We've noted the move by Deseret Book to take Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series from its shelves and website. But because the store is owned by the Mormon church (of which Meyer is a member), the move didn't particularly bother me. There are about a zillion other places to buy her books. And I'll leave it to others to debate whether Twilight violates Christian values (believe me, the debate rages, judging by the comments on Read Street.)

I'm much more troubled by the latest move challenging books in a public library. After some residents of West Bend, Wis., objected to books related to sexuality being shelved in the young adult section, the issue developed into a typical small town hurricane, with petitions, packed public meetings and political puffery. The upshot after weeks of shouting: Four members of the library board are gone, their reappointment rejected by town leaders.

According to The Daily News of Washington County, Alderman Terry Vrana, who voted against the four reappointments, said those board members were not serving the interests of the community "with their ideology." He added, "I’m concerned about the morality of this city."

Now THAT'S scarier than any Twilight vampire!

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

There are three strange and wonderful men I credit (and you can blame) for my career in journalism, and specifically at The Baltimore Sun: John Mick, my high school journalism advisor; Tom Horton, who throughout my teenage years regaled me with wild tales of life in and outside the newsroom; and John McIntyre, the man who hired me not once, but twice, as a college intern in 2003 and then as a full-fledged copy editor in 2006.

Without a doubt, of those three, John McIntyre is the strangest and most wonderful of them all.

Meeting McIntyre is always an experience, especially if it's right before the three-hour written test every copy editor has to pass, with sections on both editing and general knowlege. (Sometimes I forget what the definition of an ice floe is, or find myself unable to name three modern composers off the top of my head, and thank every god I've ever heard of that I never have to take that test again.)

This is a man who wore a bow tie to the newsroom on a regular basis. Who scootered around the office delivering pronouncements and sometimes a big rubber chicken. Who had a plastic foot wedged between his desk and the wall, just in case you weren't nervous enough when blindly entering his office.

This is a man who, as far as I can tell, was devoted especially to three things in life: his family, good Kentucky bourbon and making sure, every day, that The Sun's readers were greeted with clear and concise stories, which answered their questions, addressed their concerns and fired up their minds about the world around them.

He was a public servant and a great boss, and after nearly 23 years in this newsroom, yesterday was his last day at this organization.

Thank you for everything, boss. I hope to get word about your new blog to share your collected wit, wisdom and weirdness very soon. 

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Coretta Scott King was born this week (April 27 to be exact), so it's a good time to look at the book award that bears her name. There's also a Baltimore connection: Deborah Taylor, the Enoch Pratt's coordinator of school and student services, is the chair of the awards committee. We asked her about the program, which is in its 40th year.

Why is the awards program is important?

This awards program has been instrumental in spotlighting the best work created by African American authors and illustrators. [In 2009, Kadir Nelson won the author award for We Are The Ship and Floyd Cooper won the illustrator award for The Blacker the Berry.] The awards provide assurance to teachers, librarians, and parents that the awarded books have been carefully read and evaluated for literary quality and for the insight they provide into the African American experience.

Do the award winners carry a central theme or message for readers in Baltimore and other cities? 

The award winners send a strong message of the depth of experiences in African American culture. They often highlight the resilience of young people and how much all readers can learn from and be inspired by African American history and culture.

How have the award-winning books evolved over the past 40 years? 

Certainly the range of topics has greatly expanded over the past 40 years. Subject matter and stories are more sophisticated, something that is also reflected in the field of children’s publishing as a whole.

What are two or three personal favorites among past award winners?

A few years ago, the book we selected for a citywide reading program, Baltimore’s Book, was a Coretta Scott King Award winner. That book Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson, is such a lyrical and poetic novel about three brothers trying to stay united as a family despite losing their parents and the middle brother’s attraction to the urban streets.

Kadir Nelson won for his illustrations of Ntozake Shange’s poem, Ellington Was Not a Street. Every time I look at his dramatic, intelligent illustrations, I’m struck by how much they illuminate a particular period in African American history. Interestingly, Kadir Nelson won this year’s Award for his writing in We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. This book represents an amazing achievement in writing, illustration, and research.

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

As promised, here are the answers to our quiz on Dan Brown, who wrote The Da Vinci Code and is preparing for the September release of The Lost Symbol. (Some readers asked about the source of the  information; it's from Brown's website and various articles.)

1. As a singer-songwriter and pianist, he recorded an album called Angels & Demons.

2-3. His first book, 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman, was published under the pseudonym Danielle Brown.

4. Brown first learned of the mysteries hidden in Da Vinci's paintings while studying art history at the University of Seville.

5. To battle writer’s block, he has hung upside down by using gravity boots.

6. He doesn't believe in pop culture myths such as extraterrestrial visitors, crop circles and the Bermuda Triangle.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We all know that Dave's been anti-Kindle since before he even saw one. And I get it, I do. It's that pesky old fear of change thing, right?

Well, that's what I thought. But now Dave's thesis is that the Kindle makes it impossible to impress the people around you with what you're reading. And that's just ridiculous.

First of all, since I've had a Kindle, I've had more people ask to see it -- and in some cases actively bring it to them -- than any book I've ever read. It looks like geek chic is still on the rise, and nothing says cool like a great new gadget.

And secondly, get over yourself!

I read books because I love to read. It's entertaining, it's educational, it's an escape from the stresses of life and it gives me something to discuss with my friends afterward. And e-books embody all of those aspects of reading, just as well as a book.

I don't read to impress other people. And I definitely don't read so that random men or ladies can obsess over me at first glance, as author Ellen Feldman related to the New York Times.

It's like carrying a boom box around instead of listening to headphones, because you want to make sure people notice you and appreciate how great your musical taste is. (And Dave admitted that would be his strategy.) Of course, you also run the risk of annoying everyone within a city block.

In the end, reading isn't about the latest cool accessory. It's experiencing something profound, something enlightening, something silly. I don't need books to pick up men; that's what the Internet is for.

(Photo by lusi at stock.xchng)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

The combination of Stephenie Meyer, vampires/werewolves and the Mormon church always seemed an odd one to me. Now comes news that Deseret Book, a store owned by the Mormon church, has taken Meyer's immensely popular Twilight off its shelves. Same for the other books in the series: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

According to a story in the Salt Lake Tribune, the bulk of Deseret Book's business comes from the sale of religious titles. And it apparently doesn't matter that Meyer is arguably the most famous Mormon author -- she graduated from Brigham Young University and is a member of the church.

A Deseret Book spokeswoman sent the Tribune a statement by e-mail. It read: "Like any retailer, our purpose is to offer products that are embraced and expected by our customers. When we find products that are met with mixed review, we typically move them to special order status."

I checked the store's Web site yesterday for any works by Meyer, and did find The Host, which is aimed at adults. But no sign of the other blockbusters. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (58)
        

Read Street regulars may recall that on my list of "10 Reasons to hate the Kindles," #2 was: Beautiful Russian ballerinas won't introduce themselves upon noticing your copy of Secrets of Nijinsky. Well, the New York Times recently took up the theme with an article on books as aphrodisiacs (or at least as conversation starters) -- and how all that vanishes with the Kindle and its ilk.

From the article: The practice of judging people by the covers of their books is old and time-honored. And the Kindle, which looks kind of like a giant white calculator, is the technology equivalent of a plain brown wrapper. ... Michael Silverblatt, host of the weekly public radio show “Bookworm,” uses the term “literary desire” to describe the attraction that comes with seeing a stranger reading your favorite book or author. “When I was a teenager waiting in line for a film showing at the Museum of Modern Art and someone was carrying a book I loved, I would start to have fantasies about being best friends or lovers with that person,” he said.

Bravo! Love conquers all, but can such fantasizing withstand the ruthless efficiency and tech-envy inspired by the Kindle?  

Photo courtesy of Moscow Ballet

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

 Because I know you've been searching for something to spend your tax refund check on, I present to you Rebound Designs' book bags.

I will admit, this is one of those book products that make me feel simultaneously happy and uncomfortable. After all, in order to make one of these stylish hand bags, you have to cut open a beautiful book.

While I love the bookworm fashion statement, there's something about gutting a book to use as arm candy that doesn't quite sit right with me.

But then I heard the artist interviewed on All Things Considered last week, and felt slightly better.

Caitlin Phillips, who sells her book bags at Eastern Market in D.C., as well as from her Web site, picks her bags carefully. She chooses unwanted and slightly damaged books, and makes them into gorgeous bags that everyone can enjoy. (Well, everyone who wants to lay down $150 a pop for the little beauties.)

Have a special request? She'll keep an eye out for the book you want. Even better, you can give her your own well-loved book that may be past its prime, and she'll give it new life.

Phillips even offers all those pages she cuts out to fellow artists or the customer who buys the bag they came from. And if you know of a group who could use them, she's on the look out to donate the pages, as well.

Turning old friends into accessories feels somehow wrong -- after all, what's more taboo to a booklover than cutting up a special tome? But I have to admit: There are worse things that can happen to unwanted books.

 (Photo courtesy of rebound-designs.com)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

The recent CityLit Festival was a reminder of the great literary talent in Baltimore. Reporters and editors connected to The Baltimore Sun alone could fill a nice-sized bookstore with their works. Don’t believe me? Here’s a quiz about authors who have links to the Sun -- how many can you name? Leave your answers in a comment; one lucky entrant will win a book noted here. (Answers will appear Wednesday.)

1. This former police reporter, best known for creating television series about life in Baltimore, started his post-Sun career with a book about city detectives.

2. This film critic recently won the National Award for Arts Writing for a biography about the Hollywood giant who directed Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

3. Many of her mysteries incorporate Baltimore landmarks, and feature a private detective who owns a pet greyhound.

4. This duo is known for writing about and photographing Maryland’s environment, especially the Eastern Shore.

5. He recently was honored by the National Book Critics Circle for the tale of his father, an Iraqi Jew.

6. This former foreign correspondent’s thrillers take place on war’s fringe, in places such as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Guantanamo.

7. His biting commentary on politics, religion and the “booboisie” made him one of the nation’s greatest social critics.

8. This former sports columnist’s books have examined jockey Edgar Prado, Native Dancer and a North-South match race in 1823.

9. He has documented Jim Crow laws and William Donald Schaefer’s career, and his political commentary is often heard on WYPR.

10. His thrillers are populated with characters such as Bob Lee Swagger and overflow with machismo; one was made into the movie Shooter.

Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Dan Brown burst into the headlines this week, with news that his new book, The Last Symbol, will be released in September. But while his Da Vinci Code has sold tens of millions and been adapted for a movie, folks may not know much about his background. This quiz will test your knowledge; just leave your answers in a comment. (I'll post answers Tuesday.)

1. Before becoming a writer, Brown was a singer-songwriter and pianist. One of his albums was called: a. Leonardo's Code b. Angels & Demons c. The Last Symbol d. The Shining

2. His first book was called: a. From Stockbridge to Boston: A Singer's Journey b. 101 Ways to Survive a New Hampshire Winter c. 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman d. Love and Death in the Louvre

3. That book was published in 1995 under the pseudonym: a. Danielle Brown b. Dan Black c. Blythe Brown d. Stephen Kingman

4. Brown first learned of the mysteries hidden in Da Vinci's paintings while: a. studying art history at the University of Seville b. studying French at Oxford c. studying European history at the Sorbonne d. studying Italian at the University of Rome

5. What technique has he used to battle writer’s block? a. Hanging upside down by using gravity boots b. Drinking raw eggs c. Jumping from his roof into the snow d. Transcendental Meditation

6. Brown believes in: a. extraterrestrial visitors b. crop circles c. the Bermuda Triangle d. all of the above e. none of the above

(Remember, tomorrow we'll have another quiz -- on Baltimore Sun editors and writers who have written books -- so drop by again.)

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

In a memo to the Washingtonian staff, publisher Catherine Merrill Williams defended the doctoring of a cover photo showing President Obama in a swimsuit. Saying she was pleased by all the attention, her memo, as reported on Fishbowl DC, added:

"The only change we made was switching Barack Obama's bathing suit from navy blue to red. We did it solely for graphic design reasons and to ensure good contrast on the black background of the cover. Our change was nothing more than what nearly every magazine in the country does to cover photos on a regular basis to ensure it conveys the concept clearly. We did not alter President Obama's skin tone in any way. We did not airbrush him, remove or add anything to the picture. ...

