This week in The Sun, movie critic Mike Sragow talks to Baltimore filmmaker John Waters about his new book, "Role Models." It's a look at some unlikely models, including Leslie Van Houten, one of Charles Manson's murderous clan. On the jump is an excerpt from the book.

Waters says in the article, “I want people to like what I’ve written about them, and so far everyone I’ve given the book to has liked it. The Leslie Van Houten part was very hard for her to read. Fourteen thousand words about the worst night of her life. But I didn’t write about anybody I didn’t like. If you are interested in these stories, you can learn from them; you can learn from what happened to Leslie and not have your own life screwed up.”

Most of all, says the article, Waters wants readers “to like some of my friends, even when there are some issues. Even when their issues make their experiences so out of the norm, I’m always fascinated by how they deal with that.”

(Keep reading for Waters' words.)

Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum

Continue reading "John Waters on "Role Models" " »

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Foodies and fans of Anthony Bourdain's tell-all book "Kitchen Confidential" will want to catch him this weekend, when he appears at the Hippodrome with Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert. My wife is a huge fan of the book, and refused to eat in a restaurant for years after reading about tales of the naughty chefs -- "cocaine in the kitchen, mid-service sex" as Bourdain describes it.

The Sun's Rob Kasper interviewed Bourdain and Ripert about their views, including criticism that has been leveled at the former for doing a TV show about Baltimore, and featuring Lake Trout and pit beef. Some folks thought it made us look like a chump town filled with folks who can't pronounce foie gras. Just think about the outrage if he had sampled hard fried crab!

Here's an excerpt from Kasper's article: Bourdain acknowledged that he has had an unhappy relationship with Baltimore, pointing to a short stint he had as a drug-addled cook in a Harborplace restaurant in the 1980s. But lately, he said, he has become a fan of the town. "I have been back a few times, and in my own quiet way have come to really like the town," he said. "I don't know if the feelings have been reciprocated, especially after the show."

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Let's give a hand to billionaire investor David Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, for supporting reading. The co-founder and manging director of Washington-based Carlyle Group private equity fund recently announced a $5 million gift to the Library of Congress to support the annual National Book Festival.

Rubenstein, 60, said he still is an avid reader: “I am never more happy than when I am alone with my books … it’s one of the joys of my life." But he's alarmed by the number of Americans who can't read -- or don't read enough. "A country of our wealth should be No. 1 in literacy."

The Washington festival always attracts an all-star roster of authors. Last year, big names on the schedule included James Patterson, George Pelecanos and Marilynne Robinson. This year's festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 25. That will be a big weekend for book lovers, because the Baltimore Book Festival is scheduled for Sept. 24-26. So mark you calendars.

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If you're not a regular reader of the Baltimore Sun's Diing@Large blog, you visit to check out the winners of the First Annual Scrapple Poetry Contest. Realizing that scrapple poetry abounds, blogger Laua Vozzella made the contest tougher by awarding extra points for including the words "offal," "apple" and "shrapnel." Here's the first verse of the winning poem, "The Emperor of Scrapple" by Voodoo Pork (After Wallace Stevens's The Emperor of Ice-Cream, with apologies):

Call the wrangler of big porkers,

The crepuscular one, and bid him whip

I abattoir vats offalescent orts.

Let the sows dawdle in such pens

As they are used to dwell, and let the boars

Bring apples as porcine gift victuals.

Let be be finale of eat.

The only emperor is the emperor of scrapple.

You can read the rest of the poem and the second place finisher on this blog post. The rest of the entry scraps can be found as comments here.

Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston

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The Baltimore Sun took a closer look today at Wes Moore's new book about (as he puts it) "the crucial inflection points in every life, sudden moments of decision where our paths diverge and our fates are sealed." In "The Other Wes Moore," he wonders about the factors that allowed him to leap to success from an upbringing in the rough South Bronx, while another Wes Moore grew up in rough West Baltimore and wound up imprisoned for a slaying. On Read Street this week, we noted a Sun Q&A with Moore as well as a chance to win the book.

Here's an excerpt from Michael Sragow's article on Moore, which will appear in Sunday's paper. We pick up the tale in the author's childhood, as he struggled at a private school:

His mother assessed the situation and sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy. "Writing this book, I had to think about where I was mentally, emotionally and physically, and what would have happened if my mother had not made such an aggressive and creative intervention." Her parents mortgaged their house to pay for Valley Forge. But his mother's crucial act was asking a cadet captain to look after him.

Continue reading "Wes Moore on The Other Wes Moore " »

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The Sun's Michael Sragow got a chance to talk with Baltimore native Wes Moore, whose new book, "The Other Wes Moore," explores the way that family, luck and other factors can determine the course of our lives. The author, a Johns Hopkins-educated Rhodes scholar, compares his life to that of another Wes Moore from Baltimore -- a guy serving a life sentence for killing an off-duty police officer. Here's an excerpt from the Q&A (Sragow will have a longer story on Moore Sunday, so check back at Read Street then):

Q: Your father died young, when you were 3. The other Wes Moore told you, "You're father wasn't there because he couldn't be; my father wasn't there because he chose not to be." Did you see the parallels as well as the differences, immediately?

A: Even when I was young, there were times I could tell my mother wasn't handling my father's death well, but she was trying to make life for us as normal as possible. She was shielding us from loss and the meaning of loss, though she ended up losing control of her own life in many ways. That was the impetus for her calling up her parents and saying, "I need help." Her kids were getting older, ready for school. We had a lot of relatives from my father's side of the family in Maryland, and she had lots of college friends; everyone was being very supportive. But she found something compelling about the idea of going to live with her parents, at the home they had lived in for decades in the Bronx.

Wes' mother Mary didn't have that option as a single parent. Her own mother died when Mary was a teenage mother herself, and that death devastated Mary's father. Mary did what she could do, moving to different neighborhoods, from Pennsylvania Avenue and Cherry Hill to Northwood and Dundee Village. But the challenge of being a mother is so daunting.

Continue reading "Q&A with author Wes Moore, "The Other Wes Moore"" »

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Maryland has been home to many beloved literary icons, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rachel Carson and Edgar Allan Poe -- and they've each left their mark in the Free State. So, with the help of our readers, we've compiled a list of the best places to relive a bit of bookish history. So here are our picks, and if you have a few of your own, let us know! (Here are more Top 10 lists from Sun bloggers.)

1. Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that would become "The Star-Spangled Banner." By the time you reach the "and the land of the free," even the most hard-hearted cynic feels a stirring their chest. "The Defence of Fort McHenry" was inspired by the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, though it would take more than 100 years for it to be officially recognized as our national anthem.

2. Maryland's favorite gothic son, Edgar Allan Poe, stayed in Baltimore only a short time, but left a lasting mark -- as any Ravens fan can tell you. So don't miss the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum at 203 N. Amity St, where you can learn everything about his life, and death, in Baltimore. Afterward, you can stop by the Westminster Burying Grounds and Catacombs, where tours are conducted the first and third Fridays, April through November.

3. Rachel Carson, the celebrated author and biologist, was born in Pennsylvania, but by the time she'd started work on "Silent Spring," she had moved to Silver Spring, in a one-story rancher she designed and lived in until her death in 1964. The Rachel Carson Conservation Park in Brookeville is a great place to commune with nature, just as the former Johns Hopkins student and sometimes Sun writer would have intended.

4. It's no secret that Baltimore Sun luminary H.L. Mencken and Jazz Age author F. Scott Fitzgerald loved to party. So while you can stop by the Mencken House at 1524 Hollins St., or the rowhouse at 1307 Park Ave. where Fitzgerald wrote "Tender is the Night," it'd be much more fitting to enjoy a drink or two at The Owl Bar, at 1. E. Chase St., where they threw back quite a few martinis.

5. Anyone who's read Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Anne Tyler's books can tell you about the beauty (and lovable oddballs) of Roland Park. Tyler made the upscale neighborhood famous in her critically acclaimed books, including "The Accidental Tourist" and "Ladder of Years." Check out Eddie's at 5113 Roland Ave., and if you're in the mood for French food, you can't go wrong with Petit Louis at 4800 Roland Ave.

Continue reading "Maryland's Top 10 Literary Locales" »

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The Baltimore Sun's Joe Burris sat down recently with Jeni Stepanek to talk about her new book, "Messenger," and her son Mattie, who charmed world leaders with poems advocating peace, Here's an excerpt from the interview published in today's Sun:

Question: What prompted you to write "Messenger" now?

Answer: I realized I had to write a book in 2004, and by 2006 I had completely outlined the entire book. But I didn't want to tell the story yet. I didn't want my raw grief to get mixed up with the story of his life. …Then last fall they were getting ready to do the dedication of the Mattie statue in Rockville. A little boy stopped and looked at the statue and said, "Mommy, that boy makes me feel happy inside." And the mom said, "That little boy is Mattie, and that's what he wanted to do." I said to myself that now is the time to write the story. I am amazed at what is growing from his life. He truly inspired people to believe in hope and peace. He so believed in that, and he was so real that he drew people to him.

Q: How often do you consider your son's accomplishments and say, "That's my child"?

A: I'm constantly looking at my son and not looking at the poet or peacemaker or philosopher. I'm looking at the son who needed me to be his mommy.

