October 09 BAM BookPage

OCTOBER 2009 BOOKPAGE2

T H E B E S T I N N E W B O O K S

Public libraries and bookstores may subscribe to BookPage in quantity for distribution to their patrons. For informa-tion, please visit www.BookPage.com or call 1-800-726-4242, ext. 34.

Individual subscriptions to BookPage are avail-able for $30 per year. Send check or money order to:

BookPage Subscriptions 2143 Belcourt Avenue Nashville, TN 37212

S U B S C R I B E

Rates are available online, or contact Julia Steele at 615-292-8926, ext.15.

Notice: Some books mentioned in this issue may be in short supply or not yet available. Prices of books are subject to change without notice.

All material © copyright 2009by ProMotion, inc.

READ ALL OUR REVIEWS AT

BOOKPAGE.COM

A D V E R T I S E

R E V I E W SOur editors evaluate and select for review the best new books published each month. Only books we highly recommend are featured. BookPage is edito-rially independent and never accepts payment for editorial coverage.

AmericA’s BooK review

®

PUBLISHERMichael A. Zibart

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERJulia Steele

EDITORLynn L. Green

fICTION EDITORAbby Plesser

WEB EDITORTrisha Ping

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSukey Howard

CONTRIBUTORRoger Bishop

CHILDREN’S BOOKSAllison Hammond

ADVERTISING SALESJulia Steele

Angela J. Bowman

PRODUCTION MANAGERPenny Childress

PRODUCTION DESIGNERKaren Trotter Elley

SUBSCRIPTION MANAGERElizabeth Grace Herbert

CUSTOMER SERVICEAlice Fitzgibbon

ONLINE SERVICES MANAGERScott Grissom

CONTENTS OCTOBER 2009

INTERVIEW27 Jeannette Walls Her unique family history

FEATURES 5 Eoin Colfer Meet the author behind the latest in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide” series

6 Well Read Philip Caputo takes us across the border in his latest novel

30 Short Stories Three stunning story collections

ON THE COVER 7 Mitch Albom A remarkable journey of faith and

friendship

CHILdREN’S BOOKS32 Halloween Creepy picks to celebrate the 31st

33 Judy Schachner Meet the author-illustrator

34 Young Adult The best teen reads

35 Scott Westerfeld A fantastical World War I adventure

REVIEWSfiction 4 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

5 Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

5 The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt

10 The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

10 A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

10 A Separate Country by Robert Hicks

14 Generosity by Richard Powers

14 Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

30 Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato

A ghost story follows The Time Traveler’s Wife

page 13

30 The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott

36 Stardust by Joseph Kanon

38 When Autumn Leaves by Amy S. Foster

Nonfiction 6 Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon

9 Moon River and Me by Andy Williams

9 The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson

and Martin Dugard

12 Anne Frank by Francine Prose

12 Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich

24 The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

24 Man of Constant Sorrow by Ralph Stanley

with Eddie Dean

26 A Fiery Peace in a Cold War by Neil Sheehan

28 Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

29 The Last Founding Father by Harlow Giles Unger

38 Cheerful Money by Tad Friend

39 You Were Always Mom’s Favorite!

by Deborah Tannen

39 The Past is Never Dead by Harry N. MacLean

dEPARTMENTS 3 Buzz Girl

4 The Author Enablers

6 Bestseller Watch

11 Whodunit?

14 Audio

25 Romance

28 Book Clubs

36 Science Fiction

38 Cooking

AUdREy NIFFENEGGER

HALLOWEEN

The best books for the spookiest season

page 8

OCTOBER 2009 BOOKPAGE 3

buzz girl ➥ Our publishing insider gets the skinny on tomorrow’s bestsellers

➥ sniCKET’s sAd nEwsDaniel Handler, aka “Lemony Snick-

et,” has just signed a deal with the U.K.’s Egmont Press to publish a new four-book, middle-grade series starting in 2012. Snicket told BBC News: “I can

neither confirm nor deny that I have begun re-search into a new case, and I can neither confirm nor deny that the results are as dreadful and unnerving as A Series of Unfor-tunate Events. However, I can confirm that

Egmont will be publishing these find-ings.”

According to the New York Times, Snicket has not yet sold the books in the U.S., but his HarperCollins editor, Susan Rich, has been working with him on the series.

Snicket fans can look forward to the 2010 publication of a picture book, 13 Words, which Snicket worked on with the artist Maira Kalman.

The Series of Unfortunate Events was

a publishing sensation, and the first three books inspired a 2004 film star-ring Jim Carrey.

➥ sHRiVER’s sTORYLionel Shriver has a March 2 release

scheduled with Harper.Info on So Much for All That is

scarce (they don’t even have a cover de-sign available yet), but the catalog de-scribes it as “a searing, deeply humane new novel about the tragic costs of the American healthcare system.”

Before you think, ugh, a novel about issues, consider that Shriver has previ-ously taken on such controversial top-ics as violence in schools, mater-nal ambivalence and infidelity in her novels, and still managed to make them com-pletely absorb-ing. Plus, her current status as an expat (she is an American who lives in Eng-land) gives her a different perspective on the health care controversy. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s a sharply intel-ligent writer who won’t pull punches.

We have high hopes that this novel will be another winner.

➥ MORE MCEwAnOver the past year, novelist

Ian McEwan (Atonement, En-during Love) has dropped sev-eral tantalizing tidbits about his work-in-progress, an 11th novel—his first since 2007’s On Chesil Beach. It’s about global warming. It features a physicist whom McEwan has described as “an intellectual thief. He’s sexually predatory. He’s a compulsive eater, a round and tubby fellow who has profound self-belief.” It’s not a comedy—but has “ex-tended comic stretches.” And recently he revealed a title, Solar.

In the new novel, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist sug-gests that “men outnumber women at the top of his pro-fession because of inherent differences in their brains, rather than any gender dis-crimination,” according to The Guardian.

This plotline revelation

has made major headlines since McEwan himself has faced criti-cism for giving his opinion on such things as radical Islam and Christianity. (Ev-eryone loves an autobiographical angle!) The twist here is that after transforming himself into something of a media scapegoat, Beard makes a discovery that might help save the planet—if only anyone would listen to him. As McEwan explained to the New Yorker in February, “It isn’t an-gels necessarily who are going to save us.”

Doubleday, McEwan’s publisher in the U.S., hasn’t announced a release date for the novel yet, and it’s unlikely to ap-pear before next fall. Between now and then, we can probably expect a few more of those revelations.

➥ ’dORiAn’ On filM After two other successful Wilde ad-

aptations, director Oliver Parker and producer Barnaby Thompson have teamed up to bring Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, to the big screen.

For the non-Wilde fans out there, the book tells the story of a beautiful young man who sells his soul to stay that way. Ben Barnes, aka Prince Caspian, plays Dorian and heads up a cast that includes Colin Firth (as Henry Wotton, Dorian’s mentor in debauchery).

Unfortunately, no U.S. release date has been announced.

➥ MCCAin’s MEMOiRPolitical daughter Meghan McCain,

who became one of the most promi-nent young Republican voices during her father’s campaign for the presidency, has sold a memoir to Hyperion for a re-ported six-figure advance. It will be published in spring 2010. Hy-perion says the book will explain “what it means to be a progressive Republican in the party today” in an “appealing and light-hearted voice.”

While this is McCain’s first book aimed at an adult audience, it isn’t her first time as a published author. She wrote a children’s picture book about her father’s life—including his service in the U.S. military—My Dad, John Mc-Cain, in 2008.

daniel handler

ian mcewan

inTERnET EnVY

web exclusivesOur new site means MORE Book-

Page for you to love. October highlights found only on the new BookPage.com include interviews with diana Gabal-don, alice randall and libba Bray, and many web-only reviews—includ-ing the latest from Patricia Cornwell and Jess walter and debuts from lisa Patton and emily arsenault.

more chances to winlooking for more free books? You’ll

find contests in every edition of our email newsletter, BookPageXTRA, and on our blog, The Book Case, where we highlight books, authors, publishing news and more. BookPage.com has the details!

lionel shriver

meGhan mcCain

From political daughters to snarky children’s authors to edgy Englishmen, there’s something for everyone on the horizon.

ericjeromedickey.com

now in PaPerBaCK

$16/9780451227539

A Member of Penguin Group (USA)penguin.com

DYING FORREVENGE

ERIC JEROME DICKEY

Gideon, a professional assassin, is convinced that an

old score with a former client from Detroit was

settled a long time ago. But the lady from Detroit has

never forgotten, or forgiven, Gideon. Backed by a crack team of hitmen, she’s not

letting him out of her sight. Now, Gideon’s on the run,

embarking on a global chase that takes him from London to Nashville and back to the Caribbean, where those on both sides of this battle are

dying for revenge.

The next installment in the bold and sexy series by the fearless

New York Timesbestselling author


The dating gameA reader in Michigan writes with a special request: “I know in the last year or so

the Author Enablers commented on sending in your manuscript to more than one agent at a time. As I recall, they said to do it one at a time. I need ‘proof ’ of this for my daughter-in-law.”

As long as you don’t set out to deceive anyone, it is acceptable to make submis-sions to several agents at once. We like to think of this in terms of high school dat-ing: you can play the field as long as you haven’t promised anyone to go steady. But then we both sucked at high school dat-ing. Those humbling memories aside, you should be OK if you state clearly in your query letter that you are making multiple submissions.

Of course, if you already have a pro-fessional relationship with an agent, you should do the brave thing and “break up” before seeking another. Remember to re-

turn that ID bracelet. And we definitely advise against simultaneously sending the same query to several different agents at the same agency.

Dear Author Enablers:You two do a great job answering all our questions! I would like to know if an

aspiring screenwriter has to have a platform to sell a script? Also, is animation written the same way as any other script? Do they have bidding wars with scripts?

DoloresOhio, Illinois

Thanks for the shout out, Dolores! We decided to toss this ball to a couple of pros, since (ironically) we had no idea how to answer your questions.

According to L.A. comedy writer Tony Goldmark, bidding wars for scripts gen-erally don’t occur unless you’re already an established screenwriter. “Sometimes ‘established’ only has to mean that you won a prestigious contest,” says Tony, “but usually you have to have considerable hit-making screenwriting experience.”

The process of screenwriting for an animated film can be quite different than for a live-action feature, Tony tells us. “Animation is a bit more complicated, be-cause in addition to a screenplay, the entire film must be storyboarded by a team of story artists, whose job is to essentially draw every shot in rough comic book form. Sometimes the screenplay inspires the storyboards, sometimes vice versa—it varies from studio to studio, and often from project to project. DreamWorks, for example, storyboards every film in its entirety first, then hires screenwriters to adapt those storyboards into a script, giving them the mandate that they may not alter more than 30 percent of the work that has already been done. But as far as I know, such a script would still have the same format as a live-action script,” Tony says. “The biggest problem with breaking into animation, especially with a new idea, is that animation is such a collaborative group process, more often than not requiring a fully equipped studio loaded to the brim with creative people, so most if not all of each studio’s new ideas come from in-house.”

Devo Cutler-Rubenstein, producer/screenwriter and former studio executive, adds, “If there is an established market—i.e. a successful comic book, book, novel or play that can be the springboard for an adaptation—that can help a fledgling writer. Animation is written for features, and for some TV series, in the same format in terms of building a story, structure, character development, theme, etc. But charac-ters may be a bit more extreme due to the ability to show them doing extraordinary things with out a lot of special FX in an animated format. Take UP!, for example. That movie had a great story, but could not be done as live action.”

“Bidding wars occur when an agent or manager is able to get ‘heat’ on a script and/or novel and/or play and/or news article and/or true story. There has to be something about it that is incredibly unique or time appropriate. It is usually estab-lished writers, but sometimes a spec comes along from an unknown writer (novelist or screenwriter) and the agent creates heat for a bidding war to occur.”

Look for Devo’s helpful articles on the subject: “Script Criteria Checklist” in Mov-ie Maker and others at www.storylink.com.

Big thanks to Devo and Tony. We’re off to dig the heat lamp out of our basement to shine it on our platform. o

With more than 25 years of experience, Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Sam Barry have the inside scoop on writing and publishing. Sam is the author of How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons; National Women’s Book Association Award winner Kathi is the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You. Their book on publishing is scheduled for release in 2010. Email your questions (along with your name and hometown) to [email protected] or visit their blog at bookpage.com.

BY SAM BARRY & KATHI KAMEN GOLDMARK

THE AUTHOR ENABLERS

On sale now!

“Jason Pinter knows what he’s doing. The Fury rocks. Read it!”

—Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author

BESTSELLING AUTHOR

HENRY PARKER MUST UNCOVER THE MOST DEVASTATING SECRET OF ALL…HIS OWN.

On sale November 24!

“A brilliantly conceived, edge-of-your-seat

thrill ride.” —Chicago Tribune

on The Guilty

www.MIRABooks.com www.JasonPinter.com

HISTORICAL FICTION

In King Henry’s courtBy LAUrEN BUffErd

Hilary Mantel sets a new standard for historical fiction with her latest novel Wolf Hall, a riveting portrait of Thomas Cromwell, chief advisor to King Henry VIII and a signifi-cant political figure in Tudor England. Mantel’s crystalline style, piercing eye and interest in, shall we say, the darker side of human nature, together with a real respect for histori-cal accuracy, make this novel an engrossing, enveloping read (it’s also the favorite to win this year’s Booker Prize).

Wolf Hall is set in an England on the brink of disaster. It is 1520 and Henry VIII, desiring a male heir, wishes to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and wed Anne Boleyn, despite the opposition of half his kingdom, the Pope and much of Europe. Meanwhile, the Yorks are plot-ting to put one of their own on the throne. Into the middle of this turbulence walks Thomas Cromwell, lowly born but protected by the king’s advisor, Cardinal Wolsey. Cromwell was a financier with a brilliant grasp of international poli-tics. Multi-lingual and self-taught, both ruthless and gener-ous, he quickly surpassed even Wolsey as close confidante to the king and built up a coterie of followers that equaled any modern Mafia don. In the novel—as in his life—as Crom-well grows in power, the danger and intrigue does as well. Knowing the trajectory of his career, familiar to many from Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons, in no way inter-feres with the deliciousness of the unfolding tragedy.

The Tudor period has been over-romanticized in books and films, especially lately, but Mantel keeps her focus less on the heaving bosoms and changing bed partners and more on the corruption, the scheming and the petty cruelties. She writes in the present tense, a device that in lesser hands might seem showy and self-conscious, but here propels the action forward while providing great insight into Cromwell’s personality. With a generous cast of characters and meticulous descriptions of castle, town and countryside, Mantel evokes the era with an unfussy ease. Despite the length and the intricacy of the story told, there is a freshness and rigor to this compelling novel that will delight and engage any reader. oLauren Bufferd writes from Nashville.

Wolf HallBy Hilary MantelHolt$27, 560 pagesISBN 9780805080681


FICTION

Hornby’s fresh, funny musical taleBy Carla Jean Whitley

The fictional American singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe achieved critical success in the 1980s with the classic breakup album Juliet. Then, at the height of his career, Tucker can-celed a tour and withdrew. In the years since, a small but committed following has sprung up on the Internet, tracking every rumor or tidbit suggesting activity from the reclusive Crowe.

When a stripped-down version of Tucker Crowe’s classic album shows up in the mailbox of leading Croweologist Dun-can and his girlfriend Annie, the duo’s relationship is already on the rocks. They’ve remained together for 15 years—more out of habit and proximity than passion, given the lack of op-tions in their bleak, seaside English town. Their polar reac-tions to the new album, Juliet, naked, only heighten Duncan and Annie’s differences.

Duncan is the kind of neurotic fan who intimidates others, turning them away from music instead of toward it. Anyone who has obsessed over unreleased material or bootlegs of their favorite band’s shows will identify with him immediate-ly. He knows too much, finding significance in every note his favorite musician plays and every syllable he utters.

That arrogance pushes Annie to the edge. After the cou-ple posts their differing analyses of the album on Duncan’s Tucker Crowe fan site, Annie and Duncan’s paths split—and converge with Tucker Crowe’s—as they set out after their own lives.

Juliet, naked is classic Nick Hornby, with characters inter-nally debating what is worthwhile as their lives are lived out to a soundtrack. At the same time it’s a fresh story of these curiously interwoven lives and perspectives. Each Hornby venture exhibits his considerable talent, whether through a novel, memoir or collection of essays. But it’s the music-oriented books that often draw a cult following, not unlike that of Juliet, naked ’s Tucker Crowe. And Hornby’s insights into the rabid fan are as acute as ever—not a surprise, given his own obsessive listening. oCarla Jean Whitley attends way too many concerts and regularly interviews musicians in Birmingham, alabama.

Juliet, NakedBy Nick HornbyRiverhead $25.95, 416 pagesISBN 9781594488870Also available on audio

MEET Eoin Colfer

The author of the Artemis Fowl series and several other acclaimed books for young readers, Eoin Colfer was chosen by Douglas Adams’ widow to write the final book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2) series. And Another Thing . . . (Hyperion, $25.99, 288 pages, ISBN 9781401323585), goes on sale October 12. Colfer lives in Wexford, on the coast of Ireland, with his wife and two children.

FICTION

Byatt tells the story of an ageBy trisha Ping

The heft of A.S. Byatt’s latest work, the Children’s Book, promises a detailed, sprawling story. But the actual scope of this ambitious novel has to be experienced to be believed. The story of an age more than anything else, it encompasses 25 years (1895-1919) and has at least that many main characters, which leaves the reader wondering how they can all come to such vivid life in just 700 pages.

If such a wide-ranging saga can be said to have a cen-ter, this novel’s is Olive Wellwood, a complicated woman whose writing for children (she’s based in part on the writer E. Nesbit) financially supports the large family her sister, Violet, cares for while Olive writes and her husband works in Parliament. The Wellwoods are part of a circle of artistic friends, and the children are raised in a bohemian, permis-sive atmosphere that rivals Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s.

Themes of creation and art—its power and what a per-son must sacrifice in its pursuit—are at the heart of the Children’s Book. Fairy-tale allusions abound, and some of the best passages are Olive’s writings, which have the almost subliminal creepiness found in the best fairy tales. Byatt dis-plays her signature interest in secrets of all sorts, from those parents keep from children to those we hide from ourselves. Her characters juggle physical and intellectual desires, pursuits and goals—like Olive’s eldest daughter, Dorothy, whose desire to become a doctor is verbally but not always materially supported by her counter-cultural family; and Phillip, a runaway with the drive and genius to become a great potter, who is discovered living in the basement of the brand-new South Kensington (soon to be Victoria & Al-bert) Museum at the beginning of the book.

the Children’s Book has been touted as Byatt’s best work since Possession, the 1990 nov-el that brought the author a wider audience (she’s been publishing novels since 1964). The two novels do share many characteristics, but in many ways the Children’s Book, with its meticulous, complete rendering of a time and place, surpasses that earlier work. Masterful, complex and thought provoking, it will linger in the mind. o

The Children’s BookBy A.S. ByattKnopf$26.95, 688 pagesISBN 9780307272096Also available on audio

© M

ICH

AEL

PAY

NTE

R


A powerful look at life on the borderBy RoBeRt WeiBezahl

Eight years on, it would be impossible to calculate the number of writers who have explored the tragedy of 9/11 in their fiction and nonfiction. In his latest nov-el, Crossers, Philip Caputo joins their ranks; but his multilayered narrative quickly

moves beyond the horrible events of that darkest of days to probe the heart of a more perennial American tragedy: our complicated history with our Mexican neighbors.

Gil Castle, a 57-year-old investment banker, lost his wife that September day (she was a passenger on the plane that slammed into the North Tower), and a year later, he cannot begin to shed the deep sense of loss that has enveloped his being. Unable to bear it any longer, he takes early retire-ment, sells his house, gives away most of his belongings and moves to the Arizona desert, where an aunt and cousin he barely knows own a cattle ranch. Ensconced in a rustic cabin in an isolated corner of the San Ignacio Ranch, Castle passes his sterile days reading Seneca, hiking and hunting. Largely cut off from the world, he soon realizes he has not escaped his despair, but he nonetheless prefers this imper-fect solitude to what he has left behind in Connecticut.

Castle’s retreat from the world takes an unexpected turn when he finds an ex-hausted young Mexican man hiding in the brush not far from his cabin. Because the ranch shares its southern boundary with the border, illegal immigrants often make their way north across its land. This terrified refugee, Miguel, has lived through a horrid ordeal as he has tried to pass into the United States. Since the money he was going to pay the “coyote” has been stolen from him, he has been forced to smug-gle parcels of marijuana across the border, narrowly escaping the fate of his two gunned-down traveling companions. Castle and his relatives feed the migrant and let him rest before turning him over to the authorities, who put Miguel—a valuable witness to murder—in a Homeland Security detention center rather than deporting him.

The other unanticipated event in Castle’s life is the ad-vent of love. Tessa McBride, the owner of the neighbor-ing ranch, proves a congenial companion, and the attrac-tion these two wounded souls feel is stronger than their individual needs for keeping the world at bay. Tessa’s only daughter joined the military a few months before 9/11, and now, with the drums of war beating in Washington and Baghdad, it seems inevitable that the girl will soon see battle. Despite his own emotional desolation, Castle provides Tessa some recip-rocal solace in anxious times.

The story of Gil Castle’s reluctant ascent from grief is just a fragment of the story that Caputo sets out to tell in Crossers. There are forces at work well beyond Castle’s upper-middle-class ken, as a dangerous war is being waged in a desert much closer than the one circumscribed by the Tigris and Euphrates. Rival Mexican drug lords fight for supremacy in the arid territory surrounding the ranch on both sides of the border, using poor, disposable countrymen such as Miguel as cannon fodder. That war has arrived at Castle’s doorstep.