"As for the accusations that changing the image in this way was unethical, I fundamentally disagree. The ethical line for me is drawn at news photojournalism, where an image captures a specific moment in time -- which means the photo is conveying a date and a location. I hope we would all agree images of this nature must adhere to the strictest of standards and where any photoshopping or altering would be inappropriate. Magazines, especially on covers, use creative freedom to convey a visual concept and an idea. I strongly believe that people, and especially our readers, are able to distinguish the difference."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! How happy is it? So happy that we're giving away not one but TWO books.

"But Nancy," you may be asking, "Who won last week's book?" Well, that would be Kelly! It's a little lighter than the Salem witch trials, but I hope it brings you joy.

And onto this week's giveaways.

The first book made me squeal with delight: First Dog, written by J. Patrick Lewis and Beth Zappitello, with illustrations by Tim Bowers. See? See how cute that is? And if you think they didn't take the opportunity to drop the president's biggest campaign slogan in, you can think again.

But I don't want to overwhelm you with two children's books in two weeks, so I'm going to sweeten the pot with Bastard Tongues: A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages, by Derek Bickerton.

Call me a nerd if you will, and you wouldn't be the first, but this is exactly the type of book I like to curl up with, and then jump up and read random passages to the first person I can grab.

That's exactly what I've been doing with The Partly Cloudy Patriot, by Sarah Vowell, which I finished up this week. There isn't an essay she's written that hasn't made me think about the world a little bit differently. If you've never read one of her works, I suggest any of them wholeheartedly.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Freebie Friday
        

If you thought Junot Diaz' appearance during the CityLit Festival was impressive, just look what the Pratt dragged in for "Marvelous May."

The month starts with a visit from Daniel Mark Epstein on May 2.  The local author will discuss his new book Lincoln's Men. Epstein's last book gave readers a fresh perspective on the Lincoln marriage with The Lincolns. Now he's offering a whole new take on our 16th president, with a behind-the-scenes history as told by his private secretaries, Nicolay, Hay and Stoddard.

On May 7, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk will be in town promoting his 10th novel, Pygmy. Another cultural satire, Pygmy follows a gang of teen terrorists plotting against America.

You might remember a guy named Bill Ayers who was in the news quite a bit during the election. Well, Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn will stop by May 13 to discuss Race Course: Against White Supremacy as part of what has proven to be a bumpy national tour for Ayers. The authors point out racism in politics, education and the criminal justice system, with personal recollections about their lives both today and during the Vietnam War.

Michael Pollan, the man who has made it nearly impossible for me to buy juice, will present the book that ruined it all for me, (and I mean this in the best way possible) In Defense of Food. Join him May 16, and learn the mantra: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Other featured authors include Leonard Pitts, Laurie R. King, Mark Hyman and Monica Bhide. Their events, and many more can be found on the Read Street calendar.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Book It
        

In case you hadn't taken the time today, you should wish the good ol' Bard a happy 445th birthday! If you're in the D.C. area this weekend, you can even share some cake, jesters, song and dance at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

(One of these days, you should ask me about my college project in which I deconstructed the Folger, and how that semester of learning has helped me not at all in daily life.)

If you'd like to stay closer to home, the Smith College Club of Baltimore is hosting its annual book sale, Friday-Sunday at the Timonium Fairgrounds. They accept cash and checks only, so leave the plastic at home; Sunday is "all you can carry" for $5, so bring a long-armed friend.

On Sunday night, you can swing by Atomic Books to meet the authors and zinemakers on the Microcosm Tour, including John Isaacson, Shelley Jackson, Joe Biel, Joshua Ploeg and Moe Bowstern. 

John Barth will be at the Johns Hopkins Mason Hall Auditorium on Tuesday to discuss and sign his book, The Development, which is set on the Eastern Shore. The event is at 6 p.m., but you should RSVP to Stacie Spence at libraryfriends@jhu.edu or 410.516.7943.

If you've got an extra $100 to blow later in the week, you can enjoy a pleasant meal and some sparkling conversation with Cokie Roberts at Morton the Steakhouse on Wednesday. The event includes a gourmet lunch and a signed copy of Roberts' We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters: Revised and Expanded Edition. For $50 more, join the VIPs for a one-on-one session with the Emmy Award-winning journalist and a photograph.

And for even more events, visit the Read Street calendar.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Book It
        

Lots of folks are bothered by President Obama's hunkish photo on the cover of this month's Washingtonian magazine. Let's leave aside the Hot or Not? issue -- which seems to be the focus of many comments on the magazine's Capital Comments blog. There's a larger issue: Whether the magazine doctored the photo itself.

Susan Moeller, an associate professor at the University of Maryland's journalism school, noted in a column on Huffington Post that the POTUS' swimsuit had changed color from the original photo. And she questioned whether his skin color had also been lightened -- noting that Time magazine had once done the reverse to O.J. Simpson.

Washingtonian has acknowledged altering the swimsuit from black to red, to create more contrast with the background. It said Obama's skin tone was not changed but might seem different because of the glossy paper.

I'd be horrified if The Baltimore Sun ever made such changes in a photo, and I consider the Time alteration outrageous (the cover was recalled). But the Washingtonian cover is an inevitable step in the entertainment media's scramble for hot-selling issues. For years, in pursuit of the perfect cover shoot, fashion magazines have airbrushed movie stars and other entertainers to within an inch of their lives. (And that pales in comparison to the anorexia-inducing pressures that models endure.) Washingtonian is following that route, sacrificing truth for beauty. And just as I would never take a Vogue or Vanity Fair shot of Demi Moore as a representation of what she actually looks like, I'll hold Washingtonian to that same low standard.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Sunday on Read Street, we'll take a look at a slice of our literary city: the reporters and editors of The Baltimore Sun who have written books. Their works span a range from mysteries to examinations of Maryland's government.

So stop back Sunday and take a 10-question quiz about these authors. One lucky quizling will win a book. Here's a sample question: His thrillers are populated with characters such as Bob Lee Swagger and overflow with machismo; one was made into the movie Shooter.

If you're feeling quizzical right now, try this mind-bender on literary opening lines, from AbeBooks. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Marylandia
        

For Dan Brown fans, here's a look at some followup stories about his new novel, The Lost Symbol, which is due for a Sept. 15 release. They may help tide you over -- at least until the Angels and Demons movie opens on May 15. Here's a quiz about Brown's background. For other reading:

This story examines the pressure on famous writers to keep the hits coming. J.D. Salinger became a recluse. Ralph Ellison never finished another novel after Invisible Man. Grace Metalious, author of Peyton Place, drank herself to death. And Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind was her last novel.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Just when you thought you couldn't possibly have room for another social networking site, along comes filedbyauthor.com.

I've heard this site described as the IMDB for books, but the set up reminds me of Facebook, circa 2004. Maybe you won't find everyone you know and love on it, but you can still waste hours upon hours finding authors you know, the books they've written, other people who like them, events they're attending...you get the idea.

There's even a wall where you can post love letters or a bit of honest critique directly to your chosen author. Whether or not they actually see what you've written is another story, but I'm sure it's good to get stuff like that out of your system, right?

Sign up is free for both readers and authors, and the site has an extremely attractive, easy and intuitive interface. And who doesn't like a space where you can completely geek out over authors such as Frank Herbert or H.L. Mencken? Frankly, I'm surprised there hasn't been a group devoted to Stephenie Meyer yet. I'm sure one of you guys could fix that, though.

The homepage shows recently updated profiles, featured authors and the top searched authors on the site, to give you a taste of what you can find. The site also hosts a blog, filedbyblog.com, which keeps up-to-date with news in the publishing world.

And I'm already on it, so really, what are you waiting for? (Especially you authors! Talk about free publicity!)

(Photo by svilen001 at stock.xchng)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Word on the street is that there's a BookBurn tonight. But before you get all excited, no worries, it's not THAT kind of book burn.

Brad Grochowski of AuthorsBookshop.com, has scheduled his indie book event at Koba Cafe on Fort Avenue to highlight the works of indie authors.

"Forever, the act of burning books has been a symbol of oppression and censorship," according to the Web site. "We feel that indie books have been effectively censored for many years by the stigma that has been held against indie publishing."

So tonight, they "burn" a few indie books so all can see.

Grochowski told me via e-mail that the event will run from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with musical guest sahffi and authors Nick Ruth (Dark Dreamweaver), Frank Joseph (To Love Mercy) and Angelo Solera (The Journey, el Camino) reading.

Grochowski also said they've already scheduled another BookBurn, again at Koba Cafe, on May 20. So if you can't make it tonight, and won't be near a computer for the live Webcast, mark your calendars now.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Book It
        

This has little to do with books, but it does provide more evidence for low standards in public spelling and speech -- and it's funny. One of my guilty pleasures is watching closed captioning on television for the goofy misspellings and garbled language. The mistakes are probably just a result of faulty voice recognition software or some overworked transcriptionist in Bangalore.

I got some laughs last night, as I was watching the Orioles game. After a home run flew out of Camden Yards, the caption said it landed on "Utah Street" -- rather than Eutaw. Other captioning noted a minor league game in "Buoy" -- rather than Bowie, Md.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

In February, he and one of his American cousins met four of their Scottish cousins. In the above photo, Haley is third from left, next to his American cousin, Lynn Holt (in the red jacket), Baff's daughter, June Baff Black (on Chris Haley's left side), her husband, and their two children.

"It's amazing to grasp how readily the six of us felt comfortable with each other," says Chris Haley, 46, who lives in Prince George's County. "Maybe it was the several familiarizing e-mails and couple of phone calls we traded with each other prior to our meeting, but there was no sense of discomfort or awkwardness that I could detect."

Chris says he thinks Alex Haley would have been pleased and excited by the discovery.

"I have decided to take pride and joy in all the people and peoples who have played a part in my being," he says. "So being Scottish is as great to me as being black is.  I have no doubt it would be the same for Uncle Alex. As much as I deeply love black history, anything that tamps down the complex and lingering legacies of racial differences is welcome."

Posted by Mary McCauley at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Marylandia
        

It looks like I'm touching on the subject of independent books and booksellers just in time, as reader Mount Vernon just asked us where to get books that isn't Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Just yesterday, I received an e-mail from IndieBound.org, a site that was founded by the American Booksellers Association to bring independent, local retailers and customers together. And it looks like IndieBound is jumping on the iTunes application bandwagon.

This application is just plain wonderful.

There are three basic functions: a book search, a store finder and a collection of indie bestsellers and notable books.

The book search allows you to find books by author, title or the ISBN. I started a search for local first-time author Erika Robuck, and Receive Me Falling immediately popped up, showing the cover art, publication information and even where I could buy the book both online and in store. This function alone makes the free application worth downloading.

The store finder will pick up your location automatically and then list the indie book stores near you, and even not-so-near you. Toward the end of the search, Vertigo Books in College Park was included. 

Oh, but what if you're in the mood for a cup of coffee? Simply change the type of store you're searching for to "coffee shop" and you'll be directed to the independently owned coffee shops in your area.

Finally, there's the comprehensive catalog of lists. You can easily find this month's notables and great reads, as well as the bestsellers of the day in fiction, nonfiction and children's categories. There's a Top 10 poetry next list, and even a few recommendations for upcoming reads, including graphic novels, debut books, memoirs and mysteries.

And if you don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch? There's still the all-inclusive IndieBound Web site to peruse. So go show your local indie book store some love, people!

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

Today marks Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, memorializing the 6 million Jews who died in World War II. The Holocaust has been a rich vein for authors to mine -- tales of deceit and terror, rescue and redemption. And it has powerful symbols, including the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear -- Jude in German, Juif in French. Unfortunately, the era has also been tarnished by faked memoirs in recent years. Here are four classics; do you have other recommendations?

