Over on the Guardian's culture blog, Charlotte Higgins askes her readers: What is the best British novel since the war? Even before I considered possible answers, I was struck by the question itself -- one that would seem sillly in American. The war? Which war? The Brits' reference point remains World War II -- understandably, considering that Londoners faced annihilation from Hitler. But here, we've been through so many wars, semi-wars and police actions that some lose their punch as cultural touchstones. Consider Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, not to mention the various actions in Africa and around the globe.

Great books have been born from all that human loss. In Vietnam, Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," was truly memorable; so was "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young," by Lt Gen Harold G Moore and Joseph L Galloway. In Africa, I'd pick "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden. I don't know that the definitive novel on Kuwait, Iraq and Ahghanistan has been written yet, but I'm open to suggestions.

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "Haiti's earthquake: recommended reading" »

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With summer upon us, it’s time to start assembling a list of the Best Dirty Books. Not that kind of dirty. I mean books meant to be read outdoors because they carry a whiff of salt spray or the grit of sand. For me, they’re the perfect read for a summer vacation. Here are a few classics that meet the standard. If you have other recommendations, let me know.

Dune. Frank Herbert’s science fiction tale, which started a trilogy and led to several lesser works by other authors, takes place on a planet covered by sand. Makes O.C. seem like a sandbox.

In a Sunburned Country. Bill Bryson, one of my favorite comic authors, describes in hilarious detail his travels around Australia, dodging the continent’s evolution-challenged and surprisingly lethal animals. You could read A Walk in the Woods, but this is a far sight better, mate.

Wind, Sand and Stars. Antoine de Saint-Exupery is more famous for Le Petit Prince, but his prose offers vivid descriptions of life as an airborne mail carrier in the 1930s, including a desert crash.

Desert Solitaire. Edward Abbey captures the beauty and grandeur of an unspoiled West as few people can. He voices awe for nature’s power and anger at those who try to tame it. One of the best books about nature ever written.

Continue reading "Dirty books for summer" »

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You guys really came through when we requested some tried-and-true Christmas classics. I was shocked at how many suggestions you provided, and how good those books sound!

But what can you read to get you in the mood to light the menorah?

I mentioned on Twitter that I was first introduced to Judaism by Ann M. Martin in Baby-sitter's Little Sister No. 10: Karen's Grandmothers.

Yeah, yeah, it's not high literature, but I was 8 years old, give me a break. And now I know you guys can do a lot better than that!

So, Happy Hanukkah! Now give me some reading recommendations!

(Photo courtesy of AKphotos on stock.xchng)

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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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Oprah is going to make a hit book even bigger.

David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a 500-page debut novel, is Oprah's latest book club pick, two booksellers told the Associated Press this morning. Edgar Sawtelle, the story of a mute boy who communicates best with his dogs, was released in June and became a smash thanks to strong reviews, word of mouth and a blurb from Stephen King.

Winfrey was to make the announcement later today on her show. The Associated Press purchased a copy of the novel, which has a Winfrey book club sticker on the cover, from a bookseller that placed Edgar Sawtelle on sale early.

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Now that summer is over and it's time to plunge into some more serious reading, check out the  Man Booker Prize's shortlist, which was announced yesterday. It skipped over previous winners John Berger and Salman Rushdie for several newish authors, including a pair of first-time novelists. Here are stories from The Guardian and the New York Times.  

The list: Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger; Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture; Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies; Linda Grant's The Clothes on Their Backs; Philip Hensher's The Northern Clemency; and Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole.

Adiga and Toltz are first-time novelists, and Barry is the only person on the list to have been previously shortlisted (in 2005).

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Here's a bite-sized (146-page) but thoughtful food-related book that hasn't received much attention.

Stewart O'Nan's tale of the closing of a Red Lobster restaurant in New Britain, Conn., held plenty of personal appeal for me. It takes place in my hometown, and O'Nan captures the spirit of a once-vibrant city that has slipped into post-industrial obsolescence. I also felt the poignancy of a business shuttered by larger events (here a corporate edict), because I watched my father's retail business close due to  a bone-headed decision to put a highway through the center of town.

O'Nan perfectly captures the homespun pride of workmanship still found across America. There are no grand epiphanies here. But he offers a closeup of the everyday slights and hustles that we endure; the relationships we nurture or neglect in quiet ways; and the push to mark each day with a measure of accomplishment -- even if it's measured in grilled shrimp platters.   

