October 15, 2013: Volume LXXXI, No 20

Featuring 264 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen

KIRKUS VOL. LXXXI, NO.

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REVIEWS FICTION

The Invention of Wings

By Sue Monk Kidd The author avoids sentimental revisionism with this historical novel about the relationship between a slave and the daughter of slave owners in antebellum Charleston. p. 12

INDIE Why Bob Mayer says “self”publishing is anything but p. 112

Publishing has made

James Patterson

wealthy; he's not just giving back, but trying to save lives in the process. p. 90

CHILDREN'S & TEEN

Wild Berries

by Julie Flett A Cree-Métis artist takes readers on a sublimely rendered blueberry-picking expedition. p. 80

NONFICTION

The Death of Santini

by Pat Conroy One of the most widely read authors from the American South puts his demons to bed at long last. p. 45

Anniversaries: Wisconsin Death Trip B Y G RE G O RY MC NA M EE

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N # President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N mkuehn@kirkus.com

To d ay i s t h e D ay o f t h e D e a d. It’s a holiday that, unlike its predecessor, Halloween, has been long overlooked in much of the United States and other dominantly Protestant nations.

Thanks to fast-changing demographics, though, it is finding its place on both the secular and sacred calendars here.

To judge by Michael Lesy’s Wisconsin Death Trip, first published by Pantheon in 1973 and reissued in 2000 by the University of New Mexico Press, we’ve needed to observe the Day of the Dead all along—and several times a year, at that. Think of it as a sort of Midwestern response to the famed New York mayhem photos of Weegee, save that Wisconsin Death Trip finds most of its subjects at greater repose than the crumpled crime victims of the later photographer.

Underlying Lesy’s book is the work of a photographer named Charles Van Shaick, “careful and competent,” as Lesy says, who, beginning in the 1880s, recorded events in the daily life of Black River Falls, Wis., roughly midway between Madison and Minneapolis.

Lesy discovered a collection of glass plate negatives in the town’s archives, 30,000 of them. He reproduces many of them in these pages: photographs of long-maned ponies at first, giving way to photographs of town stalwarts, all lace collar and chin beard; of farmworkers; of passing circus types and hoboes; of the occasional ne’er-do-well or the man or woman who, it is quite clear from the set of the jaw or the look in the eye, is destined for difficult times ahead.

The photographs are, for the most part, perfectly ordinary (though one of a young woman standing in a canoe on a wind-rippled lake reminds me of one of the scariest scenes in Jack Clayton’s 1961 film The Innocents). The text casts doubt on them, though, made up of cut-up snippets from the local paper: “At Stevens Point an incendiary fire destroyed sale stables and 13 fine draft horses.... This is the ninth incendiary fire in the city in a week.” “Kenosha is again in the hands of a gang of tramps which have been making the outskirts of the town their rendezvous for the past 3 months.” “The first death from smallpox at Appleton occurred Tuesday, the victim being the 3 year old Schwanke boy.”

Lesy’s text is a record of barn burnings and public drunkenness, of apoplectic attacks and bank failures, of threatening letters and even witch sightings. By its account, people in Black River Falls must have had to attend several funerals a week, to say nothing of trials and sentencings. Trusting the combined words and images in the book, indeed, you would be forgiven for thinking that no one in small-town America was normal back then, and probably not now, either.

That’s the fuel of a Stephen King novel, of course, and of the daring poems of Edgar Lee Masters.

I find looking at old photographs to be a haunting enough experience anyway, knowing that so many of the people who inhabit them, by simple mathematical elimination, are dead and gone. I know of no book so haunting, in that respect, as Wisconsin Death Trip. Boo!

for more re vi e ws and f eatures, vi si t u s on l i n e at kirkus.com.

Editor E L A I N E S Z E WC Z Y K eszewczyk@kirkus.com Managing/Nonfiction Editor E R I C L I E B E T R AU eliebetrau@kirkus.com Children’s & Teen Editor VICKY SMITH vsmith@kirkus.com Features Editor C laiborne S mith csmith@kirkus.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Contributing Editor G R E G O RY M c N A M E E Senior Indie Editor KAREN SCHECHNER kschechner@kirkus.com Indie Editor RYA N L E A H E Y rleahey@kirkus.com Indie Editor D avid R a p p drapp@kirkus.com Assistant Indie Editor M AT T D O M I N O mdomino@kirkus.com Editorial Assistant CHELSEA LANGFORD clangford@kirkus.com Copy Editor BETSY JUDKINS Director of Kirkus Editorial P E R RY C RO W E pcrowe@kirkus.com Director of Technology E R I K S M A RT T esmartt@kirkus.com Marketing Communications Director SARAH KALINA skalina@kirkus.com Marketing Associate A rden Piacenza apiacenza@kirkus.com Advertising/Client Promotions A nna C oo p er acooper@kirkus.com #

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This Issue’s Contributors

Maude Adjarian • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato • Adam benShea • Amy Boaz • Lee E. Cart • Derek Charles Catsam • Perry Crowe • Dave DeChristopher • Kathleen Devereaux • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer Lisa Elliott • Kirk Reed Forrester • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • Faith Giordano Amy Goldschlager • Peter Heck • Jeff Hoffman • April Holder • Laura Jenkins Robert M. Knight • Christina M. Kratzner Paul Lamey • Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner Georgia Lowe • Joe Maniscalco • Don McLeese Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore Clayton Moore • Liza Nelson Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Sarah Norris • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota Christofer D. Pierson • William E. Pike Evan Rodriguez • Erika Rohrbach • Lloyd Sachs • Leslie Safford • Bob Sanchez William P. Shumaker • Rosanne Simeone Linda Simon • Elaine Sioufi • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Matthew Tiffany • Claire Trazenfeld • Pete Warzel Steve Weinberg • Carol White • Chris White • Alex Zimmerman

Cover photo by Rankin

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contents fiction

The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.

Index to Starred Reviews............................................................5 REVIEWS.................................................................................................5 Why is Jo Baker messing with Pride and Prejudice?....14 Mystery..............................................................................................27 Science Fiction & Fantasy.......................................................... 31 Romance............................................................................................34

nonfiction Index to Starred Reviews.......................................................... 37 REVIEWS............................................................................................... 37 J. Michael Lennon on life as Norman Mailer’s Boswell ........................................................52

children’s & teen Index to Starred Reviews..........................................................73 REVIEWS...............................................................................................73 James Patterson’s insistent philanthropy.....................90 interactive e-books.................................................................. 100 Continuing series...................................................................... 104

indie Sue Monk Kidd hits her stride and avoids sentimental revisionism with this historical novel about the relationship between a slave and the daughter of slave owners in antebellum Charleston. See the review on p. 12.

Index to Starred Reviews........................................................ 105 REVIEWS............................................................................................. 105 Why Bob Mayer says “self”-publishing is anything but................................................................................. 112

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Playwright, novelist and Pushcart Prize winner Ranbir Singh Sidhu populates his new story collection, Good Indian Girls, with Indian diaspora. In 12 startling and vividly imagined stories, Sidhu overturns the lives of ordinary Indians living in America to bring us bold stories. These haunting tales simultaneously attract and repel, enchant and shatter, evoking the ambiguous relationships between past and present, others and self. Each ending seems unfinished, leaving each heart cracked open, perhaps to endure more pain or perhaps to remain simply unfulfilled. Deftly sifting through a range of less-often-visited emotions, Sidhu creates inscrutable characters inhabiting bewildering circumstances. Smart, provocative and poignantly disturbing, this collection, the author’s U.S. debut, signals a writer to watch. Kirkus talks to Ranbir Singh Sidhu in October about Good Indian Girls.

Check out these highlights from Kirkus’ online coverage at www.kirkus.com 9 Photo courtesy Jeremy Lawson

Much-practiced legal proceduralist Scott Turow steps onto Joseph Campbell turf in his latest mystery, Identical. State Sen. Paul Giannis is a candidate for mayor of Kindle County. His identical twin brother, Cass, is newly released from prison 25 years after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Dita Kronon. When Evon Miller, an ex–FBI agent who is the head of security for the Kronon family business, and private investigator Tim Brodie begin a re-investigation of Dita’s death, a complex web of murder, sex and betrayal unfolds.

Amid the supermodernity of DNA tests, the austerity of case law and the tangles of contemporary politics, Turow never loses sight of the ancient underpinnings of his story. Classic (in more senses than one) Turow, the author talks to Kirkus writer Clayton Moore this month about Identical.

9 And be sure to check out our Indie publishing series, featuring some of today’s most intriguing self-published authors, including Jane Lotter.

Each week, we feature authors’ exclusive personal essays and reported articles on how they achieved their success in publishing. It’s a mustread resource for any aspiring author interested in getting readers to notice their new books.

Daniel Alarcón’s breakout novel, At Night We Walk In Circles, is concerned with the aftereffects of revolution and the surprising ways revolutionary rhetoric endures. Set in an unnamed Andean country, the story centers on Nelson, an aspiring actor who lands a role with Diciembre, a theater company that’s dusting off its best-known work, “The Idiot President,” for a revival. Nelson’s fate is slowly revealed through the investigation of the narrator, a young man obsessed with Nelson’s story—and perhaps closer to it than he lets on. As the tour goes off the rails, Alarcón explores the idea of how imitation creates reality: The play’s restaging revives old revolutionary feelings; Nelson obsesses over his role with the woman he left behind; and he falls into the orbit of a family who’s bullied him to pretend to be a long-lost relative. Mind who you pretend to be, Alarcón suggests; the story you tell can be a surprisingly potent one. Kirkus talks to Daniel Alarcón in October about At Night We Walk In Circles.

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fiction PIG’S FOOT

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Acosta, Carlos Translated by Wynne, Frank Bloomsbury (352 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-62040-081-4

RADIANCE OF TOMORROW by Ishmael Beah................................... 6 THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd..............................12 THE COLLECTOR OF LOST THINGS by Jeremy Page....................... 20

Ballet star Acosta’s debut novel follows a Cuban family from slavery days to modern Havana.

Pata de Puerco (Pig’s Foot) is the name of the tiny village founded by friends Oscar and José, fresh from their victory in a slave revolt.

Oscar, whose origins are a pygmy tribe, the Korticos, and José, a Mandinga, forge a bond despite tribal rivalry, marry and start families. Unfortunately, Oscar is soon beset by tragedy—his wife Malena dies giving birth to son Benicio, and Oscar kills himself.

Benicio is raised by José and his wife, Betina, alongside their son Melecio and daughter Geru. Melecio, a gifted poet, is taken into the household of rum baron Emilio Bacardi to be educated. As Benicio grows, he resembles Oscar less and less, mostly since he is much larger in stature. In fact, he resembles, in size and temperament, the village outcast, an ornery giant known as El Mozambique. Thereby hangs a tale, of course. The return of Melecio and Benicio’s attraction to his “sister” Geru cause further complications, and eventually, Benicio and Geru depart for Havana. Here, the feisty narrator, Oscar Mandinga, a descendant of Benicio and Geru, whom he refers to, inaccurately it emerges, as his grandparents, takes over the story. Under suspicion for his political cynicism, Oscar undergoes interrogation at the hands of “whiteshirts” (the Cuban Ku Klux Klan) and embodies the contrast between the apathy and disillusion of young Cubans today and the revolutionary zeal of elders like Benicio and Geru, who witnessed and welcomed the advent of Castro. The shift in tone between the idyll of Pata de Puerco, with its storytellers, wise women, magic amulets and rustic whimsy, and the realities of dystopian Havana are almost too jarring for this relatively short book to encompass.

Other than latter-day Oscar, who narrates what is essentially a frame story, no clear protagonist emerges to lend direction to this episodic rags-to-riches-to rags tale.

The pyrotechnics of Acosta’s writing would benefit from a more tightly choreographed structure.

ORFEO by Richard Powers...................................................................21 DRY BONES by Peter Quinn................................................................22 THE KEPT by James Scott.....................................................................23 TREASURE HUNT by Andrea Camilleri; trans. by Stephen Sartarelli...................................................................27 SOMETHING MORE THAN NIGHT by Ian Tregillis...........................34

RADIANCE OF TOMORROW

Beah, Ishmael Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $25.00 Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-374-24602-0

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5

“A very literary crime story...” from shantytown

SHANTYTOWN

the men, and June, spouse of the mill’s current scion, Cal McAllister, rules the wives—membership in her knitting circle is de rigueur. The orphaned, nomadic Snow children, Zeke and his fey sisters, Mercy and Hannah, have arrived in a rickety RV to claim the plot of land vacated by their late father, Pruitt. Hannah senses that the ghost of ancestor Gert Snow, a recluse who died under suspicious circumstances, hovers nearby, making mischief.

Gert’s worst intervention is the event that launches the main plot—on the night before Thanksgiving, a church youth-group bus skids off a cliff while rounding an icy hairpin turn. Nate, June and Cal’s teenage son, and other passengers sustain only minor injuries, but Nate’s childhood best friend and secret love, Suzie, is killed. The bus driver, Fergus, husband of local sheepherder Hazel, hovers, comatose, on life support. (The skeletal remains of Gert are ominously recovered during the crash investigation.)

The accident is pinned on Zeke, whose battered pickup is found nearby, crumpled against a tree. But what was one of Suzie’s bright red mittens, knitted from Hazel’s artisanal dyed yarn, doing in Cal’s pocket, June wonders. From such minutiae, Baker crafts her appealing, occasionally cloying mélange of magic realism, mystery and social commentary.

Baker (The Gilly Salt Sisters, 2012, etc.) has managed to carve out her own niche in this rocky North Woods terrain, largely due to her deeply flawed but likable characters.

Aira, César Translated by Andrews, Chris New Directions (128 pp.) $13.95 paper | Nov. 20, 2013 978-0-8112-1911-2 A tiny slice of Buenos Aires noir from one of Argentina’s most prolific writers.

An improvisational mood propels this novella-length story by Aira (The Hare, 2013, etc.), with crisp translation by Andrews. The book is set amid the trash district of Buenos Aires’ slum settlements and concerns itself with the intersection of a number of characters. The first, Maxi, is a boxy, middle-class adolescent with his own Rolex who passes his days helping scavengers collect cardboard and other detritus for pocket change. He claims to have a curious form of night blindness that more closes resembles a darkness-triggered form of narcolepsy. Maxi’s sister is Vanessa, a generally harmless girl who runs with a bad crowd. She comes under the influence of Inspector Ignacio Cabezas, a corrupt cop who wants to infiltrate the ranks of a drug sales operation known to locals as “the carousel” and gains Vanessa’s trust by pretending to be the father of a girl from her school who was killed in a random shooting. The drug in question is an invention called proxidine, a powerful hallucinogenic that nearly kills a friend of Vanessa’s. What seems to be interesting to Aira is the confluence of events that seems random but isn’t, as he describes the lusty detective: “His mistake was thinking that a battle is fought at a single point in space,” he writes. “That is not the case. A battle always covers a large area, and none of the participants can take it in at a glance, not even retrospectively.

Nobody can grasp the whole, because in reality there is no whole to be grasped.” Aira’s work, like the fantasy How I Became a Nun (2007), is usually much more fantastic, so it’s an interesting exercise to see the author playing with mystery conventions in a more realistic, if cinematic, style.

A very literary crime story with South American attitude that is lean, spare and resonant.

RADIANCE OF TOMORROW

Beah, Ishmael Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-374-24602-0 This first novel from Sierra Leone– born author Beah (A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, 2007) features characters who face the challenges of returning to normalcy after the horrors of civil war in Sierra Leone.

At times, it’s hard to discern what predominates, the savagery of war and its aftermath or the promise of the book’s title.

As Mama Kadie explains, “The war has changed us, but I hope not so much that we’ll never find our way back.” The place she, her family and her friends are trying to find their way back to is Imperi, a village that has been devastated by the war. Reminders are everywhere: Sila and his children, for example, whose hands were chopped off by the ruthless Sgt. Cutlass. At the center of the return to Imperi is Bockarie, a teacher who wants to resume his life in the village along with fellow teacher Benjamin. Both men struggle against astonishingly high odds, including children who seem to have no future and an administrator who’s embezzling money that should go toward their salaries. When a company starts to mine rutile (a mineral with many desirable uses and whose presence usually presages the discovery of diamonds), many of the students abandon school for the steady paycheck mining provides. The promise of riches also brings foreigners into Imperi, and they have no respect for the traditions of the

MERCY SNOW

Baker, Tiffany Grand Central Publishing (336 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-4555-1273-7 A tiny New Hampshire river town, whose main industry is a paper mill, is rocked by a tragic accident.

By the mid-1990s, small American manufacturing operations are already losing ground, and jobs, to foreign competitors. However, Titan Falls, teetering on the steep banks of the polluted Androscoggin River, is still dependent on the Titan Mill, which converts lumber into paper and has been owned since time immemorial by the McAllister family. The mill employs most of 6

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native culture. In fact, they show their contempt through raping the local women—at least till “Colonel” puts a stop to it by responding to this brutishness with his own brand of aggression.

UNICEF Ambassador Beah writes lyrically and passionately about ugly realities as well as about the beauty and dignity of traditional ways.

she is hamstrung by deathbed promises made to her mother, an astonishing woman who courageously escaped Rhodesia and pulled herself out of certain poverty as a widowed refugee by founding her own company. Instead of helping Mandy achieve her own independence, she binds Mandy to an unhappy marriage and an antiquated business. Nonetheless, Mandy runs the factory well and supports her self-proclaimed genius husband, Irad, the narcissistic, demanding bore acclaimed for inventing the spiral escalator.

Their daughter, Lirit, is at loose ends, living with a judgmental, controlling organic farmer in an effort to avoid following in Mandy’s footsteps too soon. Worse, their son, Dael, an army sharpshooter, has returned to war. Eager to regain the limelight, Irad is working on special protective suits for the military. He is planning to visit an ex-Israeli scientist in America, Bahat McPhee, who (after discovering that Irad shares Rod Serling’s birthday) is eager to share her research. Taking advantage of Irad’s absence, Mandy schedules her eighth (not counting her nose job) cosmetic surgery procedure.

She’s become addicted to the numb bliss of anesthesia and the distracting pain of recovery, both of which dull her fears for Dael’s safety. Her surgeon, flying in from Dresden, will implant new

TEXTILE

Castel-Bloom, Orly Feminist (160 pp.) $15.95 paper | Nov. 16, 2013 978-1-55861-825-1 A curious and beautiful study of lives loosely linked by family and heritage.

Proprietor of a successful pajama factory catering to the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Tel Baruch North, Israel, Mandy Gruber ought to feel empowered. Unfortunately,

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STARTER HOUSE

shoulder blades. But when the surgery goes awry, everyone closely and distantly related to Mandy will feel the repercussions. Internationally acclaimed Castel-Bloom (Human Parts, 2004, etc.)—whose Dolly City is listed by UNESCO’s Collection of Representative Works—deftly weaves a web of intertwining character studies, each rich with detail and nuance.

Against the backdrop of war and unrest, the strivings of a woman for independence gain international depth.

Condit, Sonja Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $14.99 paper | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-06-228305-4 In Condit’s creepy debut, a young couple’s dream home turns out to be haunted.

The cottage at 571 Forrester Lane in the Southern town of Greeneburg is perfect for Lacey and Eric Miszlak. She’s pregnant and wants to be near the best schools; he wants a 20-minute commute to his uncle’s law firm. Lacey brushes aside the spooked reaction of their broker (who knows more than she’s telling) but discovers after they move in that the house harbors a ghost: Drew, a needy little boy who asks her to be his mother. Lacey, a former elementary school teacher, prides herself on being good with difficult children, but she quickly learns to fear Drew’s rages and his hostility toward her unborn child. “The thing in the house. It eats babies,” blurts out the broker’s daughter. The trouble started in 1972, when Andrew Halliday killed his wife, three of his four children and himself.

Only Andrew Junior survived the massacre; he’s changed his name to Lex Hall and has retained Eric in a custody battle over his young daughter. Yes, it’s a lot of coincidences to swallow, and Drew’s ability to travel as far afield as Australia seems more convenient than likely even within the parameters of a ghost story, but Condit paints such a convincing portrait of the Miszlaks’ tension-riddled marriage and does such a good job of escalating the menace in Lacey’s encounters with Drew that readers won’t care much about probability. The novel has unusually strong characterizations as well, in particular the depiction of Lacey’s New Age–y mother, Ella, who proves to be stronger and more protective than her daughter could understand in childhood.

Eric too, controlling and overcautious though he is, comes through with flying colors in the violent denouement at the top of the stairs that have seen so many previous deaths.

Good, scary fun, packed with emotional nuance.

THE ASCENDANT

Chapman, Drew Simon & Schuster (400 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 7, 2014 9781-4767-2588-8 TV writer Chapman’s debut novel is a nonstop chase scene through the global connectivity of our times.

China and the U.S. face off away from the reporters and photo-ops, leaving intentions and gambits visible only to those who can see the patterns contained in a barrage of news reports, stock and futures trading activity, and the cultural peculiarities of superpower politics. Garrett Reilly, a brilliant Yale dropout, is making more than a good living as a bond trader on Wall Street. He is the new breed of entrepreneur: a young, fast-living, video game geek carrying a grudge for the military that let his brother die. But he is a genius at connecting dots. Enter Alexis Truffant, the beautiful U.S. Army captain who recruits Garrett for the lead role in a secret military project called Ascendant. Financial markets in the States are troubled one by one in succession—government bonds, real estate in Las Vegas—and the control programs for U.S. nuclear power plants are invaded by a virus that turns the Midwest into darkness and chaos. All clues lead to Chinese hacking. Garrett heads up a team of misfits who use their gaming abilities and technical expertise to turn the tables and mount full-scale war on China in cyberspace. Garrett literally becomes Master of the Universe, as he can scan and understand the big picture without the limiting blinders of politics and patriotism. Chapman writes one great thriller, pulling together parallel storylines and levels of mystery. This is a wild ride through the headlines of our times.

The characters are engaging, and although the ending comes up short (perhaps for an intended sequel or series), the book is invigorating.

Chapman has managed a true seat-of-the-pants ride on an international scale. (Agent: Markus Hoffmann)

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BYRON EASY

Cook, Jude Pegasus (512 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 15, 2014 978-1-60598-491-9 A hip, hard-luck Londoner hops aboard a train and ponders how his life derailed.

Cook’s bulky, witty, but often maddening first novel opens with some high drama: It’s Christmas Eve 1999, and the titular hero is very drunk and boarding a train heading to northern England, determined to kill himself once he reaches his destination.

But that moment of reckoning is a long way coming: As the train moves forward, his mind casts back across his previous |

“A taut thriller...” from game

THE EXILES RETURN

three decades on Earth to excavate the source of his selfhatred. Some of it has to do with his stepfather, who was an abusive horror to Byron and his mother (the depth of that is withheld till the tail-end of the book), his go-nowhere job in a music shop and a flagging nascent career as a poet. In his best moments, Cook describes these personal catastrophes with ready access to the wit and lovelorn-hipster tone that marks Nick Hornby’s books, paired with Irvine Welsh’s street-wise black humor. The novel’s biggest problem, though, is Byron’s biggest problem: Mandy, the woman with whom he’s just ended a disastrous three-year marriage. She enters the book as the leader of an up-and-coming rock band. But her character eventually becomes a one-note harridan prone to violent rages that leave Byron bruised both emotionally and physically. Cook is wise to have his hero explore the intersection of abuses past and present, but Mandy is so simplistically hairtrigger that Byron’s insights tend to read more like a litany of misogynistic complaints. It’s easy to keep rooting for Byron by the time he reaches his destination, but it’s been an exhausting, repetitive journey.

Cook has smarts and observational talent to spare, but this novel needs characters nuanced enough to justify its length.

de Waal, Elisabeth Picador (336 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-250-04578-2

An elegant, unpublished novel by the grandmother of Edmund de Waal, author of the best-seller The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010), explores the heartbreak of returning to post–World War II Austria.

Herself an exile, Elisabeth de Waal, born into a dynastic Jewish family in 1899, lived a privileged childhood in Vienna, became a writer who moved around Europe and died in 1991. This novel reveals her intelligence and articulateness as it evokes 1950s Vienna, haunted by the ghosts of its distant and more recent pasts. Professor Adler, a Jewish scientist, has returned to the city 15 years after being expelled because of his race. Wealthy Theophil Kanakis has also returned after making his fortune in America. And there’s

GAME

de la Motte, Anders Emily Bestler/Atria (400 pp.) $16.00 paper | Dec. 3, 2013 978-1-4767-1288-8 Siblings are drawn into a dangerous cellphone game with global ramifications.

The first book in a thriller trilogy, former Swedish police officer de la Motte’s debut introduces us to early 30-something ne’er-do-well Henrik “HP” Pettersson, who has made a career of floating along and cutting corners. His sister Rebecca is his polar opposite. A bodyguard with an elite Swedish police unit and obsessive-compulsive tendencies, Rebecca is haunted by a past that clouds her perspective of the present. However, when a recovered cellphone draws HP into a mysterious game that rewards acts of increasingly dangerous vandalism and violence with Internet stardom, he thinks that he has finally discovered his groove. As HP falls deeper into the activities of the game, he realizes that he is just a pawn in a larger plan that could threaten international security and the safety of his older sister. With this discovery, a dark secret shared between siblings comes to light, Rebecca attempts to face the ghosts of her past, and HP strikes back against the enigmatic Game Master who is pulling the strings of an unknown number of players who have an unforeseeable degree of power. After a slow start, the tension becomes tighter and the pages turn faster.

A taut thriller that will leave the reader excited for the next book in the series.

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FOR TODAY I AM A BOY

a third visitor: listless, 18-year-old Marie-Theres, who is related to a noble Viennese family although she was born and raised in the U.S. Adler seeks to reconnect, while Kanakis renovates his exquisite house, then fills it with interesting young people, including Prince Lorenzo “Bimbo” Grein, whose beauty is irresistible to both Kanakis and Marie-Theres. De Waal’s cast of characters, which includes an unrepentant Nazi, presents a tableau of life and class in a ruined, now reconfiguring great city—a place of happiness for some, destruction for others.

Restrained yet incisive, this finely observed novel lacks a resounding conclusion but nevertheless offers European mood music of a particular and beguiling resonance.

Fu, Kim Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (256 pp.) $23.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-0-544-03472-3 A young man wrestles with gender expectations and his own gender identity in this quietly forceful debut from the Seattle-based author.

Growing up in exurban Ontario, Peter was always the outlier, preferring his three sisters’ girlish behavior over that of his rough-andtumble male classmates. But his attempts to push his boyishness aside—cooking while wearing a much-loved apron, for instance—incur the wrath of his father, a conservative Chinese immigrant. As his sisters move away, Peter fends for himself in Montreal, taking odd restaurant jobs that give him a small supportive tribe and an opportunity to make sense of his sexuality.

While the book has its share of clashes with bigotry, its strength is in its interiority: Fu subtly and poetically evokes the intensity of need her narrator feels to become female. (“What would turn me into them?” Peter thinks, watching a group of women at a nightclub. “Could I peel it all off their faces and bodies with a paint trowel and spread it over my surface?”) Peter’s gender anxiety inevitably leads him down frustrating paths, such as one affair with a middle-aged woman whose domination turns abusive and another with a woman who’s futilely trying to submerge her lesbianism through an ex-gay ministry. Yet Fu is skilled at capturing feelings of rootlessness that go beyond gender, encompassing Peter’s immigrant-son status and distance from his family. All of Peter’s emotional baggage makes the novel tonally somber, but Peter’s search for a sense of normalcy—to finally become his female self—has a redemptive trajectory that feels fully earned.

A study of transexuality that’s shot through with melancholy while capturing the bliss of discovering one’s sexual self. (Author tour to New York, San Francisco and Seattle)

APPLE TREE YARD

Doughty, Louise Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (336 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-0-374-10567-9 Sex with an anonymous stranger blows apart a British scientist’s carefully ordered life in London resident Doughty’s seventh novel (Whatever You Love, 2010, etc.).

We know from the beginning that narrator Yvonne Carmichael is on trial, but we don’t know for what, and we don’t know why she reacts with panic when a barrister begins asking her about a London back alley called Apple Tree Yard. We learn its significance as she unfolds the story of her affair with a man who observes her testifying before a parliamentary committee, strikes up a conversation in the corridor and leads her to a secluded area where they have sex. She doesn’t even know his name, yet they continue having sex for months, most recklessly “in Picadilly, in the rush hour, with a thousand people hurrying by a few meters away”—in Apple Tree Yard, that is, just before Yvonne goes to a professional party where she gets drunk and is brutally raped by a colleague, George Craddock. She can’t tell the police, since a physical exam would find semen inside her not belonging to her assailant; she can’t tell her husband, Guy, “because too much was at stake, our home, our happiness, our children.” Yvonne still loves Guy and, until this affair, hadn’t quite realized how tired she was of their responsible, respectable union. So she tells her lover, who has hinted he works for MI5, and goes along with him when he promises to “frighten the living daylights out of [George].” This violent encounter sends them both to the dock, where she finally learns her lover’s name and the extent of his deceit and betrayal. But Yvonne is no helpless victim; her narration reveals anger and vengefulness, as well as vulnerability and fear. The slightly anticlimactic trial outcome isn’t as interesting as the adult ambiguities Doughty unravels in smooth, sinuous prose, leading to two shocking yet credible final revelations.

Brooding, emotionally complex and powerful.

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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EARLY EARTH

Greenberg, Isabel Little, Brown (176 pp.) $23.00 | Dec. 3, 2013 978-0-316-22581-6

The debut graphic novel from author/ illustrator Greenberg winkingly follows a master storyteller’s journey through an ancient land of men, gods, magic and love.

The story opens on a kayaking meet cute between two psuedo-Inuits who are held apart by an invisible, unknowable force. Undeterred, the soul mates marry and settle in for a long South Pole winter of just talking—no problem when the husband is a master storyteller from the far-off land of Nord. He recounts his mysterious origins as a |

babe in a basket among the reeds of Sky Lake, discovered by three distinct sisters who each wanted the boy for her own.

A medicine man obliged by splitting the boy’s soul in thirds, though a teensy bit escaped into the ether. The newly formed triplets lived disturbingly unbalanced, extreme lives until a rite of passage reunited them, cramming an overabundance of personality into a single boy—but giving him plenty of yarns to spin. Still, he longed for the missing part of his soul and set off across the frozen sea to find it. He journeyed to the savage woods of Britanitarka and the sprawling metropolis of Midgal Bavel, battled Cyclopes and sea monsters, navigated palace intrigue and blood feuds, surviving by his silver tongue and divine intervention. Along the way, the book depicts the larger history and culture of these ancient lands, particularly the common worship of the god Birdman and his ravens, Kid and Kiddo. Greenberg’s flat, rich illustrations are gorgeous.

Her simple, detailed lines contrast with a heavy, matte black, as strategic, restrained color breathes dioramic depth into the pages. The sheer number of tales and the deft paneling (particularly expressive during spell castings) keep the pace brisk and

the thrill of discovery palpable. But an irreverent, contemporary tone runs throughout, and this, combined with the earlyEarth mythology’s tendency to closely resemble well-known stories (particularly from the Old Testament) without developing the significance of these similarities, undermines the book’s grander ambitions, leaving the work wavering between epic and precious, style and substance, the best of Wes Anderson and the worst.

A beautiful, promising work that doesn’t quite coalesce.

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“Sensitive and finely written.” from the bird skinner

THE BIRD SKINNER

Byron, a reflective and innocent schoolboy who becomes overly concerned when his best friend, James, tells him that two seconds will be added to this leap year to somehow even things out.

After his mother assures him that “[w]hen it happens you won’t notice. Two seconds are nothing,” Byron responds, “That’s what nobody realizes. Two seconds are huge. It’s the difference between something happening and something not happening.”

And with the addition of those two seconds—or not—something happens—or not. And whether or not something happens, everything changes. A veteran of the stage and a radio playwright before turning to fiction, Joyce specializes in the sort of insights that some find charming, others cloying and a style that could sometimes pass for fairy tale, other times for Young Adult (though those readers wouldn’t have much patience for her plotting). The novel alternates between chapters that follow what happens to Byron, his mother and their family (which the reader quickly realizes is more dysfunctional than Byron does) and ones that concern an adult sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder who resorts to menial labor when the British mental health system fails him. “No one knows how to be normal, Jim,” a social worker tells him. “We’re all just trying to do our best.”

The two plot lines must inevitably intersect, but the manner in which they do will likely surprise even the most intuitive reader.

Many of those who loved the author’s first novel should at least like her second.

Greenway, Alice Atlantic Monthly (320 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 2, 2014 978-0-8021-2104-2 A visit from a wartime companion’s daughter stirs up unwelcome memories for an embittered ornithologist in this follow-up to Greenway’s Los Angeles Times Book Award–winning debut White Ghost Girls (2006).

Ignoring his doctor’s warnings to quit drinking and smoking, Jim Carroway winds up having a leg amputated in the winter of 1973. No longer able to get around Manhattan independently, he abruptly abandons his work at the American Museum of Natural History and retreats to his childhood summer home on Fox Island in Maine. Jim seems likely to drink himself to death there, perhaps as penance for the unspecified disaster that claimed his wife, Helen, many years earlier, perhaps to finally extinguish the bleak knowledge that “[h]e’d been stuck since the war.” He’s not thrilled to be distracted by the arrival of Cadillac, whose father, Tosca, worked with Jim as a scout in the Solomon Islands, preparing for the U.S. invasion in the summer of 1943. Cadillac is headed to medical school at Yale, and it gives Jim some pleasure to know that the bird-skinning skills imparted to Tosca long ago played a role in lifting his family from poverty and getting his daughter educated. But bleak memories—of Jim’s mean, judgmental grandfather; of his beloved, ultimately doomed Helen; of his grim experiences on Layla Island—make it clear how damaged Jim is. The foreboding mood is somewhat alleviated by the tender friendship that grows between Cadillac and Jim’s son Fergus, but frequent references to Hemingway and to Treasure Island (a book with which Jim is obsessed) do not bode well.

Readers who don’t mind the novel’s leisurely pace and brooding tone will appreciate Greenway’s limpid, poetic prose; her richly nuanced portraits of a nicely varied cast of characters on both Fox and Manhattan islands; and her evocative depiction of natural landscapes and the birds whose study gave Jim the only peace he has known.

Sensitive and finely written. (Agent: Kim Witherspoon)

THE INVENTION OF WINGS

Kidd, Sue Monk Viking (384 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-670-02478-0

Kidd (The Mermaid Chair, 2005, etc.) hits her stride and avoids sentimental revisionism with this historical novel about the relationship between a slave and the daughter of slave owners in ante-

bellum Charleston.

Sarah Grimké was an actual early abolitionist and feminist whose upbringing in a slaveholding Southern family made her voice particularly controversial. Kidd re-imagines Sarah’s life in tandem with that of a slave in the Grimké household. In 1803, 11-year-old Sarah receives a slave as her birthday present from her wealthy Charleston parents. Called Hetty by the whites, Handful is just what her name implies—sharp tongued and spirited. Precocious Sarah is horrified at the idea of owning a slave but is given no choice by her mother, a conventional Southern woman of her time who is not evil but accepts slavery (and the dehumanizing cruelties that go along with it) as a God-given right. Soon, Sarah and Handful have established a bond built on affection and guilt. Sarah breaks the law by secretly teaching Handful to read and write. When they are caught, Handful receives a lashing, while Sarah is banned from her father’s library and all the books therein, her dream of becoming a lawyer dashed. As Sarah and Handful mature, their lives take

PERFECT

Joyce, Rachel Random House (448 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-8129-9330-1 The time is out of joint, as the followup to a popular novelistic debut brings a slightly darker edge to its fablelike whimsy.

Having earned a best-selling readership in both the U.S. and her native Britain with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2012), Joyce returns with an even less likely but more ambitious piece of fictional fancy. The protagonist is 11-year-old 12

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BINGO’S RUN

separate courses. While Handful is physically imprisoned, she maintains her independent spirit, while Sarah has difficulty living her abstract values in her actual life. Eventually, she escapes to Philadelphia and becomes a Quaker, until the Quakers prove too conservative. As Sarah’s activism gives her new freedom, Handful’s life only becomes harder in the Grimké household.

Through her mother, Handful gets to know Denmark Vesey, who dies as a martyr after attempting to organize a slave uprising. Sarah visits less and less often, but the bond between the two women continues until it is tested one last time.

Kidd’s portrait of white slave-owning Southerners is all the more harrowing for showing them as morally complicated, while she gives Handful the dignity of being not simply a victim, but a strong, imperfect woman.

Levine, James A. Spiegel & Grau (304 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4000-6883-8 A phenomenal street kid from the slums of Nairobi is the narrator of this second novel, a fable with realistic underpinnings.

Levine is a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. His 2009 novelistic debut, The Blue Notebook, featured the street children of Mumbai; this novel confirms his identification with the Third World urban poor. Take Bingo Mwolo. He’s a 15-year-old orphan in the Kibera slum. Known as “Meejit” (midget) because he’s only 4 feet tall, though big where it counts, he’s one of an army of drug runners for his boss, Wolf. “I am the greatest,” he brags, and not just because he’s fleet of foot; he has a good head for numbers, the legacy of his gambling father, and a keen instinct

WE ARE WATER

Lamb, Wally Harper/HarperCollins (576 pp.) $29.99 | Oct. 22, 2013 978-0-06-194102-3 A searching novel of contemporary manners—and long-buried secrets—by seasoned storyteller Lamb (Wishin’ and Hopin’, 2009, etc.).

Lamb’s latest opens almost as a police procedural, its point of view that of one Gualtiero Agnello (hint: agnello means “lamb” in Italian), rife with racial and sexual overtones. Fast-forward five decades, and it’s a different world, the POV now taken by an artist named Annie Oh, sharp-eyed and smart, who is attending to details of her upcoming nuptials to her partner and agent, Viveca, who has chosen a wedding dress with a name, Gaia. Notes Annie, reflecting on the Greek myth underlying the name, “[c]haos, incest, monsters, warring siblings: it’s a strange name for a wedding dress.” That thought foreshadows much of Lamb’s theme, which inhabits the still-waters-run-deep school of narrative: Annie has attained some renown, is apparently adjusted to divorce from her husband, a clinical psychologist named Orion (Greek myth again, though he’s Chinese) Oh, and is apparently bound for a later life of happiness. Ah, but then reality intrudes in various forms, from Viveca’s request for a prenup to the longsuppressed past, in which natural disaster meets familial dysfunction. The story is elaborate and unpredictable, and the use of multiple narrators is wise, considering that there are a few Rashomon moments in this leisurely unfolding narrative. The characters are at once sympathetic and flawed and mostly, by the end, self-aware (Orion on Annie: “I’d just let her float away.

But at the time, I couldn’t admit that. It was easier to think of myself as Viveca’s victim than to cop to my own culpability”).

We all know that life is tangled and messy. Still, in reminding readers of this fact, Lamb turns in a satisfyingly grown-up story, elegantly written. (Author tour to Boston, Connecticut, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.)

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Jo Baker

The novelist puts the servants of Pride and Prejudice center stage in Longbourn

By Kirk Reed Forrester Two hundred years after the publication of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen is enjoying a popularity that most living authors could only dream of. A quick Amazon search renders pages of Austen-inspired spinoffs ranging from the sinister (Pride and Prejudice and ZomPhoto courtesy Ed Marshall, bies) to the spiritual (The Time Out, Camera Press Jane Austen Devotional, for Austen-loving Christians, though let’s face it: For some readers, she’s the only religion they need). Just this summer, the movie Austenland hit theaters, the history Jane Austen’s England hit bookstores, and not to be outdone, the Bank of England announced that Austen’s image will grace the 10-pound note.

All of which makes Jo Baker’s Longbourn, a reimagined Pride and Prejudice from the servants’ point of view, both dangerous and daring. What kind of cook alters a perfect recipe? Austen lovers need not fear. Baker hasn’t changed the recipe; she’s just borrowed ingredients and served up a side dish. And it’s a delicious one.

“I have a long-standing relationship with Jane Austen,” says Baker. “I’ve been reading her stuff since I was 12. I’ve read the books over and over, particularly Pride and Prejudice, which I return to again and again.”

Along with being seduced by the text of Pride and Prejudice, Baker, the granddaughter of a housemaid, was also interested in where she would’ve fallen in the Regency class divide. “I’ve always had this slight awareness that if I’d lived at that time, I wouldn’t have been going to the ball, chatting with Mr. Darcy,” says Baker.

“I didn’t belong. So this book is a negotiation with that, 14

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a conversation with that, to try to find my own place in this world.”

Aside from the personal, Baker was also intrigued by the silent semantics at work in Austen’s original— the ubiquity of the passive tense. At Longbourn House, dresses are mended, letters get delivered, carriages are driven and tea is served, but there’s scant mention of those doing the work.

“I realized that there are other bodies in the room, other presences, and that really fascinated me,” says Baker. One particular line in Pride and Prejudice taunted her imagination. “There’s a ball [at Netherfield] coming up, and the girls need roses for their dancing shoes. It’s been raining for days, and no one is prepared to go outdoors. The line is ‘the shoe-roses for Netherfield were got by proxy,’ and I thought, ‘Well, so who’s proxy?’ ” In Baker’s retelling, that ‘proxy’ is Sarah, a smart, restless housemaid who starts her days before dawn, shaking off “the black blank sleep of deep fatigue” while the Bennet girls lie in their beds “dreaming whatever it was that young ladies dream.” The latter, of course, is not Baker’s concern, though Sarah’s dreams are. Amid the litany of labor that fills Sarah’s day, daydreaming is the only personal indulgence she can afford.