Night, Elie Wiesel's autobiographical tale about his survival as a boy in a concentration camp, and his philosophical musings on the Holocaust.

Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally. The story of an industrialist who saved hundreds of Polish Jews from the death camps by keeping them as a work force in his factory.

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. The heart-breaking tale of a Dutch girl who tries to make sense of the world as her family hides from evil in an Amsterdam attic.

Maus by Art Spiegelman. A graphic novel that describes the horrors in terms of evil cats and besieged mice.

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal. This collection of essays by Holocaust survivor Wiesenthal, the Dalai Lama, Theodore Hesburgh and other religious leaders examines the possibility for forgiveness.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

With all of yesterday's news, I didn't get to update everyone on the weekend CityLit panel on book culture. We discussed topics from e-books to teenage boys, and got a lot of interesting comments from the audience. Thanks to all those who attended. Some select thoughts from panel members:

Natalie Stokes, associate publisher of Baltimore-based Black Classic Press, worries about the impact of e-books on specialty bookstores that focus on African-American works. She also noted that major bookstores often relegate African-American books to a couple of shelves, which might as well say "For Colored Only." Even in that limited space, urban fiction is crowding out the weightier books.

David Kipen, who runs The Big Read program for the National Endowment for the Arts, said survey data on reading give cause for optimism. Stephenie Meyer's popular vampire novels may be a "gateway drug" for girls, leading to more challenging books. Getting teenage boys to read is still a huge problem, but The Big Read has responded by including books -- The Maltese Falcon, for example -- that appeal to them.

Deirdre Donahue, book critic for USA Today, also was optimistic about the future of books, and noted that she often reads in audio and e-book formats. I liked her subversive thought that parents today encourage reading too much. She recalled that her mother was a solid nonfiction reader, and thought novels frivolous. Because fiction was off-limits to Deirdre, it was actually more appealing and helped kindle her rebellious love of books.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Marylandia
        

 Baltimore residents can kinda, sorta claim that we helped jump-start the career of Lynn Nottage, who picked up the 2009 Pulitzer Prize this afternoon for her newest play, Ruined.

When the awards list of winners and finalists was released at 3 p.m., Nottage had won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, besting such competitors as Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose In the Heights won the 2008 Tony Award for best musical.

The judges cited Nottage's "searing" drama set in the Belgian Congo "that compels audiences to face the horror of wartime rape and brutality while still finding affirmation of life and hope amid hopelessness."

The other winners of the literary awards were:

 * Fiction: Elizabeth Strout for her novel, Olive Kitteridge,

* History: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed,

* Biography: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham,

* Poetry: The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin, and

* General Non-Fiction: Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon.

Keep reading this post to find out what Nottage had to say about Ruined before the play opened on Broadway, and why Baltimore can claim some bragging rights in connection with the MacArthur Award-winning playwright.

And you can find out more about other winners of the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes here

Center Stage co-commissioned and mounted Nottage's most famous (until now) play in 2003, Intimate Apparel, and it went on to a long and acclaimed run first on Broadway, and then at regional theaters around the U.S. Center Stage also has performed two other of Nottage's plays: Crumbs from the Table of Joy in 2006, and Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine this past winter.

I interviewed Nottage over the telephone on Feb. 2, eight days before Ruined opened in Broadway. Even at that early date, the work was generating Pulitzer buzz, in part because of the rapturous reviews garnered by the production during its out-of-town tryout in Chicago.

"I've been there and done that," Nottage said of the rumors that Ruined was already short-listed for the Pulitzer in drama.

"That's what people said would happen with Intimate Apparel, and it wasn't even a finalist. I feel that my reward for this work is in the response it's getting. People see this play, and they want to take political action. They come up to me afterward and say, 'What can I do to help? Where do I donate?' That's why I wrote it. It's a 'political' piece of theater that's not being treated as such."

Nottage said that Ruined was loosely inspired by Bertold Brecht's great anti-war play, Mother Courage and Her Children. Both Brecht's canteen woman, Mother Courage, and the brothel owner, Mama Nadi, who is central to Nottage's play, are opportunists who profit from the war.

"They are morally complicated and ambiguous characters, strong women who will do anything to survive," Nottage said.

Everyone who has seen the play has commented that Nottage has taken subject matter that can be unrelentingly grim -- rape, and other war atrocities -- and given it a tone that is buoyant and frequently funny.

"The interesting thing about modern warfare is that the assumption is that the battle is going on constantly," Nottage says.

"But it ebbs and flows. In between the big battles, people try to resurrect their lives. The devastation isn't the sum total of what life is like during wartime, though that's what one would assume from reading the headlines."

During the interview, Nottage mentioned that Center Stage commissioned her to write another play, which received a staged reading in 2008. The play, tentatively titled By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, is set in the 1930s, and is about a white actress and a black starlet who are vying to be cast in a slave epic on the big screen.

"I had a terrific reading of the play at Center Stage, and I was really encouraged," Nottage said. "But I have no commitment from them yet."

Who wants to bet that that situation is about to change?  

Posted by Mary McCauley at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Fans of the mega-hit The Da Vinci Code have waited six years for Dan Brown's next release. (Going back to read Angels and Demons just didn't cut it.) Well, the wait is over. Today, Random House said it would release Brown's The Lost Symbol on Sept. 15 in a first run of 5 million copies, according to Publishers Weekly.

The story takes place over a 12-hour period in the life of Da Vinci protagonist Robert Langdon. “Weaving five years of research into the story’s twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge,” said Brown in a statement. “Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine.”

The Da Vinci Code sold more than 80 million copies, but also took some heat for its portrayal of the Catholic Church and its license with facts. It sparked a mini-industry of "truth tellers," who sought to shed more light on Opus Dei, the Knights Templar and other matters. I wasn't bothered by the book's exaggerations, and I certainly didn't take it as an expose of a centuries-old conspiracy. I just liked it because it had a wicked pace, great settings, decent characters and interesting connections to scientific theory, from map-making to sequencing. That made it an appealing  beach read. Too bad O.C. will be quiet when The Lost Symbol appears.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Author J.G. Ballard, who wrote the autobiographical Empire Of The Sun and died Sunday in London, was known for a dark style so distinctive that it was labeled "Ballardian."

You won't find it in every dictionary. But the Collins English Dictionary defines it as "resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in Ballard's novels & stories, esp. dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes & the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments," the AP reports.

There's much to be said for adjectival authors, those who have a hallmark style. Some that come to mind: Shakespearean (flowery, insightful phrases describing great tragedy); Dickensian (a world of striving amid squalor); Faulknerian (Southern culture writ in twisting, twirling prose), Chandlerian (hard-edged tales of twisted justice).

But other equally well-known, equally distinctive authors never get their own adjective. Why no Hemingway-ian or Fitzgeraldian (OK, so those are a mouthful). But how about Austenian? Or Poe-ian? Or, do I dare risk it: Stephenie Meyerian?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Obituaries
        

More than a week ago, the Internet nearly imploded with rage after it was discovered that books, a majority touching on gay and lesbian issues, were disappearing from search results on Amazon.com.

The phenomenon, and the outpouring of anger it inspired, was soon dubbed "Amazonfail" on sites such as Twitter.com and blogs everywhere.
 
This event -- which an Amazon spokesman described as an "embarrassing and ham-fisted error," and critics have called hypocritical, offensive and just plain moronic -- has inspired righteous indignation as well as just plain confusion from many people.
 
So if you find yourself confused about how this "glitch" became such a hot-button issue in the span of mere hours, and why I think it's important that we don't just forget it ever happened, here are three separate issues that I've identified (which isn't to say there aren't many, many more).

 Censorship

"Amazon.com strives to be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online."
 
That's Amazon's mission statement, and it's an admirable one: Provide people with the products they want, and do so in a way that keeps them happy. Does this mean that parents should be able to filter searches so that sexual toys and books won't be included in their children's searches? Absolutely. Does it mean that perfectly legal products should be suppressed from everyone? No.
 
So when America's largest online retailer (as described in the Top 500 Guide of internet retailers), deranks books by D.H. Laurence, E.M. Forster, Anais Nin and Augusten Burroughs, making it so that they don't appear in book searches, something has gone wrong.
 
I don't believe Amazon set out to censor their customers. But I do believe that regardless of intent, this was indeed censorship, and not the kind that protects anyone. If a child can still easily find the complete collection of Playboy centerfolds, Ron Jeremy's autobiography and dozens of explicit heterosexual romances, the pretense of protection is a thin one.
 
Many of us can happily ignore the threat of censorship in American society, but Amazonfail has proven that you don't need to stage a book-burning for it to happen.

Privilege

One of my most painful revelations in the Amazonfail fallout has been that decent, intelligent people whom I love a great deal have no idea how good they have it, and how to relate to others' experiences.
 
The lesbian/gay/transgendered community is one that has been told time and time again, in cultures throughout time and place, that they deserve fewer rights than others because of who they are.
 
The same can be said of people of color, women, and people with disabilities.
 
But in this case, the precarious position that LGBT authors and readers can easily find themselves in was highlighted.
 
The majority of white, male and able-bodied people in this world never have to worry about walking down the street unharassed, getting inside a restaurant or even whether or not someone will be able to relate to them on a personal level. This is privilege.
 
Being privileged doesn't make you a bad person, and it doesn't mean you've done anything wrong; it means that you have status in the community entirely independent of anything you have done or said. It also means that oftentimes you won't recognize the struggles of people unlike you, unless they are pointed out.
 
Kinda like what I'm doing right now.
 
And that's why minority groups, such as the LGBT community, are angry. It's not because they're over-reacting. It's not because they are determined to see bigotry where ever they go. It is because throughout their lives they have been told they are lesser, inferior, somehow lacking because of who they love. And this incident, independent of intent, served to underline those facts.

Response

Finally, there is the problem of how Amazon reacted to this error in the first place. The importance of a timely, adequate response to customer anger, especially during a recession, is huge. It speaks to the company's ethics and how much they value their own customers.
 
As of today, Amazon has yet to provide an official statement describing what went wrong, and apologize to the authors who lost business, the customers who lost options and the many, many people who were personally hurt by the error.
 
We are talking about the largest online retailer in the country, and maybe the world. They have a huge audience and access to this audience 24 hours a day. They can post a statement on their Web site. They can e-mail anyone who has ever bought or sold a product on their site. They can explain what happened through their Twitter accounts, their daily blog and who knows how many other avenues.
 
Instead, they had a spokesman e-mail a reporter, with no sign of an apology in sight. This alone angers me. How little must they care about their customers, their selling partners, and those human beings they hurt, that they can't even be bothered to issue a press release on their own Web site?
 
There's still time to make many of these things right. And as a longtime fan of Amazon.com, I sincerely hope they recognize the message they are sending, and re-evaluate both their actions and inactions -- because it's the right thing to do, as well as the smart one.

(Photo by CraigPJ at stockxchng)

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

This week in The Sun, Towson University English professor Diane Scharper provides capsule reviews of four books with a Maryland connection. The topics range from kids' sports to the Mideast crisis.

Until It Hurts By Mark Hyman (Beacon / 160 pages / $23.95). Sports programs for children aren’t about kids having fun. As Hyman sees it, they’re a means to an end. His latest book offers an eye-opening look at youth sports. from its inception to the present. The YMCA introduced youth sports in the 1880s to encourage moral fitness; by 1903, the Public Schools Athletic League used sports to lower the crime rate; in the 1920s, the American Legion pushed sports to encourage patriotic values. Even Carl Stoz’s Little League, which made its debut in 1939, hoped to promote virtues of sportsmanship — as well as to help Stotz financially. By the 1950s, youth sports was already a monster. Hyman, a Baltimore resident, sportswriter, coach and parent, interviews educators, doctors, major league baseball players, parents and kids who say that children’s organized sports do more harm than good. According to Hyman, it’s about competitiveness, greed, college scholarships and adults wanting to bask in reflected glory.

