Among the promising books out this month -- Tuesday, in fact -- is "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," which examines the extraordinary -- and controversial -- scientific contribution made by a young black woman from Baltimore County's Turners Station community more than a half-century ago. While Lacks was being treated for cancer at Johns Hopkins, a researcher was able to keep some of her cells alive outside her body -- a remarkable breakthrough for medical research.

Author Rebecca Skloot notes in this excerpt that the "HeLa cells," spread around the world, helped to develop the polio vaccine and forge advances in such areas as chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization. Yet Lacks' role was not acknowledged for years, and her family reaped no financial gain, leaving them understandably bitter. (Here's a 1997 Baltimore Sun story about the issue. and a piece Skloot wrote in 2000 for Johns Hopkins magazine.) Excerpts from some reviews:

Washington Post -- The story raises questions about bioethics and leaves a reader wondering who should benefit from scientific research and how it should be conducted. In the words of Lacks's youngest daughter, Deborah: "If our mother cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors?"

The Boston Globe -- Though the Lackses do not initially welcome her advances Skloot’s persistence pays off as it is her presentation of the family and their perspective that lifts this book above science and turns it into an inspiring story, full of poignancy and humanity.

St. Petersburg Times -- Whether those uncountable HeLa cells are a miracle or a violation, Skloot tells their fascinating story at last with skill, insight and compassion.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Reviews
        

Lauretta at Constellation Books in Reisterstown alerted me to the high-stakes spat between Macmillan, one of the nation's largest publishers, and Amazon. According to The New York Times, Macmillan's insistence that Amazon boost the price of e-books from its standard $9.99 to about $15 led the e-commerce giant to limit sales on those books. For example, if you looked for Hilary Mantel's “Wolf Hall,” a Macmillan book, you'd find no Kindle version listed. (In fact, the book was only available from third-party sellers on Sunday.) UPDATE -- Amazon posted a note to customers late Sunday saying it would "ultimately" give in to Macmillan's demands. It's on the jump.

Consider this just another round -- of many -- in the battle between publishers and retailers over the future of e-book sales. As we've noted before, publishers are worried about preserving profit margins, and shudder at e-books prices under $10. They're more comfortable with the Apple iPad model, which would give publishers more control and set higher e-book prices. Amazon, meanwhile, is trying to maintain its dominance in e-commerce against challengers such as Walmart and Target. Billions of dollars are at stake, so the battle is likely to be long and bloody. And hopefully, the interests of consumers won't get lost in the fog of war.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Fresh off the 2009 community reading series that featured James McBride's "Song Yet Sung," the One Maryland, One Book program is looking ahead to its next selection. Tuesday, a group that includes educators and librarians (and me) will meet at the Maryland Humanities Council to review a short list of choices for the 2010 program. The goal: to pick a book that can be used to spark a statewide conversation about race and identity.

My homework assignment: to read and review "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez. It's the tale of four sometimes warring, sometimes loving sisters. Let me know if you have opinions about it -- or the other books on the OMOB short list:

"The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" by Michael Lewis

"The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears" by Dinaw Mengestu

"The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood" by Ta-Nehesi Coates

"A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

"Six of One" by Rita Mae Brown

"Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle

"An Island Out of Time" by Tom Horton

"Ace of Spades" by David Matthews

"Outcasts United" by Warren St. John.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Many of you will remember Jim Odom's story. The Maryland resident suffered a traumatic brain injury while sailing in Havre de Grace, and nearly every medical professional who saw him insisted he wouldn't survive.

Today, Odom is a novelist.

Tomorrow, he'll be at the Barnes & Noble in Bel Air to sign copies of his book, "Going to the Dogs," at 2 p.m.

According to the 2004 article that detailed Odom's accident in 2000, and his subsequent three-and-a-half month coma, Odom began writing scores of short stories soon after he awoke.

Odom's book, first published in Auguest of 2009, details what happens when a millionaire leaves her fortune to her best friend -- a dog named Dickie. The surviving family begins plotting the dog's death, but they soon find that killing a pup is easier said than done, even with millions on the line.

Becoming a published author is impressive under any circumstances. With Odom's backstory, it's nothing short of inspiring.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

John Edwards' recent admission that he fathered a child with mistress Rielle Hunter is sure to pump up sales of "The Politician," a tell-all by former aide Andrew Young. (Hell hath no fury like a trusted aide cut loose.) Tonight, ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff will interview Young on "20/20" about the juiciest details contained in the book, which is scheduled for a Jan. 30 release. Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik will be posting his thoughts about the interview tonight on his blog. Meanwhile, here's the ABC News preview:

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Happy Friday, everybody!

With temperatures in the TEENS and TWENTIES, I'm planning on staying indoors as much as possible this weekend. I mean, I get it, it's winter. But does it have to be so horrible? At least it means plenty of reading time, right?

I'm looking forward to spending a few hours with Robert Harris' "Conspirata." I read "Imperium," the first of this trilogy about Cicero and ancient Rome, in a single sitting while taking the train up to New York City; I have high expectations for this next installment.

But on to our winner. Congratulations, Matt! You've won "Lunch in Paris." I hope you enjoy the story and the food!

Next up: "You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation," by Susannah Gora. For everyone who's wanted to know everything about Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Matthew Broderick, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy and John Cusack -- the list goes on -- you'll want to read this book.

So let us know what you're reading, and it could be yours!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

There are many ways to remember J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author whose novel "The Catcher in the Rye" may be #1 on the Books-Most-Assigned-To-Teenagers list. Your can re-read "Catcher. You can visit the Central Park pond (shown here) that led Holden Caulfield to wonder where the ducks go in winter. (Answer: They never leave.) Or you can try these:

Retrace Holden's steps with  The New York Times' cool interactive map of his  journey around Manhattan.

Read stories published in The New Yorker (subscription required) and a look back at the influence of "Catcher."

Laugh with The Onion's spoof on all the other appreciations: "Bunch of phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger."

Speculate on the contents of Salinger's safe.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Obituaries
        

J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of "The Catcher in the Rye" -- a revered coming-of-age story for me and many others of a certain age -- has died at age 91. Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

Looking back at "Catcher," I think it was one of the books that helped make me a life-time reader. The prose was simple and the story was simple. But he captured the sense of teen-age angst perfectly. Some have argued that the book, published in 1951, is hopelessly dated and should be dropped from school reading lists. I think it's timeless. 

As we noted on Read Street, Salinger's most recent brush with the media came as he tried to block U.S. distribution of an unauthorized "Catcher" sequel called "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye." The case has been tied up in the courts, though a federal district judge initially sided with Salinger. Though he published little after "Catcher" and "Franny and Zooey," I think many of us hoped for one last book.

Maybe there's something he has been withholding? It wouldn't be the first time that a relative has posthumously published material from a great author. As you may recall, Vladimir Nabokov recorded thoughts about a new book on notecards, and left instructions that they should be destroyed upon his death. But his son decided to publish the fragmentary work. Let's hope there's a manuscript or two tucked into a steamer trunk in Salinger's attic.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Obituaries
        

As Nancy noted, the reaction to Apple's new iPad falls far short of the upper-case WOW! that has accompanied the launch of the iPod and iPhone. Maybe it's because the device looks like an iPod Touch on steroids. Or because it simply combines current functionality -- music, video, e-reader -- without leap-frogging them. At least Apple got the pricing right -- a range that starts at $499 -- but that is still substantially higher than the basic Kindle and nook. Here's what others are saying about the iPad, with particular attention to e-reader capability:

Baltimore Sun -- [UMd. professor Ben] Bederson said he didn't think an Apple tablet would eliminate consumer demand for other e-book readers, like the Kindle, at least in the near future. The Kindle is a lighter device and geared specifically toward avid readers, he noted, adding that the full impact of the iPad on the consumer marketplace might take time to be felt.

Los Angeles Times -- It's hard to see the iPad as anything other than a mortal threat to Amazon.com's market-leading Kindle reader. Today you can buy a top-of-the-line Kindle, the DX, for $489. For that you get 4 gigabytes of storage, enough to hold (Amazon says) 3,500 books. ... For only $10 more, you can have Apple's entry-level iPad, with four times as much storage, a high-contrast full-color screen -- also 9.7 inches diagonally -- a dedicated eReader application that looks as if it will be less clunky than the Kindle's, and Web-browsing capability that the Kindle lacks.

New York Times -- Apple’s announcement that it was diving into the growing e-book business put the company on a collision course with Amazon. ... John Doerr, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who serves on Amazon’s board and is also an adviser to Apple, said there could be room for both companies, noting that Amazon sells many books to iPhone owners who use its Kindle application, which will also work on the iPad.