From the first page of Longbourn (which Kirkus starred) to the last, readers are struck by the sheer physicality of this novel. Unlike Pride and Prejudice, in which much of the story unfolds in private thought and conversation, Longbourn will make you reach for the Aleve.

Almost all of the action occurs while the characters are heaving buckets, scrubbing floors, cranking pumps, ironing clothes or washing dishes. Downstairs, backs ache, hands are cracked, and feet are blistered. No matter. The work continues; the bell always rings. “Each day’s work trickled over into the next, and nothing was |

ever finished, so you could never say, Look, that’s it, the day’s labour is over and done,” Sarah thinks. “Work just lingered and festered and lay in wait, to make you slip up in the morning.” Readers of Longbourn won’t come away with a simple understanding of a servant’s hardship. They will feel the burden.

The work of the Longbourn servants is daunting, but there is plenty of drama amid the soapsuds. A handsome biracial footman from a neighboring estate catches Sarah’s eye, and for the first time, Sarah sets her sights beyond the Longbourn hedge. Polly, the youngest maid in the house, suddenly finds her head full of promises and her pockets full of coins provided by a Militia officer who has been spending too much time in the kitchen. Mr. Hill, the old butler, sneaks off for late-night meetings with a farmer, then crawls back into bed with Mrs. Hill, the cook.

And one evening, Mr. Bennet makes an announcement that James Smith, a young man with rough hands and a guarded face, will be joining the ranks as footman—a mysterious and hasty hire that sends Mrs. Hill charging into the library for a heated exchange that betrays a relationship far more complicated than master and servant. Who is James Smith? Why did Mr. Bennet hire him, and why does Mrs. Hill care so much?

Readers will stay awake until the wee hours to discover the secret.

Austen lovers will delight in following glimmers of the familiar storyline going on upstairs, though glimmers are all Baker gives. “That’s part of the fun of Longbourn,” she says. “There’s this big story going on, but we’re not really talking about it.”

Baker does talk about issues commonly swept under the rug in Regency England, weaving in threads about homosexuality and race relations that speak to a wider and more diverse world than the clutch of dancers at the Netherfield ball know. “There was no agenda,” says Baker. “It wasn’t that I thought, ‘People must know!’ and hit my desk with my fist or anything. One thing that I was clear about when I was writing Longbourn was that everything in it had to emerge organically out of the other novel. In no way am I saying that Austen should have tackled these things; her books are perfect as they stand. But there are these little glimpses in Pride and Prejudice, and I wanted to open up some space to imagine in there.”

Longbourn is a novel about societal boundaries— those real and imagined, kept and crossed. “There’s a really interesting power dynamic going on,” says Baker

of the upstairs/downstairs narrative—a narrative that contemporary audiences find insatiable, as any feverish Downton Abbey fan can attest. “You’ve got people who are together in a house for years. There is the power of people who can dismiss you and pay your wages, but then there is the power of people who know intimate secrets about those who employ them and pay their wages.” In one passage, Sarah walks through the Bennet girls’ bedrooms collecting the soiled shifts of the “smooth and sealed alabaster statues” which revealed the “frail, leaking, forked bodily creatures that they really were.” Intimate secrets indeed.

Longbourn is also a novel about family—not the dynastic kind of such interest upstairs but the kind that’s stitched together with each new hire, over years of shared work, shared bedrooms, shared meals and shared destiny. One of Mrs. Hill’s happiest moments is when she sits in a church pew flanked by Polly, Sarah, James and Mr. Hill, a proud mother hen with her brood. It’s a cruel kind of family to be born into, to be sure, with few prospects for economic mobility or escape, but it is a family nonetheless. In Longbourn, Baker has given us an inspiring story of a patchwork family whose scrappy resilience, quiet dignity and stubborn dreams get a hearing of their own, uninterrupted by the master’s bell.

Kirk Reed Forrester is a writer who lives in Houston.

Like the servants at Longbourn, she hates doing laundry.

Longbourn was reviewed in the Aug. 15 issue of Kirkus Reviews.

Longbourn Baker, Jo Knopf (352 pp.) $25.95 | Oct. 8, 2013 978-0-385-35123-2

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FAMOUS WRITERS I HAVE KNOWN

for self-preservation in a world where one wrong move means death. In between runs, he picks the pockets of tourists in the market. By chance, he’s a witness when Wolf kills the drug kingpin Boss Jonni. Bingo goes underground, staying in an orphanage run by Father Matthew, a white pederast who controls the drug business behind the scenes. Levine has found just the right voice for Bingo, an upbeat survivor mired in corruption yet still capable of redemption. Pacing problems arise when a white American, Mrs. Steele, pays $30,000 to adopt Bingo. The action sputters and stalls. One of Bingo’s drug customers is the painter Thomas Hunsa. Mrs. Steele, a gallery owner, recognizes the market value of his outsider art. There is much ado over a contract. Levine also introduces African legends, notably that of Anansi, the trickster god who masquerades as a spider. Bingo, now installed in a luxury hotel and mulling a romance with the beautiful young night cleaner Charity, is conflicted. Who exactly is the trickster? The denouement is messy.

Though the overarching legends don’t quite harmonize with the struggling mortals below, one thing’s for sure: Bingo will win hearts.

Magnuson, James Norton (336 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 13, 2014 978-0-393-24088-7

The literary racket proves fair game for a con man in Magnuson’s eighth novel, a poorly designed caper.

It’s 1997. Frankie has spent most of the decade in the slammer. Now, the middleaged grifter is back in his hometown, New York, reunited with Barry, his partner in crime. They have just scammed a guy, realizing too late he’s the idiot son of a mob boss. Barry is killed by a goon; Frankie escapes, barely, taking the first flight out of town.

He finds himself in Austin, Texas, being greeted by three adoring young women. Apparently, he’s a dead ringer for V.S. Mohle, the Salinger-esque novelist the girls were expecting. They’re students at the Fiction Institute, funded by Rex Schoeninger, the Michener-esque octogenarian known for his doorstop books and philanthropy. Years before, Rex beat out V.S. for a Pulitzer.

Later, on The Dick Cavett Show, the two came to blows. (This is a cartoonish rehash of the celebrated 1970s faceoff between Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer.) Rex filed a lawsuit; V.S. moved to a Maine island and never wrote again. Now Rex, hoping to bury the hatchet, has invited V.S. to lead a writing workshop: easy work, big bucks, but V.S. got cold feet before his flight, which leaves Frankie in the spotlight. The con man decides to go for impersonation. The students are pussycats, and the program director is gullible. (There’s some self-mockery here. Magnuson, who knew Michener, holds a similar position in Austin.) Despite some “oops!” moments, Frankie muddles through and wins over the curmudgeonly Rex by giving him a puppy. Frankie is a bit of a softie. This will disappoint readers looking for more hard-edged action, while those expecting literary scuttlebutt will find a campus scene that’s altogether too mellow. Only toward the end does the action resume, with Frankie, self-described poor schlub that he is, making mistake after mistake.

A novel that aims to appeal to two different readerships but is unlikely to satisfy either one.

UNMENTIONABLES

Loewenstein, Laurie Kaylie Jones/Akashic (320 pp.) $15.95 paper | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-61775-194-3 Big issues are examined through the lens of a small town after a campaigner for less restrictive undergarments visits Caledonia, Ill., in 1917.

Politics and passions run high in Loewenstein’s spirited if soft-centered debut set in a Middle-American community still in touch with its pioneering past. Women’s liberation, public health standards, even modern art are some of the new ideas entering the conversation, while racism and miscegenation, patronage and prejudice also play their parts in the story.

The catalyst for change is anti-corsetry campaigner Marian Elliot Adams, who arrives in town for the Chautauqua convinced that the adoption of her ideas will bring positive results.

But Marian has a hard lesson to learn, as do the novel’s other main figures: newspaperman Deuce Garland and his modernminded stepdaughter, Helen. Over a 12-month span, Deuce will learn to stand up for his past and his future, Helen will follow her destiny to Chicago, and Marian will work for the war effort in France. Reuniting at the Chautauqua in 1918, all three will be more cleareyed about ideas old, new and unmentionable, as well as their co-mingled futures. Although a tendency toward easy solutions undermines the book’s larger ambitions, Loewenstein’s appealing voice and freshness enliven her wellresearched story of personal and political ferment.

Engaging first work from a writer of evident ability.

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LEAVING THE SEA Stories

Marcus, Ben Knopf (256 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 8, 2014 978-0-307-37938-2

Fifteen tales of modern anxiety that display Marcus’ range, from angry realism to mind-bending allegory.

Marcus (The Flame Alphabet, 2012, etc.) front-loads his latest collection with four works of unabstracted, relatively frictionless storytelling. “What Have You Done?” tracks a man at a misery-filled family reunion, |

“A convincing melodrama...” from belle cora

unable to address what’s estranged him (a sex crime is implied) but unable to explain his rehabilitation either. In “I Can Say Many Nice Things,” a writing teacher’s gig on a cruise ship only underscores his sourness. And “The Dark Arts” and “Rollingwood” deal with men at awful turning points, one being treated for a blood disorder in a German facility, the other raising a toddler while his estranged wife is absent and his job collapses. All dour themes explored by dour men, but Marcus has mastered a bitterly comic tone and a level of psychological insight that make the characters more than repositories of middle-age rage. The remaining stories play more freely with tone and structure, with varying degrees of success. “The Loyalty Protocol,” which focuses on a community that responds to an unnamed apocalyptic shift with constant drills and brutal exclusionary tactics, evokes the chilling tone of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” But in stories like “The Father Costume,” in which people “speak” in cloth, or “Origins of the Family,” where bones are society’s chief construction material, Marcus pushes metaphor to its breaking point, making for sketches that are more intriguing than evocative. He gets to have it both ways, though, in the closing story, “The Moors,” a slow-motion study of a man’s trip to his office’s coffee cart. Its focus on picayune detail and a synapse-firing–by–synapse-firing exploration of the protagonist’s despair suggests Nicholson Baker in a sour mood. But the effect is at once smart, claustrophobic and comic.

Thoughtful, sometimes-exasperating, boundary-pushing fiction.

newspaperman client, Arabella exposes the corrupt policeman and the ward boss who had persecuted Lewis and cheated her.

When she learns that her grandfather and older brothers are searching for her, she avails herself of this last chance to leave “the life” behind, but freeing herself completely will involve murder. Now married to preacher Jeptha, with whom she has been reunited after managing to wrest him away from her rival, Agnes, Arabella heads for California. The couple’s mission is to convert San Francisco miners, and since Arabella has been intercepting Agnes’ letters, Jeptha remains, so far, ignorant of her fall from grace. Margulies’ recreation of Arabella’s milieu and astute observations of the hypocritical sexual mores of a bygone time lend resonance to this episodic epic.

A convincing melodrama in which the victim takes charge.

MACHIAVELLI A Renaissance Life

Markulin, Joseph Prometheus Books (740 pp.) $21.95 paper | $12.99 e-book Sep. 3, 2013 978-1-61614-805-8 978-1-61614-806-5 e-book

A bland “nonfiction novel” about the life of the civil servant who lent his name as a byword for self-serving machination.

The notion of a nonfiction novel owes much to Truman Capote, whose In Cold Blood was so branded owing to a few gaps that he guessed at in the exchanges between major characters.

In the case of the 15th-century Florentine Machiavelli, there are scarcely more than gaps: some surviving letters, testimonials from contemporaries and, of course, Machiavelli’s own writings, most famously The Prince. Why Markulin chose to cast Machiavelli’s life in the form of fictive back and forth is anyone’s guess, but the dialogue is quite staggeringly uninteresting and quite Middle American: “ ‘Do you think he’s guilty, Pagolo?’ said Rinuccio. ‘Guilty? Hell, yes! Guilty of being a goddamn public nuisance.’ ” Machiavelli himself has all the narrative zing of a grocery clerk in Piscataway, though Markulin correctly portrays him as a man smart enough to be able to read the political winds and adapt accordingly in a time when Italy’s powerful families—Medicis, Sforzas and so on—were falling upon and hacking each other up with wild abandon: Old Niccolò was the original survivor, if not the comeback kid. There are a couple of nice and defensible turns, such as Machiavelli’s run-ins with a very stern, very bad local archbishop whose behavior taught him a thing or two about power and its application. And Markulin does get most of the historic details correct (notably the bad smell of medieval streets, to which he often returns), but what is actual history in these overabundant pages is textbook-ish and didactic. The overall effort is a ham-fisted blend of historical novel, with none of the grace of a Mary Renault or Robert Graves, with documentary script for some lesser version of the History Channel, one that allows for plenty of smelling—and bad aromas.

BELLE CORA

Margulies, Phillip Doubleday (608 pp.) $28.95 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-385-53276-1 The fictional memoir of an actual madam who ruled Gold Rush–era San Francisco.

Except for her extraordinary beauty, Arabella Godwin is no different from any well–brought-up young lady in New York City circa 1837. Then misfortune intervenes: Her mother dies of consumption, her father kills himself, and instead of taking in the new orphans, her wealthy grandfather sends her two older siblings to boarding school and Arabella and youngest brother Lewis to the chilly confines of a hardscrabble farm in the Finger Lakes town of Livy. There, Arabella’s Aunt Agatha and Uncle Elihu force the orphans to endure a new life of endless chores and frequent corporal punishment. Gradually, Arabella adjusts with the help of a teenage romance with Jeptha, an angelic looking drunkard’s son—whom her scheming cousin Agnes also loves. However, when Jeptha gets religion and Arabella is raped by her brutish cousin Matthew, the resulting pregnancy and induced miscarriage will propel her out of Livy. After a brief stint as a millworker, Arabella returns to New York City to rescue Lewis, who’s been stabbed. Eventually, supporting ne’er-do-well Lewis forces Arabella into prostitution—it’s the only way to secure large amounts of money quickly. Aided by a |

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THE HOUSEMAID’S DAUGHTER

Inferior (save invented dialogue) to Miles Unger’s Machiavelli: A Biography (2011) and Corrado Vivanti’s Niccolò Machiavelli: An Intellectual Biography (2013).

Mutch, Barbara St. Martin’s (416 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Dec. 10, 2013 978-1-250-01630-0 978-1-250-03196-9 e-book

THE RISE & FALL OF THE SCANDAMERICAN DOMESTIC Stories

South Africa before, during and after apartheid, portrayed through the eyes of a black woman and, to a lesser extent, the white woman who becomes her benefactor as well as her employer.

In 1919, Cathleen Harrington leaves Ireland and starts a new life in South Africa with her fiance, Edward, who has already settled at Cradock House in the town of Cradock in the semi-desert area called the Karoo. In 1930, Cathleen’s unmarried black South African maid, Miriam, who has become Cathleen’s close if unequal friend, gives birth to a daughter she names Ada after Cathleen’s sister back in Ireland. While devoted to her own children, sweet-natured Phil and hardhearted Rosemary, Cathleen takes Ada under her wing, teaching her to read and play the piano. Ada, a gifted musician, is in turn devoted to Cathleen, who regularly leaves her intimate diary open with the tacit understanding that Ada will read it. While Rosemary treats Ada with cold propriety (perhaps understandable given Cathleen’s clear preference for Ada over her own daughter), sensitive Phil seems remarkable, even naïvely colorblind in his affection for Ada. By the time he hugs her goodbye before leaving to fight in World War II, his friendship has romantic overtones, although it remains pure. It is adolescent Ada who nurses him when he returns.

Unfortunately, Phil never comes to life as an actual character before his early death, so the unconsummated romance feels more perfunctory than tragic. More believable is Cathleen’s passionless marriage to Edward. After Edward behaves abhorrently toward Ada, she runs away in shame. But she eventually returns, remaining as committed to Cathleen and Cradock House as she is to her friends, family and comrades in the black township as they suffer increasingly harsh laws before rising in victorious defiance.

In creating a white Lady Bountiful and a wise but unworldly black servant, South African Mutch has more in common with The Help’s Kathryn Stockett than Doris Lessing or Nadine Gordimer.

Merkner, Christopher Coffee House (232 pp.) $15.95 paper | $12.99 e-book Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-56689-338-1 978-1-56689-344-2 e-book

Seventeen absurdist short stories from the land of the midnight sun.

It’s not clear whether this debut collection of Swedish-influenced short fiction from Merkner (Creative Writing/West Chester University) is meant to be parody, collage or dream diary, but all the stories are either weighty with loquaciousness or viciously abridged, which is often for the better. After opening with a long-winded farce about a pig, Merkner offers “Check the Baby,” about a man and his wife who have resorted to trading sexual favors for the right not to check on their newborn. “The stakes are not low, I might add,” he writes. “I have 4,027 blowjobs coming my way someday, it’s not exactly clear when, and my wife has roughly fourteen hours of French-style kissing.” “Local Accident” (widely available online if you need a sample) is about a woman whose hit-and-run accident causes her to lose her baby: “The fact is you don’t always choose your choices. You don’t always choose your victims and you don’t always choose your witnesses. That’s why we call them accidents.” Several stories concern themselves with the trials of parenthood, notably “When our Son, 26, Brings us His First Girlfriend” and “When our Son, 36, Asks us for What He Calls a Small Loan.” Other stories are about those things that divide us—the mute father in “O Sweet One in the Bluff ” or the divorcé in “Cabins,” who discovers that he is not alone in his lonesomeness. Others are variations on long-held myths, like the title character of “The Cook at Swedish Castle.” The author clearly has some kind of affection for his oversized caricatures, and there are moments of humor throughout, but there’s a great deal of cynicism at play, too.

Very literary, highly experimental and not very interesting to read all in a row.

REVOLUTIONARY

Myers, Alex Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-4516-6332-7 Myers’ debut, a novel based upon the true life of a woman who disguised herself as a man and fought in the Revolutionary War, illuminates questions about gender equality and identity.

In 1782, former indentured servant Deborah Sampson yearns to experience the freedoms that fall only to men, so she dons male attire and enlists in

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the Continental Army. After her original attempt to become a soldier is foiled, she tries once again, this time stealing away to a different town and adopting her deceased brother’s name, Robert Shurtliff, as her own. Worried about revealing his secret, Robert works harder than most to master military drills, and he’s proud when he and three other recruits are chosen for West Point’s light infantry. He shares a tent with Tobias, a fellow book lover who excels with a needle and thread, young runaway Matthew and good-natured James, who teaches Robert how to spit.

As the recruits learn to care for their muskets, shoot at targets and march in formation, Robert revels in his treatment as an equal and begins to react intuitively to situations as a man. (The author cleverly illustrates the transition through the interchange of feminine and masculine pronouns.) He sporadically writes to his childhood friend Jennie, who keeps him informed about events back home. Robert’s military service is marked by hardships: long treks, constant fear of discovery, others’ traitorous acts, brutal clashes on the battlefield and heart-rending loss; but he also experiences contentment: unconditional love from another, the regiment’s spirit of camaraderie, acceptance

by men as a person of value (which he believes was lacking when he went about life as a woman) and bravery on the battlefield.

Myers’ excellent research and skilled writing combine to create an absorbing story with an interesting protagonist and topics worth contemplating. The author presents a time in early American history when the social and legal ramifications of being born a woman or being transgender meant suffering in anonymity. Has anything changed?

A fine debut.

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“...a fascinating historical narrative...” from the collector of lost things

THE COLLECTOR OF LOST THINGS

when she meets Manik Deb, the handsome, Oxford-educated young man who is betrothed through an arranged marriage to Layla’s conservative neighbor. When Manik suddenly gives up his distinguished civil service job to become a tea planter on one of the remote Assam plantations, it throws a wrench in his family’s plans for him and opens the door for a future with Layla. When they are finally able to wed, Manik takes Layla with him into the eccentric, isolated tea planter’s life, and the two must adjust to life together as well as to all of the idiosyncrasies of the British-dominated, colonial lifestyle of the planters. And if that’s not enough, tensions of Indian independence will soon jeopardize their happy union. Debut author Patel offers a stunning, panoramic view of a virtually unknown time and place—the colonial British tea plantations of Assam—while bringing them to life through a unique character’s perspective. Layla’s tragic early life is offset by her association with Dadamoshai, her unorthodox grandfather, which leads her to a huge set of opportunities not generally open to Indian women of her time. The odd courtship between Manik and Layla is sweet and touching, yet watching them spread their wings and plant roots together as a young married couple is fascinating, especially against the backdrop of the Indian fight for independence and the societal violence that was its byproduct. There is so much interesting history, worldbuilding and character development in this book that readers will forgive the occasional slow pacing and the subtle transition midbook as to the type of story being told.

A lyrical novel that touches on themes both huge and intimate and, like Layla, is so quietly bold that we might miss its strength if we fail to pay attention.

Page, Jeremy Pegasus (384 pp.) $25.95 | Dec. 15, 2013 978-1-60598-485-8

Eliot Saxby, the collector of the title and narrator of the book, heads for the Arctic in search of the elusive—and perhaps extinct—great auk.

The year is 1845, and Saxby makes his treacherous voyage on behalf of some English gentlemen who have a bet about whether there are any great auks that remain alive. Capt. Sykes is at the helm of the Amethyst, and he heads a crew of hardy and hardened sailors. Incongruously, also on the journey is one Edward Bletchley, an English gentleman, along with his cousin (or perhaps “cousin”) Clara, an attractive young woman. Sykes has been paid to veer off his usual course to accommodate the ornithological pursuit of the naturalist Saxby.

Although one mystery in the novel obviously involves the search for the last of the great auks, another involves Saxby’s certainty that, 10 years earlier, he had gotten to know Clara under a different name, “Celeste,” when he worked for her father, though Clara has no recollection of ever having met Saxby. They form a bond, and both become greatly excited when they discover a small colony of great auks on a remote island. Excitement turns to outrage, however, when Sykes announces that he plans to kill the last of the birds and thus guarantee their extinction, and their skins will therefore be immensely valuable to collectors and museums. Saxby watches helplessly while Sykes’ crew methodically kills the auks, but he’s able to conceal an injured auk on board. He and Clara carefully tend the auk, feeding it and nursing it. Miraculously, the auk even lays an egg, assuring the further existence of the species, but Sykes and his duplicitous first mate, Quinlan French, turn out to know more than Saxby suspects.

Page shapes a fascinating historical narrative and has moving insights into our sometimes-dubious relationship to the natural world.

THE WIND IS NOT A RIVER

Payton, Brian Ecco/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 1, 2014 978-0-06-227997-2

An unusual novel in that Payton takes us to a theater of war not normally visited—the Japanese-occupied Aleutian Islands in 1943.

John Easley is deeply involved in the war but ironically not as a soldier—he’s a journalist. On a quest for the truth about what’s going on in this remote Alaskan territory, he is shot down and forced into survival mode on the island of Attu. The only other survivor of the crash is Airman 1st Class Karl Bitburg, a Texan running away from an impossible home life. For a while, the two survive on mussels and live in a cave, hidden from the 2,000 Japanese in their immediate area. Meanwhile, John’s wife, Helen, is consumed with worry about her missing husband and decides to take desperate measures to learn of his fate. An amateur dancer and performer, she gets a job with the United Services Organization (thanks in part to a sympathetic band leader) and wangles a trip to entertain the troops in Alaska. She’s able to find out small bits of information—for example, that John

TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY

Patel, Shona Harlequin MIRA (400 pp.) $15.95 paper | Sep. 24, 2013 978-0-7783-1547-6

In the mid-1940s, an unconventional young Indian woman manages to defy the odds and her own inauspicious legacy to marry the man of her dreams, then must adjust to life in a remote tea garden amid the nationalistic, racial and religious discord of the times.

Raised by a secular, liberal-minded grandfather, Layla Roy seems destined for an academic life, but everything changes 20

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ORFEO A Novel

passed himself off as a Canadian soldier using the uniform of his younger brother, Warren, recently deceased in action around the English Channel. Further complications on the homefront involve Helen’s father, Joe Connelly, whose recent stroke has left him somewhat incapacitated. Torn between caring for her father and looking for her husband, Helen is eased somewhat

by Joe’s insistence that she follow her heart and seek out John.

Eventually, husband and wife reunite, but Payton keeps this reunion poignantly brief.

Through a narrative strategy that alternates chapters between John’s plight and Helen’s search, Payton effectively gives the reader two visions—and two versions—of a neglected aspect of World War II. (Author tour to Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle)

Powers, Richard Norton (352 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 20, 2014 978-0-393-24082-5

The earmarks of the renowned novelist’s work are here—the impressive intellect, the patterns connecting music and science and so much else, the classical grounding of the narrative—but rarely have his novels been so tightly focused and emotionally compelling.

With his “genius” certified by a MacArthur grant, Powers (Generosity, 2009, etc.) has a tendency to intimidate some readers with novels overstuffed with ideas that tend to unfold like multilayered puzzles. His new one (and first for a new publisher) might be a good place for newcomers to begin while rewarding the allegiance of his faithful readership. His Orpheus of the

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updated Greek myth (which the novel only loosely follows) is a postmodern composer who lost his family to his musical quest; his teaching position to his age and the economy; and his early aspirations to study chemistry to the love of a musical woman who left him. At the start of the novel, he is pursuing his recent hobby in his home lab as “a do-it-yourself genetic engineer,” hoping for “only one thing before he dies: to break free of time and hear the future.” Otherwise, his motives remain a mystery to the reader and to the novel’s other characters, particularly after discovery of his DNA experiments (following the death of his faithful dog and musical companion, Fidelio) sends him on the lam as a suspected bioterrorist and turns his story viral.

While rooted in Greek mythology, this is a very contemporary story of cybertechnology, fear run rampant, political repression of art and the essence of music (its progression, its timelessness). “How did music trick the body into thinking it had a soul?” asks protagonist Peter Els, surely one of the most soulful characters that the novelist has ever conjured. Els looks back over his life for much of the narrative, showing how his values, priorities, quests and misjudgments have (inevitably?) put him into the predicament where he finds itself.

By the author’s standards, this is taut, trim storytelling, though it characteristically makes all sorts of connections and proceeds on a number of different levels. (Author tour to New York, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Chicago)

Paget was a lesbian who adopted the pseudonym Vernon Lee and claimed that only male authors were taken seriously. She became enamored with two women during her lifetime: naïve Mary Robinson and vivacious, willful Kit Anstruther-Thomson.

As Sylvia traces Paget/Lee’s life, the lines between modern existence and events a century earlier become distorted, and even the continuous presence of a dog that follows Sylvia holds significance. Pritchard’s fertile imagination and presentation give new meaning to the expression “a meeting of the minds.”

Although the florid prose and pages of 19th-century discourse sometimes suffocate the story and may prove off-putting for some readers, Pritchard excellently maintains control of a multifaceted exploration of lesbianism.

DRY BONES

Quinn, Peter Overlook (352 pp.) $25.95 | Oct. 31, 2013 978-1-4683-0736-8 Quinn’s final installment in a spy trilogy that began with Hour of the Cat (2005) and The Man Who Never Returned (2010) sends New York PI Fintan Dunne on a secret wartime mission to Slovakia to rescue OSS officers from the last gasps

PALMERINO

of Nazi aggression.

Dunne and his deceptively tough partner, the poetryspouting banker’s son Dick Van Hull, barely escape Slovakia, where nothing is as it was described. A slippery chain of events exposes them to Dr. Karsten Heinz, a war criminal whose grave offenses include supervising gruesome experiments on concentration camp victims. Not only does Heinz avoid conviction, he appears to be among the many Nazi scientists and technicians being imported by the U.S. government to aid in the fight against communism. That men who were employed by Hitler to help kill millions would be awarded new careers in America is, says an outraged OSS officer, “the greatest danger we face... becoming the enemy we oppose.” Jump to 1958. Working for a high-profile Manhattan security firm (complete with a smart and beautiful office assistant), Dunne comes across coded instructions to meet an OSS crony who has crucial information about Heinz’s whereabouts. More old friends and foes emerge from the shadows, while Van Hull, now a drunken shadow of his old self, remains hidden with a secret of his own. Quinn writes with elegant restraint; he’s a master of tone and a deft orchestrator of people and events. His portrayal of Wild Bill Donovan, controversial head of the OSS, is but one of his sure-handed transformations of reality to fiction.

Gripping up to the end, the book—which takes its title from the old spiritual about everything being connected— will send readers who were new to Quinn back to his other books in the series.

Pritchard, Melissa Bellevue Literary Press (192 pp.) $14.95 paper | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-934137-68-0 Pritchard (The Odditorium, 2012, etc.) blurs past and present, male and female, living and dead, and reality and fiction in a supernaturally infused, innovative story about Victorian-era novelist Vernon Lee and her modern-day biographer.

Newly divorced historical fiction author Sylvia Casey arrives at Villa il Palmerino without a clear purpose. Her husband, Philip, left her for a male colleague the day after his 60th birthday, and her last two books have suffered mediocre sales. In fact, her agent has instructed her to write a book targeted for commercial success, something juicy, and Sylvia hopes to find inspiration in the historically rich area she and her former husband once visited. Living in a rented room at the villa seals her destiny: Sylvia becomes obsessed with— and possessed by—a long-dead writer who once inhabited the premises, Violet Paget. Born into an eccentric family in 1856, Paget spent most of her life in Italy and developed a reputation as an intellectual devoted to art, perception and the supernatural. (A contemporary of John Singer Sargent, the two once vowed to commit themselves to art as they stood over the body of a dead sparrow.) Her homely face, abrasive personality and mannish attire were considered repulsive by some, but she traveled in esteemed circles and held forth on a variety of subjects.

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“Scott is both compassionate moralist and master storyteller in this outstanding debut.” from the kept

THE KEPT

kibbutz and heavy-handed treatment by her father in dreamlike prose. She receives regular visits by her son and daughter, but the two have issues of their own. Avner is a lawyer who defends people on the wrong side of the Israeli bureaucracy, which is to say he often loses, and he’s increasingly wounded by his harridan wife. Dina, meanwhile, is in her mid-40s and dealing with a difficult tween daughter, yet she’s hoping to adopt a son—much to the unhappiness of her husband, who’d anticipated a quiet middle age. Avner is thunderstruck by the woman caring for the dying man in the bed next to his mother’s, which leads to a series of misadventures as he tries to locate her. There, and in Dina’s mournful paging through adoption websites, Shalev explores how we express affection and how we discover new reserves of it when all seems lost. Credit Shalev for not making a bluntly sentimental novel out of such themes. But it’s an overlong and overwritten one, built on run-on sentences that moodily bear Avner’s and Dina’s emotions like slow-moving, sludgy rivers. Somewhat lost amid the siblings’ crises is Hemda, who opens the novel with some potent observations about kibbutz life and the urge to please a parent, and her fuzzy state of consciousness seems to justify Shalev’s woolly prose. But as Hemda becomes a mere plot device and symbol of how life goes on, that power dissipates.

Intended as a careful meditation on love, it’s mostly a somber and drowsy one.

Scott, James Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-06-223673-9 The crimes of a benighted woman spark horrific blowback; in its wake, this wrenching first novel from the Massachusetts-based Scott tracks two lost souls in the New York hinterland of the late 19th century.

Elspeth Howell is a midwife returning home after a monthslong absence. She trudges through falling snow to their remote farmhouse only to find husband Jorah and four of their children shot dead. The sole survivor is 12-year-old Caleb, who had watched the three killers from the barn. It gets worse; Caleb shoots his mother by accident; his anguish is profound. Then the house burns down, the unintended consequence of Caleb’s funeral pyre. Elspeth survives. The carnage is linked to her own crimes of opportunity. She and Jorah, a Native American, had tried to conceive, but Elspeth was barren and became seized by the compulsion to steal babies. None of the children are hers.

A deeply religious woman, she aches with the consciousness of her sins and yearns for divine punishment but is unable to stop. A tip steers Caleb and the recovering Elspeth, in pursuit of the killers, to Watersbridge, the gritty town beside Lake Erie from which she stole Caleb. With the revenge motif as a backbeat, the pair, haunted though they are, improvise new lives for themselves. Elspeth, disguised as a man, finds work hauling ice.

The resourceful Caleb is hired as a handyman at a brothel. The owner, a smooth-as-silk villain, kills without compunction, and Caleb guesses correctly that clues here will help his search. He encounters two fearsomely angry men, both indirect victims of Elspeth’s thefts. Yet, for all the collateral damage she has caused, Elspeth has a core of decency sufficient to retain our sympathy.

Caleb is spun around like a top through heartbreaking discoveries and narrow escapes, but any excess in the material is tempered by the calm restraint of Scott’s language.

Scott is both compassionate moralist and master storyteller in this outstanding debut.

SHOVEL READY

Sternbergh, Adam Crown (240 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-0-385-34899-7 A postmodern view of a dystopian, bombed-out New York City, as recounted

by Spademan, a hired assassin.

Spademan is a cynic, as any assassin worth his salt should be, but in this case, even his cynicism is tested when he’s called upon to kill the 18-year-old daughter of T. K. Harrow, a famous evangelist. (Spademan kills men and women with ease but has always drawn the line at killing children because “that’s a different kind of psycho.”) The daughter, whose name is Grace Chastity but who goes by the more appropriate name of Persephone, is an elusive figure whom Spademan needs to track down, and when he finds her, she’s five months pregnant.

Her story is both horrifying and tragic, for she claims her father, the revered religious figure, is himself the father of her unborn child. Spademan finds his mission changing, for not only does he refuse to kill Chastity/Persephone, but instead decides to track down the well-protected Harrow. Along the way, he meets a raft of unsavory sociopathic types (is there any other kind?), like Simon the Magician, Harrow’s head of security, a sadist of the first order. In this bleak, futuristic world, the rich immerse themselves in virtual reality for weeks at a time while the rabble has to contend with the charred remains of Manhattan. Spademan, who used to be a garbage man, discovers that dealing with

THE REMAINS OF LOVE

Shalev, Zeruya Translated by Simpson, Philip Bloomsbury (432 pp.) $26.00 | Dec. 10, 2013 978-1-60819-954-9

Two siblings ponder radical changes to their lives—emphasis on the pondering—in the face of their mother’s imminent passing.

Shalev’s latest novel (Thera, 2010, etc.) alternates among three perspectives of a Jewish family in Jerusalem. Hemda, at death’s door, recalls her upbringing on a |

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the human detritus of New York is not that different from his previous profession.

Telegraphic in style, this book is tough, sordid and definitely not for every taste. (Agent: David McCormick)

woman traveling to an academic conference she does not feel prepared for, being only a professor at a community college. The trip, though, is also a temporary escape from her miserable marriage and, thus, welcome. En route, she fixates on the summer she spent, many years ago, as a counselor for 8- to 10-year-olds at a summer camp in her native Soviet Russia. There, though an outsider by nature, Lena had a friend in her co-counselor, Inka. At camp, there was the prospect of romance, and sex, with the male soldiers who worked there. There was gossip and fantastic stories told not only by Lena and Inka, but by the children they tended.

And there were mysteries, too. Small things that touched Lena personally, but didn’t add up and never resolved. It’s clear that, in some space of Lena’s head, she has never left. At the conference, she meets Ben, a university professor who teaches courses on graphic novels. Because he is interested, and asks her directly, Lena begins to tell Ben stories from camp, stories she’s never told before—walking through woods, corralling children, the heat wave and the mysteries that persist. Ben has his own strangely intense childhood stories and is equally unhappy in his relationship. Impulsively, they embark on a road trip together, sharing chapters of their lives along the way; both characters grow more vivid in the process, as if dusting each other off for new use. Vapnyar’s writing style feels like Lena’s camp—everything seems to be in plain sight, but one can sense deeper truths hiding below the surface. As Ben and Lena get close to uncovering some of these truths, their time together inevitably dwindles. Purely silly moments, the headiness of strangers connecting and the universal nature of summer camp lighten the mood.

Slight in girth but not in depth.

THE TIME REGULATION INSTITUTE

Tanpinar, Ahmet Hamdi Translated by Freely, Maureen; Dawe, Alexander Penguin (464 pp.) $18.00 paper | Dec. 31, 2013 978-0-14-310673-9 A Turkish novel published more than 50 years ago is now translated into English for the first time.

Tanpinar’s style hearkens back to the great 18th-century English writers Laurence Sterne and Jonathan Swift, for he seamlessly combines personal wit with political satire. The narrator, Hayri Irdal, presents his life story in the guise of a memoir about his (along with others’) creation of the Time Regulation Institute, charged with changing the clocks of Turkey to Western time. The institute is given the freedom to use an elaborate series of fines for those who fail to comply, and Irdal delights in the—dare one say Byzantine?—system of synchronization.

Along the way, we meet a bizarre and eccentric cast of characters. Among the most memorable are his analyst, Dr. Ramiz, denizen of coffee houses and founder of the Society for Psychoanalysis (Ramiz has the modern attitude that Irdal is ill, “the fate we all share since the birth of psychoanalysis”); Halit Ayarci, who according to Irdal served as a “dear benefactor and beloved friend who plucked me from poverty and despair and made me the person I am today”; Irdal’s imperious and controlling fatherin-law, Abdüsselam Bey; and Irdal’s wives, children and co-workers. At the center of the novel is Turkey’s Westernization and modernization, a task undertaken with vigor in the early 20th century and one that Tanpinar examines with great irony from the befuddled stance of Irdal.

Like all great satire, this book will make readers laugh and cringe in equal measure.

ARCHETYPE

Waters, M.D. Dutton (384 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 6, 2014 978-0-525-95423-1 Waters’ debut novel explores a future in which fertile women have devolved into a scarce and precious commodity.

This is the first of a two-part story arc.

The sequel, Prototype, will be released six months after this book is published.

Emma knows she was in an accident, but no one will tell her exactly what that accident was or how she ended up in a hospital with her memory wiped clean. All she knows is what she’s been told: That she is the beloved wife of a man named Declan.

Handsome and successful, Declan seems devoted to her, but Emma keeps having odd and off-putting flashbacks that take her to places she vaguely remembers, even though she’s positive she’s never been to any of them before. And she can’t shake that voice inside her, the one that keeps telling her things aren’t what they seem. When, after weeks of preparation, Emma is finally allowed out of the hospital in which she resides, she discovers that the truth about her previous life is very different from the one that Declan and the doctor want her to believe. Ultimately, the person she turns out to be isn’t one that anyone, including

THE SCENT OF PINE

Vapnyar, Lara Simon & Schuster (208 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4767-1262-8 In Vapnyar’s (Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love, 2008, etc.) latest novel, a simplicity of narrative—two strangers share their lives over a weekend together—belies the complexity of interwoven themes and ideas.

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JOURNEY INTO THE FLAME

Emma, could have ever anticipated. She also discovers that she lives in a country divided by civil war and very different ideas of what is acceptable and what is not. Waters’ premise and ensuing storyline is interesting, and she competently creates a future where the social order is knocked upside down. However, the novel is hampered by the odd, stilted voice she uses when writing about Emma and Declan, and writing in the present tense only emphasizes the awkwardness of the prose. The first few chapters are also a tough read; the author made a deliberate decision to obfuscate Emma’s circumstances in order to gin up the tension, and while the story ultimately works, it’s difficult to maintain interest early on.

Starts slow but eventually picks up steam.

Williams, T.R. Atria (448 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4767-1336-6 Series: Rising World Trilogy, 1

This adequate New-Age thriller, offering a vision of an apocalyptic future, is the first volume of Williams’ Rising World trilogy.

In 2027, a solar flare has brought down thousands of airplanes, and a four-degree shift in the Earth’s axis has caused cataclysmic earthquakes and coastline shifts in an event called the Great Disruption. By 2069, the world is still pretty much a mess. Remnants of Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Va., remain, along with some old Federal-style homes and select foreign cities. Key to the story are The Chronicles of Satraya, which contain such wisdom as “Pass your values on to your children, but do not be afraid to let your traditions

KEHUA!

Weldon, Fay Europa Editions (256 pp.) $17.00 paper | Sep. 3, 2013 978-1-60945-137-0 The consequences of a long-ago murder in New Zealand reverberate all the way to England in Weldon’s latest (Habits of the House, 2013, etc.).

Kehua are the Maori spirits of the wandering dead, and they seem to have followed Beverley to North London, where she is recuperating from a knee replacement and lending a skeptical ear to granddaughter Scarlet’s confidence that she is leaving her husband for a sexy but has-been movie star. “This running away habit can get compulsive,” her grandmother warns, and aging Beverley should know; she’s done a lot of it since she discovered her mother’s bloody corpse on the floor of their New Zealand home, killed by a jealous husband—or was it the lover who might be Beverley’s real father? Little is for certain in Weldon’s game-playing narrative, which keeps cutting away from the main story to a first-person commentary by the author in the midst of creating it, who thinks the basement where she writes may be haunted.