My Hope for Peace By Jehan Sadat (Free Press / 224 pages / $25). To many Westerners, the Taliban is synonymous with Islam, and burka-clad women are mute archetypes of Arab feminism. Not true, says Dr. Jehan Sadat, widow of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated in 1981. In this thought-provoking book, she corrects misconceptions about Islam as she examines similarities and differences between Muslims and Westerners. Although Islamic customs are more conservative regarding relations between unmarried men and women, Sadat offers no apologies — given the divorce rate in the West. A Senior Fellow with the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, Sadat does not equate feminism with promiscuity as, she alleges, do many Westerners. She believes one can be a devout Muslim woman while being both emancipated and educated. Her life and example offer eloquent testimony to that notion. 

Becoming Billie Holiday, poems by Carol Boston Weatherford, art by Floyd Cooper (Wordsong / 117 pages / $19.95). These brief, first-person poems — many titled after Billie Holiday’s songs — tell the story of Eleanora Fagan, who, although she grew up impoverished on Durham Street in a rough East Baltimore neighborhood, yet became a world-renowned jazz singer. With little education and no vocal training, Billie Holiday (she changed her name when she began singing) had an obsessive love for jazz, an excellent ear for rhythm and a voice that, Weatherford suggests, was almost able to float. This ability and her strong sense of drama resulted in hits like the harrowing protest song about black lynching, “Strange Fruit,” and the prayerlike paean to childhood, “God Bless the Child.” Weatherford (originally from Baltimore) translates pivotal moments from Holiday’s youth to mid-20s into sharply detailed, ironic poems. Coupled with Floyd Cooper’s moody, impressionistic illustrations, the poems try to get inside the sensibilities of the legendary Lady Day. More often than not, they succeed.

Almost Home by Christine Gleason (Kaplan / 224 pages / $26.95). Dr. Christine Gleason cared for some very sick newborns at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was chief of neonatology. This gripping memoir tells their the stories and those of several other babies she treated in her approximately 30 years as intern, resident and medical doctor. There’s Jimmy, the boy with the sad eyes, born prematurely to a 15-year-old, unmarried mother who wanted nothing to do with her child until she held him as he lay dying. There’s Owen, whose death made Gleason think about quitting her specialty. There’s Patrick, who survived although he was considered nonviable as a 22-week gestation fetus weighing less than one pound. As Gleason describes the overwhelming medical problems and the extensive efforts of doctors and nurses, trying to bring babies back from the brink of death, her book takes on the tension of a well-paced adventure story.

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

I was feeling like a grown up this week, so instead of accosting the nearest co-worker for a number between 1 and 13, I used one of those handy random number generators. And so, this week's winner is: Darlene!

I've got to say, I'm pleased that Wedlock is going to another book juggler. Some of you monogamous readers (ahem, Dave) were getting so snooty!

Right now, I've got Dan Simmons' Drood, Sarah Vowell's The Partly Cloudy Patriot and L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall clamboring for attention. Oh, and this little thing called the CityLit Festival. I don't know if you've heard about it, but it's happening. This weekend.

On to the next free book: The Annotated Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, with an introduction by Brian Jacques, who penned the Redwall series.

It's gorgeous, and I'd rather keep it myself, so if you don't feel like sharing what you're reading, I won't be too hurt...

Posted by Nancy Knight at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Freebie Friday
        

Kudos to The Sun's Michael Sragow, who split the top honors for the National Award for Arts Writing with author Brenda Wineapple.

The award, given to the best nonfiction book on the arts each year, may not yet have the same cachet as the Pulitzer Prize. But it's one of the highest monetary awards for a book by a single author; the winner of the arts award gets $15,000, while the winner of each Pulitzer gets a paltry $10,000.  

(Sragow and Wineapple will each come away with $7,500.)

"I was delighted to learn that I was a finalist," Sragow says, "but I didn't really expect to win. There was a slate of very strong contenders."  

Sragow was honored for Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master, and Wineapple got the nod for White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Want more details about how Sragow put together his magnum opus? Read them here.

Posted by Mary McCauley at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A reminder: Tomorrow at 4:30, as the CityLit Festival winds down, we'll have the 1st Annual Read Street Meetup at Mick O'Shea's Pub, 328 N. Charles Street.

We'll toast our city's rich literary heritage, including the Baltimore woman who published the seminal work of a famous Irish author. Leave a comment with the name of the woman, the author and his work, and I'll buy you a Guinness.

If you can't make the meetup, say hello to me and Nancy during the festival. Nancy's moderating a panel on "First Books, New Authors" from 1:30 to 3 in the Office of School & Student Services; I'm moderating a panel on "What's Becoming of Our Book Culture?" from 1:30 to 2:30 in the Fine Arts Department.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Baltimore has long been known as “The City that Reads,” but it seems to be more and more a city known for it’s lively literary scene.

I was introduced to the scene back in 2004, when I stumbled onto the Baltimore Book Festival. As a relative newcomer to the area, I was amazed at all of the literary buzz around me, and was especially happy to learn about the CityLit Project, whose tent was one of the most interesting at the festival.

Under the leadership of Gregg Wilhelm, the CityLit Project has sponsored many events for lovers of literatures during the years since my own introduction to the nonprofit — evenings with writers, writing conferences, literary readings, practical advice sessions on the publishing industry, book festival tents, writer association meetings.

But perhaps the crown jewel is the CityLit Festival, now in its sixth year.

If you love books and literature, you won’t want to miss the CityLit Festival at the Enoch Pratt Free Library at 400 Cathedral Street. You’ll have the chance to see last year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, Junot Diaz, and last year’s National Book Award for Poetry winner Mark Doty. There are sessions on what’s becoming of our book culture, lifelong literature — too much to mention here!

Plus, exhibitors will be showing off their books, literary journals, services, and all things bookish in the exhibitors’ hall all day long.

I’ll be there for a session on first books, new authors, and my children’s book, Flightless Goose, will be in the exhibitor’s hall all day. Our gracious Read Street editors, Dave Rosenthal and Nancy Johnston will be present as moderators. There really is something for everyone!

Hope to see you there. If you love books, it’s a great way to “get lit” this Saturday.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, is semiautobiographical and wholly entertaining. Here, she shares "The Good and Bad of Growing Up in the '70s." 

GOOD: You are not freaked out by the human body in all its shapes and forms — you have seen so many naked people that you understand that nudity is a normal human condition. This comes in handy when you have to help a sick hospitalized friend navigate some intimate part of her body with tubes and wires.

BAD: You know what your father’s penis looks like because he always swims naked, and when he shaves, he stands at the vanity in his bedroom, naked, with the bedroom door wide open.

GOOD: When you are 14, you aren’t embarrassed with confusion when someone hands you a bong because your mother has already shown you how to use a bong.

BAD: You’re smoking pot at 14.

GOOD: Pot has no rebellious thrill and you quickly lose interest in it and never really smoke it again in your life.

GOOD: You will not get pregnant in high school because your mother will make sure that you are using birth control.

BAD: You have to discuss birth control with your mother, who has no problem imagining you having sex.

GOOD: Your sense of the world goes beyond the physical as you are introduced to things like aura readings, séances and Ouija boards.

BAD: You lie in bed terrified of the spirit world invading your room. You fall asleep each night with your arms crossed over your stomach because your mother told you it would prevent spirits from entering your body.

GOOD: Your best friend, whose mother ran off to be the tambourine girl in a band and whose father is in graduate school, is invited to come live with your family for as long as she wants.

BAD: Your parents, who barely have time or energy for you, now dote on your best friend and will only give her the keys to the car because you failed your driver’s test three times and don’t drive as well as she.

GOOD: You are very healthy, as your mother doesn’t trust the local water supply and buys Arrowhead water before most people have heard of bottled water. She also buys skim milk (and you are the only family in your neighborhood with skim milk), and bakes bread. Your father ferments his own yogurt using kumquats from the trees in the backyard. The only kind of cookie in the house is Fig Newtons.

BAD: The only kind of cookie in the house is Fig Newtons. All your friends’ houses hold better-tasting food — they have lunch meats, soda, white bread and Suzy Q’s.

GOOD: You like the same music as your parents and never have to spend money on records.

GOOD: You can turn the music up REALLY LOUD on the stereo and dance in the living room with your friends after school every day.

GOOD: Your parents come into the living room and dance with you. Your mother does the Funky Chicken and your father does The Itch, a dance he invented after being attacked by fleas.

BAD: Your friends like dancing and hanging out with your parents and never want to leave your house, even though the food is way better at their houses.

GOOD: You don’t really have to do chores around the house as your mother “quit” being a housewife and her workload was never reassigned. Your father wants to hire a cleaning woman but your mother doesn’t want someone in the house. She thinks it’s unsafe to have a stranger in the house when there is a small marijuana orchard in the backyard between the lemon trees.

BAD: Your house is so messy that the white kitchen floor is only white once a year when your mother uses a paint scraper to get the hardened gunk off the floor and then mops it before your grandparents from New Jersey show up for their annual two-week December visit.

GOOD: Your parents don’t care about grades or school or attendance. Your mother tells you to sign the first permission slips of the year so that the parent signature the school has on file is actually your signature. You are instructed to never bother your parents with signatures or notes, etc.

BAD: When you get straight As, no one seems to care.

GOOD: Your parents don’t keep track of you and you are not expected to keep track of them. They are often gone (you have no idea where they are) and you get the house to yourself and can eat ice cream for lunch and lie on the living room couch looking at Diane Arbus photo books all afternoon.

BAD: You are afraid to be in the house alone. You worry about spirits, or thieves who are after the marijuana plants, or the rigid, very blond neighbors who have a pet raccoon and who hate your family, particularly your brother who frequently abandons his Big Wheel in their driveway. You wish that someone, anyone, would come home to keep you company.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Fiction writer Junot Diaz comes to the CityLit Festival this Saturday to read from his 2008 novel, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He took a few minutes from his busy schedule to talk to Read Street about his lifelong obsession with the written word (a longer Baltimore Sun story is here).

His Literary Baptism: Mrs. Crowell, the librarian of the Parlin Elementary School in New Jersey, encouraged my love of reading. When I found the library, I felt as though I'd stumbled onto Ali Baba's cave. I'd walk four miles to take out books. She's even let me photocopy lists of books in print, so I could find new titles by my favorite authors.

Favorite Childhood Book: John Christopher's Tripod Series. In the books, the earth is ruled by aliens in giant tripods. When kids get to be about 14, a strange little cap is put on their heads, and then they're considered adults. It's a form of mind control, and it's a metaphor that taps into the fears and anxieties of a lot of young people.

Famous Author Who He Just Doesn't Get: I never badmouth authors, because I don't want to do anything to discourage reading. But if I had to pick a writer whose reputation won't be dented by my poor opinion, I'd have to say Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. My friends and I joke that white people love those books, but we just don't get them.

Guilty Pleasure Book: I make my guilty pleasures my central pleasures. I was reading this horror book by John Skipp and Craig Spector, The Light at the End. My ex-girlfriend picked it up from my nightstand and said, "This is just ridiculous." I have no shame when it comes to reading.

Audio books -- cheating or reading? I don't have an opinion because I haven't really listened to very many audio books, except for The Iliad and The Odyssey. That was amazing, because they were originally written to be heard and not read. Books on tape replicates that aural tradition.

Posted by Mary McCauley at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Meet the Author
        

Damn Yankees! Washington and Lee University has a missing library book back — nearly 145 years after it was stolen by a Union soldier during the Civil War.

The first volume of W.F.P. Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula was returned recently to the Lexington, Va., school by a friend of one of the soldier's descendants, the AP reported. Thinking he was at adjoining Virginia Military Institute, soldier C.S. Gates took the book on June 11, 1864, from the library of what was then Washington College, university officials said. The theft took place as Union troops raided the area and burned VMI's buildings.

The book was passed down through C.S. Gates' descendants and came into the possession of Mike Dau, who lives near Chicago. Dau and his wife traveled to W&L in February to return the book, which he said is in good condition except for a loose binding. He told AP that he was glad he wasn't responsible for any fines.

Wow -- 145 years. Suddenly I feel much less guilty about my overdue books at the Baltimore County Library.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 7:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Essayist Ben Shaberman gives us a sneak peek at the funny I expect him to bring on Saturday.