Wired -- Not only is the book reading experience better because the screen is in color, the iPad solves the Kindle’s biggest problem: layout and graphics. Reading a newspaper or a magazine on a Kindle is disappointing. On the iPad, you get the publication virtually as it was designed to be read in print, with extras like video and photo slide shows that you don’t get in print.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

I don't want to be too harsh -- after all, I've yet to actually hold the latest Apple brainchild in my own hands -- but I've got to say I was mightily disappointed with yesterday's announcement.

Maybe it was inevitable, with the hourslong drumroll ahead of the iPad event. Then again, I don't remember such an overwhelming sense of "meh" when the iPod or iPhone came out. I just remember the extreme and almost immediate coveting.

But yesterday's introduction was mediocre at best. It's not that Steve Jobs et al didn't meet my expectations -- it's that my expectations were just about dead on. Apple has given us what amounts to an over-sized iPod Touch. If you had asked me a year ago, or even two years ago, what Apple's next device was going to be, I would have said "Well, maybe something a little bigger than the iPhone? But, of course, those geniuses will come up with something much more exciting than that."

Well, maybe not.

Even worse, this device doesn't do much for readers. The screen is too harsh for extended reading -- unless you've already trained your eyeballs to remain in your head after hours of intense staring at your computer screen.

I do have high hopes that the iTunes-style bookstore will help slash e-book prices -- nothing says "good news" to consumers like increased competition, after all. And at $499 a pop, Amazon would do well to slash their Kindle DX price, to remind potential e-readers that Apple's not the only game in town.

But if booklovers were waiting for Apple to smack Amazon around a bit, steal their lunch money and their girlfriend, I know they're disappointed. The truth of the matter is that the iPad isn't designed for readers. It's a multipurpose device, and so it's not perfect for any one thing. It's too big for those hoping for portability; it's too limited for those who wanted to get rid of their laptop or netbook -- no Flash, and there isn't even a USB port on the thing? -- and it's too far behind Amazon to lure me away from my Kindle.

Maybe next year, Apple.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Here's video of the iPad's e-reader -- it's about a minute in. I loved the image of books on a shelf -- nice comibination of new/old schools. Nancy has dismissed the iPad as a heavier, bulkier Kindle. Others say the iPad will be the death of the Kindle. So who's right?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Here's an early look at Apple's new tablet computer, called the iPad. Apple approached the device with the intention of taking e-readers to the next level, adding a new category to laptops and smartphones. Existing e-readers "don't do anything better," the company said. So the iPad is designed to marry music, video, mapping, e-readers and e-commerce. I'll keep updating as we get new info from the company's news conference:

-- prices start at $499, and go higher for more capability; that's much lower than anyone predicted. Two data plans available through AT&T, one as low as $30 per month

-- first models will be shipped in 60 days

-- bookstore called iBooks includes offerings from publishers including Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette. Sample book was priced at $15, signaling the pricing revolution noted earlier on Read Street.

-- book reading experience looks very simple and clean -- I love the faux shelf; here's a video from Gizmodo. (ditto for newspapers and magazines)

-- slick design mimics the minimalist Apple design of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

-- can bring an "almost life-size" keyboard onto the screeen

-- can watch TV shows and movies

-- access to email, music, photos and mapping

-- works in portrait and landscape modes

-- 1.5 pounds in weight, half-inch thin

-- 9.7 inch display -- will run almost every iPhone app

-- wi-fi on all models, 3G for an extra charge

An Apple moment: showing off the iPad's mapping feature by locating sushi restaurants near the San Francisco arts center where the news conference was taking place. "Looks like a giant iPhone," one commenter said.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

The news conference isn't until 10 a.m. (that's 1 p.m. here in Baltimore), but it's pretty much anyone can talk about this morning.

 So far, my favorite piece of Internet "news" has been The Onion's take on Steve Jobs' cramming for today's presentation.

On Twitter, we've got people talking about the Apple Tablet's mythical powers for both good and evil, questioning whether they can play games on it, read with it, make it function simply with the power of their minds ... and this is all before we even know if there will BE an Apple Tablet announcement.

Meanwhile, the rumors are going full blast on Twitter. Here's a live feed for your enjoyment:

And if that's not enough for you, check out Gus Sentementes' coverage of the Tablet over on BaltTech.

Happy Apple Tablet Day! Let's hope this announcement actually happens, and ensuing chaos doesn't break the Internet.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Overlooked in the frenzy over today's introduction of Apple's tablet is the potential impact on e-book sales. According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, Apple wants publishers to set hardcover pricing levels for e-books at $12.99 and $14.99 -- higher than the bargain prices that are common on Amazon. Apple would take a 30 percent cut of sales, with publishers getting the rest.

That could be an appealing offer to publishers, who are scrambling to adjust to the world of e-books. They cringed when Walmart and other big discounters offered many best-sellers for $9 during the Christmas shopping season -- undercutting the Amazon price. Since then, publishers have been all over the map on e-book policies -- withholding the release of Ted Kennedy's memoir "True Compass" and charging $35 for Stephen King's "Under the Dome."

No doubt, publishers will welcome the chance to regain more control over the pricing of e-books, even if it means a partnership with Apple. But this won't be the last battle. Amazon won't easily cede its dominance as an e-book seller, and retailers such as Walmart are pushing hard for more influence, too. In the short term, it could lead to more competitive pricing -- and bargains for consumers.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

We're just hours away from the introduction of the Apple tablet, a product that will revolutionize e-readers, save newspapers, rebuild Haiti and return the Baltimore Orioles to the World Series. Or something like that.

I understand the hype surrounding the iSlate/iPad/iWhatever launch on Wednesday. Steve Jobs' uber-cool products have fantastic design and great features. Consumers pay more for Apple products, but devotees are happy to do that. (I faced some Apple snobbery in my family recently, as we discussed buying new phones. The problem with the Droid, offered through our Verizon service, seemed to be simply that it was not an iPhone, and that using it would create a lingering sense of un-Appleness that could prove fatal.) Here's what folks are saying about the Apple tablet:

New York Times -- It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.

CNET -- Apple could launch a streaming-music service at the tablet event, but as I reported last week, Apple has yet to sign any licensing deals for a streaming offering with the four largest recording companies, and my music industry sources say that hasn't changed as of Tuesday afternoon.

Reuters -- Wall Street will pay particular attention to the tablet's price tag. If it is closer to $1,000 than $600, analysts say it will be tougher to convince consumers to buy. Apple could offer it under carrier-subsidized plans -- Verizon Wireless is frequently mentioned -- which might help take the bite out of the purchase price.

PC -- History aside, if much of what we've heard about this tablet is true, I find it hard to imagine how Apple will be able to sell the device for less than $799. A 10-inch OLED screen should be a great power-saver, but is easily the most expensive display technology around.

Forbes -- It means that when consumers watch TV shows and movies, they could potentially be able to do more than just play, pause and stop. When viewing an episode of TV's Mad Men, for example, consumers could tap on objects, such as Don Draper's hat, to get more information about the items and where to buy them.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

My recent post about the new Harry Potter theme park attraction -- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando -- triggered an unusual exchange of comments. When a commenter named Joshua expressed excitement about the theme park, someone else responded testily: "How old are you joshua? hopefully not an adult."

Now consider the Indianapolis Colts fan pictured here. If he goes to the Super Bowl to cheer his team, he'll just be one of many loyal middle-aged guys adorned with face paint, beads, feathers and other football accoutrements. No one will question his sanity. So why do Joshua and other Harry Potter fans take the heat if they get excited about the fantasy tale -- or dress like an HP character to visit the new theme park? What kind of double standard is that?

Give me a robed guy on a flying broom any day over a rowdy, drunken Colts fan.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I've moderated a few author panels, and the one question that keeps popping up is, "What's your writing routine?"

It's a great question. After all, the idea of sitting around, being creative and writing to your heart's content doesn't seem to be work. But that's exactly what authors are paid to do.

And, of course, each writer has a different routine. Some feel sharper first thing in the morning, when they get the bulk of their work done, and then spend the rest of the day thinking, editing, and preparing for the next morning's work. Others write in the evening, when everyone else is asleep. And still others are just constantly writing, pulling away from their daily activities to scribble down a line or a thought.