The author’s preoccupation with the Victorian-era residents of her house isn’t terribly interesting, nor are her confidences about the process of writing fiction. There’s quite enough plot already in the complicated lives of Beverley and her restless descendants: daughter Alice, who found religion shortly after giving birth to Cynara, whose knee-jerk feminism and newfound lesbianism embarrass younger sister Scarlet and infuriate Cynara’s 16-year-old daughter, Lola, who’s a troublemaker all around. You know a writer is having trouble maintaining focus when she opens a chapter with the words, “Let me remind you.”

Weldon remains a wickedly funny observer of the human comedy, and her portrait of four generations of women unsettled by spirits of whose existence they are unaware (the kehua: remember them?) is intermittently moving. But the late arrival of an unknown son and a second murder merely underscore Weldon’s lack of discipline and irritating confidence that every single word she writes is fascinating.

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go.” Logan Cutler, the hero, auctions off the only extant originals in order to pay off his debts, but the Wrong People want to get their mitts on them. Only the originals will do, since they possess supernatural qualities beyond the words themselves.

The Chronicles tie into a plot to kill off a portion of the world’s population and turn the rest into people incapable of thinking for themselves. Can villains Simon and Andrea use a serum to “exterminate the free thinkers of the world?” Will the bad guy’s mother give him permission to shoot the hero between the eyes, or will he just give a speech instead? There is a race against the clock as the man-made disaster is set to occur at Liberty Moment on Freedom Day. The urgent deadline is standard thriller fare that generally adds to the reader’s excitement, so why doesn’t it work here? Maybe because the real disaster already happened with the axial tilt. Really, what could be worse than that?

Fans of Dan Brown will find this book worth a try for its action and mystical angle. Other thriller fans may just feel burned.

go bad, the locals head into the wilderness, suicidally (see “Big Bitchin’ Cow” and, again, the title story); or they start drinking in dumb disbelief (“The Mathematics of Friedrich Gauss”).

Wilson’s dark world can become monotonous, but there’s no denying its raw power.

THE BALLAD OF BARNABAS PIERKIEL

Zyzak, Magdalena Henry Holt (288 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-0-8050-9510-4

A swineherd dreams of romance and glory as he fumbles his way toward destiny on the eve of World War II. The book starts with a dirty joke and ends with a bloody battle, and in between lies a great deal of carefully measured absurdist humor. For her debut novel, Polish-born indie screenwriter Zyzak (Redland, 2009) has fabricated an almost obsessive recreation of a picaresque novel in the vein of Don Quixote, with shades of the Marx Brothers, Monty Python and Nikolai Gogol thrown in. The author sets her little play in 1939 in a fictionalized Poland called Scalvusia, a country that no longer exists, centering on the small village of Odolechka.

The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous villager remembering the events of that year, with its focus on a swineherd named Barnabas Pierkiel. The village is populated by a host of absurdist characters, including a mad priest, a bickering mayor and police chief, the mayor’s busybody wife, and Barnabas’ addled cousin Yurek. Young Barnabas has set his sights on lovely young gypsy Roosha Papusha, whom the swineherd hopes to steal from wealthy Karol von Grushka.

If it sounds excessively stylized, it is, and the flowery prose that Zyzak applies to her fable may not be for everyone. Take a scene in which Barnabas has earned a moment of ministration from Roosha: “A strange sensation crashed over our hero like a blood-red wave full of water-logged trombones and broken short gourds (not quite translatable from Scalvusian, but one of my best turns of phrase, if the reader will go on trust), in which wave, he had to admit, there was something of the urgency of farmer Charek’s scrofulous krskopolje boar.” Like the novels on which it’s modeled, events play out in loosely connected episodes that fail to foreshadow the novel’s abrupt ending.

A faintly lewd farce that reads like a better-educated version of a Mel Brooks movie, complete with gypsy curses and Nazis.

ONCE YOU BREAK A KNUCKLE Stories

Wilson, D.W. Bloomsbury (256 pp.) $15.00 paper | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-60819-994-5

After his first novel (Ballistics, 2013), the Canadian Wilson offers a collection of 12 stories about testosterone-fueled men in a small town.

Invermere is in the Kootenay Valley, beneath the Canadian Rockies. Several stories feature John and Will Crease, a father and son. John is a veteran cop in the valley’s small towns. In “The Elasticity of Bone,” he’s about to leave for Kosovo, a war zone, to train police recruits; the night before, he wrestles 17-year-old Will in a judo tournament. Then, he’s back from Kosovo with a bullet wound in his chest (“Reception”). Early the next morning, he’s challenging Will to use the punching bag with him. Some years later, in the title story, using a pulley for a tug of war while “engaged in a lifelong game of one-upmanship,” he accidentally breaks Will’s knuckles. Wilson delivers his own punch in his portrayal of these strong, stubborn men, their blood keeping them close yet unable to voice their feelings, about women or anything else. There’s a far different father-son relationship in “Valley Echo.” The pipe fitter Conner and his wife are hash addicts, which is rough on their son, Winch. Fortunately, he has a lifeline in his gramps, who teaches him how to shoot. His death (natural causes) leaves Winch bereft but with enough strength to fight his dad (more broken knuckles). Fists are always flying in Invermere. This is not Mayberry, Wilson makes clear, too insistently. The hicks, or hoodlums, are always looking for a chance to taunt and bully.

Will’s schoolboy buddy Mitch gets his revenge, setting a trap for a hick; the kid dies. Mitch is remorseful (“Don’t Touch the Ground”). When the dealings with the women in their lives 26

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find a leather satchel with no identification someone threw in the back of their truck. Alicia, who loves the satchel, claims it as a book bag. Unfortunately, two nefarious characters being paid to reclaim the bag are willing to go to any extremes to get it. The Pughs’ police officer neighbor Luna spoils their first attempt when she finds them sneaking up on the empty house. The hapless crooks’ every attempt to steal the satchel is foiled until they kidnap Alicia. Graham, who’s in love with Alicia, returns from college to take part in the search. In the meantime, Willis’ disapproving mom is on a church trip to Washington, D.C., where her help in investigating the mysterious disappearance of her roommate persuades her that she has a talent for sleuthing, too. Now that his family is involved, Willis encourages E.J. in her sleuthing propensities. But the best luck falls to the children, especially once Alicia gains the sympathy of one of the crooks.

A rollicking mystery with plenty of red herrings and amusing characters who could have been friends of Stephanie Plum.

TREASURE HUNT

Camilleri, Andrea; trans. by Sartarelli, Stephen Penguin (288 pp.) $15.00 paper | Sep. 24, 2013 978-0-14-312262-3 Inflatable sex dolls, the delivery of a sheep’s head, Harry Potter run amok: What madness has Inspector Montalbano gotten himself into now?

Devout brother and sister Gregorio and Caterina Palmisano trigger a panic in the Sicilian town of Vigata when they hang banners from the balcony of their apartment warning local sinners to REPENT! Each week, a new banner appears, more fervent than the last. When police visit the lodging, the duo turn snipers, shooting at the would-be intruders. Upon searching their apartment after they are taken into custody, Montalbano finds a creepy excess of crucifixes and a blow-up sex doll with distinct markings on Gregorio’s bed. He takes it home for safekeeping and adds an unlikely twin, discovered in a Dumpster. Not long after, Montalbano begins receiving cryptic verses challenging him to a “treasure hunt.” He takes this invitation lightly, a bit of escapism, until a package containing a sheep’s head gives him pause. When his lovely and flirtatious old flame Ingrid asks him to mentor a young friend who’s passionate about law enforcement, Montalbano, seeing an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, sets the young Arturo, a dead ringer for Harry Potter, onto the hunt. The young man responds like a conquistador. The mood is abruptly darkened by the disappearance of a local teenage girl, which Camilleri expertly ties to all that has happened heretofore.

Montalbano’s 16th case (The Dance of the Seagull, 2013, etc.) is his most entertaining in years, veering from slapstick humor to Grand Guignol with aplomb.

RITUALS

Evans, Mary Anna Poisoned Pen (250 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $22.95 Lg. Prt. | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4642-0167-7 978-1-4642-0169-1 paper 978-1-4642-0168-4 Lg. Prt. A small town in upstate New York is a haven for Spiritualists and murder.

Archaeologist Faye Longchamp Mantooth and her adopted daughter, Amande, have taken a job updating a museum in Rosebower while Faye’s husband stays home with their young son. The museum owner is a history buff who never turns away any contribution, no matter how worthless, and has some oddly racist ideas on the worth of some of his collection. The Armistead family, especially talented Spiritualist Tilda, has a great deal of influence in Rosebower, whose citizens are deeply divided over the direction in which the town is moving. An hour after Faye, Amande and Tilda’s sister Myrna take part in a séance, the house burns down with Tilda nailed into the tiny séance room, left to die. Among the suspects are Tilda’s estranged daughter and her husband, a sexy magician, who have their eyes on Tilda’s land. The show they put on every night garners the couple a very nice living, but the husband is plotting with a developer who has plans to turn Rosebower into a sort of Disneyland for believers in ghosts. Also in town is a part-time magician whose work on a book debunking the whole Spiritualist idea may make her the next target for murder. Faye and Amande, who are worried about Myrna, whose health is rapidly and suspiciously deteriorating, are convinced they need to find the killer before there’s another murder.

The emphasis on the spirit world makes this a bit of a departure from Evans’ usual historical and archaeological themes (Plunder, 2012, etc.), but it’s certainly a well-plotted and enjoyable mystery.

GONE IN A FLASH

Cooper, Susan Rogers Severn House (208 pp.) $28.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-7278-8292-9

A trip to deliver their son to college pits a Texas family against several dangerous criminals.

Romance writer E.J. Pugh almost ruined her marriage by her inability to resist solving crimes (Dead Weight, 2012, etc.). Now, E.J. and Willis are back together with their son, Graham, who’s starting college, and their three same-age girls: their natural daughter, Megan, their adopted daughter, Bess, and their foster child, Alicia. They return home from their college trip to |

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“Ina’s goods may be secondhand, but Jaffarian’s are first-class.” from secondhand stiff

HARDCASTLE’S TRAITORS

refusing to talk. So it’s up to Odelia and her husband, Greg, to figure out the connection between Tom’s murder, his mistress, Linda McIntyre, a blogger named Bob Y who uses the Internet to trash talk Los Angeles thrift shops, a food truck called Comfort Foodies and a drive-by shooting on the 405 freeway.

For better or worse, they now have a partner, for Grace insists on shouldering her share of the detecting, perhaps to make up for walking out when Odelia was still a teen. Will Grace prove a boon or bane to Odelia, who’s still adjusting to her mom’s abrupt re-entry into her life?

Ina’s goods may be secondhand, but Jaffarian’s are first-class.

Ison, Graham Severn House (192 pp.) $27.95 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-7278-8312-4

Divisional DI Ernest Hardcastle (Hardcastle’s Frustration, 2012, etc.) ushers in 1916 with whiskey, brown ale and murder.

No sooner does the Hardcastle family finish its New Year’s Eve toast than a knock at the door brings a sergeant from the Kennington Road police station with an urgent summons. A jeweler’s in Vauxhall Bridge Road has been robbed and its owner, Reuben Gosling, killed. Hardcastle wakes neighbor Sidney Partridge, who reports seeing a car with “one of those canvas things” and “them white tyres.” The detective soon discovers that a Haxe-Doulton convertible with whitewall tires went missing the night of Gosling’s murder. Its owner, Sinclair Villiers, is a posh gent with a snooty butler named Henwood.

Servant and master alibi each other nicely. But Villiers’s son, Haydn, has a bad habit of borrowing dad’s car without notice.

Although Villiers Jr. is supposed to be fighting in France, Villiers Sr.’s estranged wife, Hannah, admits that her son is home.

What she doesn’t say, but what a bit of tailing reveals, is that he’s in London to bed his colonel’s wife. Worse than cuckolding his commander, young Capt. Villiers seems also to be receiving Morse-code messages from France about British troop movements, messages to be bartered to the Turks as part of a Zionist plot to establish a homeland in Palestine. There aren’t too many dots between the jeweler’s death and the Jewish state, and Hardcastle connects them with more speed than logic.

Perhaps the glossary Ison gives to explain terms like “boozer” and “nick” should have included an entry for “mishegas.”

FIXED

Kornetsky, L.A. Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $15.00 paper | Oct. 8, 2013 978-1-4516-7165-0 Ad hoc investigators get emotionally tied to a case when their pets are involved.

Ginny Mallard, owner and operator of Mallard Services, a concierge company, has been hanging around Mary’s Bar & Grill so much that it’s like a second office to her. It’s not just the comfortable atmosphere that’s an attraction, it’s also the fact that her sometime co-worker Teddy Tonica tends bar there. Ginny involves Tonica in her work when it leans toward the investigative end, since his understanding of people nicely complements her computer expertise. When Ginny meets Nora, a new client who seeks the utmost discretion, she’s not sure what to expect. It turns out that Nora is a volunteer with LifeHouse, the local animal shelter where Ginny adopted Georgie, her Shar-Pei mix. Given that connection, Ginny can’t turn down the case, in spite of the fact that Nora can barely afford to pay. Tonica tries to talk sense into Ginny, but since bar cat Penny has chosen him as her person, he finds himself taking the case. Now, the two, along with their animal companions, are stuck in an investigation of the mismanagement of agency funds that eventually turns into something more. If only their animal friends could clue them in to the truth.

Kornetsky continues to flesh out the core relationships, but both Ginny and Tonica are hard to get close to. More personal information could help this series (Collared, 2012, etc.) reach its target audience.

SECONDHAND STIFF

Jaffarian, Sue Ann Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (312 pp.) $14.99 paper | Dec. 8, 2013 978-0-7387-1888-0 Family ties prove both challenging and rewarding for paralegal and amateur investigator Odelia Grey (Hide & Snoop, 2012, etc.).

Hoping to amuse both her mother, Grace, who’s in town for an extended Thanksgiving visit, and her mother-in-law, Renee, Odelia drives the two of them to Elite Storage out in Long Beach, where her husband’s second cousin Ina Bruce is planning to bid on an abandoned storage locker. Ina and her husband, Tom, own a resale shop in Culver City, so locker auctions are familiar ground for her. This one, however, has a twist: When auctioneer Redmond Stokes snips the lock off to show its contents, the locker’s most prominent item is Tom’s corpse. Now, Ina’s in jail, 28

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Battle Lake. In addition, she takes on a case involving a missing descendant of the original owner of Prospect House, a mansionturned–Civil War museum, and tangles with the police chief, the Battle Lake mayor/pet psychologist and her narcoleptic dachshund, and an ex-boyfriend who stirs up needless trouble between Mira and her current squeeze—not to mention that Prospect House ghost. You have to wonder what Mira will do when she runs out of calendar months. Marry her perfect boyfriend and get out of the beleaguered police chief ’s way?

Lourey (December Dread, 2012, etc.) has a feel for smalltime life but not for when to stop introducing whackadoodle eccentrics who are not so much comic as annoying.

Kovacs, Ed Minotaur (288 pp.) $25.99 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-1-250-02029-1 A detective must use street sense to suss out the murderer in a secretive occult group even though he lacks the wit to turn his on-the-job friendship into romance.

Although he’s officially employed by the New Orleans Police Department as a detective, Cliff St. James (Good Junk, 2012, etc.) only works cases that are considered to be five-alarm. These high-profile murders come into the department’s purview considerably more than once in a blue moon, and Police Chief Pointer wants to make sure things are kept under wraps when they do. When St. James and partner Honey Baybee are called to an unusual death scene, St. James suspects that there may be foul play involved, but Honey disagrees. The involvement of local professor and world-class occultist Dr. Robert Drake makes Chief Pointer wary that the investigation will be susceptible to bad press, and he orders St. James and Honey to get to the bottom of things fast. Investigating the world of New Orleans voodoo leads the two to what may be the inner workings of a Mexican drug cartel, and the mounting body count adds to their sense that their investigation has been cursed. Worse still, St. James and Honey’s disagreements about the fundamentals of the case begin to affect their relationship with one another, which St. James has always hoped could be more than a friendship.

The vibrant description of occult doings mixes well with the movements of the earthbound characters, making this Cliff and Honey’s best outing to date.

MURDER AND MOONSHINE

Miller, Carol Minotaur (304 pp.) $25.99 | Dec. 17, 2013 978-1-250-01925-7

Small-town shenanigans in the Appalachians pit a waitress against a furtive murderer and an even deadlier foe.

As day dawns in Glade Hill, Va., Daisy Hale McGovern is nagging Hank Fitz, owner of the H & P Diner, to choose a daily breakfast special. Rick and Bobby Balsam are taking a break from drinking home brew and shooting squirrels to flirt with Daisy. Then, local recluse Fred Dickerson staggers into the diner, orders a burger, foams at the mouth and dies. When rumors start circulating that someone—possibly Hank—poisoned Dickerson, Daisy wants to help Hank, who gave her a job after she lost her father, Paul (the P in H & P). She braves the Balsam brothers’ two-man trailer park, their shotguns and their dog pack and searches an old tobacco barn on her former homestead, which now belongs to Rick. Much as she resents him for buying up the property behind her back, she’s even more hostile toward ATF Special Agent Ethan Kinney when he arrives to investigate Dickerson’s death. A second death throws Daisy in with Kinney, and they work together to solve the mysteries of a pink canning-jar lid, a nighttime intruder, a place called Chalk Level and a threat to the enjoyably colorful citizenry of Glade Hill. Daisy is both strong and vulnerable, and you want her to be happy—but with whom?

Miller’s debut uses a light touch and a gift for scene painting in its skillful balance of people and puzzle.

JANUARY THAW

Lourey, Jess Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (288 pp.) $14.99 paper | Jan. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3875-8

If it’s January in Minnesota, it must be time for amateur sleuth Mira James to find another corpse.

It’s a pretty decent life Mira has made for herself in the village of Battle Lake (population 747) as the head librarian, a part-time reporter and a not-yet-licensed detective—if you don’t count her habit of stumbling across corpses on a regular basis. Her most recent find is a frozen body near the dunking hole for the Winter Wonderland Festival. What makes the discovery more poignant is that the deceased, Maurice Jackson, tried to rescue Mira and her man-hungry octogenarian assistant, Mrs. Berns, from two of his fellow gang members. A letter that a possible ancestor of Maurice’s wrote in 1865 compels Mira to dig more deeply to find out what really brought Maurice to |

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THE MURDER CODE

London, Marbeck seeks out Cecil’s trusted employee Nicholas Prout, who believes in Marbeck’s innocence and sends him, along with another spy, to infiltrate a group of papists that has gathered troops and arms to put a Spanish infanta on the throne.

Marbeck treads a dangerous path. Upon blowing up the rebels’ armory, he barely escapes with his life. King James is making slow progress toward London, his life in danger at every turn.

Marbeck must use all his many wiles to rescue Henry, protect the new monarch and get back into Cecil’s good graces.

The second in this fine series (Marbeck and the DoubleDealer, 2013) provides all the derring-do and historical interest needed to keep readers entranced.

Mosby, Steve Pegasus Crime (368 pp.) $25.95 | Dec. 15, 2013 978-1-60598-488-9

A series of brutal murders intersect with a detective’s troubled past in an unnamed British city.

When Detective Andy Hicks examines the faceless corpse of Vicki Gibson, he clings to his philosophy that every murder has an explanation, even something as senseless as beating a young woman to death with a hammer. The similar murder of a homeless man further tests Hicks’ belief and distances him from his pregnant wife, Rachel. She knows he doesn’t want their baby, but Hicks can’t tell her why. After more bludgeoned bodies appear, a pattern emerges that includes isolated locations, easy prey and a killer dressed in black who sends a letter to Hicks, taunting him that even he won’t be able to crack the code the killer has generated. Worse still is evidence of a murder in progress that Hicks is helpless to prevent. When the killer attacks someone from one of Hicks’ earliest cases, the detective is forced to confront his most painful memories as he frantically studies the murderous pattern for the one element that doesn’t fit. Hicks is right: There is a reason for the murders, even though it’s not altogether persuasive. Still, you root for him and Rachel to reconcile as he struggles to end the killings and his own pain.

Mosby (Black Flowers, 2011, etc.) spares no graphic detail in building tension and terror. His attempts at complexity stretch credulity in an otherwise crackling good tale.

(Agent: Carolyn Whitaker)

THE POISONED ISLAND

Shepherd, Lloyd Washington Square/Pocket (432 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-4767-1286-4 A British ship carries a deadly secret in this historical mystery–cum-horror.

When the Solander returns in 1812 from a botanical expedition and docks in Wapping, it falls under the protection of John Harriott, the magistrate of the River Police Office. Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society who funded the Solander’s expedition to Otaheite (aka Tahiti), orders Harriott to keep the ship and its botanical samples safe. Sir Joseph’s concern seems justified when Charles Horton, a waterman constable under Harriott’s command, discovers two sailors from the Solander strangled— with incongruously blissful smiles on their dead faces—in a ransacked boardinghouse room. Subsequent murders of Solander crewmembers, as well as political infighting, occupy Harriott and Horton, while Robert Brown, Sir Joseph’s librarian, tries to figure out why a breadfruit tree cutting grows so impossibly fast.

Harriott, Brown and Horton painfully learn what Sir Joseph is withholding about the nature of the tree, a strange tea made from its leaves and his true agenda in funding the Solander’s voyage. Although the tale gives short shrift to its female characters and is slow to give up its treasures, it does pull you in and build up to a rattling good denouement.

If you like Regency suspense with historical figures and fantastic horticulture—or you’re simply a fan of clever writing—Shepherd (The English Monster, 2012) delivers the goods.

MARBECK AND THE KING-IN-WAITING

Pilkington, John Severn House (192 pp.) $27.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-7278-8294-3

As Queen Elizabeth I lay dying, intelligencer Martin Marbeck’s life is in turmoil.

Marbeck had been Secretary of State Sir Robert Cecil’s best spy. But now he’s cut out, suspected of double-dealing. His lover, Lady Celia Scroop, begs him to go to Oxford, where her son Henry, who’s attached himself to ranting puritanical preacher Isaac Gow, is about to abandon his studies. A trip to Oxford only shows how deeply Henry is involved. Marbeck is unable to detach him from the group who dislikes Elizabeth’s reign and is even more unhappy that King James of Scotland, reputed to have Catholic leanings, is about to become ruler of England. Marbeck follows the group to Cambridge, where he meets Poyns, an intelligencer who trusts his loyalty but is unable to help. Upon returning to 30

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“...well worth your time.” from ghost medicine

USA NOIR Best of the Akashic Noir Series

Temple, Johnny—Ed. Akashic (548 pp.) $29.95 | $16.95 paper | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-61775-189-9 978-1-61775-184-4 paper Temple, general editor of Akashic’s series of noir collections (Brooklyn Noir, 2004, etc.), skims the cream from the first 59 volumes.

It’s hard to imagine how the present anthology could be topped for sheer marquee appeal. Seasoned pros contribute stories as proficient as they are characteristic. Lawrence Block tangles quick-thinking lawyer Martin Ehrengraf in a tricky domestic triangle. Michael Connelly follows a forensic reconstructionist to a suspicious car accident on Mulholland Drive. Pete Hamill brings a successful author back to his hometown for a book signing. Lee Child’s reporter abruptly rings down the curtain on the killing of a 14-year-old girl. The field is expanded by Tim Broderick’s comic-book tale of Wall Street malfeasance and dispatches from Laura Lippman’s Baltimore, Dennis Lehane’s Boston, Julie Smith’s New Orleans, James W. Hall’s Miami, George Pelecanos’s D.C., and even Jonathan Safran Foer’s suburban New Jersey.

Yet, the results are more professional than inspired. Like a series of postcards, the stories leave you with good memories of past encounters rather than creating bold new experiences. Perhaps the single most impressive feature of the collection is its range of voices, from Joyce Carol Oates’ faux innocent young family to Megan Abbott’s impressionable high school kids to the chorus of peremptory voices S.J. Rozan plants in a haunted thief ’s head.

Eat your heart out, Walt Whitman: These are the folks who hear America singing, and moaning and screaming.

A helpful U.S. map locating the places where all the 37 reprints are set indicates that, with a few notable exceptions—New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, the Twin Cities, Kansas City, Phoenix, Las Vegas and, of course, Texas— noir seems to flourish overwhelmingly in coastal blue states. Sociologists and pollsters take note.

GHOST MEDICINE

Thurlo, Aimée; Thurlo, David Forge (320 pp.) $24.99 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-0-7653-3403-9 When a former cop is killed on a Navajo reservation, all the forces of the Tribal Police are brought to bear.

Special Investigator Ella Clah used to date Harry Ute, a PI who was once a fellow cop. When his mutilated body is found shot to death in his pickup truck, it appears that the dangerous witches known as skinwalkers may be to blame. Rumors |

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spread quickly, and the whole Rez is soon in fear. Traditionalists call in singers to do ceremonies to protect people. Ella and her partner and cousin Justine focus instead on the cases Harry was working for his boss, Bruce “Teeny” Little, who has his own plans to solve the murder but is being closemouthed about some of Harry’s caseload. He admits that Harry was working on the theft of some San Juan County property without revealing the name of his client. Harry, whose laptop, cellphone and notebook are missing, was last seen in a bar with a redheaded Navajo woman who may have been a prostitute. Ella’s current beau, sexy detective Dan Nez of the county police force, is working along with FBI agent Dwayne Blalock on all the offreservation connections to the murder, including the owner of a trading post who may be selling illegal ancient pottery along with the items stolen from the county. Modernists and Traditionalist Navajos have diverse views, but they’re all unsettled by the murder. So are Ella and her family, who are threatened and attacked by the killers.

The prolific Thurlos are at their best with the Ella Clah series (Black Thunder, 2011, etc.). Though this one isn’t terribly mystifying, the information on Navajo life is well worth your time. (Agent: Peter Rubie)

science fiction and fantasy THE GOLDEN CITY

Cheney, J. Kathleen ROC/Penguin (352 pp.) $15.00 paper | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-451-41774-9 An ambitious debut from Cheney: part fantasy, part romance, part police procedural and part love letter to Lisbon in the early 1900s.

Oriana Paredes has webbed fingers, gills on her neck and discoloration on her legs that looks like scales. She is a sereia hailing from unmapped islands off the coast of Portugal; her people are the basis for the legend of mermaids. But in 1902 Lisboa, the golden city of the title, she passes as the human companion to a young gentlewoman, Isabel. The sereia have a fraught history with the Portuguese—they are illegal in the city itself—and Oriana’s role in society is a cover for her real vocation: sereia spy. Spying, however, is lonely and boring until Oriana and Isabel are kidnapped and left in the river for dead. Isabel, sans gills, dies, but Oriana escapes and, in doing so, discovers clues to an elaborate, sinister plot under the guise of a large artwork installation. She exits the river heartbroken, with an eye toward revenge. Within days, Oriana’s search connects her to Duilio Ferreira. A gentleman of science fiction & fantasy

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WHEN IT’S A JAR

the city and frequent consultant to the police, he is privately investigating the deadly artwork installation. Duilio is also part selkie—seal person—and convinces Oriana to work with him in solving the mystery. Their mutual trust grows in the process, along with a burgeoning affection, and they are aided by a colorful cast of characters, many with magic powers or mythic backgrounds. Cheney could use more practice determining which details are worthy of explication—Oriana’s webbed fingers are a constant reference, but where the case is concerned, it can be difficult to track who knows what, which of the plethora of details are important and how. But she does a lovely job connecting magical, historical and romantic elements; her Lisboa is a marvelous place to visit, and the installation artwork at the center of the mystery is a creepy, creative plot device.

A diverting read, with plenty of loose ends for a sequel.

Holt, Tom Orbit/Little, Brown (400 pp.) $15.00 paper | Dec. 17, 2013 978-0-316-22612-7 Another British-accented comic fantasy, a sequel to Doughnut (2013), whose entire plot revolves around the ancient riddle, the answer to which is the book’s title.

This is a story of space-time bottles and doughnut holes, where there’s always another universe “at ninety-one degrees to that time and place in the D axis.” However, only the brave would attempt to summarize the plot. In the first few pages, the unassuming and ineffectual Maurice Katz has his destiny foretold; is informed by his head teacher, Mr. Fisher-King, who’s simultaneously levitating a doughnut, that “[y]ou’re not just feckless, you’re a black hole into which feck falls and is utterly consumed”; kills a dragon with a bread knife; and misplaces his girlfriend, “Steve,” a soldier on leave from Afghanistan. (Steve will reappear, much later and all too briefly, as an elf in a world swarming with homicidal goblins and dwarves.) Meanwhile, a naked man trapped in an invisible bottle deduces the existence of everything from first principles, only to have his memory wiped—repeatedly. He may or may not be named Theo Bernstein, may or may not have invented the YouSpace device, and may or may not have created the universe by blowing up the Very Very Large Hadron Collider.

Elsewhere, Maurice’s hated rival, George, has invented stealth furniture, which is so completely invisible you have to stumble around the room patting the air until you find something to sit down on. Ever wondered what it would be like to talk to a burning bush or how a job interview would go if you were forced to tell the absolute truth about everything? The answers are here.

Shapeless, demented and frequently hilarious.

A DANCE OF MIRRORS

Dalglish, David Orbit/Little, Brown (400 pp.) $16.00 paper | Dec. 3, 2013 978-0-316-24245-5 Series: Shadowdance, 3

In the third installment of a bloodsoaked political fantasy series (A Dance of Cloaks, 2013; A Dance of Blades, 2013), the carnage moves from the capital city of Veldaren to bustling, corrupt Angelport.

Haern, the King’s Watcher, has threatened the thieves’ guilds and the nobles of the Trifect into an uneasy peace in Veldaren. But in Angelport, another vigilante called the Wraith is slaughtering prominent citizens—and marking the bodies with the Watcher’s former symbol of an open eye. Haern, Lady Alyssa of the Trifect, and her bodyguard, Zusa, investigate, becoming embroiled in a three-way struggle among Lord Ingram, Angelport’s putative ruler; the Merchant Lords, who seek control of the nearby forest, the sole source of a powerfully addictive herb; and the elves, who regard the forest as sacred.

The series was actually self-published before it was picked up by a major publisher, freshly edited and re-released. For those interested in the craft of writing, the author’s notes about how each book in the series changed during this process are illuminating. This novel’s former title was A Dance of Death, and it remains apt: The body count is considerable, nearly drowning the plot’s political intrigue in blood. The author is clearly trying to make a point about the wages of vigilante justice and the difficulty in determining the validity of one’s cause when so many must die to further it. It’s an interesting point, but one must hope that Dalglish considers the point sufficiently established after three books.

Retains the attention for now, but it would be great if the author explored other issues in subsequent volumes.

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LAST TO RISE

Knight, Francis Orbit/Little, Brown (288 pp.) $15.00 paper | Nov. 26, 2013 978-0-316-21774-3 The Rojan Dizon trilogy (Before the Fall, 2013; Fade to Black, 2013) doggedly trudges to its brutally stark conclusion.

The vertical city of Mahala is on the verge of collapse in several senses. The Storad are besieging the gates and will soon force their way inside. Mahala’s ruler, the Archdeacon Perak, has lost the support of his cardinals, who actively oppose his policies and are fleeing the city. The city guards are vastly outnumbered; the traitor Dench has revealed the city’s secrets to the Storad; and the downtrodden people see little reason to aid the splintering government in its desperate last stand. The slim hope of Mahala’s survival rests with the Archdeacon’s brother Rojan, one of the formerly outlawed (and still despised) |

pain mages, and their sister Lise, a brilliant engineer. While Knight’s worldbuilding shows a certain grim promise, her plotting and characterization could use a little work. There’s apparently no time for back story or supplemental storylines—the story just keeps moving forward with barely a twist or turn.

This spare, unadorned approach toward plot makes it just a bit too clear very early on that the trilogy can end in only one way.

And Rojan’s obliviousness to the painfully obvious mutual love between himself and the brothel keeper Erlat lacks credibility.

There’s definitely something here, but it’s not quite enough.

WATCHER OF THE DARK

Nassise, Joseph Tor (304 pp.) $25.99 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-0-7653-2720-8

Another adventure for Harvard classics professor–turned ghostbuster Jeremiah Hunt (King of the Dead, 2012, etc.).

Having traded his sight for his supernatural abilities, Hunt is virtually blind in daylight but can see in total darkness and also perceive ghosts and other more malevolent entities. From New Orleans, where he survived the clutches of the FBI and a confrontation with Death, he arrives in Los Angeles only to be grabbed by Carlos Fuentes, the city’s magical head honcho. Fuentes wants Hunt to work for him and threatens, convincingly, to torture and kill Hunt’s friends and allies, the witch Denise and Dmitri the shape-shifter, if he refuses. Fuentes, it seems, wants to find a mystical key that will unlock one of the gates of hell. The problem is, Fuentes’ predecessor and hated rival broke the key into three pieces for safekeeping and hid them. Worse still, the malevolent entity known as the Preacher shows up and demands that Hunt give him the key once he locates it; it’s not an obligation Hunt can ignore, since he owes the Preacher for his help in a previous adventure. The narrative moves briskly, with plenty of whiteknuckle moments, magical battles, a point of view that sticks firmly with the first person and a wisecracking noir tone. So, it’s easy to disregard the rather absurd plot and often baffling motivations—after all, when you open up a gate into hell, what does anybody expect will happen next?

Won’t disappoint series fans. Curious newcomers should find it entertaining enough.

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THE DOCTOR AND THE DINOSAURS

Resnick, Mike Pyr/Prometheus Books (300 pp.) $18.00 paper | $11.99 e-book Dec. 10, 2013 978-1-61614-861-4 978-1-61614-862-1 e-book Another of Resnick’s Weird West fantasy yarns (The Buntline Special, 2010, etc.) starring consumptive dentist/sharpshooter Doc Holliday and an eye-popping selection of other historical characters.

In 1885, the peace treaty signed by Theodore Roosevelt and Apache medicine man (read: wizard) Geronimo has opened up the West to white men. Two of the latter, unfortunately, are now desecrating Comanche burial grounds by digging up bones.

The bones in question, however, are dinosaur bones, and the diggers are brilliant paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, bitter rivals united only in their mutual loathing. The outraged Comanche medicine men are threatening to reanimate the dinosaurs to get rid of Marsh and Cope, but Geronimo fears that the dinosaurs won’t be satisfied with eating or squashing paleontologists but will imperil Comanches and Apaches, too. So, Geronimo visits Doc Holliday, presently gasping and coughing out his last days in a sanitarium, and offers Doc one year of restored health in exchange for removing the white men. That’s pretty much it as far as plot goes, but Resnick paints in the scenery with extraordinarily vivid brush strokes, adds a palette of bigger-than-life-sized characters—including Roosevelt, Edison, Buntline, Cole Younger and Buffalo Bill Cody—and tops it all off with dazzling conversations, rhetorical flourishes, and Holliday’s trademark dry wit, fast reflexes and legendary capacity to drink all day without getting drunk.

Oh, and there are no less than nine appendices to explore.

Delightful—a potential blockbuster lacking only a hearty plot to match the highly impressive personalities and setting.

KALEIDOCIDE

Swavely, Dave Dunne/St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $26.99 | Dec. 10, 2013 978-1-250-00150-4 In this sequel to Silhouette (2012), Michael Ares, the boss of Bay Area Security Service, the private corporation that runs the independent, post-disaster San Francisco Bay area, faces a prolonged series of assassination attempts.

Ares has no idea why powerful Chinese general Zhang Sun is gunning for him, and he makes little attempt to find out. Sun, however, has perfected a series of lethal strikes based on mysticism and color symbology that has never failed to achieve its aim. science fiction & fantasy

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“Just—wow.”

from something more than night

Ares, though protected by the resources of BASS and renegade Chinese cyborg Min, is neither surprised nor suspicious when Terrey Thorn, an old pal from Ares’ British army days, shows up to warn him and offer his services, Terrey now being the owner of an efficient high-tech security service. Terrey immediately demonstrates his worth by detecting and destroying Sun’s first assault. Ares, however, decides that the best way to protect his pregnant wife, Lynn, is to disappear, leaving behind a double to fool Sun. (The double’s plucked from a kind of cyberspace suicide club and figures he has nothing to lose.) It’s hard to see how this would work, though; Ares seems unacquainted with the term collateral damage. The assassination attempts, each with their associated color, continue. Ares wiles away his time attempting to arrange for his double to break up with his (Ares’) erstwhile mistress and mulling over the army op in which he met Terrey; meanwhile, he’s secretly holed up in said mistress’s house with yet another woman...so it goes, complete with annoying religious mutterings in the background, until the unsurprising conclusion.

A less than riveting sequel.

here, as Molly (and the reader) gradually comes to realize that Bayliss may not be the most reliable of narrators and that his Marlowe persona is one part of a vast, intricate plot a billion years in the making.

Superlatives seem superfluous. Instead...wow. Just—wow.

(Agent: Kay MacCauley)

r om a n c e SECRET SHARED

Adeline, L. Marie Broadway (304 pp.) $15.00 paper | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-8041-3686-0 Cassie volunteers to support S.E.C.R.E.T, the covert society in New Orleans that helps women overcome personal and relationship issues by acquainting them with the liberating possibilities of sexual fantasy, and introduces Dauphine to the mystery and adventure.

At the end of a year of sexual adventure, Cassie Robichaud believes she has unlocked her true fantasy, a happily-ever-after with her best friend, Will. But when Will’s girlfriend announces she’s pregnant, everything falls apart and Cassie volunteers to help other S.E.C.R.E.T. clients, the underground society that helps women feel liberated and empowered through a series of sexual encounters. Cassie meets Dauphine and sees her as a prime candidate. She also meets Mark, a handsome local musician, and recruits him to be a sex partner fulfilling fantasies. As Will faces parenthood, he decides to expand his cafe and offers Cassie a huge professional opportunity, while events leave everyone doubting Will is actually the father. Dauphine hits unexpected bumps along her sexual journey, including a run-in with a New Orleans billionaire who has a grudge against the group. Ultimately, though, she’ll have the chance to meet her fantasy crush, a local music star, and he just may be her foreverlove. Pseudonymous author Adeline’s follow-up to S.E.C.R.E.T. (2013) offers an intriguing erotic hook, and there are plenty of readers who will appreciate the storyline and the hot, fairly graphic sex scenes that are sprinkled liberally through the text.

Frankly, though, the original book left some readers outraged with the awful ending, and this book will offend them again for the same reason. Also, romance fans (since that does seem to be the target audience) will be affronted by too many character choices and the rushed nature of Dauphine’s arc. Readers looking for a smoothly written story with a lot of hot sex may enjoy this book. Those who want to feel satisfied emotionally may want to avoid it.

Sort of sexy, but disappointing overall.

SOMETHING MORE THAN NIGHT

Tregillis, Ian Tor (304 pp.) $25.99 | Dec. 3, 2013 978-0-7653-3432-9

New, independent fantasy from the author of the fine Milkweed Triptych (Necessary Evil, 2013, etc.)—and it’s a doozy.

Imagine a gumshoe noir yarn, embedded in a fundamentally theology-free medieval heaven underpinned by known or extrapolated scientific cosmological theory. Further posit that a minor fallen angel named Bayliss has assumed the persona of Philip Marlowe—why? Eventually readers will find out—and that as the story opens, he watches the death of the angel Gabriel spread across the skies of Earth in a spectacular shower of meteors and particles. Bayliss has been ordered by his superiors in the angelic Choir to recruit a replacement—someone pliable and not too bright. And the victim must die before being resurrected as an angel. So, Bayliss arranges an accident—but instead of his chosen dupe, he kills Molly Pruett, a highly intelligent, strong-willed and stunning redhead. Bayliss, being Marlowe, thinks of Molly as his client and carefully tells her little of what she needs to know to assume her angelic mantle. Impossible as it seems, Gabriel was murdered, somebody has stolen the Jericho Trumpet, and Bayliss is determined to find out why. The trail leads him to Father Santorelli, who’s been handing out powerful plenary indulgences— get out of hell free cards. Molly, meanwhile, after a series of mishaps and a scolding from METATRON, the Voice of God, learns that the recipients of the indulgences cannot sleep for fear of the terrible dreams of angelic violence that now plague them. All this barely scratches the surface of what’s going on 34

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THE WICKED DEEDS OF DANIEL MACKENZIE

Trying to decipher the enigmatic female leads Viscount Kendale to some sexy encounters and some surprising truths, as well as the terrifying prospect of losing his well-guarded heart.

Marielle knows she’s under constant surveillance, but being smart, beautiful and cunning has generally kept her safe, even from the handsome nobleman Viscount Kendale. Certain that she is easily able to evade his scrutiny when necessary, she is both disillusioned and grateful when he shows up at a rendezvous to catch her red-handed but winds up saving her life. Then, when he tries to keep her under his watch while she heals so he can get to the bottom of her mysterious activities, she eludes him through some very sultry invitations and a well-tied scarf.

Entranced, impressed and annoyed, Kendale makes it his personal mission to track her down and learn her secrets, but the more he hunts her to ground, the more he realizes her secrets are personal and have, in fact, put her in grave danger. Unconcerned for her own safety, the brave girl is determined to save her father, imprisoned in France, which is impossible, since the countries are at war. Somehow, though, Marielle takes steps to sneak across the Channel, and what choice does a gentleman have but to follow the woman he loves into a ridiculous rescue attempt, especially if he and his men might be the best possible hope for success? Madeline Hunter uses a popular Regency spy angle to intriguing effect, keeping readers—and Kendale—guessing as to Marielle’s true intentions, while creating a sizzling frame of sexual tension through Kendale and Marielle’s seductive dance of truth, daring and consequences.