I'm excited to have my collection of essays, The Vegan Monologues, debut at CityLit.

Surprisingly, I'm already getting fan mail, and one note came from none other than North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. He wrote:

Dear Mr. Shabbyman.

Like new book so far. Love story about girlfriend's dying cat. Grasshopper porn story great, too. LMAO. Now that missile launch done, can catch up on reading. (Don't worry, we aim for West Coast -- not Baltimore.) Come visit. Cook you great tofu-kimchee dish. (And no fish sauce! No worries vegan man!). You in West funny, but way too nervous. Ha ha,

Love, KJ.

I hope my fellow Baltimoreans will also enjoy my rants and reflections on vegan life.

Please share a story, a recipe, or just complain.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Saturday afternoon, I'll be leading a panel at the CityLit Festival on "What's becoming of our book culture?" and the loss of Vertigo Books in College Park brings that topic into sharp focus.

Vertigo, scheduled to close April 24 or 25, isn’t the first or biggest independent bookstore to close; it certainly won’t be the last. And such stores wouldn’t register a blip in bailout-crazy Washington. But they matter, and the "store closing" signs are another sign of danger for our book culture.

These days, more people are buying books at online stores. More people are downloading books to e-book readers such as the Kindle. Some people have moved even further from books, watching the video version of Jeff Jarvis’ What Would Google Do? That means fewer people browsing book stores and fewer people at the library.

Author Barbara Kingsolver has said we’re living in a period that could be described as "Isolation and Efficiency, and How They Came Around to Bite Us in the Backside." She was addressing larger issues – war and pollution – but her thoughts also apply to our book culture, which has been tilting toward the quick sale, the hurried read.

There are some signs of hope. Book groups remain popular, giving a communal value to the reading experience. Blockbusters such as the Harry Potter and Twilight series have made millions of kids excited about books – and given cache to reading. And bookstores are developing strategies to reach readers – Powell’s Books, for example, plans to set up a booth at the Portland, Ore., farmers market.

Do you think our book culture is endangered – or thriving? What are other signs of hope -- or of the apocalyse? Let me know your thoughts; I'll incorporate them into Saturday's panel discussion. And stop by to say hello; the Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Enoch Pratt, 400 Cathedral Street.

(p.s. Nancy's moderating a CityLit panel that starts at 1:30 and features new authors. We'll also be at Mick O'Shea's pub -- just around the corner on Charles St. -- at 4:30 p.m. for the First Annual Read Street Meetup.)

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

This end is coming near for Vertigo Books, an independent store that started in Washington's Dupont Circle in 1991 and moved to College Park in 2000. Along the way, the store hosted authors -- including Barack Obama in 1995 -- and developed  programs with local libraries. But Vertigo also had to battle superstores, on-line retailers such as Amazon, e-readers, and finally, a withering recession. "It was death by 1,000 cuts," co-owner Todd Stewart told me, adding that Amazon was "the biggest cut of all."

Vertigo, which plans to close April 24 or 25, was very aggressive in noting that locally owned businesses are the bedrock of any community. Profits stay home; they aren't shipped to a corporate office in a distant state or country. Local businesses pay a host of taxes that Internet-based competitors avoid. And tastemakers, the folks who set buying lists and even displays, are always handy; they aren't based in a glass-walled office at "corporate." 

At least Vertigo is leaving with its head held high. Starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, the store will host its version of an Irish wake. As the website says: "Bring a dish or something to drink and join us for a free form wake and potluck ... . If you shopped, read or worked here, we want to see you."  

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

On Saturday, I'm moderating a CityLit Festival panle that I'm pretty excited about: new authors. It's a very diverse group of men and women, who've just begun making their marks on the world with short stories, essays, a novel, a children's book and a Young Adult book.

You can join me and the authors — Jessica Anya Blau (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties); Eric D. Goodman (Flightless Goose); Susan McCallum-Smith (Slipping the Moorings); Ben Shaberman (The Vegan Monologues); and Elissa Brent Weissman (Standing for Socks) — at 1:30 Saturday at the Central Library.

And to whet your appetite, I've invited the authors to introduce themselves to all of you, which they have been gracious enough to agree to do. So first up: Elissa Brent Weissman.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions since the publication of my first novel, Standing for Socks.

How did you get into writing for children? Where did you get the idea for this book? How long did it take you to write it? But there is one question that I have gotten, hands down, more than any other.

So when Nancy so kindly invited me to guest-blog for Read Street, I decided to use this wonderful opportunity to address this crazy question once and for all. It’s a question that I never saw coming but have been asked by nearly everyone I know or meet: Are those your legs on the cover?

The answer, and the reason I find the question so strange, is no, they’re not my legs.

At first I was totally thrown off guard when people asked. But now that I’ve been asked so frequently, I’ve convinced myself to put aside the creepiness factor — Why have all of these people been checking out my legs? — and take it as a compliment. I mean, they are pretty nice legs.

But the cover model is probably about 14 years old, and the character she’s portraying is only 11. (Do my 25-year-old legs look like a pre-teen’s? This is part of the creepiness that I have decided to ignore.) Oftentimes when friends ask if they’re my legs and I disappoint them with the answer, they then say, “But those look like your shorts!”

This is a fair point — I do own a few pairs of shorts that look like the shorts on the cover, and they are probably just as wrinkled when I wear them — but I find it really funny, because that’s just not how book publishing works. The design department doesn’t call you up and say, “Come pose for your book cover, and bring your own shorts!”

The process of publishing a book is a really long one. (Simon & Schuster bought my book in September 2006 and it only hit shelves a couple weeks ago.) A lot of the reason it takes so long is that every component of the book, from the legs on the cover to the blurb on the back, is strategically designed and carefully scrutinized by the professionals at the publishing company. It takes a whole team of people to put out a book, and at large publishing houses the author essentially gets benched once the text is finalized.

It’s rare that an author gets much of a say in what his book cover looks like, and even rarer that he’s asked to pose for it (book jacket models have headshots and agents — who knew?). Picture book authors don’t get to choose their illustrators, and the publisher usually has final say on even a book’s title. It may sound unfair, and sometimes it does feel that way as an author. I’m still not thrilled with the amount of pink on my book jacket — I think it makes the book look girly and frivolous, though really it’s got some substance and would appeal, I hope, to boys as well as girls — but the truth is that these people are specialists, and they give a lot of thought to things that are beyond the scope of the authors’ mind.

Quick example: In the first version of my book cover that I saw (a “final” version — I didn’t get to see anything until it was considered done), the model was standing with less conviction, her right hand hanging out of her pocket and her left knee bent. After the designers and editors met with the sales team, though, they decided that the position was too provocative for a book for this age group. The original didn’t look sexy to me, but I do like that the character appears more confident and willful in the photo that made the cut. (And imagine the comments I’d be getting if people thought it were me and my shorts in such a scandalous pose!)

The publishing process is one of those things that’s a total mystery to people outside it. I mean, I’ve gone through it now and I don’t totally get it. (I think it’s even something of a mystery to the people who work there. I interned in publishing one summer and got to learn about each department during weekly presentations. But not just interns attended — full-time employees would show up regularly, fascinated by what they learned about how the other parts of the company functioned.)

But I do trust that the people over there are as thoughtful and dedicated to their jobs as I am to mine. I write, they publish, and the girl on the cover models. And on Saturday, I get to sit on a panel with a group of talented writers who, if they’re like me, are still in a state of elation/disbelief at having their first book published. I can’t wait for my first “appearance” as a published author.

One thing’s for sure, though. I’ll be wearing pants.

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

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, W.W. Norton & Company, 247 pages, $23.95. 

Daniel Mueenuddin's In Other Wonders, Other Rooms is an engrossing and often elegiac look at modern Pakistan. The author's tone varies between ironic humor at the machinations of his frantically scrambling characters, to suppressed rage at the waste of human potential. 

To describe Mueenuddin's Pakistan as "modern" is very nearly a contradiction in terms, for the society the writer depicts is breathtakingly feudal. In their ironclad class distinctions and depiction of a rapidly vanishing way of life, these eight linked stories are reminiscent of Chekhov.

The lives of nearly all the characters are entangled in some manner with that of the wealthy land-owner, K.K. Harouni. His status provides protection for his servants and his women (and yes, the two groups often are conflated). For both, he is their reason for existing.

Indeed, the title character of the final story, A Spoiled Man, reminded me of Firs, the ancient footman in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, who is accidentally abandoned by his well-intentioned but callow owners in the play's final scene. Neither Firs nor A Spoiled Man's Rezak, an elderly servant who lives in a portable tin and wooden hut of which he is heartbreakingly proud, ever question their fate or criticize, even in their own minds, the rich families who alternately patronize and neglect them. 

Mueenuddin's stories depict characters at every strata, from a sybaritic party girl to a kitchen helper who is half a step up from a prostitute. But his deepest sympathies seem to lie with those lowest on the food chain, and these are the stories that leap off the page. Saleema and Nawabdin Electrician are two of the most accomplished.

Though Mueenuddin has a quiet authorial voice that doesn't call attention to itself, his prose contains images of great loveliness. Here's a line from Our Lady of Paris: "The loose bedsprings made long, rusty sounds, like a knife leisurely sharpened on a whetstone."

In About a Burning Girl, a man describes his wife thusly: "You need only see her disjoint a roast chicken to know the depths or heights of her carnality."

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders also made me think about how we define corruption. Nearly everyone in every story is trying to play an angle, has a scheme or trick up their sleeves. The first line of Nawabdin Electrician is:

"He flourished on a signature capability, a technique for cheating the electric company by slowing down the revolutions of electric meters so cunningly done that his customers could specify to the hundred-rupee note the desired savings."

Perhaps in that society, a different rule set applies. Is it cheating if everyone knows you're doing it, and if it's necessary to scratch out a meager survival?

If corruption carries a connotation of evil, of obliviousness to the sufferings of others, the only truly corrupt character in this book is the judge who narrates About a Burning Girl. He turns a blind eye to murder, because to do otherwise would inconvenience his politically powerful wife.

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

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted an e-mail response from Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener.

Amazon is in the process of restoring the rankings to every book affected, which they number as 57,310.

There's still been no official statement from the company, as far as I can tell. And I don't think this will die down until more questions are answered and an apology has been made.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can reduce stress levels by more than two-thirds, according to new research noted in the Telegraph. It even beats listening to music or going for a walk, University of Sussex researchers found. Psychologists say they believe this is because the mind must concentrate on reading and that distraction eases tension in muscles and the heart.

Reading reduced the stress levels of test subjects by 68 percent, and they only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to see improvement.  Listening to music reduced the levels by 61 percent and taking a walk by 42 percent.

I'll buy the research -- as far as it goes.

But what if you tested Michael Moore with a book by Ann Coulter -- or vice versa? Or asked Stephen King to read some Stephenie Meyer? Or had the Pittsburgh Steelers read The Raven?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I have a feeling this was not a quiet holiday weekend for Amazon executives.

Author Mark Probst discovered that hundreds of gay and lesbian titles had been labeled "adult," and thus removed from sales rankings and certain search results and lists, resulting in an immediate angry mob.

Think of it as the ban heard 'round the world.

These titles include straight-up pornographic material, as well as Probst's own young adult title, Filly, Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors and even biographies and memoirs of gay authors and celebrities. Here's an exhaustive list of the types of titles banned, compared to the titles that've retained their rankings.

But don't worry, you can still find yourself the most popular vibrator (this link is clearly NSFW). And Ron Jeremy's bio is ranked ninth in the pornography category.

So what does this mean for you?

Well, if you're looking for a copy of Brokeback Mountain, a general search will give you every imaginable copy of the DVD, as well as the movie Milk, before you finally see the short story, listed at No. 9.

If you're searching for Running With Scissors, you'll get David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day and Naked, as well as every other Augusten Burroughs book, AND the movie based on the book before that title shows up at No. 12.

And if you're looking for a best-selling title that deals with a gay issue, don't even try looking at the best-seller lists, as this L.A. Times blog post points out.