So for those of you who've always wondered how your favorite writers write, Daily Routines is the site for you. As culled from different interviews and biographies, the site shares the routines, rituals and habits that keep writers and artists creating. (And of course, the site itself is to become a book next year.) It hasn't been updated in a while, but it's a great glimpse into the minds and lives of authors such as Emily Dickinson, Joseph Campbell, Toni Morrison and Truman Capote.

Capote's actually my favorite.

 "I am a completely horizontal author. I can't think unless I'm lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I've got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis. ..."

Someday, I'll convince my boss that I can only work under similar conditions.

 (Associated Press photo)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Here's an updated look at Hogwarts Castle, part of a new theme park attraction called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort. As we noted earlier on Read Street, the new attraction -- Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey -- is scheduled to open this spring.

Rides will include the Dragon Challenge twin roller coaster and the family roller coaster Flight of the Hippogriff, according to Universal. And there will be plenty of Potter-themed merchandise, including chocolate frogs, "Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans" and Butterbeer.

I like the look so far -- it mixes the ominous and the fanciful -- and hope the rest of The Wizarding World does the same.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

Spurred by the devastation of Haiti's earthquake, I've started reading Edwidge Danticat's "The Dew Breaker." Danticat, born in Port-au-Prince, is Haiti's most prominent author, and known for simple, yet powerful, prose.

"The Dew Breaker" certainly fits that mold, as Danticat casually recounts Haiti's dismal past and gradually unfurls a mystery surrounding the main character. She writes of him: "He hadn't been a famous 'dew breaker,' or torturer, anyway, just one of hundreds who had done their job so well that their victims were never able to speak of them again." Danticat herself lost family in the recent earthquake -- she writes about the death of cousin Maxo in the latest New Yorker. It's sad and touching, but also has little bits of lightheartedness.

I have the feeling that the writings of Danticat, the author of "Brother, I’m Dying"; "Breath, Eyes, Memory"; "Krik? Krak!" and "The Farming of Bones," is going to stay with me for a long while.

Photo courtesy of Knopf Doubleday publishers

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

And no, I'm not talking about Dave's diatribes against the Kindle.

I'm not sure if it's the state of the economy, the state of the weather (nearly 60 degrees in January? Bwah?) or a general state of mind; but there sure are a lot of pre-, post- and just plain apocalyptic stories turning up in the entertainment world right now.

We've had "The Road," "2012," "The Book of Eli" and "Legion" in theaters; "Jericho," "Supernatural," "The Colony" and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on television, and more books than you could reasonably list.

Sometimes the apocalypse is brought on by greedy human nature, sometimes by an angry god, but it always results in the threat or actuality of a complete destruction and then rebuilding of the world as we know it.

And so when I picked up Danielle Trussoni's "Angelology," which is due out in March, I wasn't surprised to see a similar theme. Evil angels have been living among us for centuries, bringing out the worst in mankind. So the battle between good and evil is waged on Earth, with a secret society trying desperately to find a powerful artifact before the Nephilim do.

The book's protagonist, a 23-year-old nun named Evangeline (how's that name for symbolism?) who was basically orphaned by this battle, pits herself against the wealthy and powerful Percival Grigori, who needs the artifact in order to survive a fatal illness that is eating away at his wings.

The book's action takes you through NYC, Paris, and Bulgaria, finding and following clues all the way. Fans of Katherine Neville's "The Eight" will appreciate the historical thriller -- and of course all you "Da Vince Code" fans. There's a little bit of conspiracy, a little bit of history and a lot of good vs. evil.

But if you're waiting for the movie, you're in luck. The rights have already been sold to Sony, to be directed by Marc Forster (of "Quantum of Solace" and "The Kite Runner" fame). And yes, a sequel is already in the works.

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

I took some heat for proclaiming the years 2000-09 as the Stephenie Meyer Decade. Fans of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise were outraged. They consider Meyer a relative newbie at this fantasy business, a light-weight writer who got lucky with the Twilight series.

But maybe I understated her impact. Just take a look at USA Today's annual best-seller list. For the second year in a row, Meyer swept the top four spots. No one -- not even Rowling -- has done that in the list's 16-year history. More than a dozen other vampire books were pulled onto the list in the draft from her success. And market research analyst Michael Norris said Meyer has turned the Young Adult category "into the PG-13 of books. She's not just read by tweens and teens nut by a lot of 30-year-old women." (A notion noted on Read Street earlier.) 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Landaw was at the Enoch Pratt Free Library Thursday night to hear Elisa New talk about her book, "Jacob's Cane." Here's his report about the well-attended reading, which required extra chairs in the Poe Room:

In her book and her lecture, New, a professor of poetry at Harvard, traces her family’s history from the Hanseatic city of Riga, in Latvia, to Baltimore, where her great-grandfather Jacob Levy built a major textile shrinking company, and to London. There, Levy’s sons were recruited by his friend, later his enemy, Bernhard Baron, who invented, in Baltimore, safer cigar-making machinery, and built, in England, a “magnificent tobacco concern” that broke James Buchanan Duke’s attempt to monopolize the industry.

The Baron-Levy relationship was a strange one as New describes it. Baron and Levy were advocates of enlightenment and progress for Jews as well as gentiles, socialist inventors or leftist entrepreneurs, “a category I had not been aware existed.” But Levy took Baron’s recruitment of his sons, who took Baron’s name, as a betrayal and cursed them in 1928, “May you never have sons.” And, New says, none of them did.

While in Baltimore, New said in response to a question, one of her ancestors worshiped at Chizuk Amuno, then an Orthodox congregation, another at Temple Israel, but their “religion was really socialism.” One of Jacob’s sons said his father “ran a heck of a Passover seder,” with excellent Hebrew, and stressing the “political” story of Exodus.

Talking about Baltimore’s “protean” as opposed to “purist” Germanness in Jacob Levy and Bernhard Baron’s day, she drew applause by quoting H.L. Mencken’s memory of his time in a German-language school where Jews and Gentiles mixed without enmity, and where the Prussian professor occasionally called a disorderly class a “Judenschule,” but used Yiddish slang without self-consciousness.

With “Jacob’s Cane” finished, New says she’s started a novel, delighted to find she “can make everything up.” She says she “learned to think my way into the characters in a way that, as a professor of poetry, I was never able to do.” If she tries to make the novel as fascinating as “Jacob’s Cane” has been so far (my wife and I have only begun it ourselves), she’ll have a lot of work to do.

New is the wife of Lawrence Summers, Harvard’s former president, President Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary and director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council. And, as she only recently discovered, she related to Baltimore’s Manekin family (one of whom, Robert Manekin, senior vice president of the Manekin Corp., introduced her).

Here's a book excerpt from Harvard magazine.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Happy Friday, Read Streeters!

I had a particularly good week -- mostly because I was able to take some time out to read in my free time! Free time, how I missed you. I finally read Tamora Pierce's Lioness series, which didn't quite live up to the hype, but definitely gave me a new favorite heroine.

Dave wants me to read the "Twilight" graphic novel next, and I told him I'd get right on it -- as soon as he reads Pride and Prejudice. So I think that gets me off the hook. 

But on to the winner! This week's reader (or is it listener?) is Joe! Congratulations, Joe, and I hope you enjoy both Suly and Palin's memoirs.

The next giveaway is one I had to wrestle out of Dave's hands: "Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes" by Elizabeth Bard. Part memoir and part cookbook, "Lunch in Paris" is the perfect book for anyone who's ever dreamed of travelling to a far-off country, falling in love, and never returning.

If you really like French food and wine, you might want to check it out, as well.

So let us know what you're reading, and it could be yours!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

This week's literary movie is Extraordinary Measures, adapted from Geeta Anand's book "The Cure." It's the real-life story of the Crowley family, and the father who pushes a scientist and company to develop a cure for his two young children afflicted with fatal Pompe disease. The move stars Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser. Here are some reviews:

Los Angeles Times -- ... a life-and-death story that feels brisk, business-like and oddly emotionless as we follow the deterioration of the kids and the difficulties of the research, as well as the business of turning a scientific theory into a life-saving, and as important, profit-generating treatment. 

New York Times -- ... the startling thing about “Extraordinary Measures” is not that it moves you. It’s that you feel, at the end, that you have learned something about the way the world works.

Washington Post --... the film can't help but grip the heart and imagination, especially when the camera is trained on the two adorable, plucky children whose life-and-death struggles propel the plot. But too often "Extraordinary Measures" gets bogged down in meetings, business plans and PowerPoint presentations.

San Francisco Chronicle -- At times, the script gets too dense with technicalities and boardroom arguments for lay folk to comprehend. But at its best, it humanizes the plight of families who cope day-to-day with disabling illness, showing us the plucky kids in motorized wheelchairs - and the parents who grin through a child's birthday while fearing it could be her last.