The deadly power struggle between Mexican and gringo landowners offers strik-ing echoes of an earlier story that makes up the third piece of Caputo’s narrative. Castle’s grandfather, Ben Erskine, who killed his first man at 13, played a formi-dable, though not always lawful, role in shaping this godforsaken territory in the years before Arizona statehood. Crossing into Mexico freely, but most notably as a soldier of fortune during the Revolution, Ben’s legacy is shadowy at best. The truth, as complicated and uncompromising as the landscape itself, will return to haunt his descendents as they face off against their violent adversaries.

Philip Caputo, who won a Pulitzer Prize for reportage, and wrote the seminal Vietnam memoir, a Rumor of War, has long focused his fiction on the moral am-biguities that have accompanied violent conflicts around the world—Vietnam, the Sudan, Iraq. With Crossers, he brings the war home, powerfully evoking an America marked by complexities, contradictions and an uncomfortable relationship with its own past. o

WEll REAd

BY ROBERT WEIBEZAHl

Philip Caputo on love, loss,

war and belonging in a

post-9/11 world.

CrossersBy Philip CaputoKnopf$26.95, 464 pagesISBN 9780375411670Also available on audio

MEMOIR

The mysteries of manhoodBy Pete CRoatto

In popular culture, when men talk about being men they follow a certain formula. We’re probably going to hear about the protagonist looking deeply into the eyes of his firstborn child, his wild single days and the emotional rigors of being a husband. There’s almost a sense that men live the same life; just the names of the primary characters change.

Novelist Michael Chabon’s book of essays, Manhood for amateurs: the Pleasures and Regrets of a husband, Father, and Son, fits into that paradigm, but not perfectly. Thank good-ness. Chabon focuses on the almost-overlooked moments of his life, and the result is a sparkling, clear-headed collection that provides a glorious look at the makeup of a man.

The Pulitzer Prize winner (the amazing adventures of Ka-valier & Clay ; Wonder Boys) waxes poetic about the creative benefits of the crappy TV shows and movies of his youth, compared to the polished, CGI-animated treats of today, which “don’t leave anything implied, unstated, incomplete.” He talks about the growing sense of doom accompanying his daughter’s blossoming into womanhood and how getting a men’s purse, or “murse,” represents one of the key benefits of getting older—not caring what other people think. Chabon also installs a towel rack, worries about his wife and examines other wonders of childhood: getting lost, the seductive power of basements and the shattered world of scatological humor.

As has been observed repeatedly, Chabon is an awesome talent. He’s blessed with observational shrewdness and a gift for nimble wordplay, but that never obscures the points he makes. (That last talent has served him well as a novelist, and it’s especially helpful here.) The essays, most of which pre-viously appeared in Details, are nostalgic, funny and intro-spective while never straining for style points or wallowing in sentiment. It’s the kind of writing you read twice, not to get a better understanding, but to better appreciate the man’s abilities. Chabon is a regular guy—except that he can expertly explain himself with smooth, embracing eloquence. The rest of us have to stick to the same old story. oPete Croatto is a New Jersey-based freelance writer.

Manhood for AmateursBy Michael ChabonHarper$25.99, 320 pagesISBN 9780061490187Also available on audio

There are so many big books coming out this month, we barely had room for them all! Check out the on-sale dates for these October blockblusters:

BESTSELLER WATCH

Pursuit of HonorBy Vince FlynnSimon & Schuster $27.99 ISBN 9781416595168

When a series of explosions devas-tates d.C., counter-terrorism operative Mitch Rapp is on the case.

The Scarpetta FactorBy Patricia CornwellPutnam, $27.99 ISBN 9780399156397

Kay Scarpetta faces a vicious killer and personal blackmail in the 17th thriller starring the forensic analyst.

True BlueBy David BaldacciGrand Central, $27.99 ISBN 9780446195515

A high-profile homicide sparks a dangerous chain of events for an all-new cast of characters in Baldacci’s latest legal thriller.

How to Raise the Perfect DogBy Cesar MillanCrown, $25.99 ISBN 9780307461292

The famed “dog Whisperer”on how to raise the perfect dog and prevent behavior issues before they start.

The Queen MotherBy William ShawcrossKnopf, $40, ISBN 9781400043040

The official and definitive biog-raphy of the most beloved British monarch of the 20th century.

SuperFreakonomicsBy Steven D. levitt and Stephen J. DubnerMorrow, $29.99 ISBN 9780060889579

levitt and dubner are back with a “freakquel” to their hugely popular book exposing the riddles and para-doxes of our everyday lives.

13FICTION NONFICTION

6

20

27

20

20


university ofnorth carolina

Press

hard

cove

r, $

35 I

SBN

978

0807

8332

54

hard

cove

r, $

35 I

SBN

978

0807

8327

38

hard

cove

r, $

25 I

SBN

978

0807

8329

43

hard

cove

r, $

30 I

SBN

978

0807

8326

15

During the 1960s and 1970s, folklorist William Ferris toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting African Ameri-cans as they spoke about and performed musical traditions that form the authentic roots of the blues. Illustrated with Ferris’s photographs Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues features more than 20 interviews and includes a CD and DVD.

The Price of Defiance by Charles W. Eagles is indisputably the definitive history of James H. Meredith’s historic desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962. Eagles’s detailed and compelling account of one of the landmark events in the African American freedom struggle is scholarly history of prize-winning quality.”—David J. Garrow

“This sweet book is more than recipes. Every dish has per-sonality beyond its taste thanks to colorful introductions by Foy Allen Edelman that include notes from the cook whose recipe it is. These extra ingredients add flavor that makes Sweet Carolina a joy to read as well as tempting to cook from.”—Jane and Michael Stern

Michael F. Allen analyzes the effects that activism by POW and MIA families had on U.S. politics before and after the Vietnam War’s official end in Until the Last Man Comes Home. He argues that this activism prolonged hostility even as the search for the missing became the basis for closer ties between the two countries in the 1990s.

wearing Bermuda shorts and sandals. He just looked like a goof-ball! I didn’t think that was allowed! I thought he slept in a robe. Here he was, saying, come into my world, it’s not that strange.”

The rabbi helps reconnect the author with his faith through exchanges like this:

“But so many people wage wars in God’s name.

‘God,’ the Reb scolded, ‘does not want such killings to go on.’

Then why hasn’t it stopped?He lifted his eyebrows.‘Because man does.’ ”Between Saturdays with Albert,

Albom skillfully weaves in a second narrative about Henry Covington, whose journey through a hellish youth of poverty and drug addic-tion ultimate led him to establish the I Am My Brother’s Keeper ministry and homeless shelter in Detroit’s inner city.

When Albom drops by the church to write a feature story, he finds a ministry held together by faith and charity but little else. A gaping hole in the church roof ul-timately forced the congregation to construct a makeshift tent of plas-tic sheeting in one corner to enable services to be held.

Covington’s courage and his congregation’s dedication nudged Albom to an ecumenical awaken-ing.

“Before I started going through all this, I did not like it when other people started talking about their religion, especially if it wasn’t mine. I felt almost offended; don’t push what you believe on me, you know?

And when people of my own faith talked about it, I was kind of embarrassed, too: don’t overdo this, don’t call attention to your-self. I felt uncomfortable in both directions,” he says.

“But I don’t anymore. I realized that you can be around people of faith and you don’t have to turn into a zombie. You don’t have to eat communion wafers or put on a yarmulke. It’s just one el-ement of people’s lives and you can talk to them about it and celebrate it.”

Though Have a Little Faith was eight years in the making, Al-bom admits its message could not be more timely.

“I do think it’s fortuitous. When times get tough and money disappears and people get fired and the things you assumed were going to be there forever are not there, you start to drift back to something you once had and you wonder why you let it go in the first place,” he says.

Albom uses his success to power three charities: A Time to Heal, which focuses on community projects; The Dream Fund, which provides scholarships for underserved children; and S.A.Y. (Super All Year) Detroit, which serves the needs of the homeless.

But Albom refuses to take the credit, or to use his success to promote himself.

“My attitude, for better or worse since these books started to become what they’ve become, is I’m happy for them, I embrace them, but I don’t need to change who I am. I like who I am here. I don’t need to leave Detroit and go and try to elevate myself. I live in the same house, we have the same phone number and I have the same job as I did before Tuesdays with Morrie.”

Would he wish a little faith upon his hapless Detroit Lions?“Yeah,” he chuckles, “along with a little defense.” o

Jay MacDonald writes faithfully from Austin, Texas.

By JAy MacDonALD

S uccess hasn’t gone to Mitch Albom’s head. It’s gone to his heart. Fifteen years ago, Albom was already the best-known sportswriter in Detroit, having worked his

way into the majors by writing for Sports Illustrated and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He would go on to conquer other media as a radio talk show host, ESPN analyst, screenwriter and playwright.

Successful? Sure. But fulfilled? Not so much.

“I was sort of living neutrally; you’re not in reverse and you’re not in drive,” he says, choosing an apt Motor City metaphor. “If you would have asked my position on faith, I wouldn’t have said I was an atheist or agnostic; of course I believe in God and I was raised with the faith and that’s it. But if you drilled down a little further and asked how often do you go to service? Uh, once a year. How often do you get involved in anything having to do with your faith? Never. How often do you pick up a Bible and read through it? Never.”

In 1995, in quick succession, he married Janine Sabino and recon-nected with Morrie Schwartz, his former college professor who was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The life lessons learned from his dying mentor would form the basis for Tuesdays with Morrie, which spent an astounding four years on the new york Times bestseller list.

Morrie did more than catapult Mitch to fame and fortune (part of which he used to pay off Morrie’s medical bills). It also threw open de-serted locker rooms in his heart.

“Tuesdays with Morrie kind of pushed me in the direction to begin examining a bigger picture of life than just making money and accomplishing things,” Albom admits in a telephone inter-view.

Following a couple of inspirational novels (The Five People you Meet in Heaven; For one More Day), Albom hits one out of the park once again with Have a Little Faith: A True Story, which grew from the author’s close encounters with two remarkable men of very different faiths.

Have a Little Faith opens with an unusual request. An aging Albert Lewis, who had been Albom’s rabbi growing up in subur-ban New Jersey, asks his successful congregant to write his eulogy. To do so properly, Albom must get to know the man behind the vestments, little knowing it would take eight years to prepare for the inevitable.

As Albom makes pilgrimages to “the Reb’s” suburban home for Morrie-like visits, he slowly grows to love and understand the

man he had feared as a kid—a loving husband and father who suffered the loss of a daughter yet remained un-shakable in his faith.

“When I knocked on his door the first time, he opened it and he was

COVER STORY

Leap of faithFor Mitch Albom, midlife doubts spark a spiritual journey

Have a Little FaithBy Mitch Albom

Hyperion$23.99, 272 pages

ISBN 9780786868728Also available on audio

“When times get tough, you start

to drift back to something you

once had and you wonder why

you let it go in the first place.”

mitch aLbom © G

LEN

N t

RiES

t


FICTION

Back to DraculaBy EvE ZiBart

The month of Halloween brings us Dracula the Un-Dead, a bone-chilling sequel to the classic and the latest in the clas-sic novel revisionist craze. This continuation of Bram Stok-er’s Victorian thriller isn’t just family-sanctioned, it’s co-writ-ten by a family member. With the assistance of Ian Holt, a Dracula documentarian, historian and screenwriter, the Un-Dead was created by Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of Bram, who claims parts of the novel are based on material cut from the original Dracula and Bram’s own notes.

the Un-Dead rejoins the band of friends and lovers who survived the original novel—Mina and Jonathan, Seward, Holmwood, even Van Helsing—now 25 years after the pur-ported demise of Dracula. Over the years they have each faced disappointment and drifted apart, but they are brought back together when it appears that those who once hunted Dracula have now become the hunted. Someone—or some-thing—is out to get them. Could it be that Dracula himself survived and is back for revenge, or might it be something even more sinister?

In a way, it seems likely that Dacre Stoker has been waiting his entire lifetime to resuscitate and reimagine the immortal prince. In the Un-Dead, Stoker and Holt have assembled an all-star cast highlighting the key players and events throughout history, weav-ing in Jack the Ripper, the Count-ess Bathory and her centuries-old rivalry with Vlad Tepes (the his-torical inspiration for Dracula), the burning of the Lyceum, the voyage of the titanic and yes, even Bram Stoker himself. In-deed, the cameos and tributes—as clever and playful as they may be—are at times so numerous that they risk overwhelming the plot itself. Additionally, there are a few historical slips that will trip up vampire diehards, for ex-ample the erroneous statement that Vlad is short for Vladi-mir, rather than Vladislav, which was actually the historical prince’s real name.

Since Dracula is often viewed as a creature symbolizing lust and unquenched desire, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Un-Dead owes as much in tone to contemporary ro-mance novels as to the post-Anne Rice vampire epics. The eroticism that merely coils beneath the surface of Dracula is overt here, complete with actual bodice-ripping. The vio-lence is also more explicit, befitting a more modern audi-ence, and ramps up throughout the course of the novel. At times it verges on gruesome, but thankfully touches of hu-mor, however dark, manage to save these scenes and offer the appropriate respite. At one point in the novel, a man feels the strong urge to vomit upon realizing he has been gutted, but then of course he remembers that he (quite literally) no longer has the stomach for such action.

As for the prose itself, the initial attempt to capture the Vic-torian style of writing embodied in a letter from Mina to her son is a bit clunky; however readers who persevere through this experiment in writing will ultimately be rewarded with a breathless narrative rife with twists and turns. The writing is spirited, if not inspired, and the story will quickly capture readers’ interests and imaginations. the Un-Dead is a slow boil that eventually builds up a good deal of steam and am-bient mist, although perhaps a “red fog” would be more apt. Apparently it’s true what they say: it’s hard to keep a good vampire down! oEve Zibart was born on Halloween, and her license plate reads “vampyr.”

Dracula The Un-DeadBy Dacre Stoker with Ian HoltDutton, $26.95, 432 pagesISBN 9780525951292

HALLOWEEN

A curious quartet for the spooky seasonBy MicHaEl alEc rosE

B eneath all the fun, Halloween upholds its spooky essence. On a single October night, we celebrate the darkest side of ourselves:

our fundamental desire to transcend our natures, to exceed mortal limits, to claim unwarranted power. We let our children don horrific masks and gather loot from neighbors whom they barely see for the rest of the year. As a community, we gleefully become monsters.

Deeper and more durable than trick-or-treating are the delights of ghost stories and horror tales. So many of the classic works in the genre, Frankenstein and Dracula above all, set into high gear the un-bridled Halloween impulse to break through the bonds of mortality and assume mastery over life and death. Under the sway of Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker, we seize for real the power to which Victor Frankenstein and Count Dracula fictitiously pre-tend. Inert matter (ink on a page) comes to shock-ing life, and that which is dead (the author, for one thing) is summoned from the grave to haunt us and feed upon the lifeblood of our imaginations.

Year in and year out, the horrors are told and retold, retuned, rediscovered and revamped (or re-vampired). The books recommended here offer a splendid quartet of such variations.

A monster collaboration Most diehard fans of Mary Shelley’s Franken-

stein come to it in its third edition of 1831. Now, English professor Charles Robinson rips away the veil of the novel’s origins and takes us back to the thrilling night in 1816 when two of the greatest liv-ing poets—Lord Byron and Percy Shelley—joined in contest with Shelley’s wife Mary and their friend Dr. Polidori to devise the scariest ghost story. With-out any doubt, Mary took the laurel with her story of a “Modern Prometheus” and went on to expand the terrifying premise into her famous novel, first published in 1818.

So far, this history is common knowledge. But Professor Robinson digs yet deeper in The Origi-nal Frankenstein (Vintage, $14, 464 pages, ISBN 9780307474421). Through close ex-amination of the manuscripts, he has been able to determine that the novel came into being as a sustained and extraordinarily intimate collaboration between Mary and Percy, with Percy’s hand literally evident on almost ev-ery page. Feminists need not be con-cerned: Robinson’s research is not another patriarchal theft of a woman’s achievement. Indeed, the professor gives us Mary all on her own in the sec-ond half of his volume—two Frankensteins for the price of one—and it is clear that the wife’s raw, “unhusbanded” text is the more forceful one. But in the other text, Robinson allows us to bear wit-ness to a marriage of true minds. The inspiring col-laboration between Mary and Percy is the greatest possible antidote to Vic-tor Frankenstein’s solitary

and overweening ambition.

Rewriting history—and fictionPeter Ackroyd seeks no such remis-

sion from Dr. Frankenstein’s colossal error. On the contrary, the acclaimed British novelist and biographer swings the monstrous electrical lever of his fiction to its maximum position, com-mitting every conceivable historical outrage in the process. Leave it to this most distinguished living biographer of British poets to fabricate such a de-

lectable conflation of history and imaginative literature. In Ackroyd’s The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (Nan A. Talese $26.95, 368 pages, ISBN 9780385530842), the infamous narrator becomes the inseparable chum of (who else?) Percy Shelley at Oxford, and Mary comes to love Victor as a trusted friend. The Shelleys in-

advertently abet Victor’s unholy investigations into the founding principle of life, and in the end—ha! Did you think I would tell you? However inured you may think you are to the shocks of horror fiction, Ackroyd will violate your defenses with his diabolical intelligence and his uncanny empathy for both real-life and imaginary characters.

The vampire authorityAnyone who has had the good fortune to visit

Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop in Manhat-tan knows what a paradoxically overpopulated and uncluttered paradise he has created for book lovers. The very same qualities inform Penzler’s work as an editor. His latest collection, The Vampire Archives (Vintage, $25, 1056 pages, ISBN 9780307473899), presents an unprecedented cornucopia of stories, ranging from pure pulp (Stephen King) to high art (D.H. Lawrence). Even so, the experience of reading the anthology feels like a walk in a beautifully land-

scaped cemetery, perfectly laid out with varying tactile delights and far vistas. The gigantic bulk of this book is counterbalanced by its lucid edito-rial touches, including a 110-page bib-liography of vampire literature.

Sibling love gone awryDouglas Clegg has been busy

building his own 21st-century em-pire of supernatural fiction (check out his state-of-the-art website). His latest novel, Isis (Vanguard, $14.95, 128 pages, ISBN 9781593155407), is a feat of old-fashioned storytelling.

When 16-year-old Iris Villiers loses her beloved older brother in a tragic accident, she will do al-most anything to get him back. But, as any wise reader knows, summoning the dead back to Earth against their will often has grave consequences. This brief chiller should be read aloud, in a happy company ready to be distressed, while a surplus of Halloween candy sweetens Clegg’s bitter little mas-terpiece. oMichael alec rose is a composer who teaches at vanderbilt University’s Blair school of Music.


Can true love defeat the family curse?Or are the sexy Corwin cousins destined to lose

their women and their fortunes…?

A SIZZLING NEW TRILOGY FROM NEW YORK TIMES

AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Available now wherever books are sold!

978-0-373-77331-2

978-0-373-77375-6

978-0-373-77401-2

www.HQNBooks.com

MEMOIR

Andy Williams: nice guy makes goodBy Pat H. Broeske

His very name brings to mind Squaresville—thanks to that pressed white collar worn over the ubiquitous sweater, his Midwestern, nice-guy demeanor and songs that are nev-er going to burn down the house. But give Andy Williams credit: he’s worked long and hard to make things look, feel and sound so darn easy.

The man with the mellow tenor tells how it was done—charting the good times and the bad—in the impressively detailed and introspective Moon river and Me.

It’s no milquetoast memoir. Anecdotes are candid: Sina-tra’s cruelty; Lawrence Welk’s puritanism; those innocent young Osmonds; Judy Garland forgetting the lyrics to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”; Williams’ affair with the much older Kay Thompson. Owning up to his failings, Wil-liams was such an absentee husband and father that one of their kids didn’t even notice when he and wife Claudine Longet divorced. Longet was later embroiled in a scandal involving the shooting death of her skier lover; Williams stood by throughout the ordeal. That’s the closest he’s come to negative press, though he’s been in the presence of trag-edy: he was at the Ambassador Hotel the night close friend Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

Now 81, he’s been performing since childhood, when his determined father created the Williams Brothers quartet. He was eight when the group segued from church socials and weddings, in their hometown of Wall Lake, Iowa, to a Des Moines radio show.

Williams and his brothers went from radio to movies (bit parts at MGM, in the heyday of musicals) to ritzy Man-hattan club dates. Finally, Williams went solo, playing small clubs, the county fair circuit, gigs in Vegas and Tahoe, before moving to the recording studio (shrewdly, Williams even became a label owner), television, concerts, and on to Branson, Missouri, where today he entertains audiences at his own theater, named for his signature tune, “Moon River.” Now that’s a career. No wonder Williams suddenly seems very cool. Even when he’s wearing those sweaters. oJournalist-biographer Pat H. Broeske’s favorite Williams tune is “Dear Heart,” from the 1964 movie of the same name.

Moon River and Me By Andy Williams Viking$25.95, 320 pagesISBN 9780670021178Also available on audio

NONFICTION

Patterson’s first foray into historyBy Martin BraDy

Best-selling author James Patterson has multiple manuscripts on the drawing board at any given time, but when he decided to write about King Tut, Patterson suspended all projects and teamed up with respected journalist Martin Dugard to craft this “nonfic-tion thriller” that aims to unravel an age-old mystery.

the Murder of king tut: the Plot to kill the Child king es-sentially divides into two alternating historical sections, with scenes shifting readily from 1492 B.C. (with the Tut lineage, life and death outlined) to the first decades of the 20th cen-tury, when excavator/Egyptologist par excellence Howard Carter finally discovered the young monarch’s elusive tomb. Patterson and Dugard exploit their own extensive research into the available historical facts, then extrapolate accord-ingly, coming to dramatic conclusions that fly in the face of some official speculations. The Tut story emerges as the fic-tionalized true-crime aspect of the book, while the accounts of the eccentric but determined Carter are based on more readily verifiable facts.