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The Baltimore Sun is running a contest allowing online readers to name the area's biggest local celebrity, and first-round results were not encouraging for writers. David Simon ("Homicide" and "The Corner") was eliminated by ex-Colt Art Donovan. Laura Lippman lost to TV anchor Denise Koch. And Zane, the diva of eroticism, was knocked out by Ravens' quarterback Joe Flacco.

Now, there's only one person left to uphold the city's rich literary heritage: Anne Tyler. She beat Orioles owner Peter Angelos in the first round (after the O's miserable season, what did you expect?) and faces TV investigative reporter Jayne Miller in round two.

Tyler's too modest (or publicity-shy) to stump for support, so I'll do it for her. It's fitting because I'm reading her new novel, "Noah's Compass," which is scheduled for release on Jan. 5. So let's keep Baltimore authors represented among our local celebrities. Vote today! Vote often! Here's the place to cast your ballot.

Photo by Diana Walker courtesy of Random House

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For those who missed the Enoch Pratt's "Altered Books" contest, here's a look at the first place winner, "Comfort Book Wrap." Susan Brandt knitted strips from pages of an Agatha Christie book. Just the thing for a cozy mystery.

Other winners include: Second place, Jessica Kantorski for "The Merry Man;" third place, Kathryn Sowinski for "Sorrento;" and honorable mention, Jacob Bouknight for "Partyware."

The Pratt contest was open to "any book, old or new that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, added to, collaged in, rubber stamped, drilled or otherwise adorned. [It] may be as simple as adding a drawing or text to a page, or as complex as creating an intricate book sculpture."

Still want more bookish art? Take a look at these images.

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Towson University English professor Diane Scharper recently reviewed three books whose authors have a Maryland connection: "A Question of Freedom" by R. Dwayne Betts, "The Arms Maker of Berlin" by Dan Fesperman and "‘The Wolf in the Parlor" by Jon Franklin. Here are her reviews, written for The Baltimore Sun. Note: You can attend a reading by Betts Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Enoch Pratt on Cathedral Street.

"A Question of Freedom," (Avery Publishers, 240 pages, $23) A voracious reader, Betts grew up with books — thanks to his mother, a single parent who encouraged her son to excel in school. Then on a fateful night in December 1996, he tapped on a car window with a gun and unleashed a nightmare that lasted eight years. His memoir, “A Question of Freedom,” chronicles Betts’ experiences during those years: from being shuffled (in handcuffs and shackles) among Virginia’s worst prisons; to witnessing the insanity of correctional officers using shotguns to break up arguments; to musing on society’s ill-conceived notion that incarceration rehabilitates people by treating them inhumanely. Long on literary devices and somewhat short on logical connections, the poetically written account describes Betts’ coming of age in jail. The story begins as 16-year-old Betts, who grew up in Suitland, is arrested for attempted carjacking with a deadly weapon. It ends 13 years later as he Betts, a published poet and graduate of the University of Maryland, reflects on the events that culminated in his jail time but eventually led to his considerable accomplishments. Ultimately, Betts’ success has little to do with prison rehabilitation and more to do with his love for reading, an inspiration that helped him escape what he aptly calls an adult version of “Lord of the Flies.”

-- "The Arms Maker of Berlin"’ (Alfred A. Knopf, 384 pages, $24.95) A connection exists between retired professor Gordon Wolfe and an anti-Nazi group code-named the White Rose. the historic White Rose group was ANTI-Nazi; should this be cleared up? Nat Turnbull’s job is to find out what it is before more people get hurt. The hero of Fesperman’s latest thriller, “The Arms Maker of Berlin,” Turnbull travels from Pennsylvania to New York to Berlin as he follows the trail of archival materials that Wolfe supposedly stole.

Continue reading "Reviews: A Question of Freedom, The Arms Maker of Berlin, The Wolf in the Parlor" »

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Catch "My One and Only," the new movie with Renee Zellweger, Kevin Bacon and Logan Lerman, and you'll glimpse a cameo by a Baltimore library. The former Highlandtown Branch was converted into a paint store for filming -- the entire area must have been the perfect backdrop for a movie set in the early 1950's. Formstone and fins, anyone? The branch closed in 2007 to make way for the Southeast Anchor Library nearby.

As for the movie, The Baltimore Sun's Michael Sragow gives it three stars. He says: "With any luck, "My One and Only" will draw the same crowds that have made "Julie & Julia" a holdover hit. It's affable entertainment -- a road movie with a smart map and characters who are unpredictable human beings, not just billboard attractions."

Photo courtesy of Runaway Home Productions

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H.L. Mencken loved beer, wordplay and music -- not necessarily in that order. He and a small group of friends met regularly in Baltimore to play together -- H.L. on the piano -- and the group eventually became known as The Saturday Night Club.

"Some of the performers were dpownright poor and some were highly skilled professionals," Louis Cheslock wrote in H.L. Mencken on Music (Knopf, 1961). "To be a member one had to be, first of all, a genuine lover of music. If he could play -- fine! If not, he had to listen. His conversation had to be worth while, and he had to be able to hold his own at the beer table."

The camaraderie continued for decades, and now the Enoch Pratt Free Library is offering a taste of the club. In an exhibition that began Monday and runs until Sept. 12, the Pratt will display 650 compositions by four club members: Gustav Strube, Theodor Hemberger, Emma Hemberger, and Adolph Torovsky. Letters written by Mencken to club members about music will also be on display.

And don't forget that Sept. 12 is the annual Mencken Day celebration at the Pratt, which has the largest Mencken collection in the world, owning three-fourths of his estate.

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Baltimore film-maker John Waters has always created comedies with a dark, or at least shady, side. Remember Multiple Maniacs and Female Trouble? How about Serial Mom, (filmed in the Stoneleigh neighborhood), about a surburban housewife who carved up both roasts and people? But I never realized that one of the sources of Waters' inspiration was the Manson family, a dangerously warped group responsible for the gruesome 1969 murder of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and others.

On Huffington Post, an excerpt from Water's upcoming book Role Models, details his contact with some "family" members. The book, scheduled for publication in 2010, is described as "a self-portrait told through intimate literary profiles of his favorite personalities; some famous, some unknown, some criminal, some alarmingly middle of the road."

An excerpt from the excerpt: I needed to know more. How had these kids, from backgrounds so similar to mine, committed in real life the awful crimes against peace and love that we were acting out for comedy in our films? ...

Sexy, scary, brain-dead, and dangerous, this gang of hippy lunatics gave new meaning to "folie à famille", group madness and insanity as long as the same people are together and united. It was an amazing thing to see in person. Heavily influenced, and actually jealous of their notoriety, I went back to Baltimore and made Pink Flamingos which I wrote, directed and dedicated to the "Manson girls", "Sadie, Katie and Les".

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The latest roundup of books with a regional interest, by Towson University English professor Diane Scharper, covers the housing crisis, Chesapeake Bay ferries and assisted living. Here are her capsule reviews for The Baltimore Sun:

Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown by Edmund L. Andrews (W.W. Norton, $25.95). New York Times business reporter Andrews tells the inside story of the collapse of the housing market and the resulting loss of $12 trillion from the U.S. economy. Part chronicle of economic history and part memoir of his own financial collapse, Busted is a riveting account of greed, irresponsibility, and “don’t ask, don’t tell” economics. The book begins in 2004 when Andrews and his fiancee, Patricia Barreiro, borrowed more than $400,000 for a $460,000 house in Silver Spring. It ends with the unhappy couple on the verge of separating as they face the loss of their home to foreclosure. But Andrews and Barriero were not alone. Millions of home-buyers shared their plight, causing what Andrews calls the great mortgage meltdown. Andrews discusses exotic mortgages, liars’ loans, dishonest brokers, money lenders, and high-profile financial institutions intent on making a fast buck while those in charge — from Alan Greenspan on down — looked the other way.

Chesapeake Ferries: A Waterborne Tradition, 1636-2000 by Clara Ann Simmons (Maryland Historical Society, $34). George Washington may have slept here, but he had second thoughts about ferrying across the Chesapeake Bay. A diary entry for March 1791 describes an especially uncomfortable trip via Rock Hall, Md., as Washington fumed

Continue reading "Busted and other new books on Maryland" »

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Fans of the Wimpy Kid series -- and there are millions -- may feel the earth shaking. The publisher just released cover art for the latest in the phenomenally successful series by Marylander Jeff Kinney -- born at Andrews Air Force base and a 1993 Maryland grad -- and the book is scheduled for an Oct. 12 release. The initial run: 3 million copies.

If you haven't heard about the series, here's a quick rewind: Kinney drew a cartoon strip featuring a character named Igdoof for the Diamondback, the student paper on the College Park campus. But he couldn't get a syndication deal after graduating, so after years of effort he started writing an online strip about the trials of middle schooler Greg Heffley, told in diary form. His work drew tens of millions of hits on Funbrain.com, and a book deal followed.

The first book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was released in 2007 and spent months atop the New York Times best-seller list for kids' chapter books. Two other books have followed, and #4, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days tells of Greg's summer vacation.

(One other fun note: The promotional tour for the book features a Wimpy Kid ice cream truck tour -- Baltimore County is one of the stops, on Aug. 22. We'll keep you posted on the details as it gets closer.)