A smooth, sexy and sophisticated spy-themed Regency romance.

Ashley, Jennifer Berkley Sensation (384 pp.) $7.99 paper | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-425-25395-3

After Daniel Mackenzie meets Violet, a charlatan clairvoyant who first intrigues and then nearly kills him, he can’t shake the memory of her beauty, her intelligence or her visible fear, so of course he has to track her down and get to the bottom of his inexplicable attraction and protectiveness.

As the eldest child of the next generation of infamous Mackenzies, Daniel has garnered his own reputation as a devil-maycare rake, but with his good looks, talent and affability, women love him, and most reasonable gentlemen don’t mind his company. And, of course, he has the staunch support and affection of his uncles, some of the most powerful, resourceful and impressive men in England. When Daniel bests a pompous lout in a game of poker and the man tries to pay some of his debt with a late-night visit to a tenant with extraordinary skills, Daniel is surprised when the woman is not a prostitute but a celebrated psychic. Daniel sees through “Violet” right away but is impressed by her ability to read people and her ingenuity in setting up the props that accompany the impromptu séance. He is also conscious of a blazing awareness between them, one that unnerves the beauty and ultimately leads her to push him away violently, accidentally injuring him in the process. When he wakes up the next day, she has disappeared, and he is even more captivated and attracted, a compelling array of feelings that will lead him to find her in Europe and discover her precarious lifestyle as a spiritualist, not to mention a score of other issues. Ultimately, it will convince Daniel he has found the woman he can’t live without, which leads to even more challenges the two must face in order to gain their happily-ever-after. Historical romance favorite Ashley is known for her Mackenzie wounded alpha heroes, but fans have watched Daniel grow up through the series, and the author touchingly establishes him as a favored-son hero who takes on the role of knight in shining armor for his beautifully rendered damsel in distress.

Another sexy, tender Mackenzie love story that romance fans won’t want to miss.

ONE TINY LIE

Tucker, K.A. Atria (336 pp.) $15.00 paper | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-4767-4047-8 After a toga party with far too many Jell-O shooters (gleefully procured by older sister Kasey, who turns out to be a terrible chaperone), perfectionist Livie has acquired her first kiss, first hangover and first tattoo, not to mention a lust compass aimed at Ashton Henley, the hunky captain of the crew team.

Tucker (Ten Tiny Breaths, 2013, etc.) continues the Cleary sisters’ saga, following younger sister Livie. Dr. Stayner again appears as the kind, eccentric therapist, helping Livie break through the protective barriers she’s erected since her parents’ deaths. Each Saturday at 10 a.m., he calls her, coaxing her to admit more and more of her own hang-ups and setting her an unconventional task—shoot tequila, go speed-dating, practice prolific swearing. Finally enrolled at Princeton, Livie is ready to fulfill the life plan she set at age 9: keep her promise to her daddy by becoming a mature, responsible doctor. A notorious cad, Ashton is most definitely not part of her plan. He may get Livie’s hormones pumping, but his best friend, Connor, a sedate pre-law student, is a much better prospect. With his

THE COUNTERFEIT MISTRESS

Hunter, Madeline Jove/Penguin (336 pp.) $7.99 paper | Sep. 24, 2013 978-0-515-15138-1

As a French emigré, Marielle Lyon is playing a dangerous game; her compatriots aren’t completely convinced she’s who she claims to be, while the English are convinced she’s a spy. |

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Dublin accent and charming manner, Connor is everything Livie’s dreamed of. But it’s Ashton who comforts her when her grades plummet, Ashton who drives her to New York to work with terminally ill children, and it’s Ashton she can’t ignore.

Covered with tattoos masking disturbing scars, Ashton has his own secrets that keep him doubting whether he can be the man Livie truly deserves. More fairy godfather (or deus ex machina) than doctor, Stayner orchestrates several coincidences that help unite the star-crossed lovers.

Likable characters, steamy liaisons and surprising plot twists add up to a satisfying romance. Readers will be eager for the next installment.

CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS

Wiggs, Susan Harlequin MIRA (400 pp.) $16.95 paper | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-7783-1474-5

A single father hosts family and friends at his home and hopes that the magical season will end with a new love.

Logan and Darcy are two victims of broken marriages, but where Logan is looking to move forward, Darcy is still feeling scorched and cautious. When they meet through India—Logan’s sister and Darcy’s best friend—sparks fly, but it will take a Thanksgiving weekend before they express their attraction and a sprawling family Christmas event to bring them together. However, as much as Darcy wants to be with Logan, she is convinced that their goals are too different for a long-term relationship.

Besides, he’s just taken on the huge responsibility of a managing partnership for an area ski resort, a fulfilling opportunity but one that needs a lot of work as well as a large influx of cash to build it into Logan’s dream of a viable all-season family destination. And then there’s Charlie, Logan’s son. Darcy’s been burned by stepchildren once already, and she’s sure she’s not ready for that kind of heartbreak again, even if Logan’s a much better parent than her ex ever was. And Charlie’s a much nicer kid than his children were. Perhaps a blizzard, some lonely Christmas orphans, and the most wonderful, not-quite-perfect Christmas ever will soften hearts and smooth the way for a bright future. Wiggs revisits her popular Lakeshore Chronicles for another sweet Christmas tidbit, and series fans will love watching Logan—Daisy Bellamy’s ex—fall in love with his own perfect match. Add in some of Santa’s magic for two temporarily motherless children, yummy Christmas recipes, the famous, Christmas-card-perfect backdrop of Willow Lake, plus cameo appearances by other series favorites and readers will be ready for the season as quickly as they can say “hot chocolate.”

A romantic, heartwarming Christmas charmer, especially for Wiggs and Willow Lake fans.

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nonfiction A SHORT GUIDE TO A LONG LIFE

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Agus, David B. Simon & Schuster (128 pp.) $17.95 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4767-3095-0

IF MAYORS RULED THE WORLD by Benjamin R. Barber............... 40 THE DEATH OF SANTINI by Pat Conroy............................................45 COLLISION LOW CROSSERS by Nicholas Dawidoff........................45 THE MOST OF NORA EPHRON by Nora Ephron..............................47 TREES IN PARADISE by Jared Farmer.............................................. 48 BACH by John Eliot Gardiner............................................................ 49 THE AVIATORS by Winston Groom..................................................... 51 MAGNIFICENT DELUSIONS by Husain Haqqani.............................54 1913 by Florian Illies............................................................................ 55 A DREADFUL DECEIT by Jacqueline Jones.........................................58 CANDY by Samira Kawash.................................................................59 THE HEIR APPARENT by Jane Ridley................................................65 SMART CITIES by Anthony Townsend.................................................70 THE MESSAGE by Richard Wolffe....................................................... 71 THE MOST OF NORA EPHRON

Ephron, Nora Knopf (576 pp.) $35.00 Nov. 4, 2013 978-0-385-35083-9

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In a follow-up to The End of Illness (2012), which explored how technological advances will transform medicine, Agus (Medicine and Engineering/Univ. of Southern California) restates time-tested but too often overlooked principles for healthy living.

The author outlines simple measures that average citizens can take to live healthier lives and extend their life spans by taking advantage of modern technology to develop personalized records. These would include a list of medical tests and recommended treatments. Agus also suggests keeping track of indicators that can be observed at home on a regular basis—e.g., changes in energy, weight, appetite and blood pressure, blood sugar and general appearance. He advises that all of this information be made available online, and it is also helpful to investigate family history and consider DNA testing where indicated.

Along with maintaining a healthy weight, Agus emphasizes the importance of eating a balanced diet, with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and a minimum of red meat. Avoid packaged vitamins and food supplements, and if possible, grow your own vegetables or buy frozen vegetables, which will generally be fresher than those on supermarket shelves. The author also warns against processed foods that make health claims but contain additives or excessive amounts of sugar or fat. Regular mealtimes and plenty of sleep, frequent hand-washing and oral hygiene are a must; smoking and excessive time in the sun should also be avoided. Agus recommends that adults should consider taking statins and baby aspirin as preventative measures. He concludes with a decade-by-decade checklist of annual medical examinations that should be routine—e.g. blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol screenings, from one’s 20s on; colonoscopies, prostate exams and mammograms later— and a variety of top-10 lists (for example, “Top 10 Reasons to Take a Walk”).

Useful but disappointingly commonplace tips. (66 b/w line drawings)

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MARGARET THATCHER Power and Personality

Aitken, Jonathan Bloomsbury (784 pp.) $35.00 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-62040-342-6

An admiring biography of the Iron Lady by a former “Tory back-bencher” who played a role in her government.

Admiring it is, but Aitken’s (Pride and Perjury: An Autobiography, 2003, etc.) life of Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) is not entirely uncritical, even if he finds reasons to excuse behavior that left “bullied colleagues, derided officials, ignored communities and neglected family members” in its wake. Thatcher, writes the author, was ambitious from the very start, running into trouble with a headmistress for having had the upstart hubris to declare that she was aiming for a career in the Indian Foreign Service, since it was a fast track to political fame back home. Alas for Thatcher, India got away from Britain before she could hitch her wagon to it, and so she had to slog it out with the rest of the back bench. Mainly, Aitken writes with the exquisite carefulness of the true believer: “Although Denis’s proposal was accepted by Margaret with the full consent of her parents, the engagement was kept secret for another five weeks for political reasons.”

Those political reasons, it seems, were so profound that they occasioned this doubly passive construction. In the tightest of controversies, Aitken accords Thatcher some responsibility for bad faith but places more on others: Breaking the unions in the early 1980s was mostly the fault of militant union leaders, even if Thatcher could have done better; the Falklands War was mostly the fault of the Argentines, even if her “stubbornness… and her inexperience in foreign affairs” had something to do with the mess. But mostly, Aitken is deferential and even a little star-struck, especially in the presence of Ronald Reagan, he of “good looks, good humour and good conservative views.”

More than serviceable, but best for readers of conservative views themselves. Others will want to turn to more critical commentators.

REFUGEES OF THE REVOLUTION Experiences of Palestinian Exile

Allan, Diana Stanford Univ. (312 pp.) $24.95 paper | Nov. 13, 2013 978-0-8047-7492-5

A stern look at how the crippling effects of material deprivation have ground down the will of the Palestinians

in Lebanese exile.

A British anthropologist doing her doctoral work at Harvard on Nakba (“catastrophe”) testimonies, Allan imbedded 38

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herself in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon and a suburb of Beirut over several years in the mid-2000s to record and observe the lives of the Palestinians there. The results are stark and troubling. Having been displaced since their expulsion from Palestine by Jewish militias in 1948, about 750,000 refugees were forced into neighboring states, with Lebanon absorbing most of these; their long, troubled relationship with their hosts, in the form of PLO provocation during the civil war of 1975-1990, including a horrendous “War of the Camps” between 1985 and 1988, did not ingratiate them with the Lebanese, and the Palestinians are still a people in limbo, with no citizenship and no right to return. Pawns in the political chessboard of the Oslo Accords of 1993 and Taif Agreement of 1989, frustrated by the failure of the Intifada and lack of Israeli-Palestinian agreement, many have migrated elsewhere for a better life, underscoring the remainders’ sense of betrayal and isolation. Employing a methodology called “ethnographies of the particular,” Allan delves closely into the daily life and narratives of these haunted, destitute people. Through many moving examples, the author explores their basic survival and coping strategies—e.g., the use of collective memory, the reliance on communal credit alliances, the ubiquitous stealing of electricity, the practice of “dream talk” to access a future they have no agency over and the desire for the right to live over the right to return.

Deeply conscious of its “solidarity rhetoric,” this valuable study provokes essential questions about the conflicted Palestinian identity in exile.

BADLUCK WAY A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West

Andrews, Bryce Atria (256 pp.) $25.00 | Dec. 3, 2013 978-1-4767-1083-9

A coming-of-age memoir that illuminates the pleasures and problems of running a conservation-oriented sheep and cattle ranch.

After college, with no clear direction for his future, Andrews took a summer job as a ranch hand on Sun Ranch, a 25,000acre property in Montana. The ranch “straddles one of the most important wildlife corridors in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.” The farm animals cohabitated with grizzly bears, massive elk herds and, more problematically, wolves. The guiding idea of the venture “was to integrate ranching into a functional, natural ecosystem.” The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park in 1995 presented a recurring threat to the cattle and therefore the economic viability of the ranch. Park officials tracked local wolf packs with radio collars as they tracked elk. The local pack grew in numbers, and in 2003, when the elk sought higher ground, the wolves began preying on the hundreds of sheep being used for weed control. The USDA gunned them down from a helicopter, but a new wolf pack replaced them. Andrews looks back on the painful task of dealing with |

“A wide-ranging, sympathetic presentation that explains much about the country, especially the reasons for its dislike of the United States and U.K.” from revolutionary iran

another pack of wolves that was picking off the cattle. The ranch was owned by a millionaire whom the author describes as “a well-intentioned conservationist and an avid fisherman.”

Neither he nor Andrews, who was born in Seattle, were native to the area, but both loved it passionately. The problem was that even after combining ranching with ecotourism, the venture was a money-loser. The only way for the owner to make up the difference was to sell a portion to developers. Andrews spent a year on the ranch, toughening up in the process and finding his vocation as a writer on outdoor subjects and as a conservationist ranch manager.

An evocative, poetic account of rugged terrain, the men and animals who inhabited it, and the complex realities of sustainable agriculture.

REVOLUTIONARY IRAN A History of the Islamic Republic

Axworthy, Michael Oxford Univ. (528 pp.) $34.95 | Sep. 1, 2013 978-0-19-932226-8

THE SECRET ROOMS A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret Bailey, Catherine Penguin (464 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jan. 1, 2014 978-0-14-312473-3

A British documentary producer and historian creates a bang-up detective story around mysterious gaps in the archives chronicling the sad tale of the ninth Duke of Rutland.

The master of the Belvoir Castle, commanding thousands of acres and priceless treasures dating from the 11th century, the Duke of Rutland—John Henry Montagu Manners—died of pneumonia in the bowels of his keep in April 1940, not long after a top-secret convoy of royal documents was delivered to the castle for safekeeping during the war. Bailey is truly a dogged detective in getting at the essential questions

Lucid exploration of a nation caught between two seemingly contradictory ideals: democracy on one hand and Islamic fundamentalism on the other.

Axworthy (Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies/Univ. of Exeter; A History of Iran, 2008) does not entirely rule out the possibility that those two poles can be aligned, but it certainly won’t happen under those who still cherish the memory of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who rose to power following the fall of the shah in 1979. To illustrate just one example of Khomeini’s ruthlessness, Axworthy relates the tale of Hassan Pakravan, a general in the shah’s secret police, who intervened when Khomeini was condemned to death, “believing that it would cause further serious unrest among ordinary Muslims,” and saw to it that Khomeini was well-fed while in prison. When Khomeini took power, he had Pakravan killed for his troubles. By the author’s account, Iran has long been “revolutionary,” undergoing a series of upheavals throughout the 20th century, including a revolution in 1908 that bound Iran to both Russia and Britain, the rise of the Mosaddegh government in 1951 and its overthrow by a CIA-engineered coup in 1953, and, of course, the events of 1979.

He casts doubt on whether the most recent election was on the up and up, though he does note that fallen president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had fallen afoul of former allies even as his opponent, Ali Khamenei, “had an aircraft overhauled to ensure it was in good readiness to fly him out of the country at short notice” should Ahmadinejad win in a contest that served to underscore another aspect of life in contemporary Iran: namely, that “Iran had become a divided country.”

A wide-ranging, sympathetic presentation that explains much about the country, especially the reasons for its dislike of the United States and U.K. (16-page b/w photo insert)

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“A provocative, informative account of a different kind of globalization. Highly recommended reading for policymakers and other readers intrigued by forward-thinking forms of governance.” from if mayors ruled the world

surrounding the reclusive duke’s labored death: What was he so keen on finishing before he would give up the ghost? An obsessive archivist, he had spent the last decades of his life carefully sifting through and cataloging the records pertaining to his family history, even before King George VI had sanctioned the evacuation of important national documents to the castle. In 2008, Bailey was allowed access to the duke’s private sanctuary, which had been sealed after his death. In her tireless digging, she discovered three important omissions of material encompassing three distinct dates in John’s life: August 1894, when he was 8 and his older brother, then heir to the dukedom, suddenly took ill and died; June 1909, when he was 22 and corresponding with his uncle in cipher about his father, who had attempted to sell off his inheritance; and, finally, during much of 1915, when he was supposed to be serving on the western front but instead returned home to Belvoir at the instigation of his mother. What Bailey essentially uncovers is an entire moribund way of life in the great aristocratic families and the shockingly self-serving privilege put before the sense of national purpose.

A compelling exposé on the once-almighty laws of ducal inheritance.

IF MAYORS RULED THE WORLD Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities

Barber, Benjamin R. Yale Univ. (432 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-300-16467-1

Political theorist Barber (Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York; Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole, 2007, etc.) asks whether the world’s cities, and the mayors who lead them, can come together as an alternative to the failures of the nation-state.

The author not only provides a positive answer, he also discusses how cities and their mayors have already collaborated for a variety of purposes and assesses the characteristics that make leagues or confederations of cities potentially viable as broader networks. Barber has no patience for the successors of Rousseau or Thomas Hardy whose “pastoral nostalgia leads them to curse the wickedness of cities.” He contends that cities can provide a framework for a globalization that is “public rather than private, democratic not hegemonic, egalitarian rather than monopolistic.” A parliament of cities is already emerging. In his view, the nation-state is incapable of cooperating on global issues with other states, since global cooperation violates the institutional foundation of nations. Citing historical precedents like the Hanseatic League, among others, Barber insists that local consensual problem-solving is a characteristic of mayoral offices and “seem[s] to override deficiencies in political landscape.”

The author reviews areas like security, the environment and global warming, and standard setting for service provisions to 40

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illustrate the many different ways in which the world’s cities are coming together, and he features a multitude of organizations that have already been formed. Leaders who have stepped forward include New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg, Stuttgart, Germany’s former mayor Wolfgang Schuster and the mayor/ president of Singapore Tony Tan. A provocative, informative account of a different kind of globalization. Highly recommended reading for policymakers and other readers intrigued by forward-thinking forms of governance.

TENNYSON To Strive, to Seek, to Find Batchelor, John Pegasus (448 pp.) $32.00 | Dec. 11, 2013 978-1-60598-490-2

Queen Victoria’s favorite poet gets a richly detailed new life.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1882), England’s poet laureate and one of the most famous literary figures of his time, hated biographers. He feared that after he died he would be “ripped open like a pig” by writers lusting after details of his private life. He was not wrong: Tennyson scholarship has produced volumes of his letters, books about his friends, a memoir by his son and several biographies, including one by a grandson. Batchelor (Emeritus, English/Newcastle Univ., Lady Trevelyan and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, 2006, etc.) draws on these works and considerable new published and archival material, resulting in a well-balanced, insightful portrait of a prolific poet and a man so “strikingly handsome…splendid of face and strong of limb” that he exuded greatness—which was, indeed, Tennyson’s aim. Rising from provincial roots, he strived for acceptance by the upper class but never felt comfortable among them. His first great love was a woman too wealthy to consider him a serious suitor, and this failure haunted him forever. In his early life, Batchelor writes, Tennyson was “a man with a violent sense of entitlement, excluded, angry, ambitious.” Even when he became indisputably famous, lauded by Wordsworth, Thomas Carlyle and Robert Browning, “he needed constantly the reassurance of being feted by the rich and the great.” He also needed constant attention.

His wife served as amanuensis, servant and buffer, and friends endured his long, dramatic readings, responding with the requisite admiration. Batchelor contextualizes and illuminates scores of poems, including “In Memoriam,” “The Lady of Shallott,” “Idylls of the King and Maud,” which met with criticism that wounded Tennyson deeply.

By the time of Tennyson’s death, a new generation of readers threatened to erode his monumental reputation.

This fine biography revives the difficult, moody, complex man whose works captivated the Victorian world. (16 pages of b/w photos)

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MAKING THE AMERICAN BODY The Remarkable Saga of the Men and Women Whose Feats, Feuds, and Passions Shaped Fitness History

BACKSTAGE AT THE LINCOLN ASSASSINATION The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford’s Theatre Bogar, Thomas A. Regnery History (256 pp.) $27.95 | Nov. 4, 2013 978-1-62157-083-7

Black, Jonathan Univ. of Nebraska (256 pp.) $27.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-8032-4370-5

With an investigative journalist’s penchant for exposing the underside of popular movements, Black (Yes, You Can! Behind the Hype and Hustle of the Motivation Biz, 2006) presents an engrossing history of fitness in the United States.

While offering largely a chronology of the evolution of a uniquely American brand of fitness, Black is quick to provide scintillating glimpses into the lives of fitness icons and explore philosophical trends and lucrative business models. From a sweeping portrait of 19th-century bodybuilding to 20th-century exercise champions, who “figured large in the early use of television” and “helped spawn the videotape industry,” to contemporary entrepreneurs who fashioned the multibillion-dollar health club, athletic shoe and exercise equipment industries, a fascinating window into American values emerges. Black convincingly argues that while modern notions of the “perfect” body may derive from the sculpted male form idolized in classical Greece and the importance of sound physical health from ancient Egypt, China and the Indus Valley, it was the rise of Victorian attitudes that helped infuse into the American bent for physical fitness a notion of moral health. Concepts like mid-19th-century “muscular Christianity” espoused by YMCA founders stressed that “bodily vigor is a moral agent” and promoted the acquisition of physical strength in the service of protecting the weak. It may seem somewhat ironic that bodybuilding, a largely aesthetic pursuit that traces its roots to this period, emerged from a moral imperative. However, by assembling the biographies of scrawny, sickly and/or relatively obscure youths who went on to become fitness legends—Eugen Sandow, Charles Atlas, Jack LaLanne, Bonnie Prudden, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons and legions more—Black effectively shows how the drive for personal transformation is right in step with the American dream.

A must-read for fitness buffs and beefy enough to whet the appetite of even the most inert couch potato. (19 photos)

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A convoluted detective story regarding the night of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

What will strike modern readers while spooling through this complex account of the details of employee whereabouts at Ford’s Theatre during the hours leading up to the assassination is how shockingly little security there was and how much everybody in the company had to drink. Maryland-based theater director, teacher and author Bogar (American Presidents Attend the Theatre: The Playgoing Experiences of Each Chief Executive, 2006, etc.) displays enormous knowledge of theater craft and players’ repertoire, such as that by featured actors Laura

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Keene and her company starring in Our American Cousin on that particular night, a corny comedy that was a great favorite of Lincoln’s. John Ford, owner and manager of the theater, had several theaters in the works, in Richmond, Baltimore and Philadelphia, and was known for his antipathy to the Union as well as his showcasing of promising talent John Wilkes Booth in numerous classical roles (Booth’s pro-Union brother Edwin avoided playing at Ford’s). Not only was the theater suspected as a “hotbed of spies and seditious plots,” but Booth was allowed free range of the place, picking up his mail, loafing about during performances and between stints at neighboring bars. On this Good Friday, the president’s party was to include Mrs. Lincoln and General and Mrs. Grant (although the Grants ended up not attending), throwing the theater into a tizzy of excitement and preparation—e.g., procuring furniture for the presidential box and selecting special music. Bogar painstakingly rehearses each and every actor, manager or stagehand, many of whom knew Booth well, for a run-through of the horrendous shooting and escape and delineates how individual versions varied hugely and would determine important legal consequences in a court of law.

Detail-dizzying, creaky and sometimes absorbing.

EGYPTOMANIA Our Three Thousand Year Obsession with the Land of the Pharaohs

Brier, Bob Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $27.00 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-137-27860-9

A leading Egyptologist explains how a 4,000-year-old culture continues to fascinate.

Brier (Senior Research Fellow/Long Island Univ.; The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man’s Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Mystery, 2009, etc.), known as “Mr. Mummy,” contends that ancient Egypt excites people in ways no other country can, possibly due to the age, monuments like the pyramids, mummified rulers or something less concrete. When asked for their greatest attractions, he writes, nearly all museum curators will answer, “Egypt and dinosaurs.” Brier is an expert on mummies and mummification and also collects objects associated with ancient Egypt. Some, like the letters Howard Carter, the discoverer of Tutankhamen’s tomb, sent his sponsor, Lady Amherst, are close to his professional expertise. Others, like the packaging for Kamut breakfast cereal or sheet music for songs like “Old King Tut was a Wise Old Nut” or “Cleopatra had a Jazz Band,” reflect more of the popular interest exploited by marketers and entertainers. Brier became convinced that there is a kind of stratification in the production of these mass-market objects that is related to the different phases of the growth of knowledge of ancient Egypt. In the modern era, the beginning is marked by Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion and the first largescale scientific expedition. The author shows how the transport of three obelisks—to France, Britain and the United States—in 42

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the 19th century shaped a culture in which coverage by news media heated up public enthusiasm for all things Egyptian.

There followed dinner sets, ladies’ fashion accessories, sheet music and hit songs, and movies about mummies. Brier is sure that the fascination will continue.

A lively account combining history and popular culture with guidelines for possible future collectors. (24-page color insert; 40 b/w images)

HYPERBOLE AND A HALF Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened

Brosh, Allie Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $17.99 paper | Oct. 29, 2013 978-1-4516-6617-5 A quirky, humorous memoir/collection of illustrated essays.

Brosh is a good example of how new literary forms are evolving. An immensely successful blogger, the author’s Hyperbole and a Half earned her a 2011 Bloggies Award and also garnered a spot on PC World’s “Funniest Sites on the Web.” Suffice it to say, she has become something of an Internet sensation. However, as many readers know, web writing often does not translate well to a book (and vice versa). Brosh makes a solid first attempt to bridge this literary gap. Anyone who takes years’ worth of blog posts and tries to pare them down into book form is facing a formidable task, whether the writing is any good or not (in this case, it is, though some essays are stronger than others). Blog followers don’t usually binge read, but book readers do. That said, holding a book may leave some with a yearning for more cohesion. It does feel choppy in places, but the wit, hilarity and poignancy of the subject matter trump structural concerns.

Brosh is a connoisseur of the human condition. In her typical self-deprecating and dramatic manner (hence the hyperbole reference), she tells personal stories that name things we can all relate to, including fear, love, depression and hope. Perhaps the most endearing thing about her writing is that she approaches her subject matter from a vulnerable, childlike place, complete with Paintbrush caricatures that have arguably already earned iconic status. Brosh’s longtime fans and cult followers will be happy to learn that half of the material for this book is new and unpublished. The other half is comprised of Internet favorites, including “Simple Dog,” “The God of Cake” and “Adventures in Depression.”

Part graphic novel, part confessional, overall delightful. An obvious choice for Hyperbole fans, but this will also appeal to fans of other oddball web presences like Homestar Runner and The Oatmeal. (4-color illustrations)

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“A deeply erudite work of epistemology tracking how the making of maps throughout the ages reveals mankind’s mastery of the universe.” from a history of the world in 12 maps

A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 12 MAPS

Brotton, Jerry Viking (544 pp.) $40.00 | Nov. 14, 2013 978-0-670-02339-4

A deeply erudite work of epistemology tracking how the making of maps throughout the ages reveals mankind’s mastery of the universe.

In this wide-ranging work, English scholar Brotton (Renaissance Studies/Queen Mary Univ.; The Sale of the Late King’s Goods: Charles I and His Art Collection, 2006, etc.) moves from Ptolemy’s Geography (A.D. second century) to Google Earth for an eclectic representation of the power of maps to confer man’s authority and dominion. Maps tell us what we know about ourselves in relation to the world but also what we want the viewer to know, drawing on shifting perception, orientation and direction throughout the ages as science, faith

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and egocentrism deepened. For example, most of these 12 maps spotlight the culture from which the mapmaker drew, and until the later Christian era, maps were “oriented” by the south rather than north. Brotton divides his work into discrete themes such as science, faith, money and equality, selecting the map that best represents that particular idea at some moment in history.

For example, Geography encapsulated more than 1,000 years of Greek thinking on the world “as a single and continuous entity” and was used as a model for the next two millennia. Muhammad al-Idrisi’s Entertainment (A.D. 1154) reveals the enormously rich exchange of ideas between the Muslim East and Christian West.

The bishop of Hereford’s Mappamundi (1300) depicts fanciful theological events both classical and biblical, with Jerusalem at its center. Gerard Mercator’s World Map (1569) shows how the extraordinary mapmaker circumscribed the persecution of his Protestant faith by rendering a vast map for navigation using a combination of cosmographical tradition and new scientific understanding. Brotton explores the ideology behind each mapmaker and the compelling “emotional forces” that he reveals about our civilization.

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ACT OF WAR Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo

A dense and scholarly but rewarding journey for the intellectually intrepid. (24 pages of 4-color illustrations)

JOHNNY CARSON

Bushkin, Henry Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (304 pp.) $28.00 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-544-21762-1

The King of Late Night’s lawyer, confidant, tennis partner and butt of his “Bombastic Bushkin” gags appraises their 18-year relationship.

Mainly due to the often bitter jokes he began making about marriage, often at his own expense, around the time of his expensive divorce from his third wife in the early 1980s, Johnny Carson (1925–2005) is known for his marital troubles. Though the late-night host is also known for his reclusiveness from the Hollywood scene—a reputation Bushkin demonstrates was not entirely warranted— most casual observers may not know that Carson had difficulty with all sorts of relationships, beginning with his praise-stingy mother Ruth, whose approval Carson vainly sought until her death, and continuing with his three sons (Carson admitted to being a poor, distant father). Fresh out of Vanderbilt Law School at 23, Bushkin began working for Carson in 1970 and had, arguably, the closest and sturdiest relationship with Carson of the entertainer’s entire life until its acrimonious end in 1988 (“Johnny terminated our relationship in a mere three-minute conversation….There was no final act”). The secret to his success? At the expense of his own marriage and relationships with his children, Bushkin made it his career to keep Carson happy at all hours of the day and night. This might mean getting him a contract with NBC that made him the highest-paid entertainer in the world. It could also mean breaking and entering into Carson’s second wife’s adulterous “love nest” to gather evidence for divorce, listening to a drunken Caron’s self-psychoanalysis at an after-hours watering hole, disappearing discreetly when one of the boss’s many voluptuous playmates appeared, or stepping between Carson and people he wanted to hit or who wanted to hit him.

Carson partisans may find this memoir self-serving (what memoir isn’t?), but most readers will be captivated by this high-definition, off-camera, extreme close-up view of the enigmatic entertainer. (16-page b/w photo insert)

Cheevers, Jack NAL Caliber/Berkley (448 pp.) $26.95 | Dec. 3, 2013 978-0-451-46619-8

Readers who assume that North Korea’s reputation as an international nut case is a recent development must read this painful account of its 1968 seizure of the USS Pueblo and abuse of its crew.

Former Los Angeles Times political reporter Cheevers has done meticulous research, including tracking down survivors of this half-forgotten outrage that made headlines at the time.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union stationed eavesdropping ships in international waters off each other’s coasts. Both observed a gentleman’s agreement to keep hands off, a sensible policy since a nation who attacked an enemy spy ship could expect retaliation on one of its own.

Ignoring the fact North Korea had no spy ships was the first of many American blunders. As a vessel, the Pueblo was slow, feebly armed, and crammed with secret machines, manuals and documents. Suddenly attacked by multiple North Korean ships, the crew’s frantic efforts destroyed only a fraction of this material, resulting in an intelligence bonanza for the captors. Then, the North Koreans tortured and brutally beat the prisoners. They were starved, refused medical care, forced to sign bizarre confessions, filmed and paraded in public. Emaciated and sick, the men returned after a year of maddening negotiations. They were acclaimed national heroes: a godsend that prevented the Navy from court martialing the captain and his staff for surrendering. “As we unleash spies and covert operations against a growing list of twenty-first-century adversaries,” writes Cheevers, “we’d do well to remember the painful lessons of the Pueblo.

Although the crew behaved reasonably well under terrible conditions, this is a story where dimwits and villains dominate, and Cheevers does a fine job of rescuing from obscurity a painful Cold War debacle.

MONSTERS The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football Cohen, Rich Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $26.00 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-374-29868-5

A fan’s engaging yet ultimately melancholy love letter to his beloved team and his hometown.

“Pick your team carefully, because your team is your destiny.” Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone contributor Cohen’s father’s solemn advice can be easily understood by 44

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“The moving true story of an unforgivable father and his unlikely redemption.” from the death of santini

sports fans. However, other readers will enjoy this entertaining, if profane, history of the 1985 NFL champion Chicago Bears. That team symbolized Chicago through their fierceness and audacity and by playing a “blitzkrieg” style of football that would certainly be banned today. Throughout, the author provides comical anecdotes about head coach Mike Ditka, a pugnacious tantrum-thrower whose method was “Ready, Fire, Aim.” Ditka’s orneriness mirrored that of “stingy, angry and mean” team owner George “Papa Bear” Halas (a founder of the NFL) and met its match in the defiant quarterback Jim McMahon, who, despite being undersized with a weak throwing arm and a bad eye, played without regard for his body and led his team to a 15-1 record. Cohen’s telling of the Bears’ founding and its tradition of nastiness is by turns devastating, regarding the irreparable harm done to players’ bodies and minds, and moving, as when he explains that Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton was “Chicago as Chicago wanted to be: a fighter…who’s been knocked down but always gets back up.” Cohen thankfully avoids sentimentality and doesn’t bog readers down in lengthy game reports or analyses. The author is at his best in the interviews with 32 retired players and executives who offer their impressions of the Bears’ famed “46” defense, “the most devastating force in football,” and its characters, including the Hit Man, Mongo, the Black & Blues Brothers and, most famously, the Fridge.

Ideal for Chicagoans, both casual and die-hard sports fans, and anyone who wonders, “What happens when you have a dream and that dream comes true?” (37 b/w illustrations)

THE DEATH OF SANTINI The Story of a Father and His Son Conroy, Pat Talese/Doubleday (352 pp.) $28.95 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-385-53090-3

One of the most widely read authors from the American South puts his demons to bed at long last.

One doesn’t have to have read The Great Santini (1976) to know that Pat Conroy (My Reading Life, 2010, etc.) was deeply scarred by his childhood. It is the theme of his work and his life, from the love-hate relationship in The Lords of Discipline (1980) to broken Tom Wingo in The Prince of Tides (1986) to the mourning survivor Jack McCall in Beach Music (1995). In this memoir, Conroy unflinchingly reveals that his father, fighter pilot Donald Conroy, was actually much worse than the abusive Meechum in his novel. Telling the truth also forces the author to confront a number of difficult realizations about himself. “I was born with a delusion in my soul that I’ve fought a rearguard battle with my entire life,” he writes. “Though I’m very much my mother’s boy, it has pained me to admit the blood of Santini rushes hard and fast in my bloodstream. My mother gave |

me a poet’s sensibility; my father’s DNA assured me that I was always ready for a fight, and that I could ride into any fray as a field-tested lord of battle.” Conroy lovingly describes his mother, whom he admits he idealized in The Great Santini and corrects for this book. Although his father’s fearsome persona never really changed, Conroy learned to forgive and even sympathize with his father, who would attend book signings with his son and good-naturedly satirize his own terrifying image.

Less droll is the story of Conroy’s younger brother, Tom, who flung himself off a building in a suicidal fit of schizophrenia, and Conroy’s combative relationship with his sister, the poet Carol Conroy. It’s an emotionally difficult journey that should lend fans of Conroy’s fiction an insightful back story to his richly imagined characters.

The moving true story of an unforgivable father and his unlikely redemption.

COLLISION LOW CROSSERS A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football Dawidoff, Nicholas Little, Brown (496 pp.) $29.00 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-0-316-19679-6

The story of the author’s year embedded in the New York Jets football team.

Before the 2011 NFL season, the “big, warm-blooded, exuberant” coach of the Jets, Rex Ryan, asked New Yorker and Rolling Stone contributor Dawidoff (The Fly Swatter: Portrait of an Exceptional Character, 2003, etc.) to spend a year with the team.

That fact alone says a lot: not only that Ryan trusted the author to make a good job of it—which he absolutely does—but to be so open in what is mostly a closed, secretive society. Unlike most journalists, who are escorted around “like state visitors to Pyongyang,” Dawidoff received a locker and the freedom to roam and eavesdrop. In the past 20 years, writes the author, the game had become “the national passion…something graceful, thrilling, dangerous, and concealed in plain sight.” Though he touches on the bad press that has recently smeared the game— the concussion issue, the bounty hunting, the closed-mindedness about homosexuality—the author was soon in the game’s thrall, both intellectually and emotionally. Dawidoff is a crack writer, saturating the book with the best of a year’s worth of anecdotes and lacing it with the backgrounds of coaches and players with an intimacy that begs the question how he got all this sharp and often moving material. Typical is the lovely scene where the young Rex is with his twin brother, Rob (a defensive coordinator in the NFL), and his father, Buddy (a legendary former NFL head coach), as Buddy is explaining to the boys some piece of the game’s obscurity, and Rob suddenly realizes: “He’s teaching us the family secrets.” Dawidoff has a sure hand with the nature of passion, the rancor and weeping joy that characterizes every season in the most popular sport in the country. kirkus.com

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WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE HAVING TWO The Twins Survival Guide from Pregnancy Through the First Year

Insightful, immediate sportswriting. Readers will feel every bit of the team’s frustration and elation.

THE ART OF YOUTH Crane, Carrington, Gershwin, and the Nature of First Acts

Delbanco, Nicholas Amazon/New Harvest (224 pp.) $25.00 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-0-544-11446-3

Delbanco (English/Univ. of Michigan) must have intended this as a bookend to his earlier study, Lastingness: The Art of Old Age (2011). Through a selection process that seems arbitrary, he focuses on (in chronological order) author Stephen Crane, painter Dora Carrington and composer George Gershwin.

“I wanted figures close to our own historical moment yet sufficiently removed so perspective can be gained,” writes the author. “[T]hey are of our time and place, though not precisely in it, and we have the advantage of hindsight when assessing their careers.” Plenty of others could have made the cut, but these three in particular are distinguished more by their differences than what they have in common: two Americans, one Brit; one suicide, one dead as the result of ill health, one blindsided by a tumor; one extremely well known: “As a songwriter, composer, performer, Gershwin has few if any equals in this nation’s history,” one very little known: “the most neglected serious painter of her time” though one who “accomplished so little and is so little known,” one who is mainly known for one novel, though he preferred his poems and was a masterful writer of short stories. Each has a chapter, which is mainly a biographical sketch with some criticism of their work interwoven, and each inspires the sort of what-if conjecture, that can never be answered or supported, concerning the artistic progression of such artists if they had lived through a second act. As Delbanco writes of Gershwin, “It’s hard to guess what would have happened had he progressed to middle or old age….Maturation takes time.” He later suggests that “the art of youth” is “best summarized by a single word: ‘energy.’ ” A coda covers the author’s own experience, with a first novel that earned prominence that later fiction didn’t sustain.

A study that belabors the obvious and provides little illumination.

Diaz, Natalie Avery (272 pp.) $17.00 paper | Dec. 3, 2013 978-1-58333-515-4

Twiniversity website founder Diaz delivers a comprehensive guide for parents of twins, from prenatal care through the first year of child development.

Humorous at times—“I always liked bathing the twins in the sink because it forced me to do the dishes. That’s the sad truth”— and exhaustive in the details, the author provides meticulous lists, tips, do’s and don’ts, and compares brands of products, offering advice on what to purchase, including baby monitors, double breast-feeding pillows, Bumbo seats, jumperoos, exersaucers and baby swings. As a mother of fraternal twins, the author provides firsthand experience, and her desire is to ease parents into the oftentimes overwhelming moments of dual parenting. From health concerns during pregnancy, such as insomnia, morning sickness and how to handle bed rest, to an all-inclusive registry list to a debate over cloth diapers versus disposable, Diaz moves from one arena to the next with the efficiency of a drill sergeant, someone who’s been there, done that and wants readers to learn from her trials and errors. Rounding out this how-to guide is excellent advice on how to breastfeed twins, when to start solid foods, finding time to sleep and setting schedules, bathing, swaddling, and how to navigate the ins and outs of car travel to and from the grocery store. Diaz even considers fellow airline travelers in her considerate and helpful hint of passing out earplugs to those seated around anyone with twins. “Nothing is off-limits here,” she writes, “as we will delve into some pretty murky waters.” For readers expecting a double pregnancy, Diaz’s book should be the first purchase after that all-important moment when the doctor says, “Guess what?!”

In-depth, supportive information on navigating the complex road of parenting twins.

THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2013

Eggers, Dave—Ed. Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (512 pp.) $14.95 paper | Oct. 8, 2013 978-0-544-10550-8

Celebrated editor and author Eggers (Hologram for the King, 2012, etc.) returns with his 12th—and final, he says—edited collection of pieces selected by student members of 826 National.