The Scientist -- Extraordinary Measures tells this story with remarkable accuracy (albeit with some minor Hollywood name changes and plot tweaks), and shines a light on Pompe that rarely touches most rare diseases. But somewhere in the recounting of this emotionally driven tale, the viewer, at least the scientifically-inclined one, is alienated from the realities of the disease.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Books to Movies
        

If you recall, Young for a time said he was the child's father -- a bid to protect Edwards' presidential aspirations. In fact, Young fell on so many swords for the boss that he must look like Swiss cheese. How sordid was it? In an excerpt from an upcoming interview with ABC News, Young alleges that Edwards asked him to arrange a fake a paternity test. "Get a doctor to fake the DNA results," Young said Edwards told him. "And he asked me ... to steal a diaper from the baby so he could secretly do a DNA test to find out if this [was] indeed his child."

The publisher says Young's book "offers a truly disturbing, even shocking perspective on the risks taken and tactics employed by a man determined to rule the most powerful nation on earth." It all would by laughable if not for Elizabeth Edwards, who had to endure her husband's cheating -- while dealing with her incurable cancer. She wrote about the issues in her 2009 book, Resilience.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

I've been a little slow on Read Street posts this week. (Not to mention on my own reading -- I haven't even been able to pick up my own suggested reading on Haiti.) But I have a good excuse: I've been coordinating Sun coverage related to the earthquake that devastated Haiti. As you know, there has been an outpouring of support from Baltimore-area relief agencies and hospitals. Meanwhile, reporter Robert Little and photographer Kim Hairston are embedded on the USNS Comfort, a floating hospital that is based in Baltimore and has been called to help.

If you have a minute, stop by our Comfort blog. And as for Read Street, next time I talk to Bob, I promise to ask him what crew members have been reading onboard -- in what little downtime they have. My bet: a lot of Tom Clancy.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Who here loves Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Mary Shelley? Well, guess what? You're probably already a steampunk fan.

The genre, which has roots in the 1980s and '90s, but has only recently become more mainstream, is, in my opinion, all about the fascination with history, science and what might have been. More specifically, steampunk literature focuses on the Victorian era, soon after Industrial Revolution changed everyone's lives, and all the possibility that entailed.

Of course, there are exceptions. Scott Westerfield's "Leviathan" takes place during an alternate World War I, and "His Majesty's Dragon" explores what the Regency period would have been like with a few dragons thrown into the Napoleanic Wars.

In essence, it's focusing science fiction sensibilities toward the past, instead of to the future.

And there's plenty of actual history to support the genre. Whether you're talking about Mark Twain and his legendary friendship with inventor Nikola Tesla, or Ada Lovelace, known to the world as the first computer programmer, a countess and, oh yeah, Lord Byron's daughter -- the worlds of science and literature meshed in ways at the turn of the 19th century that would leave today's science fiction fans positively giddy.

Just imagine Stephen King hanging out with Stephen Hawking, and you've got a pretty good approximation. 

So if you've heard rumblings about this steampunk business, but it just sounded a bit too ridiculous to explore, do yourself a favor and check out a few of these authors:

China Mieville, author of "Perdido Street Station" and "The City & The City."

Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy.

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, authors of "The Difference Engine."

K.W. Jeter, author of "Infernal Devices" and "Morlock Night."

Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, authors of "Boilerplate, History's Mechanical Marvel."

Enjoy!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

As we noted on Read Street this morning, for the first time since 1949, the mysterious toaster did not visit Edgar Allan Poe's grave in Baltimore. By tradition, the unnamed visitor left roses and cognac on Poe's birthday, as is shown here from 2008. But this year: nothing. The Baltimore Sun's Mary McCauley wrote today about the toaster's identity, while adding this verse, entitled "The Raving."

Once upon a midnight dreary/Long we waited, weak and weary,

To see the quaint and curious/Poe toaster who has come before.

“Come dark visitor,” we chattered,/“Leave us not with hopes a-tattered.

“Lay cognac on the gravesite floor.”/Though the wind took up our sighing,

No answer came back to our crying:/Is a grand tradition dying?

Will you haunt us nevermore?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Edgar Allan Poe
        

Sad news comes today that Erich Segal, a classics professor who found his greatest fame with the pop novel "Love Story," has died at age 72. If you are of a certain age, you can recall the clamor over "Love Story," about a poor, street-wise Radcliffe girl and rich Harvard preppie -- Jenny Cavilleri and Oliver Barrett IV -- who fall for each other. You'll remember the bright greens, reds and blues on the book's cover, reminiscent of Robert Indiana's classic "LOVE" pop art. And who could forget this line: Love means never having to say you're sorry...

The slim novel was a runaway best seller, and the movie adaptation starred Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw. (I, like most other people my age, had a crush on her character for years.)

Segal followed his hit with other books, including the tepid sequel "Oliver's Story" and “The Class,” which traces the fates of five members of the Harvard class of 1958. But he never came up with a big hit again as a writer.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Books to Movies, Obituaries
        

For the first time since 1949, the Poe Toaster failed to visit Edgar's grave on the writer's birthday.

Every year, a mysterious visitor has made the pilgrimage to Poe's grave, while visitors look on to witness the  tradition, but this year's group was disappointed. From the Associated Press article:

"But early Tuesday, [Poe House and Museum Curator Jeff] Jerome announced that the visitor, who had always appeared between midnight and 5:30 a.m., never showed. He had no explanation why."

I've always meant to go see the toaster myself, but a cold January night is pretty intimidating, especially when the next day dawns early. But to think that I missed my chance makes me pretty unhappy.

Have any of you ever seen the Poe toaster? And was anyone there last night waiting for the anonymous man to arrive?

Regardless, happy 201st birthday, Mr. Poe! Please forgive us for forgetting your gift.

UPDATE: Check out this Ode to the Toaster.)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Edgar Allan Poe
        

Does watching the devastation in Haiti make you want to learn more about residents of this impoverished nation? Here are some books to show you the way:

-- Edwidge Danticat is the acknowledged leader of Haitian writers, and you'll be rewarded with any of her lyrical books. "Breath, Eyes, Memory," a pick of Oprah's book club, chronicles the ordeals of a young girl who moves from the island nation to New York City. "Krik? Krak!" is a YA collection of stories about the island's beleaguered residents. The Dew Breakers recalls the cruelty of some of the nation's leaders; "Brother, I'm Dying" is a poignant memoir.

-- "Song of Haiti" by Barry Paris looks at William Larimer Mellon Jr., heir to a family banking fortune, who established and managed a hospital in Haiti.

-- Madison Smartt Bell, who teaches at Goucher College, has written a trilogy about revolution: "All Souls Rising," "Master of the Crossroads" and "The Stone That The Builder Refused." He also wrote "Toussaint Louverture A Biography." Here's a piece he wrote for The New York Times about other Haitian voices.

-- "Children of Heroes," among the works by comtemporary Haitian novelist Lyonel Trouillot, tells of two children from the Port-au-Prince slums and their fight for survival.

-- "Massacre River" by Rene Philoctete recounts the 1937 slaughter of Haitians by a ruthless dictator.

-- "The Comedians" by Graham Greene tells of a hotelier ensnared in the oppression of the Duvalier dictatorship.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Recommended
        

Noting that distant cousin Edgar already has been subjected to four funerals, most recently two organized by Baltimore's Poe House and Museum back in October, Harry Lee Poe said enough was enough. After all, he noted, none of the author's living descendants have been buried even once.

"In the spirit of fairness, the family simply cannot agree to move the body just yet," Harry Lee Poe, whose great-grandfather was Edgar Allan Poe's cousin, told an audience of about 80 in Richmond Saturday. "Not until the rest of us have had our turn."

Harry Lee Poe, however, took no position on which American city has the most legitimate claim to Poe's legacy - a question that was at the heart of a pair of debates last year between representatives of Boston, where Edgar Allan Poe was born; Philadelphia, where he wrote many of his most famous stories; and Baltimore, where he died and was buried. Representatives from Richmond, where he grew up, did not participate in either debate.