With a simple storytelling style that proves accessible whether focusing on the factual or fanciful, the authors ef-fectively portray the exotic ancient world, including colorful insights into Tut’s brief reign and the soap-opera-like events of his rise and fall, especially as involves his stepmother Nefertiti and his marriage to his half-sister Ankhesenpaat-en. The Carter story evokes the atmosphere of an Indiana Jones movie (but without the violence). Occasionally, Pat-terson interrupts his two-pronged tale to fill his readers in on certain elements of the writing and research process, these tidbits shedding some light on his passion for getting at the truth about Tut’s fate.

Patterson is due to return in November with a new Alex Cross novel; in the mean-time, this deft blend of antiquity and whodunit should interest his many fans. oMartin Brady writes from nashville.

The Murder of King TutBy James Patterson & Martin DugardLittle, Brown$26.99, 352 pagesISBN 9780316034043


“O’Donohue deftly weaves clever crime-solving with valuable quilting tips.”

—Publishers Weekly

A s O m e D A y Q u i l t s m y s t e r y

PLUMEPenguin Group (USA) Inc.www.penguin.com

HISTORICAL FICTION

John Bell Hood’s tormented journeyBy Amy ScriBner

Part historical novel, part love letter to New Orleans, A Separate country is the re-markable new novel by Robert Hicks, author of the bestseller The Widow of the South. Based on the real life of Confederate General John Bell Hood, the novel imagines Hood in the years after the war, crippled and trying to find peace despite his infamy. He ends up in New Orleans, a city both beautiful and corrupt, peaceful and filled with the cacophony of drinking, gambling and any other vice one can dream up.

Hood sets up shop as a cotton trader, but without any real business skills, he fails quickly. He spends years trying to write a book in defense of his war experiences, but his only real success is in marrying Anna Marie Hennan, a young Creole woman he meets at a ball: “I saw that if I had gone through my life intent on the ugly and difficult (as I had!), shedding every delicate and perfect part of my soul like so many raindrops, Anna Marie must have followed behind me gathering what I sloughed off so that one day I might sit in a ballroom in New Orleans and see for myself what I had lost.”

After several happy but increasingly impoverished years during which they have 11 children, Anna Marie and the Hoods’ oldest daughter, Lydia, die during a Yellow Fever epi-demic. Hood, himself stricken with fever, calls his friend Eli to his deathbed and gives him the manuscript of a book he’s written—one not about war but about his life after the war. Eli also discovers Anna Marie’s secret journals, and he pieces together the story of their extraordinary, tough life together.

Hicks once again delivers a lovely, richly detailed tale pulled partly from history, partly from his own imagination. He captures the enchanting, dark, humid soul of post-war New Orleans, a time when anything was possible but nothing—at least for one Confederate—was easy. oAmy Scribner writes from Olympia, Washington.

A Separate CountryBy Robert HicksGrand Central$25.99, 432 pagesISBN 9780446581646Also available on audio

FICTION

Atwood revisits the apocalypseBy STephenie hArriSOn

Oryx & crake fans rejoice! Margaret Atwood triumphantly returns with The year of the Flood, in which readers are once more catapulted into the smoking embers of a world that faintly echoes our own. After centuries of rampant moral and environmental exploi-tation, the Earth has been decimated—perhaps beyond repair—by a “waterless flood,” one that comes in the form of a plague and leaves few survivors standing.

The year of the Flood occurs in parallel with Oryx & crake, meaning the two books can be read in any order. This time, we trace the fall of the human race through the eyes of two female narrators, Toby and Ren. When the flood hit, these two women were members of God’s Gardeners, an organi-zation focused on sustainability, its principles founded in early Christian scripture updated with a modern-day vegan twist. Through interwoven, retrospective narratives, Toby and Ren share how they each came to join the Gardeners, and how they witnessed the eventual crumble and collapse of civilization. Living as they do in a world where health-care corporations are actively spreading disease so they can profit from providing the cures, prisoners are sentenced to Battle Royale-style death matches in which winners get their freedom, and losers are brutally slaughtered, and the only animals to walk the Earth are genetically engineered splices, it is only too easy to appreciate Atwood’s indictment of our own 21st-century world.

At times this skewering can feel heavy-handed, as if the storytelling has taken a backseat to environmental and cor-porate whistle-blowing, but even so, no one can deny that Atwood’s message remains chilling, timely and necessary. For all the portents of doom and destruction caused by our own hands, Atwood is at her very best when she is focusing on the human struggle to survive, despite the odds. Above all else, readers will be moved by Toby and Ren’s story; in a strange land, these women feel like family. The year of the Flood is sure to thrill fans of speculative fiction, while also converting an entirely new wave of Atwood devotees. oStephenie harrison writes from nashville.

The Year of the FloodBy Margaret AtwoodNan A. Talese$26.95, 448 pagesISBN 9780385528771Also available on audio

FICTION

Grief and awakening on Mt. KenyaBy elizA BOrné

There comes a point in Anita Shreve’s latest novel, A change in Altitude, when we start to wonder when the plagues are coming—the succession of unfortunate events that befall the protagonist are that bad. It would ruin the plot to describe exactly what she must withstand, but suffice it to say that there is death, looting, political corruption and strands of adultery. It is a testament to Shreve’s storytelling that this soap opera of disaster does not come off sounding contrived. In fact, prepare to cancel all your appointments as you race through this dramatic saga set during Kenya in the late 1970s.

Americans Margaret and Patrick are in Kenya for Patrick’s work; a physician, he is researching equatorial diseases at Nairobi Hospital and offering free clinics around the coun-try. When the novel starts, the couple has been married for five months. Margaret, a 28-year-old photographer, is eager to find something to do while her husband works at the hos-pital. She is eventually hired as a freelance photographer for the Kenya morning Tribune (which, in a moment of rather visceral foreshadowing, is first introduced to us as the blood-soaked wrapper of dinner’s horsemeat.)

With two other couples, Margaret and Patrick go on a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya. The group is mis-matched in terms of climbing experience and marital hap-piness, and one of the climbing party’s rage and desire to show off causes a terrible accident. Guilt haunts Margaret for the remainder of the novel, and her marriage with Patrick becomes fragile and pained. It becomes a tremendous effort for them to “break through the clot that was thickening just below the surface of their civility and pleasantries.”

Shreve, whose novel The pilot’s Wife was a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, can get cheesy with her flowery prose. (“He took her hand. He often took Margaret’s hand, in public as well as in private. It meant, i am suddenly thinking of you.”) This time, we can forgive Shreve the melodrama because the story is so enthralling. The mountains Margaret must climb—literally, and figuratively—are difficult ones. Readers will be eager to learn if she successfully scales the peak. oeliza Borné writes from nashville. The highest “mountain” she has ever climbed was in a state park in Arkansas.

A Change in AltitudeBy Anita ShreveLittle, Brown$26.99, 320 pagesISBN 9780316020701 Also available on audio


Let’s hear it for the girls This is a big month for the women of mystery, whose entries in Whodunit? out-

number their male counterparts’ by three-to-one. First up is Sara Paretsky, whose V.I. Warshawski series has entertained readers for the better part of two decades. Her latest, Hardball (Putnam, $26.95, 464 pages, ISBN 9780399155932), is the first War-

shawski novel since 2005’s Fire Sale. Hardball finds our Chicago private eye hard at work at the most thankless of detecting jobs—tracing a long-missing person. This case promises to be exceptionally thorny, in that the subject, Lamont Gadden, a black activist, has been missing since the Chicago riots of 1966, fol-lowing a controversial speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A homicide took place in the crowd that fateful day, and Gadden subsequently disappeared, never to be seen

or heard from again. As the case develops, Warshawski makes two startling discoveries: 1) there are powerful folks who, for some reason, badly want this case to go away; and 2) her beloved deceased father, by most ac-counts a stand-up cop, was one of the arresting officers of the aforementioned murder suspect, and was appar-ently involved in the torture-induced confession that followed. (I should note here that the torture technique known as waterboarding sounds pretty tame in comparison to what is outlined here—let the faint of heart be warned.) Paretsky’s outspoken political views on events both past and present will engage like-minded readers, and likely enrage those of the opposing camp, but it cannot be denied that she is a storyteller of the first order.

A killer returnsInspector Wexford returns in Ruth Rendell’s latest,

The Monster in the Box (Scribner, $26, 304 pages, ISBN 9781439150337). A chain of seemingly unrelated mur-ders hits close to the Wexford home when the family’s elderly gardener is slain for no apparent reason. Wexford suspects a wealthy self-made businessman, Eric Targo, who happened to be in the vicinity of the scenes of a pair of homicides early in Wexford’s career. He has no proof against Targo, and when he articulates his reason-ing, even to himself, it sounds painfully thin. His biggest reason for suspicion is that the murders stopped when

the man moved away years ago, and they resumed shortly after he moved back to Wexford’s town. Still, the nagging feeling will not go away. Moreover, Targo knows that he is the subject of Wexford’s scrutiny, and he misses no chance to taunt and ir-ritate the usually taciturn inspector. And so the cat and mouse game begins, although at times it is difficult to tell just which one is the cat and which the mouse, especially when Targo’s prized pet lion escapes his private menagerie and goes on the rampage, terrorizing the local townspeople. Rendell is in fine form (when hasn’t she been?), as is Wexford, and The Monster in the Box will undoubtedly (and justifiably) rise quickly on bestseller lists both here and in the U.K.

A pretext for murderThe lone male presence in this month’s column (be-

sides, of course, mine) is that of British author Mark Billingham, whose Death Message (Harper, $25.99, 464 pages, ISBN 9780061432750) serves up one of the more original premises in recent memory: a killer sends a text message to police inspector Tom Thorne shortly before each new murder, with a photo or video of his prey in the moments before their deaths. We learn the killer’s identity early on, as does the police inspector, but there is precious little that can be done either to apprehend the suspect or to prevent further killings, as the perpetrator is both clever and motivated. His victims are those he sees as having wronged him, landing him in jail for a crime he did not commit, and then arranging for the “accidental” deaths of his girlfriend and young son. So far, his tally includes a couple of scruffy motorcycle gang leaders and a pair of bent cops, arguably no great loss to society as a whole, but Thorne is chilled to the bone by the identity of the next victim: his friend and co-worker, pathologist Phil Kendricks. Somehow, Thorne must stray far afield of normal police protocols to engage the killer on his own turf, risking both his career and his life in the process. Death Mes-sage is just the ticket for the compulsive page-turner, and it will be the rare reader indeed who can resist skipping ahead to see who will be the last man standing! o

BY BRUCE TIERNEY

WHODUNIT?

www.MIRABooks.com • www.AlexKava.com

FBI profi lerMaggie O’Dell

discovers a specialbrand of terror—made in the USA.

“Kava peppers the breathlessaction with enough intel to

make the premise scarily real.”—Publishers Weekly

(starred review)

New York Timesand USA TODAY

bestselling author

On sale now.

09_263_BP_BlackFriday.indd 1 8/31/09 4:36:31 PM

Mystery of the monthModern mysteries, unlike their early 20th-century counterparts, tend to

identify the villain early on (see examples in my column, at left), then go on to show how the clever detective sorts through clues (and red herrings) to reach the same conclusion that has already been revealed to the reader. That is, of course, not a hard and fast rule, but it seems to be the case nowadays more often than not. Sophie Hannah’s suspense novels, by contrast, reach back to the days of Agatha Christie, where the identity of the miscreant is hidden un-til the final pages of the book. Hannah’s latest, The Wrong Mother (Penguin, $15, 432 pages, ISBN 9780143116301), spins the tale of Sally Thorning, a none-too-likable working mom, and her strange, al-beit libidinous, encounter with businessman Mark Bretherick while on holiday. The tryst was to be a one-time affair, as both were (purportedly) hap-pily married, and indeed, a year has gone by with-out further contact. Then one day, out of the blue, Sally hears Mark’s name on the news; his wife and daughter have been brutally murdered, and there is one other troubling fact: the person pictured on the news program is not the man she knows as Mark Bretherick. His wife and daughter have the same names as her Rendezvous Romeo, his address is the same; everything matches but the face. She can’t very well go to the police with this information, as she has never confessed her amorous sins to her husband, so an anonymous note to the authorities would seem to be the order of the day. No good deed goes unpunished, as they say, and Sally soon finds herself a victim of attempted murder (a creative attempt at that, pushed from a crowded sidewalk into the path of a moving bus). Woven into the story are the final entries of the dead woman’s diary, a deeply disturbing narrative markedly at odds with her report-edly happy life. The Wrong Mother is an un-put-downable read, and as a $15 paperback, the bargain mystery of the year! o

—BRUCE TIERNEY


New in PaperbackFrom the bestselling author of The Island comes a new novel of civil war, flamenco, and Spanish passion.

A fascinating debut novel

from art historian Sheramy

Bundrick, about the passionate,

unquiet life of Vincent Van Gogh.

Visit www.BookClubGirl.com, a blog dedicated to sharing great books, news and tips with book club girls everywhere.

# 1 I N T E R N A T I O N A L B E S T S E L L E R“A cracking historical romance mixed with a dash of family secrets and a splash of female self-discovery.” —Time Out London

A N O v E L

v I C T O R I A H I S L O PBestselling author of The Island

HOLOCAUST

Finding the real Anne FrankBy James summerville

Hers is a face recognized around the world, 65 years after her death in one of Hitler’s concentration camps. Because her picture survived, she stands for the faceless millions who were herded, stripped, whipped and forced into the gas chambers. Her personal struggle came to life in the journal she kept while her family hid in a cramped attic from the Nazi patrols.

In anne Frank: The Book, The life, The afterlife, novelist Francine Prose aims to rescue Anne Frank from the myth-makers of Broadway and Hollywood, who turned her story into a “universal” one about tolerance and human good-ness. She excoriates the play and the film, which portrayed a naïve nitwit and downplayed Anne’s Jewishness.

Prose sends us back instead to Anne’s book, The Diary of a young Girl, insisting on Anne’s prodigious literary gifts, her religious faith and her understanding of the devils who had taken over Europe. With extensive quotes and para-phrases from the attic chronicle, she calls attention to the teen’s powers of observation. Especially noteworthy are the depiction of her parents and others who shared the closed cramped space, Anne’s blooming puberty—and the fear of discovery, arrest and death.

Still, says Prose, the proof of Frank’s genius is her ca-pacity for revision. Anne reworked her daily entries to sharpen, clarify or set in relief details of the quotidian life under the eaves. Prose writes, “Anne can render a moment in which everyone is talking simultaneously, acting or re-acting, an example of barely contained chaos that poses a challenge for even the practiced writer.”

The most compelling chapters of this study are “the afterlife.” Otto Frank, Anne’s father, recovered the diary and saw it into publication, which made him a wealthy man. But the saccharine adaptations from it falsified the profundity of Anne’s work, according to Prose. The book, and only the book, can depict a brilliant young writer’s acute observation of a world gone mad. oJim summerville writes from Dickson, Tennessee.

Anne FrankBy Francine ProseHarper$24.99, 336 pagesISBN 9780061430794

CULTURE

The downside of positive thinkingBy reBecca sTeiniTz

What could possibly be wrong with being positive? A lot of things, says Barbara Eh-renreich, in her articulate and deftly argued new book, Bright-sided: How the relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has undermined america.

Ehrenreich employs her usual mix of research, personal anecdote and incisive commentary to demolish the claims of positive thinking. Known popularly as the Law of Attraction, and promoted by books like The secret and motivational speakers like Tony Robbins, positive thinking holds that our thoughts shape our reality, and optimism, confidence and affirma-tion are the route to health, wealth and happiness.

Tracing the roots of what she terms this “mass delusion” to Emerson, Christian Science and the 19th-century New Thought movement, Ehrenreich reveals how contempo-rary America’s focus on positive thinking has set us up for failure by obscuring our material realities, blinding us to risk and fomenting a self-blame which ignores the delete-rious actions of others (like corporate raiders who sanc-tion layoffs in search of increased profits).

According to Ehrenreich, positive thinking has perme-ated our society, taking over medicine, corporate America, religion and even academia, where the new—and unprov-en—field of positive psychology is putting a scholarly spin on self-help. Whether she is eviscerating the purported evidence that good attitude helps breast cancer patients survive (it doesn’t), or lampooning the empty claims of motivational speakers, Ehrenreich is clear-eyed and im-pervious to cant as she pursues her prey.

Like any polemic, Bright-sided occasionally overreaches, especially when Ehren-reich blames the Iraq war and the current economic collapse on positive thinking run amok—such large-scale events never have a single cause. Overall, though, Ehrenreich offers a convincing critique and an alternative route to happiness that resonates in these difficult times. orebecca steinitz is a writer in arlington, massachusetts.

Bright-SidedBy Barbara EhrenreichMetropolitan$23, 2456 pagesISBN 9780805087499Also available on audio


Though echoes of Edgar Allan Poe can be heard throughout Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger says, “The books I’m con-sciously modeling on are Wilkie Collins’ Woman in White and Henry James’ Turn of the Screw and Portrait of a Lady.” She ac-knowledges that other influences may be at play as well, “All sorts of things creep in there, and you don’t even realize it, ” with “creep” being the operative word here. The book is as entertain-

ing as it is unsettling (albeit in a titillat-ing sort of way).

“I think people who haven’t read much 19th-century fiction might find this thing a bit odd because the ratio-nale for certain plot turns and char-acter traits comes from the existence of previous characters and previous plots,” muses Niffenegger.

“People kept telling me that Julia and Valentina seemed unnaturally kind of wrapped in cotton,” she says. “For con-temporary girls, it’s ridiculous. I think people were perplexed by it.” She likens them to “every Henry James heroine who emerges out of nothing and goes to the old country and has these com-plicated experiences.”

Elspeth’s character also harkens back to other tales of the arabesque. “In ghost literature, the ghosts are of-ten described as being hungry and cold and desperate to get close to people for the warmth; and there’s this sense that they really aren’t people anymore, and they don’t have the full range of human emotions . . . so the longer Elspeth’s been dead, the less she empathizes . . . she just gets more and more selfish”—a truth evidenced in the book’s chilling denouement.

For Niffenegger, delving into the supernatural wasn’t a way to explore questions of a metaphysical or spiri-

tual nature, but a literary conceit, a way to tell a story—while paying homage to some of the great ghosts of literature.

She says, “If you look at both of my novels, you see that there is no God. I’m a total skeptic, which doesn’t mean that I object to other people believing anything they want to believe. In the case of Time Traveler, there’s no purpose and no control to Henry’s time traveling, and he’s just kind of like a ping pong ball, ponging around. With the characters in Fearful Symmetry, they all have this kind of vague, modern tiny bit of religion, but they’re really secular people, all of them.”

Of the phenomenal popularity of Time Traveler, Niffenegger says simply, “It’s crazy.” She imagined that the book would be published by a small press (which it originally was), for a small audience. “I never expected the book club phenomenon,” which she cites as the main factor in the novel’s success. She says she hasn’t seen the film version and doesn’t plan to. “The movie be-longs to the people who made the movie. All the decisions were their decisions, and they had complete control over it. . . . I de-cided to preserve my own experience with my own book.”

Niffenegger teaches art at Columbia College in Chicago and published two illustrated novels prior to Her Fearful Symmetry. Asked if she considered illustrating Her Fearful Symmetry, she of-fers a definitive “no,” and adds, “The great thing about just words is that you can leave these empty spaces that people will fill.”

While it’s true that English lit buffs will relish the many literary allusions and Victorianisms in Her Fearful Symmetry, you don’t have to be an English major to enjoy this spellbinding story, solid proof that Niffenegger’s ascending star is burning bright. oKatherine Wyrick writes from her home in Little Rock.

By KaTHeRine WyRicK

A utomatic writing, homemade ouija boards, body snatching, mistaken identity—these are but a few of the spooky pleasures that await the reader of Her Fearful

Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger’s latest novel.Six years after her wildly successful book The Time Traveler’s

Wife, Niffenegger returns with a riveting contemporary ghost story set in the environs of London’s famed Highgate Cemetery, the final resting place of Karl Marx and George Eliot, among other luminaries.

Her Fearful Symmetry (the title is an allusion to William Blake’s poem “The Tiger”) is the story of mirror-image twins, Julia and Valentina, who share a preternaturally intense bond. Their aunt Elspeth, their mother’s twin whom they’ve never met, dies of can-cer and bequeaths to them her flat in London with the stipulation that they live there for a year. Before this sudden windfall, the twins have been some-what adrift; neither seems to have any desire to finish college or to leave the home they share with their parents in a quiet Chicago suburb. Their indolence might be typical of many an American 20-year-old, but these girls are any-thing but typical.

They move to Elspeth’s apartment, on the outskirts of Highgate, and come to know the building’s other inhabit-ants—Martin, a charming crossword puzzle creator suffering from crip-pling obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Robert, Elspeth’s bereaved lover and a scholar of the cemetery. As their lives become intertwined, they soon discover that the building houses an-other resident—the recently deceased Elspeth.

Niffenegger spoke to BookPage from her Chicago home shortly before she departed on another trip to London.

The author says she first traveled to London to visit Highgate in 1996 and had a “miraculous and amazing” experience that be-came the germ of Her Fearful Symmetry. She had been toying with an idea for a book that somehow involved a cemetery, but wasn’t sure exactly what shape it would take. She had originally set the novel in her hometown of Chicago, but Highgate proved to be the perfect setting.

Having never lived in London, Niffenegger spent a fair amount of time conducting research at the British Library and getting in-volved with the cemetery, where she is now a guide.

She says writing this book was completely different than writ-ing Time Traveler. “For one thing, with Time Traveler, I just sort of exuberantly jumped in and started doing it because I’d never done any kind of novel before.” For her new novel, she was deter-mined not to recreate the same thing or revisit the same territory. “I thought maybe I could teach myself to write a different kind of

book, and so on a technical level there were a lot of things I had to learn to do. . . . I had to start consciously analyzing and reading from other books.”