Eclectic is indeed the best word to describe this odd assembly. There are works of fiction (long, short), nonfiction 46

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“A delightful collection from a unique, significant American writer.” from the most of nora ephron

(ditto), tomfoolery and earnestness—and a relentless sense of multiculturalism. There are selections about Guatemala, Cuba, Tokyo, Haiti, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Spain and numerous other locales—including the United States. Just about all socioeconomic classes appear, as well, but the focus is on those who are struggling. The final grim story takes place in a grim iron mine in a grim section of India, and earlier tales present the homeless, the deprived and the criminal—outliers of many sorts. There are lies and sex and violence and numerous manifestations of the notion that we are not a very good species. To their credit, Eggers and the students selected pieces from some sources that are generally off most general readers’ radar—Byliner, Storyville and even a piece from tumblr.com. But noted periodicals are represented here, as well, including the New Yorker, Paris Review and National Geographic. Though many of the authors will also be new to many readers, there is a gripping bullfighting story

by Karen Russell, a spy story with a graphics feature by Jennifer Egan and a snarky explanation of a term paper assignment from the late Kurt Vonnegut Jr. There’s also an amusing tale by Nick Hornby about a bitter divorcée, a journalist who starts a column called “Bastard,” which features tales about her exhusband. Religion appears rarely but has a prominent role in a surreal tale about a religious settlement on a West Indian island where a deep (bottomless?) hole lures some followers to take a leap of faith.

A motley collection to match every mood a relentless reader might have.

NICHOLSON A Biography

Eliot, Marc Crown Archetype (368 pp.) $26.00 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-307-88837-2

There is nothing in these pages from celebrity biographer Eliot (Steve McQueen, 2011) that will come as a surprise to those who have followed the actor through his career and personal life.

While it may be fun to remember that Nicholson duly made his appearance on Matinee Theatre and that he took a turn on the Andy Griffith Show, there is no sense of the author digging for the goods: new material, a fresh perspective or insights into Nicholson’s moviemaking. Mostly, readers will wonder at the blatantly obvious comments—e.g., “although it took many hard years to happen, he eventually became a star.” As for Nicholson’s notorious sex life, it either throws a creepy Freudian shadow—“The seeds of sex were clearly planted in Jack from a very early age. ‘I was very driven. I remember being at least mentally sexually excited about things from childhood, even sooner than eight’ ”—or touches that too-much-information chord: “While tripping [on LSD], he could confront the persistent problem of premature ejaculation.” Movies take a back seat to goodies like a tour with Michael Douglas, where there were all the “young and beautiful women. They devoured them |

like shrimp….According to Jack, tongue firmly in cheek (and elsewhere), the tour was all about politics, social behavior, and women.” Eliot makes it extremely difficult to take the work seriously or want to take Nicholson so. When the author starts committing pop psychology—“Women were no longer purely objects of desire but a form of self-affirmation, that he was still able to get them”—it is clear the whole project has taken a wrong turn, way back somewhere.

Too tawdry by half and as groundbreaking as a Wikipedia entry. (8-page b/w photo insert)

THE MOST OF NORA EPHRON

Ephron, Nora Knopf (576 pp.) $35.00 | Nov. 4, 2013 978-0-385-35083-9

A thick collection of writings by the iconic Ephron (I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections, 2010, etc.), a year after her much-mourned death.

In his introduction, the author’s longtime editor, Robert Gottlieb, reveals that in 2010, he and the author, at that point very ill, began talking about the contents of the anthology. They decided to structure it around the subject matters she explored and the genres she used to explore them. As a result, the text of her novel Heartburn (1983) is included, as is the screenplay for Ephron’s most beloved movie, When Harry Met Sally, and her late-in-life play, Lucky Guy. The remainder of the anthology consists of much briefer entries across an impressively diverse set of topics. The final two entries are two lists, “What I Won’t Miss” (dry skin, my closet, Fox, the collapse of the dollar) and “What I Will Miss,” which unsurprisingly mentions her children, her third (and final) husband and walking in the park. The very last item on the list is “Pie.” Reading nearly 600 pages of Ephron in one volume is a joy, not only due to the range of her interests, her capacious mind, her mixture of humor and satire and self-deprecation, but also her skill as a stylist. Few writers of Ephron’s range and output have written so few clunky sentences or so many memorable ones. Also included is perhaps her most famous essay—and almost certainly the one most reprinted after Ephron’s death— which expounded on the flatness of her chest; her neck became as famous as her chest but not until 2003. Ephron might be best remembered, however, for her searing insights into the craft of journalism and the complications of feminism.

A delightful collection from a unique, significant American writer. (First printing of 75,000)

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TREES IN PARADISE A California History

WILLIN’ The Story of Little Feat

Farmer, Jared Norton (592 pp.) $35.00 | Oct. 28, 2013 978-0-393-07802-2

How did the Golden State become green?

Early explorers in California, seeking a mythical island “adjacent to Earthly Paradise,” found a landscape starkly different from today’s: a savannah and chaparral, with grassy hills, dry and brown much of the year. Few areas had abundant trees.

Redwoods and sequoias clustered in the north, a few species of pine and oak grew at the central coast, and the Joshua tree made its home in the desert. As Farmer (History/Stony Brook Univ.; On Zion’s Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape, 2008, etc.) reveals in this illuminating, panoramic history, the state’s native trees soon had much company. In the 18th century, Spanish Franciscans imported fruit and nut trees, which they planted around their missions. After the gold rush in 1849, many newcomers from the East “missed the shade, the green, and the chatter of songbirds.” Others saw trees as economic opportunity. Farmer focuses on four species affected by human intervention: the endemic coast redwood, heedlessly cut down by lumber companies; citrus trees, which created “a landscape of social inequality, racial injustice, and environmental pollution”; palms, a symbol of glamor to southern Californians; and the Tasmanian blue gum, a species of fast-growing Australian eucalyptus, imported to “provide fuel, improve the weather, boost farm productivity, defeat malaria, preserve watersheds, and thwart a looming timber famine.” As early as the 1880s, planters deemed eucalyptus a disaster: Wind toppled them easily, they proved to be a “venomous feeder” of soil nutrients, and they grew so fast that other plants could not thrive. Moreover, their wood contained so much water that it was useless for lumber. Farmer makes clear that greed was not the sole cause of bad decisions. Naturalists seeking spiritual enlightenment, environmentalists beset with “botanical xenophobia” and the government were just as likely to proceed without considering complex and fragile ecological consequences.

Knowledgeable, wise and compelling, Farmer’s book uncovers the subtle and surprising webs connecting the social, cultural and natural worlds of California, and the planet.

Fong-Torres, Ben Da Capo/Perseus (296 pp.) $26.99 | Nov. 15, 2013 978-0-306-82131-8 978-0-306-82132-5 e-book

An eclectic Los Angeles rock band of the 1970s that deserved a much larger following isn’t likely to reach one through this serviceable biography.

The first book ever about Little Feat leaves little doubt that this was a singular band—hailed by the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Bonnie Raitt and even the Rolling Stones as arguably the best ever. Yet the biographical minutiae and recording details gathered here fail to capture the magic that would elevate a band whose members didn’t get along into a unit that was so much more than the sum of the parts. To be fair to veteran rock journalist Fong-Torres (Eagles: Taking It to the Limit, 2011, etc.), there are a number of challenges facing anyone trying to tell this story: memories blurred by drugs and time, differing perspectives, the creative relationship of the rest of the band to its talented, tormented frontman, Lowell George. “The story of Little Feat is the story of Lowell George—that’s not in debate,” writes the author. “But it is also the story of the other guys who made up the original quartet and who, from the beginning, helped create the music and set the tone of Little Feat.” It’s actually as much the story of those who joined the band after that original quartet (only one of whom is still making music), pushing the band’s music away from its native LA and more toward the great American South (particularly New Orleans). But the book is mainly about George, who could be both charming and duplicitous, genius and difficult, and who had either quit the band or was fired when he died (under somewhat mysterious circumstances) in 1979 at age 34. The band eventually soldiered on for longer without George than the tumultuous decade with him, but his death let the air out of the tires—in both the band’s career and this book.

Those who are already fans will appreciate the few revelations here. (16 pages of b/w photos)

THE GATHERING WIND Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea

Freeman, Gregory A. NAL Caliber/Berkley (304 pp.) $26.95 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-451-46576-4

An intense account of the last days and moments aboard the sailing ship Bounty.

Due to its use in the film Mutiny on the Bounty and in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the tall, wooden-hull Bounty 48

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“Although Gardiner celebrates Bach’s accomplishments through this dense, demanding but rewarding work, he reminds readers continually that the composer was no saint...” from bach

was one of the best-known ships in the tall-ship community. She drew large crowds to her decks while in port but only sailed with her crew due to her inability to pass Coast Guard regulations for “safety and seaworthiness.” Using exhaustive research and firstperson interviews, Freeman (The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys: Courage, Tragedy and Justice in World War II, 2011, etc.) places readers aboard the Bounty during her last voyage—straight into the center of Hurricane Sandy. Although the ship was old and full of wood rot, and despite the warnings he received regarding the superstorm, her captain, Robin Walbridge, chose to set sail from Connecticut for Florida, determined that he could outrun the storm and reach their destination safely. Freeman narrates a harrowing account of the next several days aboard the Bounty as the crew wrestled with the bilge pumps, which could not compete against the massive amounts of water entering the hold through cracks in the hull and from the deck due to the storm swells. When the abandon-ship call finally went out, the Coast Guard was quickly on hand, although the airplane and helicopter crews had their own nightmarish rides through turbulence to reach the survivors of the shipwreck. Written almost minute by minute in places, Freeman’s rendering of this horrific storm and the courage of the men and women aboard the Bounty and in the Coast Guard will place readers on edge until the last plane lands safely back at base. On a quieter note, the author includes testimony and reports on the ongoing Coast Guard investigation into the last voyage of the Bounty.

An incredible story of courage, endurance and luck.

REMOTE Office Not Required

Fried, Jason; Hansson, David Heinemeier Crown Business (256 pp.) $23.00 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-8041-3750-8 As founders of web-based collaboration software company 37signals, Fried and Hansson (Rework, 2010) are aggressive promoters of the work-from-home employment model, a subject they feel is responsible for a “heated global conversation.”

Drawing on their experience as technologically savvy trailblazers, the authors outline the problematic nature of the hyperactive corporate office environment (“interruption factories”) versus productive, home-based aloneness. Using their software company as a prime example, the authors detail the many ways a “distributed workforce” is becoming the true future of the 9-to-5 office and hardly the “outsourcing” movement many compare it to. Still, the at-home environment has its own set of obvious distractions, from “cabin fever” to immobility and social deprivation. The authors assume that the responsible, professional telecommuting workforce will surely avoid these hazards by taking full advantage of newer innovations like file-sharing software and real-time communication tools and use a graduating scale of urgency and importance with regard to pending tasks. They also recommend interactive, |

company-specific chat rooms for telecommuters who miss the interpersonal “mindless breaks” enjoyed by those in the physical office. Obviously not applicable to every work environment, the book applies strategies and guidance to corporate sectors where telecommuting would have the most positive effect on employees and company overhead. Fried and Hansson stand firm in their assertion that working remotely increases productivity for business operations, but their book, while congenial and galvanizing in tone, unevenly favors the positive aspects of the telecommuting experience. The brevity of their take on the subject and the cartoonish graphics also tend to vitiate its credibility. Overall, however, Fried and Hansson present a convincing, if imbalanced, argument in favor of remote production, provided those embarking on it carefully skirt the pitfalls of a lifestyle that is technologically dependent and at the mercy of daily personal distraction.

A somewhat diluted discourse on how modern technology continues to reshape and revolutionize the contemporary workplace.

BACH Music in the Castle of Heaven

Gardiner, John Eliot Knopf (608 pp.) $35.00 | Nov. 6, 2013 978-0-375-41529-6

A celebrated conductor of baroque music debuts with an examination of Bach’s compositions, descriptions of various works and some inferences about the genius who created them.

Although Gardiner celebrates Bach’s accomplishments through this dense, demanding but rewarding work, he reminds readers continually that the composer was no saint—“a thoroughly imperfect being,” he calls him near the end. But the author’s focus is not so much on the man but on the music.

Gardiner does explain the various geographical moves Bach made in his career, his duties in the various venues where he worked, the amazing demands from his employers—and from his own work ethic; the author writes about Bach’s coevals, his marriages, and his children and extended family. But all is in service to the principal item on his agenda: the music. Gardiner is an unabashed Bach fan, praising the composer throughout, even comparing his music to the voice of God. However, he recognizes human weaknesses, as well—for example, his contentious relationship with authority. Gardiner takes us through the major types of works—the cantatas (including some interesting passages about the Coffee Cantata), the St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, the motets and the Mass in B Minor. Some of his detailed analysis will leave behind his general readers but will surely animate musicians and musicologists. Although he occasionally alludes to extramusical worlds (mentioning Uncle Remus stories, Philip Pullman, Shakespeare, cake-baking and a variety of famous painters), Gardiner’s textual world is kirkus.com

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STANDING UP A Memoir of a Funny (Not Always) Life

principally a musical one. He also examines Bach’s Lutheranism and how he revealed his religious ideas in the music—and in the interactions between the music and the words. He speculates that near the end of Bach’s life, the composer seemed to express some doubts about life beyond the grave.

An erudite work resting on prodigious research and experience and deep affection and admiration.

TO THE LETTER A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing Garfield, Simon Gotham Books (370 pp.) $27.50 | Nov. 18, 2013 978-1-59240-835-1

A tribute to writing personal letters, courtesy of the widely curious Garfield (On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks, 2012, etc.).

The author asks, “What else could bring back a world and an individual’s role within it so directly, so intensely, so plainly and so irresistibly? Only letters.” Garfield seeks to show readers the significance of this lost art. When there was conscious effort made to get things right the first time—especially with those prepaid airmail fold-ups—both the sender and the recipient received ample rewards (certainly more than through email).

Throughout history, there have been countless exemplary letter writers, and Garfield covers much ground, from Roman centurions in B.C. Britain to Charles Schultz and Charlie Brown. All the while, the author maintains his sense of storytelling wonder, a diverting patter that allows the pages to slip past even as he examines how letters reveal motivation, deepen understanding, give evidence, change lives and rewrite history. The letters on display are as varied as a patchwork quilt—Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, Erasmus (“Have you so completely rid yourself of all brotherly feeling, or has all thought of your Erasmus wholly fled your heart?”), Emily Dickinson (in her letter to literary critic Thomas Wentworth Higginson, she writes, “You speak of Mr. Whitman. I never read his book, but was told that it was disgraceful”), Keats, Kerouac, Heloise and Abelard, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin—but Garfield draws out their commonality and continuity. He also provides short detours along the way, introducing the postal system, stamps, drop boxes and that saddest of destinations, the deadletter office.

Katherine Mansfield once wrote to a friend, “This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment.”

Garfield provides a fond, lovely reflection on the essence of that sentiment.

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Grodin, Marion Center Street/Hachette (320 pp.) $23.00 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4555-1013-9

The chronicles of a comedian’s life.

Stand-up comedian Grodin delves deeply into the fabric of her life to bring readers an honest examination of her roller-coaster existence. Experimenting with sex and drugs in high school turned into years of casual relationships and life lived for the high from alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and heroin (“Alcohol and other drugs had helped me feel like I didn’t have any worries in the world. But heroin made me feel like I didn’t have any world”). Grodin scrutinizes her codependent relationship with her mother and how she longed to be away from her. However, in times of great stress, the author wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in her mother’s arms. When her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer, she writes, “I had always been like my mother’s little husband, and now I moved into this role completely—the role I felt I’d been in training for my whole life—I became her caretaker….Though the circumstances were as dire as it gets, she was thrilled that we were together.” Throughout all her ups and downs, the author’s father, actor and talk show host Charles Grodin, was always there, with encouraging words, money, love and support, no questions asked. Multiple times, Grodin bottomed out, only to scrape herself together, facing her addictions, her weight issues and her fears. Eventually, Grodin entered a stable relationship, finally said yes to a second marriage proposal and began trying for a child, with heartbreaking results. Further insult was added when Grodin was diagnosed with cancer in the very thing she had always wished as a teen to rid herself of: her breast. Despite the harshness of her oftentimes self-induced problems, the author interjects her offbeat humor throughout the text, providing much-needed relief from the recitation of her pendulum of emotions.

Sharp, witty, occasional black humor from a woman who has gone through hell and back and lived to tell the tale.

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“A gripping document of a brilliant era in our history and a few of the men who helped make it so.” from the aviators

THE AVIATORS Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight

STORY OF A DEATH FORETOLD The Coup Against Salvador Allende, September 11, 1973 Guardiola-Rivera, Oscar Bloomsbury (320 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-60819-896-2

Groom, Winston National Geographic (464 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4262-1156-0 978-1-4262-1157-7 e-book

Joint biography of three legendary pilots.

Groom (Shiloh, 1862, 2012, etc.) takes his subjects from their earliest days through World War II, when they all found a way to aid the struggle against the Axis powers. All three of Groom’s subjects earned their renown by doing something extraordinary. Eddie Rickenbacker (1890–1973) rose from auto mechanic to champion race car driver and then became the top American flying ace of World War I. Jimmy Doolittle (1896–1993), a tough kid who boxed to pay for college, became the military’s leading test pilot in the 1920s. Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) dropped out of college to be a stunt pilot before becoming the most famous man alive for his New York to Paris flight in 1927.

Groom traces their early careers, showing how they learned the nuts and bolts of aviation in the process of becoming pilots.

This stood them in good stead in their later careers. Lindbergh personally oversaw the building of the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane for his epic flight, and, later in World War II, helped U.S. forces in the Pacific improve the range of the P-38 fighter planes. Doolittle is probably best known for his 1942 bombing raid on Tokyo, in which he used innovative tactics to shake the enemy’s confidence in the impregnability of the Japanese homeland. Rickenbacker, on a secret mission to deliver orders to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, survived more than three weeks on a life raft in the shark-infested South Pacific after his plane went down, nearly starving, continuing the mission as soon as he recovered from the ordeal. Groom lets his empathy with his subjects somewhat outweigh their flaws, notably Lindbergh’s initial failure to recognize the evil of Nazism. Ultimately, though, the author convincingly portrays them as true American heroes, men who changed the world by their deeds and who inspired countless others to emulate their examples.

A gripping document of a brilliant era in our history and a few of the men who helped make it so. (Two 8-page photo inserts; 4 maps)

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A tangled yet tender study of the revolutionary forces, both leftist and rightist, that converged in Chile during the turbulent 1960s and wrought a political

miracle and tragedy.

The election of socialist Salvador Allende to the presidency of Chile in 1970 proved a stunning vindication for the people’s democracy movement in Latin America, as well as a shock to the Cold War–weary United States, terrified that it had another Cuba in its backyard. Guardiola-Rivera (Birkbeck, Univ. of London; What If Latin America Ruled the World?, 2010, etc.) plunges passionately into the construction of what Allende and his followers and colleagues such as Pablo Neruda called la vía chilena, the Chilean Way, defined as a “peaceful transformation of the state” by legal, constitutional means, a deep commitment to building a coalition of all levels of society, including indigenous peoples, agrarian reform, nationalization of industry and banking for the equal distribution of wealth, and a repudiation of violence as business as usual. Building the “revolution from below” took decades and a careful grass-roots movement, as the author argues, that involved returning to enlightenment ideals of the 19th century that had been shunted aside by U.S. imperialist aims in the region since the turn of the century. At the same time, the far right gathered strength from the fascist model of the Spanish Civil War, and the large corporate interests sought help from the U.S. government, which helped strangle Allende’s economic measures in boycotts and sanctions. This allowed the military, handed to Gen. Augusto Pinochet by Allende himself, to wait and see which way the wind was blowing. The author gives a truly chilling account of Allende’s last hours under bombing at his palace.

Avowing there is much misinterpretation of these terrible events from both sides, Guardiola-Rivera invites a deeper, intellectual look inside. (b/w illustrations throughout)

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

J. Michael Lennon

Norman Mailer’s Boswell followed a rowdy titan of American literature

By Clayton Moore

Photo courtesy Christina Pabst

In January 2000, the New York Times received one of Norman Mailer’s frequent and furious letters to the editor, this time complaining about factual errors in a recent Mailer biography. “It may be healthier to read no biography about yourself until you are turning in the grave,” Mailer concluded.

Nearly six years after the author’s death, a biography arrives to which Mailer himself might again respond ferociously—this, despite the volume in question being the authorized biography to which Mailer contributed hundreds of interviews, access to his personal archives and more than 45,000 letters written over the course of a lifetime. At 960 pages, Norman Mailer: A Double Life is a behemoth of appropriate scope to frame a man who led a big life 52

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and produced masterpieces like The Naked and the Dead and The Executioner’s Song.

“Biographies, in my view, are always approximations of a life,” J. Michael Lennon, Mailer’s longtime friend and official biographer, explains. “I know it wouldn’t please him entirely. He’d say, ‘You got the nuance wrong here,’ or ‘You mixed people up.’ I know from working on his letters with him that he was good at remembering and making factual corrections. He was also a biographer himself, so he understood the craft.

He was very speculative about the people he wrote about and used his own personality as a kind of divining rod for the people that intrigued him.”

In fact, Lennon held many roles in the life of Norman Mailer and continues to hold them today.

After writing his dissertation on Mailer’s 1968 novel, The Armies of the Night, Lennon tracked the author down at a book signing in 1971, after which the new friends closed down the local bar. Lennon worked alongside Mailer for decades, collaborating with him on later books and becoming his literary executor in 1981. Following the publication of his biography, Lennon will quietly return to the task of editing and publishing a critical sampling of Mailer’s massive collection of letters.

“Mailer knew me as an archivist and a bibliographer and a fact fetishist who collected the bits of his life and work,” Lennon says. “At some point, I told myself, this is the work of your lifetime. You’re never going to do anything more important than this. So, for seven years, I worked on it every day. I really tried to bring in material that no one had ever seen before, and God knows I had plenty of it. I have the letters and all my interviews with him and all the interviews with his family. Those are three things that no other biographer has access to, so I was a lucky guy.” |

Lennon also credits the work of Mailer’s first biographer, Robert Lucid, who died in 2006, leaving Lennon to inherit the great work, as well as longtime Mailer collaborator Lawrence Schiller for their contributions to the biography. As to the significance of the subtitle, A Double Life, Lennon says at some point it just seemed to fit the best.

“It’s been used many times to describe him, but it’s not just that there are these two enclaves to his life,” he says. “Every identity that he had—and he had dozens of identities, occupations and avatars, whether he was playing author, playwright, politician or raconteur— always had another half to it….I think part of it was because he was always interested in ‘The Other,’ the minority of good in evil people and the minority of evil in good people. He was always looking for that minority that would help define and give personality to other people.”

Lennon also explains how Mailer was really a writer born into two generations: the post–World War II writers in the vein of James Jones and the 1960s movement that evolved into New Journalism.

“The writers who came out of World War II realized that a great generation of writers had emerged from World War I,” says Lennon, a professor emeritus of English. “You’re talking Hemingway, Dos Passos, Fitzgerald, Faulkner. Mailer saw that this was the chance to enter that second wave, following an even bigger war.”

Lennon learned much about his friend after reading nearly 50,000 of his letters. Lennon helped broker the 2005 sale of nearly 1,000 boxes of archival material to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, where it remains the library’s largest single author archive.

“I learned the depth of his depression in the 1950s,” he says. “After publishing three novels, he was ready to quit writing by 1956. Those were the worst years of his life. He kind of wrote himself out of that period with Advertisements for Myself, but he continued to experience struggles with his art, his wives, his children.”

Asked if Mailer was taken aback with his reputation as a womanizer, Lennon speaks the truth. “It’s hard to avoid the label,” he says. “He had dozens of affairs, but most of them were ones where he stayed involved with those people because he liked them. No one loved women more than he did. And he told me to be candid about his relationships. He said, A ‘ nalyze it, take it apart.

If you are ever in doubt about my motivation in a given situation, cherchez la femme: There’s a woman at the |

bottom of it.’ There’s a lot of truth in that statement.”

For someone who was that close to a titan of American literature for more than 35 years, Lennon has been admirably reticent to trade on that relationship.

Even when speaking at Mailer’s memorial at Carnegie Hall in 2008, Lennon would only speak about Mailer the writer, not Mailer the man.

“Maybe down the line,” he says. “The important thing was to get a good biography out there that gets the timeline right and puts the major accomplishments down. These are the formal things that need to be done to establish his position in the canon and in American life.”

At the same time, he remembers joyful evenings spent at the Mailer kitchen table and storytelling in bars and late-night poker sessions. “We were buddies,” Lennon says.

In later years, Lennon would become a constant in Mailer’s life, flying with him to speaking engagements and showing up at Mailer’s house, where he was welcomed as an honorary member of the family. In this definitive biography, he feels he has left no stone unturned. “The idea of being Norman Mailer’s Boswell was never far from my mind.”

Clayton Moore is a freelance writer, journalist, book critic and prolific interviewer of other writers. His work appears in numerous newspapers, magazines and websites.

He is based in Boulder, Colorado.

Norman Mailer: A Double Life was reviewed in the Aug. 15 issue of Kirkus Reviews.

NORMAN MAILER: A Double Life Lennon, J. Michael Simon & Schuster (960 pp.) $40.00 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-1-4391-5019-1

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“Pakistan never pulled itself together after its bloody creation from British India in 1947, asserts Haqqani, former ambassador to the United States, in this insightful, painful history of Pakistani-American relations.” from magnificent delusions

MAGNIFICENT DELUSIONS Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding

THE CRASH OF 2016 The Plot to Destroy America— and What We Can Do to Stop It Hartmann, Thom Twelve (320 pp.) $28.00 | $14.99 e-book | Nov. 12, 2013 978-0-446-58483-8 978-0-446-58481-4 e-book

Haqqani, Husain PublicAffairs (432 pp.) $28.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-61039-317-1

Pakistan never pulled itself together after its bloody creation from British India in 1947, asserts Haqqani (International Relations/Boston Univ.; Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military, 2005, etc.), former ambassador to the United States, in this insightful, painful history of Pakistani-American relations.

Cobbling together a government (India received the capital and most civil servants) after independence, Pakistan’s leaders remain preoccupied with India, a fixation aggravated by losing several wars and the secession of East Pakistan as Bangladesh.

The military absorbed the lion’s share of the budget, and when generals were not governing, civilian leaders deferred to their wishes. The economic development has been comparable to that of sub-Saharan Africa. Pakistan received modest aid until the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when America funneled massive support for the mujahedeen through Pakistan’s army, which remained influential in the anarchy after the Soviet withdrawal, sponsoring radical Islamic forces including the Taliban. Pakistan considers a fiercely Islamic Afghan government essential to exclude Indian influence. After 9/11, Pakistan agreed to support America’s war on terror. This was risky since the average Pakistani prefers terrorists to Americans, but we made an offer it couldn’t refuse: an avalanche of aid. American leaders knew Pakistan would spend most on conventional forces facing India but hoped for a quid pro quo. The result has been some cooperation against international terrorism but none against the Afghan Taliban—which, the author reminds us, are not international terrorists. America’s increasing frustration is matched by Pakistani outrage at military and drone incursions, which have produced violent anti-Americanism that threatens to destabilize a government that has never been noticeably stable.

Demonstrating no mercy to either party, Haqqani admits that Pakistan verges on failed-state status but shows little patience with America’s persistently shortsighted, fruitless policies.

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Progressive talk show host Hartmann (Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became “People”—and How You Can Fight Back, 2010, etc.) argues that the financial crash of 2008 was just a precursor for the largerscale disruptions to come in 2016.

The author situates his prognosis for the years ahead within a view of the history of the republic in which democracy is pitted against what he calls, borrowing from Franklin Roosevelt, “Economic Royalists.” These Royalists, typified by the billionaire Koch brothers and others, demand unrestricted expansion for free markets and minimal, or no, taxation on their financial returns. Hartmann argues that they are responsible for policies that have produced unprecedented inequality while hollowing out the core of what used to be the United States’ world-leading manufacturing capability. Results have differed, but the policies have been applied repeatedly in America’s history, and these economic crashes have produced a political response from the population affected. For Hartmann, two recent decisions by the Supreme Court have been critical: the Citizens United decision, which upheld the personhood of corporations, and Buckley vs. Valeo, in which corporate political advertising expenditures were equated with speech. The author compares the significance of the former to the Dred Scott decision, and he believes that these two decisions, Citizens and Buckley, have made the crash he anticipates irreversible. The author also provides an intriguing account of the Supreme Court’s deliberations on the status of corporations under the Constitution to demonstrate how hard-fought this battle has been. The conceptual driver is Hartmann’s controversial thesis that U.S. history is an approximate 80-year political cycle occasioned by successor generations repeatedly forgetting what their predecessors previously knew and took for granted.

Ideological and agitational in tone, this will appeal most to liberals.

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“In his first English-language translation, German author Illies scours the landscape of the year 1913, making a leap into a fascinating new structure of writing.” from 1913

SORRY! The English and Their Manners

Hitchings, Henry Farrar, Straus and Giroux (400 pp.) $28.00 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-374-26675-2

He might have been a Roosian, a French, or Turk, or Proosian, or perhaps Itali-an: Gilbert and Sullivan aside, the subject of Hitchings’ (The Language Wars: A History of Proper English, 2011) latest is the beleaguered, classobsessed Anglo-Saxon and the very notion of “Englishness.”

The author opens with the 1977 duel at Wimbledon between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, the latter of whom put a face to the word “ill-mannered.” As Hitchings notes, we have all moved on: Today, “we find McEnroe’s conduct authentic, even courageous, while Borg’s seems that of an android.” Yet McEnroe still speaks to the central point of this book: that rudeness and politeness both stem from the same origin, namely, “twisting one’s way out of discomfiture.” And no one is quite so discomfited as a Briton trying to make sense of the elaborate rules that govern society (see Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean). Though the mores-and-manners school of national description leads naturally to stereotyping and isn’t much used by geographers or anthropologists these days, Hitchings clearly has fun with his subject(s), both the English themselves and the code of conduct that has evolved since the Middle Ages—when, he notes, someone commodiously counseled that “one should not attack an enemy while he is at stool.” Evolve is a useful term here, since, as Hitchings notes, manners are not static. For one thing, “English eating habits have become markedly less predictable,” even if sex remains “a subject mired in hypocrisy, mostly handled with either purity or prurience, often treated in a manner that seems a mixture of the furtive and the fetishistic.”

John Cleese’s observation that the English are the only people on Earth with clenched hair is more economical, but Hitchings’ book, if sometimes overgeneralized, is still a pleasure to read.

A STORY LATELY TOLD Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York

Huston, Anjelica Scribner (256 pp.) $25.00 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-1-4516-5629-9

An Oscar-winning actress from a celebrated entertainment family recalls her peripatetic childhood and adolescence, her various awakenings and epiphanies.

The granddaughter of Oscar winner Walter Huston (1949, for The Treasure of Sierra Madre) and daughter of Oscar-winning actor and director John Huston (1949, The Treasure of Sierra |

Madre, for directing and screenwriting) writes that she “was a lonely child.” However, so many personalities and celebrities swirl through the story that we begin to wonder about loneliness in a crowd. Born in 1951, she soon became a part of her father’s world, though he was often absent, off filming. She adored her mother (John’s fourth wife) but would soon learn that her father’s carnal needs were immense. He would marry a fifth time but also carry on multiple affairs with—it seems— just about any woman who would yield. The earliest sections of Huston’s memoir are the strongest: poignant details about her childhood affections, the men and women who worked on the Irish estate purchased with her father’s film profits (his habitual gambling ever endangered all), the quotidian routines of girlhood. But as time progresses, the memoir sags. Soon, her selection principle seems to be “I remember this, so I’m including it,” and a phone book of names assails readers, challenging both memory and interest. However, there are some amusing anecdotes—e.g., a plane ride with the Monkees, an appearance with an oddly detached Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.

The death of her mother (car crash) was obviously traumatizing, as was a longtime affair with photographer Bob Richardson, an affair that veered toward abusive before its end. This first installment—to be followed next year with the second volume— concludes as the author heads to Los Angeles.

Banality clutches the text tightly, too rarely releasing its wings.

1913 The Year Before the Storm Illies, Florian Melville House (272 pp.) $25.95 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-1-61219-351-9

In his first English-language translation, German author Illies scours the landscape of the year 1913, making a leap into a fascinating new structure of writing.

The author uses excerpts from journals of now-famous people in the capitals of modernism, including Vienna, Munich, Paris and Berlin. He explains their ideas and snatches quotes and tosses them apparently willy-nilly into chronological chapters. However, due to the author’s creative talent, the structure of the narrative works like a charm. Among the many events that occurred during that year: Franz Kafka wrote bizarre letters to his love, Felice Bauer; the Die Brücke group of expressionist artists stumbled toward collapse; Hitler sold a few watercolors; Stalin remained in exile; the Mona Lisa was still missing; James Joyce was teaching English in Trieste, Italy; and Gustav Mahler’s widow, Alma, was refusing to marry Oskar Kokoschka unless he painted her in a masterpiece.

Though the narrative may seem disjointed at first, readers will continue to turn the pages to see what becomes of Thomas Mann and his brother or to see Carl Jung daring to challenge Freud’s theories. Illies happily neglects all the political stirrings kirkus.com

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that would lead to war the following year. Instead, he follows members of the modernist arts, with Marcel Proust touching a nerve of the avant-garde and Mann exploring tormented passions in Death in Venice. Also included: Ezra Pound contacts Joyce, Kafka broods, Albert Camus is born in Algeria, and 15-year-old Bertolt Brecht has a cold.

With exceptional wit and understanding, Illies shows the societal and cultural changes propelling man toward modern art, new thought processes and war. An excellent companion to Keith Jackson’s equally illuminating Constellation of Genius (2013), which gives similar treatment to the year 1922.

THE ROBBER OF MEMORIES A River Journey Through Colombia Jacobs, Michael Counterpoint (272 pp.) $26.00 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-61902-196-9

Tragedy stalks the periphery of an acclaimed travel writer’s eerily hypnotic journey deep into the heart of Colombia’s most mysterious river.

A few years ago, buoyed by a blessing from the great Gabriel García Márquez, the author decided to seek the source of the legendary Magdalena River in a tugboat. With Alzheimer’s already claiming his father’s life and his mother’s life now also nearing its end, the strangely languid tributary so closely tied to disappearance, loss and forgetting had come to represent an intensely personal pilgrimage that the author found he could simply not ignore. The result is a lushly written account of that ethereal experience. Throughout the journey, the potential for danger patiently laid in wait. The author provides both the complicated history of his parents and the nation of Colombia, and the hero of this often harrowing adventure was never quite convinced that the smart thing to do wasn’t to just give up and abandon the quest. “The place filled me with an energy that magically dispersed the uncertainty of the past few days, together with that persistent sense of being on a journey towards some inescapable tragedy,” he writes. The Magdalena, it turns out, in addition to its lore of lost memories, is actually home to a hotbed of Alzheimer’s, and the author hoped investigating it would help him better understand the scourge that destroyed both his parents’ lives—and someday might also visit his as well. The river, with its own languid pace, was not about to give up its secrets so readily, however. This is a tortured part of the world with a tragically bloody history of political and economic strife involving guerrilla bands, paramilitary outfits and the army. Jacobs had to navigate through all of it in the hope that his memories would somehow endure.

A well-rendered travelogue and a profound excursion into what it means to remember and forget.

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IN THE LAND OF OZ

Jacobson, Howard Bloomsbury (528 pp.) $18.00 paper | Dec. 10, 2013 978-1-60819-895-5 A sharp-eyed British traveler recalls his greatest adventure.

Twenty-five years ago, accompanied by his Australian-born wife, Jacobson (Whatever It Is, I Don’t Like It, 2012, etc.) journeyed far and wide by bus, car, train and camper around Australia, feeling, he admits “near anguish… the whole time I was there.” “Potholes. Savage, twisting bends.

Not enough room for more than 1 ½ cars in either direction,” he complained about one long drive. “Thorny cork-screw trees….

Extreme chromatic monotony. Gnarled, evil-tempered landscape,” his wife replied. As Jacobson unhappily discovered, roads in the Outback were treacherous, when they existed at all, and a driver might well encounter a “mesmerized kangaroo” or marauding dingo along the way. “STAY WITH THE VEHICLE,” the Royal Automobile Association warned. When a search party eventually is sent, the safety literature added, “vehicles will be far easier to find than isolated human beings in the vastness of the Outback landscape.” As for the landscape, often it was bleak: dry, dusty, flat and barren. Some towns along the way had been gentrified, with tacky souvenir shops and kitschy restaurants. About Australians, Jacobson can be acerbic, especially when confronted with small-minded provincialism and racism directed at Aborigines. There were enough high points, though, to elicit his praise: “There is no more variously beautiful country,” he finally admits: the orange hills and hidden valleys of Kununurra, for example, and Ayers Rock, described by one 19th-century traveler as “an immense pebble” but appearing to Jacobson “in every way more surprising” than what he expected. “Close up,” he writes, “its texture is like the skin of an animal—creased and enfolded and a little weary, but also soft to the touch.”

Witty, at times self-deprecating, and always shrewdly observant, Jacobson offers a wry, revealing portrait of a land and its people.

NEUTRINO HUNTERS The Thrilling Chase for a Ghostly Particle to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

Jayawardhana, Ray Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $27.00 | Dec. 10, 2013 978-0-374-22063-1

An astrophysicist explains why scientists are eager to learn more about the elusive, “pathologically shy” neutrino. “[N]eutrinos are the most abundant matter particles in the universe,” writes Jayawardhana (Observational Astrophysics/ |

Univ. of Toronto; Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life beyond Our Solar System, 2011, etc.). “[A]bout a hundred-trillion neutrinos produced in the nuclear furnace at the Sun’s core pass through your body every second…yet they do no harm and leave no trace.” The author traces their discovery to the dawn of the quantum age, when the release of radioactive materials appeared to challenge conservation of energy.

In 1930, physicist Wolfgang Pauli suggested the existence of a putative, still-undetected particle (the neutrino) as a way to balance the energy equation. At that time, only three elementary particles (the proton, the electron and the photon) were known. With the discovery of the neutron, the role of the neutrino in transformations between neutrons and protons became clearer. Jayawardhana explains that despite the fact that fission and fusion release “staggering bursts of these particles,” their experimental verification only became possible as an outgrowth of the effort to produce an atomic bomb in the days leading up to World War I. “Since then,” he writes, “we have realized that the shy neutrinos hold the key to unraveling a great many cosmic mysteries.” Further experiments led to new anomalies and the recognition that the ghostly neutrino was not, as first thought, without mass. Today, we may now be on the verge of “solving the great mystery of how matter came to dominate the universe.”

Jayawardhana includes a fascinating account of the disputes between the theorists and experimentalists in this epic scientific adventure story with—as of yet—no last chapter.

BOSNIA’S MILLION BONES Solving the World’s Greatest Forensic Puzzle

Jennings, Christian Palgrave Macmillan (272 pp.) $27.00 | Oct. 22, 2013 978-1-137-27868-5

Precisely rendered, grueling account of how the 1995 Srebrenica massacre propelled a scientific revolution in missing persons identification.

Sarajevo-based journalist Jennings creates an ambitious narrative divided between the Bosnian War’s horrific endgame and the prominent role of forensic science in its aftermath. He argues that the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of several thousand Bosnian Muslim males—“the only incidence of genocide to have taken place in Europe since the Holocaust”—provoked the creation of the International Commission on Missing Persons. Since then, the ICMP has grown into an effective clearinghouse for the science of forensic pathology, particularly regarding mass graves and natural disasters. Jennings seems equally fascinated by the difficult scientific advances made since then and by the war narrative of ethnic conflict that preceded the massacre. He authoritatively describes how Yugoslavia’s breakup created a brutal civil war, depicting the repugnant actions of the Bosnian Serb military with cool detachment. The |

massacre was quickly detected by American surveillance, and key figures like the notorious Ratko Mladic were soon indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The Serbs then dispersed the large mass graves to numerous secondary burial sites, dismembering the bodies in the process. As a result, the initial forensic investigations following the war presented unique challenges, which Jennings discusses in grotesque detail. Yet the ICMP responded by building a scientific facility in Sarajevo and developing an enormous DNA repository of both survivors and unidentified remains, ultimately identifying many of Srebrenica’s victims, thus providing evidence for the ICTY war-crimes trials and some closure to the Bosnian people. Since then, the organization has become a worldwide scientific force, aiding in recovery efforts following 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, among other traumatic events.

An inspirational but disturbing story of science as counterweight to evil—not for the squeamish.

THE MYTH OF AMERICA’S DECLINE Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies

Joffe, Josef Liveright/Norton (272 pp.) $26.95 | Nov. 4, 2013 978-0-87140-449-7

Think Yankee power is doomed? The answer is no, argues German magazine editor Joffe, even if the patient seems to be running a fever.

America, some wag once observed, went from colony to empire without an intervening period of civilization. Even in the colonial era, observers (mostly French) were predicting that the British experiment in North America was doomed to failure. The modern strain of doomsaying, all talk of decadence and collapse, began in the 1950s, “when Decline 1.0 came to grip the land.” It did not come to pass, though by Joffe’s reckoning, we’re in the fifth iteration (Decline 5.0) of the idea that some crisis—Sputnik, Vietnam, the dot-com collapse, the Great Recession—is finally going to put the nation out of business.