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One hallmark of Southern writing is the Civil War. Even if the war isn't mentioned outright, its heroic and tragic themes loom in the background. For recommendations about war-related books, I turned to local author Charles Mitchell, whose Maryland Voices of the Civil War is a collection of letters, diary entires and other contemporaneous writings. To get grounded in the war, he suggested these five great reads:

1. Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

2. The Fate of Liberty by Mark E. Neely

3. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

4. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation by Allen C. Guelzo

5. Mary Chesnut's Civil War and/or A Diary from Dixie by Mary Chesnut

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Categories: Check It Out, Recommended
        

Baltimore's caught in its typical July/August funk of heat and humidity. So is Washington, where the Post's book blog, Short Stack, is recommending novels to beat the heat. Among them: Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston, and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.

For a novel, I'd recommend Willa Cather's My Antonia, which makes you feel the grip of a deadly winter on the plains. And if we broaden the choice to nonfiction, I'd add Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, mountaineering books that are chilling in more ways than one.

What would you recommend for a cool summer read?

Photo of Mt. Everest by Adeel Halim, Bloomberg News

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Over on the New York Times book blog, there's a spirited debate about the perfect novel. Suggestions have ranged from the well-read -- The Great Gatsby is an early favorite -- to the obscure (Herb ‘n’ Lorna).

I don't get the excitement over Gatsby, but maybe it's just because I can't get the white-clad Robert Redford and Mia Farrow out of my head. If pressed over a couple of glasses of wine (that seems to how the Times debate started) I might pick All the King's Men.

But let's start at the beginning: Can there be a "perfect" novel, and if so, what is it?

I'll throw in another question: Is there a perfect book club novel? My pick here (and maybe overall): Cold Mountain.

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Categories: Book Clubs, Recommended, Reviews
        

Food writer Betsy Block has some recommendations for folks who appreciate both good food and good writing. At the National Public Radio site, she lists three favorites: An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, by Elizabeth David; The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, by Alice B. Toklas; and Alice, Let's Eat, by Calvin Trillin.

Haven't read the first two, but I'll swear by Trillin's book.  Though it's been years since I read it, I can recall a clever turn of phrase about eating Smithfield ham -- he said he was still thirsty from the last time he ate it. And when I drove my son from Baltimore to his new home in Denver, we scheduled our entire trip around a stop at a Trillin favorite: Arthur Bryant's barbecue restaurant in Kansas City.

Thinking about other food books, I came up with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Like Water for Chocolate and Chocolat. Hmmm, do I see a pattern? 

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Just finished The Broken Shore by Peter Temple, an Australian crime novel loaded with great writing and biting social commentary about race relations Down Under. Because Temple's rough characters speak in Aussie slang, the book included a glossary. How else would you know that Maccas means McDonald's, or a chook snag sanger is a chicken sausage sandwich? (For a more exhaustive list, try this site.) Got me wondering about other books that needed a glossary to keep the reader from getting lost in the tall grass. Only one I can recall reading is Dune. Any others to add to the list?

(p.s. That's a roo above, and not a boomer)

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Our anxious friends at the Washington Post have put together a list of "Five books to avoid reading outdoors." The list includes In the Lake of the Woods and Lonesome Dove, which I agree have some verrrry creepy moments.

I'd add Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer -- whenever I visit my son in high-altitude Colorado, I envision my brain slowly expanding and then exploding. Or In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, whose comic prose could frighten even the most laid-back Aussie with tales of killer sharks, snakes and generally spiny creatures. What books triggered your own fears? 

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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When Gao Xingjian became the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, many hoped that the breadth of Chinese writing would finally be noticed in the West. It seems that at last it has. In Arts & Life, we'll look at several recommendations for China watchers.

Among them: Beijing Coma by Ma Jian, a compelling, haunting look at the budding democracy movement and the subsequent oppression of its members. And Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China by Kang Zhengguo, a harrowing memoir about arrest, banishment and hard labor amid the Cultural Revolution.

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Continue reading "Best audiobooks" »

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Categories: Audiobooks, Recommended
        

While you'll be hearing a lot about the accomplishments of this modern-day journalistic icon, this weekend is an especially good time to remember his contributions to the literary world, Big Russ and Me and Wisdom of Our Fathers. 