INTERVIEW

A family hauntingFollow-up to ‘Time Traveler’s Wife’ delivers chills and thrills

Her Fearful SymmetryBy Audrey Niffenegger

Scribner$26.99, 416 pages


A chilling tale of a mother’sunspeakable

betrayal

“Pure terror. . . . A nightmare come to life.” —Tana French,

author of In the Woods and The Likeness

Also AvailablefromPenguin

PENGUIN BOOKSA Member of Penguin Group (USA)

www.penguin.comwww.vpbookclub.com

new from sophie

hannah acclaimed author of little face

The author takes inspiration

from the great ghosts of

literature in crafting her

spooky new novel.

AUDREY NIFFENEGGER © S

TEPH

EN D

ESA

NTI

S


The best laid plansGeorge Dawes Green, out of the bestseller limelight for many years, has sur-

faced again with Ravens (Hachette Audio, $34.98, 9 hours unabridged, ISBN 9781600246258), a suspenseful cautionary tale that makes the oft-quoted, rarely

heeded biblical admonition that “the love of money is root of all evil” all too real. When Shaw McBride and Ro-meo Zderko, two prospectless, bored guys from Ohio, on their way Key West to jump-start their lives, stop at a con-venience store in Brunswick, Georgia, Shaw overhears a snippet of a cell phone call and sees a way to fortune and fame with a foolproof scam, backed by a chutzpah-laden dose of intimidation. The Boatwrights, an or-dinary Brunswick family, have just won the $316 million lottery jackpot,

but before the elation, let alone the reality, can set in, Shaw, the alpha male of this less-than-dynamic duo, is in their living room with an offer they can’t refuse—give me half your winnings or my blindly devoted, stop-at-nothing sidekick will start shoot-ing your extended family. True or just a clever ruse? The Boatwrights don’t know, but as the days go by, a strange combo of fear, greed, desire and power, plus Shaw’s newfound Messianic aspirations, brings them all to a dangerous place and an unsettling denouement. Narrators Robert Petkoff and Maggi-Meg Reed capture the voices and the roller-coaster emotions perfectly.

That je ne sais quoiWhat is it that French women have? What gives them that allure, that easy

edge in the savvy, sexy, smart department that we, in the great American melt-ing pot, can’t quite put our finger on? The answer to these conundrums are, at

last, to be found in Debra Ollivier’s sassy, clever, clear-eyed, informed new demythifying manual, What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind (Pen-guin Audio, $34.95, 7 hours unabridged, ISBN 9780143144502), which she reads with her own brand of joie de vivre. Ollivier, an American mar-ried to a Frenchman who has lived in Paris for over a decade, has the advantage of being a consum-mate insider with an outsider’s cool candor. She knows how to look at the oo-la-la stereotypes and tease out the reality, how to look at French women in the context of French culture—and she makes

you think about how you think about the essential matters of the heart and mind. Whether you want to go Gallic all the way, or just add a soupçon of French femi-ninity, this is a good place to start. Have fun!

Audio of the monthStieg Larsson’s first novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, was an international

blockbuster and his second in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Ran-dom House Audio, $39.95, 18.5 hours unabridged, ISBN 9780739384176), nar-rated by the very talented Simon Vance, is as good, if not better. The oddest of odd couples—and the most appealing in current thriller-dillerdom—who, somehow, made it through their debut appearance, are back. But Mikael Blomkvist, the middle-aged crusading journalist for Millennium magazine, and Lisbeth Salander, the fierce, fiercely self-reliant, fiercely pri-vate, fiercely antisocial, doll-sized, 20-something bundle of contradictions and complexities, and hacker extraordinaire, don’t see each other face to face until the last agonizing scene. Just before an explosive exposé, names and all, of sex trafficking in Sweden, is about to be published by Millennium, the investigative reporter and his research partner are brutally gunned down. The murder weapon has Salander’s fingerprints on it. Blomkvist, sure that she’s not the killer, leads his own investigation, as the police, sure she is the killer, mount a massive pursuit. Chief suspect, Salander must become chief sleuth, and as pieces of her harrowing, haunted childhood begin to surface and mesh with her new problems, the former victim must become active avenger. It’s a wild ride, totally engrossing—a must for smart fans of smart thrillers. o

THE SPOKEN WORD

BY SUKEY HOWARD

FICTION

New York, New YorkBy Jillian QuinT

In Jonathan Lethem’s latest offering, readers are once again thrust into a genre-bend-ing, category-defying and humorously disjointed New York City. In Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude, Lethem explored his favorite outer borough through the lens of noir and fantasy—and now he turns his attentions to Manhattan proper with a sur-realistic eye that owes as much to Saul Bellow and James Baldwin as it does to Pynchon, Baudrillard and DeLillo.

The narrator of Chronic City, Chase Insteadman, is a for-mer child actor and popular Manhattan socialite who has recently attained notoriety for his personal life—his astro-naut fiancée is trapped in the ether, stuck in a layer of low-orbit mines on the International Space Station. In the midst of this tragedy, Chase meets and befriends Perkus Tooth, an intellectual music critic whose quest for drugs, art and truth rivals the urban experience that Chase has always known. Perkus forces our hero to ask what is real, and what is the product of the myth that is Manhattan?

Chase’s Manhattan is almost—but not quite—our own. Rather, it is a secluded island in which the downtown lies hidden behind a mysterious fog (as close as we get to any 9/11 discussion), an escaped tiger roams the Upper East Side and the rich outbid each other in eBay auctions for mysti-cal artifacts. In short, it’s a setting ripe for paranoia, absurd comedy and a very real exploration of the problems of truth and trauma. The Twin Towers have not fallen, but still the city is in crisis.

In many ways, this psychological and sociological investi-gation makes Chronic City Lethem’s most stimulating book yet. That said, it is long and meandering—occasionally more fun to think about than to actually slough through. Fortunately, Lethem is a stellar writer, and his prose electrifies. Moreover, the sheer ambition and scope of this new novel is exciting and innovative. Who knows what Lethem will try next, but we’re certain it will be anything but the same-old same-old. oJillian Quint is an editor at a publishing house in new york. She lives in Brooklyn.

Chronic CityBy Jonathan LethemDoubleday$27.95, 480 pagesISBN 9780385518635

FICTION

The future of our world, page by pageBy linDSey SChwoeri

In his provocative, vibrant 10th novel, National Book Award winner Richard Powers once again explores the impact of technology and scientific discovery on our lives.

When melancholic failed writer Russell Stone agrees to teach a creative nonfiction course at a local college, his students confirm his worst fears about the future—in a world where the private is public, writing is becoming less an act of reflection than of exhi-bitionism. But one student captivates him: Thassadit Amz-war, an Algerian refugee whose unwavering joy earns her the nickname of “Miss Generosity” from her peers. Thinking Thassa may be bipolar, delusional or worse, Russell consults college psychologist Candace Weld, who suggests that Thas-sa might be “hyperthermic,” or excessively happy.

When Thassa’s exceptional capacity for joy comes to the attention of geneticist-entrepreneur Thomas Kurton—who is on the verge of announcing the genotype for happiness—Russell and Candace are powerless to help her. Thassa finds herself at the center of a raging public debate about genetic modification. Does it signify progress, improving our qual-ity of life as so many scientific advancements have, or will it do away with identity itself? Will it provide even greater advantages to the children of the rich? Will we be testing each other’s DNA in job interviews, and before we get mar-ried, to figure out just what it is we’re getting into? Heralded by some as a living prophecy and derided by others for her role in ending human nature as we know it, Thassa begins to bend and break under the strain, changing the lives of those around her forever.

Though at times Generosity feels overly deliberate—it’s no secret that the book is care-fully organized around a particular ideological debate—it is never didactic. While Kur-ton may seem the obvious villain, he is guilty of nothing but exuberance, and of belief in that greatest and most basic of human narratives: “that the future will be slightly better than the present.” The beauty of this book lies in Powers’ ability to capture human pas-sion—for art, for scientific discovery and for one another. olindsey Schwoeri writes from Brooklyn, new york.

GenerosityBy Richard PowersFarrar, Straus$25, 304 pages ISBN 9780374161149


Listen to the latest from these bestselling authors!

Patrick Swayze and his wife’s heartfelt memoir!

The Time of my LifeBy Patrick Swayze and Lisa NiemiRead by Patrick Swayze with Lisa Niemi Available Now!

A memoir from movie legend Patrick Swayze and his wife of over 30 years, Lisa Niemi, about Patrick’s remarkable career and brave battle against pancreatic cancer.

Glenn Beck is back!

Arguing wiTh idioTsBy Glenn BeckRead by the authorAvailable Now!

New from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Inconvenient Book and The Christmas Sweater.

The latest from the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife!

her feArfuL symmeTryBy Audrey NiffeneggerRead by Bianca AmatoAvailable Now!

In the blockbuster tradition of A Thousand Splendid Suns comes a second novel that spectacularly fulfills the promise of Audrey Niffenegger’s beloved, bestselling fiction debut.

Jeanette Walls’s newest true-life novel!

hALf Broke horsesBy Jeannette WallsRead by the authorAvailable October 2009

From Jeannette Walls, the author of the wildly successful memoir The Glass Castle, comes a spellbinding novel of her grandmother that is destined to become a classic.

New from bestselling author Richard Paul Evans!

The ChrisTmAs LisTBy Richard Paul Evans Read by John Dossett Available October 2009

A new Christmas novel from the bestselling author of Grace, The Gift, and The Christmas Box.

Spencer Johnson titles in one collection!

The spenCer Johnson Audio CoLLeCTionBy Spencer JohnsonRead by Tony Roberts, Karen Ziemba, and John DossettAvailable October 2009

Spencer Johnson’s #1 bestselling phenomenon, Who Moved My Cheese? and his latest parable, Peaks and Valleys are now together in one great audio collection.

It’s Your Time with Joel Osteen!

iT’s your TimeBy Joel OsteenRead by the authorAvailable November 2009

#1 New York Times bestselling author and Pastor to millions around the world, Joel Osteen teaches listeners how to seize the moment and recognize that they have the power to shape their lives and their destinies, starting right now in It’s Your Time.

New exclusive from Stephen King!

urBy Stephen KingReader to be announcedAvailable February 2010

“ Supernatural intrigue abounds with many unexpected twists heightened by audio narrators.”

—Library Bookwatch, on From a Buick 8

“ …A captivating experience sure to ignite the senses of the listener.”

—AudioFile, on The Gingerbread Girl

Listen to free excerpts from these titles at audio.simonandschuster.com

shop online at booksamillion.comor call (800) 201-3550

BEYOND BOOKS winning recipesGlorious Grits by Susan McEwen McIntoshEnjoy a taste of the South with over 100 fresh, favorful recipes for stone-ground grits, cornmeal and polenta.

Retail Price: $22.95 Discount Card: $21.66

Southern Living Complete Quick & Easy CookbookHere you'll find recipes that can be partially or totally made ahead. Prep and cook times let you choose recipes that fit your schedule. And photos on every page!


The Conscious Cook by Tal RonnenThese delicious, meatless recipes from an up-and-coming young chef just might change the way you eat.


The Kind Diet by Alicia SilverstoneSilverstone outlines the spectacular benefits of adopting a plant-based diet, from effort-less weight loss to clear skin, off-the-chart energy and smooth digestion.


Bicycle Pink Ribbon Card DeckTen percent of the net sales

from these cards will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research

Foundation.


Pink ReadersThese glasses have spring hinges, a

pink case and an inlaid crystal ribbon design. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to support breast cancer

research.


breast cancer awareness month


TOYS FOR TOTS

Thomas the Tank and friends

Flora Retail Price: $21.99

Discount Card: $19.79

HankRetail Price: $21.99


Colin the Crane Retail Price: $39.99


new from VIZRosario + Vampire by Akihisa IkedaVolumes 1-8 in this striking series are now available! Tsukune Aono discovers he has been enrolled in a school for monsters.


Death Note Box Set, 1-13 by Tsugumi OhbaLight Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds a note-book dropped by a Shinigami death god.


Death Note Vol. 1 by Tsugumi OhbaSpecial edition features larger trim, sturdy deluxe hardcover binding and protective dust cover. Both new and collector fans will admire this handsome edition.


Bleach Box Set, 1-21 by Tite KuboThe custom box set includes the beginning 21 volumes of Bleach, a double-sided poster and a special collector's booklet.


Bleach, Volume 1 by Tite KuboIchigo Kurosaki is just like any other ordinary 15-year-old high school student—except for his special ability to see ghosts.


Vampire Knight, Volume 7 by Matsuri HinoYuki debates asking Kaname about her past, suspecting that he may have been the one who erased her childhood memories.


Black Bird, Volume 1 by Kanoko SakurakojiThere is a world of myth and magic that intersects ours, and only a special few can see it. Misao Harada is one such person, but she wants nothing to do with magical realms.



new and notableBowden by Mike FreemanFreeman shares the story of how Bobby Bowden formed a football dynasty in the South.


Handle with Care by Jodi PicoultPicoult offers us an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.

Retail Price: $16 Discount Card: $14.40

Dream Big! by The Editors of O magazineEvery month, 16 million readers look to O, The Oprah Magazine for inspiration and advice to live by.


High on Arrival by Mackenzie PhillipsAs her astounding, outrageous life story unfolds, the actor-musician-mother shares her lifelong battle with personal demons and near-fatal addictions.


Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2010This new edition includes detailed accounts of all that's new in the World, including shows, attractions, restaurants and lounges.


Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids 2010In this new edition you'll discover everything available at Disney World for children to enjoy! The shows, attractions and restaurants profiled here are perfect for the younger set.


Sunglass ReadersSunglass readers protect your eyes from UV rays while giving you the magnification you need. Available in several sleek styles!

Retail Price: $16.99-$19.99 Discount Card: $15.29-$18.99

FOR YOUNG READERS

Princess Hyacinth by Florence Parry Heide

Heide and illustrator Smith have creat-ed an unforgettable princess to charm

and delight young readers.


The Yellow Tutu by Kirsten BramsenWhat do you do with a beautiful yellow

tutu? Why, put it on your head and pretend you’re a ray of sunshine!


The Blue Shoe by Roderick TownleyHap has problems. The blue shoe is ruined, the girl he’s been trying to

help is missing and he’s been branded a thief—again!



BEYOND BOOKS

Freaky Fright PensThese fun Halloween pens will lend a festive atmosphere to the office

or home.


Spooky LightsLight up Halloween night with these flashing necklaces! Ghosts or pump-

kins available.


Halloween toys

The Official SAT Study GuideThis is the only book that features official SAT® practice tests created by the test maker. Guaranteed to improve confidence—and scores!


College Handbook 2010The only guide with all the accredited col-leges in the U.S.—including four-year, two-year, and technical schools.


Book of Majors 2010The only book that describes majors in-depth and lists colleges that offer them as four-year, two-year, undergraduate and graduate programs.


Scholarship Guide 2010This guide provides facts about more than 1.7 million awards, including scholarship, internship and loan programs, offered to undergraduates.


College Board guides: what you need to know


live. laugh. love.

The Governorby Rod BlagojevichThis is the most compre-hensive look to date at the life of a twice-elect-ed public official in the notoriously complicated world of Illinois politics.


life stories

Finding It by Valerie BertinelliBertinelli's #1 bestseller Losing It touched gen-erations of fans. This is Valerie's search for answers to life's big questions.


Barack and Michelleby Christopher AndersenAndersen draws on important sources to paint the first com-plete, compelling por-trait of America's first black First Family.


Women, Work, and the Art of Savoir Faireby Mireille GuilianoThe best-selling author of French Women Don't Get Fat brings her delightful sensibility and practical advice to working women.


Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even by Jim CramerCramer offers advice on how to put your investments back on track to recover from the financial debacle of 2008-2009.


Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set by P. Deen & M. NesbitWhen the school and work days end, what better way to connect with your family than by cooking in the kitchen?


Everyday Coupon Book by Amy NicholsGreat deals await you in this everyday coupon book that will save you money on hundreds of food and household items.


Making Great Decisions by T.D. JakesJakes turns his attention and teachings to relationships and the issues that need resolv-ing once you've learned to use spiritual and psychological tools for re-evaluating your place in life.


Fit Home Team by Jorge & Laura PosadaThis is the Posadas' formula for getting par-ents and kids off the couch, arming families with tools for optimal health and wellness.


RECOMMENDED READING


new in hardcover

Deep Kiss of Winter by K. Cole & G. Showalter

This holiday collection of two tales from two best-selling

paranormal romance writers has bite!


The Border Lord and the Lady

by Beatrice SmallLady Cicely Bowen, daugh-ter of the Earl of Leighton, is sent away by her father

when her jealous step-mother threatens her

safety.


find romance!Mama Dearest by E. Lynn HarrisYancey Harrington Braxton is working her way back to Broadway and beyond. And this diva supreme always stirs up drama in and out of the spotlight.


A Separate Country by Robert HicksSet in New Orleans in the years after the Civil War, this novel is based on the incredible life of John Bell Hood, one of the most contro-versial generals of the Confederate Army.


Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey NiffeneggerNiffenegger has returned with a compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.


The Professional by Robert B. ParkerA knock on Spenser's office door can only mean one thing: a new case. This time the visitor is a local lawyer with an interesting story.


Pursuit of Honor by Vince FlynnJust six days earlier a series of explosions had torn through Washington D.C., killing 185 and wounding hundreds. Rapp is on the case.


Half Broke Horses by Jeannette WallsWells brings us the story of her grandmoth-er—told in a voice so authentic and compel-ling that the book is destined to become an instant classic.


Evidence by Jonathan KellermanIn the half-built skeleton of a monstrously vulgar mansion in one of L.A.’s toniest neigh-borhoods, a watchman stumbles on the bod-ies of a young couple.


WITH LOVE

AFRICAN AMERICAN

BOOK CLUB

FAITH POINT

TEEN

LITERARY

East of the Sun by Julia GregsonFrom the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of Tamarind Street, this sensitive, detailed novel is historical fiction at its best.

Retail Price: $16 Discount caRD: $14.40

next month's selection: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth steinThis is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.

Retail Price: $14.99 Discount caRD: $13.49

next month's selection: The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Lady Jasmine by Victoria christopher MurrayJuicy Jasmine Larson Bush is at it again—battling her past in order to save her future—in this gripping story from Murray.


next month's selection: The Devil Is a Lie by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Before I Die by Jenny DownhamTessa has just months to live. While facing hospital visits, endless tests and drugs with excruciating side effects, Tessa compiles a list.


next month's selection: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Bankes by E. Lockhart

The Traveler's Gift by andy andrews

This thought-provoking book encourages readers of all ages to reach their full potential using these simple keys to success.


next month's selection: The Hope of Refuge by Cindy Woodsmall

october

NONFICTION The Artist's Way by Julia cameronEssential reading for anyone with creative inclinations, this book's comforting advice and 12-week program will free and activate the creative juices.


next month's selection: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

PETS Dog Man by Martha sherrillHow one man's consuming passion for dogs saved a legendary breed from extinction and led him to a difficult, more soulful way of life in the wilds of Japan's remote snow country.


next month's selection: Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

a haunting HalloweenBeware the Haunted House! by Chris SharpCreated not to scare, but to delight, this Halloween title is a light-and-sound book that captures the best of a beloved American tradition.


Biscuit's Pet & Play Halloweenby Alyssa Satin CapucilliDiscover tricks and treats on every page as you join Biscuit in this Halloween touch-and-feel adventure!


Halloween... Or Bust! by Jane O'ConnorNo one knows Fancy like Nancy . . . and no one knows Halloween like Nancy! Come along on her Halloween adventure.


It's Halloween Night by Maryann Cocca-lefflerSpecial windows give sneak peeks at the Halloween surprises ahead as two brave little kittens, Rascal and Rosie, go trick-or-treating.


Book of Ghosts by Michael HagueAdapted from legendary writers Poe, Irving, Wilde and a host of others, the classic ghost stories within this collection will frighten even the boldest of readers.


Disney at Dawn by Ridley PearsonIt's supposed to be a happy day at the Magic Kingdom. But things go very wrong when a sudden lightning storm disrupts the celebra-tion. Don't miss book one, Disney After Dark!


The Devil's Kiss by Sarwat ChaddaAs the youngest and only female member of the Knights Templar, Bilquis SanGreal grew up knowing she wasn't normal.


The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la CruzWith the stunning revelation surrounding Bliss's true identity comes the growing threat of the sinister Silver Bloods.



fun Halloween toys

Bat Zip-AlongsThese cute Halloween zip-along toys are fun for spooking your

friends!


Light and Sound PumpkinsThese pumpkins light up

and make spooky sounds for Halloween.


Spooky Boutique MasksAdd to your Halloween costume with these cute masks for kids!


CHILLS AND THRILLS


RELIGION

A different sort of God bookBy Will Ayers

God has enjoyed quite the hot streak on the bestseller lists lately. Or rather, books about God have, specifically those about whether or not such a thing exists, with am-ple ink given to how misguided believers or atheists are, depending on which author you turn to.

Now Karen Armstrong has joined the debate over religion’s sway in modern society. The Case for God at-tempts to cut pop atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens off at the pass, exposing their at-tack on fundamentalist religion, particularly Christianity, as a wild goose chase. True religion, says Armstrong in a level-headed, cool tone, has nothing to do with intelligent design or predestination or any kind of dogma. She as-serts that what most of us think of as religion emerged in the 17th century, as advances in science steered religious practice into something more cerebral than corporeal, and that for most of human history, “God” meant some-thing very different than what it means now.

For Armstrong, herself a Catholic nun and atheist at different points in her life, God is a symbol, not an om-nipotent ruler. Religion is a matter of deed, not belief. To prove that point, The Case for God begins way back at the dawn of civilization, examining the sacred implications of cave paintings in Europe, and follows the divine thread through several cultures. What emerges is a picture of several cultures that understood God not as a singular entity, but as an unknowable, mysterious essence. Despite her nebulous claim, Arm-strong’s attention to detail is impressive, and the pace of her argument is well-plotted.