Of course, in all of the chaos, there is one possibility: That this is an elaborate hoax perpetrated on both Amazon and its customers.

Maybe it's my Kindle love that's blinding me, but I just can't imagine that Amazon would willingly alienate such a large clientele by purposely banning any book that mentions gay and lesbian issues. That's just not good for business.

So what do you think? Conspiracy, prank or glitch?

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Last spring, as I was preparing to launch Read Street, I stopped by the Enoch Pratt central library on a warm Saturday for the annual CityLit Festival. The lobby -- filled with local writers and poets, as well as representatives of journals, publishing houses and literary organizations -- had an amazing energy.

Amazing because on most days, the Baltimore area’s literary community is split into bits and pieces: lectures, books clubs, poetry readings and author appearances (as noted on Read Street's calendar). But the CityLit Festival, like the fall Baltimore Book Festival, brings lots of those pieces together to create a critical literary mass. It was an inspiring sight -- and a good omen for the blog.

You don’t have to wait long for the 2009 festival — it runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Pratt, and features Junot Diaz, who won a Pulitzer Prize for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Other writers include Mark Doty, whose poetry won a 2008 National Book Award; Liza Mundy, author of a Michelle Obama biography; Jennifer Baszile, author of The Black Girl Next Door; and poets Michael Collier and Elizabeth Spires.

There also is a full slate of panels, on topics ranging from publishing to cooking to youth sports. At 1:30 p.m., I’ll lead a discussion of book reviews, blogging and other issues related to "What’s Becoming of Our Book Culture?" Also at 1:30 p.m., Read Street partner Nancy Johnston will moderate a panel of new authors, including Jessica Anya Blau and Elissa Brent Weissman.

So drop by the festival and say hello. Even better: Come to Mick O'Shea's (just around the corner on Charles St.) at 4:30 p.m. for the First Annual Read Street Meetup. It's our version of high tea -- a chance for Nancy and me to meet the folks who visit Read Street.

Other literary events: The Bethesda Literary Festival runs from Friday to Sunday, and featured authors include Mary Higgins Clark, Daniel Schorr, Gwen Ifill and Kimberly Dozier.

The West Virginia Book Faire is Friday and Saturday in Martinsburg. Among the featured authors are mystery writers Harlan Coben and Lisa Scottoline. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Zane, the local woman who has hit it big in erotica, talked with The Baltimore Sun recently about her remarkable career. She began by sharing stories with friends via the Internet, moved to self-publishing, and now has her own imprint with Simon & Schuster. She's one of the rare African-American women (others include Toni Morrison and Terry McMillan) to make the New York Times best-seller list for fiction. Here are some excerpts from the interview, which ran in the Unisun section:

You tap into women's most taboo fantasies. Does that get you into trouble? I never expected what I do to be accepted by everybody. I know that America is one of the most sexually repressed countries in the world. People fear that which they don't understand. It's very rare that I have a negative comment come to me. ... 

What kinds of books do you read? Do you read erotica? Not really. My biggest reads are murder mysteries and science fiction and horror books. ... I read murder mysteries as a kid. V.C. Andrews. Stephen King was my favorite writer as a child. He has a talent that a lot of writers should aspire to and that's the ability to write something totally ridiculous and untrue and have people believe it and be scared of it.

What do your children and your husband think about your books? My children know what I write about, but to my knowledge, they do not read my books. And I am actually happily divorced. My kids, they know what I do. ... I am open with my children when it comes to sex. I don't want them to go and learn from someone else.

What is your romantic fantasy? My fantasy is to find a man that can appreciate me, who mirrors me in many ways and who is not intimidated by me and who is as uninhibited as I am.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Dave says I scared everybody off with Jailbait Zombie, and with the incredible drop-off of responses, I'd have to say he's right!

But I admit, it's not my cup of tea, either -- due to the detective story angle, not the zombies, mind you.

This week, I've been re-reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. I read it as a high-schooler and I remembered enjoying it, but then I realized I couldn't remember why I'd liked it.

Couple that with this discussion I stumbled upon about how embarrassing it can be to read a book when an author's "id is showing," which mentions Bradley's portrayal of women, and I knew I had to return to the scene of the alleged crimes. (Warning: The discussion is pretty genre specific -- science fiction/fantasy, mainly -- and includes subjects you may not want a co-worker to see on your screen.)

So far, the number of pages devoted to sewing and spinning, which I have to admit is appropriate given the era, is disturbing/boring me.

But I'm still enjoying it, both for the story and for remembering what I was thinking when I first read the book.

But back to the giveaway! This week's winner is: Gail!

I hope you enjoy it -- after you're done taking over the world with World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories, of course!

Next week's freebie is Wedlock: The True Story of the Disastrous Marriage and Remarkable Divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore, by Wendy Moore.

The book follows the yearslong divorce of the countess, and if you think that sounds boring, you need to Google the woman. Keywords include "gold-digger," "kidnapped" and "death threats."

Also, the cover picture isn't nearly as offensive. See?

Posted by Nancy Knight at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Freebie Friday
        

At a party the other day, I asked a friend what he's currently reading, and he ran down an impressive list of titles. So, when he later mentioned that he had in fact consumed these books on his car CD player, I promptly jumped down his throat, with my three-inch stilettos extended. "That's not reading," I protested. "That's cheating."

My friend rolled his eyes and made a reference to the "literature snobs" that I pretended not to hear.

But it got me thinking: is listening to a book as "good" as reading it? I contend that it is not -- but I'd like to hear your arguments for or against the resolution.

Don't get me wrong -- I love recorded books, adore them, can't get enough of them. There's always at least one in my CD, and another one or two on deck waiting. But I don't claim to have read those tomes, and I make a distinction between books I want to physically read, and those I'm just going to listen to. While audiobooks provide a very genuine pleasure, in my mind it is distinctly different -- and yes, lesser -- than the pleasure I get when I crack open a spine.

In general, the act of reading requires an expense of energy, a depth of concentration that does not, should not, be devoted to audio books, especially if one consumes them (as I do) while driving.

When I listen to a book on tape, the words flow past my ears like a breeze. Most are caught and transcribed by my busy little brain, but a certain percentage wafts out the window. I'd estimate that I absorb roughly 70% of the text of any book on tape. For many novels, 70% is more than enough. That's why I choose audiobooks that are heavy on plot, but relatively light on character development and lyrical descriptions.

For these reasons, Joyce Carol Oates is (in my mind) the ideal author to enjoy in an audiobook format. (And, bless her, Ms. Oates is so darned prolific, so I can reliably count on a new audio title from her about once a year.)

But other authors are subtler, and for them, nothing will do but the full experience. For example, A.S. Byatt's Possession is a tour-de-force and a terrific read. But her witty exploration of various 19th century literary forms, including letters, diary entries and poetry, wouldn't just be completely lost in a book on tape -- it would probably be unpardonably dull.

My friend argued that there is no requirement that anyone listen to recorded books with just half a brain, while doing something more important. There's nothing to prevent me, he said, from putting an audio book on the stereo and sprawling on my couch. There's nothing to prevent me from blocking out all other distractions, as I would while attending a concert.

I suppose he's right. But, if I'm going to work that hard, I might as well just pick up a book.

Posted by Mary McCauley at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Audiobooks
        

Now that The Masters is underway, you'll no doubt be looking for an activity to occupy the spare minutes between tournament coverage, ESPN highlights, and late-night previews of tomorrow's action. I recommend P.G. Wodehouse's golf stories, which capture both the allure and maddening nature of the sport.

Most tales feature the Oldest Member, a clubhouse curmudgeon whose eyes showed "that peace beyond understanding, which comes at its maximum only to the man who has given up golf." Ensconced in a comfortable chair and holding a drink, he holds forth on the theme of love and golf, or the love of golf. Among his wise words:

"Golf, like measles, should be caught young, for, if postponed to riper years, the results may be serious."

"The ideal golfer never loses his temper. When I played, I never lost my temper. Sometimes, it is true, I may, after missing a shot, have broken my club across my knees; but I did it in a calm and judicial spirit, because the club was obviously no good and I was going to get another one anyway."

"Few things draw two men together more surely than a mutual inability to master golf, coupled with an intense and ever-increasing love for the game."

"In the days of King Arthur nobody thought the worse of a young knight if he suspended all his social and business engagements in favour of a search for the Holy Grail. In the Middle Ages a man could devote his whole life to the Crusades, and the public fawned upon him. Why, then, blame the man of today for a zealous attention to the modern equivalent, the Quest of Scratch!"

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Capitalizing on the vampire craze, the CW -- which, like The Sun, is owned by the Tribune Co. -- has announced a pilot based on the early '90s book series The Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith.

I was a huge L.J. Smith fan in middle school, and like any good fan, I met this news with extreme trepidation.

Here they were, messing with characters who've been loved for the last 15 years, and who knows what they're going to do with them.

That, and the author's not-so-ringing endorsement has got me more than a little nervous.

Sorry, but not even Ian Somerhalder, who's set to play the smoldering bad boy vampire, of course, can put my mind at ease about this one.

And as if that weren't enough, Smith has announced a new trilogy continuing the story of Elena, a Virginia teen in love with not one, but two vampires. And these vampires kill people. A LOT of people. I'm not sure the Twilight fans will be able to handle it.

That's assuming they don't Bella-fy the plot. The bitterness, can you sense it?

The first book of the trilogy, Nightfall, was released Tuesday, and so I've begun, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. I'll let you know how it compares to my memories, and to Stephenie Meyer, as soon as I'm done.

Now I can only hope they stay away from my beloved Christopher Pike.

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

"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." -- P.J. O'Rourke:

Ironically, Dahlink e-mailed the quote to me just before learning that one of the regular readers of Elizabeth Large's dining blog had died recently. He signed his comments Robert (the Single One) and often spoke about Book, his dining companion. He stopped by Read Street occasionally, too. When we discussed reading several books at once, he left this comment: "Book here. I allow him 2 books at a time, one in the car as a dining companion and one at home. Any more and he forgets what he's reading. Sad, but true."

I know that Elizabeth and the Dining@Large regulars will miss him. We will, too. I'm confident that his final read was excellent stuff. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Pat and I are taking that huge jump into adulthood: We're going to buy a house.

Lately, that means my life has been a dizzying array of acronyms (PITI, CDA, PMI), agent profiles and hundreds of beautiful houses, just begging to be owned.

Naturally, the first thing I turn to is a book.

It's my security blanket, OK? And buying something worth many times my salary makes me a teeny bit nervous.

I've already picked up a few books from a friend, including this monster of a tome, which have helped enormously in a more general sense -- although they all came out before the big housing bust and therefore the accompanying aid programs, pratfalls and compromises you could squeeze out of the system.

So I'm turning to my fellow bookworms!

Have any helpful books (or tips) for this first-time homebuyer?

Posted by Nancy Knight at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Not many folks would consider Barbara Kingsolver a Marylander, but since she was born in Annapolis, I'll claim her as one of us. Kingsolver, who grew up in Kentucky and now lives in Virginia, turns 54 today. (Thanks to Garrison Keillor's wonderful The Writer's Almanac for the tip.)

Her writing includes best-sellers such as The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. But her wise words come in many forms. Around this time last year, she gave Duke's commencement address (here is a transcript and video) and her words were sobering: We have created a mess of the earth and our society, and it will be up to the younger generation to turn things around. Excerpts:

"And so we find ourselves in the chapter of history I would entitle: Isolation and Efficiency, and How They Came Around to Bite Us in the Backside. ... We’re a world at war, ravaged by disagreements, a bizarrely globalized people in which the extravagant excesses of one culture wash up as famine or flood on the shores of another. Even the architecture of our planet is collapsing under the weight of our efficient productivity. ... That will be central question of your adult life: to escape the wild rumpus of carbon-fuel dependency, in the nick of time. ...