Continue reading "New Diary of a Wimpy Kid book coming in October" »

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The Girls from Ames has been a fixture on best-seller lists, thanks to its theme of enduring friendship. We asked Jenny Litchman of Annapolis, one of the "girls," to tell us how the book has changed her life. To hear more, drop by the Barnes & Noble in Annapolis (2516 Solomon's Island Road), where she, author Jeff Zaslow and two other "girls" will hold a reading at 7:30 Thursday, July 16. Here's Jenny:

I am “Jenny from Ames,” the one who started this whole thing. When I wrote Jeff Zaslow an e-mail six years ago, commenting on a column he had just written, I had no idea that my best friends and I would become “characters” in a best-selling non-fiction book about women’s friendships. When my friends and I entered into this project with Jeff, we truly had no idea that anyone would want to read a book about 11 small-town girls from the Midwest. We really agreed to do it because we wanted a chronicle of our friendship for ourselves and our daughters.

I couldn’t imagine, before, that people would find us very interesting, since what has happened to us, individually and collectively, over the years happens to millions of people around the world every day. But I guess that’s exactly why people like it so much, because our stories are universal, and readers see themselves and their own friends in our pages.

I have been fortunate these last few months, since the book came out, to have been the recipient of lots of stories about other people’s friends. I can’t tell you how many times someone at work, for instance, has come into my office, closed my door, and told me how much they enjoyed reading our book and how much my friends remind me of their friends. They then will tell me about their current best friend(s), their oldest childhood friend(s), the best friend that they lost touch with, or their closest, dearest friend who died and left them so lonely for a best friend.

It has been my privilege to be the recipient of these stories and I’m so happy that this book has been the mechanism by which we women start a dialog about our friends and the role they play in our lives. Most people tell me that reading our book has made them either pull their own friends closer to them or it has inspired them to reconnect with friends with whom they had lost touch.

Continue reading "The Girls from Ames: guest post from Jenny" »

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Fred Trust grew up in the former Soviet republic of Azerbajian, but was no stranger to the story of the Wizard of Oz. He was captivated by the tale, and after coming to the U.S., became a collector of Oz books. The Owings Mills resident loaned about 50 of his books to the Geppi Entertainment Museum for its Wizard of Oz exhibit, which also includes games, dolls and toys; it runs through January. We asked Fred to tell us about his passion. Here's his guest post:

The Wizard of the Emerald City is one of the favorite children's book titles in the former Soviet Union. However, very few people are aware of its real author and origin. The Russian writer Alexander Volkov translated L. Frank Baum's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and also changed the names of most characters, removed some elements of Baum's novel, and added some new ones. The story was a favorite of mine as well as of many other children growing up in the former Soviet republics.

When my own children were born and I was looking for good children's books to read to them, I decided to find out if by any chance The Wizard of the Emerald City was translated from Russian to English. To my surprise I discovered that the book was initiated and originally published in this country in 1899! Although at the time I obtained an inexpensive replica of the book to read to my kids, I set myself a goal to obtain the earlier copy of the Wizard of Oz.

Through my research I quickly learned that obtaining the first edition of Wonderful Wizard of Oz would be a challenge since this title was selling for over $10,000 at that time. Diving deeply into

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Nouveau Baltimorean Larry Doyle will have his novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper, spread across the big screen when the movie adaptation opens nationwide Friday. Doyle, who moved to Baltimore four years ago, will also appear tonight in Baltimoored: Summer in the City, A Live Radio Show. Today in The Baltimore Sun, Michael Sragow profiled Doyle. An excerpt:

Larry Doyle's wife says he's funny only when he's talking to someone other than herself.

Luckily, he should be talking to hundreds of theatergoers at Center Stage Thursday for Stoop Storytelling, the popular stage series featuring Baltimoreans relating their own tales of Charm City.

Doyle, author of the Thurber Prize-winning novel I Love You, Beth Cooper [shown here accepting the award]... has also written the screenplay and served as an executive producer for the movie version of his novel, which opens nationwide Friday; the director is Chris Columbus, who made the first two Harry Potter pictures.

It should be a heady time even for a 50-year-old, formerly L.A.-based veteran who has won two Emmy awards and one Annie for his work on The Simpsons.

Continue reading "Author Larry Doyle on stage and screen" »

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Artists competing for this year's $25,000 Janet & Walker Sondheim Prize at Artscape have found artistic potential in dirt, recycled materials, barren parking lots and a polar bear’s heart rate, says Baltimore Sun reporter Tim Smith. One entry really caught my eye: Molly Springfield's reconsideration of Marcel Proust. Here's how Smith (who also writes the Clef Notes blog) describes it in a story about the six finalists:

Proust’s multivolume novel À la recherche du temps perdu — commonly known in English as Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time — is daunting enough to read. Consider what Springfield has done in a 28-drawing art work called “Translation.” The 31-year-old D.C.-based artist gathered copies of the existing English editions of the first book in the Proust series, Swann’s Way, and photocopied the first chapter of each one, two pages at a time.

“Then I put together my own translation,” Springfield says. Mixing the photocopies from the various editions, she painstakingly re-created those pages by hand in graphite, like a monk copying a book in the Middle Ages. Each distinctive typeface is captured; underlining or notes penciled in the margins by Springfield in any of the books used before the photocopying are, in turn, reproduced again in the final art work.

“I tried to create the actual experience of recollection, in the way the novel does,” the artist says. “Repetitions and omissions that happen from page to page parallel the experience of remembering.”

The winner of the Sondheim Prize will be named by a jury on July 11. The finalists' works are on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art now through Aug. 2

Baltimore Sun photo by Lloyd Fox

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There's a new children's book from the Michael Phelps/Alan Abrahamson team, whose No Limits chronicled the swimmer's record-shattering performance at the Beijing Olympics. Here's an excerpt from a review of How to Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, a book that Sun sports reporter Kevin Van Valkenburg approached  cynically:

"I wanted to make a bunch of jokes about a cartoon version of Phelps telling a cartoon Ms. California that everyone deserves the right to get married, and reminding kids that cell phone cameras will be confiscated every time he and his cartoon posse walk into a room. But the truth is - and maybe this is the result of having a kid of my own on the way - I kind of liked it. There isn't exactly a narrative there, and the inclusion of a Tyrannosaurus Rex makes very little sense, even in the illogical world of children's books. But it has a nice message and some cool illustrations by Ward Jenkins. ...

"The main lesson ... is that you need to work hard to achieve your dreams, but it's really a book about math. From 1998 to 2003, Phelps swam 60,000 meters a week, which amounts to 12,480 miles over six years. How does Phelps help kids understand how far that is? With a picture of him swimming to the North Pole and back, and then his coach telling him to do it again. And a picture of him swimming the length of the Great Wall of China three times.

Continue reading "New Michael Phelps book for kids" »

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Ever had brain freeze at a bookstore or library, totally blanking on the name of the book you were looking for? Well, a couple of days ago, my wife asked me to get her book club pick from the Towson library but as soon as I hit the door, my mind went blank. I tried jogging my memory with the best seller list -- nope.

I told a librarian what little I could recall: It was a novel by a popular female author. (That should narrow it down, eh?) She gave me a pleasant smile (God bless librarians for their patience) and escorted me to the new fiction shelves. She rattled off about a dozen popular female authors -- nothing. I told her, "My mind keeps coming back to Maeve Binchy, but I know it's not her." Another pleasant, patient smile. She had probably read our post about categorizing bookstore customers and was trying to decide whether I was an "idiot" or a "time-suck." After a few minutes, I surrendered and thanked her.

That evening, I humbled myself and asked my wife: "What were the names of that author and book again?" Yet another patient, pleasant smile. (I was pretty tired of those smiles by now.) The answer: Anita Shreve's Testimony. I was pretty close with Maeve Binchy, wasn't I?

Sun photo by Algerina Perna

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Now that the City Council has approved Mayor Sheila Dixon's 2009-10 budget, get ready for reduced services at the Enoch Pratt.

Beginning July 1, hours will be reduced across the Pratt system, with most libraries closing one day a week. the new schedule for the Central Library: Monday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday (October to May): 1 to 5 p.m.

These branches will close on Fridays: Hamilton, Herring Run and Light Street. Sunday hours will be eliminated at the Southeast Anchor Library. 

The changes, which resulted from a tight city budget, could also affect the Pratt's stellar programming. The library attracted standing-room crowds for Junot Diaz and Michael Pollan this year, and brought many other authors to Baltimore. Let's hope that can continue.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Good news for folks who are hungry for good food -- and a good read.

Baltimore Reads, a literacy group, is opening a book exchange at the farmer's market held each Sunday under the JFX. The organization will be there from 8 a.m. to noon, every Sunday through December 20. Shoppers can buy new and used books, or drop off donations. Proceeds benefit the organization's book bank.

I think it's a great way to raise awareness of the organization -- and raise money. In Portland. Ore., Powell's Books hosts monthly book signings at a  farmer's market -- an innovative way for an indy store to build business amid pressure from online booksellers and big box stores.

Full disclosure: The Baltimore Sun has a long relationship with Baltimore Reads, which gathers books from individuals, libraries, publishers and other sources, and distributes them to teachers, families, schools and other institutions. The organization's book bank is located in the Sun's Calvert Street building, and Read Street often donates children's books to the group.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Maybe you've never written a book, but that doesn't mean you can't make one. Our fellow bloggers over at B'more Green suggest trying the book-making classes at Tilt Studio’s gallery in Charles Village. The classes are held three Saturdays in June, and cover the art of paper making, bindings and paste papers. The price is $35 per class.