"They really didn't take a stand," said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House in Baltimore. "If they want to shy away from a dialogue about this, that's certainly their prerogative." Still, Jerome added, "I'm pleased that they came to the conclusion they did about the body. Poe died in Baltimore, and he should stay here."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Edgar Allan Poe
        

Following the earthquake in Haiti, the Baltimore Sun spoke with author Madison Smartt Bell,   who has written a trilogy about the country and visited it often. Mary McCauley notes that Bell was "worried, heartbroken - and suddenly in demand as a media expert. As he wrote in the British newspaper The Guardian: 'Haitians are expert in survival against all odds. They had been doing it for a century before their nation had a name. ... And they are also fortunate in that their cultural treasure is not so much bound up in architectural monuments (most of which, in the capital at least, are now rubble). A spiritual resource is that much more difficult to destroy.' "

Here's more from the Sun article, which includes a Q&A with the Goucher College creative writing teacher: The Baltimore author has written 18 books but is best known for his trilogy on the 1791 slave revolution: "All Souls Rising" (1995), "Master of the Crossroads" (2000) and "The Stone that the Builder Refused" (2004). ...

Q: How are you getting your news about Haiti? A: I belong to some private news feeds that give me privileged information. What I know, I know from them. I'm not calling anyone there, though. They don't need to be hearing from me right now.

Q: How often have you visited Haiti? A: I can't come up with a number. I made my first visit in 1995, and I've been back once or twice a year since then. Initially, I went for research purposes. Now, I go back as a journalist, to attend literary conferences, and for some little projects I have up north, which doesn't seem to have been as badly hit.

Q: What about the country first intrigued you? A: While I was researching a different project, I read about Haitian voodoo. Then I stumbled across the story of the Haitian revolution and wrote three books about it. I fell in love with the place - the culture, the religion - and I have friends there. This isn't a good day to say it, but one of the things that I do love about Haiti is that it's a place where magical thinking can actually work.

Q: Is there some place in particular that you stay when you're in Haiti? A: I have a base in the countryside that's within 20 minutes of the spot where Pat Robertson claims the Haitians made a pact with the devil. It's actually a very nice spot.

Q: Any landmarks that are particular favorites? A: There are a couple of places around Port-au-Prince I worry about. There's an extended community center, and it's not built in a particularly dangerous way, but the people there have not been heard from. Also, quite near the presidential place is a compound run by the Fathers of the Holy Spirit. There is a fantastic collection of books and documents about the Haitian revolution, which I used a lot in my work. Their location is inauspicious. It's early, though, I suppose, to be worrying about things on paper.

Q: Haiti has an infamously poor infrastructure. Are you concerned about the aftermath of the quake? A: This earthquake didn't discriminate in terms of class the way some earthquakes do. The shantytowns were devastated, and so were the more developed areas, where there's a lot of concrete that can fall on you. It's hard not to be reminded of [Hurricane] Katrina at this time. Let's hope it's not as bad as that.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Happy Friday! And even better, we're on the cusp of a three-day weekend (or at least some of us).

And it is an especially happy Friday for Beth, because she's won "The Swan Thieves." I hope you enjoy it, Beth!

Meanwhile, I've been reading a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Michael Kammen titled "Digging Up the Dead: A History of Notable American Reburials." Our own Edgar commands a few pages of the book, where his exhumation is described with ta particularly ghoulish line:

"[Sexton George W. Spence] told a visitor to the grave that when it was first opened in 1875 he lifted the head of Poe's skeleton and 'his brain rattled around inside just like a lump of mud, sir'."

Thank you very much.

Anyway, this week we're giving away two books -- and they're audio books at that: "Going Rogue," written and read by Sarah Palin and "Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters," by Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger with Jeffrey Zaslow.

So if you've been searching for a few new books to pop in your CD player during your daily commute, let us know what you're reading now and these could be next.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Thomas Cobb got great reviews for his 1989 novel "Crazy Heart," about a washed up country-and-western singer named Bad Blake. And the movie adaptation, whose cast includes stalwarts such as Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall and Maggie Gyllenhaal, is getting the same sort of critical acclaim. (If you're not into C&W singers, this is also a week for the widespread release of "The Lovely Bones" movie; take a look at early reviews.) Here's a sampling of reviews for "Crazy Heart":

The Washington Post -- There are many reasons to admire "Crazy Heart," chiefly a performance from Bridges that stands as a quiet triumph within one of Hollywood's most durable and consistent careers, while making subtle nods to the actor's best-loved characters.

Los Angeles Times -- The grim parts of the film present the bourbon-battered Blake slowly (or, at times, quickly) losing his grip on life. But there's also a comically bleary ballet to the performance by Bridges, who plays Blake as a gifted songwriter who never loses his supple intellect or candor even as his body gives out to his liquored life.

New York Times -- a small movie perfectly scaled to the big performance at its center. It offers some picturesque views of out-of-the-way parts of the American West, but the dominant feature of its landscape is Bad Blake, a wayward, aging country singer played by Jeff Bridges.

Rolling Stone -- Let's just say that Crazy Heart offers the pleasure of watching a great actor at the peak of his form.

Entertainment Weekly -- Bridges' guileless performance makes this piquant little indie tale of country music, redemption, and the love of a pretty younger woman such a sad-song charmer.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Books to Movies
        

As we mourn Miep Gies, it's worth reviewing some of the simple wisdom she imparted during her long, well-spent life. She did not exploit her brush with fame, and downplayed her role in sheltering Anne Frank's family and recovering the girl's diary. You can read her story in "Anne Frank Remembered." Here's a sampling of her words, taken from new reports and her family's website:

-- "Of course it's nice to be appreciated. But I only did my duty to my fellow man. I helped people in need. Anyone can do that, can't they?"

-- "Never lump entire groups of people together, everyone is an individual, making his own decisions. Even my own family members are not like me."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Tributes were pouring in today for Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank's family in an Amsterdam attic. Gies, who died Monday, also preserved the famous journal that became "The Diary of a Young Girl." She worked in the office of Anne's father, Otto, and in early 1942, when the Franks went into hiding, she and her husband provided food and other supplies. After the family was betrayed and arrested, she found Anne's diary and kept it until the war ended.

I had a chance to visit the Anne Frank House a couple of years ago, and it was truly sobering. The book, of course, is a chilling reminder of the innocence that is often crushed by oppression. Excerpts of some tributes:

New York Times -- It was Mrs. Geis’s habit to deflect accolades for defying Nazi occupiers of Amsterdam ... . But to accept that self-description would be to overlook the remarkable selflessness and courage Mrs. Gies demonstrated, an example so powerful that it continues to inspire nearly 70 years later.

The Washington Post -- Her passing represented the loss of the only connection that Anne had to the present world, and that her fans, in turn, had to her. As years passed, and the Holocaust became something that happened a generation ago, then two, then three, Gies alone was our tie.

New York Daily News -- In the end she could not save Anne and her family from betrayal to the Nazis, even by risking all to protect them. But it was Gies who preserved the young girl's diary that will echo through the ages as an expression of faith in the face of incomprehensible evil.

And here's a 1988 interview with Gies.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Books to Movies
        

Russian literature goes steampunk!

Quirk Classics, which has already given us the fantastic "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," and "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," (with P&P&Z's prequel, "Dawn of the Dreadfuls" due in March) has decided to go after Leo Tolstoy.

"Android Karenina" will be available June 8th.

I think what I enjoy most about this series is the genre twisting. Turning Austen's romance novels into high adventure kung-fu tales is great as it is; making Tolstoy's celebrated "Anna Karenina" a sci-fi love story just warms my heart.

And my greatest hope is that these books will open up a previously inaccessible world of Russian classics to the general public. After all, those who may not initially enjoy a 100-year-old romance novel could give it a second look when robots are involved.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

If you're paying attention, you'll notice that a lot of popular Web sites have become popular books lately: PostSecret, Stuff White People Like, This is Why You're Fat ... the list is seemingly endless.

Which is why I LOVE this Web site devoted entirely to getting a book deal. (Dave won't let me print the actual name of the blog, since this is a family site. But it's SFW, no worries.)

Every post is a concept: Nontrending topics, Drunk or Southern?, Cute Animals Staying Awake; published in the ironic hope that maybe, just maybe, one idea will catch on, and a publisher will become giddy at the prospect of turning page views into customers.

While there are plenty of sites I enjoy, and would love to see made into a book, (HELLO XKCD!), I have to admit that this crowdsourcing version of publishing gets a bit silly after awhile. If you thought the reality-TV craze was getting out of hand, just you wait ...