The former is a memoir that follows the senior Russert through World War II and raising a family, and illustrates how the junior Russert became a respected newsman the world over. "Throughout his private and public life, Russert continually turned to his father for advice, and the older man's common sense served the younger pretty much without fail," says Publishers Weekly. "There are hard ways to learn life lessons; fortunately, readers have Russert to thank for sharing his with them." 

Russert's second book is a companion of sorts to the first: a compilation of the more than 60,000 letters and e-mails he received in response to Big Russ and Me.

With Father's Day right around the corner, Americans are celebrating the relationship between fathers and their children. Now, for a more regrettable reason, we should also take the time to honor Russert's life and his own benefaction to good ole dad. 

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OK, so this list is a bit specialized. But it's a good one for some light summer reading, nu? The list came to mind as I was reading Absurdistan, a farcical look at geopolitics, love and religion. Most of these picks were read in my book club, which has a Jewish theme, but not all were universally loved. In fact, some were roundly criticized, despite my praise. Go figure. The list (in no particular order):

1.  Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart. A favorite partly because the protagonist reminded me of another esteemed character, Ignatius J. Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces.

2. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Boy loses family, boy finds family. A poignant Holocaust-related tale with laughs, no less.

3. Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander. A very unorthodox take on Orthodox youth. 

4. God Knows by Joseph Heller. It's an oldie, but I couldn't resist listing this favorite. Picture the Biblical story of David as told in a standup routine by Woody Allen.

5. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. Brings a laugh for the premise alone: The Jewish homeland is created in Alaska instead of Israel.  Oy!

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Check It Out, Recommended
        

Barbara Walters blazed a trail for women in news and in television, but it is her voice that is her signature. So it makes sense that she would be the reader on the audio version of her new book, Audition.
    Maybe she didn't have time to read the whole thing -- it is almost 600 pages -- but the audio version is abridged, and that's a shame. Not only is it missing some key elements of her life story, but it would have been a pleasure to spend more time with her than the six hours on these five CDs.
    Among the missing pieces are details of her miserable treatment by Frank McGee on the Today Show and his edict that she could not join in an interview until after he had asked four questions; details of her equally miserable treatment by Harry Reasoner when she shared the desk with him on the Evening News and how his friends kept a stopwatch on her to make sure she was not getting more air time; and the item that created the most buzz when the book was published, her description of her inter-racial affair with then-Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, a married man at the time.
    And, perhaps the best anecdote of all is missing -- the story of a gift she received from opera singer Beverly Sills: a ring with the inscription "I did that already."
   For these reasons, and because the photos in the book are wonderful, I make the rare suggestion that you buy the book because the audio version isn't as good. And they cost the same!

Photo by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

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Categories: Audiobooks, Recommended
        

As we continue our recommendations for a literary summer, we didn't want to overlook these picks by Felicia Pride in Unisun, a bimonthly publication of The Sun. All are by black authors. 

The Tempest Tales, by Walter Mosley. (Black Classic Press / May 2008 / $19.95) Mosley saddened many fans when he announced that he was concluding his famed Easy Rawlins series. But he has created another unforgettable hero. Meet Tempest Landry, a street-smart, "dedicated Harlemite" who, after being accidentally shot and killed by the police, ends up condemned to hell. After challenging St. Peter's order, he is sent back to Earth with an angel whose sole purpose is to persuade Tempest to accept his judgment. Mosley's book, published by Baltimore-based Black Classic Press, was selected as an Essence magazine book-club pick.

Getting Even by ReShonda Tate Billingsley. (Pocket Books / April 2008 / $9.95) Billingsley, an Essence best-selling Christian-fiction author, introduces the fourth installment in her Good Girlz series for teens. Getting Even follows best friends Camille, Jasmine, Alexis and Angel on a journey dealing with boy trouble, jealously and forgiveness. The series has been lauded by parents, librarians and educators. 

Continue reading "Walter Mosley and more" »

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Today on Maryland Morning, author and former Sun reporter Alice Steinbach gave her picks for summer reading: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. If you missed the show, it will be available this afternoon at WYPR's website.

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I can't recommend that you take a cassette player to the beach so you can listen to a title from your summer reading list.

There is all that sand.

But my guess is, you will spend more time driving to work this summer than you will spend driving to the beach. So here is a list of titles you might sample.

(Speaking of driving to the beach, there is nothing like a recorded book to keep the kids engaged — and quiet — in the car. My favorite kid-friendly book? The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, a series of four books that retells the Arthurian myth from the point of view of the female characters. Something like 30 hours long, there are cassettes and mp3 downloads available out there.)