The schedule is June 13, paste papers; June 20, covers; and June 27, rebinding, including making old books into working journals. Get more details here or contact Jessica Pegorsch at jmp@tiltstudioinc.com.

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

Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, frequent Read Street poster Mary McCauley will take a look at Steve Luxenberg and his new book, Annie’s Ghosts. In a profile, she describes his "struggle to reconcile the competing parts of himself, to pay his familial duty to his mother while remaining true to the values of his [journalism] profession." In this review, she takes a look at the book itself:

Annie’s Ghosts is an exhaustively researched, often moving testimony to the ties that bind families together — including connections we aren’t even aware existed. The author, Steve Luxenberg, is an associate editor at The Washington Post who has supervised two Pulitzer Prize-winning projects. He brought more than three decades of investigative reporting experience to his quest for information about the crippled and institutionalized aunt he’d never met.

Annie Cohen was born with a leg that was bent and couldn’t be straightened out, and when she was a teenager, the limb was amputated. She appears to have been developmentally disabled, with an IQ that fluctuated between 56 and 73. As she grew older, she might also have become mentally ill; one issue the book raises is the precise nature of Annie’s impairment, when it developed and whether it worsened during her decades of confinement.

In 1940, Annie was sent to a Michigan psychiatric hospital one day shy of her 21st birthday. She remained institutionalized until her death in 1972 at age 53.

But the book is only partly an attempt to reconstruct Annie’s life and examine the social forces that shaped it. Luxenberg also explores why the author’s mother, a kind and charitable woman, engaged in a lifelong attempt to hide her sister’s existence. In the end, there was much that the journalist didn’t learn about his aunt — for instance, he never was able to turn up a photograph of Annie, if indeed, one existed. Readers with a yearning for the feeling of closure provided by fiction are likely to be frustrated by Annie’s Ghosts.

Continue reading "Review: Annie's Ghosts" »

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One of the duties of being a book blogger is bracing each day for the avalanche of pitches from publicists touting the next Da Vinci Code, Twilight or other runaway best-seller. Not that all publicists are a pain. On the contrary, I’ve found them to be very helpful arranging author interviews and guest posts, or financing my beach house. But every so often, an annoying letter or e-mail pitch surfaces, such as the recent one that noted — almost apologetically — that the first-time novelist was “a well-known author of statistics textbooks.”

Another publicist recently e-mailed, wondering why I had not yet reviewed a book she had sent. (It was nothing personal, but Read Street receives dozens of books each week, and I’m not drawn to this sort of blood-and-guts thriller.) Her e-mail said: “I realize that you may have read the book, but don’t have time to write a review so I’ve included some mock reviews below that you may find possibly fits how you feel about the book. Feel free to choose one if this helps.” Then she listed 10 plug-and-play blurbs, including phrases such as “Great page-turner,” “Couldn’t put it down," and “#1 Summer Read of 2009.”

Initially, I was incensed that the publicist thought I was not competent enough to write my own cliches. Then I realized that I was looking a gift horse in the mouth, and biting the hand that feeds me. (Which is very hard to do simultaneously.) Here was a way to be freed from the burden of creativity and high-pressure writing on deadline. So I turned back to her list of blurbs, which I had printed out. Unfortunately, they fell to the floor and were all mixed up. I tried to reconstruct them, but they got a bit garbled. Some, unfortunately, seem to read like the subject lines on emails from Nigerians who are seeking investors.

Here’s my best shot: “Don’t even think of page-turning anticipation!” ”Kept me up down.” “Filled with NY Times!” “Couldn’t put it near the water!”

Publicists should feel free to use them as needed.

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

If you missed William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn at the Pratt last night, here's an article about their talk, which hit topics such as at-risk students, U.S. foreign policy and Americans' conspicuous consumption.

The Ayers/Dohrn tour has been bumpy. Appearances at Boston College and other places have been called off because of the pair's past links to the radical Weather Underground (see hippie-era photo at left). Ayers and Dohrn, who have been university professors in recent years, were drawn back into the public eye when Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists," a barb aimed at a reported connection to Ayers.

Outside the Pratt last night, a small group protested the Ayers/Dohrn appearance, but the audience was appreciative. Both thanked the Pratt for the invitation to speak. "In a free republic, you have to have a free library," Dohrn said.

Photo from Chicago Tribune

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Today, Nancy and I celebrate our first blogiversary, so the cake's on us.

One year ago, Read Street started with a post that promised we would highlight "the social-ness of reading. Somewhere along the way, reading stopped being a solitary affair and became just the starting point for clubs, cocktail discussions and Oprah-esque media extravagance."

Now, 848 posts and 2,697 comments later, we can celebrate a year of blogging. Thanks to all who have read and commented. It's been fun getting to know our fellow book lovers.

p.s. Nancy tells me that the proper gift for a one-year blogiversary is diamonds. If anyone can verify that, let me know.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Diane Scharper, an author and English professor at Towson University, gives us capsule reviews of three books with a local flavor.

Kitchens, Smokehouses, and Privies by Michael Olmert (Cornell University Press / 277 pages / $27.95). Contrary to popular usage, outhouses are not synonymous with privies. As Olmert explains it in this lighthearted architectural history, outhouses or outbuildings include kitchens, smokehouses, dairies, dovecotes, offices, icehouses, and privies. A professor of English at the University of Maryland and an Emmy-Award-winning writer, Olmert enhances this account with gems of information from art, architecture etymology, history and literature. For starters, the term "outhouse" has been used since the 14th century, while the word "privy" originated in 1819. Privies are also called lavatories, necessary houses water closets, latrines and Cloacina temples (after the Roman goddess of sewers). Olmert’s fact-filled account liberally quotes Shakespeare, Hardy, Chaucer, Byron, Bacon, Pope and others as it describes buildings where one can cure meat, churn milk into cheese, house doves, write law briefs, chill foods and, of course, answer nature’s call. All of which this suggests that one can take a homely subject and make it, if not glamorous, at least entertaining.

The Glass House by Daniel Mark Epstein (Louisiana State University Press / 78 pages; paperback / $17.95). In his eighth collection of poetry, the prolific Baltimore author continues his tradition of formal verse (sonnets, blank verse and tercets) using slant rhyme and complex metaphors. Sometimes, as in the title poem, those metaphors take the form of a conceit — referencing a proverb with the poet spinning the adage to surprising effect. Better known for his award-winning biographies,  Epstein refers to himself as a "poet moonlighting biography." The best poem here,

Continue reading "Marylandia: On kitchens, poetry and moral codes" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

Congratulations to Charles W. Mitchell of Lutherville, whose Maryland Voices of the Civil War has won the Founders Award from the Museum of the Confederacy. The award is for excellence in the editing of primary source documents related to the Confederate period.

The museum said a panel of independent judges praised Mitchell’s book, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, as an "imaginative and even innovative" work and an "exceptional synthesis of a vast number of disparate sources into a narrative account of Maryland during the Civil War" a subject that is "overlooked and understudied."

Folks might not know that Mitchell comes from a mixed marriage: He has roots in the Confederacy, and his wife, Betsy, has ancestors who fought for the Union. Despite the Late Unpleasantness, they have had a long, happy marriage. (Full disclosure: My brother-in-law is related to the Mitchell family.) Here are some readings Mitchell recommended last year on Read Street.

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Categories: Marylandia
        

Thanks to all who tried our literary quiz about Baltimore Sun editors and reporters who have written books. As readers noted, there are many more than those in the quiz; we'll do a second edition at some point. And congrats to Linda Dousa, who wins a copy of The Nanticoke.

Here are the answers: 1. David Simon started his post-Sun career with Homicide. 2. Michael Sragow (pictured here) recently won the National Award for Arts Writing for a biography about Victor Fleming. 3. Many of Laura Lippman’s mysteries incorporate Baltimore landmarks. 4. Tom Horton and David Harp feature the Eastern Shore, most recently in The Nanticoke. 5. Ariel Sabar won a National Book Critics Circle award for My Father’s Paradise. 6. Dan Fesperman’s thrillers take place in war-torn areas. 7. H.L. Mencken was one of the nation’s greatest social critics. 8. John Eisenberg has examined sports from football to horse racing. 9. C. Fraser Smith has written about Maryland’s political history, most recently in Here Lies Jim Crow. 10. Stephen Hunters’s thrillers overflow with machismo; Point of Impact was made into the movie Shooter.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

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.

Continue reading "A literary quiz -- Baltimore Sun version" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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
        

Continue reading "The Haleys' "Roots" extend to Scotland" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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.

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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."  

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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
        

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
        

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
        

Anyone who views Johns Hopkins as a campus full of eyes-to-the-ground engineers and scientists should have been at Richard Wilbur's poetry reading last night (thanks to Brigitte Warner and RadarRedux.com for this video). More than 200 students packed a lecture hall to hear the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate speak on topics ranging from late-night television to the hopes and fears we hold for our children.

Delivering the Turnbull Poetry Lecture, Wilbur, 88, didn't speak much about the work of the poet, or the purpose of poetry. He did say that poetry should move beyond "lilies and swans" to describe our fears -- and thus help to tame them. And he noted that his poetry is not very introspective or self-engaging. Throughout the evening, he was witty and humble.