But if you’re looking for Armstrong to take a side in the God wars, don’t hold your breath. She opts for a third way, away from the blustery invective. Religion, she con-cludes, is a matter of silence, because God by nature is outside the realm of human comprehension. Words simply fail. That might sound like a cop-out, but when you consider her point, isn’t silence something we could use a bit more of? oWill Ayers is a writer in Nashville.

The Case for GodBy Karen ArmstrongKnopf$27.95, 432 pagesISBN 9780307269188Also available on audio

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Bluegrass star recalls life on the roadBy edWArd Morris

In the tight-lipped tradition of Greta Garbo, J.D. Salinger and Thomas Pynchon, blue-grass legend Ralph Stanley has been verbally parsimonious in disclosing details about his life and art—until now. Here he opens up, talking freely about his shadowy absentee fa-ther, his immensely gifted but hard-drinking older brother, Carter, and the heart-wrenching ordeal of trying to make a living playing a kind of music too few people wanted to hear.

Born in 1927 in southwestern Virginia, Stanley was steeped in ancient folksongs, hymns, parlor ballads and the sounds of a newer, jazzier string band music being perfected by the Kentuckian Bill Monroe, who dubbed this emerging genre “bluegrass.” The day he returned from military service in 1946, he and Carter formed the Stanley Brothers band with Carter as front man and chief songwriter. Over the next 20 years, the Stanley Brothers achieved a stature within the bluegrass community that rivaled Monroe’s.

Then, in 1966, Carter finally drank himself to death and in so doing thrust his younger brother into the spotlight. In that role, Stanley mentored such formidable young talents as Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley and Larry Sparks, even as he was carving out his own reputation as a stunningly emo-tional vocalist. Although long revered by bluegrass fans, Stanley didn’t become a superstar until he was featured on the soundtrack album for the Coen Brothers’ 2000 movie, o Brother, Where Art Thou? His chilling a cappella rendi-tion of “Oh Death” on that album won him a Grammy and sparked two successful arena tours.

As fascinating as Stanley’s personal revelations are, this book’s greatest value lies in his documentary-like descriptions of the hardships rural mu-sicians faced in the 1940s and ’50s—crowded cars, band rivalries, long and dangerous roads and hand-to-mouth living. It’s little wonder then that Stanley can say at age 82, “I ain’t afraid to die, but I am scared of what would happen if my voice were to fail me . . . because singing is really all I’ve got to give anymore.” oedward Morris writes from Nashville.

Man of Constant SorrowBy Dr. Ralph Stanley with Eddie DeanGotham$26, 320 pagesISBN 9781592404254

Distributed by Available at your favorite bookstore, online at www.atlasbooks.com or by calling 1-800-BOOKLOG.

Grand Prize Lookin’ for a Winner!

Grand Prize is the first and only dating guide directly focusing on SGL/Gay Men of Color and those who date them. Orders can be placed at www.ctdiiienterprises.net

9780979909504 $19.95

The Ladder of Life

This is the true story of a strong and resilient family, whose pilgrimage takes them from

life on a farm as sharecroppers in southeast Texas, to the bright lights of the city.

9780981717005 $14.95

Triumvirate of the Damned

In the final book of the trilogy, within the bowels of the Sequentia, a subterranean prison, the women

are hiding a document personally dictated by Christ, which contains His last instructions to mankind.

9780978521646 $14.95

Rescuing the American Dream

This book presents not only the wisest and surest path to success and true-life riches, but also the one true answer to this god-awful economic mess in which this country finds itself.

9780692003787 $21.99

Satan’s Scat

In book two of this tale, a nun is committed to an insane asylum and is convinced that some women are protecting a document personally dictated by Christ. “A truly thrilling series.”—Clarion Review

9780978521615 $14.95

Independent Voices for an Independent World Impatient Fire

The second trimester at Familiar Academy for Avians begins with Jules growing desperate to regain her magic. She will try any cure to restore her seventh sense.

9781890611446 $15.95


Hearts on the mendOctober brings a treat bag of romances to tempt readers. From suspense to sea-

side love, from Scottish lads to creepy curses, there’s something special for everyone to dig into this month.

Reporter Elise McBride travels to the Chicago area to find her missing sister, Ashley, in Love You to Death (Grand Central, $6.99, 400 pages, ISBN 9780446510295) by Shannon K. Butcher. Hoping there’s been a misunder-standing, Elise breaks into Ashley’s house in the middle of the night. Neighbor and ex-cop Trent Brady believes he’s witnessing a real crime and goes to stop the perpetrator. From that meeting, things get truly dangerous as Elise and Trent join forces to search for the missing woman. Elise is moti-vated by sisterly love and Trent is mo-tivated by the cop instincts that have never left him—and of course there’s

this urge he has to help the smart and beautiful Elise. Some gritty, violent moments in the book are not for the faint of heart, but these scenes do let the reader know that the villain is particularly crazed and heinous. Can they stop him and find Elise’s sister before she’s just another headless body or disembodied hand? The author deftly weaves the romance and sus-pense and will have readers shivering for more.

Man of enchantmentKarinna Adams can’t say what attracts her to a gallery paint-

ing in Amanda Ashley’s Immortal Sins (Zebra, $6.99, 384 pages, ISBN 9780821780640), but soon she brings the artwork home. The painting is either magical or she’s going crazy, because a beautiful man moves about inside it. Unable to resist his appeal, she wishes aloud that he could be with her . . . and then he is. Finally, someone has broken vampire Jason Rourke’s 300-year-old curse. That long ago, a wizard placed him in the enchanted painting. Free at last,

Jason doesn’t know what he wants to do first: take revenge on the wizard or make love with the lovely Kari who has brought him into her contemporary world. What’s a lonely young woman to do when the man she’s fallen for will live forever on the blood of others? Kari can’t stop her attraction to Jason, but can’t see how they can ever be together. Only when the wizard comes seeking Jason does danger truly enter her life, leaving both Jason and Kari to make hard choices about their futures. This version of a vampire, more tender than terrible, will steal readers’ hearts.

Serving up romanceDenise Hunter’s Seaside Letters (Thomas Nelson, $14.99, 320

pages, ISBN 9781595542601) is a tender love story with a Chris-tian focus. Sabrina Kincaid is waitressing in Nantucket after a painful failed engagement. During the year she’s been in town, she’s established an anonymous email correspondence with one of her customers, Tucker McCabe. While she knows him to be “Har-bormaster,” she believes he doesn’t know she’s “Sweetpea.” She’s wrong. Tucker is aware it’s Sabrina who has stolen his heart through emails and he’s determined to bring her out of the shell she has built around herself in real life. But the tangled web of deception between the pair trips up Tucker’s goal and makes Sabrina face some personal pain that could end any hope of a future between herself and the man she’s grown to love. Readers will enjoy the poignant portrayal of the awkward-ness and tension between two people who feel a chemistry they’re not ready to admit.

Forbidden loveIt’s 1350, and in Sue-Ellen Welfonder’s A Highlander’s Tempta-

tion (Grand Central, $6.99, 400 pages, ISBN 9780446195300) Ara-bella MacKenzie is determined to leave her family home to seek adventure and love. During a sea journey, her ship is preyed upon by Black Vikings. Darroc MacConacher first learns of this when wreckage appears on the beaches of MacConacher’s Isle. As clan chief, he leads the effort to search for survivors and finds only one, the raven-haired Arabella. He brings her back to his castle where she heals from her wounds . . . and where they fall in love, despite

the fact that their families are old enemies. Certain he cannot have her, Darroc swears to return her safely home, but she proves too great a temptation—thanks to Arabella’s complete eagerness to be in his arms. Still, there are impediments to their happily ever after, and they come in the guise of a ghost, a cursed relic, the Black Vikings and Ara-bella’s powerful father, the chieftain of an enemy clan. Full of sensuality and a touch of magic, A Highlander’s Temptation is a satisfying Scottish adventure. oChristie Ridgway writes contemporary romance from her home in Southern California.

ROMANCE

BY ChRisTiE RidGwAY

The Renegade HunterBy Lynsay Sands$7.99, 9780061474316Nicholas Argeneau was once a successful hunter who went after rogue vampires who broke the immortal law. Except no one has mentioned his name in the last 50 years, not since he turned into a rogue himself. But once a hunter, always a hunter. When Nicholas sees a bloodthirsty sucker terrifying a woman, it’s second nature for him to come to her rescue. He had no idea he would also want to kiss her senseless. When he saves a beautiful mortal from a terrifying demise, everything changes.

The Earl Claims His WifeBy Cathy Maxwell

$7.99, 9780061350993

Preoccupied with fighting Napoleon and making love to his mistress, Brian Ranson has ignored his wife since their

wedding. Now, he’s ready to fetch his bride back to London. Meanwhile his Lady, Gillian, has become a

bold, beautiful woman, exactly the kind he lusts after, but she wants nothing to do with him. Desperate to be

free to find the love she’s been denied, Gillian makes a bargain—to be the perfect wife for 30 days, then he’ll set

her free. But does her heart understand?

DawnbreakerBy Jocelynn Drake$7.99, 9780061542886

The naturi despise nightwalker Mira for what she is and for the lethal fire she bends to her will. But the naturi are about to be unchained, and blood, chaos and horror will reign supreme on Earth. As the day approaches when destiny draws them toward an apocalyptic confrontation, Mira can trust only Danaus, the more-than-mortal vampire slayer. But all is not lost, a rogue enemy princess exists who can change the balance of power and turn the dread tide.

Temptation and SurrenderBy Stephanie Laurens$7.99, 9780061243417Handsome, wealthy and well-born, Jonas Tallent has everything a gentleman needs, but he’s restless and bored so he returns to the family’s estate where his most pressing need is to find a new manager for the inn. When he hires the genteel, impoverished Emily Beauregard, she rapidly resurrects the inn and steals his heart. But Emily has a secret, she’s searching for a family treasure that will reinstate her family to its rightful place in society. But Emily hadn’t bargained on Jonas.

The Solomon EffectBy C.S. Graham

$7.99, 9780061689352

A remote viewer working for the U.S. government, October Guinness can “see” events occurring on the other side

of the globe. But she and her loose cannon partner, CIA agent Jax Alexander have arrived too late to prevent

a bloodbath and perhaps the Apocalypse. Now every second brings the unthinkable a step closer and places them in the gunsights of powerful enemies as they race

to prevent an impending catastrophe cultivated decades earlier by Nazi scientists with an evil agenda.

www.harpercollins.com

antastic F ICT ION byFabulous AUTHORS1


ian scientists and the Air Force to develop new weapons systems. Although Schriever would rise in rank and responsibility, this essentially would be his mission until he left the service in 1966.

Sheehan argues that the arms race be-tween the U.S. and the Soviet Union was predicated on an erroneous assessment of Joseph Stalin’s comparatively modest terri-torial ambitions. After Russia got the atomic bomb in 1949, however, the us-versus-them dynamic boiled out of control. Then the question became which side could deliver its A-bombs most effectively. Schriever’s nemesis in this calculation was Gen. Cur-tis LeMay, the man who had fire-bombed Japan into near submission before the A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Naga-saki finished the job. LeMay’s solution was more, bigger and longer-range bombers, all carrying thermonuclear warheads—and a willingness to use them.

Since Russia couldn’t match the U.S. in number of A-bombs and planes, it turned its attention to long-range rockets. So did Schriever and his civilian teams. Much of Sheehan’s book concerns his circumventing or surmounting the political machinations, corporate greed and personal vanities that stood in the way of creating what would come to be called the “ICBM”— intercon-tinental ballistic missile—with the capabil-ity of delivering a targeted, nuclear-tipped rocket halfway around the world.

In telling his story, Sheehan profiles a gallery of fascinating characters, among them Paul Nitze (whose 1950 report to the National Security Council, Sheehan says, grossly overstated the Soviet threat); hawk-ish and brilliant mathematician John von Neumann; the Hall brothers, Ed and Ted, the former a member of Schriever’s first ICBM unit, the latter a spy for Russia who wasn’t unmasked until 1995; and Hitler’s morally accommodating rocket man, Wern-her von Braun, who was more interested in space travel than nuclear confrontation. In piecing this narrative together, Sheehan in-terviewed well over 100 sources, including Nitze, physicist and hydrogen-bomb pio-neer Edward Teller, diplomat Richard Hol-brooke and Schriever himself, who died in 2005. It is a dazzling display of scholarship.

To some, this book will be a triumphant tale of America once again winning the day, but to others it will read like a tragedy in which the brightest minds of a generation bent themselves to finding the best ways to slaughter people en masse. oEdward Morris writes from Nashville.

20TH CENTURY

Sheehan’s fascinating portrait of the men who built the bombssix years old. He grew up in San Antonio, earned a degree in construction engineering from Texas A&M and was commissioned into the fledgling Army Air Force in 1933. That same year he met Lt. Col. Henry “Hap” Arnold, a strong believer in the scientific development of weaponry. Schriever served in the Pacific during World War II, and in 1946, with the war over, Arnold appointed Schriever to serve as liaison between civil-

A Fiery Peace in a Cold WarBy Neil Sheehan

Random House$32, 560 pages


By Edward MorrisJust as he used the pivotal figure of John

Paul Vann in a Bright shining Lie to tie to-gether America’s myriad miscalculations in the Vietnam War, so Neil Sheehan focuses here on Bernard Schriever, another relative-ly unknown presence, to anatomize Ameri-ca’s arms race with Russia from the end of World War II through the mid-1960s.

A German by birth, “Bennie” Schrie-ver came to the U.S. in 1917 when he was

READ REVIEWS ONLINE ATbookpage.com

Sign

et, $

7.99

, 978

0451

2282

15

PARANORMALCovetA new series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood nov-els—featuring a fallen angel who is charged with saving the souls of seven people from the seven deadly sins. And failing is not an option.

PAPERBACK PICKSJo

ve, $

7.99

, 978

0515

1469

98

PARANORMAL Dark CurseDragonseeker Lara Calladine longs to find the source of her night-mares. The only man who can help her is Nicolas De La Cruz who, for centuries, has longed to feel sensual love without a hunger for blood. But their mysterious pasts share a secret that could destroy them both.

Berk

ley,

$7.9

9, 9

7804

2523

0626

ROMANCEThe Lone TexanThree days after arriving in Galveston, newly widowed Sage McMurray is taken hostage in a robbery. She fears she may never see Whispering Mountain again when the outlaws decide to auction their pretty captive off to the highest bidder, until a tall stranger offers twice the highest bid.

Jove

, $9.

99, 9

7805

1514

7018

THRILLERThe Gray ManCourt Gentry is a legend in the covert realm, accomplishing the impos-sible and then fading away. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world, and in their eyes, he has outlived his usefulness. Now, there’s no gray area between kill-ing for a living and killing to stay alive.

Berk

ley,

$9.9

9, 9

7804

2523

0619

SUSPENSEHeat LightningIn John Sandford’s new novel, a killer is leaving a puzzling calling card in the mouths of his victims. And in the middle of a steamy Minnesota sum-mer, Virgil Flowers of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension finds himself embroiled in an investigation with no easy answers and no easy way out.

Jove

, $7.

99, 9

7805

1514

7001

PARANORMALHot for the HolidaysCome in out of the cold and experi-ence the thrill of a soul-stirring new tale of the Breeds from Lora Leigh, a return to the beguiling world of the Mageverse from Angela Knight, and two more mesmerizing stories of sensual surprises and seasonal spirits from Anya Bast and Allyson James.

Berk

ley,

$7.9

9, 9

7804

2523

0985

PARANORMALDragon MoonAn enslaved psychic from another world, Kenna is sent to Earth to gather information for her master, a vicious half dragon/half vampire set on conquering the planet. But when she meets and falls for Talon, a werewolf, their fate hangs in the balance unless they can learn to trust each other.

Onyx

, $7.

99, 9

7804

5141

2782

PARANORMALShadowlight: A Novel of the KyndredNew York Times bestselling author Lynn Viehl reveals the secret prog-eny of the Darkyn: the Kyndred, ordi-nary people unaware that they’ve been altered by vampire DNA, but who are destined to become the next generation of heroes.


20TH CENTURY

Sheehan’s fascinating portrait of the men who built the bombs

When the world financial system failed in 2008, world governments used

a playbook de-vised by famed British econo-mist John May-nard Keynes. But should we

be relying so completely on Keynes? What if he is wrong? I f Keynes is wrong, then so are the eco-nomic policies of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and virtually all world governments today. Where Keynes Went Wrong addresses

these critical questions in a lively, stimu-lating, and transparently clear style.

New from Axios Press

“Just what the world needs, and just in time. Keynes is demolished and his quack system refuted. But this wonderful book does more. It

restores clear thinking and common sense to their rightful places in the

economic policy debate. Three cheers for Hunter Lewis!”

James Grant Editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer

$18 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-60419-017-5

Available from leading booksellers

everywhere

Books to help you think through your

personal choicesXIOS

found it was much easier when I wrote in her voice than when I wrote in third person trying to capture her voice. When I was writing in the third person about Lily, I was just writing in my own voice.” As she explains in an author’s note in the book, Walls’ decision to tell this story in her grandmother’s distinctive voice rather than as an objective historian is one of the reasons she

decided to call her book a “true-life novel.”

“I’ll bet most people in America have similar ancestors,” Walls says. “The de-tails might be different but the overall story is the same—some tough old broad or tough old coot who came to this country and did what had to be done to survive. I think most people are tougher than we realize and that we have this inner strength and resilience that we’re not aware of. One of the ways to get in touch with that is to look at our ancestors.”

But for Walls, writing Half Broke Horses was also as least as much about gaining an understanding of her own difficult, free-spirited mother, Rose Mary Smith Walls, as getting in touch with her ancestors. “When I was on book tour,” she remembers, “readers of The Glass Castle would often ask me why, with a college education, my mother would choose the life she did. At the time I didn’t know the answer. But writing about your parents and your ancestors is like going into inten-sive therapy. You really get at the roots. I now see that the time when she was growing up on the ranch without elec-tricity and running water was the idyl-

lic time of my mother’s life. She’s always tried to recreate it, the wildness and lack of discipline. Her life is very much a search for that freedom she had as a child.”

Now at age 75, Rose Mary is living in a mobile home a hun-dred yards away from her daughter and son-in-law, surround-ed by the menagerie of rescued dogs, feral cats and horses her daughter and son-in-law have collected since abandoning a tony life in New York City for a semi-rural one in northern Virginia. Rose Mary’s vivid stories of her childhood and about her par-ents’ lives in the Southwest 50-some years ago helped define her daughter’s new book.

In fact, Walls interviewed her mother extensively for Half Broke Horses. She says with deep satisfaction, “My mom gave me these stories without reservations.” And, she adds, “She is not a normal mom, whatever the heck that means. But she’s a fascinat-ing woman and she’s given me a great deal of joy.”

Among the most moving stories Rose Mary shared “so pas-sionately and tenderly” with her daughter was the story of half-broke horses, the wild horses captured on the range that were only half broken by her father’s ranch hands. “Hearing her de-scribe their plight and the love and affinity she had with these creatures that don’t belong anywhere really struck me,” Walls says. “Mom really does see herself that way, as a creature who is a little too wild for civilization but broke enough, civilized enough, that she can’t survive in the wild.”

Reflecting on the experiences of her grandmother and mother, Walls says, “It’s a bit of an anachronism, but there’s a lot to be said for the tough pioneer spirit and the untamed wilderness. I think it’s important that we don’t forget our roots. And our own half-brokeness.”

Half Broke Horses is Walls’ evocation of that Americanlegacy. oAlden Mudge writes from Berkley, California.

By Alden MudGe

I n her riveting memoir about her hardscrabble childhood, The Glass Castle (2005), Jeannette Walls described being severely burned while boiling hot dogs when she was three

years old.“I used to think being burned was my earliest memory,” Walls

says during a call to the home she shares with her husband, writer John Taylor, in Culpepper, Vir-ginia. “But I also remember going to a cafeteria with [my grandmother] Lily and her standing up, pointing to me, and shouting to the entire place: SHE’S ONLY TWO YEARS OLD AND SHE’S DRINKING FROM A STRAW! SHE’S A GENIUS!”

The loud, irrepressible and ever-re-sourceful Lily Casey Smith, who in later years took pleasure in brandishing both her “choppers” and her pearl-handled pistol in the air, is the subject of Wall’s captivating new “true-life novel,” Half Broke Horses.

Lily grew up in the vast, still-unpopu-lated reaches of the Southwest. As a child she helped her rancher father break horses. In her teens, she left home to be-come an itinerant schoolteacher, riding 500 miles to her first job on horseback. She later lived for a while in Chicago, where she worked as a housekeeper for a wealthy family and was seduced and wedded by a bigamist. Chastened, she returned to the Southwest and married Big Jim Smith, and together they man-aged a spacious ranch in Arizona. Hers is a story that evokes an American way of life that no longer exists. Lily died when Walls was only eight but her she left an indelible imprint on her granddaughter.

“She was a leathery woman and she would just pick you up and toss you in the air. She’d always yell. She’d enter a room and say HERE I AM! She loved to dance. Every time we’d go someplace where there was music, she’d just grab some guy from his seat and start dancing with him. She was always driving us around in this great big station wagon. She thought she was a brilliant driver but she was really quite reckless. There were always cars sort of crashing and screeching around us. But for all her sort of wild recklessness, she was very orderly,” Walls remembers.

“She had all these rules and was very bossy. My mother and she would clash very badly. My father and she would clash even worse. When I was growing up, my mother told me on a regular basis that I was just like her mother, and I don’t think she meant that as a compliment. Lily glommed onto me at an early age. She sensed a kindred spirit. She was a lot tougher and ballsier than I ever was, but I do think we’re similar in a lot of ways.”