"As you leave here, remember what you loved most in this place. ... I mean the way you lived, in close and continuous contact. This is an ancient human social construct that once was common in this land. ... Community is our native state. You play hardest for a hometown crowd. You become your best self. You know joy. ... This could be your key to a new order: you don’t need so much stuff to fill your life, when you have people in it."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Marylandia
        

The new edition of The Hopkins Review includes a previously unpublished short story by Walker Percy, one of America's great writers. “A Detective Story,” about a married man who vanishes from his Southern town, was discovered by Rice University professor Logan Browning amid the Percy papers at the University of North Carolina. We asked Browning to write about his good fortune, and here's his post:

In a way, the late Donald Barthelme should get the credit for a previously unpublished Walker Percy story titled “A Detective Story” appearing in the most recent issue of The Hopkins Review. I decided to see if I could find an unpublished Percy story after Glenn Blake, the managing editor of the Review, arranged for some of Barthelme’s work to appear for the first time in the magazine in 2008.

After some conversations with the Percy family, especially my good friend Tom Cowan, Percy’s nephew. I was eventually set loose in the Percy papers housed in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. I first thought I would find a nonfiction prose essay (possibly a lecture originally) which had remained unpublished over the years. When that plan didn’t work, I looked to a pair of unpublished novels from the collection, but failed to see anything that seemed appropriate for excerpting.

The big break came when I turned to a folder in the archives labeled D:55 that had the too-good-to-be-true tab inscription in Percy's hand: "MISC—Save for book."

That's where the twenty-seven-page onionskin typescript of "A Detective Story" nestled behind pages of handwritten reading notes about Dostoevsky texts such as The Possessed and Notes from the Underground.

Since discovering the typescript of "A Detective Story," I have attempted to pin down the time and circumstances of its writing, but without any clear success. Certainly it seems to have come from an early period in Percy's fiction writing. Ultimately I think the most likely composition date is in the late 1950s, but I would not be surprised to learn from the discovery of additional evidence that the story had been composed at any time between 1946 and 1972. Certainly the story is quintessential Percy in many ways. The style seems very very early to me, from a younger, less experienced Percy.

Questions of course arise about the decision to publish something that an author never chose to release in his own lifetime. But ultimately his widow Mary Bernice (Bunt) Percy decided that, regardless of Walker Percy's insistence that the quality of a book, much less a story, could be determined by reading the first few paragraphs, the overall quality and especially the ending made the piece worth publishing, early effort though it might be. I would add that the work of a writer whose reputation is as high as Percy's should be made available to those interested in tracking his development and his forays into unusual and unfamiliar genres.

The most wonderful thing for me personally about the discovery of this little gem is the way that so many parts of my life came together to make it possible. Conversations with good friends from Rice and from old college days at Sewanee, where the Percys have been a pervasive presence for so long, my own literary education there that first introduced me to extraordinary writers of fiction of Percy’s ilk, and archival experience working in Victorian documents and manuscripts for myself and earlier, for Dickens expert Robert Patten all ended up contributing to the discovery being made. If one of those components had been missing, “A Detective Story” wouldn’t have seen the light of day, at least not at this moment. The usual dry-as-dust scholarly grind included a whole lot of fun in this case.

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

A memoir by Debbie Phelps, the mother of Olympic mega-champion Michael, hits the shelves today. A Mother For All Seasons describes her life as a single mother raising three kids, including the emotional highs of Michael's eight gold medals in Beijing and the embarrassing aftermath -- his being photographed inhaling from a bong.

I haven't read the book yet, but based on excerpts, it's more appealling that Michael's own book about  Olympic glory. It seems much deeper and more honest.

Phelps, principal at Windsor Mill Middle School, writes of an idyllic childhood growing up in a small town in western Maryland, then having to deal with two traumatic blows: the untimely death of her father at age 51, and a divorce that left her a single parent raising two daughters and a son.

"My mother had no profession," she said, according to AP. "When my father died, there she was. I watched her make five dollars out of one dollar, a dollar out of 10 cents. She stretched a budget. But she also taught me so much about how to embrace life: have faith, believe in God and we will get through this as a family."

Those lessons were invaluable to Debbie when her marriage fell apart.

"The man I married, who was the father to my three children, he was like my knight in shining armor," Phelps said. "He was my high school sweetheart. We were together a long time. But what I found is that when you get married sometimes, instead of growing closer, you grow apart. That happens in a lot of marriages around the country and probably around the world. When that whole thing happened, I was surprised, I was shocked ... ."

Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

While preparing this post, I soon realized I would have to review the source material right along with the zombies for some of our readers, such as Mr. Rosenthal. So if I start to get a little too gushing, please do tell me. This is, after all, my favorite book with my all-time favorite character, Elizabeth Bennet.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Most everyone recognizes this as the opening line of Pride and Prejudice. As a 10-year-old, you may read it and believe you've cracked open a romance. Wait a couple of years, and you'll realize you've got some biting satire on your hands.

Now just replace "man" with "zombie;" replace "good fortune" and "wife" with "brains." Not only have you got satire, you've got heroines armed with fast wit and crushingly good manners, slashing undead throats and kicking zombie heads in!

PPZ is at least 100 pages longer than the original book, and those 100 pages go a long way toward creating some clever new plot points and martial arts action. It seems Mr. Bennet has spent his days preparing his daughters for the zombie war, going so far as to gain them tutelage under Master Liu during trips "to the Orient."

Now they are warriors first, women second.

Jane Austen gives you a window into Regency-era caricatures: the scheming wives and daughters, seeing payday instead of a gentleman in front of them; the scheming men looking for the easiest way to fortune; the men and women you know and love who just won't. keep. quiet.

And the actual characters you grow to love and root for? They're still so modern, it's sometimes hard to imagine them in ascots and petticoats. They're well-rounded, they make mistakes and they learn, without becoming villians or damsels in distress.

The most surprising aspect about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is that Seth Grahame-Smith keeps the caricatures and characters separate, despite the Unmentionables, as they are called, popping up to ruin a ball or two. And the zombies actually help explain a couple of plot points that always seemed a bit weak to me, in this post-Modern world.

Mrs. Bennet being a crazy hypochondriac? Well, I'd be continually nervous, too, if a fresh rainstorm meant there'd be brain-eating creatures digging their way out of the graveyard.

Jane having to stay in bed for an entire week after catching a simple cold? Not so simple when you add in a few wounds she received while battling walking corpses.

And everyone falling over backward to keep from insulting Lady Catherine? You'd be nice to someone with a house full of ninjas and hundreds of slayed zombies under her Regency-equivalent-of-a-belt. Corset, maybe?

Of course, there's still romance. What kind of Austen book would it be if the heroine didn't find happiness by the end? In my mind, the zombies just bring out the Bennets' naturally heroic tendencies.

They didn't just find men, they found a way to protect their country from the evil scourge of Unmentionables. What's not to love?

But I'm still fully prepared for Pride and Predator to suck.

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

A life-saving list compiled by industrialist Oskar Schindler during World War II has been discovered at a library In Sydney, Australia, according to news reports today. The list, 13 pages of yellowed carbon paper, holds the names of 801 Jewish factory workers who were spared from Nazi death camps by Schindler's subterfuges.

It was found in research notes that belonged to the Australian author of Schindler's Ark - the basis for the 1993 film, Schindler's List.

The list, typed on April 18, 1945, was compiled by Schindler, who used Jewish laborers in his factory in Poland. Appalled by the conduct of the Nazis, he sought to persuade officials that his workers were vital to the war effort and should not be sent to concentration camps.

This list was found among research notes and German newspaper clippings gathered by author Thomas Keneally, according to reports by the BBC and Jerusalem Post. He was given the list almost 30 years ago by Leopold Pfefferberg, worker 173 on the list, who wanted the novelist to write Schindler's story.

In March, part of Schindler's factory in Krakow was opened as a museum. The building has a small exhibition about his work; a larger one is expected to open this fall, according to the Krakow Post.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Play ball! As the Orioles season opens today, it's a chance to reflect on why we love baseball. Some of my reasons:

1. Perfect combination of team concept and focus on individual performance. Imagine standing in at the plate with 50,000 people watching.

2. The sport that gave us baseball caps.

3. Plenty of time to read between innings.

4. The smell of a new glove.

5. More better books.

Among my favorites are Koufax by Jane Leavy, Late Innings (and anything else) by Roger Angell, The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover, Babe by Robert Creamer and Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Also: John Updike's magazine piece "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," and "The Visitors Lineup," a chapter from Philip Roth's The Great American Novel.

Each season brings a dugout full of new books. Among the promising titles include Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee by Allen Barra (I know, I can't stand the Yankees either, but he was before my time), The Corporal Was a Pitcher by Ira Berkow and The Complete Game by Ron Darling (former N.Y. Met, yes!).

Tell us why you love baseball. One lucky winner will get a new book.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

I just started reading House of Leaves, a newish, haunting novel by Mark Z. Danielewski, and was struck by similarities to the writing of Raymond Chandler. Both authors use spare, crisp language -- a no-nonsense approach. From Danielewski: "Flaze is part Hispanic, part Samoan. A bit of a giant you might say. 6' 4", 245lbs, virtually no body fat." From Chandler: "He was a big man but not more than six feet five inches tall and not wider than a beer truck."

Just another sign of Chandler's influence. Read Streeters have a bit o' Chandler in them, too, judging by responses to a recent writing game that marked the 50th anniversary of his death. We set up modern-day phrases that mimic the sharp descriptions he often laced with irony: "she was as cute as a washtub."

Here’s what some Read Streeters had to say: The waitress shoved the cup-o-joe in front of me; it was as bitter and cold as a Dick Cheney sneer. — Ed

as self-righteous as a Democratic Congress — Gail

as cheerful as a Gitmo cell — Fleisch

as unemployable as Rush Limbaugh at a nudist hemp-macrame collective’s job fair — Cornelia

as recession-proof as a back-yard still — Ellen

If you haven't played yet, here's the complete list. Just leave your suggestions in a comment:

1. as — as a Dick Cheney sneer.

2. as — as an A.I.G. bonus

3. as — as a Democratic Congress

4. as — as a Madoff expense account

5. as recession-proof as ---

6. as — as a Gitmo cell

7. as — as Obama’s teleprompter

8. as unemployable as —

9. as — as a Detroit assembly line worker

10. (provide your own here)

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Today on the Garden Variety blog, Susan Reimer reviews Wildflowers of the Coastal Plain, a new book by Ray Neyland about the region that runs from the middle of New Jersey to the Gulf Coast. Here's an excerpt from her review:

In this new field guide, Wildflowers of the Coastal Plain, author Ray Neyland profiles 535 species of native flora, with beautiful pictures and capsule descriptions of each.

Some of the descriptions include historical information, such as how the plants may have been used for food or medicine in the past.

And there is also a step-by-step guide in the back of the book that will help readers identify plants themselves ... . But the pictures are by far the best part of this wonderful new field guide.

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

In Sunday's "Backstory" column, Fred Rasmussen tells the unusual story of book wrapped in tragedy, yet with a small happy ending. It involves a copy of Baltimore on the Chesapeake -- the first off the press -- that author and former Sun editor Hamilton Owens gave to his son, Gwinn (shown here). Here's how Fred tells the story:

While going through Gwinn’s byline files from the newspaper’s library before writing his obituary, I stumbled upon a 1977 clipping that he had written about his father’s book for The Evening Sun. ... "This gesture [of getting the first book] wasn’t because I was a favored child, but a sentimental recognition that I was the only one of his five children who had chosen to follow his journalistic calling," wrote Owens. ... "What pleased me the most of all, however, was the inscription inside."

His father had written: "For Gwinn, who will probably write a better one some day.

"Love, Father."

"Naturally, it became the most honored book in my library," wrote Owens, who was a longtime resident of Locust Avenue in Ruxton. Years later, Owens lent the book to an old friend, Lester H. Gliedman, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University, who lived in Lutherville.

In 1958, Gliedman and his wife, Gertrude, were returning from a convention in San Francisco when their Baltimore-bound Capital Airlines Viscount collided with a National Guard jet trainer over Frederick County. Twelve lost their lives in the midair crash, including the husband and wife, whose four children, ranging in age from 5 to 16 years, were left orphaned.