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

Mark McGwire tearfully acknowledged Monday that he took steroids for several years -- including 1998, when he set baseball's home run record at 70. Of course, his admission -- "I did this for health purposes. There's no way I did this for any type of strength use." -- was less than satisfying. And his remarks didn't surprise fans who watched the bulked up St. Louis Cardinals slugger during the home run chase, and have heard other steroids confessions in recent years. Maybe he was chastened by the recent vote that again denied him a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Many books have been written about Baseball Players Behaving Badly, starting with the classic "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton. For a closer look at McGwire and the steroids era, pick up "Game of Shadows." Mark Fainaru-Wada painstakingly outlines the scandal that engulfed a San Francisco-area drug company called BALCO and customers including Barry Bonds, who eventually eclipsed McGwire's home run record. Here are some other books on the topic:

"Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball's Worst-kept Secret." Jay McGwire, a body-builder and personal trainer, describes how he introduced his older brother to various substances designed to elicit Hulk-like proportions.

"Bases Loaded." Kirk Radomski, a longtime worker in the N.Y. Mets locker room, was a key witness in congressional probes into the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. He describes his life as a low-level enabler.

Jose Canseco, another baseball player who grew and grew, like some Through the Looking Glass character, wrote two books about steroids: "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big" and "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Now that the Ravens have destroyed the Patriots, coached by bookish philantropist Bill Belichick, we can turn our attention to an even bigger literary shootout.

Indianapolis has a short list of A-list authors, namely Kurt Vonnegut and Booth Tarkington ("The Magnificent Ambersons"). And the Colts are led by Peyton Manning, whose family of quarterbacks (dad Archie and brother Eli) is the topic of several books. "Manning," tells of a "life of success and love based on faith, family and football," while the kids' book "Family Huddle" describes the brothers' hijinks. Touching, very touching.

All that pales compared to Baltimore's literary heritage and the feel-good story of the Ravens' Michael Oher, told in the book and movie "The Blind Side." If we were scoring this contest, Baltimore would win easily. I think the Ravens will win on the field Saturday night, too.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Maloney says he once thought "the best woman for me was the one who most accurately reflected my own interests." But now he is in a relationship with a woman who has read just one novel in the eight years they've been together. Obviously, his "categorical imperative" position has become quite squishy.

I'm not a big fan of the "must love books" position in a relationship. But I do think it helps. A bookshelf can tell you a lot about a person, and though a fan of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" could live happily ever after with someone who loves "An Incovenient Truth" by Al Gore, I wouldn't bet those odds.

I fall somewhere north of the "optional extra" category. Books can be wonderful for starting conversations among strangers, and fueling conversations among friends and lovers. Why else are so many of in book clubs? Books present us with new ideas, and take us to new lands. I suppose a reader/non-reader relationship can thrive if there are other common values (like the Baltimore Ravens, poodles or reality TV), but sprinkling some novels or non-fiction here and there certainly wouldn't hurt.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I've been summoned for the first time, and while I'm not quite as excited about my civic duty as I feel I should be, this is a great reading opportunity, I'm told.

At first, my mind clearly went to courtroom drama. A good old-fashioned John Grisham novel, or maybe a crime-infused detective  novel. James Patterson's "I, Alex Cross" seems pretty popular now.

OF course, I could go a bit more historical. The first secret ballot juries date back to Ancient Greece, and tribunals made of hundreds of men decided cases in Rome. Anthony Everitt's "Cicero" has been begging for a re-read lately ...

So long story short, I head to the courthouse this morning with a couple of books; my Kindle, ready to download whatever my heart desires in a moment; and hopes that the movie they picked isn't too bad.

Wish me luck! (And any other reading suggestions are welcome, as well.)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

As part of a birthday bash at The Poe Museum in Richmond, a distant relative will finally weigh in on the debate over which city can righfully claim the great author. Here in Baltimore, we know the answer. He lived here, wrote here, died here and is buried here. Case (and casket) closed.

But as Chris Kaltenbach writes today in the Baltimore Sun, the debate surrounding competing claims from Richmond, Philadelphia, Boston and other cities "may go on forevermore." Here's an excerpt from his story about the Richmond event on Saturday, Jan. 16:

Poe’s actual descendants — perhaps the only group whose claim to Poe’s legacy is indisputable — will announce which city they side with. ... Then again, given that the Poe descendant who will be making the announcement is president of Richmond’s Poe Museum — well, maybe next weekend’s decision won’t be as unbiased as it might seem.

“Most of all, I’m concerned with the legacy,” says Harry Lee Poe, a professor of faith and culture at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and president of the Poe Foundation, which owns and operates the Richmond museum.

Of course, during last year’s bicentennial celebration of Poe’s birth, that legacy question was at the center of a spirited, if good-natured, war of words between Poe partisans from Boston (where Poe was born), Philadelphia (where he did much of his writing) and Baltimore (where he died and is buried). Debates were held in Boston and Philadelphia, and while nothing was resolved, all the buzz surrounding Poe made him part of the national pop culture consciousness to a degree no other 19th-century writer can match.

Harry Lee Poe, whose great-grandfather, William, was Edgar Allan Poe’s cousin, applauds all the work that’s been done on behalf of his distant relation. But now, he says, it’s time for the family to weigh in. And while tacitly acknowledging that Richmond may have something of an advantage over the competition — “We have to think about Richmond, where he spent half his life. He always said that he was a Virginian, he identified himself that way” — Harry Lee Poe stresses that there are some dark horse candidates as well.

“Poe lived in Charleston almost as long as he lived in Baltimore,” he says, “and certainly much longer than he lived in Boston.” He also set three stories in the South Carolina capital, including “The Gold Bug.”

Poe’s 24-Hour Birthday Bash at the Richmond museum begins with a champagne toast at midnight Friday (doors open at 11:45 p.m.) and runs until midnight Saturday. For information call 804-648-5523 or 888-213-2763, or go to the museum's website.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Edgar Allan Poe
        

Remember this? When the introduction of the second generation Kindle seemed so cutting edge? Well, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, you were nobody if you weren't introducing a newer, flashier e-reader with an edgy name. In fact, one of the models on display was the enTourage aDGe -- how's that for  taunting the spelling police?

The show also marked the official debut for the Plastic Logic QUE, Spring Design's Alex, and the Skiff.  If all of these products make it, consumers will face a dizzying array of choices. One screen or two? For work or play? How much multi-functionality? Pay $300, $500 or $800? All this before Apple even introduces its tablet, an event expected later this month.

In fact, the orgy of new models has led some to posit that there are officially too many e-book readers. I like having a choice, and it's inevitable. Every new product goes through a shake-out period, and gradually the number of models is whittled down to a manageable size. But the Big Bang sure can be startling.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

This week's bookish movie is Youth in Revolt, adapted from C.D. Payne's journal-style novel about hapless, pubescent Nick Twisp (the name says it all). Like so many other coming of age books, it focuses on the trinity of teen-age angst: rebellion, parents and sex. Library Journal described the entries as a "cross between Holden Caulfield and Doogie Howser, or The Wonder Years with a dash of Philip Roth." In the movie, Michael Cera (pictured) has the lead role -- actually the double role of Nick and his alter ego, the rough-edged Francois. Excerpts from some reviews:

Chicago Tribune -- "Youth in Revolt" isn't bad -- the cast is too good for it to be bad -- but archly comic coming-of-age fables are tricky things, and this adaptation ... does not precisely feel like This Year's Stuff. Still, I laughed a fair bit."

New York Times -- a "sweet and slight and often charming coming-of-age tale".

Washington Post -- "Youth in Revolt" is a movie that feels written rather than lived; from "The Catcher in the Rye" to "Rushmore," it's a story we've seen in better versions before.

Entertainment Weekly: Directed by the vivacious filmmaker Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck), the movie misses the dark hilarity and herky-jerky energy of C.D. Payne’s 1993 young-adult novel on which it’s based; there’s too little color amid all the mayhem.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Youth in Revolt” has a freewheeling energy that pulls you along as Nick gets deeper and deeper — but ever more hilariously — into trouble.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Happy snowy Friday, everyone. I do hope digging out wasn't too much of a bother.

First of all: Congratulations, Karen! You're the "Noah's Compass" winner. And with everyone's enthusiasm, it kinda makes me wish we had an Anne Tyler book every week.

Meanwhile, I'm reading "Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter." And no, I didn't just make that up. To be honest, I'm a little insulted you would say so. Here's my proof. And you know what I really love about this novel? That it combines my love of history with my delight of the morbid and just plain strange. With the Queen Victoria movie's release, this was also pretty brilliant timing on the part of A. E. Moorat.

If you're going to have a film about Victoria's struggles with ruling a country and ruling her heart, why not throw some zombies in there? Besides, the cover alone is worth it.