Among the obvious similarities are Walls’ own loud, embrac-ing laughter, a gift for storytelling and the sort of indomitable spirit that enabled Walls to overcome the dysfunctional child-

hood she describes in The Glass Castle.These similarities explain why Walls

found it so easy to slip into Lily’s un-usual voice in Half Broke Horses. “I re-member Lily so vividly,” Walls says. “I

INTERVIEW

One tough broadRemembering a grandmother who broke all the rules

Half Broke HorsesBy Jeannette Walls

Scribner$26, 288 pages


“Writing about your parents

and your ancestors is like

going into intensive therapy.

you really get at the roots.”

JEANNETTE WALLS © J

OH

N T

AYLO

R

$7.99 978-006-162421-6Built on the Upper West Side, the elegant Breviary claims a regal history. But despite 14B’s astonishingly low rental price, the recent tragedy within its walls has frightened away all of the potential tenants except Audrey Lucas. Is it something otherworldly or is it Audrey’s increasing instability that’s to blame for the dark visions that haunt her?

www.harpercollins.com

Rosemary’s Babymeets The Shining

behind Audrey’s Door


MEMOIR

Turns out, you can go home again By Norah Piehl

Rhoda Janzen was having a really bad year. Following her recovery from a hysterecto-my, Janzen’s handsome, charismatic, but mercurial husband of 15 years abruptly left her for “Bob the Guy from Gay.com,” leaving her with conflicted feelings—and an expensive lakefront home she couldn’t afford. Just days later, Janzen was involved in a crippling car accident. What was this sophisticated, confident woman in her early 40s to do? With a six-month sabbatical sched-uled, Janzen made a most unexpected choice—to head back home, into the welcoming arms of the Mennonite family and community she thought she had nothing in common with.

Janzen’s period of healing—in both body and spirit—forms the backdrop of her memoir, as she utilizes her quasi-outsider perspective to reflect on her own story of growing up Mennonite (and the social ostracism that sometimes resulted), on her often troubled marriage and on her some-times strained relationships with her siblings. Even as she affectionately pokes fun at such things as her father’s bold demands and her mother’s unflaggingly earnest optimism, Janzen reflects on how her Mennonite upbringing might have affected her own relationships and on how she’s man-aged to incorporate the cabbage- and starch-laden cuisine of her youth into her cosmopolitan, foodie lifestyle.

Readers will find themselves laughing out loud at Jan-zen’s wry commentary on themes that shouldn’t really be funny at all. The playful humor is balanced, however, with genuine thoughtfulness, especially as Janzen reconnects with childhood companions and reflects on how different her own life might have been, had she chosen to remain in the Mennonite community instead of embracing an intellectual life. Mennonite in a little Black Dress will resonate with any reader who has ever thought about how such choices shape our futures, or with anyone who has struggled to recapture faith—in God, in other people or in oneself. oNorah Piehl is a freelance writer and editor in the Boston area.

Mennonite in a Little Black DressBy Rhoda JanzenHolt$22, 256 pagesISBN 9780805089257Also available on audio

www.MIRABooks.comwww.ElizabethFlock.com

New York Times bestselling author

delivers her most powerful and provocative story to date.

“Flock tells a disturbing family storyin two authentic voices.”

—Boston Globe

On sale now.

09_264_BP_Sleepwalking_Trade.indd 1 8/31/09 9:49:12 AM

BOOK CLuBS

New paperbacks for reading groupsThe Story of Edgar SawtelleBy David Wroblewski

Shakespeare’s hamlet provides the foundation for Wro-blewski’s debut—a compelling coming-of-age-tale set in 1970s Wisconsin. Edgar, a mute boy who helps his parents run their dog-breeding business, has a remarkable ability to bond with and train canines. He comes from a family of dog lovers that includes his grandfather, who started the breed-ing business, his father, Gar, and his paternal uncle, Claude, who left town years ago. When Claude returns unexpectedly, things turn sour for the Sawtelles. Gar and Claude quarrel bitterly, and a few weeks later, Gar dies under mysterious circumstances. Edgar feels certain that his uncle is somehow responsible. To make matters worse, Claude’s concern for Ed-gar’s mother, Trudy, seems inappropriate, and it soon becomes clear that he’s trying to seduce her. Determined to show that Claude had a hand in his father’s death, Edgar comes up with a plan that goes horribly awry. Forced to run away, he escapes into the woods of Wisconsin along with three young dogs. Yet the mystery of his father’s death proves an irresistible draw, and, hoping for answers, Edgar goes home—a decision that has fateful consequences. Wroblewski writes wonderfully poetic prose, and he uses it effectively to probe the themes of language and communication, both verbal and non-verbal. An Oprah’s Book Club pick and a bestseller, this is an inventive, orig-inal narrative from a gifted new writer. a reading group guide is included in the book.

Home SafeBy Elizabeth Berg

Berg’s latest book focuses on marriage, family and the fe-male quest for personal fulfillment. Helen Ames, a successful novelist, has been dealing with writer’s block for a year, since the death of her husband, Dan. Fearful that her once-fertile writing life has dried up for good, Helen struggles to regain a sense of purpose. Taking on the daily responsibilities Dan once handled so that she could be free to pursue her career, Helen finds herself in unfamiliar—and frightening—terri-tory. Her good-natured daughter, Tessa, a smart, stylish young woman who works as an editor at a fashion magazine, en-courages Helen and tries to bolster her sagging spirit, as does Midge, Helen’s high-spirited best friend. But when Helen dis-covers that her financial status is not as secure as she assumed, unforeseen questions about Dan arise. Doubts about their relationship—and what Dan was doing with their money—start to plague Helen. Trying to make sense of her past while planning for the future, Helen searches for closure—and for a way back to the art that once sustained her. Another bestseller for Berg, this is a perceptive and sensitively written novel—a compassionate, illuminating narrative that examines the nature of love and the process of grieving. a reading group guide is included in the book.

Indignation By Philip Roth

indignation is another masterwork from one of America’s greatest authors. Set in the 1950s, Roth’s 25th novel follows the adventures of young Marcus Messner, a native of New-ark, New Jersey, who dreams of escaping the city. Desperate to break away from his possessive father, a kosher butcher, 19-year-old Marcus goes off to Winesburg College in Ohio. A bookish young man, he doesn’t quite fit in with his class-mates—standoffish farm country natives who drink beer and attend church. Shying away from the campus’s Jewish fraternity, Marcus becomes involved with Olivia Hutton, a sensitive Gentile whose father is a successful doctor. Olivia seems wholesome to the core—and conventionally Ameri-can—but Marcus soon learns that she’s concealing a dark past, and his entangle-ment with the girl brings more trouble than he ever dreamed possible. The Korean War is another source of worry for Marcus, who’s determined to succeed in school and evade service overseas. Intelligent, complex, and—like most teenagers—con-fused, he’s a fascinating point of focus in this vivid and compellingly plotted novel. Capturing both the uncertainty and the optimism that characterized the 1950s, the book richly explores the gaps that divide generations and genders, as well as the difficulties of relationships, and the power of sexual desire. Marked by his signature mixture of humor and melancholy, Roth’s latest has all the makings of a classic. o

—JUlie hale

Ecco$16.99, 608 pagesISBN 9780061374234

Ballantine$15, 228 pagesISBN 9780345487551

Vintage$15, 256 pagesISBN 9780307388919


HISTORY

Chronicling the life of a less-celebrated founding fatherBy RogeR Bishop

James Monroe served in more public positions than anyone else in American his-tory. He was both a U.S. congressman and a senator, a governor of Virginia, secretary of state and secretary of war, ambassador to France and Great Britain and minister to Spain, and the fifth U.S. president, serving two terms. A hero of the American Revo-lution, Monroe served at Valley Forge and was seriously wounded in battle at Trenton. Despite such an imposing resume, Mon-roe’s contributions to the nation are usually overshadowed by those of his close friends Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

In his compelling new biography, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to greatness, Harlow Giles Unger demonstrates that Monroe was a major player with significant achievements, including the Louisiana Purchase. Even his supposed diplomatic failures look like im-possible tasks. Unger, an award-winning au-thor of 15 books, including four biographies of other founding fathers, deftly guides us through Monroe’s pre-presidential period, which includes assisting a wounded Lafay-ette during the Revolution and rescuing Thomas Paine from a French prison.

Unger argues that the three presidents between Washington and Monroe—John Adams, Jefferson and Madison—were merely “caretakers” whose administrations left the country divided and bankrupt, her borders vulnerable and, after the War of 1812, despite the heroic efforts of Monroe as acting secretary of war, the capital seri-ously damaged. Holding two top cabinet positions (secretary of state was the other) Monroe was hailed for his brilliant military strategy and astute management of peace negotiations. As president, Monroe was a transitional figure, the last of the founding generation, but also responsible for west-ward expansion and economic recovery. He worked hard to achieve unity, appointing representatives of a wide range of views. He made long tours of the country that helped to bring people together. Despite problems, including the Panic of 1819, there were good reasons to refer to his presidency as “the era of good feelings.”

Unger vigorously refutes those histori-ans who claim that Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wrote what Monroe is best known for, the “Monroe Doctrine.” Mon-roe had almost eight years of experience as a seasoned diplomat in the most sensitive posts, was a highly regarded lawyer and a gifted politician. Once he decided to include in his seventh annual message to Congress a manifesto about the U.S. staying free of entangling alliances and defining America’s sphere of influence, he conducted a series of cabinet meetings in which he asked for written and oral arguments on the subject. Adam’s diplomatic experience did give him more influence than others, yet, Unger notes, only one of Adams’ submissions ap-pears in the final policy statement.

The Monroes were a close-knit family and James’ beautiful wife Elizabeth was a formi-dable influence, especially in matters of taste and style. She also demonstrated extreme

introduction to its subject. oRoger Bishop is a retired Nashville bookseller and a frequent contributor to Bookpage.

courage in 1795. Realizing that her husband, who had obtained the release of Americans from French prisons, might jeopardize his diplomatic status if he tried to rescue some-one who had only honorary American citi-zenship, she decided to go herself. She was able to get Lafayette’s wife, Adrienne, freed after 16 months in prison.

Unger’s outstanding biography of Mon-roe is consistently illuminating and a fine

Tough Guy. Artist. l i v ing legend .

In American Rebel,

bestselling author and

acclaimed film historian

Marc Eliot examines

the ever-exciting,

often-tumultuous arc

of Clint Eastwood’s life

and career. Filled with

remarkable insights into

Eastwood’s personal

life and public work,

American Rebel is highly

entertaining and the most

complete biography of

one of Hollywood’s truly

respected and beloved

stars–an actor who,

despite being the Man

with No Name, has left

his indelible mark on the

world of motion pictures.

M arce l iot.netavailable wherever books are sold

The Last Founding FatherBy Harlow Giles Unger

Da Capo$26, 400 pages

ISBN 9780306818080


SHORT STORIES

Three acclaimed writers offer shimmering collections By Harvey FreedenBerg

S hort stories are often the vehicle of choice for young writers seeking to make their mark on the literary world, so it’s refreshing when established authors choose to work in the genre. These collections display the skills of three well-known writers

from diverse backgrounds, each with a unique take on contemporary life.

Perspectives on Native American life In War Dances (Grove, $23, 256 pages, ISBN 9780802119193), his

fourth collection (which features a dozen poems along with its 11 stories), National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie enhances his stature as a multitalented writer and an astute observer of life among Native Ameri-cans in the Pacific Northwest.

In the title story, a middle-aged Spokane Indian confronts the tension between traditional tribal culture and modern life as he watches over his alcoholic and diabetic father in the hospital while undergoing his own health crisis. “Breaking and Entering” tells the heart-breaking tale of a Native American film editor who commits an act of fatal violence in self-defense and must live with the consequences. And “Salt,” the story that ends the volume, is the moving portrait of teenage boy from the reservation who learns about life and death when he’s called on in his summer job at the local newspaper to write the obituary of the paper’s obituary editor.

Not all of the stories feature Native-American protago-nists. “The Senator’s Son” is a modern morality play, as the son of United States senator is involved in an incident of vio-lence against a gay friend, in the process exposing his father’s expedient ethical judgment. In “The Ballad of Paul Nonethe-less,” the narrator is a seller of vintage clothes, a lover of pop music and a serial philanderer, “a small and lonely man made smaller and lonelier by my unspoken fears,” a status he shares with several of Alexie’s male characters in this edgy and frequently surprising collection.

The eternal appeal of music Best known for novels like The remains of the day and never Let Me go, Kazuo

Ishiguro offers a collection of five pensive tales in Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Knopf, $25, 240 pages, ISBN 9780307271020), that succeed in express-ing music’s seductive power.

In “Crooner,” a chance meeting in Venice between an itinerant guitarist (a talent Ishiguro shares with his creation) and an aging Tony Bennett-like singer leads to an

emotional encounter with the crooner’s wife as he offers a swan song for their marriage. That woman, Lindy, resurfaces in the story “Nocturne,” a meditation on the vagaries of fame, where she and a jazz saxophonist named Steve share a bizarre recuperation in a Beverly Hills hotel after plastic surgery at the hands of a celebrity doctor.

Ishiguro skillfully blends humor and melancholy in “Come Rain or Come Shine.” Its narrator, Ray, visits college friends in London whose rela-tionship is imploding. The story veers wildly from broad comedy to pathos as Ray struggles to save his friends’ marriage. “Malvern Hills,” the story of a singer-songwriter and his encounter with two fellow musicians in the Eng-lish countryside, and “Cellists,” the tale of an unorthodox music teacher and her enigmatic student, round out the collection.

Women and their discontentsJill McCorkle’s Going Away Shoes (Algonquin, $19.95, 272 pages, ISBN

9781565126329) concentrates on the plight of mostly middle-aged women struggling with the consequences of their flawed relationships. Mc-Corkle is an acute observer of the foibles of domestic life, and in stories like the title tale, in which a woman is yoked to her dying mother as a caretaker while her younger sisters carp at her from a distance, or “Surrender,” where a grandmother must suffer the childish cruelty of her late son’s five-year-old daughter, she blends empathy for her characters’ predica-ments with an unsparing take on those grim circumstances.

Still, McCorkle’s stories don’t lack for humor, as in “Mid-night Clear,” where a single mother gets a new outlook on life from a septic tank philosopher who answers her distress call on Christmas Eve, or “PS,” a sardonic farewell letter from a woman to her family therapist.

The collection builds to a powerful climax in “Driving to the Moon,” as former lovers reunite while one faces death from cancer, and “Magic Words,” which features interwo-ven narratives of a married woman about to embark on an affair, a troubled teenage girl and a retired school teacher. Both stories are impressive demonstrations of McCorkle’s ability to infuse short fiction with an almost novelistic scope. oHarvey Freedenberg writes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

FICTION

The painful echoes of a sister’s deathBy reBecca SHaPiro

Thirteen-year-old Mathilda Savitch doesn’t see the world like most people. Some-thing inside of her wants to be bad—and not just breaking the supper dishes on pur-pose bad, but really core-shakingly awful. Her sister Helene has been dead for a year, and Mathilda’s parents are spiraling into complete dys-function—her mother has become a full-blown alcoholic, which overwhelms her father to the point that neither is paying much attention to Mathilda at all.

Mathilda, too, is reeling with grief in her own way, be-coming obsessed with the circumstances of her sister’s death. She roots through Helene’s perfectly preserved room and realizes that she can use the relics of her sister’s old life to both haunt her parents and dig deeper into the person Helene was and how she came to die.

Though the circumstances surrounding Mathilda’s fami-ly are unthinkable, they are not the only formidable forces in her young life. There has recently been a new wave of terror attacks, which Lodato implies are the first major ones since September 11. Mathilda’s cool indifference and her bizarre way of thinking about the world are particularly fascinating in the face of what has become a crisis to everyone else.

Mathilda isn’t just a monster, though—there are mo-ments of deep compassion that not only make her a sym-pathetic narrator, but also one of the most interesting new voices in fiction. Lodato’s absolutely incredible rendering of her narration, ripe with as much humor as darkness, is what makes this masterful novel shine so brightly. If The curious incident of the dog in the night-Time had an evil twin, it would be Mathilda Savitch. orebecca Shapiro writes from Brooklyn, new york.

HISTORICAL FICTION

Science and secrets in 19th-century ParisBy arLene McKanic

Paris just after the Napoleonic Wars was a thrilling place to be. The intellectual life of the city was in full flower, with Madame de Stäel presiding over salons and scientists like Georges Cuvier investigating the origins of life. But it was also a dangerous place: Napoleon’s defeat and exile were traumatic and the Terror, despite having occurred two decades before, had left some of its survivors feral. It’s into this ferment that medical student and narrator Daniel Connor arrives, from staid Edinburgh, in 1815.

Daniel gets into trouble immediately when he’s robbed en route to Paris by a mysterious and alluring woman who goes by the name of Lucienne Bernard. She pilfers not his money, but the items he’ll need as an entree into the world of M. Cuvier: letters of introduction, notebooks, a mam-moth bone and, most precious of all, coral specimens. Distraught, Daniel turns first to M. Jagot, a crook turned private eye who has a long history with Madame Bernard, then to the thief herself. Not surprisingly, Daniel falls in love with this intriguing woman who’s nearly twice his age, and the reader can hardly wait to find out whether the young man will ever get his belongings back—and, more importantly, if Lucienne really loves him, or is just leading him on in a labyrinthine game. Stott’s skill as a writer is such that one thinks she might be doing both.

Aside from her graceful writing style and believable characters, Stott also delights with her grasp of history. Romantic, full of twists and turns and glimpses of the past, The coral Thief is an un-likely page-turner. oarlene McKanic writes from South carolina.

Mathilda SavitchBy Victor LodatoFarrar, Straus$25, 304 pagesISBN 9780374204006Also available on audio

The Coral ThiefBy Rebecca StottSpiegel & Grau$25, 304 pages ISBN 9780385531467Also available on audio

This month’s top publisher picks

PB 9780778326762 $7.99

Unhallowed GroundHeather Graham

In the midst of renovating her dream house, Sarah McKinley makes a grim discovery—the remains of dozens of bodies. Now she must escape a killer who is on a quest for blood.

MIRA Books PB 9781577316718 $18

PB 9781605420639 $7.95

Wild MagicAnn Macela

Can Irenee Sabel stop the Cataclysm Stone from falling into the

wrong hands? Will she find her soul mate in

the process? Book four in the Magic series.

Medallion Press

The Guardians:Lost in the CityRichard Williams

When DJ and Maggie find themselves separated from

Bill and Paula they are led into the abandoned part of a large city. What they discover

will change not only their lives, but those they come

into contact with. Will they ever get back home again?

AuthorHouse

PB 9781933836997 $7.95

PB 9781438991276 $13.50

Best of Halloween Tricks and TreatsBetter Homes and Gardens

Halloween conjures up the trickster in all of us. Whatever your holiday pursuits—spooky décor, festive foods, or bewitch-ing costumes—you’ll find family-friendly ideas for brewing up all kinds of Halloween fun.

WileyHC 9780470503966 $14.99

CD 9781600247545 $49.98

PB 9781934755464 $15.95HC 9781605421056 $24.95

True CompassEdward M. Kennedy

In this landmark autobiography, five years

in the making, Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells the

extraordinary story of his legendary family, politics

and 50 years at the center of national events.

Hachette Audio

The Rock & Roll Queen

of BedlamMarilee Brothers

One of Allegra Thome’s students is missing and the

answer Allegra seeks may be more shocking than

she could ever imagine.

Medallion Press

TRAFFYCKMichael Beres

From Chicago’s Humboldt Park to the

bleak abandonment of Ukraine, a frightening

chain of events threatens countless lives when

Lazlo Horvath realizes that to some, power is more important than

human lives.

Medallion Press

Guardians of BeingEckhart Tolle

Combining words by Eckhart Tolle with illustrations by Patrick McDonnell, this book offers lessons of the present moment, as embodied by the dogs and cats who share our world.

New World Library

Lady BlueHelen A. Rosburg

Has Harmony discovered true

love—or the most elaborate deception

imaginable?

Medallion Press

The Guardians:Loving Eyes are WatchingRichard Williams

Imagine a world where there are special dogs whose only task in life is to lead their masters back to the path of God’s love. The Guardians is such a story; it tells of two shelties named DJ and Maggie who have the ability to speak, but their unusual talent is a closely guarded secret. Visit www.lovingeyesarewatching.com

AuthorHouse

PB 9781933836980 $7.95 PB 9781933836553 $7.95

Garden of the MoonElizabeth Sinclair

Beyond the moongate lie the ghosts of her past . . . while the secrets to his past lie in the dusty pages of time.

Medallion Press

Darkscape:RedemptionR. Garland Gray

In the second book of the Darkscape series, a rogue warship commander fights for a second chance.

Medallion Press

PB 9781434376633 $12.99


CHILDREN’S BOOKSMummies and monsters and scarecrows, oh my!

By EllEn TrachTEnBErg

S omething is lurking out there. Scarecrows are stirring, black cats are making mischief, and innocent young girls are taking to their broom-

sticks. It must be, it must be . . . this season’s bumper crop of fabulous Halloween picture books. By the time everyone’s favorite dress-up day arrives, there will be candy to fill young bellies and literary treats to feed imaginations. You’ll recognize many of the authors and artists—including Jane Yolen, Ed Emberley and Lois Ehlert—and a few newer storytellers have been added to the brew. This particular blend of spooky stuff will draw so much deserved atten-tion, Frankenstein’s monster will be positively green with envy.

Mummy dearestWhen you first glance at the

cover of The Runaway Mum-my (Putnam, $15.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9780399252037), you may be overcome with a spooky sort of déjà-vu. In case you missed the thread that began with last year’s best-selling goodnight goon, Michael Rex’s latest paro-dy is a ghoulishly gleeful take on Margaret Wise Brown’s classic, The runaway Bunny. And while the cast of char-acters may not be as warm and fuzzy as in the original story, the mummy love is ever abundant. While her son morphs into a series of crazy creatures, mom is hot on his trail. “If you try to get me,” said the little mummy, “I will turn into a serpent that lurks at the bottom of the sea.” But Mother Mummy has him covered, deliv-ering a squeeze worthy of a giant squid. Little mummy finds that independence is elusive until a surprise end-ing turns the story on its tail, leaving readers wondering what sort of mischief Michael Rex might make with The Big red Barn.