Joffe considers various metrics, such as the size and extent of America’s military, to argue that the nation’s power in the world is not diminished. If this argument sometimes seems uncritical—not everyone believes that the nation’s treasury should be devoted to war-making—it does a solid enough job of refuting the declinism so feared by the right and perhaps welcomed by some even farther to the right and left. Along the way, Joffe cites some little-discussed statistics, such as the fact that China’s aging population and the need for a replenished labor pool to support it fall into “ratios [that] are far worse than any in the West.” So much for China as the rising dominant world power.

There is no triumphalism here, for Joffe notes that there are plenty of problems for the United States to overcome, such as “the breakdown of bipartisanship…intractable deficits and rising debt…[and] social polarization.” kirkus.com

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“A powerful exploration of an enduring myth that has haunted America over the centuries, from one of our best chroniclers of America’s struggle with racial inequality.” from a dreadful deceit

THE BLIND MASSEUSE A Traveler’s Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia

Mostly good news, then, with some bad thrown in to balance the picture. Of interest to those with a bent for policy wonkery, geopolitics and demographic trends. (32 illustrations)

Jones, Alden Univ. of Wisconsin (160 pp.) $24.95 | Nov. 15, 2013 978-0-299-29570-7

ROSE KENNEDY’S FAMILY ALBUM From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Grand Central Publishing (368 pp.) $45.00 | Oct. 8, 2013 978-1-4555-4480-6

A fascinating album of the Kennedy matriarch’s collection of family photos focusing on the first half of the 20th century.

As with most photo albums, this one includes, among an abundance of static group shots and portraits, loads of candid shots of happy-seeming children playing sports, holding pets, reaching milestones, at home, at school, at holidays abroad and by the sea. Rose (nee Fitzgerald) and Joseph P. Kennedy’s family portraits are densely populated. Their brood, begun with Joe Jr. in 1915, grew to include nine children in all with the birth of Teddy in 1932. As if the sheer size of the clan were not enough to engage the casual observer, what makes these photos particularly interesting is that they are, of course, of the Kennedys. They may look at first glance like an ordinary, if privileged, group of American kids marching (or running, swimming and sledding) inexorably toward maturity through the Jazz Age, the Depression and World War II. But among these sometimesgawky, sometimes-silly, often proud-looking children are the eerily recognizable young faces of the future president, his attorney general, and the longtime senior senator from Massachusetts. “A mother knows,” Rose said of the first time she held her own infant, “that hers is the influence that can make that little, precious being into a leader, an inspiration, a shining light to the world.” The handsomely displayed photos are explicated by straightforward history, snippets of family correspondence, and precise and informative captions. The themes of the collection are happiness, innocence and achievement; the collection ends with Jack’s successful run for Congress in 1946, with only occasional tastes of the tragedies to come.

For students of American politics and history, an intriguing, unique window into the formation of one of the country’s most enduring and controversial dynasties.

A peripatetic teacher and writer’s reflections on a life spent seeking exotic experiences abroad and pondering the question: “[I]s there a right way and a

wrong way to travel?”

Jones’ love of the foreign began when she studied Spanish in the fifth grade. At first, acquiring a second language was little more than a game, but by the time she was in college, the author realized that speaking Spanish facilitated travel experiences that made her feel “so alive [that she] almost felt high.” Her post-collegiate quest for the drug of exoticism took her to rural Costa Rica, where she worked for WorldTeach and learned to live on “lard and coffee.” The experience whetted her appetite for the unfamiliar to the point where she could not tolerate “a normal American life” grounded in routine. Her wanderings then took her to Bolivia. Faced with strong anti-American sentiment, Jones learned to own who and what she was “with eyes wide open” and a bottle of Coke in her hand. She returned to Costa Rica, where she helped build a school. After teaching in the United States, she traveled to Nicaragua, where she got heavily involved in the lives of the people she encountered. Work as a summer tour guide for American students in Cuba showed her that she took her freedom to wander for granted. Later stints as a Semester at Sea instructor taught her the impossibility of escaping what she was: a committed, though now temporarily settled, traveler with a touristic tendency to romanticize otherness. Rather than moralize about the right and wrong ways to travel, however, Jones celebrates the impulse to wander and recognizes the value in savoring vagabondage for the gift it ultimately is.

An engaging travel memoir.

A DREADFUL DECEIT The Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama’s America Jones, Jacqueline Basic (384 pp.) $29.99 | Dec. 10, 2013 978-0-465-03670-7

A powerful exploration of an enduring myth that has haunted America over the centuries, from one of our best chroniclers of America’s struggle with racial inequality.

Jones (History and Ideas/Univ. of Texas; Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War, 2008, etc.) claims that race is a construct that has little meaning in biology even if it has had tremendous and deleterious force in historical reality. Instead of a sweeping overview, 58

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the author focuses on six biographical sketches that illustrate the pernicious force of the myth of race that has nonetheless manifested in the realities of racism from the Colonial era onward. Thus, a Dutch master’s killing of one of his slaves reveals the increasing tensions in a globalizing world. A fugitive slave in South Carolina embraces the teaching of religion in a Revolutionary era in which men spoke of ideals of freedom while protecting the institution of slavery. A free black businesswoman in post-Revolutionary Rhode Island navigates the treacherous waters of freedom in a world still deeply committed to perpetuating her subservience. A lightskinned black man in the Union Army becomes a loyal Republican in the postwar era and experiences the frustrations and disappointments of white racial solidarity. A Tuskegee Institute graduate founds his own vocational institution for blacks in Jim Crow Mississippi and manages to survive and sometimes thrive in arguably the most oppressive state in an oppressive region. And a black writer and union advocate in Detroit utilizes his relationships in organized labor to bridge racial divides. A graceful writer and natural storyteller, Jones draws meaning from these six tableaux, maintaining the thread of her argument without hammering away at it. She brings the story up to the present by revealing the ways in which the election of Barack Obama has hardly served to mask the ways in which the racial myth has done real harm.

From the “dreadful deceit” of race comes a masterful book about its history. (20 b/w illustrations)

CANDY A Century of Panic and Pleasure

Kawash, Samira Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (416 pp.) $27.00 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-86547-756-8

A history of the creation and consumption of candy in America.

In the introduction, Kawash (Emerita, Women’s and Gender Studies/Rutgers Univ.; Dislocating the Color Line: Identity, Hybridity, and Singularity in African-American Narrative, 1997) recalls being asked by another parent, upon offering her son some jelly beans, “Oh, so I guess you’ll start giving him crack now too?” The author doesn’t use this anecdote as an opening to complain about the food police. Instead, she lays out a well-researched, enjoyable history of the manufacture, consumption, marketing and legislation of candy in America, beginning in the 1840s and concluding with an examination of “candification”—the increasingly popular use of candy-making techniques and ingredients in ordinary foods. The comparison of candy to street drugs, though rude, is nevertheless rooted in history. In the chapter “Demon Candy, Demon Rum,” Kawash explains the cultural link between candy and alcohol, and in “Fake Sweets and Fake Food,” she describes the fears of previously unknown ingredients and adulterated candy that gripped the American media in the 19th century.

One of the major strengths of the book is the author’s ability to identify historical attitudes toward candy that map remarkably |

well onto current fears about processed foods, all while avoiding imposing an agenda on readers. Though the subject matter covered is exhaustive—including the sugared-cereal panic in the 1980s, the role of the military in candy manufacture, the rise of the candy bar as a meal replacement, the marketing of candy-making as a potential source of income to women, and more—the book never feels overly detailed or impenetrably academic.

Though the subject matter may be fluffy, the treatment is substantive and significant, representing an important contribution to the literature about what, and how, we eat in 21st-century America. (16 pages of full-color illustrations; 16 b/w illustrations)

THE LETTERS OF JOHN F. KENNEDY

Kennedy, John F. Sandler, Martin W.—Ed. Bloomsbury (384 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-60819-271-7

A selection of letters to and from John F. Kennedy written over the course of 35 years.

Sandler (Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II, 2013, etc.) asserts that “one can discover more about Kennedy the man, Kennedy the president, and the extraordinary and harrowing times in which he lived by reading his correspondence than through any number of the scores of books that have been written about him.”

This volume, however, presents only about 75 letters by Kennedy, many quite short. Sandler fills out the remainder of the book with letters and telegrams to Kennedy from correspondents ranging from Queen Elizabeth and Billy Graham to ordinary American voters and schoolchildren. Most of the letters appear in three sections, introduced in adulatory prose, covering the presidential election of 1960, domestic policies of the administration and foreign crises. These include a tactful exchange with Eleanor Roosevelt, firmly rebutting her assertion that Joseph Kennedy was attempting to buy the presidency for his son; frequent welldeserved hectoring missives from Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders urging Kennedy to do more to support their efforts; and secret letters to and from Nikita Khrushchev about the Berlin and Cuban missile crises, when Kennedy was struggling to overcome the Russian’s perception that he was a lightweight. A memo to the commander of NATO forces in Europe in which Kennedy lays out the sequence of authorized responses to Soviet provocations over Berlin, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons, is particularly chilling. Most striking to the modern ear is Kennedy’s ability to set forth specific and carefully considered policies in crisp, clear sentences, a talent that has been in short supply at the upper levels of American politics for quite some time.

Though remarkably comprehensive for its limited length, more of Kennedy’s voice would have served Sandler’s purpose better. kirkus.com

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STITCHES A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair Lamott, Anne Riverhead (112 pp.) $17.95 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-1-59463-258-7

The author’s spirituality pays fewer redemptive dividends than usual in a follow-up guide that falls short of its predecessor.

Lamott is a much-beloved writer whose distinctive combination of deep spirituality and wry, post-hippie humor has highlighted work ranging from memoir to fiction to an engagingly intuitive writing guide (Bird by Bird, 1995). Her most recent book, the prayer guide Help, Thanks, Wow (2012) became a best-seller, and she frames this successor as a companion volume. Yet the format doesn’t work as well for a book that’s more like the flip side of the previous book’s coin. It’s kind of a spiritual selfhelp book on how to handle tough times and persevere even when it’s difficult to discern any cosmic order in the chaos of life. However, this book serves more as an extended metaphor about how stitching things up, even patchwork-style, can help one cope. “We live stitch by stitch, when we’re lucky,” writes the author. “If you fixate on the big picture, the whole shebang, the overview, you miss the stitching.” The perspective reinforces the recovering alcoholic’s one-day-at-a-time experience, and the metaphor threads throughout this slim book.

It’s not surprising that a book about persevering in the wake of tragedy, either global or personal, might have less of the author’s humor than her other work, but what’s mainly missing in comparison with her treatment of similar themes in longer books is the more deeply personal experience. Except for chapters on being a sensitive child in an alcoholic household and mourning a friend who died too young, she seems to skim the surface with elliptical anecdotes and homilies such as “we do what we can, as well as we can” and “life [is] erratic, beautiful and impossible.”

Subtitled as a “handbook,” this is minor work from an author known for her range and depth.

PRIMO LEVI The Matter of a Life

Lang, Berel Yale Univ. (192 pp.) $25.00 | Nov. 26, 2013 978-0-300-13723-1

The life of celebrated essayist, novelist, poet and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi (1919–1987), told in swift succinctness by the author of such philosophical and historical works as Philosophical Witnessing: The Holocaust as Presence (2009).

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Lang (Emeritus, Philosophy/SUNY, Albany) approaches this entry in the publisher’s Jewish Lives series from a variety of perspectives. He presents the facts of Levi’s life but also looks closely at his writings, philosophy and identity as a Jew. Lang organizes his text in a way both playful and educative: His first chapter is “The End,” and the preface comes at the end. The author begins with the controversy surrounding Levi’s death—suicide or no? (Lang says yes.) Then he carries us back to 1943 and Levi’s arrest by the Nazis in Italy and his transport to Auschwitz. Lang offers some Italian history and notes that the tiny Jewish population of Italy tended to support Mussolini—at first. After the war, Levi began writing, and Lang takes us through several of the works, observing that Levi had admired the writing of Jack London and that his relationship with Elie Wiesel was uneasy. He continually reminds us of Levi’s education as a chemist and the jobs in the chemical industry he held. He shows the considerable influence of chemical training on Levi’s The Periodic Table (1975). A tricky chapter is the one he devotes to Levi’s Jewishness. The author argues that Levi’s later contention that the Holocaust accentuated that identity is a bit disingenuous: Levi was immersed in the Jewish secular world before the war. He’d been an early supporter of Zionism but not for himself. Lang’s philosophical bent emerges clearly in his chapter about Levi’s thought, and he discusses five aspects of it, including thoughts about human nature, justice and God. A sketch of the writer, but one with crisp lines and surehanded strokes.

SERVANTS A Downstairs History of Britain From the NineteenthCentury to Modern Times Lethbridge, Lucy Norton (400 pp.) $27.95 | Nov. 18, 2013 978-0-393-24109-9

A surprisingly substantive, elucidating social study of the British class system.

London journalist Lethbridge emphasizes numerous important facets of the master-servant relationship that kept the great houses of Britain running smoothly until their apogee in the Edwardian era: namely, that the relationship represented by its orderliness and rigidity the very symbol of English imperialism. Indeed, even the middle classes enriched by the Industrial Revolution employed their coterie of servants, underscoring the master-servant bond as what judge Sir William Blackstone termed in 1765 the “first of the three ‘great relationships of private life’ ” (the others being spousal and filial). Like the caste system of India, to which the British system glommed effortlessly, the army of domestic servants in England was highly stratified, divided into “niche skills.” The pay was minimal, but the estate offered safety, room and board. The jobs were divided between indoor and outdoor servants and between those at the top, such as the |

“As good an introduction to Mailer’s habits of mind as there’s ever been, though there’s also room for an anthology blending the greatest hits of his fiction as well as his sharp-edged essays.” from mind of an outlaw

butler and housekeeper, and those at the bottom, the charwoman and scullery maid. They were further delineated by height and appearance (the taller ones received higher-paying, front-of-the-house jobs). The number of people working as domestic servants rivaled the number of agricultural workers up until the turn of the century, and yet this huge body of workers was “largely excluded from the industrial unrest that rocked the first ten years of the 20th century…scorned by their working-class peers as the most despised representatives of class betrayal.” Considered flunkies, “scivvies” and toadies by the urban factory workers, the career domestics tended to be conservative in their views, nostalgic even for the “sacred trust” established between patron and servant. The author explores how the forces of war, modern technology and feminist consciousness eventually helped blow the relationship apart.

Employing numerous real-house and literary examples, Lethbridge lends poignancy to the master-servant dynamic. (17 illustrations)

MIND OF AN OUTLAW Selected Essays

Mailer, Norman Random House (640 pp.) $40.00 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-8129-9347-9

Further advertisements for himself by the late and increasingly not-so-wellremembered bad boy of postwar American literature.

In Advertisements for Myself (1959), with which this collection has some overlap, Mailer famously (or infamously, depending on your point of view) wrote, “The only one of my contemporaries who I felt had more talent than myself was James Jones.” Even then, he took apart Jones’ From Here to Eternity (1951) for its “faults, ignorances, and a smudge of the sentimental,” naturally preferring his own novel The Naked and the Dead (1948). As for Jack Kerouac, no go; James Baldwin “is too charming a writer to be major”; and so forth. It has to be remembered, on reading such unguarded statements, that for all Mailer’s pugnacious self-regard, he had a point: He was the big dog in the yard, at least for a time, and what he wrote, plenty of people read and pondered and argued about. His 1957 essay “The White Negro,” included here, was one such occasion, bringing the word “hipster” to currency but, more seriously, giving voice to the existential angst that characterized the time.

Mailer risked ostracism and worse by declaring that the United States was the heavy in the Cold War, and if he could be heavyhanded and lumbering and old-fashioned sounding (“Technological man in his terminal diseases, dying of air he can no longer breathe, of packaged foods he can just about digest, of plastic clothing his skin can hardly bear and of static before which his spirit has near expired”), very few did political outrage better.

In fact, as this wide-ranging collection shows, which is political from start to finish, about his only rival in miffed political discourse was Gore Vidal. |

As good an introduction to Mailer’s habits of mind as there’s ever been, though there’s also room for an anthology blending the greatest hits of his fiction as well as his sharp-edged essays. (First printing of 20,000)

SURGE My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War

Mansoor, Peter R. Yale Univ. (400 pp.) $28.00 | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-300-17235-5

Deeply controversial at the time, the surge ended up being the most successful phase of the Iraq War, according to one

of its architects.

Mansoor (Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander’s War in Iraq, 2008), a military historian who served as Gen. David Petraeus’ executive officer in Iraq, gives an insider’s account of the political machinations and boots-on-the-ground strategies behind the rapid increase in troop numbers in 2007. Lamenting “[t]he misinformation and ignorance—among the general public, in the historical community, within the halls of government and even in the military,” surrounding the surge, the author makes a convincing case for its efficacy at facilitating at least “the creation of a patchwork of localized political accommodations and then the stitching together of these patches into a larger reconciliation between the sects.” The author reveals the thinking that went into one of the key inflection points of the war, aided by his intimate familiarity with the key players in both Washington, D.C., and Baghdad and his experience with soldiers on the front lines. Mansoor portrays Petraeus as a capable and dedicated strategist and manager who was nevertheless unprepared for the dire political realities of Iraq; he was shocked when, at a welcome dinner in his honor, two of the country’s senior leaders nearly came to blows. Though he defends the surge as a huge success both militarily and politically, Mansoor is less sanguine about the current prospects for Iraq: “That the subsequent history…has not turned out to be as peaceful nor as politically productive as one would have hoped has had more to do with how U.S. policy makers and their Iraqi counterparts fumbled the political endgame than with the concept or military outcome of the surge itself.”

Lively and vivid. Recommended for readers with an interest in military history and strategy or the challenges of nation building.

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SUPERHEROES! Capes, Cowls, and the Creation of Comic Book Culture

Maslon, Laurence; Kantor, Michael Crown Archetype (304 pp.) $40.00 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-385-34858-4

A soup-to-nuts history of mostly male, mostly American superheroes of the 20th century.

This slab of superhero history is a colorful companion to Maslon (Arts/NYU Graduate Acting Program; Broadway: The American Musical, 2010, etc.) and Kantor’s (Make �Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, 2009, etc.) upcoming PBS documentary. It’s one of those strange amalgamations that arise from things like Ken Burns’ documentaries: the comprehensive history that only skims the surface. But as an introduction to comics culture for novices, it does the trick. Starting in 1938, the authors chart the origins of the DC icons and delve into the awful history of Fredric Wertham’s war on fun and the development of the Comics Code Authority. The most iconic characters get their own breakout sections, rendered in dazzling color illustrations. Better segments bring context, with the benefit of hindsight, to groundbreaking moments like Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchmen. However, the authors sometimes diverge from the source texts to focus on TV and hundreds of movies ranging from Christopher Reeve’s iconic performance to the wealth of modern adaptations. This is probably based on the documentary source, which needs that imagery to thrive. One hopes the film more deeply explores some of the more shameful events in the industry’s history, like the bad blood between DC and Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Another aspect that makes the book feel generic is the clear focus on the big two: DC and Marvel, with only a slight deviation into the Image Comics rebellion. That shuts out a ton of indie publishers, effectively pushing eclectic characters ranging from The Rocketeer to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the shadow of more recognizable caped crusaders.

An academic recounting of a truly rich creative history, but it’s territory covered with more fun and attitude by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey’s The Comic Book History of Comics (2012). (full-color art throughout)

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HISTORY DECODED The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time

Meltzer, Brad with Ferrell, Keith Workman (160 pp.) $24.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-7611-7745-6

From a prolific novelist and legal analyst, a bemused look at the hidden conspiracies threaded throughout American history—the companion volume to the History Channel show.

With the assistance of Ferrell (Tougher Times: A Practical Guide for Getting Through Them, 2009, etc.), Meltzer (The Fifth Assassin, 2013, etc.) begins by asserting that, although conspiracy theory can provide a shaky lens for examining our times, “someone must ask the hard questions, especially of our elected officials as well as powerful men who become members of so-called secret societies.” He thus advances an expansive acceptance regarding both controversial and obscure footnotes to various historical narratives, coupled with a keen sense of how a belief in conspiracies has become central to our political life. In discussing the role of the Freemasons in building the White House, plans for the Confederacy to rise again via hidden stashes of “rebel gold” or the possibility that D.B. Cooper was a disgruntled airline employee hiding in plain sight, Meltzer alludes to the kind of ramshackle yet potent cabals that animate pop-culture works like The Da Vinci Code or the National Treasure movies. (Yet the author often steps in to reject the wilder claims he encounters—e.g., that the good deeds of the Freemasons conceal “a secret core of leaders who control and guide the organization towards far darker goals.”) Regarding presidential assassinations, Meltzer first grabs the reader’s attention by asserting that without a DNA investigation, “we’ll never know for sure whether John Wilkes Booth died in 1865.”

He regards the JFK assassination as so complex that he walks readers through 10 separate purported conspiracies within it.

The prose is lively and casually amusing, peppered with asides regarding the sheer wackiness of these hidden tales (e.g., in his supposed quest for the Spear of Destiny, Hitler was “looking to steal a page from the super-villain playbook”), making these compact narratives seem breezily accessible but also less intellectually weighty.

Slick and engaging but lightweight—a good impulse read for fans of secret histories.

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“A detailed view of a mostly unknown business that touches the lives of everyone, whether or not they ever dragged a trash and/or recycle bin out to the curb.” from junkyard planet

JUNKYARD PLANET Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade

WRITING IS MY DRINK A Writer’s Story of Finding Her Voice (and a Guide to How You Can Too)

Minter, Adam Bloomsbury (304 pp.) $26.00 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-60819-791-0

The international recycling business comes under the probing and widely roaming yet ultimately friendly eye of a young journalist.

Bloomberg World View Shanghai correspondent Minter, who grew up working in his family’s junkyard, focuses on scrap metal since the most recycled product in the world, by weight, is an American car. The author concentrates mostly on the United States, a prodigious producer of scrap, and on China, the largest importer of American recyclables, and he fills his story with some colorful characters in both countries. For example, there is Leonard Fritz, the octogenarian founder of a major U.S. recycling firm who began his career in the 1930s scrounging in city dumps, and Johnson Zeng, a Chinese trader headquartered in Canada who travels the United States bargaining for scrap metal to ship to Guangdong Province. These two represent the shift that has taken place in recent decades from local junkyards to a multibillion-dollar global business. Besides exploring the financial side of this huge and profitable business, Minter ventures inside modern processing sites with enormous conveyer belts, sorting machines and shredders and into small workshops where women crouch around plastic bins and pick out bits of metal by hand. Minter acknowledges the damage done to people and the environment by low-tech electronics recycling in the developing world, but he asserts that “the worst, dirtiest recycling is still better than the very best clear-cut forest or the most up-to-date open-pit mine.” Still, Minter, who understands that not everything can be recycled and that some goods are far more difficult to recycle than others, concludes with some advice for concerned environmentalists and conservationists: Demand that companies design products that first can be repaired, then reused and finally recycled.

A detailed view of a mostly unknown business that touches the lives of everyone, whether or not they ever dragged a trash and/or recycle bin out to the curb. (Two 16-page color inserts)

Nestor, Theo Pauline Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $15.00 paper | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4516-6509-3

A woman explores her personal world of writing.

As a child, Nestor (How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed: A Memoir of Starting Over, 2008) was encouraged to be a “good girl,” which “often meant not talking about what was really happening.” She suppressed her knowledge of her mother’s alcoholism and was afraid to speak about her abortion; her fears, silence and denial of the truth made her afraid to put her thoughts down on paper, except in rare moments when she had faith in the ability to hear her inner voice. The author takes readers on the winding path of discovering her writing life as she uncovered that inner voice and found the courage to express her opinions, tackle graduate school and become a writing instructor. With honesty and humility, Nestor voices the thoughts many writers, especially female writers, often feel— the urge to write, that something that often can’t be named until it appears on paper or on a computer screen but which is pushed aside for the sake of others. Woven into the threads of her writing life are moments spent with her mother, stepfather and grandmother, a woman who lived surrounded by art, food and gardening and had a unique joy for life. “Writing offers promise,” writes the author. “At its best, writing comes from the wild place, from the home of the undomesticated, the untamed, the feral. The place that promises that we can bend time and space, the place beyond practicality, punctuality, and iPhones.”

With the use of the numerous writing exercises included at the end of each chapter, readers will unleash their own potentials and find their own wild, untamed writing voices.

Helpful exercises combined with the memories of one woman’s journey down the oftentimes scary and lonely path of the writer.

ORR My Story

Orr, Bobby Putnam (320 pp.) $27.95 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-399-16175-9 One of Boston’s most beloved athletes tells his life story.

Orr heads the extremely short list of athletes never booed in Boston, a city notorious for turning on even its greatest stars. During a brilliant career with the Bruins, cruelly cut short by injuries, he won every award hockey had to offer and retired as the greatest defenseman ever to play. If anything, he’s even

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more cherished now, more than 30 years later, for his modesty, courtesy and many charitable endeavors. This autobiography, by no means a tell-all, does nothing to disturb his gentlemanly image. The wonder here is that the famously reticent Orr has chosen to tell anything. He has harsh words only for his former agent Alan Eagleson, who bilked him of all the money he made in hockey, for out-of-control youth coaches and for pushy parents who rob children of the simple fun of playing the game.

Otherwise, Orr has nothing but good to say about his parents, siblings, neighbors and coaches who taught him respect and responsibility as a youth in Canada; about his teammates, especially players like Johnny Bucyk, Terry O’Reilly, Derek Sanderson, Phil Esposito and general manager Milt Schmidt, to whom he attributes a lot of his pro success; about opponents he admired like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, Jean Béliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, Bobby Clarke and, especially, Gordie Howe, Orr’s candidate for the best player ever. Orr speaks glowingly of athletes and celebrities he’s met and admired, including Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Michael J. Fox and Ted Williams, and he devotes an entire chapter to his long friendship with former coach and Canadian icon Don Cherry. Orr skips lightly over his own on-ice achievements, dwelling only on the hard work and practice it took to become Bobby Orr, his abiding passion for hockey (including some observations on the state of today’s game) and his love for the small town of his boyhood and the big city where he became a legend.

Strictly for fans of the hockey great.

LINCOLN IN THE WORLD The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power Peraino, Kevin Crown (416 pp.) $26.00 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-307-88720-7

In his workmanlike debut, veteran journalist Peraino examines Abraham Lincoln’s role in American foreign policy, “one of the few sparsely stocked corners of an otherwise massive library.”

As is well-known, Lincoln was occupied with pressing domestic matters for his entire administration and largely left the conduct of foreign policy to Secretary of State William Seward. As president, Lincoln had only two overriding foreign policy goals: to keep the nation out of wars with foreign powers and to keep other nations from recognizing the Confederacy. Even the first of these was difficult, as there was a widely held notion that a foreign war might help resolve the Civil War, and public opinion was inflamed by several international crises during this period. These included a clash with Great Britain over the Trent Affair and the French invasion of Mexico in support of the puppet emperor Maximilian. Peraino treats both at length, crediting Lincoln with encouraging journalists to prepare the public for a necessary but embarrassing climb-down over Trent. Discouraging foreign intervention in our own war, 64

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particularly by Britain, where thousands of textile workers were idled by a cotton shortage, required further subtle skill. The author argues that it was accomplished in large part by Lincoln’s gradual transition to emancipation as a war goal, which had a greater moral appeal to the European public than preserving a union that tolerated slavery. This was an approach advanced by, among others, Karl Marx, London correspondent for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune. Finally, however, it detracts nothing from Lincoln’s glory to observe that the author’s view of him as “one of America’s seminal foreign-policy presidents” is something of a stretch. Peraino never fully brings into focus the contours of a distinctly Lincolnian foreign policy.

Though well-researched and engagingly presented, Peraino’s materials include too little new information about Lincoln to add much to readers’ understanding of the 16th president.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE An American Tradition

Perry, Lewis Yale Univ. (424 pp.) $35.00 | Oct. 22, 2013 978-0-300-12459-0

A historian traces the evolution of civil disobedience in America.

Following a graceful opening chapter centering on the relatively recent student strikes at Gallaudet University, a discussion that introduces a number of recurring themes and controversies inhering in civil disobedience, Perry (Emeritus, History/Saint Louis Univ.; Boats Against the Current: American Culture Between Revolution and Modernity, 1820-1860, 1993, etc.) embarks on a chronological journey, beginning with the Boston Tea Party up through today’s opposition to the Keystone Pipeline. Choosing to violate an unjust law, he demonstrates, is a tricky business. Is retaliation to violence ever justifiable?

Destruction of property? Must disobedients willingly accept the full penalties under the law? There is no “right” to civil disobedience—the Constitution makes no mention of it—yet this practice of citizen resistance to government, a gesture situated somewhere between majority rule and revolution, has flourished in America. Civil disobedience has famously been invoked to oppose war and slavery, to support temperance, voting rights and labor reform, and to protest taxes, nuclear power, abortion and various environmental abuses. Perry highlights the stories of some famous disobedients in our history—Angelina Grimké, Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., among many others—but the charm of this treatment lies in the tales of lesser-known practitioners: the missionaries who opposed the removal of Georgia’s Cherokees, black abolitionists who worked for the extirpation of slavery, the elderly Connecticut sisters who, denied the right to vote, refused to pay their taxes, the Vanderbilt divinity school student expelled for his part in lunch counter sit-ins. Obviously well read in the |

“There is no shortage of biographies of Edward VII, but this thick, lucid and lively history deserves pride of place on the shelf.” from the heir apparent

THE HEIR APPARENT A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince

literature of civil disobedience, Perry brings a calm eye to this not-so-genteel topic, where the encounters between opposing forces have oftentimes been anything but civil.

An agreeable mix of scholarly explanation and good storytelling.

THE LAST COWBOY A Life of Tom Landry Ribowsky, Mark Liveright/Norton (640 pp.) $29.95 | Nov. 4, 2013 978-0-87140-333-9

A prolific sportswriter submits a meaty biography of one of the NFL’s legendary coaches.

Except for his World War II service and 10 years spent in New York, most notably as a player, then as defensive coach for the Giants, Tom Landry (1924–2000) was all Texas. Born, raised and educated in the Lone Star State, Landry returned in 1960 to coach the expansion Dallas Cowboys for a record 29 years. After a rocky start, the stoic Landry, among the game’s most influential innovators, turned the franchise into a consistent winner and a huge source of pride for a football-obsessed state and an up-and-coming city looking to live down the shame of the JFK assassination.

Although he was revered by fans and the media until new owner Jerry Jones unceremoniously fired him, Landry’s buttoned-up life poses difficulties for any biographer. Ribowsky (Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports, 2011, etc.) solves most of them by coming at the coach from all angles: thoroughly exploring the Texas connection; interviewing his widow for personal and family stories that open a window on the interior life of the closemouthed coach; examining his complex relationships with some of his greatest stars—Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Bob Hayes—who vainly sought his approval; delineating his role in the Cowboy organization that featured swashbuckling owner Clint Murchison, shrewd president Tex Schramm and super scout Gil Brandt; explaining the complex schemes behind Landry’s exciting brand of football; teasing out his tortured handling of troubled players like Hollywood Henderson and Duane Thomas; measuring the family man and devout Christian against the seemingly bloodless coach who appeared to prize his system over people, who turned a blind eye to the decidedly heathen lifestyle of so many of his players. If Ribowsky never quite penetrates to Landry’s core, he still provides as complete a picture of “God’s Coach” as we’re likely to get.

A must-read for fans of “America’s Team” and, given Landry’s impact on the game, for Cowboy haters too. (16 pages of illustrations)

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Ridley, Jane Random House (752 pp.) $35.00 | Dec. 3, 2013 978-1-4000-6255-3

A highly readable, definitive biography of Queen Victoria’s son, the “black sheep of Buckingham Palace” who matured into an effective monarch.

Originally aiming at a short life of Edward VII (1841–1910), the eponymous British king who gave his name to an age, Ridley (History/Buckingham Univ.; Young Disraeli, 1804-1846, 1995) unexpectedly received unrestricted access to Edward’s papers in the Royal Archives, a privilege not granted in 50 years. This proved irresistible; the author spent 10 years writing this topnotch life of the king. Edward’s mother, Queen Victoria, turns out to be not at all Victorian, but highly sexed, hysterical, as politically assertive as her grandfather and a terrible mother.

Readers will flinch at the brutal educational regimen inflicted on her nine children, documented as if it were an affair of state.

Unlike his siblings, Edward was not bright enough to absorb it or clever enough to sidestep the worst features. During a long, frustrating adulthood, he achieved some independence but never escaped the baleful influence of his mother. Until her death, when Edward was nearing 60, she persistently hectored him for his idle, irresponsible life while refusing to allow him any significant political duty on the grounds that he was idle and irresponsible. His playboy image was largely deserved during his youth, less so when he matured, both in years and in his treatment of women. Ridley emphasizes that not only did he become a wise and reforming king, but that his achievements have been underestimated through efforts of contemporary leaders, such as Arthur Balfour and H.H. Asquith, to suppress his contributions.

There is no shortage of biographies of Edward VII, but this thick, lucid and lively history deserves pride of place on the shelf.

LEFT BRAIN, RIGHT STUFF How Leaders Make Winning Decisions

Rosenzweig, Phil PublicAffairs (336 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-61039-307-2

Rosenzweig (IMD Business School, Switzerland; The Halo Effect: And the Eight Other Business Delusions that Deceive Managers, 2007) offers a different slant on how successful businessmen and other leaders assess risk.

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thinking, a right-brain function, rather than left-brain, rational judgment. Numerous experiments have demonstrated how a positive mindset and reliance on intuition can play an important role in success in sports, but our right-brain rapid-response system may also lead us to overoptimism and biases that cloud judgment in other situations. The author concurs with Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman that it is necessary to be wary of gut reactions when we are faced with making decisions as investors or consumers, especially in situations that leave us open to manipulation. “That makes good sense when we’re asked to make a judgment about something we cannot influence,” writes Rosenzweig, but the story changes when it is up to us to make things happen. In a high-stakes, win-or-lose competitive situation, effective leaders need to evaluate intangibles. “When we can influence outcomes, positive thinking—even holding [overoptimistic] views that are somewhat exaggerated—can be beneficial,” he writes. The author provides examples taken from real-life situations involving major corporate leaders—e.g., competitive bidding for government contracts or mergers and acquisitions—in which undue caution can be more dangerous than overoptimism. Rosenzweig’s title deliberately recalls the phrase coined by novelist Tom Wolfe to describe an experienced fighter pilot’s willingness to take calculated risks. Overoptimistically underbidding may mean taking a loss rather than making a profit, but it can also be a spur to creative solutions that cut costs. “Strategic decisions are not made by individuals acting alone,” writes the author, “but are taken by executives acting within an organizational setting, who must mobilize others to achieve goals.”

A provocative reconsideration of the power of positive thinking.

RUNNING WITH THE PACK Thoughts from the Road on Meaning and Mortality Rowlands, Mark Pegasus (240 pp.) $25.95 | Nov. 6, 2013 978-1-60598-477-3

Rowlands (Philosophy/Univ. of Miami; The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death, and Happiness, 2009, etc.) meditates on how running has brought him “in contact with the intrinsic value of life.”

The author reflects on his boyhood and carefree runs with his dog in the hills of his native Wales, with nothing in mind but the experience itself. This was a time when he first felt what he calls “the heartbeat of the run.” Later in life, he ran more purposefully. At the age of 27, he acquired Brenin, a cuddly wolf cub. Running with Brenin was the only way to channel his exuberant pet’s energy. With the later addition of two canines, the dogs in his pack became his regular running companions, and he describes how he was afflicted with “a rather unfortunate case of species-envy.” Though running became a significant part of Rowlands’ life, he writes, it took many years before he 66

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truly understood its value to him. In 2011, he decided to enter his first marathon, in Florida, where he lived with his wife, sons and dogs. Still, he questioned his motives. Was this a way of addressing a midlife crisis, proving to himself he was up to the challenge? Despite an injury incurred during training, he was able to get in sufficient shape to run, although his training was set back by the need to rest his leg. He describes his thinking process as he battled increasing pain and exhaustion and wondered whether he would collapse before the finish line. In the end, Rowlands concludes that, for him, running is not pleasurable in the usual sense but an experience valuable in itself—a “way of being rather than a way of feeling.”

A delightful re-creation of a memorable experience with special appeal for runners, pet lovers and the philosophically inclined.

OUT OF TIME The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing

Segal, Lynne Verso (320 pp.) $26.95 | Nov. 15, 2013 978-1-78168-139-8

Extended meditations on aging.

Segal (Psychology and Gender Studies/Birkbeck, Univ. of London; Making Trouble: Life and Politics, 2008, etc.) opens this memoir/essay collection by admitting that the concept of aging, and of considering one’s place in the world through the increasingly foggy lens of old age, stirs anxiety and even fear. We spend our youthful years moving through the world, trying to construct the “self ” we want to present to our peers, and then we spend our older years pining for that youth, trying to hold on to all of its attributes. Segal questions whether there is a way to place positive value on the attributes of old age without paradoxically strong-arming the questions of physical health, mental integrity and the labyrinth of feeling young/looking old.

The author explores the thorny questions of dependency, but she goes deeper than just the idea of the reversal of caregiving duties; she explores avenues of dependency, what it can mean in positive and negative terms for those roles to change, and how it never seems to be truly one way or another, except at birth and then at the parent’s advanced old age. Segal walks us through a lively outline of the history of how culture(s) looks at aging, with stories rendering evil as unattractive and old, goodness as beautiful and young. It comprises only a small part of the book, though, as the author’s primary concern is the inner workings of the psyche as age progresses; matters of ageism, relationships changing shape over the years and shifting responses of resistance to death—all these topics and more find voice in this powerful narrative.

Segal refers to multiple cultural touchstones in service of her writing; this book should become a touchstone itself for those interested in aging.

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“A journalist’s engrossing, at times gruesome account of faith-healing abuses within a little-known Christian fundamentalist church.” from in the name of god

PLAYING HOUSE Notes of a Reluctant Mother

Slater, Lauren Beacon (208 pp.) $24.95 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-8070-0173-8

A psychologist and nonfiction writer’s frank meditations on how she formed a family and learned to love the people in her life.

Slater (The $60,000 Dog: My Life with Animals, 2012, etc.) explores how she “[came] to the task of mothering” after surviving a “brutal” childhood. Her early experiences, which included a move from her dysfunctional birth family into a foster home, shaped her into an adult for whom control, rather than personal relationships, was most important.

“I wanted more than a man, a best friend, a child or talent, I wanted a home, she writes,” since ownership itself represented something “magical.” Despite a “brooding and acerbic and selfconsumed” nature and tendencies toward obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, Slater managed to find love, get married and have children. But she still struggled with a number of issues, including attachment. With candor and self-deprecating wit, she describes the difficulty she had bonding with her infant daughter and the lack of interest she had in sex. A driven career woman, Slater eventually grew to love domesticity. She even became an expert in carpentry, a craft that brought her closer to her husband. For all his liberality toward gender roles in the home, he could not understand that “the domestic arts [were] a combination of mindless tasks and mindful executions.” Slater also discusses her fraught relationship with her own body. She talks openly about combating the frumpiness that emerged in the wake of depression as well as her elective double mastectomy surgery to eliminate the too-large breasts that also carried the genetic threat of cancer. At once revealing and disconcerting, Slater’s work celebrates the endless, though not always easy, rebirths that are possible through family life.

A fiercely, lyrically honest memoir.

THE SONS OF WESTWOOD John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty that Changed College Basketball Smith, John Matthew Univ. of Illinois (344 pp.) $24.95 paper | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-252-07973-3

Smith examines the remarkable college basketball dynasty of Coach John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, who won 10 NCAA titles between 1964 and 1975, with a focus on the profound cultural and societal changes during that period.

Few teams in any sport have achieved success comparable to what UCLA basketball did under Wooden (the “Wizard of |

Westwood”), including an 88-game winning streak and seven consecutive national championships. Wooden, a deeply conservative, religious Hoosier, not only transformed the sport into the commercial powerhouse it is today, but also helped transform UCLA from a second-class state school to a worldfamous institution. Though he benefited from the presence on his roster of two of college basketball’s most dominating players (and unique personalities)—Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bill Walton—Wooden was able to maintain an unparalleled level of dominance with a variety of different teams. The author is less concerned with the mechanics of Wooden’s coaching strategy—though the book does include plenty of on-court action—than he is with placing the coach’s career, and those of his players, within the context of the immense upheaval of the 1960s and �70s. In many ways, Wooden was emblematic of the conservative culture of sports, telling his players how to cut their hair and put on their socks, an approach that became more difficult as society changed.

Smith does not shy away from criticism of the legendary coach, including evidence that he turned a blind eye to ethical violations by notorious booster Sam Gilbert, allowed star players to get away with otherwise forbidden behaviors, and may not have been responsible for creating the team’s aggressive style or recruiting its best players.

A highly readable cultural study of one of the greatest teams in sports history. (17 b/w photos)

IN THE NAME OF GOD The True Story of the Fight to Save Children From FaithHealing Homicide Stauth, Cameron Dunne/St. Martin’s (480 pp.) $27.99 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-1-250-00579-3

A journalist’s engrossing, at times gruesome account of faith-healing abuses within a little-known Christian funda-

mentalist church.