Reading often from Collected Poems 1943-2004, he showed an expansive yet almost effortless range. He began with several riddles translated from Latin, noting that that form of poetry was once -- before being relegated to the nursery -- regarded highly because it relied on metaphors connecting diverse ideas. Other poems arose from the simple rhythms of life on his Massachusetts farm; here is "Crow's Nest":

That lofty stand of trees beyond the field, / Which in the storms of summer stood revealed

As a great fleet of galleons bound our way / Across a moiled expanse of tossing hay,

Full-rigged and swift, and to the topmost sail / Taking their fill and pleasure of the gale,

Now, in this leafless time, are ships no more, / Though it would not be hard to take them for

A roadtead full of naked mast and spar / In which we see now where the crow's nests are.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Here are capsule reviews by Diane Scharper of two new books with a Maryland connection:

Lincoln’s Men: The President and His Private Secretaries by Daniel Mark Epstein (Collins / 262 pages / $26.99). John Hay, John Nicolay and William Stoddard planned to have a good time while serving as secretaries to President Abraham Lincoln. But, according to their letters and journals, good times were few. Potomac River malaria, depression, bilious fever, respiratory illnesses and the turmoil of the Civil War — to say nothing of the stress of working with the president as he tried to cope with a nation on the verge of collapse —made their lives difficult. Epstein, a nationally known Baltimore author and poet, tells the inside story of the three hot-blooded, idealistic young men who served Lincoln from his election to his death in 1865. Epstein quotes the three as they record their infatuations; their impressions of Lincoln’s personality; their feelings about Mrs. Lincoln, whom they called a "hellcat"; and their assurances that the skirmishes beginning in 1860 wouldn’t amount to much. Although Epstein’s reliance on quotes makes the narrative somewhat choppy, his vivid writing brings the subjects alive.

The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education by Craig Mullaney (Penguin / 386 pages / $28.95). A West Point graduate, Rhodes scholar, Army Ranger, combat veteran and Naval Academy professor, Mullaney grew up in a Roman Catholic family in Rhode Island. He became a soldier because he loved the ritual, symbolism and honor code of the Catholic Church — characteristics that he found in the military — and because of his father’s example of hard work. Then as Mullaney was deployed to Afghanistan, his father decided to ask for a divorce. That occasion became a pivotal moment in Mullaney’s life and in this memoir — suggesting that this account is not just about becoming a man (as in Rudyard Kipling’s poem) but also about learning to forgive. Beginning with Mullaney’s freshman year at West Point, the narrative moves from his youth when he considered joining the priesthood to his later realization that he had a killer instinct to his present, unfinished efforts to deal with his father’s abandonment. Mullaney’s harrowing and humorous details make the book not only a soldier’s story but also a richly human one.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "Best places to eat and read -- part 2" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiction: 2666 by Roberto Bolano.

Nonfiction: The Forever War by Dexter Filkins

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazon.com; Publishers Weekly

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

Buy books and do good -- not a bad deal. At Saturday's Random House Book Fair, you can get a 20 percent discount on popular books, and be happy in knowing that proceeds fund scholarships at Carroll Community College. Among the tiles available are: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ($14.95 less 20%); Team of Rivals ($21 minus the discount) and Into the Wild ($13.95 minus the discount).

The annual fair, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the college in Westminster, includes a silent auction and other events, too. You can meet authors including Dan Yaccarino, Leo Bretholz and Lisa Gardner, who wrote the New York Times best-seller Hide. And there are also lots of activities for kids, so you can browse in peace.

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Categories: Marylandia
        

March will be an exciting month for Baltimore-area book lovers. Jodi Picoult comes to town, and there’s a party marking Laura Lippman’s new book. First, let’s note some unsung heroes -- illustrators who are crucial to setting the mood for a story, but usually live in the authors' shadow. Starting this week, you can celebrate the work of great illustrators who made you smile as a kid (and who probably made your own kids smile, too).

Tomorrow, the Enoch Pratt’s Central Library opens Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books. The show, which runs through May 9, features 60 original illustrations from Little Golden Books. Included is one of my favorites: Gustaf Tenggren’s The Poky Little Puppy. An opening reception will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Poe Room; it’s free to the public. Information: 410-396-5430.

On Thursday, take a look at JT Waldman’s reinterpretation of the biblical story of Esther in a contemporary form: the graphic novel. The original drawings for his book, Megillat Esther, are featured in a new exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Maryland. The show will be open during the museum’s Purim party from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday; Waldman will be there, too. The public opening is next Sunday, March 8. Information: 410-732-6400.

As for authors, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Tavis Smiley will speak in a town hall format at the Pratt’s Central Library about his book, Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise.

On March 10, Jodi Picoult will hold a discussion and book signing at Digital Harbor High School, 1100 Covington Street, starting at 7 p.m. Information: 410-385-1709.

That same night, at 7 p.m. at Pratt’s Central Library, local author Laura Lippman will launch her new book, Life Sentences. It’s billed as a mystery involving a woman accused of killing her infant son.

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On the Same Page, a community reading program with a Jewish theme, has picked My Father's Paradise by Ariel Sabar as its 2009 book. The program of the Center for Jewish Education, includes group discussions, a related film presentation and a May 7 reading by Sabar, who is a former Baltimore Sun reporter. 

Sabar writes about his father, Yona, who grew up in a mud hut in Iraq, fled to Israel with thousands of other Iraqi Jews, and wound up as a professor of Aramaic at UCLA. The book also touches on the sometimes strained relationship between father and son.

I really liked the book, as did my book club.  It's an interesting look at the life of Iraqi Jews, the exodus to a not-so-welcoming Israel, and Yona's further travels to America. Sabar also was unflinching in describing his relationship with his father. 

Readers who register online or at 410-735-5000 will receive a half-price coupon for the book and a chance to have dinner with Sabar on the night of his reading.

Continue reading "On the Same Page, a Jewish-themed reading program" »

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Last Monday, we noted that James McBride's Song Yet Sung was picked for the 2009 One Maryland One Book program. The selection came after about a dozen people (including librarians, academics and me) met at the Maryland Humanities Council on a January day to debate 10 books, including The Namesake, The Kite Runner and Digging to America.

To meet One Book's goals, the book had to address race and identity, appeal to readers from different backgrounds, and connect to high schoolers. Other considerations: Was the author alive? From Maryland? Willing to participate in the program? The three finalists also included The Color of Water by McBride, and Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama.

The One Book program drew more than 6,500 Marylanders to discussions, films and writing contests in 2008. This year's program begins in earnest in September, focusing on Song Yet Sung's tale of Maryland Eastern Shore slave traders, runaways and a prophet who foresees the racial challenges of modern America.  

On a more irreverent note, I think we should suggest books for other programs.

For example, residents of Phoenix, Ariz., read To Kill a Mockingbird a couple of years ago. My pick for the city: Hot, Flat and Crowded.

Honolulu residents read The Joy Luck Club; why not Outliers? 

What are your suggestions for other states and cities? Leave a comment; the best one wins a book.

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Fellow blogger Jen Vido, from Harford County, has an interview with Suzanne Brockmann, who writes the Troubleshooter, Inc. series. The author, whose latest is Dark of Night, describes her writing process, research and characters.

An excerpt from the interview: "[I]t can take anywhere from four to six months to write a book. Some come easy; some are like hitting myself in the head with a hammer. I've written nearly fifty books since June 1992, and I try very hard to make each book fresh and different and new. That's pretty challenging."

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Categories: Marylandia
        

The pick for this fall's One Maryland One Book program is James McBride's Song Yet Sung, a story about runaway slaves on the Eastern Shore -- and a dreamer who foresees the racial challenges of modern America. The program, begun in 2008, is designed to spark a conversation on race, culture and other issues through forums in schools and communities across Maryland.

I was on the committee that helped choose the book, and I relayed the comments of Read Streeters about books under consideration. From dozens of possibilities, we made a short list of three: The Color of Water and Song Yet Sung by McBride, and Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama. Any one  would have been a fine choice, but McBride's availability to participate in OMOB was a big plus. (I hear Obama is working on other things.) And though The Color of Water may touch on a broader range of issues, many Marylanders have already read it.

If you participated in the Maryland Humanities Council's OMOB last year, let us know -- especially if you have suggestions for the program. The 2009 forums will be held in September and October; we'll be looking for ways Read Street can participate, too. Here are reviews of Song Yet Sung from the New York Times, The Lit Life blog and O, the Oprah magazine. And you can meet McBride Saturday, when he is a featured speaker at the Enoch Pratt's annual Booklovers' Breakfast.  

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Turning Points, the new issue of the Little Patuxent Review is out, and the writers represented include Manil Suri, Daniel Mark Epstein, Rafael Alvarez and Rosemary Klein. There is also beautiful artwork from Linda Press, whose View from the Hotel l'Odean is shown here, and Henry Niese.

You can buy the review at Daedalus Books, Howard County Poetry & Literary Society events and office, Howard Community College, Howard County Art Center in Ellicott City, Columbia Art Center, Howard County Office of Tourism and the Unitarian Church in Columbia book store. 

Or contact Mike Clark at clarkmj1@verizon.net or 410730-7624. A subscription for two issues yearly, including postage and handling, is $30. Individual copies cost $10 plus tax.