Garden of delightsSure to be another monster hit for author and artist

Lois Ehlert, Boo to You! (Beach Lane, $17.99, 42 pages, ISBN 9781416986256) lends her impressive trademark

multimedia col-lage style to an autumn feast for the eyes, set to rhythmic verse. A harvest party is be-ing planned by the garden mice but a pesky cat is deter-mined to spoil the fun. It’s really a di-lemma, because “A

raccoon or a squirrel might bite a veggie, but a cat loves meat, and that makes us edgy.” The crafty mice devise a plan to scare the kitty, and it unfolds with a satisfying surprise. You know Ehlert from Eating the alphabet, Fish Eyes: a Book you can count On, chicka chicka Boom Boom and many others. Her latest effort will bring jack-o-lantern grins to the faces of a whole new generation of admirers.

Monsters afootThe Monsterologist: A Memoir in

Rhyme (Sterling, $17.95, 50 pages ISBN 9781402744174) is an exuberant collec-tion of poems about monsters of every stripe—in the engaging form of letters, notes and secret files—that gives read-

ers a rare and comical glimpse at their private lives and predilections. There’s a personal invitation from Count Dracula, a warning about werewolves, an exclusive in-terview with the Loch Ness Monster and a classified email about zombie research. Appropriately, this is Bobbi Katz’s 13th poetry collection. Her others include We the People: Poems and Once around the Sun. Adam McCauley’s mixed media design is great fun and likely to convince children that they are indeed holding a rare collection of monster memorabilia.

It’s time for a sing-along. “There was an old mon-ster who swallowed a tick. I don’t know why he swallowed the tick ‘cause it made him feel sick.” The creepy crit-ters being ingested by our gluttonous friend in There Was An Old Monster! (Scholastic, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9780545101455) range from ants and bats to lizards and a lone jackal. It culminates with a lion and, well, it’s not necessarily a happy ending.

The Emberley family—Rebecca, Adrian and Ed, a Caldecott Medal winner for Drum-mer hoff—has joined together to give us a twisted take on an al-ready twisted tune that will be a memorable addition to Halloween pageants everywhere. Readers who can’t seem to get the catchy refrain out of their heads will

be happy to find it available for download on Scholas-tic’s website.

Vampires next doorThe new neighbors are a vexing bunch to young

Bram Pire. In Dear Vampa (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9780061355349) Bram dashes off a letter to his Vampa in Transylvania to blow off a bit of steam. For starters, the Wolfson family stays up all day long and seems overly fond of sunshine (“Mom says it’s disgust-ing”). They lock their windows at night (“It’s so inconsiderate”), and call the cops when the Pires engage in a bit of roof-top revelry at midnight. When the Wolfsons take up slingshots to shoot the Pires out of the sky during their “evening flutter,” it’s the last straw for Mom and Dad. But are the Wolfsons keeping a dark

secret of their own? Ross Collins, the author and illustrator of Medusa Jones and germs, introduces irony into his story at a level that won’t fly over the heads of young readers and his mod-goth style will appeal to graphic novel devotees in the making. This is Hal-loween hilarity at its hippest.

As the (scare)crow fliesScarecrows aren’t normally known

for their fancy footwork, but in the hands of Jane Yolen and illustrator Bagram Ibatoulline, one comes alive

with wild abandon in The Scarecrow’s Dance (Simon & Schuster, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9781416937708). When the wind began to blow “He shrugged his shoul-

ders / And a grin / Just like a corn row, / And as thin, / Broke out along / His painted face. / He gave a leap— / And left the place.” The scare-crow dances past the barn and peers in the window of the farm-house where he glimps-es a young boy reciting his prayers. As he leans in to listen to the child’s appeal for a healthy

corn crop, the scarecrow knows he must return to his post to do his part. Ibatoulline’s gouache and watercolor illustrations are breathtaking and readers of all ages will appreciate Yolen’s refined verse and the book’s final mes-sage about responsibility. oEllen Trachtenberg is the author of A Parent’s Guide to the Best Children’s Literature.

Finding confidence to take her dreams aloft

If you knew in your heart you were destined to fly, wouldn’t you want to give it a try? In the lovely and thoughtful new picture book Only a Witch Can Fly (Feiwel & Friends, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9780312375034) by Alison McGhee, the Halloween moon beckons to a young girl who longs to fly. Dressed as a witch, she gazes out her bedroom win-dow until the time is just right, and with broomstick in hand, she slips out the door. After one failed takeoff and a subse-quent tumble into the pumpkin patch, her little brother provides just enough encouragement to get her back on the broom. With an expression of great resolve and a dramatic count, she finally slips into the sky, black cat in tow. “The moon trails fire through a reservoir, and you are earthbound no more. Who could have known it was such a big sky? Bat and Owl wave bye, bye and Cat calls a velvet song to the moon. And you? You have flown . . . you have flown!” Her confidence soars as she glides higher, “For only a witch can fly past the moon.” The lino-leum block illustrations of Taeeun Yoo are sim-ply stunning, giving the book a pastoral, folksy quality. When the girl returns to Earth, her par-ents are waiting with open arms, clearly proud of her accomplishment. It’s an enchanting book that makes a compelling point about the perseverance needed to follow your dreams. It’s not hard to imagine such a potent message res-onating with young readers this Halloween. o

—EllEn TrachTEnBErg


CHILDREN’S BOOKSOne day, one worldBy RoBin Smith

You know the feeling when you read a book and you want everyone you know to read it—right now? Well, that’s how I feel about All the World, a new picture book by poet Liz Garton Scanlon and artist Marlee Frazee. This oversized paean to living life right here and now has grabbed me in a way that few books have lately. By the time I let my husband read it, I had already read it three times, just because it made me feel so happy.

Told in rhyming couplets, Scanlon’s story of a day in the life of Every Family is just the antidote for the cynicism of the times. “Rock, stone, pebble, sand / Body, shoulder, arm, hand / A moat to dig, a shell to keep / All the world is wide and deep.” So opens this story of a loving family, a supportive community and the beauty of the day. Frazee’s illustrations show various figures buying produce at a farmer’s market, playing at a park, eating in a cozy local café, playing music together and, finally, safe at rest. At the center of each picture and couplet are relationships—between couples, parents and children, and neighbors. A careful look at the illustra-tions allows the reader to follow each set of characters—including the multiracial family with two kids, the two women on bicycles, the older couple, the man with his yellow dog—from start to finish. Gentle foreshadowing also lets the reader see what’s coming next. One stunning double-page spread shows the whole town—and the whole landscape of the story—at rest. Young readers can trace the story from the beginning at the beach in the west all the way to the pier in the east.

This oversized volume is a statement of what all peo-ple really need to be human. The needs of the characters are the needs of everyone every-where—food, recreation, companionship, music, land, a safe place to play, imagination, love and, most of all, community.

All the way through, a gentle lullaby of words tells the tale: “Hope and peace and love and trust / All the world is all of us.” I think I’ll go read it again. oRobin Smith is a second-grade teacher in nashville.

All the WorldBy Liz Garton ScanlonIllustrated by Marla FrazeeBeach Lane$17.99, 40 pagesISBN 9781416985808Ages 6 and up

Unlocking the secrets of a magical crimeBy ElizA BoRné

Bran Hambric has a crummy home life. His foster parents, Sewey and Mabel Wilomas, make Bran sleep in the attic and do chores around the house; they won’t even add his name to their “Wilomas Family” sign.

But Bran is no ordinary orphan. When he was six years old, Sewey mysteriously found him in a locked bank vault. Nobody knows how Bran got there, and Bran has no memo-ries before the vault. Because mages and gnomes are strictly outlawed in the city of Dunce, Bran would never imagine himself part of a magical plot, until he involuntarily per-forms magic at the Duncelander Fair, and allies and foes suddenly appear from an underground magical network. Bran quickly learns that his dead mother was a mage who created a terrible curse, and only he holds the key to the curse’s completion.

As readers devour Bran hambric: the Farfield Curse, the experience may feel like a rolling snowball. The momentum of the plot builds as the pages turn, and we only discover the truth of Bran’s background in the book’s final chapters.

It is impossible to read about Bran Hambric without thinking of a certain lightning bolt-branded wizard who came before him. Both Bran and Harry Potter live with unpleasant foster families and discover their unusual abili-ties late in life. Bran is not a wannabe Harry Potter, though; rather, his story is a delightfully different take on a magical population.

Younger readers will enjoy this story because of the gen-eral silliness of its characters. Most memorable is Sewey Wilomas, a “Schweezer”-driving wacko who refuses to pay his bills. Older readers may take away lessons from the book’s themes: the difficulty of making big choices, the non-sense behind discrimination and the deep thinking involved in navigating right from wrong.

Aspiring young writers will find a role model in Kaleb Nation, the precocious 20-year-old who spent his teenage years writing Bran hambric (among other pursuits). Atkalebnation.com, readers can listen to music composed by this talented author and watch self-produced videos documenting his journey to publishing success. oEliza Borné writes from nashville.

Bran HambricBy Kaleb NationSourcebooks Jabberwocky $17.99, 464 pagesISBN 9781402218576Ages 9 to 12

MEET Judy Schachner

Skippyjon Jones: Lost in Spice (Dutton, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9780525479659) is the latest entry in Judy Schachner’s picture book series about an adventurous Siamese cat who thinks he’s a Chihuahua. Schachner lives in Swarth-more, Pennsylvania, with her family, which in-cludes two Siamese cats.


T his year’s Teen Read Week celebration, October 18-24, encourages teenagers to “read beyond reality.” Check out our recommendations below—from madcap adventure to heartfelt drama—and find a

young adult novel that’s out of this world.

YOUNG ADULTOur top picks for Teen Week Read

The doubts of a pastor’s daughterBy AngelA leepeR

Fifteen-year-old Samara is fed up with a summer when everything is broken—the air-conditioner, the ceiling fan, the icemaker, even her family. While her mother is serv-ing a “suggested” court-ordered rehab for DUI, her father, charismatic Pastor Charlie, has time and answers for everyone in their small town, except his wife and daughter. “Everyone thinks they know us, me. Everyone is wrong,” Sam explains. Left out of “non-Christian” activities on the weekends because she’s the pastor’s daughter, she sinks into depression and a crisis in faith in Sara Zarr’s Once Was Lost (Little, Brown, $16.99, 224 pages, ISBN 9780316036047).

In the midst of Sam’s burgeoning doubt, 13-year-old Jody from her youth group disappears without a trace. As each day passes and the mystery continues, smothering hope and fuel-ing rumors, no one is above suspicion. Red herrings run aplen-ty, duping readers to the very end. Time begins to stand still, as community members reach out to one another and Sam develops a relationship with Jody’s big brother. And as she real-izes the reasons behind her father’s neglect, Sam begins to view him as a multifaceted, misunderstood figure, just like herself.

Once Was Lost is part realistic fiction, part mystery, part re-ligious story and all together one gentle, smart read that features believable characters, flaws and all. Small-town life, for better or worse, is frankly depicted, too. For likeable, re-silient Sam, who expresses her feelings to readers before she does to the rest of the world, her summertime struggle to reclaim her faith is more about reclaiming her identity. o

Tilting at windmillsBy AngelA leepeR

In a departure from her Victorian-era trilogy for teens, Libba Bray dishes out a multi-layered dark comedy in her latest book, Going Bovine (Random House, $17.99, 496 pages, ISBN 9780385733977). Sixteen-year-old Cameron Smith, a self-absorbed slacker from Texas, is dying from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human variant of Mad Cow.

Doctors don’t give Cameron much time, but Dulcie, a punk angel with pink hair, explains that the prions attacking his brain are from dark energy released by Dr. X. While parallel world-hopping, this mad scientist opened a wormhole, al-lowing dark energy to penetrate Earth. If Cameron can track down Dr. X, he’ll not only find a cure for his Mad Cow, but also save the planet in the process.

Cameron sets out on a farcical road trip to Daytona Beach, where Dr. X may be hiding. With help from his hospital roommate (an anxious, hypochondriac Little Person named Paul Henry “Gonzo” Gonzales), guidance from Dulcie and messages from tabloids, the pair tackles a series of hilarious, Don Quixote-like battles.

During the journey, Cameron begins to appreciate his parents, reconnect with his near-perfect sister and most importantly, learn about himself and how to trust, love—and live. While enjoying the hijinks, readers will have to decide whether Cameron’s escapades are really happening or merely the result of his deteriorating spongy brain, an element that adds to the madcap fun. o

of the few individuals who can travel between dimensions with the aid of magical amulets. They ask for her help in bringing justice to Chenglei, their corrupt prime minister. With the help of Kalen, an orphaned, white teenage boy, and a wealthy social-ite, Daiyu quickly learns espionage tricks and the finer skills of high society for her auspicious meeting with Chenglei.

Once her mission is completed, the teen is free to return home, but she will forget all that she experienced in Shenglang, including her developing and secret relationship with Kalen. Caught between two worlds, Daiyu is afraid of losing memo-ries from both. But can love survive beyond time and space? The possibility will enthrall teen readers, as will the author’s detailed descriptions of this parallel world; her interesting ex-planations of travel across time and dimensions; and thought-provoking discussions of race and culture. Shinn concludes with room for a sequel and the chance to explore love and time once more. o

Transcending time and spaceBy AngelA leepeR

Prolific fantasy writer Sharon Shinn spins another imaginative tale with gentle ro-mance in Gateway (Viking, $17.99, 288 pages, ISBN 97806700117800). Taking time out from a busy summer internship, Chinese adoptee Daiyu stops at a jewelry vendor near the St. Louis Arch and is captivated by the beautiful and unusual stones that reflect her birth heritage. After wearing them for only a few moments, she is transported to Sheng-lang, an alternate St. Louis that resembles 19th-century China and in which Chinese culture is dominant while whites and blacks serve as ostracized laborers.

The confused teen is taken in by a biracial couple, who explain to Daiyu that she is one

Finding AmandaBy emily BOOTh mAsTeRs

Callie is part of the most popular clique at Endeavor High. When a teacher asks her to help new student Amanda Valentino get caught up in math class, Callie is initially irri-tated, but she soon finds herself becoming good friends with Amanda. Something about this new girl draws Callie in, particularly the fact that Amanda chooses Callie to be her “guide” at Endeavor. Amanda explains that she moves quite a bit, so she always chooses one—and only one—person to help her get to know a new school.

When Amanda mysteriously disappears, Callie is less than thrilled to learn that Amanda also chose super-weirdo Nia and geek-turned-artsy-cool Hal to be her “one and only” guides. As the mystery grows more and more intense, Cal-lie finds herself drawn to her new, “uncool” classmates. They begin to discover that very little of what they believed they knew about Amanda is actually true, and they start to wonder if they ever really knew her at all. United in their desire to find Amanda, the girls decide to stick together and embark on what they eventually term “The Amanda Project.”

The Amanda Project: Book 1: Invisible I (HarperTeen, $16.99, 352 pages, ISBN 9780061742125) is the first installment in a series of eight books that will eventu-ally (hopefully) solve the Amanda mystery. And for readers of this first volume, the next installment cannot come soon enough. Savvy teen readers looking for a more in-depth experience than the typical teen novel will devour Invisible I and head straight to the book’s website (www.theamandaproject.com) for more mystery and drama. o

Five teens on a hellish journeyBy DeAn sChneiDeR

“Hell isn’t some fiery/ pit ‘down there.’ It’s right here on Earth, / in every dirty city, ev-ery yawning town. / Every glittery resort and every naked stretch / of desert where some-one’s life somersaults / out of control.” So says 16-year-old Eden Streit, near the end of Tricks (McElderry, $18.99, 640 pages, ISBN 9781416950073), a free-verse narrative that takes readers and five narrators on a journey straight to hell.

It’s Eden’s narrative that opens the story. Her father is a hellfire-and-brimstone minister, and when he discovers Eden’s relationship with a boy outside their congregation, Eden is sent away for “rehabilitation,” with disastrous results. Four other teenaged characters—Seth Parnell, Whitney Lang, Ginger Cordell and Cody Bennett—face crises that catapult them into journeys Cody describes as a “snowball roll toward hell.”

The five separate first-person narratives of these teens even-tually come together among the walking dead of the sex trade in Las Vegas. An intense, utterly compulsive tale that readers may well read in one day-long binge, this is a disturbing look at teen prostitution, a big problem in the U.S., where, as Hopkins says in an author’s note, the average age of a female prostitute is 12 years old. In alternating sections, narrators tell their stories, each section opening with a poem that could stand alone in its poetic and reflective power.

Hopkins is a fine practitioner of the free-verse novel; her voices are distinct and put readers directly into the minds and hearts of her characters. These are five teens that readers will come to know and care about, and at the end of the novel, there is, indeed, some amount of hope as they continue down their difficult paths. o


CHILDREN’S BOOKSWesterfeld sails into history with a whale of tale

By Heidi Henneman

W hat if World War I was fought with giant walking machines and genetically modified monsters instead of airplanes and ammunition? What if, instead of telephones and radios, long-distance communication was carried out by

talking lizards and trained birds? What if our version of history was somehow turned on its head and futuristic tales were spun instead?

This is just what happens in Scott Westerfeld’s exciting new novel for young adults, Leviathan (Simon Pulse, $19.99, 448 pages ISBN 9781416971733). Westerfeld treats readers to a captivating story about a young boy in the early 1900s, who happens to be the orphaned son of Archduke Ferdinand. History teaches us that the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife ignited the sparks that led to World War I. In Leviathan, this bit of history remains the same, but the de-tails of the war are dramatically different: Britain and her allies are armed with a fleet of Darwinian-created “beasties,” including a flying, hydrogen-burping whale, while Austria and her allies fight with enor-mous “clankers” made of metal and gears, and run by classic engines.

For Westerfeld, whose previous works for teens include the Uglies and Midnighters trilogies, writing in the genre known as “steampunk” has been an interesting challenge. “It’s about rewriting history in an alternative way—and making it better,” he says in a telephone inter-view from New York, a day after arriving in the city from his native Australia. Westerfeld and his wife Justine Larbalestier, also a successful YA author, divide their time between the two locations.

Although steampunk has been around for awhile (think H.G. Wells and Jules Verne), it gained notoriety in the 1980s and ’90s. The genre gets its name from the time period in which most stories are set, the Victorian era, when steam power was king. Westerfeld became aware of the genre when he came across a role-playing game called Space 1899, in which players explore futures that could have been. “That was the first time I real-ized that people were really doing this stuff and thinking it through,” he says.

Westerfeld especially enjoyed researching and writing about the technology of the era. “Everything looked weird at the time, sort of clunky and fantastical: airplanes had three wings, tanks looked like boilers on tractor treads,” he says. He particularly liked researching zeppelins—both the original giant flyers and his own genetically fabri-cated creations. “I have a big airship fetish,” Westerfeld admits, “and thought a living airship would be a kind of fascinating thing.” To do research, he and Justine went to the headquarters of Zeppelin Corporation in Switzerland, where a smaller version of

the historically giant airships are still being produced. “We got to go up in one and that was cool,” Westerfeld says.

He also drew a bit of inspiration from the biological sciences: Darwin and his true-life granddaughter Dr. Nora Darwin Barlow play major roles in the book. “Scientists of that era were the original action hero-adventurers,” Westerfeld explains, “and I thought it would be fun to make Darwin a character.” Indeed, the author takes Darwinian philosophy to a new level, creating a world in which Darwin has discovered DNA threads and has been able to manipulate them to create hybrid animal species: jellyfish that float through the air like hot air balloons, lizards that talk like parrots, and of course, the title creature Leviathan, the aforemen-tioned flying whale.

To help us visualize these fanciful creatures, Westerfeld enlisted the artful talents of Keith Thompson, who created more than 50 illus-trations for the book. “It was a very collaborative process,” he says. “He did with the pictures the same thing I was doing with the text. It was like being a novelist and an art director at the same time.” Af-

ter Thompson drew the magnificent creatures and ornate ma-chines that Westerfeld had imagined, the author edited the text to reflect the details that Thompson had added.

Westerfeld’s exuberance for the technology of the era—and beyond—comes through clearly in his writing. From mecha-nized horses to metal-eating bats, eight-legged battleships and light-producing earthworms, he has created a world where technological and biological sciences collide. “It’s a war between two completely different world-views,” he notes.

The same could be said of the early 20th century, and the events of the era created fodder for Westerfeld’s storyline. “The great thing about doing historical research is that you can look back and say, if they had only done this it could have all been

different. It’s a fascinating perspective.” By creating the alternate reality of Leviathan, Westerfeld is able to inspire his readers—young and old—to think about what really did happen at that time in history, how close we might have come to the fictional story, and how the fate of the world can hinge on seemingly innocuous events. o

Heidi Henneman writes from new york.

A grandma with staying powerBy alice cary

Grandma Dowdel lives! Fans of Richard Peck’s Newbery-winning books a year down yonder and a long Way from chicago know that this is indeed good news. If you haven’t met this feisty heroine, you’ve got a treat in store with a Season of Gifts.

This time, the year is 1958, and Elvis is King. A preacher, his wife and three children move next door to Grandma Dowdel in a small Illinois town. The Barnhart family includes Ruth Ann, about to enter first grade, her big sister Phyllis, who adores Elvis, and 11-year-old Bob, our narrator. Bob describes how the town bully and his minions drag him to a nearby creek, strip him of his clothes and duct-tape his mouth shut. It is indeed a horror story, but in Peck’s version, things turn out all right, and justice is finally served. The bullies end their fun by stringing Bob up over Grandma Dowdel’s privy. When she discovers him there, she swears that she will never let anyone know she has witnessed his humiliation.