Oregon was a state that prided itself on its tolerance for even the most outlandish lifestyles and belief systems. It even had laws that shielded religious groups that practiced faith healing—e.g., the ultraradical Followers of Christ—from prosecution for medically preventable deaths. Stauth (co-author: The End of Pain, 2009, etc.) tells the fascinating story behind both the Followers and the high-profile criminal trials that catapulted the secretive group into the media spotlight. The sect believed “that they alone ruled as supreme beings, operating without restraints” and that only God could cure illness and not going to doctors was the ultimate act of faith and religious commitment. Stauth picks up their story in the late 1990s. Follower children in Clackamas County, Ore., were dying at a needlessly high rate from such treatable maladies as “infection, untreated head injuries…diabetes and meningitis.” Oregon laws protected the children’s parents, as did a strict code of silence among the kirkus.com

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Followers themselves. But one man from within the group— who also served as Stauth’s informant—risked his reputation and personal safety to become the community Judas, offering tips to police investigators and homeopathic remedies to grateful Followers. A former Christian Scientist, Rita Swan took interest in the news stories (and later, court cases) that began to emerge from Clackamas County. Through her efforts, Oregon eventually passed a bill in 2011 that protected children from faith-based neglect. Stauth’s novellike narrative is compelling not just for the way it probes the complex, often contentious relationship between individuals of faith and secular institutions, but also for what it ultimately suggests about the need for limits on religious freedom.

A powerful tale of religious beliefs gone awry.

GRANNY IS MY WINGMAN

Stollak, Kayli Amazon/New Harvest (208 pp.) $20.00 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-0-544-11452-4

Debut memoir recounting the romantic adventures of both a 20-something New York City singleton and her feisty Florida grandmother.

At 24, stinging from a breakup with a boyfriend she’d hoped to marry, Stollak was living in Manhattan and earning close to six figures per year as a cocktail waitress at a swanky nightclub. Lonely and unmotivated, she’d majored in film production at New York University but wasn’t pursuing her passions in either work or love. At the urging of her spirited grandmother, aka Granny, she began to see the upside of being an attractive, single woman. “Why aren’t you putting yourself out there?” she asked over the phone from South Florida. “Are you at least having recreational sex?”

Proclaiming that Granny gives her advice she “needs to hear,” Stollak relays her ensuing romantic and sexual misadventures and triumphs. Simultaneously, following the voluntary ending of a 32-year love affair that outlasted her failed marriage, Granny began dating, too. “It was time,” writes Stollak, “to relinquish our egos, bury the stigma, and embrace the humility of the online dating process.” Both women created profiles and shared with one other, often in crass detail, their respective responses and in-person encounters. The process also taught them more about what each one required in a partner. Granny’s positivity rubbed off on Stollak, giving the latter the ability to laugh about her most terrible dates. As the number of wouldbe suitors increases, readers’ patience for the author’s flippancy goes down.

Rife with obscene details, Stollak’s fluffy memoir gives her a platform to replay dates as well as to reflect on her failed relationship with her ex and, at heart, to renew her appreciation for her grandmother.

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THE MAN WHO KILLED KENNEDY The Case Against LBJ

Stone, Roger with Colapietro, Mike Skyhorse Publishing (352 pp.) $24.95 | Nov. 4, 2013 978-1-62636-313-7

Another in the long line of JFK assassination conspiracy books.

The first sentence in the book is: “I recognize that those who question the government’s official contentions regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy are labeled by many in the mainstream media as ‘nuts,’ ‘kooks’ and worse.” Stone—who shares a byline with journalist Colapietro but writes very personally throughout—uses the rest of the preface to explain why he believes his personal knowledge of political players makes him different. Unfortunately, he shoots himself in the foot. He certainly has political chops, but his pro–Richard Nixon bias is extreme.

Further, he seems to hate Lyndon Johnson purely out of Nixon loyalty. After introducing himself, Stone’s writing lacks the cohesion that would make his argument believable. He presents conclusions as a given long before presenting his supporting evidence and jumps from topic to topic and scene to scene with few transitions. In one memorable section about how Nixon learned of the assassination, Stone inserts a few paragraphs midstory about Johnson trying to keep Nixon from winning in 1968. In the end, readers are unsure of how Nixon’s lines of communication have anything to do with who killed Kennedy and are left wondering why a former Democratic president wouldn’t try to keep a Republican from winning the position. Stone does present some compelling evidence for his argument, but the scattered format and hatred for Johnson make it difficult to focus on those portions. He is at his most clear and convincing when simply pointing out the likelihood that there was some conspiracy afoot in the assassination rather than trying to prove that Johnson was at the helm.

Stone may be right, but his book is unlikely to convince anyone who doesn’t already agree.

THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2013

Strayed, Cheryl—Ed. Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $14.95 paper | Oct. 8, 2013 978-0-544-10388-7

Still under the general editorship of Robert Atwan and this year edited by Strayed (Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, 2012, etc.), the annual reprise of the venerable series takes a decidedly introspective turn.

More than two dozen talented authors, selected by Strayed, write about themselves, more or less. Whether it’s this year’s |

“For the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Swanson breathlessly re-creates the tragedy.” from end of days

editor or the times, it seems more, not less, and first-person singular is the prevailing mode. Don’t look here for classical essays about the state of civilization or self-effacing reportage or unencumbered humor—no shades of E.B. White, Dorothy Parker, Stephen Jay Gould, Joseph Epstein or John McPhee. Rather, among many notable pieces, Zadie Smith muses at length about her coming to appreciate the artistry of Joni Mitchell, Steven Harvey provides a powerful recollection of his mother and her suicide, Jon Kerstetter writes of the pain of combat triage, and Vanessa Veselka presents a harrowing story of runaway girls who ride with truckers. Yielding pleasures beyond the frisson of tales of other people’s woes, the selections are seriously considered and often artfully constructed. With many rhetorical flourishes, they concern fraught travels, serious illnesses, mothers, fathers, youthful friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, birth, life, a lot of death and, perforce, self. Many of these personal essays seek to take on larger meanings, and if some heartfelt pieces, to make a universal point, confuse the essay form with a confessional, the practice works. Other notable contributors include John Jeremiah Sullivan, Alice Munro, Walter Kirn, Charles Baxter, Dagoberto Gilb, and the sources are diverse, from the New Yorker, GQ and the New York Times Magazine to River Teeth, Prairie Schooner and ZYZZYVA. Though the rubric of “essay” seems to be synonymous with “intimate memoir,” these frequently personal encounters remain oddly seductive.

END OF DAYS The Assassination of John F. Kennedy Swanson, James L. Morrow/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $29.99 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-0-06-208348-7 978-0-06-230020-1 e-book 978-0-06-227842-5 Lg. Prt.

For the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Swanson (Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln’s Corpse, 2010, etc.) breathlessly re-creates the tragedy.

Drawing on the decades of technological advances that have deepened the knowledge of the assassination, the author presents the stunning unfolding of the event in punchy, poignant vignettes, following one character after another to the inexorable conclusion. “Today we know much more about the assassination of President Kennedy than the members of the Warren commission did,” acknowledging the organization appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the murder and present its findings nearly a year later. Swanson’s tidy, concise character summaries give a terrific sense of the dramatis personae in just a few strokes: JFK, impossibly brilliant and charismatic, overcoming enormous obstacles to his rising star; stylish Jackie, emerging from mourning the death of newborn Patrick, agreeing to accompany her husband to Dallas as part of the campaigning |

swing through Texas, holding up beforehand for Jack the outfits she had chosen to “show these Texans what good taste really is”; Lee Harvey Oswald, the “lifelong loser and nobody,” planning to catch a bus after killing the president; and LBJ, incredibly poised under the strain of those first few hours, especially regarding his graciousness toward Jackie. Swanson manages a sympathetic, human portrait of Marina, Oswald’s long-suffering Russian wife, and excoriates the Secret Service for many bad decisions—e.g., the immediate washing out of the limo and the rush to take JFK’s body back to Washington, D.C., before a proper criminal autopsy was performed, an oversight that would “come to haunt the history of John Kennedy’s assassination for the next fifty years.” Clarity has finally lifted the lingering suspicion of conspiracy in favor of the creation of a shining Kennedy legacy.

Chilling, gruesome and riveting.

WALDEN’S SHORE Henry David Thoreau and Nineteenth-Century Science

Thorson, Robert M. Harvard Univ. (410 pp.) $29.95 | Dec. 16, 2013 978-0-674-72478-5

Thorson (Geology/Univ. of Connecticut; Beyond Walden: The Hidden History of America’s Kettle Lake and Ponds, 2009, etc.) follows up his earlier work by establishing Henry David Thoreau’s own scientific credentials.

The author adds depth to the iconic image of Thoreau, revered for his contributions to the American literary renaissance and his role as a social reformer. Thorson uses Thoreau’s journals as a source for his contention that he had a keen interest in geology and the emerging theories of geological evolution reflected in Charles Darwin’s Journal of Researches (1851), which Thoreau read with great interest. He cites notations predating The Origin of Species that anticipated Darwin’s theory of natural selection—e.g., how “individual fitness, adaptation, co-evolution, and competition” shaped the evolution of animals and plants. Thoreau accepted the correct view of Swiss paleontologist Louis Agassiz about how glaciation shaped the geology and ecology of the region—a view rejected by American geologists for theological reasons. Thorson explains that his purpose is “to counterbalance what strikes me as a recent trend in ecocriticism that refracts science through literature without being scientific.” He seeks to dig deeper than the “wave of marketing Thoreau as the symbolic ‘green man,’ ” in which his scientific interests are often overlooked. The author takes issue with such authors as Leo Marx, who reduced the inner meaning of Walden to “the dialectic tension between industrial progress and the timeless beauty of nature.” Marx and others often bypassed Thoreau’s intellectual connection to the ideas that were animating Darwin and the geologists, such as Charles Lyell, who helped shape Darwin’s thought. Thorson suggests that seasonal change and the contrast in Walden Pond between summer and kirkus.com

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“Authoritative, information-packed must-read for urban policymakers.” from smart cities

THE MOUNTAIN My Time on Everest

winter is a metaphor for Thoreau’s own mind, which “toggled [between] poetic and scientific.”

An intriguing academic book best read in conjunction with Walden. (19 halftones; 17 line illustrations)

SMART CITIES Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia

Townsend, Anthony Norton (400 pp.) $28.95 | Oct. 7, 2013 978-0-393-08287-6

A leading guru on technology and urban life describes how electronic devices are creating a “historic shift” in the way we build and run cities.

Townsend—research director at the Institute for the Future, in Palo Alto, and a senior research fellow at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy—presents a cohesive view of developments that most urbanities have noticed only in bits and pieces: sensors that monitor traffic speeds, self-flushing toilets, and technologies that optimize heating and cooling systems in buildings, balance the flow of electricity through power grids and keep transportation networks moving. Since 2008, numerous metropolitan areas have experienced a “smart-cities gold rush,” fueled by advances in information technology, mayors seeking answers to urban problems, and corporations like IBM and Cisco eager to provide the infrastructure for “efficient, safe, convenient living.” In the next decade, more than $100 billion will be spent globally on smart infrastructure. His examples of smart-city building range from Zaragoza, Spain, which has used smart technology to completely reinvent its landscape, economy and government, to San Francisco and other large American cities, which have adapted technologies to meet local needs. Townsend especially focuses on the clash between industry’s cookie-cutter approach to smart-city building and the quirky local approach of civic hackers pushing decentralized and democratic alternatives. The author, who has been personally involved in creating free public Wi-Fi, sympathizes with young people, who have been weaned on the mobile Web and social media and are experimenting with human-centered designs based on grass-roots smart-city technologies—e.g., mobile apps, community wireless networks and open-source microcontrollers. Townsend covers topics from mass urban surveillance to how the poor can benefit from smart technologies, and he offers his own principles for creating human-centered smart cities.

Authoritative, information-packed must-read for urban policymakers.

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Viesturs, Ed with Roberts, David Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $27.00 | Oct. 8, 2013 978-1-4516-9473-4 The world’s most widely known highaltitude mountaineer reflects on his Everest career.

If you had to pick only one advantage for this fourth memoir from Viesturs (The Will to Climb: Obsession and Commitment and the Quest to Climb Annapurna—the World’s Deadliest Peak, 2011, etc.), it’s that the man knows the territory intimately. These in-depth stories about and reflections on Everest by the author—who was first to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-plus–meter peaks (by happy accident, by his own admission)—are bolstered by world-class assists from acclaimed adventure writer Roberts (Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration, 2013, etc.). Viesturs wisely shies away from Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air territory (“Is there anything new to say about the disaster on Mount Everest in the spring of 1996? I doubt it”). Instead, the author intertwines the still-gripping stories of his summits between 1987 and 2009 with a critical eye on other legendary exploits, from the great mystery of the 1924 expedition to unique challenges presented by certain routes to unexplained hoaxes through the years. In the process, Viesturs unearths some interesting tidbits that may be well-known to his community but new to laymen. The author, who has been lauded for his compassion and assistance to other climbers, also brings an unexpected attribute: attitude. One question that continually surfaces is whether he believes George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made it to the summit before their deaths in 1924, and Viesturs is brutally candid. “My answer is this: It doesn’t matter whether Mallory and Irvine got to the summit. It’s irrelevant. They didn’t make it back down.” This is followed by the even terser admonishment: “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting back down is mandatory.”

The depth of feeling here and the writers’ hard-earned experience elevate this volume above many other books in the popular “snow and ice” genre.

AC/DC Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be

Wall, Mick St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $26.99 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-250-03874-6

Comprehensive, albeit indirect, retelling of how an unlikely collection of lads road the highway to hell straight into the upper echelons of rock’s pantheon of gods.

U.K. rock journalist Wall (Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica, 2011, etc.) begins where any good history of the seminal |

“A sharp, eye-opening look at campaign politics and some of the often unlikable but inarguably effective operatives who populate the West Wing and its environs.” from the message

band should: wild man singer and all-around-good-time-guy Bon Scott cheating death after a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Alas, even the delightfully and demonically charged Scott couldn’t outwit the grim reaper very long, dying soon after that at the age of 33 following a particularly shady night of partying.

Not surprisingly, the author devotes many pages to Scott in an examination of the legendary lothario’s desperate efforts to make it as a rock singer in far-flung Australia. Wall parallels that rough-and-tumble odyssey with that of a diminutive pair of belligerent brothers almost a decade Scott’s junior: Malcolm and Angus Young. According to the author, the Youngs ruled—and continue to rule—AC/DC with absolute, iron-fisted authority.

At the time, that forced even the supremely talented and singularly gifted Scott to constantly watch his step—and keep his distance. Nevertheless, the author notes that Angus, the guitarobsessed problem child in the iconic schoolboy uniform, “loved” Scott. Unfortunately, none of the members of the band participated in the writing, so the author relies on mostly third-party accounts and previously published interviews to get a real sense of the interband dynamic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since the principals in anyone’s life story can often be the most myopic. Among the most revelatory items: Angus was hooked on milkshakes, and AC/DC was glam!

Like most of Wall’s books, this one will be best appreciated by devotees of the band, which, given the fact that AC/ DC has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, is quite a large audience. (Two 8-page color photo inserts)

ROMAN PILGRIMAGE The Station Churches

Weigel, George with Lev, Elizabeth Photos by Weigel, Stephen Basic (448 pp.) $35.00 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0465027699 Lent in Rome, one church at a time.

Noted scholar of Catholicism Weigel (Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st Century Church, 2013, etc.) ambitiously shares the Lenten practice of visiting various churches in Rome each day during the season leading up to Easter (as well as Easter Week). Aided by Lev and photographer Stephen Weigel, the author presents a comprehensive, visually appealing work. Weigel’s Lenten tour of Rome acts as part travelogue and part theological primer, and he introduces readers to some of Rome’s most splendid and historically significant places of worship. A key to appreciating Weigel’s book, however, is to see it in the way he presents it: as a story of pilgrimage. Just as early Christians first visited the tombs of martyrs throughout Rome, modern-day Christians replicate their path by visiting the shrines, churches and cathedrals that rose up from those original tombs. Weigel is keen to share the power and importance of pilgrimage as a practice and as a concept.

Each chapter—representing a day of the Lenten/Easter calendar—includes readings for the day, photos of the site, a historical sidebar and discussion of the church’s wider theological |

importance. Weigel does an admirable job of weaving story and history into each chapter, introducing readers to characters long since forgotten to most. All the while, the author clearly describes the architectural importance of each site. Though non-Catholics may find this expansive and rich study a difficult introduction to the Catholic view of Lent, many Catholics will find it both interesting and inviting. The grandeur of Catholic Rome is clearly on display here, albeit tied to a humbler past that suffered from the brutality of others yet still endured.

Engrossing, expansive pictorial study on a renewed Lenten discipline at the heart of Roman Catholicism.

THE MESSAGE The Reselling of President Obama

Wolffe, Richard Twelve (288 pp.) $27.00 | Sep. 17, 2013 978-1-4555-8156-6

An engaging fly-on-the-wall report from inside the 2012 Obama presidential re-election campaign.

There were nearly countless reasons for the incumbent to lose that election. However, suggests MSNBC executive editor and former Newsweek senior White House correspondent Wolffe (Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House, 2011, etc.), who has authored two previous books on the president, Mitt Romney was not really one of them. Instead, the president’s numbers were at historic lows, owing almost exclusively to a sputtering economy, and therein lay a problem: The Obama campaign could properly argue that “the economy was better than voters believed it to be,” though it ran the risk in doing so of making the president seem boastful. The Romney campaign had plenty of problems of its own, including an uninspiring candidate and the remarkably strange moment at the Republican National Convention when Clint Eastwood talked to an empty chair (a bigger debacle than it seemed at the time), but the Obama campaign had scarcely a better handle on its vaunted voter-trend technology than its leaders later claimed. By Wolffe’s account, the president himself wanted to fight the Republicans more forcefully than his handlers would allow—and his handlers were often busier fighting among themselves than battling the opposition. Though by election eve the Obama victory was a foregone conclusion, throughout the long campaign, the election was Obama’s to lose, and there were plenty of opportunities to do so. As Wolffe writes, “the reelection of Barack Obama rested on a team that showed few signs of coming together until it was almost too late.”

A sharp, eye-opening look at campaign politics and some of the often unlikable but inarguably effective operatives who populate the West Wing and its environs.

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“A fascinating study of American entrepreneurial culture and the modern robber barons who succeeded in creating an energy revolution.” from the frackers

THE FRACKERS The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters Zuckerman, Gregory Portfolio (320 pp.) $29.95 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-59184-645-1

Award-winning Wall Street Journal columnist Zuckerman (The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History, 2009) calls drilling for shale gas and oil “one of the greatest energy revolutions in history.”

The author contends that reality has proven contrary to doom-and-gloom peak-oil prognostications. America, he writes, is on the verge of being energy independent, outpacing the Saudis, and we are in the top ranks of natural gas producers worldwide. Ironically, from the standpoint of investors, the problem has been an unpredicted glut of natural gas that unexpectedly caused prices to bottom out. Zuckerman claims that the United States is on the verge of an energy boom that will generate “more than two million new jobs by 2020,” since the low cost of American gas and oil will lure investment. Export abroad will decrease the trade deficit and strengthen the dollar, while energy independence will free the U.S. from “costly foreign entanglements.” The author chronicles the success of a group of wildcatters initially operating on the fringes of the energy industry. Fracking—a shorthand term for high-pressure, hydraulic fracturing of rock to release oil or gas—was a known technology since the days of the Civil War, but it took off during the economic boom of the 1990s. Zuckerman profiles the major players in the game, and he also addresses the ecological impact of the technology. He believes that while there are issues—e.g., potential contamination of the water supply and increased seismic activity—he is optimistic that they can be addressed and remedied in a proper regulatory environment.

A first step would be to reveal the composition of pressurized liquid to ensure that it does not contain toxins or carcinogens.

A fascinating study of American entrepreneurial culture and the modern robber barons who succeeded in creating an energy revolution.

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MOMO AND SNAP ARE NOT FRIENDS!

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Anderson, Airlie Illus. by Anderson, Airlie Child’s Play (32 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-84643-603-1

FOUL TROUBLE by John Feinstein.......................................................79 THE ROYAL RANGER by John Flanagan........................................... 80 WILD BERRIES by Julie Flett............................................................. 80 ODD, WEIRD & LITTLE by Patrick Jennings...................................... 84 BIG LITTLE MOTHER by Kevin Kling; illus. by Chris Monroe......... 86 CHAMPION by Marie Lu.....................................................................87 A LETTER FOR BEAR by David Lucas...............................................87 LET’S GET CRACKING! by Cyndi Marko.......................................... 88 TO DARE MIGHTY THINGS by Doreen Rappaport; illus. by C.F. Payne............................................................................... 94 ENGINES OF THE BROKEN WORLD by Jason Vanhee......................97 THE MESSAGE OF THE BIRDS by Kate Westerlund; illus. by Feridun Oral........................................................................... 99 LOCOMOTIVE by Julian Tuwim; illus. by Maciej Szymanowicz; dev. by Big Rabbit...............................................................................102

A crocodile and a monkey learn the value of friendship.

When Momo and Snap first meet, they are anything but friends. In fact, they are downright rivals. Momo shows off his impressive monkey sounds: “Ooo ooo aaa!”; Snap responds with a loud “Rrrrrg!” Momo snarls and says, “Scree!”; Snaps lets out an angry “Hiss!” Momo jumps into a one-handed handstand, but Snap can do acrobatics too. And juggling bananas? Snap can balance them on his snout! This one-upmanship continues on land and in water, until a trio of lionesses come looking for dinner. Snap suddenly scoops Momo up and rushes to the nearby bushes to hide. Their differences are forgotten, and a friendship is born! However, this simple plot has a twist in its telling.

Anderson uses only sounds and bright, cheery illustrations to convey the story. Before Snap meets Momo, for example, he is out for a walk casually humming an adorable “Tum ti tum!” And when Momo is underwater, he bubbles, “Blip blip blip!” With few words, Snap, the stubby-legged crocodile, and Momo, the chubby, round monkey, give young readers a chance to turn into young storytellers.

A sweet reminder of how one act of kindness can change the course of many an argument. (Picture book. 3-8)

SMELLING SUNSHINE

A LETTER FOR BEAR

Lucas, David Illus. by Lucas, David Flying Eye Books (32 pp.) $14.95 Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-909263-13-0

Anderson, Constance Illus. by Anderson, Constance Star Bright (32 pp.) $16.99 | $6.99 paper | Oct. 25, 2013 978-1-59572-635-3 978-1-59572-636-0 paper Mothers and children worldwide celebrate the pleasures of putting out laun-

dry and taking it in.

In a child’s voice (but an adult’s language), the narrator begins with readying the laundry on “washing day,” “for the laughing birds, / the insects floating by, // the neighborhood dogs / barking out their stories, // and the clothespins.” Once the sunshine has filled “everything on the clothesline / with smells, stories, and wind,” garments and blankets are brought inside to fold, stack and cover the bed—with a comforting smell |

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“…engaging nonfiction for the youngest set.” from the tiger cubs and the chimp

of sunshine to counter nighttime frets. Beginning with a view of two children standing on a world map, Anderson’s paint, fabric and paper collages suggest but don’t specify locations with visual cues like a screen of green bamboo, a desert background, glimpses of apartment-house walls, and figures in blue jeans or skirts and dresses with bright floral or kente patterns. The laundry is likewise generic, and all the underwear has been hung out of sight. On spreads with single-page illustrations, contrasting shifts of place or season make visual transitions abrupt, and apparently nowhere in the world are fathers involved in laundry.

Still, when it comes to domestic chores, hanging laundry is about as universal as it gets, and the activity is presented here as an intimate, positive experience for parent and child to share. (Picture book. 5-8)

THE TIGER CUBS AND THE CHIMP The True Story of How Anjana the Chimp Helped Raise Two Baby Tigers

Antle, Bhagavan “Doc”; Feldman, Thea Photos by Bland, Barry Henry Holt (32 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-8050-9319-3

A chimpanzee cuddles two baby tigers and watches over them as they grow.

Mitra and Shiva are twin brother white tigers. When they were only 3 days old, a big storm separated them from their mother. China, an animal worker at The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species began taking care of them. She had a special assistant: Anjana the chimp, who also grew up at the animal preserve. After watching China carefully, Anjana steps in and learns how to feed the cubs bottles of warm milk.

Anjana also plays with Mitra and Shiva, giving them affection and comfort. When they are scared, she puts her arms around them and says, “Boop, boop, boop”—which apparently means, “I am here with you. You are okay.” Following the same clean photo-album layout as Suryia & Roscoe (2011) (Suryia makes an appearance with Mitra and Shiva too), with simple sentence structure, this is engaging nonfiction for the youngest set. An author’s note explains how the animal-preserve setting fostered this relationship. Since she feels so safe and secure, Anjana is able to overcome her natural fear of predatory animals.

Unusual-friendship tales are not uncommon, but two unexpected, yet endearing, animals hugging will never fail to charm. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

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SPLENDOR

Arnold, Elana K. Delacorte (352 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB Nov. 12, 2013 978-0-385-74213-9 978-0-307-97415-0 e-book 978-0-375-99043-4 PLB Arnold’s follow-up to Sacred (2012), though still somewhat hobbled by its predecessor’s flaws, presents an artful and satisfying coming-of-age arc for protagonist Scarlett.

In a gutsy move, the novel opens with an explicit description of the artificial insemination of Scarlett’s beloved mare, Delilah. Delilah’s pregnancy becomes Scarlett’s touchstone for her senior year, the developing foal a metaphor for Scarlett’s slow, continuing rebirth. As the Catalina summer swings into fall, Scarlett has come to some peace with the death of her brother, though her family remains broken. Her boyfriend, Will, is off to Yale, but her best friend, Lily, has returned from Europe for the school year. Scarlett has cause to worry about both of them: Will is determined to use his psychic power to predict violence to save lives, and Lily has become even wilder, dangerously so, than before. Caring for her mare keeps her grounded; she sees to her spiritual side by studying cabala with a Jewish mystic on the mainland. While Arnold is fettered by the narrative construct she established in the first book, she downplays its more melodramatic aspects by focusing closely on narrator Scarlett and her emotional journey. The result is a fluidly written character study that finds Scarlett coming to terms with her spirituality, her relationships and her future.

This honest, contemplative sequel rises above its weaknesses, just like Scarlett herself. (Fiction. 14 & up)

HOW TO BUILD AN IGLU AND A QAMUTIIK

Awa, Solomon Illus. by Breithaupt, Andrew Inhabit Media (40 pp.) $9.95 paper | Dec. 1, 2013 978-1-927095-31-7 Series: Inuit Tools and Techniques, 1

An Inuit craftsman who teaches traditional knowledge at Nunavut Arctic College describes the construction of a traditional Inuit ice house—an iglu—and a long sled called a qamutiik.

This intriguing title provides step-by-step directions using customary methods and modern tools and materials. These directions are illustrated with drawings for each step, from cutting and arranging blocks for the iglu to the lacing and tying of the boards of the sled. Along with his instructions, the author provides some background, including descriptions of the materials used historically and pitfalls to avoid. He makes clear that designs vary according to region and local conditions. The Inuktitut version of this book—an adaptation of a poster series—is

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available free of charge on the Web; this presentation is delivered in both Inuktitut (in Inuktitut script) and English. The color photographs will help readers visualize the process and imagine the product, but some additional background is probably still necessary. The author and illustrator take for granted that readers understand the spiral construction of an iglu, for instance, and it is not clear whether the final block is set in place from inside or out.

An obvious purchase for schools with curricular connections, this will have special appeal to young people interested in wilderness survival, whether armchair travelers or experienced campers, as well as lovers of Newbery winner Julie of the Wolves. (Nonfiction. 10-16)

CITY CAT

Banks, Kate Illus. by Castillo, Lauren Farrar, Straus and Giroux (48 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-0-374-31321-0 A black cat serves as European tour guide for child readers in this offering from Banks and Castillo.

The cat and a family of travelers begin in Rome. Outstanding backmatter later tells readers that the famed Coliseum is home to over 200 stray cats that are protected by Roman law.

But before reaching the informational paratext, readers follow the cat from one European locale to another, right alongside the family on holiday. The family seems almost superfluous, even intrusive to the cat’s adventure. First, the cat stows away in the back of the family’s car and ends up in Marseille, and it then goes on to Barcelona and five other destinations before returning to Rome. Banks’ graceful writing describes the sites visited through sensory detail, while Castillo’s soft, yet detailed

A Few Fall Favorites

From loving grandmothers to lush rainforests to art-loving dogs, our fall releases will entertain, inform, and provide countless hours of reading pleasure.

Perfect for home or classroom libraries.

To order: 866-918-3956

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art deftly fills in narrative gaps by showing how the cat gets from place to place. Some legs of the journey may seem a bit implausible, and it’s quite coincidental that the cat and the family keep turning up in the same places. By book’s end, the nod to the child asleep in his bed and the cat “curled up in a statue’s arm” nearby feels rather forced. Nevertheless, the art presents a veritable feast for the eyes from page to page, and Banks’ narrative is characteristically well-paced and lyrical.

A lovely, if unlikely, feline journey. (Picture book. 4-8)

JUMP SHOT

Barber, Tiki; Barber, Ronde with Mantell, Paul Simon & Schuster (160 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4424-5729-4 978-1-4424-5731-7 e-book Series: Barber Game Time Books, 7

summer dance camp roommates Simone Stark and Hannah Segal immediately notice their striking physical similarities and conclude (with the help of a quick DNA test) that they are identical twins separated at birth. Their similarities end with their appearance, however. Shy, studious Simone would love to give up her spot at an elite dance school, but her rigid single mother won’t ever listen. Outgoing Hannah wishes she could turn her extracurricular dance into a career, but her book-publishing parents want her to take academics more seriously. After successfully switching identities at camp, the teens prepare each other for trading families. The ups and downs of juggling new friends, boyfriends and parents are predictable yet satisfying. Catholic Simone’s struggles with navigating a Hebrew school and Hannah’s fears of getting kicked out of dance school for lack of talent create a light tension, while text messages from an unknown sender who threatens to reveal their secret add a hint of mystery.

Just like the Disney film, there’s clean fun as sisters bond and romance builds. (Fiction. 12 & up)

THE ONE AND ONLY 1, 2, 3 BOOK

In their seventh book, Hidden Valley Junior High’s star footballers Tiki and Ronde Barber keep busy in the offseason

by playing basketball.

There is one spot open on the basketball team, and a teammate’s dad has offered either twin 20 hours a week of work at his warehouse. In keeping with the book’s generally light tone, which teen will play ball and which will work is decided in a feelgood, amicable competition, with only a bit of friendly trash talk as each twin tries to outshoot the other. Tiki joins the team, only to discover that his teammates have low morale, thanks to ball-hogging star player Sugar Morton and the well-meaning but ineffective coach who won’t stand up to him. Ronde’s lesson comes in the form of his economically struggling co-worker, Ralph Ramirez, whose mom’s illness reminds Ronde that “[w]hatever problems he and Tiki had, other people had harder things to deal with, by far.” Meanwhile, Tiki addresses his problems with Sugar in the advice column he writes for the school newspaper, which—in the book’s least convincing plot point—helps Sugar see the error of his ways.

Lively basketball action and life lessons aplenty, some more realistic than others. (Fiction. 8-12)

PIROUETTE

Bavati, Robyn Flux (312 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 8, 2013 978-0-7387-3481-1 The Parent Trap goes to the ballet.

A worker in a Brazilian orphanage gives identical twin babies, slated to be adopted by different parents in different parts of the world, a chance to meet again by ensuring they both end up placed with families in Melbourne, Australia. Fifteen years later, 76

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Blechman, R.O. Illus. by Blechman, R.O. Creative Editions/Creative Company (24 pp.) $15.99 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-1-56846-245-5 Numbers and letters vie for supremacy in this amusing picture book.

“I’m the one and only one,” announces Number 1, brandishing his number 1 cup. Neither Number 2, with two shoes, nor Number 3 (with three cows) nor any of the other numbers—not even 5 with five elephants—is able to compete with Number 1.

Chaos threatens to erupt when a lowercase letter a appears in the mix, humbly asking if this is the alphabet book? By the time the pages have filled with planes, cups of coffee and dancing frogs, Number 1 is feeling claustrophobic. He runs to an empty page with his precious cup. For a few minutes he is alone, “Just me. The one and only one!” His hard-won solitude is short-lived, however. The errant letter a appears again, along with a handful of letters, all searching for the alphabet book. This is, of course, the numbers book! Renowned cartoonist Blechman manages to put an original spin on a well-worn theme. His whimsical and wiggly numbers are brimming with character and help to transform the frequently tedious ordeal of learning to count into a lightly humorous explication with which kids, parents, librarians and teachers can have fun. The hand-lettered speech balloons might occasionally be hard for beginning readers, but the sense is usually obvious from the context.

Not quite as simple as ABC, but great fun nonetheless.

(Picture book. 3-6)

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“The delicious temptation to take an active role in the surreal adventure by adding details or even whole subplots will be hard to resist.” from ballad

BALLAD

Blexbolex Illus. by Blexbolex Enchanted Lion Books (280 pp.) $22.95 | Nov. 7, 2013 978-1-59270-137-7 Pictured in a long spate of silkscreen tableaux bound up in a small, bricklike volume, a bored child’s daydream zigzags its way into an increasingly wild

fantasy adventure.

Printed (seemingly) on rough denim, the grainy, stylized scenes are designed to be understood at a glance and paged through quickly. Staid opening images of a school, a road and a house are transformed by both increasing detail and the appearances of new characters. These range from a pair of bandits and a witch to a duster-wearing stranger, police officers, soldiers, a dragon and others. Even as both characters and visual complexity multiply, readers are further shaken up by scenery occasionally being turned upside down and later sideways. Ultimately, the stranger becomes a protagonist who escapes various dangers, discovers treasure and rescues a princess from a sorcerer. With her, he defeats the witch amid bolts of spell-cast lightning…and comes home at last. Aside from allusive chapter heads—“A hero is revealed. During a long and perilous journey several scores are settled. In the forest, night itself is an enchantress”—the narrative is entirely composed of one- or two-word identifiers beneath each picture that are strung into sequences (“The school, / the road, / home”) while, occasionally, themselves turning upside down or even vanishing in part: “the .” Despite an unconventional presentation and dizzying twists, the tale ends up on a classic course.

The delicious temptation to take an active role in the surreal adventure by adding details or even whole subplots will be hard to resist. (Picture book. 6-9)

THE MISSING JULIET

Cameron, Sam Bold Strokes Books (256 pp.) $11.95 paper | Nov. 19, 2013 978-1-60282-959-6 Series: Fisher Key Adventures, 3

kidnapping. The action somewhat runs out of steam when Juliet returns, but by then, Robin has landed an internship on the set with ex–boy-band member Austin, who turns out to be Liam’s secret boyfriend. An array of subplots and side characters—including a transgender woman whose portrayal is wellintentioned but occasionally disrespectful—keep the story moving. After relatively low-key encounters with a dreamy young policewoman and a dramatic but cordially resolved love triangle, the high-stakes kidnapping-related climax feels out of place, though enjoyable.

A mostly appealing cast of LGBTQ characters; a hitand-miss plot. (Mystery. 12-18)

THE PROMISE OF AMAZING

Constantine, Robin Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 31, 2013 978-0-06-227948-4 Good girl tames bad boy in Constantine’s first novel.

High school junior Wren Caswell has entered her “semester of discontent.”

Denied entry to Sacred Heart Academy’s National Honor Society for being “too quiet” and ranked No. 49 out of 102 students, Wren has never stood out from the crowd. Grayson Barrett is a repentant player and self-described “term-paper pimp” trying to distance himself from his crew of baddies and leave his manipulative ways behind.

When Wren saves him from choking on a cocktail weenie at a wedding reception held at her family’s banquet hall, the Camelot Inn, their lives become a game of Mars vs. Venus. The stereotypical male-female dynamic takes hold: Wren becomes the reformed con artist’s “moral compass,” and she spends too much time overanalyzing his actions and apparent disses, pretending she doesn’t care when he doesn’t return her texts. Wren and Grayson share the narration chapter by chapter, and their witty banter moves the story along. Nevertheless, it’s still a fairly standard teen love story: Girl and boy from different social circles meet, face obstacles from family and friends, and fall in love.

Feminists may recoil, but fans of light romance will discover a satisfying weekend read. (Fiction. 14 & up)

THE OFFERING

In an uneven mystery featuring gay and lesbian teen sleuths, a young actress’s disappearance alarms her co-stars and fans.

Unlike the first two Fisher Key adventures, which centered on twins Steven and Denny Anderson, this one stars out-and-proud, opinionated lesbian teen Robin McGee. When Robin’s longtime celebrity crush, Juliet Francine, and Francine’s co-star, Liam Norcott, begin filming a movie in nearby Key West, Robin and her friend Sean try to sneak onto the set. As luck would have it, they arrive just as the cast and crew discover a ransom note announcing Juliet’s |

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Derting, Kimberly McElderry (304 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4424-4562-8 Series: Pledge, 3 In the conclusion of the Pledge trilogy, Charlaina, usually called Charlie, has become queen of Ludania, but she can’t escape the essence of the evil Sabara, which still lurks within her. |

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“Jonas’ friendship with Levi, a sensitive, generous, loyal, devout Christian from Arkansas, gives the novel a strong, emotional center.” from swagger

Although she’s determined to avoid a war with Queen Elena of Astonia, Charlie can’t resist Elena’s secret offer to rid her of Sabara’s essence. She teams up with elite guard Eden and best friend Brooklynn to sneak out of the Capitol and trek to Astonia in disguise. She also hopes to rescue Xander, Eden’s heartthrob and Max’s brother, whom Elena captured and whose severed hand she sent to Charlie. Charlie also carries on her romance with Max, delivered with all the conventions of the genre, including sentence fragments and pages-long clinchés.

The plot’s suspense plays itself out effectively against the story’s mix of medieval and modern elements. Charlie’s characterization is not so successful, particularly when contrasted against such nifty secondary figures as Caspar, the sly young leader of a group of rogue children. Charlie herself suffers from nearly constant insecurity punctuated by momentary episodes of badass strength. These occur so seldom that the weakness wins, making Charlie seem more victim than heroine and prompting the author to resort to deus ex machina in the climactic scene.

Entertaining, but not up to Derting’s usual standards.

(Paranormal suspense. 12 & up)

SWAGGER

Deuker, Carl Houghton Mifflin (304 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-547-97459-0 After his dad loses his job, basketball point guard Jonas Dolan starts over with a new team.

To earn a college basketball scholarship, Jonas needs to play well and improve his grades. Both tasks become trickier, however, when the family moves to Seattle from Redwood City, Calif. His new coach, Knecht, plays old-school, bythe-book basketball and barely lets Jonas on the court. Jonas thinks he has a better shot when the charismatic new assistant coach, Hartwell, takes over the team. Despite his charm, Hartwell’s judgment starts to seem questionable when he invites the team to a party at his apartment where he serves alcohol and when he helps Jonas cheat on a chemistry test. His sinister side isn’t revealed in full, however, until Jonas’ friend Levi discloses that Hartwell has repeatedly sexually assaulted him. Jonas’ friendship with Levi, a sensitive, generous, loyal, devout Christian from Arkansas, gives the novel a strong, emotional center.

The basketball action is well-drawn, and Jonas’ frustration at Knecht’s style of play is palpable. More attention could have been given, however, to the complexities of deciding how to respond to a friend who has been sexually assaulted and doesn’t want to tell anyone.

A largely well-executed exploration of team spirit, friendship and the devastating impact of untrustworthy adults. (Fiction. 12-18)

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CY IN CHAINS

Dudley, David L. Clarion (336 pp.) $16.99 | Dec. 17, 2013 978-0-547-91068-0 A black teen finds himself sold to a brutal chain gang in post-Reconstruction Georgia.

The period following Reconstruction in the American South was particularly difficult for blacks, many of whom worked on plantations as sharecroppers. Cy Williams and his father, Pete, work for John Strong as he tries to eke out a living on a once-thriving plantation. Cy’s mother has abandoned the family, forever changing Pete. The one friendship Cy has is with Travis, Strong’s young son, who fears his often drunken father. After an enraged Strong abuses the horse beloved by the boys, Travis flees with the animal, and Cy tries to retrieve them—a venture that ends with Travis dead and Cy in peonage, a system by which blacks were sold to work camps or chain gangs for minor infractions or no charges at all. Cy’s life changes from tough to nightmarish as he is linked to other men and boys with little hope of release. This is a story of relentless brutality, with the prisoners enduring almost every possible indignity. There are too few instances of story tension to lift the narrative, with the result that it often feels flat despite the horrors described. Characters are primarily victims and villains, and the use of derogatory racial language is used often to make that point.

A tough, important read, though many readers will need prior background knowledge to fully understand it.(Historical fiction. 14 & up)

PEACE ON EARTH, A CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

Engelbreit, Mary Illus. by Engelbreit, Mary Zonderkidz (40 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 8, 2013 978-0-310-74340-8

Engelbreit continues her exploration of traditional Christmas fare with this collection of Christmas carols, poems and short biblical passages about the Nativity.