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In Sunday's Sun, get a review of Michael Davis' Street Gang, The Complete History of Sesame Street. Here are excerpts from Diane Scharper's review: As Davis, a former editor for TV Guide and The Baltimore Sun, tells it, this program changed the course of not only children’s television programming but also of social and cultural history.

Davis, who spent five years interviewing nearly everyone connected to Sesame Street, focuses primarily on the show’s founding and early years. He looks carefully at how the show got its start; how it was influenced by other early children’s television programs like Captain Kangeroo, The Howdy Doody Show and Ding Dong School; and how its founders laid out its guiding eclectic philosophy.

Joan Cooney, a little-known television producer ... wondered whether underprivileged preschool kids could learn numbers, the alphabet and concepts like over, around, under and through by using a jingle. Soon Cooney, with money from the Carnegie Corp., conducted a study of children’s television, which found that television could use its expertise, especially with regard to frequent repetition, clever visual presentation, brevity and clarity, to teach children the basics. ...

Cooney also set the precedent of including an integrated cast of real-life characters: Hispanic, black and Asian actors, senior citizens and the disabled — men, women and children.

Continue reading "Review: Michael Davis' Sesame Street" »

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Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, Towson University professor Diane Scharper offers capsule reviews of several books of local interest. Excerpts from her reviews:

Now the Drum of War By Robert Roper (Walker & Co. / 421 pages / $28). Walt Whitman (1819-1892), author of Leaves of Grass and the father of American poetry, came from a large, close-knit family. Poor and prone to strokes, heart disease and mental illness, the Whitmans were nevertheless tenacious, talented and smart. Roper, a Johns Hopkins University professor, looks at Whitman and his relationship with his family primarily during the Civil War. In a style reminiscent of Ken Burns, Roper focuses on Walt, his doting mother and his younger brothers, Jeff, a water engineer, and George, a Union soldier. When their father died of a stroke in 1855, the three took over the task of providing for their mother and siblings. Roper argues that Walt learned his poetic craft from his work as a reporter for various newspapers as well as from correspondence between himself and George, who wrote with an eye for details.

The Colts’ Baltimore By Michael Olesker (The Johns Hopkins University Press / 240 pages / $24.95). Although Olesker’s latest originates from his Sun column mourning the 2002 passing of Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, this book reads more like a love poem than a funeral dirge. ... The text brims with details from the past with local landmarks like Carlins Park, Memorial Stadium, Read’s Drug Stores and Seton High School, as well as cultural and sociological touchstones like The Buddy Deane Show and signs saying White Only.

Historic Photos of Baltimore By Mark Walston (Turner Publishing Co. / 206 pages / $39.95). Photography is a mirror with a memory. That’s how Mark Walston sees it in this exquisite book of photographs and short essays. Offering both a history of photography and of Baltimore, Walston evokes Baltimore’s rich past from Fells Point, which was once the nation’s second-busiest immigration port — just after Ellis Island — to its tailor shops, which rivaled those of New York City. He also illustrates Baltimore’s unique position as a blue-collar town holding white-collar aspirations.

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With Barack Obama scheduled to ride a train to Baltimore for a pre-inauguration stop tomorrow afternoon, history buffs are recounting a similar trip by another famous Illinois politician: Abe Lincoln.

In early 1861, Lincoln’s trip was much rockier. Detectives found evidence of a plot to sabotage his train on the way to Baltimore or assassinate him as he transferred from one downtown station to another.

The tale is recounted in Michael J. Kline's The Baltimore Plot. To foil the plotters and avoid angry secessionist mobs, Lincoln was disguised, and he slipped through Baltimore in the middle of the night. But he was soon ridiculed for cowardice by the press, which noted that no conspirators were ever charged. The Sun said, "Had we any respect for Mr. Lincoln ... the final escapade by which he reached the capital would have utterly demolished it, and overwhelmed us with mortification." 

You can hear an interview with Kline on WYPR's Maryland Morning show; just scroll down to the Tuesday, Jan. 13, show.

I'm betting Obama gets a warmer welcome -- from Baltimoreans and Sun editorials -- tomorrow.

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A new study of the nation's "most literate cities" ranks Baltimore #16 for 2008, well behind co-leaders Minneapolis and Seattle. That's not bad, considering the same survey ranked Baltimore 27th in 2007.

The survey, conducted by John W. Miller, the president of Central Connecticut State University, measures six broad factors that reflect literacy. They are: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.

I'm surprised that Baltimore jumped so much in the rankings. But Read Street readers deserve at least partial credit. The measurement of Internet resources includes per capita web page views for the major newspaper, and because Read Street launched last May, your readership  helped boost the city's score.

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Mo Willems, whose latest book is Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, was in town yesterday for a visit to Park School. His appearance was part of the school's Gordon Berman '68 Lower School Resident Author program. The 25-year-old progam has hosted Newbery medalists Jean Craighead George and Nancy Willard, and Caldecott winners Mordicai Gerstein, Molly Bang and David Wisniewski.

Each year, authors and illustrators of children's books come to Park for presentations and workshops with Lower School students. The fund was created by Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Berman to honor their son Gordon, who loved to read.

Congratulations to Park and the Bermans, for creating and maintaining a great program that encourages reading!

Photo courtesy of Park School

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Worried about the cold weather and security hassles that await in Washingtion for Barack Obama's inauguration? Here's an alternative: Watch the historic event in the Enoch Pratt's beautiful Main Hall.

Starting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, the library will host a simulcast on a 10-by-10 screen in the central branch on Cathedral Street. Broadcasts will also be available in many Pratt branches.

For details, check out the Pratt Web site, which also features a page dedicated to the new president. The page includes Web sites and other resources on Obama, as well as recommended reading (this is a library, after all).

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College and pro post-season football games have put a crimp in my reading time. (I love the commercial that asks a guy: How can you spend nine hours watching football in a weekend? Answer: Skip one of the four games!) I'm not that bad, but I have become better acquainted with my recliner lately.

To honor the Ravens' push for the Super Bowl, I re-read the Sun interviews that asked players to name one book they'd want if stranded on a island. The best response was from Mark Clayton (pictured), he wanted a suspense novel so he could create his own endings with each re-reading. Others were more literal:

Lorenzo Neal and Jason Brown: The Bible

Todd Heap: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Brendon Ayanbadejo: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Willie Anderson: Think Big, Act Small by Jason Jennings

Continue reading "Baltimore Ravens' favorite books" »

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Before 2008 ends, here's one more Top 10 list from fellow blogger Jennifer Vido, who lives in Harford County and is vice-chairperson of the county library board. Jen reviews books for major publishing houses, has a monthly column called Jen's Jewels and a web site that offers monthly book give-away contests. She's also an advocate for those like herself who suffer from arthritis, and hosts an annual fundraiser to battle the disease. This year's event, on Feb. 20, features Louis Bayard, author of The Black Tower. For details, contact her at jensjewels@gmail.com. Her Top 10:

1. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

2. Sweetsmoke by David Fuller

3. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

4. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

5. Souvenir by Therese Fowler

Continue reading "More 2008 best books" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

The Maryland Humanities Council is preparing for the second One Maryland One Book program, which is designed to get folks across the state reading the same book and discussing civil rights, multi-culturalism and related issues.

The book for 2008 was Ron Suskind’s A Hope in the Unseen, a non-fiction account of a Washington, D.C., teen who wants to get a good education and break out of tough neighborhood. During the fall, the council sponsored discussions at schools and libraries across Maryland – sort of a statewide book club.

Now the council is in the process of choosing the 2009 book from a list of 10. I’m part of the group that will help make the selection, and for my "homework" I’ll read The Color of Water by James McBride and deliver a short presentation. Others under consideration are: Song Yet Sung by McBride; The Reappearance of Sam Webber by Jonathon Scott Fuqua; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; Gifted Hands by Ben Carson; The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini; Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat; The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri; Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama; and Digging to America by Anne Tyler.

That’s a strong list; it will be tough to pick just one book. So, I thought I’d throw it open to a broader audience for comment. Let me know what you thought of The Color of Water or any of the others listed.

The council wants a book that will appeal to high school students as well as adults, and will spark discussions about "race, identity, civil rights or multicultural experiences in Maryland and America." To weigh in, just post a comment.

I’ll share your thoughts with the selection committee when we meet in early January. And I’ll keep you posted as the field is narrowed and the 2009 program takes shape.

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Categories: Marylandia
        

In The 21st Century Cowboy, Maryland-based photographer Nadine VerStandig gives us a look at the changing lifestyle of an American icon. Pictured here is "Secrets on the Fence," one of many beautiful photos in her book.

The Urban Hermit by Sam MacDonald is the comic tale of a Baltimore man's year-long attempt to get his life back in order. As a "big, fat bastard" with financial problems, MacDonald creates the Urban Hermit Plan -- a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day -- to change his life.  

Fruits of Victory by Baltimorean Elaine F. Weiss highlights the Woman's Land Army of America, which took over the farm work for men who had gone off to World War I. The "farmerettes" served in Pikesville, Fallston and communities across the country, plowing, planting and harvesting to help the war effort. Sort of a rural version of World War II's Rosie the Riveter.