But you want to know about the next giveaway, huh? OK, OK. We're offering "The Swan Thieves," by Elizabeth Kostova. The best-selling author of "The Historian" has apparently been busy writing this since the 2005 release of the Dracula novel, and many of the reviews have been glowing. It follows the adventures of a psychiatrist who gets embroiled in a mystery surrounding French Impressionism when a famous painter becomes his patient.

So tell us what you're reading, and this could be yours!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Freebie Friday
        

Today at the Consumer Electroinics Show in Las Vegas, Plastic Logic unveiled its QUE e-reader, declaring that it was opening up a new category, the "proReader." Aimed at business people, the QUE does what your Kindle, nook and other e-readers do, namely, allows you to read books, magazines and newspapers. But it also can download Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and other necessities for working stiffs. (Here's some engadget video from CES.) The materials can be edited on the QUE's touch screen. There will be more e-reader news at CES, and we'll keep you up to date; later in the month, Apple is expected to unveil its tablet. Some stats on the QUE:

Size: Like a pad of 8.5 x 11 paper, about 1/3 inch thick

Weight: About a pound

Screen: 10.7-inch shatterproof plastic display

Memory: 4GB model holds up to 35,000 documents; 8GB model holds up to 75,000 documents

Cost: $649 for the 4GB model with WiFi; $799 for the 8GB model with WiFi and 3G

Available: Will be shipped in mid-April. Later in 2010, QUE will be available in Barnes & Noble's stores

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Atomic Books has just announced their book club's 2010 selections, and this year we have a theme: memoirs and personal essays.

I really like this theme. One of my favorite things about books is that they allow you to slip into someone else's life for a while, and therefore experience things you'd never imagine. Included are well-known selections, such as Januaury's book, "Running with Scissors." But there are also a few you might be unfamiliar with, like November's "Little Things," by Jeffrey Brown. There are books about food, survival, drugs and love -- basically just about everything. 

The Atomic Book Club meets the last Wednesday of every month, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For a full list of this year's books, check out the official Atomic Books Reading Club Facebook page. And while you're there, join the group!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Even as Americans get accustomed to HDTV and Blu-ray disc players, the electronics industry is marching forward, pushing 3D television. ESPN has unveiled a 3D network that will broadcast at least 85 live sporting events; Discovery, Imax and Sony are planning an entertainment channel. And TV manufacturers are rolling out new models with 3D capability, including this 152-inch behemoth from Panasonic.

The prospect of watching sports and movies in 3D is enticing. But the technology will face a huge hurdle: the way we watch TV these days. If you're like me, you watch a show with a book or magazine in one hand, so you can catch up on your reading during timeouts or commercials. I'm now reading Daniyal Mueenuddin's short story collection, "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders," which lends itself to such short bursts. But I can't imagine whipping off those goofy 3D glasses every time I turn back to my reading -- or make a phone call or check email on my BlackBerry. So until the technology advances, allowing us to jettison the glasses, 3D will be limited to the gee-whiz, special occasion category of TV viewing. Great for a dark movie theater, but hellish at home.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Lots of folks complain about the goofball cast of "Jersey Shore" reality TV show, which the National Italian American Foundation called a "giant leap backwards for our society." I say, lighten up, folks. To be pro-active, I've crafted a summer reading list for J-WOWW, Snooki, The Situation and anyone else in a JS sequel. The NAIF has its own reading list, as do Italian-American lit courses at New York University. But assigning Don DeLillo's 832-page "Underworld," would trigger a litany of excuses about lost books, bad boyfriends, etc. So lhere are some alternatives:

For Sammi "Sweetheart," described as a heartbreaker, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Bonus: You only have to read the "Eat" part (in Italy)!

For Snooki, who is "looking to meet the man of her dreams," "Corelli's Mandolin" by Louis de Bernieres, a wonderful story of war and love.

For Ronnie, who "might find himself in a brawl or two," "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. 

For DJ Pauly D, whose over-gelled hair reminds me of Il Duomo, "Bruneslleschi's Dome" by Ross King, a great bit of non-fiction about an architecture genius.

For J-WOWW, known for her "tough exterior," "The Devil Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger.

For Angelina, who wonders what the summer will bring, "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes.

Lastly, for Mike "The Situation," the art theory book "Situation," (though he probably wouldn't read anything without his name in it).

Photo from PictureGroup shows, from left, Jenni “J-Woww” Farley, Pauly Delvecchio, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, and Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Reports that Kirkus Reviews, the biweekly magazine that provides more than 5,000 book reviews a year, would be shutting down at the end of 2009 may have been premature.

The publication, which was founded in 1933, has a potential buyer, and will continue publishing at least during the negotiations, which could take 2 to 3 weeks.

"It sounds promising," Kirkus manager editor Eric Liebetrau told the Associated Press. He would not say who Kirkus' potential savior was, however.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

My daughter, a college senior, is home on vacation, which means I get a crash course in pop culture. I usually wind up with some new iPod songs, YouTube videos and TV shows. (She also gave me her copy of "Pride and Prejudice.") This year, the quirky must-see is the MTV reality show "Jersey Shore." Throw a group of young adults into a cottage, add booze, tank tops and hair gel, and you get a series that's like a five-car Beltway accident you can't resist staring at. The New York Times weighed in this week with an article on Snooki, J-WOWW, The Situation and other cast members, including five reasons to like the show.

If that doesn't grab you, just wait. To take advantage of the frenzy over Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, a producer is crafting a reality show based in Forks, Wash, where Bella and Edward met. "We're not going up there looking to cast people who have claims to the supernatural," Zig Gauthier told TheWrap. "We want people who have a true connection to the community. We want to avoid people with outlandish claims."

I'm glad he's avoiding any hint of exploitation and sensationalism.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Have you got an embarrassing or titilating essay, poem, photo or anecdote about your, uh, personal experience? Or, you know, a story about this guy that you know?

"Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore!" is looking for sex-related submissions to include in their next zine, and as editor William P. Tandy writes, "Creative non-fiction is preferred (we're not looking for Penthouse's sloppy seconds here), though all submissions will be considered."

Send your piece along as an e-mail or Word document, but you might want to make sure that all parties involved actually want to be involved. I'm just saying. And send them quickly! Today is the deadline.

Who knows? Maybe you'll be the next to win the Bad Sex in Fiction Award.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

According to news reports, the device -- which might or might not be called iSlate -- could be unveiled as early as this month, and shipped in March. No one has the specs, but reports portray the device as larger than the other e-readers, and more expensive. Then again, the iWhatever will likely do much more than the first generation of e-readers -- think, music and videos. And it will likely have Apple's signature coolness, which consumers seem happy to pay Steve Jobs for.

As if that weren't enough to make Apple-ites hyperventilate, Baltimore Sun tech blogger Gus Sentementes notes that the device could have some form of 3-D graphics. That would certainly add some punch to graphic novels! (By coincidence, the Apple speculation comes as ESPN has announced a new 3D network that will broadcast 85 games in its first year.) With 3D televisions coming on the market this year, and the popularity of movies such as "Avatar," it's just a matter of time before e-readers give us similar versions of Elizabeth Bennet.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Synopsis: Having lived his entire life in small-town Gatlin, South Carolina, Ethan Wate is ready to escape from his narrow world and the mourning that his grief-stricken father can't seem to escape after the untimely death of his mother.

But Ethan is also haunted by dreams of a girl he's never met -- that is, until the day she moves into town. Lena Duchannes, an outsider and descendant of the town's founding family, makes enemies quickly, even without coming out as the witch, or "caster" that she is. With her life in the balance on her 16th birthday, Lena and Ethan struggle to make sense of the elaborate lies, magic and love in their lives before it's too late.

Review: Let's get right down to it: This is a romance novel. It's also full-on Southern gothic, which I love, and a coming-of-age tale -- literally, on Lena's 16th birthday, her life will completely change. The biggest twist is ostensibly that the girl in this supernatural love story is the superpowered half of the pair, but those who are looking for some serious grrl power won't really find it here.

While Lena's not the type to let anyone run over her (ahem, Bella), saving Lena from a family curse is also the main thrust of the story. While she doesn't exactly wait around for her fate to be decided for her, there are many chapters devoted to some big-time moping in her bedroom, and heavy-duty angsting between the two teens.

And honestly? That's probably the most realistic part of this story. Teenagers who can't handle their changing world, even when it's sometimes a change for the better? I buy it. Lena's ability to change the weather and shatter glass is just gravy.

Sometimes the authors push the Southern angle a bit too hard for my tastes, especially with the quintessential (or cliched, take your pick) hard-as-nails, yet soft-as-warm-butter black housekeeper who has raised generations of the Wate family. But the world-building is top-notch in this series debut, and when I finished, I was sad to say goodbye to good old Gatlin.