Grandma quietly helps out all of Bob’s family in the short time that they are next-door neighbors. The Barn-harts have little money, and their father’s church is in dis-repair with no congregation. Luckily, rumors soon begin to fly that Mrs. Dowdel’s melon patch is haunted by the ghost of a native Kickapoo princess. Hundreds of folks come out to try to get a glimpse. When the crowds become overwhelming, Mrs. Dowdel presents Mr. Barnhart with a box containing, she claims, the princess’ remains. After he preaches a stirring funeral for the circus-like crowd, both his congregation and popularity begin to grow.

Peck’s lovingly written historical fiction provides a wonderful glimpse into times past. Grandma Dowdel fends for herself by canning produce, catching and cooking a turtle, gathering walnuts and hunting birds. Her gifts don’t come from stores, but they certainly last forever in these fast-paced adventures. oalice cary writes from Groton, massachusetts.

A Season of GiftsBy Richard PeckDial, $16.99, 176 pagesISBN 9780803730823Ages 10 and up

One boy’s larger-than-life adventureBy SHaron VerBeten

The mind of Newbery Award-winning writer Neil Gaiman must be a very animated, busy and slightly offbeat place—and thankfully so. Otherwise, adults and children alike would be missing out on some of the most inventive characters and stories of our time.

In this fantastical romp, laden with the echoes of Norse mythology, readers meet Odd, a 12-year-old Norwegian boy who is down on his luck. He recently lost his father, a master carver who dove overboard on a Viking ship to rescue a pony. Then, Odd crushes his leg in a tree-felling accident and is left to hobble about with one good leg, one bad leg and one wooden crutch.

Despite his moniker, Odd’s name doesn’t really fit him. He is, perhaps, the most normal character in this short, yet extremely compelling, novel. There are far more odd fellows the boy will encounter when he ventures out of his village—fed up with grumpy villagers and a drunken stepfather, and eager for adventure. It isn’t long before befriends a fox, a bear and an eagle—at least that’s what he initially believes them to be. Odd is soon enraptured and entwined in their spectacular tales of powerful gods, teasing goddesses, intim-idating Frost Giants and a magical place known as Asgard.

Nothing is as it seems, Odd will soon learn. The woods are full of surprises, minds can play tricks and animals can transmogrify. The world of what is real and what is imag-ined soon melds together—with Odd smack in the middle.

In this magical novel, dry humor is woven into the con-cise text. Anthropomorphic animals, vivid imagery and fan-tastical happenings provide an extremely quick-paced and accessible introduction to mythology.

Readers, especially young boys, will easily be drawn into Odd’s excellent adventure, which is ultimately a satisfying coming-of-age story wrapped in magic and mythical overtones. o

Sharon Verbeten is a freelance writer and former children’s librarian in de Pere, Wisconsin.

Odd and the Frost GiantsBy Neil GaimanIllustrated by Brett HelquistHarperCollins $14.99, 128 pagesISBN 9780061671739Ages 8 to 12

SCOTT WESTERFELD

© S

AM

AN

THA

JO

NES

W


SENSE OF WONDERHarnessing the power within

This month our fantasy triptych includes the story of a young woman who is too beautiful and powerful for even the most powerful men, a machine too powerful for the Wild West and a former slave whose power may destroy him.

In the world of Kristin Cashore’s Fire (Dial, $17.99, 480 pages, ISBN 9780803734616), every living creature has a monster analogue, distinguishable by unnatural colors and a lust for blood—particularly monster blood. Though she does not lust for blood, Fire is a human monster. Her beauty causes uncontrollable lust in weak-willed men, and through a form of telepathy she can force men to do her will—though she is understandably reluctant to do so. Her father and his puppet king destroyed their kingdom through excess and cruelty, and Fire quickly finds herself embroiled in court politics, assault-ed by the king and used as a tool to interrogate spies. She faces internal conflict as she sees the manipulation

of human will too similar to her father’s amoral and casual brutality, but also necessary to the defense of the kingdom. To make matters worse, she falls in love with the prince—and his daughter. Aside from sharp writing, the strength of Fire lies in Cashore’s depiction of womanhood. The author plays with traditional gender fantasy roles, giving us a strong but feminine character whose physiology generates her strengths and weaknesses, and male characters who are ag-gressive chauvinists and misogynists—not the asexual ideal heroes of Tolkien’s pale imitators. The enchanting prequel to Cashore’s beloved young adult novel Graceling, Fire is an excellent book for all ages—particularly young women.

Steampunk in SeattleThere are plenty of alternate Civil War novels, but none

quite like Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker (Tor, $15.99, 416 pages, ISBN 9780765318411). In the 1860s, Leviticus Blue builds a gold-mining machine in response to a Russian contest. But something goes terribly wrong—either intentionally or by accident, we don’t quite know—and the Boneshaker destroys the banking district of Seattle and unleashes a gas that turns the living into the living dead. A wall is built around Seattle to contain the gas and the zombies. Sixteen years later, Leviticus’

widow attempts to rescue their son, Ezekiel, who has braved the wall to vindicate his universally hated father. Behind the wall, a man who may or may not be Le-viticus—and who may or may not have robbed the banks—has built a kingdom of the living, and he has other plans for Ezekiel and his mother. What follows is a fantastic whirlwind tour of an alternate history and a steampunk version of The Lord of the Flies. While slightly marred by a few too many similar chase scenes, Boneshaker offers fans of both steampunk and the New Weird much to enjoy.

Fantasy pick of the monthFlesh and Fire (Pocket, $26, 384 pages, ISBN 9781439101414) gives us another

unlikely hero. Jerzy is a slave plucked from the vineyards because he shows a tal-ent for creating spellwines. The reader learns (as Jerzy does) that these magic wines were omnipotent until the vines were split into types by a semi-deity who ordered that vintners and governing entities be entirely independent from one another. This Command has been kept and vigorously enforced, but has led to a stagnation in the development of government and particularly the evolution of spellwines. Peace has been held for centuries, but a new malevolent and destructive power appears which no one can identify. The narrative develops slowly, but the patient reader is rewarded with the skillful unfolding of a richly developed world heavily dependent on religious interpretation—a delightful discovery especially as the novel eschews slavish imitation of Grecian mythology or thinly veiled criticism of Christianity, instead presenting a history and mythology which informs and guides the power-less and the powerful. Laura Anne Gilman also approaches the issue of slavery from an alternate viewpoint; Jerzy sees slavery as a natural and moral behavior, is unable to recognize any other option, and questions the mean-ing of “freedom” through an examination of what it means to be guided by a dead deity’s Commandments. Moral questions are deeply embedded in the novel, with a brilliantly limited authorial intervention, and presented through well-developed characters and first-class world-building. Since this is subtitled “Book One of The Vineart War,” we can only look forward to the sequel(s). oIn alphabetical order, Sean Melican is a chemist, father, husband and writer.

BY SEAN MELICAN

FICTION

Welcome to HollywoodBy DeBorah Donovan

Joseph Kanon has made his mark in the literary thriller genre, starting with 1997’s Edgar-winning Los alamos. His fascination with the post-WWII era continues in Star-dust, which blends one man’s search for the reasons for his brother’s death with an eye-opening look at the machinations of the Hollywood studios during the Communist witch hunts.

Ben Collier (formerly Kohler) returns to the U.S. at the end of the war, taking the train from New York to Cali-fornia, where his brother Danny, a movie director, is hos-pitalized—supposedly after jumping from his fifth floor apartment. On the train Ben meets a producer who knows Danny and promises Ben he will help him with a movie he has been assigned to make for the Army—a short film dramatizing the horrors of the concentration camps.

Ben reaches the hospital in time to see Danny briefly come out of his coma, then die. Their father died in the Holocaust, and Danny later helped many Jewish Germans, including his own wife, Liesl, escape. At his funeral, Ben meets some of these emigrants who owed Danny their lives; Ben senses they are demanding some kind of justice.

Kanon thus sets the stage for the melding of these two plots: Ben’s search for his brother’s killer set against the backdrop of the politics and paybacks of the competing studios in Hollywood’s early years.

At the same time, the war’s aftermath is leading to the hunt for Communists all over the country—but nowhere is the hunt fueled by such fervor as in Hollywood. As Ben gradually unravels the intricate ties between Congress, the FBI and its informants, he simultaneously garners information about who might have wished Danny dead—in-formation that puts him in danger, as well.

Once again Kanon has woven real-life figures—from Paulette Goddard and Jack Warner to Bertolt Brecht and Thomas Mann—into a taut thriller, all set against the background of one of the least laudable moments in our country’s history. oDeborah Donovan writes from La veta, Colorado.

StardustBy Joseph KanonAtria $27.95, 512 pagesISBN 9781439156148Also available on audio

Go to bookpage.com to sign up today!

XTRA, XTRA Read all about it!

Exceptional book reviews and author interviews—Delivered right to your inbox

More BookPage, more often

Visit BookPage.com to sign upfor our twice-monthly

e-newsletter, BookPageXtra!

AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE | FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DARK HORSE BOOKS VISIT DARKHORSE.COM Characters © 2009 their respective creators. Dark Horse Books® and the Dark Horse logo are registered trademarks of Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

Harvey Comics Classics Volume 1: Casper the Friendly Ghost

978-1-59307-781-5 | $19.95

®

Harvey Comics ClassicsVolume 4: Baby Huey

978-1-59307-977-2 | $19.95

Harvey Comics ClassicsVolume 5: Harvey Girls

978-1-59582-171-3 | $19.95

Little Lulu Color Special978-1-59307-613-9 | $13.95

Little Lulu Volume 20: The Bawlplayers and Other Stories

978-1-59582-364-9 | $14.95

Creepy Archives Volume 1978-1-59307-973-4 | $49.95

Eerie Archives Volume 1978-1-59582-245-1 | $49.95

Herbie Archives Volume 1978-1-59307-987-1 | $49.95

Mister X Archives978-1-59582-184-3 | $79.95

Nexus Archives Volume 2978-1-59307-455-5 | $49.95

The Art of Tony Millionaire978-1-59582-158-4 | $39.95

Kickass Kuties:The Art of Lisa Petrucci

978-1-59582-252-9 | $22.95

Lost Constellations:The Art of Tara McPherson978-1-59582-222-2 | $22.95

The Workshop of Filthy Creation:The Art of Johnny Ace and Kali Verra

978-1-59307-924-6 | $19.95

Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D

(Softcover w/slipcase)978-1-59582-110-2 | $29.95

Aliens Omnibus Volume 1978-1-59307-727-3 | $24.95

Buffy the Vampire SlayerOmnibus Volume 1

978-1-59307-784-6 | $24.95

Clover Omnibus978-1-59582-196-6 | $19.95

Predator Omnibus Volume 1978-1-59307-732-7 | $24.95

Star Wars Omnibus: Rise of the Sith978-1-59582-228-4 | $24.95

STOCKUP

TODAY!

BOOK PAGE OCTOBER 09 AD.indd 1 8/28/09 11:02:18 AM


FICTION

Small town wisdomBy Linda White

Autumn has been the resident sage of the town of Avening for longer than anyone can remember (some may call her a witch or a shaman, but really she is more of an old-fashioned wise wom-en). When Autumn is called to find a replacement, she decides to hold an essay contest for would-be candidates.

While the entries themselves prove to be both surprising and il-luminating, this is not merely the story of Autumn finding her re-placement—it is also a multifaceted tale of the women (and in some cas-es, girls) vying to take over for their beloved Autumn. Each candidate’s specific experiences unveil—or in some cases, release—the power that is deep within each of them. Above all, this magical book is a testament to the power of women.

There is a great preponderance of beautiful people in the book—almost all of the women are strik-ing, and you start to wonder if there must be something in the Avening water. But beyond that, Foster’s overall message is clear: each of us has a gift. Whether we choose to ex-ercise it or how we choose to do so is ultimately up to us.

Foster has a facility for the poetic, and her characters feel com-fortable and real from the beginning. When autumn Leaves is a fantastical coming-of-age story, but mostly, it reminds us of the importance of faith—both in ourselves and in that which we cannot see. oLinda White is a writer and editor living in St. Paul, Minnesota.

emphasis on “scratch”), whether the economy is in boom or doom mode. The tools, aka great recipes, are in his latest manifesto, Jamie’s Food Revolution (Hyperion, $35, 360 pages, ISBN 9781401323592). He wants us to cook at home, to give up the deleteri-

ous habit of eating fast food and takeout, and offers 14 chapters—from 20-minute meals (try the Chicken and Leek Stroganoff!), curries, stir-fries, a wonderful riff on ground beef entrees, roasts and stews, to super salads, sweet things and more—each with an irresistible array easy enough for a novice and intriguing enough for an old kitchen hand, all with fabulous photos, demonstrating a dish’s evolution, the how-to’s involved or the fin-ished product. Join the revolution by passing on your favorites to at least two friends who will do the same (building a progression of happy rebels), or just enjoy Jamie’s take on good homemade food.

The scoop on soupSoup is the ultimate and indisputable comfort food, but in its many

incarnations it’s so much more. A soup can show off its hearty peasant roots, exude an ineffable elegance, warm your soul or cool it off. And as souperista Anna Thomas maintains, “soup may be the last hope for home cooking.” To ensure that that “last hope” remains alive and well, Thomas, au-thor of the much-admired Vegetarian epicure books, serves up her personal, invitingly inventive “library of soups” in Love Soup (Norton, $22.95, 528 pages, ISBN 9780393332575). As you might suspect, Thomas’ soups are vegetarian and many are vegan, and as you might surmise from the title, she’s truly, madly, deeply in love with soup. That love manifests itself in every one of the 100 soup recipes here, plus 60 more for breads, salads, starters and sweets to go with the “souper” main course. Seasonal stars, like chard and root veggies, shine as we move from fall to winter—with some sensational creations for the holidays—then come soups that honor the first tastes of spring and the bounty of summer. We’ve come full cycle, souped it up for a year and are all the better for it. o

Gourmet began its illustrious career in 1941 and has become the magazine of record, the gold standard for food magazines. There are others to be sure, but Gourmet main-tains its cachet and its excellence due, in good part, to Ruth Reichl’s leadership. Reichl, Gourmet’s famed editor-in-chief, edited the Gourmet Cookbook in 2004,

the more-than-magnum opus compiled to celebrate the magazine’s 60th birthday. With more than 1,000 recipes, it was a grand retro-spective that gathered the best of the best—retested, retasted and updated. Now, only five years later, the indomitable Gourmet team has done it again with Gourmet Today (Hough-ton Mifflin Harcourt, $40, 1,024 pages, ISBN 9780618610181). Another whopper (not the Burger King variety!), this one is orchestrated to suit “the on-going revolution in the Ameri-can kitchen”—our wonderfully eclectic, inter-

national appetites, the ever-increasing ease in getting ethnic, organic and healthy ingre-dients and our concern about ethical eating. And, with 650 recipes that can be made in

30 minutes, it invites the time-challenged (and who isn’t?) to share in our current culinary adventures. Encyclopedic in an exciting way, there’s not a cooking category missing, from minty Mojitos to Zucchini Curry, Quail with Pomegranate Jus and an impressive Frozen Passion Fruit Meringue Cake. If a new “Julie” cooks her way through this tome, it may take a decade.

Chef with a missionJamie Oliver has become a revolutionary. Armed with

cooking utensils, solid recipes and his signature charm, he’s determined to wage culinary war on bad health and the

rise of obesity (pace fat studies proponents). His strategy for winning the war is to give you the tools to make “good, honest, affordable food,” that you cook from scratch (big

BY SYBIL PRATT

COOKINGIt’s ‘Gourmet’ all the way for today’s cook

kybookfair.com

Kentucky Book Fair

November 7, 2009 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Frankfort Convention Center, 405 Mero St.

Frankfort, KY

Join hundreds of authors for

Kentucky’s premiere literary event!

MEMOIR

Secrets from the upper crustBy eLiza Borné

The economy has tanked, unemployment’s up and we’ve all got better things to do than read about the woes and ruminations of prep school-educated rich folks, right?

Not if Tad Friend has anything to say about it. In Cheerful Money: Me, My Fam-

ily, and the Last days of Wasp Splen-dor, Friend, a staff writer at the new yorker, writes a multi-generational portrait of his family, an impres-sive set of Wasps whose ancestors include a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Clearly an expert on the breed, Friend sprinkles hi-larious aphorisms throughout the text: “Wasps name their dogs after liquor and their cars after dogs and their children after their ancestors”; “Wasps emerge from the womb wrinkly and cautious, already vice presidents, already fifty-two.”

Through it all, Friend falls in (and out) of love—multiple times—and deals with the knowledge that when his kids are grown, they won’t be Wasps . . . the family money will be gone. The memoir is most engaging when he keeps closest to home; the scenes with Friend’s parents are touching and poignant.

At the beginning of the book, Friend writes, “I am a Wasp because I harbored a feeling of disconnection from my parents, as they had from their parents, and their parents had from their parents.” Cheerful Money is Friend’s funny and enlightening way of piecing together that disconnect. oeliza Borné recently graduated from Wellesley (and is not a Wasp).

Cheerful MoneyBy Tad FriendLittle, Brown$24.99, 336 pagesISBN 9780316003179

When Autumn LeavesBy Amy S. FosterOverlook$14.95, 304 pagesISBN 9781590202555


HISTORY

Traveling the road of redemptionBy John T. Slania

William Faulkner wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”That argument gained credence when James Ford Seale was arrested more than 40

years after he and fellow Ku Klux Klan members tortured and murdered two young black men in Mississippi. The ghosts of his victims, and others who lost their lives dur-ing the long struggle for civil rights, seem eerily present in the courtroom during Seale’s murder trial, as chronicled in The Past is never Dead: The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi’s Struggle for Re-demption. Author Harry N. MacLean’s main objective is to cover the trial in which a now aging and feeble Seale is accused of the 1964 killings of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. But the book’s broader theme concerns an underly-ing racial tension MacLean detects in Mississippi, and how the state’s white residents are still trying to atone for sins their ancestors committed against blacks. Thus, the steamy courtroom air seems thick with the spirits of hate-crime victims Medgar Evers, Emmett Till and other lost souls of the South.

Even while MacLean is covering Seale’s trail, he spends time traveling across Mississippi. His goal is to understand and describe the complex culture of the state. MacLean’s approach is effective when he recounts Mississippi’s strug-gle to recover from the Civil War, the rise of The Klan and the racial clashes during the 1960s. Equally engaging is his account of how Mississippi attempts to exorcise its demons, as when one small town tries to erect a memo-rial to Emmett Till. But the narrative loses its way when MacLean takes side trips to Faulkner’s hometown of Ox-ford, and later visits with an old black blues musician who admits he’s never heard of James Ford Seale. Fortunately, these distractions are short, and the drama of the murder trial is enough to keep the reader interested and the story moving forward.

In sum, The Past is never Dead works both as a true crime potboiler and as a broader allegory of the South’s search for redemption. oJohn T. Slania is a journalism professor at loyola University in Chicago.

The Past is Never DeadBy Harry N. MacLeanBasic Books$25.95, 304 pagesISBN 9780465005048

RELATIONSHIPS

Sisters are sisters foreverBy MaRy KenneDy

With a string of wildly successful books behind her, communications expert Deborah Tannen turns to the emotionally charged topic of sisterhood. Written in a conversational style, you Were always Mom’s Favorite! offers a look into the passionate dynamics that oc-cur in the relationships between sisters, a visceral connection that can be both symbiotic and suffocating, life-changing and joyful. No one can relate to you like a sister, no one can share your experiences like a sister and conversely, no one can push your buttons like a sister.

Tannen bases her work on interviews—or as she prefers to say, focused conversations—with more than 100 women, ranging in age from late teens to their early 90s. One of the many strengths of this powerful book is the way she high-lights the stories the women tell about their lives. We learn how their sisters were there for them in a time of crisis, how they converse in a unique way (“sisterspeak”) and how they provide a lifeline for each other. Many subjects felt that their sisters were someone “to talk to and laugh with,” someone who shares the same childhood memories. In the interviews, Tannen skillfully weaves the poignant (“I can’t imagine life without her”) with the mundane (“I love her to death but she drives me crazy”) and a fascinating picture emerges. Is sisterhood a bond or bondage?

In The other Boleyn Girl, Anne says to Mary, “I was born to be your rival. And you, mine. We’re sisters, aren’t we?” A sisterly relationship can be challenging, fraught with peril and misunderstandings. One misstep, one false note in a heart-to-heart conversation, and the connection is severed or irreparably damaged.

Tannen, one of three sisters herself, has written a captivating book that offers a win-dow into this fascinating topic. oMary Kennedy is a psychologist and mystery writer in Delaware. her new series, The Talk Radio Mysteries, will be released in January.

You Were Always Mom’s Favorite!By Deborah TannenRandom House$26, 256 pagesISBN 9781400066322Also available on audio

Look at what our Scavenger Hunt participants had to say about

.com

“ Excellent site. Easy to navigate. Loads of great information. Obviously a labor of love. Thanks for caring about books and those who read them. ”

—Marsha K.

“ Terrific! Readers could spend hours just browsing your site, and with the contests, visiting it makes it more than interesting for many–now it’s FUN! ” —Karen M.

“ An extremely informative, interesting and wonderful site with delightful books, fascinating author interviews, great graphics and fabulous reviews. ” —Sharon B.

Grand Prize— Jennifer Hopwood Melbourne, FL

Second Prize—Rosemary Sobczak Silver Lake, WI

Third Prize— Michael May Dubuque, IA

“ I love the new site, as a very intense book reader, I can’t find any other website to beat or even match the complexity and in depth knowledge as BookPage.com. I think what you did to your site is awesome.” —Kara S.

Congratulations to the winners of our BookPage.com Scavenger Hunt!

Documents

October 09 BAM BookPage