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This Sunday in The Baltimore Sun, read Diane Scharper's review of Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master. The book is by Sun flim critic Michael Sragow, who described it in this Read Street interview; he'll also be the guest on the WYPR's Midday show Monday at noon. Here's an excerpt from the review:

In filmmaking as in any art, God is in the details. If that’s not the point of Michael Sragow’s definitive biography of Victor Fleming (1889-1949), it’s one of them. Another is that Fleming, a great though mostly forgotten film director, was a detail man — par excellence.

Take the scene in which Clark Gable cried in Gone with the Wind, one of Fleming’s hits. Gable rebelled when Fleming directed him to cry. Believing that the movie needed "this cathartic revelation," Fleming tried various means of persuasion, some nice and others — such as getting Gable drunk, cussing him out and insulting him — not so nice. Although there are discrepancies as to what transpired, in the end Fleming won. Gable cried. Gone With the Wind garnered several Academy Awards — including one for Gable as best actor and one for Fleming as best director.

While almost everybody recognizes the name Clark Gable and remembers his masterful performance in GWTW, very few know Fleming, the director responsible for Gable’s triumph and the movie’s fame. ... That’s wrong, according to Sragow, who believes that Fleming was one of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers.

Continue reading "Sunday in The Sun: Michael Sragow on Victor Fleming" »

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Thanks to all who played our latest quiz on Baltimore-area authors. For those who were stumped, here are the answers:

1. A frequent heroine in Laura Lippman novels is former reporter (and Lippman alter-ego?) Tess Monaghan, whose greyhound is named Esskay.

2. Russell Baker worked at The Sun before becoming a commentator for The New York Times. His wonderul memoir about Baltimore is called Growing Up.

3. Anne Tyler, whose novels include The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe and Digging to America, often chronicles the love and conflict of family life.

4. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, became famous for a lecture that brimmed with hope even though he would soon die of cancer. It became The Last Lecture.

5. Tom Clancy, often credited with creating the techno-thriller, has had a string of hits including The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games.

Continue reading "Baltimore literary quiz answers" »

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Here's a quick look at answers from our quiz; we'll post a more detailed look at the writers on Sunday morning. Thanks again to Read Streeters Rick Connor and Sally Lemmon for suggesting a more contemporary quiz to follow our first versions, found here and here.

1. Laura Lippman, 2. Russell Baker, 3. Anne Tyler

4. Randy Pausch,  5. Tom Clancy, 6. Leon Uris

7. Taylor Branch, 8. David Simon, 9. Michael Chabon, 10. John Waters

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America's Game by Michael MacCambridge (Random House / $27.95 / 458 pages), decribes the rise of pro football in America, from its days as a small-time sport to the present era of Super Bowl spectaculars, It's not strictly a book about Maryland, but how can you resist a cover that has Johnny U. with his arm cocked on a pass?

The War Behind Me by Deborah Nelson (Basic Books / $26.95 / 187 pages) looks at an archive of Vietnam-era war crimes, declassified Army papers that were erroneously released and have since been pulled from public circulation. Nelson, a Pulitzer Prize–winner who is a visiting professor at the University of Maryland College of Journalism, talks with many of those who were involved, both accusers and accused.

Flightless Goose by Eric and Nataliya Goodman (Writer's Lair Books / $15.95), is a picture book about a goose that must learn to tolerate teasing and the challenges of being different.  He is even left behind as the geese fly south for the winter.  In the end, the flightless goose develops a talent no other goose has.

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Last week, I noted that King biographer Taylor Branch had joined two former college bandmates on a CD, "The Blue Album" (click here for audio). It's a double-tribute, paying homage to the Beatles and the trio's alma mater, the University of North Carolina. Branch (Class of '68) called to chat about the album, so here's a bit more about his music.

At UNC, the group was called The Zookeepers -- with Branch on rhythm guitar -- and featured songs from the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Young Rascals. That departed from typical frat party fare, which leaned to Motown and a brassy sound.

About five years ago, the trio was asked to play at a UNC reunion, and rocked on for hours -- "almost killing ourselves," he says. A return engagement was strictly acoustic, a concession to aging eardrums. Still, the beer-drinking crowd was rowdy, so the group moved from stage to studio. "We enjoyed the reunion, but we didn't enjoy the audience," he says.

Continue reading "Rockin' with Taylor Branch" »

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After our last quiz about Baltimore’s literary heritage, readers Rick Connor and Sally Lemmon suggested creating a more contemporary version. So here it is, with one caveat: Some questions stray from Baltimore but stay with the state’s border.

1. This author’s heroine, often accompanied by a pet greyhound, is an expert at solving the city’s mysteries. After naming the author, get bonus points for naming the heroine and greyhound.

2. He got his start at The Sun, became a well-known commentator for The New York Times, and wrote a touching memoir about growing up here.

3. This prolific Baltimore author is a master at capturing the essence and eternal conflict of family life, through charming, quirky characters – and there’s nothing accidental about her skill.

4. Born in Baltimore, he became a respected computer scientist in academia. He jumped onto best -eller lists with a final lecture that brimmed with hope even though he was battling cancer.

5. Many credit this former insurance agent with creating the techno-thriller, and his politically charged stories ably blend real-life details about weaponry with compelling fictional characters.

Continue reading "So you know Baltimore's writers -- Part 2" »

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For a bit of fun and nostalgia today, watch this Publishers Weekly video of Steve Geppi, discussing his love of comic. An excerpt: "When I was a little boy I read comic books, but like most kids I got out of it. Life said, "You're too old," so it seemed. And then I rediscovered my childhood passion when I was about 22 yeras old and I was working at the post office. My nephew was reading a comic book one day on a vacation and I got a nostalgic flashback, and the next thing, I was hunting for comics."

Many treasures from his collection are housed in Geppi's Entertainment Museum in the former Camden Station. The museum, which opened in 2006, offers thousands of pop culture artifacts, including comics, toys and other collectibles.

Photo courtesy of Geppi's Entertainment Museum

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

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

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

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

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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The wait is nearly over for Michael Phelps fans who want an inside look at his incredible Olympics. His new book, No Limits: The Will to Succeed, will be released Dec. 9.

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

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

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

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

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

(Photo by forwardcom at stock.xchng)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "Complete quiz answers" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

Continue reading "Coming Sunday in The Sun: Emily Post" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Categories: Marylandia
        

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "So you know Baltimore's writers -- Part 2" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

Kathleen Waters Sander's new book, Mary Elizabeth Garrett: Society and Philanthropy in the Gilded Age, describes a Baltimore railroad heiress who pushed "to advance her vision for women’s education and to enhance the role of women within society through the cofounding of The Bryn Mawr School, the establishing of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the transformation of Bryn Mawr College ... ." Sander holds a doctorate in American studies from the University of Maryland.

Andrew Porter, who has taught writing at Johns Hopkins, Goucher and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in recent years, has won the Flannery O'Connor Award in short fiction for The Theory of Light and Matter. Porter, who now teaches at Trinity University, will be back for a reading at UMBC on Wednesday (details in the Read Street calendar).

A Little Breast Music is a chapbook of poems by Shirley J. Brewer, who studied creative writing after a career as a speech therapist. It's published by the University of Baltimore's Passager Books, which promotes the works of older writers.

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

Earlier this week, I visited the Baltimore Chop bookstore (a baseball-lovers dream, it even had Dice-K tshirts) for a meeting of the Maryland Writers Association. The Baltimore chapter invited ma and Heather Johnson, a local book blogger, to talk about the changing landscape of book reviews.

As papers across the country cut staff and page counts, book coverage has suffered. Several book editors have taken buyouts, and have not been replaced by full-timer editors. A few papers have developed an online presence like Read Street. But in most cases, independent bloggers have taken up the slack.

There are tons of bloggers out there, but not all book lovers read them. Is it because it's so hard to figure out which one(s) to follow? Or do folks still prefer "professional" reviews in major newspapers, journals and magazines? Are the preferences of you and your friends changing?

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Marylandia
        

I was impressed by the answers posted to Monday's quiz. Way to go, Darlene, Eileen and Auntie Knickers! With the exception of some spelling mistakes -- a double "s" in Douglass, folks --commenters knew their writers. I enjoyed it so much that we'll do a longer Part 2 on Sunday. The answers:

1. Edgar Allan Poe used Dupin in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Purloined Letter" and "The Mystery of Marie Roget."

2. Francis Scott Key, whose poem became "The Star-Spangled Banner," and relative Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

3. Frederick Douglass

4. Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

5. James M. Cain, who wrote The Postman Alawys Rings Twice.

6. Emily Post 

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

Discussing Edgar Allan Poe made me curious about Baltimore's literary history. With thanks to the Baltimore Literary Heritage Project, here are questions to test your knowledge. Keep score at home or respond in a comment. (We'll provide answers Wednesday and will randomly pick comments for a book giveaway. You don't have to score 100% to win.)

1. He is acknowledged as the creator of the detective story, thanks to stories about an amateur sleuth named C. Auguste Dupin. His name is recalled when Baltimore's pro football team plays.

2. His most famous work is a war-time poem originally called "Defence of Fort McHenry". He also had famous literary great-grandnephew (name him for bonus points).

3. Born into slavery, he learned to read in Baltimore. Once free, his writings and his North Star newspaper helped stoke the abolitionist movement.