Owens, who at the time was a reporter for The Evening Sun, received an "alarmed call" from Gliedman’s office. "I had the burden of informing his colleagues that, yes, the couple had been killed," Owens wrote. "It was an appalling tragedy." Owens was aware that his book was still rested at the family’s home, but to ask about it, he wrote, would have been insensitive. It was, after all, a "trivial possession."

What consumed Owens and other friends of the couple was the overwhelming fate of the orphaned children and how their family would be rebuilt. "Never, even years afterward, did I feel I had any right to ask his survivors about my copy of Baltimore on the Chesapeake," he wrote.

After Hamilton Owens died in 1967, his daughter-in-law, Joan Owens, Gwinn’s wife, wanted to obtain copies of the long-out-of-print book for their four children. She called Fran Saybolt, a Ruxton neighbor and longtime Smith College Book Sale manager, and left a standing order that she was to purchase any copies of Baltimore on the Chesapeake that had been donated to the sale.

"In the course of several years, Mrs. Saybolt’s watchfulness yielded four copies, one for each child," Gwinn Owens wrote. ... "Occasionally I thought about the loss of my own priceless copy, which by 1977, had been missing for more than 20 years."

Before the 1977 sale commenced, Mrs. Owens again reminded her Berwick Road neighbor to look for any copies that might make their way to the annual sale that raises scholarship money for students attending Smith College.

When Owens arrived home from work, Saybolt’s son, David, met him in the driveway and handed him another copy of Baltimore on the Chesapeake. The young boy insisted that he open it.

"I did. The odyssey of a book was over. Inside the cover was written: ‘For Gwinn, who will probably write a better one some day.

‘Love, Father.’. "

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

Quinn Bradlee, son of Washington Post legends Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, has written a book about his battle with a rare disorder called velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS). In A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures (Public Affairs, $24.95), he speaks about the heart condition that triggered seizures and other problems. And now that he's in his mid-20s, he questions his ability to hold a job and break away from parents who have nurtured him.

From an excerpt in Newsweek: "As far as independence from my parents goes, my dad's not really the issue. ... [My mom is] like a bulldog, or a lioness. You don't want to mess with her. She has controlled a lot of my life. Sometimes I'm angry about that, because I feel I'm in the passenger seat of the car and I have to ride wherever the driver wants me to go. ...

"But there is a flip side to everything. ... I couldn't have lived without my mom. She's saved my ass a million times. She has been like an archangel to me. She had the wings that I didn't. And she's basically carried me everywhere I've been."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone!

As the first day of my weekend, I usually spend the day reading and doing anything but work.

But today, I have the extraordinary treat of perusing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith and, oh yes, Jane Austen.

No, it isn't Emma. It's not even Northanger Abbey. But Lizzie kicks a zombie IN THE FACE. And there seem to be ninjas, although that's just me skipping ahead to look at the pictures.  

Oh, and can we prove Dave wrong this week, and find some guys who've read Pride and Prejudice? He says such men don't exist.

Anyway, on to our winner! Congratulations, Lisa! You've won yourself a copy of Christopher Moore's Fool.

I don't think it's going to be anything like Fatal Light, but maybe you need some cheering up by now.

Next week's prize: Jailbait Zombie, by Mario Acevedo. It's a detective story, with a supernatural twist. Also, Acevedo, whom I met at last year's Bouchercon, is an incredibly funny, kind and generous man. You just can't lose with this one.

So let us know what you're reading now, and it could be yours. And past winners, feel free to let us know how much you love or hate the books we've sent you!

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

Now here's someone who puts his mouth where his money is. David Kipen, the literature director for the National Endowment for the Arts, recently raised the stakes for a community reading program in Ohio. He pledged to eat a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird if all 128 residents of the community of Kelleys Island don't read the book, according to a story in the Sandusky Register. The challenge is part of The Big Read, an NEA program that asks communities to read and discuss a book.

As you may know, One Maryland One Book has picked James McBride's Song Yet Sung for the 2009 program that kicks off in the fall. No one from the Maryland Humanities Council, which sponsors the program, has made a similar book-munching pledge. And the 362-page tale would be a mouthful.

Maybe we can suggest something more tasty. How about Chocolat?

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

First of all, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been out for more than 24 hours now -- why haven't you picked it up yet? Waiting until payday? Fine. But after tomorrow, no more excuses, people!

In fact, maybe you can stop by Atomic Books tomorrow for their second Vinylmore show, where local artists customize blank vinyl toys into little pieces of art. Here's a taste of what you have to look forward to.

Saturday brings the monthly Books and Brunch event at Ukazoo Books. Free food while I browse through books? Yes, please!

Saturday afternoon, Laura Lippman will be at the Sisters in Crime meeting at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center, lecturing and signing copies of her new book, Life Sentences. For more information, visit the Sisters in Crime Web site.

And on Sunday, the Enoch Pratt Library hosts A Duel with Angels, featuring one-act plays based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse," "The Tell-Tale Heart;" "On Hold;" and "L.E.A.P." The productions are written by Dwight R. B. Cook, with direction by Cook and Darryl W. Croxton. 

For more fun events this week, check out the Read Street calendar.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Book It
        

Congratulations, Eve, for seeing through our paltry lies and ferreting out the truth: Sarah Schmelling has indeed authored a book of literary classics rewritten for the Facebook newsfeed!

Schmelling, a Rockville resident, e-mailed me recently to give me the news: "I just wanted to let you know I've now written a book of these -- classic lit given the Facebook treatment -- that's due out August 25 from Penguin/Plume," she said.

Ophelia Joined The Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook, will include "news feeds, profile pages, quizzes, groups ... even those dreaded 25 random things lists." There's even a preliminary Web site for those of you curious to know more.

And here are the answers to our questions about literary hoaxes: 1. U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. 2. The forgers claimed that the diaries survived the inferno because they were kept in a metal box. 3. Hoax 4. My Life as a Fake 5. Bright Shiny Morning.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

 The New Yorker's penchant for publishing what I think of as weird fiction is driving me absolutely bonkers, completely around the bend. I look forward to the arrival of the magazine each week, and my favorite part of each issue always has been the fiction offering. Traditionally, the stories have been thoughtful, lyrical, wholly engrossing windows into another life provided by John Updike, Louise Erdrich, or Annie Proulx.

At least, that's the way they used to be.

But for the past few years, approximately one of every two stories is awful, absurdist post-modern fare that eschews even the merest pretense of character, plot and storytelling. It's enough to make me want to set fire to the pages, and then stamp out the embers with my bare feet. 

In the March 30 issue, Craig Raine's Julia and Bryon begins: "When Julia was 29, her hair was already bar-coded."

In the March 2 issue, David Foster Wallace's Wiggle Room begins: "Lane Dean, Jr., with his green rubber pinkie finger, sat at his Tingle table in his chalk’s row in the rotes group’s wiggle room and did two more returns, then another one, then flexed his buttocks and held to a count of ten and imagined a warm pretty beach with mellow surf, as instructed in orientation the previous month."

The tone is light, ironic, amused and oh, so detached. What really gets me is the feeling that my time and energy has been squandered for no purpose. The authors themselves don't seem to care about what they're writing, so why should I?

It's not that I object to experimental fiction. I am one of the comparatively few non-college professors who can claim to have read James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake from start to finish (several years ago, with a group of friends once a week, and out loud).

Probably 90 percent of the text shot right past me, but the other 10 percent is funny and sad and beautiful (including one exquisite ode to an envelope.) Throughout, I had the strong feeling that Joyce had something he desperately was trying to say, someting that mattered so much to him that he invented a new language to fit the particular demands of his message. The great irony, of course, is that the technique Joyce devised to communicate effectively removed the book from the grasp of all but a tiny fraction of readers.

But whatever that writing is, it is not bloodless. Joyce always seems passionately engaged. The idea behind Finnegan's Wake makes sense to me. If there is a point to Wiggle Room, it eludes me.

Having said all this, I just re-upped my subscription to The New Yorker, so weird fiction will arrive in my mailbox for at least the next two years. And, in that light, I'm willing to be educated.

Maybe some of you can see a merit to the stuff that escapes me. If you have observations on what non-narrative fiction has to offer, any insights that could help me not only understand these stories but -- gasp -- enjoy them, please, please, please share your thoughts.

Posted by Mary McCauley at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

1. The Day After Roswell. Ah, Roswell, New Mexico, legendary location of an alleged flying saucer crash and cover-up in 1947. Philip Corso, a former U.S. Army Intelligence officer, claimed to have worked on alien technology discovered at the site. He buttressed his arguments with documents that still are being debated in conspiracy theory circles.

Name the former U.S. Senator who wrote a glowing forward for the book that was removed in subsequent editions.

2. The Hitler Diaries. In 1983, a respected German magazine, Stern, claimed to have recovered 62 diaries written by Adolf Hitler in a remote farming village. Supposedly, the documents were rescued from a Nazi plane that had crashed in 1945. After the diaries were "authenticated" and the handwriting judged to be Hitler's, such prominent publications as Newsweek began a bidding war for the U.S. publication rights. Further testing determined that the diaries were the work of the notorious forger, Konrad Kujau.

What excuse was supplied to explain why the diaries didn't burn when the plane crashed?

3. The Autobiography of Howard Hughes. Faked memoirs have become a dime a dozen, but the grandaddy of them all was the "as told to" story about reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. Clifford Irving and Richard Suskind had the gall to market their "autobiography" while Hughes was still alive, reasoning that he wouldn't go public to denounce their scam. After making a deal to sell the manuscript to McGraw Hill Publishing, Irving and Suskind found that they'd guessed wrong, when Hughes arranged a telephone conference call with several journalists. Irving eventually spent 17 months in prison, and Suskind, five.

Name the 2007 movie about the scandal that starred actor Richard Gere as Irving.

4. In 1940s Australia a prominent literary magazine published a poem by an author who supposedly had tragically had died at age 25. It turned out that the poet had never existed, that the supposedly brilliant lines were random nonsense, and that the hoax was intended to expose a pretentious literary elite. The magazine's editor not only became a public laughing-stock, he later faced trial on obscenity charges in connection with the hoax.

What 2003 novel by Booker Prize-winner Peter Carey was based on the incident?

5. James Frey made a big splash with A Million Little Pieces, a gripping memoir that dealt with drug addiction and other horrors. Oprah selected it for her book club, making it an instant best-seller, and interviewed Frey on her show. But later reporting showed that Frey had heightened the drama of his tale by embellishing key scenes. That didn't end Frey's writing career; he came back last year with a novel.

Name that novel, released in March 2008.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

As we are wont to do when there are a ton of literary stories in the news, it's a news roundup!* 

Stephenie Meyer confronted Stephen King at a literary convention in Vancouver last month. She reportedly told the 61-year-old horror master that both he and his beloved Red Sox were "bitter old hacks." Neither King nor Red Sox officials were available for comment.

Librarians in Southern California have joined with independent booksellers to protest the Kindle 2, Amazon's new e-book reader. Fearing that the growing popularity of the Kindle 2 and other e-book readers will lead to job cuts for librarians and a drop in sales at book stores, the protesters staged a symbolic Kindle burning in a Los Angeles park. 

Sarah Schmelling has written an entire book rewriting classics in the Facebook newsfeed style. The book is slated for an August release, and has been titled Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook. Schmelling listed The Great Gatsby and Lolita as just a couple of books included in her book.

Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl was originally conceived as a sequel to Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but his publisher determined it would be a bit difficult to make the title character redeemable. Gaiman's touching poem wishing the title character happiness was the resulting compromise.

J.K. Rowling has announced a new book in Harry Potter Series: Harry Potter and the Grim Economic Outlook. The wizard's foes are rumored to include a deadly, sharp-toothed loan shark and the slinking Escrow, a large raven who lurks around the Potter family home.

*And in this case, we are wont to lie, lie, lie. 

Happy April Fools Day!

Of course, there is a twist: ONE of these stories is actually true. If you can figure out which one it is, you'll get a copy of Armageddon in Retrospect, Kurt Vonnegut's posthumous collection of writings on war and peace.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)