A summer list (I’ve listened to the first eight and will talk about some of them in future posts):

Audition by Barbara Walters, read by the author (abridged).

The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman, read by Nancy Travis.

Continue reading "Best audiobooks for summer" »

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So now that I'm an adult, and I don't get three months of reprieve from work, I've learned a) to resent all schoolchildren and b) to spend my vacations wisely. For me, apparently, that means in front of a book.

Last August, I spent a week in the Outer Banks with some friends for fun, sun and ... reading. Looking back at many of the pictures taken that week, there's either a book in my hand, or very close by. Maybe a beer as well, but come on, it was vacation. So when Dave asked me about some good summer reads, I thought I'd share my list from that little week of heaven:

Continue reading "How I spent my summer vacation" »

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Ah, Memorial Day, when the flocks of Marylandia untannedia begin their migration to the beaches. Book coverage in Arts & Life will help you get a summer reading list in order. Among the recommendations: a new paperback version of Katherine Weber's novel Triangle and Lauren Weisberger's chick-lit insta-classic Chasing Harry Winston. Online here Sunday.

I'm working on a list, too, though I've learned that writing a book blog leaves little time to actually read books. On my shelf are the almost-finished Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart and The Reluctant Fundmentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Still need something outdoorsy or Western for a Colorado vacation. Any suggestions?

Nancy's pick: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. 

Coming Saturday on Read Street: A look at the books coming out next week.

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Here's a preview of the Books page in the Arts & Life section. You'll find:

     -- A review of The Lincolns, Portrait of a Marriage by local poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein.

     -- Capsule reviews of crime fiction audiobooks. Betrayal by John Lescroart, read by David Colacci; Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein, read by Blair Brown; An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear, read by Orlagh Cassidy.

Online Sunday here. 

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The Village Voice asked some authors to name their favorite obscure book, so vacationing Manhattanites won't have to read the same best-seller that everyone else is reading this summer. Might be a good conversation-starter, at least. Here are a couple of recommendations from the Voice's list, and one of my own:

Donna Tartt (author of The Secret History): Blood in the Parlor, by Dorothy Dunbar. "Each of the 12 stories is an account of a 19th-century murder told with a light, macabre sense of humor."

Nathan Englander (author of The Ministry of Special Cases): Gob's Grief, by Chris Adrian, "a dead-brother novel and a fantasy novel and a thousand other things."

Here's my recommendation: The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., by Robert Coover. Before there was fantasy baseball, there was J. Henry Waugh and his surreal game.

And Nancy recommends a book one of her friends wouldn't stop talking about until she picked it up: Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. It's the Cupid and Psyche myth retold, focusing on the special bond between sisters, the meaning of beauty and the endurance of love in all forms.

Posted by Dave Rosenthal at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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 Cam Northouse of Clayton Fine Books offered these largely Chicano authors to those who enjoyed Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima:

• Dagoberto Gilb. This Los Angeles native enjoyed critical and commercial success with 1993's The Magic of Blood. The collection of short stories set in the Southwest won the PEN Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award. Publishers Weekly describes his latest offering, the novel The Flowers, as "hilarious and thought provoking as it traces the bigotry and alienation among the wildly varied cast of characters."
• Sandra Cisneros. Since 1984's beloved The House on Mango Street, Cisneros has proven herself as a deft poet (Loose Women) and writer of short stories (Woman Hollering Creek). Her 2002 novel Caramelo was reviewed in The Sun as "a sprawling, raucous affair that weaves together several generations of la familia Reyes. ... It's an exuberant celebration of family folklore."
• Oscar Hijuelos. New Yorker Hijuelos was born to Cuban immigrant parents, and is the first Hispanic to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction -- in 1990 for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, which has since been made into a feature film and a Broadway musical. The Sun called his 2002 A Simple Habana Melody "a rippling, teasing, occasionally poignant retellling of one Cuban composer's life. ... the book has a feeling of a delicate but delightful trifle."
• Gary Soto. Soto has written poems, novels, children's books and even a memoir. He earned the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal for The Pool Party and was recognized as a National Book Award finalist for 1995's New and Selected Poems, which Publishers Weekly described as "lean and avid," gathering "an impressive force with their quick rhythms and recurrent images."

(Photo by lusi at stock.xchng)

Posted by Nancy Knight at 4:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Check It Out, Recommended, Reviews