4. She came to Baltimore as a maid, and lied about her age to attend high school here. Schooling exposed her intellect and she developed an anthropologist's love of folklore, becoming a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance.

5. He said his major literary influence was a bricklayer named Ike, and his hard-boiled mysteries became movie classics, with stars including Lana Turner, Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford. 

6. Born in Baltimore, she must have learned her manners here. They served her well, as she became American's leading authority for decades on do's and don't's.   

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Marylandia
        

The noir master (and father of the detective story) was born in Boston on Jan. 19, 1809, and first came to Baltimore in 1829 to live with relatives, according to a timeline of the local Poe House and Museum. After a stint at West Point, N.Y., he returned here and lived on Amity Street in West Baltimore with his widowed aunt and other relatives. Poe wrote a number of short stories here, before moving on to Richmond, Va., and Philadelphia. He died in Baltimore in 1849.

Philadelphia blogger Edward Pettit has been clamoring to have Poe’s body disinterred from the Westminster Burying Ground and hauled north. He even had the gall to make that claim at a Bouchercon panel about Poe. The audience was unmoved. (See for yourself on a video posted on Read Street tomorrow.)

We all know Pettit’s argument is absurd. Poe belongs to Baltimore, where his memory is respected. Our pro football team is the Ravens; theirs is the Eagles. Our Sheraton hotel has a Poe Room; Philly’s has Salon 1. We’ve even named public housing — the Poe Homes — after him. And his passing is honored each year with graveside roses and cognac. In Philly, he might get a cheesesteak and some Yuengling. At best.

Continue reading "Edgar Allan Poe's big birthday" »

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Categories: Edgar Allan Poe, Marylandia
        

"Barth (winner of the National Book, the PEN/Malamud and the Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement awards) sets these narratives in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay country in the fictional retirement community of Heron Bay. Calling the book a projected history, Barth describes the Eastern Shore in James Michener-like detail in each one of these tales.

"So it’s nearly impossible not to know the setting of Barth’s fictional landscape. But it’s harder to know what’s happening, who’s talking and what’s the point. Barth offers alternate endings and even alternate narrators who jump into and out of the story. He plays games with the elements of fiction, establishing and destroying the illusion of reality.

"Welcome to the world of postmodern metafiction, with its subject being the art of telling a story — not the characters or what they do, not even the setting."

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Here are some new books by local authors:

In Delicious Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, Baltimorean Konya I. Lindsey offers standard recipes such as deep-dish apple pie and more unconventional choices such as Limoncello bars. Lindsey is the owner of SugarPlum Confections, a dessert caterer. (Xlibris/$32.99 (soft), $42.99 (hard)/96 pages)

In The Gwynns Falls: Baltimore Greenway to the Chesapeake Bay, W. Edward Orser provide a cultural history of the linear park, exploring such topics as industrialization and integration. Orser, the principal author, is a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. (History Press/$21.99/160 pages)

The Secret of St. Nicholas by Ellen Nibali, is a picture book that tells the tale of an orphan, Nicholas, who tries to save three girls from slavery. Nibali is a horticultural consultant for the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service; she also writes a weekly gardening column for The Baltimore Sun. (Fairland/$16.95/32 pages)

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia
        

Forbes.com has published a Top 10 list of the highest paid authors, and it's no surprise who's sitting on top. J.K. Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter novels, earned $300 million from June 1, 2007 to June 1 of this year. More than 375 million Potter books have been sold worldwide, according to Forbes, which notes that the movie franchise has generated $4.5 billion worldwide -- with three more flicks to come.

James Patterson placed a distant second on the list, earning $50 million during the 12-month period. Among the other leaders were Stephen King ($45 million), Marylander Tom Clancy ($35 million) and Danielle Steel ($30 million). Futher down the list are Nicholas Sparks, Janet Evanovich, John Grisham, Dean Koontz and Ken Follett.

I recommend that all parents print the list, tape it to the refrigerator and point Junior to it next time he wants to watch TV. 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marylandia, Whatever
        

Here's a look at some of the latest books by local authors or with a Maryland theme:

Janet Horn, a Baltimore doctor and former faculty member at Johns Hopkins' med school, is co-author of The Smart Woman's Guide to Staying Healthy After 50. It deals with topics ranging from fitness and nutrition to cancer. (New Harbinger/$19.95/280 pages)

Notes on Democracy by H.L. Mencken, is a reissue of The Great One's classic. Among his cutting observations are our "tendency to crowd competent and self-respecting men out of the public service" and democracy's "parade of obvious imbecilities." (Dissident Books/$14.95/204 pages)

Giraffes in the Savannah is a children's book described as a "fairy tale about harmony in nature" by Gopal Dorai, who has worked as an adjunct professor in economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. (American Literary Press/$15.95/22 pages)  

House of Good Hope by Michael Downs, an assistant professor of English at Towson University, is part memoir and part narrative. The book follows a group of teenagers in a troubled section of Hartford, Conn., and includes Downs' own thoughts on living in the city. The book was a finalist for the 2008 Connecticut Book Award in the biography/memoir category. (Bison Books/$19.95/326 pages) 

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

jmww, the Baltimore-based online literary journal, has just released its fall edition. 

You'll find poetry, stories and the "hell boxes" of featured artist Rachel Bradley, a Towson University alum who lives in Brooklyn. There's also criticism, including a review of Dear Everybody by local author Michael Kimball (for the Read Street interview click click here) and Christine Stewart's discussion of her favorite poets of the moment.

jmww may be ahead of its time. The University of Manchester just started an online-only journal called The Manchester Review. Edition #1 includes poetry, essays and the opening chapter from Man Booker winner John Banville's upcoming novel, The Sinking City. The semi-annual review is published by the university's Centre for New Writing, home to professor Martin Amis.  

Is this the future for journals, which are often pressed for cash? Just as e-books are nibbling away at book sales, will online journals wipe out their paper counterparts? Or do you prefer the traditional version?

Continue reading "jmww's fall edition" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

Continue reading "Latest from Laura Lippman" »

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One Book for Greater Hartford's pick for 2008 is The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri, the University of Maryland Baltimore County math professor who has carved out a second career as novelist. OBGH, which recently kicked off its seventh year, features contemporary fiction with cross-cultural ties.

"Each year’s selection has taken us far away, where, by learning about a different culture, we discover more about our own," the program states, adding that Suri's book "takes us to Bombay. We meet the residents of an apartment building who live side-by-side and one on top of the other, but share few social customs, religious practices, or living habits."

Suri is in good company -- previous OBGH choices include Reading Lolita in Tehran and The Color of Water. In case anyone thinks success has gone to Suri's head, watch this funny video, 

Photo by Elizabeth Malby, The Baltimore Sun

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Here's a look at some new Maryland-related books.

-- Laura Lippman's collection of short stories, Hardly Knew Her, will be out in a couple of weeks. You may have read some of the stories in "noir" publications, but her collection of the twisted and criminal includes a new novella, "Scratch a Woman." (Morrow/292 pages/$23.95)

-- Two Brothers, by David H. Jones, recounts the tale of Baltimore's Prentiss family, torn apart by the Civil War. The novel, navigated by Walt Whitman, traces the brothers' bloody paths as they fight for opposing armies and wind up together in a Washington hospital. (Staghorn/316 pages)

-- New Lines from the Old Line State, an anthology of the Maryland Writers Association, offers essays, poems and short stories. Contributors include Liz Moser, Lalita Noronha and Laura Shovan. The book is available for 15% off at the MWA website, (MWA Books/217 pages/$15.95)

Continue reading "Marylandia: Laura Lippman and more" »

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Categories: Marylandia
        

Baltimore author Michael Kimball's third novel, Dear Everybody, is a collection of letters, diary entries, lists, news articles and other snippets that document the sad life and tragic end of a TV weatherman. Kimball, 41, grew up in Michigan and lived in New York City before moving here about three years ago with his wife, who teaches literature at the University of Maryland, College Park. They live in Charles Village. We asked him about his book and writing.

How Dear Everybody was born: I had just finished a novel and had written one letter -- it's about apologizng for standing someone up on a date and wondering whether life would have turned out different if the date had happened. Over a week or 10-day period, I wrote about 100 letters. Then I did it again, and I had over 200 letters. Then I wrote the intro and the last will and testament.

On outlines: I try not to have a planned outline. I try not to know how something’s going to end.

On writing in snippets: I was trying to make each fragment its own finished piece. But I needed the readers, and wanted the readers, to supply certain things. I showed a few pages to a friend who writes here in Baltimore and he said, "You can’t do this."

Continue reading "Meet the Author: Michael Kimball" »

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Here's a look at several new books with a Maryland connection -- either from local authors or with a local theme.

Dear Everybody, by Michael Kimball (Alma Books). In unsent letters, diary entries and other snippets, the Baltimore novelist recreates the life of Jonathon Bender, a Missouri weather forecaster who came to a sad end.

Buddy System (Oxford University Press). Geoffrey L. Grief. a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, explores the world of male friendships, and breaks them into categories ranging from "must friends" to "rust friends". 

Becoming Billie Holiday, by Carole Boston Weatherford (Wordsong). In this children's book, poems from the singer's fictional memoir, combined with illustrations by Floyd Cooper, chronicle the rise of an American icon. (October release)

Continue reading "New releases -- Marylandia" »

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Categories: Marylandia