for $400,000, winning praise from The New York Times and The Washington Post."

In Hampden Meyer learned about a man came to the aid of a friend in a bar fight, shot someone, and wound up dying in prison. He told McCauley: “That was when I began to think about how an awful choice becomes the best choice someone can make. Growing up in that neighborhood and seeing the struggles of all these working-class folks and lower-class folks, I began to realize that their morality was shaped by their circumstances. ... I learned that people who might not get a lot of credit for being deep thinkers, may have rich and complex visions for their own lives that might not be apparent on the surface.”

Reviewer Diane Scharper, a Towson University English professor, says the book is reminiscent of  Faulkner. She writes: "The characters manage (and fail to manage) their complex lives in run-down neighborhoods, where they get drunk, argue, fight, have sex, find and lose hope, kill murder (by accident), attempt suicide and run away. ...

"Despite the title, the story is not about smokestacks stained with red-brown streaks of rust or shuttered factories in Buell, Pa., the small town not far from Pittsburgh where much of the novel occurs. Buell is only a backdrop for a much larger tale — this one taking place on the battleground of man’s spirit. Ultimately, the story is about the moral decay that sets in when, given the choice between being and nothingness, people choose nothingness then, seeing the ill effects on their own lives and on the lives of others, learn to regret their choice."

Meyer will read from American Rust and sign copies 6 p.m. Monday, March 9 at The Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Rd. Call 410-377-2966.

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

Devoted fans of the Watchmen graphic novel may be grinding their teeth now that the movie has come out. "UNWATCHABLE" read the headline over the review in today's Baltimore Sun. And several other reviewers have been had similar reactions.

I'll withhold judgment until I see the movie, but I know how a Hollywood adaptation can fall short. Frank Herbert's Dune is one of my favorite books, but the movie was truly unwatchable. In a twisted sort of way, the movie's utter failure does make the book hold up even better as a work of art, because it shows how hard it is to capture someone's imagination and mood -- even when someone has written the story for you.

But with all the millions at Hollywood's disposal, it's frustrating to see a great book come apart on the screen. Just look at what "Slumdog Millionaire" was able to do on a tight budget (notwithstanding Salman Rusdie's ill-tempered criticism). The movie adaptation captured the essence of Mumbai's slums and the people struggling to get ahead, as well as a book ever could.  

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

There is a LOT going on this weekend, so let's dive right in:

Friday, Midnight author Sister Souljah will have two signings at the Urban Knowledge Bookstores at Security Square and East Point malls, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.

CityLit Project is five years old this year, and they're throwing a party at the Walters Art Museum to celebrate. "Manuscripts and Martinis" begins at 5 p.m., and features a preview showing of the Saint John's Bible exhibit and readings by Tim Wendel, Jen Michalski and Jason Tinney. Andrew Grimm of June Star will provide the music, at the free event. And yes, there is a cash bar and snacks. For more information, call 410-274-5691.

As Dave noted earlier, the Random House Book Fair is being held in Westminster on Saturday, with authors Lisa Gardner, Dan Yaccarino and Leo Bretholz -- as well as local authors -- in attendance.

If you Baltimoreans want to stay closer to home, Daedalus Books is hosting Dulaney High School's performance of Virgil's Aeneid. The students will read selections of the epic poem aloud from the original, giving each scene a special twist, according to the Latin students' artistic endeavors. As a former Latin student, I'm kinda excited by this.

Feeling a little creative yourself? Check out award-winning author and UMCP professor William Henry Lewis' writing class. The course, held at the Baltimore Museum of Art will focus on inspiration from black artists. For information on fees and registation, call 443-573-1832.

And that's just through Saturday! I think it's safe to say we're all going to have an enjoyable weekend, especially if the forecast holds true and we see 60-degree temperatures. Have fun!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Book It
        

Two interesting bits of news from the Mother Country:

A British company has tried to bridge the generation gap with a list of "gran slang," once-popular terms that are mysteries to the young. Among those listed by Home & Capital are "egg," as in "He's a good egg," and "court," as a verb to seek someone's love. Others: flabbergast, natty and telegram. As someone who remembers the TV show Hullaballoo, I'm troubled that the word is on the list, too. But who among us hasn't had to explain some arcane term -- like a telephone party line or AM radio -- to their kids?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)