Thankfully, the book ends with the classic cliffhanger, guaranteeing fans at least one more installment. And you won't have to hold your breath long to see it on film.

If you liked: "The Outsiders," Anne Rice's "Witching Hour" series or "The Vampire Diaries" you'll enjoy the themes of this book. And there is more than one nod to "To Kill a Mockingbird," as well.

Avoid this if: You think Bella and Edward are the bee's knees. They'll be really angry with you for cheating on them, and you'll never be able to buy into their sophomoric angst again.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Reviews
        

Today's Baltimore Sun has a Q&A with novelist Anne Tyler about her new book, "Noah's Compass." It's a tale of life's relationships, centered around long-time Liam Pennywell, who has been pushed out of a private school teaching job. (Here's a Sun review of the book, and don't forget, it's not too late to sign up for our giveaway.) An excerpt from reporter Mary McCauley's Q&A session with Tyler:

Q: I have the sense that writing this particular novel was especially difficult for you, a real uphill battle.

A: It wasn’t a technical difficulty I was struggling with, but the fact that the book was no fun to write. From start to finish, I found it hard work. Some possible explanations that occurred to me were: 1. It’s a bad book, and my subconscious knows it; 2. It’s a good book, and good books don’t come easy; and 3. I’m getting too old for this. But the real reason, I now believe, is that it was reminding me a little too much of my own situation. Like my central character, I have passed all the major milestones and have no more to look forward to.

Q: There are other similarities between your situation and Liam’s: In the past few years, you’ve moved from the house in which you raised your family into an apartment. You and Liam both have young grandchildren, and you are roughly the same age: Liam is 61, and you turned 68 this past October.

A: My life is most definitely winding down. It’s not such a bad thing; it’s sort of restful, really. I like being the age I am. But I do miss daydreaming. There’s nothing I desperately want anymore – just for life to go on as happily as it has in the past.

 

And here's a bonus question that you won't find in the print version:

Q: Can you elaborate on the allegory of Noah's compass that gives your book its title?
A: One of Liam's minor irritations is his born-again daughter's insistence that a person who lacks religion lacks a moral compass. Liam, like Noah, is bobbing on uncharted waters without a clear destination, but by the end of the book I believe he's proved that he most definitely has a compass.

 

 

 

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

And you thought you had some problems with overdue books. According to news reports, a man whose love of history was fueled by a book he checked out of a Pennsylvania school library in 1936 has finally returned it. Thomas McArdle, who now lives in Greenbelt, was just 12 when he checked out "The Birth of Rome" from Chestnut Street Elementary in Scottdale. He recently found it, and did the right thing. School officials waived the late fees (probably enough for a Steelers season ticket).

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Since Dave is decidely lukewarm in his hometown love, I'm going to have to pick up the slack.

And so for a bit of fun, I headed over to Mad Glibs to celebrate my team in poetry rather than prose, in the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe himself.

OK, it may not be pretty, but I think I get my point across. Go Ravens!

The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe Once upon a midnight winning, while I pondered the best and unstoppable, Over many a quaint and curious Joe Flacco of forgotten champion, While I trounced, nearly napping, suddenly there came a Ed Reed, As of Ray Lewis gently rapping, rapping at my M&T Stadium door. ``Tis some Ray Rice,` I muttered, `tapping at my M&T Stadium door - Only this, and nothing more.` Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the playoff December, And each separate scoring ember wrought its Heeeeeeap upon the floor. Eagerly I conquered the morrow; - finally I had sought to borrow From my Ravens surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the explosive Lenore - For the hungry and relentless maiden whom the angels named Willis McGahee - Nameless here for evermore.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Edgar Allan Poe
        

Happy belated New Year, everyone! Thanks to Dave (the birthday boy!) for filling in for me while I was battling sickness. Talk about putting a damper on the holidays!

But now I'm back, and ready to announce the winner of the oh-so-delicious "Kitchenaid's Best-Loved Recipes." Congratulations, Kathy R! I hope you enjoy reading, cooking and eating in 2010!

Meanwhile, I'm pretty excited to rip into one of my Christmas presents: Neil Gaiman's "The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1." The first of four volumes in the critically acclaimed Sandman graphic novel series, it weighs in at more than 7 pounds. While I probably won't be cuddling with it anytime soon, I intend to enjoy it thoroughly.

So head on over to Dave's post, tell us what you're reading, and don't forget to wish him a very happy birthday today!

Posted by Nancy Knight at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Now that the Baltimore Ravens are in the playoffs against the New England Patriots, I'm left with a tough choice: As a Baltimorean, do I root for the Ravens? Or do I cheer for a former college classmate, Patriots coach Bill Belichick (Wesleyan University, Class of '75)?

In interviews, Belichick doesn't come across as the warmest guy, but he has some soft spots, and one of them is for the U.S. Naval Academy, where his father Steve was a long-time football coach. In fact, in 2006, about a year after his dad had passed away, Bill donated their collection of historic football books to the academy. News reports at the time said it was the nation's third largest collection, after those in the Library of Congress and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Among the 400-plus books: Amos Alonzo Stagg's "Practical Theses on Football" and Walter Camp's "American Football." I'm assuming it also included "Football Scouting Methods" -- often called the Bible of scouting -- which Steve wrote at the academy.

Bill himself was the subject of a well-received book, "The Educatiion of a Coach" by David Halberstam.

Yes, heart-warming literary tales. But not enough for this New Englander to abandon the purple and black. After all, the Ravens have their own literary feel-good story: "The Blind Side," which chronicles Michael Oher's rise from poverty and dysfunctional family life. The movie adaptation has been a big holiday hit, and Michael Lewis' book gets high praise from readers.

Go Ravens!

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Today's Baltimore Sun has a review of Anne Tyler's new book, "Noah's Compass," which is being released this week. Glenn C. Altschuler says Tyler "captures, with grace and good humor, the shifts in the relationships between parents and children, husbands and wives, likers and lovers, wrought by the passage of time. She reminds us that although sensitive people cannot -- and should not -- avoid 'The Great Sadness' that accompanies an existence that is fleeting and might be meaningless, they don't have to dwell there. Echoing E.M. Forster, 'only connect' is the whole of her sermon." Tyler's many fans will recognize the style instantly, and Baltimoreans will also recognize the neighborhoods. It's a quiet, yet effective, tale -- and one that feels as comfortable as your favorite sweater. Best of all, we're giving it away this week on Read Street.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Reviews
        

Well, maybe not in a literal sense, but in a numerical one. Today, 01-02-2010, is the rare palindromic date -- the sort that must gladden Anna, Eve, Otto and the other residents of the Maryland town of Glenelg. I like quirky dates -- like the upside down/rightside up 1961 -- and was pleased to see that the new decade has provided a gift so quickly.

Here's an article about the calendar quirk from The Baltimore Sun, noting that we're headed for another next year, on Nov. 11. If you're still not hung over from New Year's celebrations, you can try some palindromic (Or is it palindromedary? No that's Sarah riding a camel.) puzzles at this New York Times science blog. Or, if you're a word-nerd, check out this palindrome list, which includes the classic "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" as well as the Zen-like "Some men interpret nine memos."

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

I'm filling in for Nancy on an abbreviated, holiday edition Freebie Friday.

She'll consult the oracles to pick the winner of last week's giveaway. But in the meantime, here's this week's prize: Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler.

Baltimore's best novelist explores the complexities of middle-age relationships and love in her new book, which will be released next week. It's a quiet tale of Baltimore life -- the sort that Tyler crafts so well -- but has its share of twists and turns to keep readers committed.

You know the drill: To enter, tell us what you're reading as the new year begins.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)
        

Happy New Year, everyone. Hope you all had a safe and happy celebration. Now's the time to set some resolutions (besides losing those extra pounds, the most borrrrrring pledge in the world). Here are a few of mine for 2010. I resolve to:
-- read at least one book from each of the continents. I'll even try for Antarctica, though its literary heritage is somewhat spotty. That should ensure that the whole year isn't spent re-reading the Twilight series.
-- read one book by Nobel Prize winner Herta Muller, to see what all the fuss is about. (I whiffed on this last year; two books by Le Clezio are still in my TBR pile.)
-- read at least one unread classic. (Yes, Nancy, that may mean that I finally get to "Pride and Prejudice.")
-- read every book assigned by my book club -- before the meeting. (If you're in a book club, that's harder than it sounds.)
There, I feel better already.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)