The biblical verses are drawn from the books of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, with short selections describing the journeys of the shepherds and the wise men. The rest of the Nativity story is conveyed through traditional Christmas carols such as “The First Noel” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.” Short poems fill in more of the Christmas story with familiar and rather old-fashioned choices such as William Blake’s “The Lamb” and the traditional “Lullay, My Liking.” Engelbreit’s illustrations are filled with smiling children of different ethnicities, beautiful angels surrounded by glowing light, and traditional, sweetly pleasant illustrations of Mary and the Christ Child. Many of the illustrations

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are full-page, surrounded by intricate borders, and often have short quotes or sayings incorporated into the art. This is a collection that will serve children best by dipping into over several sessions rather than reading straight through.

Engelbreit’s legions of fans, many of them adults, adore her illustration style, and they will love this cream puff of a holiday offering. (Picture book/religion. 4-9)

DOG DAYS

English, Karen Illus. by Freeman, Laura Clarion (128 pp.) $14.99 | Dec. 17, 2013 978-0-547-97044-8 Series: Carver Chronicles, 1 A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.

Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle.

When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other troubleprone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.

This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)

of the most aggressively recruited high school seniors in the country, and his friend and teammate Danny Wilcox. At a summer camp ironically called “School Comes First,” the boys get their first taste of what will become a yearlong ordeal. Despite NCAA rules about what kinds of incentives high school and college basketball players can accept, sleazy men in suits keep showing up to court Terrell and anyone they think can influence him. There is a large cast of characters to keep track of, and the story unfolds over most of a year, but sophisticated readers will be rewarded. The on-court scenes excellently pair discussions of plays and strategy with nail-biting, second-by-second action.

The off-court intrigue is similarly tense. Danny’s quick temper, Terrell’s occasional naïveté and their coach’s firm levelheadedness clash dramatically with the slick maneuvers of exploitative adults. The factors surrounding Terrell’s choices are presented thoughtfully and without didacticism.

Thorough and suspenseful; a must-read for those interested in basketball and the dealings surrounding the sport.

(Fiction. 14 & up)

FOUL TROUBLE

Feinstein, John Knopf (400 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Nov. 12, 2013 978-0-375-86964-8 978-0-375-98454-9 e-book 978-0-375-98246-0 PLB Two prominent high school basketballers navigate college decisions amid a throng of unscrupulous coaches, agents, shoe-company representatives and other hangers-on vying for their attention.

The third-person narrator switches—sometimes unexpectedly—between two boys’ points of view: Terrell Jamerson, one |

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EXTRACTED

Ficklin, Sherry D.; Jolley, Tyler H. Spencer Hill Press (320 pp.) $9.95 paper | Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-937053-68-0 Series: Lost Imperials, 1 Steampunk and time travel combine to provide pizazz in this series opener about a long-lost royal brother and sister, the surviving Romanovs.

Action dominates as time travelers called Rifters, both legitimate and rogue, compete. The official group operates from the Tesla Institute, where the famed scientist’s brain sits in a contraption that keeps it alive. The rogue time travelers, known as the Hollows, flit through time simply to steal objects they can sell. The groups, sworn enemies, frequently engage in hand-to-hand combat whenever they meet.

Hollows Rifter Lex and “Tesla kid” Ember find each other when Lex’s girlfriend dies on a mission and Lex decides to risk causing a paradox in order to go back to save her. To fix the paradox, he’ll need a device that’s hidden in the Tesla Institute. Ficklin and Jolley handle the rather intricate plotline well, populating the time stream with interesting characters that pop up in various unexpected places. Their action scenes sometimes become a bit too intricate, as the authors describe every punch, kick, roll and jump, but they do keep the story moving along briskly.

The steampunk scenario adds a great deal of zest to the proceedings, with top hats, leather corsets and a variety of steamdriven contrivances providing set dressing.

Kids who pick it up won’t encounter much real history, but they’ll be reading it for fun anyway. (Steampunk. 12 & up)

THE ROYAL RANGER

Flanagan, John Philomel (464 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-399-16360-9 Series: Ranger’s Apprentice, 12 Flanagan returns to the kingdom of Araluen for another adventure, reuniting readers with familiar characters and introducing them to a new generation of heroes and villains.

The passing of more than 15 years since the last adventure has ushered in many changes. Gilan has assumed the role of Ranger Corps Commandant. King Duncan’s illness has forced Cassandra and Horace into running the kingdom, a task made all the more difficult by the willfulness of their daughter, Maddie. And Will Treaty, devastated by the loss of his wife, Alyss, has been left broken and fixed on revenge. Halt, Will’s former mentor, suggests a solution to both problems: Maddie should be trained as the kingdom’s first female Ranger. Maddie’s initial enthusiasm at her newfound freedom is quickly harnessed by her rigorous training. She responds well to Will’s tutelage, but 80

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her mettle is tested when her first mission threatens both Will’s life and her own. Flanagan’s return to Araluen is a satisfying transition from one generation to the next. He manages once again to deliver humor, heartache and some important lessons while arrows fly, enhancing his suspenseful plots with characters kids can relate to.

An excellent addition to a favorite series; the short breather did Flanagan good. (Fantasy. 10-14)

WILD BERRIES

Flett, Julie Illus. by Flett, Julie Simply Read Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 1, 2013 978-1-897476-89-5 Select words paired to sonorous equivalents in the Swampy Cree dialect highlight this serene picture of a blueberry-picking expedition.

Since before he could walk, little Clarence has accompanied his grandma in season to a certain clearing to pick “wild berries / pikaci-m­­inísa.” Once grandma has checked for bears (“maskwak”), the two set to picking—and eating—with breaks to watch an ant (“­eník”) and other wildlife. When their buckets are full, they say “thank you / nanaskomowak” and depart—leaving a handful of berries for the birds. In the illustrations, two figures walk among tall, widely spaced tree trunks through grasses neatly drawn in single, straight brushstrokes to a clearing mottled with low berry plants. A red sun hangs in a white sky that is visually an extension of the white facing page on which the Cree, printed in red italics, draws the eye to the short, widely spaced lines of narrative. Except for a passing fox and the occasional bird, animals are depicted as silhouettes, which adds to the episode’s overall visual simplicity. Flett, an illustrator of Cree-Métis heritage, created a cultural and artistic showcase in Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet (2010); despite the language notes, this offering is a more general one.

A sweet commemoration of a shared experience, presented with care and infused with intimacy. (pronunciation guide, wild blueberry jam recipe) (Picture book. 5- 7)

POOR LITTLE DEAD GIRLS

Friend, Lizzie Merit Press (288 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 18, 2013 978-1-4405-6395-9

A girl wins a scholarship to an elite boarding school and finds herself entangled in a powerful secret society that threatens her life.

Sadie fears she won’t fit in at the uberexclusive Keating school for the superwealthy in Virginia, but the school has a champion lacrosse team, and she’s a star player. When she arrives, she’s given

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“[Fry] loads up his supporting cast with colorful characters and his nonstop yarn with hot action or its imminent prospect.” from hunt for the hydra

unusual roommates: a British duke’s twin daughters, who can’t stay out of the tabloids. Almost immediately, Sadie finds herself abducted to a basement where she’s quizzed and drugged. She learns that she’s been recruited into a secret society that has operated for 200 years. The Order of the Optimates intends to run not only the country, but eventually the world by amassing power and assets into the hands of its members. Apparently, Sadie belongs in that club because of something she didn’t know about her mother. However, Sadie learns that a former member died suddenly, and as events transpire, she realizes that the society has far more sinister goals than she has been told and that she’s in danger too. Friend writes with a sure, often witty touch (a dress fits Sadie “like it had been hand knitted by magical fairies”). While the climax involves an odd murder stratagem that doesn’t appear terribly lethal, to that point, the story is both immersive and topically relevant.

A promising suspense debut. (Suspense. 12 & up)

HUNT FOR THE HYDRA

Fry, Jason Harper/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Dec. 23, 2013 978-0-06-223020-1 978-0-06-223022-5 e-book Series: Jupiter Pirates, 1 A high-seas pirate adventure is transformed, straight up, into space opera.

Tycho Hashoone has been vying with his twin sister, Yana, and older brother, Carlo, to be the next hereditary captain of his family’s privateer, Shadow Comet, all his life. Though he’s only 12, he’s already taking watches on the bridge and leading boarding parties of tattooed “crewers” armed with blasters and laser “musketoons” to capture prize ships. In this series opener, he also pitches in to unmask a scheme by His Majesty’s Sovereign Government of Earth and the nefarious Earth corporation GlobalRex to infiltrate the independent Jovian Union with hundreds of piratical “diplomats.” Fry plays a little fast and loose with astrophysics and gives this story set 300 years in the future a steampunk edge: Among other impossibilities, the Comet turns upside down in space, and gunnery crews “fling open the Comet’s gunports and winch the barrels of her weapons out through the hull.” He also loads up his supporting cast with colorful characters and his nonstop yarn with hot action or its imminent prospect.

As Tycho’s cyborg grandpa, a semiretired pirate who clanks about brandishing the blaster cannon that has replaced his lost forearm puts it: “Arrr.” (glossary of nautical and pirate lingo) (Steampunk. 10-12)

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MY MIGRANT FAMILY STORY/ LA HISTORIA DE MI FAMILIA MIGRANTE

García, Lilia Piñata Books/Arté Público (64 pp.) $9.95 paper | Oct. 31, 2013 978-1-55885-780-3

For years as a child, García would travel north from Texas with her parents and 11 siblings as they worked the various fields picking tomatoes, strawberries and other produce. This succinct bilingual memoir presents the experience through brief vignettes.

The author recalls the rituals of the journey: wrapping the dishes the night before leaving; meticulously packing everything in boxes and bags; hauling the parcels to the pickup truck and camper that would be the family’s home on the road. Specific landmarks and changes in geography revealed how far they had traveled and how many miles were yet ahead. In Michigan, they reached their second home, known as Ponderosa Place, where the family worked the harvest season. As the youngest, the author did not join the others in field work but attended school, which was difficult for her as the only bilingual child.

The memoir, appropriate in length and level for emerging independent readers, is heartfelt and direct. However, details that might make it resonate more deeply are sparse. The child’s experience of traveling with a family of migrant workers is presented, but the relationships within the family are not explored outside of the author’s appreciation for her family’s hard work and sacrifice.

A warm, yet slightly distant, recollection of a childhood on the road. (bilingual) (Memoir. 7-11)

SPARK

George, Kallie Illus. by Côté, Geneviève Simply Read Books (44 pp.) $12.95 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-1-927018-24-8 An aptly named little dragon has trouble controlling his flame—but, as with Leo the Late Bloomer, it’s just a matter of time.

Having read a parenting book, Spark’s Mama and Papa try proactive strategies (dubbed “lessons” in the table of contents, though it’s unclear who learns what, if anything): giving him a bag of marshmallows to roast; inviting him to help dry dishes; urging him to dream at night about breathing gentle, little flames. After these all end in smoky minor catastrophes, Papa promises the fretful Spark that in time he’ll be more in control. Indeed, in an amusing twist, he ultimately succeeds in lighting the candles on his own birthday cake without mishap…and then, understandably, refuses to blow them out. In soft, simply drawn cartoon illustrations, Côté places a family of

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“Pigeons are, as you know (now), great students of architecture.” from architecture according to pigeons

dumpy-looking green dragons with small but decorative orange wings and ears in minimally detailed settings and endows them with human expressions and gestures.

“YAY!” Spark yells at the end. “I did it!” Reassurance for newly independent readers with, if not identical, at least corresponding concerns. (Early reader. 5- 7)

GHOSTS

positions that make them think of elephants. While some of the photographs of the cuddly, cuddling toys are unquestionably sweet, there just isn’t much to, well, knit the story together as they pretend to be Indian, African and circus elephants. The dogs end up going inside to have a snack, and closing endpapers show them going to sleep. That’s it.

Too cold for a tutu and not much of a yarn, this title misses the mark. (Picture book. 3-5)

Goldie, Sonia Illus. by Boutavant, Marc Enchanted Lion Books (40 pp.) $16.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-59270-142-1

ARCHITECTURE ACCORDING TO PIGEONS

The sheets, the clanking chains, the loud “BOO!”s—so old school: Today’s ghosts haunt today’s homes.

There’s the unseen television ghost, who “sits down right next to you” on the sofa and suddenly grabs you if something scary comes on, and the ghost in the telephone (“Dring! A ring, and then nothing”) and the miserable, water-hating bathroom ghost. These and others form this gallery of modern spooks who will give children with hyperactive imaginations a whole new set of anxieties. Still, except for the malicious ghost of the night, most of Goldie’s spooks are actually retiring sorts or at worst, mildly mischievous; some, such as the ghosts of the library and the garden, are even shy.

Usually visible, if translucent or just outlines in Boutavant’s modernistic domestic scenes, the specters generally resemble small, unfrightening teddy bears or cats. They are presented, in a narrative that is often colored, angled and shaped to fit onto walls and furniture in the illustrations, by a cheery ectoplasmic host who closes with an invitation to a household ghost party.

When? Why, tonight! Where? Guess.

Perhaps best saved for the daytime, though the light tone will keep the chills on the mild side. (Picture book. 6-8)

TOO COLD FOR A TUTU

Goss, Mini Illus. by Goss, Mini Allen & Unwin (32 pp.) $14.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-74331-378-7

Gurney, Stella Illus. by Seki, Natsko Phaidon (64 pp.) $19.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-7148-6389-4

A world tour of literal and figurative high spots in human construction, conducted by a feathered guide.

Pigeons are, as you know (now), great students of architecture. Here, expert Speck takes readers on a looping flight past more than two dozen structures, including roundup spreads of renowned skyscrapers and bridges. He offers enthusiastic exclamations (“Fully overawed!”) and occasional critical remarks—about, for instance, how Shah Jahan’s tomb unbalances the interior of the Taj Mahal. He also provides insights into how creative use of materials and design contribute to each structure’s purpose and emotional effect. Stops on the zigzag tour mix such usual suspects as the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Eiffel Tower and Fallingwater with Japan’s concrete Church of the Light, Le Corbusier’s Notre-Dame de Ronchamp, and the entire cities of Venice and Brasilia. Each gets a “pigeon name” as well as a human one (Canterbury Cathedral is “The Mish-Mash Marvel”) and is depicted in a collage illustration that mixes drawings and heavily processed photo fragments in arty ways.

Mannered as they are, the distant views and inset close-ups do convey adequate senses of look and scale. An annotated pictorial index on the final spreads supplies further tidbits about the structures and their architects.

Airy but informative and sure to tempt young readers into taking closer looks at the buildings (and pigeons) around them. (Informational picture book. 9-11)

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

Less a story than a catalog of images depicting knit toy characters in various scenarios, this Australian picture book unravels.

Rather than depicting her characters in watercolors or drawn renderings, Goss stages photographs of her knitted dog creations. Stella is costumed in the titular tutu, and Barry wears a cardigan, hat, trousers and other warm layers. Inevitably, Stella is too cold in her tutu when they go outside to play, and she cozies up inside of Barry’s cardigan with him. Barry is ever patient, despite Stella’s rather bratty comments leading up to this scene. Barry and Stella then contort their close bodies into 82

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Henry, O. Illus. by Danowski, Sonja Minedition (32 pp.) $17.99 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-988-8240-57-9

The sentimental short story is presented in an elegant edition with moody illustrations reminiscent of antique sepia photographs. |

The story, first published as a book in 1906, is rather flowery and wordy, with old-fashioned constructions such as “the silent imputation of parsimony.” The plot revolves around a young couple, Della and Jim, who live a Spartan life in their tiny flat.

Each wants to buy a special Christmas gift for the other, but there is only a little money for presents. Della sells her beautiful, knee-length hair to buy a watch chain for Jim’s prized pocket watch, but at the same time, Jim sells his watch to buy a set of hair combs for Della. They realize that their love for each other is their real gift that they must treasure. The oversized, full-page illustrations are in muted shades of browns and grays, with the only touch of color in Della’s muted, rose-colored blouse and complementary roses in the Art Nouveau style decorating each page of text. Each rose is larger than the one preceding, and the stylized flowers are repeated in elegant endpapers printed with twining roses and vines.

Though the story is long and of another era, Henry’s touching account of young love at Christmas has an enduring appeal. (Picture book. 10 & up)

SOMETIMES NEVER, SOMETIMES ALWAYS

Hoole, Elissa Janine Flux (360 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 8, 2013 978-0-7387-3722-5

Cyberbullying, religious doubt and coming out are just three themes shoehorned into a well-meaning but unsuccessful novel.

Already stressed from keeping her atheism and her brother’s sexuality a secret from her religiously conservative family, Cass is devastated when an online survey convinces her she is the “least interesting” person she knows.

She reacts by starting an anonymous advice blog, which quickly becomes a magnet for cyberbullying. Unsure of the proper response and further distracted by academic struggles and a potential new romance, Cass’ failure to act leads to disaster.

Cass’ internal struggles as she realizes her developing values differ from her friends’ and family’s are deeply believable. The fear of personal rejection that prevents Cass from seeking help with her personal struggles and the resulting panic-fueled decisions that inadvertently draw her into a malicious social circle likewise resonate. Less credible are her parents, whose ideologies conveniently shift to speed resolution. Much of their characterization centers on their religious faith, which describes gayrights activists as attempting to turn believers “away from God’s path.” Despite this, they immediately support their son’s public declaration of love to his boyfriend. This so contradicts the rest of the novel that it feels contrived rather than heartwarming; several other conflicts resolve with equal lack of credibility.

Ultimately, the credulity-straining number of plotlines compressed into the narrative obscures Cass’ potentially candid voice. (Fiction. 12-18)

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WATERFELL

Howard, Amalie Harlequin Teen (368 pp.) $9.99 paper | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-373-21105-0 Series: Aquarathi, 1 A coming-of-age story complicated by regicide, superhuman powers, the duty to protect a kingdom and one hot surfer.

Despite Rissa Marin’s prowess at field hockey, her body aches for the sea—but once in the water, things get complicated. Rissa is no ordinary 16-year-old. Although she appears human, Rissa is actually Aquarathi, an alien race of sea creatures with superhuman powers that intensify in water. As heir to the throne of the deep-sea Aquarathi kingdom of Waterfell, Rissa has been sent on land to intermingle with humans in preparation for her role as queen. While she is there, Rissa’s father is murdered, making her fearful to return to Waterfell to face her father’s killer and rightfully claim her throne. Despite her sense of duty, Rissa’s fear paralyzes her, and she grows content in her human guise—so much so that she unexpectedly finds herself falling for the new, attractive surfer, Lo, who mysteriously arrives at her school. Although the tale starts off slowly, thoroughly introducing Rissa and her fantastical race, it pays off; as it quickly picks up the pace, Rissa and her painful dilemma both compel. Just the first installment in a series, this text nevertheless delivers a complete story arc while leaving enough loose ends to make the next installments tempting.

A fantastical surf-and-turf romance. (Paranormal romance.

14-17)

TIME FOR FLOWERS, TIME FOR SNOW A Retelling of the Legend of Demeter and Persephone Huser, Glen Illus. by Béha, Philippe Tradewind Books (54 pp.) $18.95 | Nov. 15, 2013 978-1-896580-26-5

The Greek story of the goddess Demeter, her daughter Persephone and how the seasons came to be is told in song and story in this lively adaptation.

The text is mostly prose that’s interspersed with rhymed couplets. This reads somewhat clunkily, but when one realizes it is actually an operetta, it is rather more effective. The included CD contains the spoken narrative, the solo sung bits and a host of children’s choruses that add sweet texture to the whole. Béha’s illustrations show the influence of the Chagall/ Cubist school, making splendid use of mottled and translucent color. Collaged-in printed music appears in the images as leaves, eyebrows or clothing, reinforcing the book’s musical underpinnings. The tale has a spirited Persephone; she fights back against her imprisonment while Hades tries to win her over. He

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succeeds, too, as she chooses to eat a few pomegranate seeds so that she might return to him and then convinces her mother that this will work. There is some humor, and the music has elements of jazz and pop as well as opera.

The book does not work so well as a printed story as it does when accompanied by the music, but with or without the CD, it is a creative foray into sharing myth with young people. (cast, production notes) (Mythology. 6-11)

THE LEGEND OF LIGHTNING AND THUNDER

Ikuutaq Rumbolt, Paula Illus. by Rioux, Jo Inhabit Media (32 pp.) $16.95 | Dec. 1, 2013 978-1-927095-28-7

An orphaned Inuit girl and her brother flee to the sky and create the forces known as lightning and thunder.

Hungry and rejected by those gathering for the spring festival, the girl and boy steal caribou meat and some necessities of daily living. Using the dried caribou skin and flint and rock, the children begin to have some fun, making noises and creating sparks. As they realize that they will be accused of thievery, they plan their escape. The younger brother suggests they turn into Arctic animals like “Rabbits?

Ptarmigans? Grizzly bears?” The wiser older sister thinks flying into the sky is the better escape, and they go, bringing their playthings. And so the pourquoi tale explains that the children, when bored or lonely, create lightning and thunder. This Canadian publisher specializes in folklore retold by Inuit authors, in this case a young woman who has experienced both traditional and urban life. The illustrator has worked on contemporary graphic novels and combines a mangalike portrayal of the children with a more traditional style employed in Inuit printmaking. The brown and gray tones with just a hint of red evoke spring in the vast Arctic; the dejection in the lonely children’s body language is palpable.

An unusual tale with obvious curriculum applications in weather units or projects about the region, it also serves to bring the far north a little bit closer. (Picture book/folk tale.

6-10)

ODD, WEIRD & LITTLE

Jennings, Patrick Egmont USA (160 pp.) $15.99 | $15.99 e-book | Jan. 28, 2014 978-1-60684-374-1 978-1-60684-375-8 e-book At last: a humorous, useful and pedantry-free book about bullying!

Woodrow and his classmates are surprised at the old-fashioned clothing and 84

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the tiny, delicate appearance of Toulouse, a newly arrived student from Canada. Is this Woodrow’s opportunity to pass his own victim status to someone else? Woodrow openly admits his acknowledged dorkiness, as in his fondness for “duck tape,” his hesitant speech patterns and that time he got chopsticks stuck in his throat pretending to be a badger. His first-person account of befriending someone even weirder than himself divulges such truths as school-playground hierarchies, adults’ proficiency or lack thereof at handling bullying behaviors, and “kid rules” that enable bullies. Woodrow risks regaining his place as top victim as he decides to befriend and protect Toulouse, who has drawn unwanted attention to himself with such anomalies as his bowler hats and his furry vomit. While enjoying every minute of Woodrow’s slow discovery that Toulouse is actually an owl—and the even more amazing fact that no one else reaches that conclusion—readers also learn about the psychology behind bullying and about self-empowerment. The rhythm of the prose is perfect for independent readers and for reading aloud; clever art, music and literature references add to the fun.

Jennings does not skip a beat as he builds realistic relationships and problem-solving around an outrageously funny premise. (Fiction. 8-12)

FIREBRAND

John, Antony Dial (304 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 14, 2013 978-0-8037-3683-2 Series: Elemental, 2 The second installment of the Elemental series sees Thomas and his friends leaving Hatteras Island for new dangers (Elemental, 2012).

Having rescued both themselves and the Guardians from the pirate captain Dare, Thomas, his brother, Griffin, and the other Elemental castaways sail their way south toward a refugee camp at Fort Sumter, near Charleston, S.C. The body count on their ship is steadily rising, however, and their supernatural powers—the ability to harness the different elements such as fire, water and wind—are fading the further they move away from Hatteras; readers know there’s more peril to come. John’s ability to spin a good plot has improved since the first installment, and this sequel moves briskly, particularly on the perilous voyage from Hatteras to Fort Sumter, where the danger and drama run high. What’s curious, however, are his choices of historical landmarks for the setting. Readers may find themselves struggling to see connections between the two, since the events that took place there are so many years apart. Though there’s some back story provided to explain the displacement of the Elementals, less information is given as to why these settlements have arisen in this new dystopian world hundreds of years later.

Perhaps all will be revealed in another sequel. (Post-apocalyptic adventure. 12-16)

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“In an attractive volume full of archival photographs, informative sidebars and a clearly written text, Kanefield shares an important though little-known story of the movement.” from the girl from the tar paper school

THE IRON TRAITOR

Kagawa, Julie Harlequin Teen (352 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-373-21091-6 Series: Iron Fey, 6 Just when Ethan Chase thinks he’s done with Faery, he’s pulled back in.

Fresh from his adventures in The Lost Prince (2012), Ethan thinks his biggest concern is his new girlfriend Kenzie’s father, who reasonably objects to his leukemia-stricken teenage daughter disappearing and running off to New York with Ethan. But then Ethan’s half sister, Meghan, the Iron Queen, comes to him because her son (Ethan’s nephew), Keirran, has gone missing. Soon after, Keirran’s beloved, the exiled Summer fey Annwyl, seeks Ethan’s help—she too can’t find Keirran, and as the Fade is quickly claiming her, she wishes to see him once more before dying. The search for Keirran brings Annwyl and Ethan, who’s trying unsuccessfully to protect Kenzie from the fey world (a forced, predictable moment), to the New Orleans goblin market and right into the thick of things. The plot picks up, sweeping the heroes through temporary, dark-magic solutions, various otherworlds and encounters with familiar characters. Ethan and Keirran face parallel romantic storylines, each in love with someone facing imminent death, though Keirran’s takes center stage as they struggle to save Annwyl. Additionally, a prophecy that’s been hinted at finally comes into play at the climax, bringing major implications for characters and worlds alike—a major cliffhanger.

A little slow to start, but once it does, readers won’t want it to end. (Fantasy. 12-15)

THE GIRL FROM THE TAR PAPER SCHOOL Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement

Kanefield, Teri Abrams (56 pp.) $19.95 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4197-0796-4

Kanefield tells the story of Barbara Rose Johns, whose fight for equality in the schools of Farmville, Va., went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

In 1950, 15-year-old Barbara Johns was a junior at the all-black Robert R. Moton High School in rural Virginia, a crowded school using temporary classrooms that were little more than tar paper shacks, more like chicken coops than classrooms, with leaky roofs and potbellied stoves that provided little heat. Farmville High School, the white school, was a modern building with up-to-date facilities. Sick of the disparity, Barbara led a strike, demanding equal facilities in the schools of her town. Her actions drew the usual response from the |

white community: cross-burnings, white stores denying credit to black customers and criticism for their “ill-advised” actions.

Although threats caused Barbara’s parents to send her to live with family in Alabama, where she graduated from high school, the Moton students’ case was eventually bundled with others, including Brown v. Board of Education. In an attractive volume full of archival photographs, informative sidebars and a clearly written text, Kanefield shares an important though littleknown story of the movement. A one-page summary of “The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement” and a civil rights timeline connect Barbara’s story to the larger struggle; sadly, the bibliography offers no mention of the many fine volumes available for young readers who will want to know more.

An important glimpse into the early civil rights movement. (author’s note, sources, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

CONTROL

Kang, Lydia Dial (400 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 26, 2013 978-0-8037-3904-8 A teenage scientist struggles to rescue her abducted sister in Kang’s debut novel.

After their father dies from injuries sustained in a freak accident, Zelia and her younger sister, Dylia, are left orphaned in a dystopian future America. They’ve scarcely begun to grieve when they are violently separated: Dylia is kidnapped by strangers who want to profit from her DNA, while Zelia ends up in Carus House, an underground organization that shelters people whose genetic mutations make their very existence illegal. A student of molecular biology, Zelia soon begins her own analysis of Dylia’s DNA, hoping it holds the key to saving her.

She also finds herself drawn to Cyrad, a brooding Carus House resident. Their steamy, romantic relationship raises the stakes of the story, but it’s also a little disturbing: Zelia may be 17, but she’s a late bloomer who hasn’t matured sexually. Throughout the novel, Kang’s scrupulous attention to scientific detail adds authenticity but also contributes to the uneven pace; the middle portion feels especially slow after the action-packed opening. The novel works as a stand-alone, but the ending leaves the door open to a sequel.

This humdrum addition to an overcrowded field is for die-hard dystopia fans only. (Dystopian suspense. 12-18)

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“Brother and sister are companions and partners, and Kling endows them with a depth of feeling that will resonate with young readers and their siblings.” from big little mother

VITRO

Khoury, Jessica Razorbill/Penguin (384 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 14, 2014 978-1-59514-605-2 Seventeen-year-old Sophie’s mother works as a scientist on a secret island, so when the girl gets an emergency email, she rushes to join her.

However, when she gets to Guam from the mainland U.S., no one there wants to fly Sophie to Skin Island, saying it’s too dangerous.

Finally, Sophie finds Jim, her childhood friend from when her family lived on Guam. When they land on Skin Island, they discover that the runway has been sabotaged, and Jim’s plane is wrecked. While Jim tries to salvage his plane, Sophie is ushered to the lab, where she finds an unconscious girl who looks exactly like her. Knocked out, she awakens to discover she’s been mistaken for Lux, a Vitro—a chip-implanted human grown from unneeded embryos and programmed to obey whomever she sees when she first awakes at age 17. Sophie plays along to learn more. When Jim arrives at the facility to retrieve Sophie, complications arise. Thereafter, the story becomes a shoot’em-up chase thriller, with poor Jim surviving at least two too many near-death experiences. Narrative perspective alternates among Sophie, Jim and Lux, following two plotlines until events converge. Khoury keeps the action moving with plenty of escapes and re-captures, gunfights and physical battles. If somewhat overlong and melodramatic, it’s rarely dull, though overt moralizing mars the delivery.

Ultimately, a pretty standard mad-scientist thriller.

(Science fiction. 12 & up)

BIG LITTLE MOTHER

Kling, Kevin Illus. by Monroe, Chris Minnesota Historical Society (32 pp.) $17.95 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-87351-911-3 Kling continues his exploration of sibling relationships (Big Little Brother, 2011) and achieves a level of understanding that is at once personal and universal.

This little boy’s big sister is motherly, inventive, bossy and loves to impart knowledge. Her cat, Kittywumpus, has been her main companion (and victim), but one of her crazy schemes sends her pet running away. Now her little brother is her prime focus, and she makes the most of it. She introduces him to wildly imaginative games, teaches him to dance and views stars with him. He calls her “me one” and refers to himself as “me too,” since she makes him feel smart and talented and he is dazzled by her. The little boy narrates fun-filled vignettes of lighthearted escapades in breezy, conversational syntax. In an epilogue, he pays homage to the woman she became, a mother and teacher to be admired. The 86

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text appears in a variety of typefaces, with speech bubbles that enhance the narration. Monroe’s cartoonlike illustrations suggest the 1960s and are rendered in shades of pink and green, yellow and blue. They sweetly match the action, with each depiction of the characters filled with expression and individuality. Brother and sister are companions and partners, and Kling endows them with a depth of feeling that will resonate with young readers and their siblings. (And Kittywumpus eventually comes home.)

Funny, warm and altogether delightful. (Picture book. 3-8)

TRUTH RUNNER

Law, Jerel Thomas Nelson (272 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4003-2287-9 Series: Son of Angels: Jonah Stone, 4 Quarter-angel Jonah Stone re-enacts the tale of his biblical namesake in the latest of an evangelical fiction series aiming for Percy Jackson–style adventure.

Grief-stricken by his mother’s murder, Jonah ditches the cloistered Angel School with his fellow “quarterlings” for the easy popularity his special powers bring him at an ordinary public high school—so long as he ignores the way the whole place is ruled by demons. But Jonah cannot run far enough to escape Elohim’s plans for him: not boring proclamations of repentance and mercy like the ancient prophet, but a more gratifying battle with monsters on a luxury yacht for the soul of the U.S. president. Readers accustomed to thinking of life as perpetual spiritual warfare will likely overlook the clunky prose and stereotyped characters and thrill to the nonstop chases, kidnappings, storms, wrecks and gruesome violent clashes with the forces of Abaddon. Others will find the perspective bizarre and mean-spirited and are more likely to giggle than gasp at the silly B-movie villains and the heroes’ ludicrously literal spiritual armor (“sandals of speed,” “belt of truth,” “helmet of salvation,” etc.) Nonetheless, anyone can appreciate the hard questions about divine justice Jonah hurls in his very real anger and despair; few will be satisfied by the anodyne platitudes he receives in response.

Strictly for the target audience, but they deserve better.

(Fantasy. 10-14)

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WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME IF...?

Leblanc, Catherine Illus. by Tharlet, Eve Minedition (32 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-988-8240-51-7

A little bear seeks reassurance from his mother that she will always love him.

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Bear has torn his jacket; will Mom still love him? What if he tore all his clothes? If he got bad marks at school? If he made a mess at home? With each query, Mom reassures him.

To this point, there’s little remarkable about this book, but then it takes an unexpected turn: “There is something that still worries Little Bear very much, but he doesn’t dare ask…

‘What if you died?’ ” Mom takes her time to answer, then tells him that of course she will, and he will feel it “deep inside.”

Will she ever love someone else more? he asks, looking “at her round tummy.” The conversation plays itself out as Mom mends the torn jacket, Tharlet’s shaggy ursines posed against vast expanses of white space, the occasional window or chair indicating a domestic interior. The end is abrupt, and readers accustomed to resolution will feel that the loving dialogue has been cut off with a couple page turns yet to go. It honors the attention span of genuine preschoolers, though, realistically capturing their mercurial shifts in mood from existential wonder to absorption in immediate action.

Though it initially treads some familiar territory, this European import sensitively takes readers into an emotional frontier rarely explored. (Picture book. 3-5)

MURILLA GORILLA AND THE LOST PARASOL

Lloyd, Jennifer Illus. by Lee, Jacqui Simply Read Books (40 pp.) $9.95 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-1-927018-23-1

Murilla the gorilla employs her detecting talents to track down a missing parasol.

Not surprisingly, it is raining in the African rain forest. It has rained right through Murilla’s roof, so she makes her way to the market, which, despite the rain, is all sunny colors, like the inside of a cupcake shop. Before Murilla can buy a new mop, Parrot requests help in tracking down a missing parasol from his shop.

(In the rain forest, parasols are a hot commodity.) Dear Murilla, who, as the forest’s resident detective, has as much focusing power as Mr. Magoo, bumbles her way to the solution—elementary, but as gratifying as a ray of light breaking through the clouds, and one that allows all the citizens of the forest to remain innocent. This early reader is a pleasure but no gimme.

There is plenty to challenge, starting with parasol but also magnifying glass, mandrill, okapi, chimpanzee and hammocks. This on top of Lee’s illustrations, which are not so much busy as full, especially with the mayhem of Murilla’s life. Despite that, there is a sense of equanimity; Murilla won’t, can’t, is utterly clueless about being hurried, and it is easy to imagine holding her hand and sauntering along as she uncovers what happened.

All the fun of a mystery carried on the rhythm of the tropics. (Early reader. 5-8)

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CHAMPION

Lu, Marie Putnam (384 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-399-25677-6 Series: Legend, 3 This exhilarating finale to the dystopian Legend trilogy delivers on the promises of the genre without ever being predictable about details.

June and Day are finally on the right side of the law, but nothing’s gotten any easier. June, the former soldier, is now one of three Princeps-Elect, next in line to lead the Senate. Day, “most-wanted-criminal-turned-national-hero,” is now the face of popular support for the young Elector. The future’s dazzlingly bright, right? In fact, from their high perches, June and Day can see everything about to go horrifyingly wrong.

The Elector knows the Colonies are about to invade, and he thinks a plague cure will save the day—a cure he’s convinced they’ll discover by experimenting on Day’s brother, Eden. Day will never let the Republic have his brother again; he barely got Eden back alive after the first time they took him for medical experiments. On the other hand, since Day is dying, it’s not clear what he can do for Eden or the Republic. Brief international travel expands the worldbuilding of this universe: June and Day had encountered the capitalist dystopia of the Colonies in Prodigy (2012), while June here encounters the seemingly more idyllic society-as-game of Ross City, Antarctica. A civilization run as if it were “The Sims” is intriguing, and it’s disappointing that June spends little time there, but there’s plenty of betrayal and action to resolve back in the Republic.

Ever respectful of the capacity of its readers, this series offers a satisfying conclusion of potential rather than a neatly wrapped denouement. (Science fiction. 13-16)

A LETTER FOR BEAR

Lucas, David Illus. by Lucas, David Flying Eye Books (32 pp.) $14.95 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-1-909263-13-0

Bear, a postman, has never, ever received a letter of his own, and he wants

one desperately.

Trudging through his quotidian postal duties, Bear’s burly mass, bulky head and pea-sized eyes lean into the Arctic cold; later, at home he cooks soup and pictures envelopes marked with his name. Sound like a big, bearish bummer? Luckily, Lucas’ simple, velvety lines run on with many “and”s in the hushed, low octaves of a fireside story. Jolly, jagged artwork keeps readers attentive and hopeful. Immensely intricate geometric illustrations (miniature diamonds, lunettes, triangles and squares patterned in oranges, pinks and rusty reds), overlapping panels, interrupted borders and head-tilting angles define Bear’s frosty

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world. Exploring this tilted landscape of icy evergreens, pointy mountains, twiggy branches, spiky stars and snowflakes will thrill sharp, darting eyes. A flat, matte presentation smooths and softens these stimulating spreads, while circular inset images serve as tender peepholes into Bear’s loneliness. When his letters become smudged, Bear must knock on doors and finally meet his neighbors, all delighted by his hand delivery. A “snowstorm” of Christmas party invitations follows, from Bear to these friendly new acquaintances, and he crosses fingers they show up. They do. And guess what ursine host receives a mailbag of thank-you notes?

A wintry, holiday read much like a gingerbread house: slightly slanted but poignant, sweet, soul-warming and studded with delicious details that warrant close inspection. (Picture book. 2-6)

THE RIGHT FIGHT

Lynch, Chris Scholastic (192 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-545-52294-6 978-0-545-52296-0 e-book Series: World War II, 1 All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch.

The proceedings open with a baseball game, an image that could not be more peacefully patriotic than a slice of apple pie in the days preceding World War II. War looms, and narrator Roman Bucyk has enlisted while the country is still neutral. But Bucyk has a bead on things: “The Nazis hate baseball. This I know. And I hate the Nazis.” Roman is no rube; he is just full of bravado and bowled over by feelings of honor and integrity. He gets the girl of his dreams to agree to an engagement, and then it is off to basic training. Lynch serves all this up with a gathering sense of drama, though he keeps the braggadocio to a level that allows readers to see the wide-eyed apprehension behind the bluster. Then, in a smart and entertaining move, Lynch situates the action not in the well-worn Pacific or European theaters, but in North Africa, introducing readers to Algeria, to the strangeness of having to fight the French, to Djebel Hamra and Sidi Bouzid as the fighting clanks toward Tunisia.

As he did with his four-volume Vietnam series, Lynch effectively takes readers back to the good war. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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THE SECRETS OF STONEHENGE

Manning, Mick; Granström, Brita Illus. by Manning, Mick; Granström, Brita Frances Lincoln (32 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-84780-346-7 An engaging introduction to the mindboggling monument that has held tight to its secrets for thousands of years.

Manning and Granström have assembled what is considered known about Stonehenge, plus a few shots in the not-complete dark, into this handsome and atmospheric picture book. That so little is understood about the site adds much to its allure. It is yet another wonder how the jacket flap copy gets away with “The mysteries and secrets of Stonehenge—revealed!” since the authors are careful to emphasize how little is still known. When they move into the realm of conjecture, they stick to very plausible ideas: how the stones may have been moved, suggestions relative to its orientation and its possible relationship with nearby Durrington Walls. The artwork has a lively energy—the hand is freer than David Macaulay’s or Mitsumasa Anno’s, but it conveys the same sense of time and place—and the text is straightforward without detracting from the stones’ delightfully secretive qualities. Indeed, one of the great pleasures of this book is in imparting the fun of having these unknowns, and maybe unknowable, among us, to let the imagination work overtime trying to simply drink it all in.

If we can no longer wander among the stones, which is a crying shame, this is a good start at getting into the circle’s perplexity. (Informational picture book. 7-11)

LET’S GET CRACKING!

Marko, Cyndi Illus. by Marko, Cyndi Branches/Scholastic (80 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-545-61062-9 978-0-545-61061-2 paper 978-0-545-61391-0 e-book Series: Kung Pow Chicken, 1 Can Kung Pow Chicken and Egg Drop beat the bad guys and be home in time for dinner?

Second-grade chicken Gordon Blue and his still partially egg-bound little brother Benedict are mild-mannered chicks until they fall into a vat of toxic sludge in their uncle Quack’s lab. Suddenly, Gordon has birdy sense that tingles when danger is near. He can flap superfast, and his clucks are louder than any chicken’s (“His bok [is] worse than his bite”). He promises to use his powers only for good (and to keep his room tidy). Since he’s never met a bad guy, he has to do normal chicken things…until everyone starts losing their feathers at the Fowl Fall Festival in Fowladelphia. Could it be Granny Goosebumps’ yucky glowing

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“Two unfinished threads…leave plenty of room for more more more. Start with Book 1 and just keep going.” from lost covenant

cookies? She’s making money wing over fist selling itchy sweaters to all the naked chickens. Soon Kung Pow Chicken is “locked in a battle of knits” with the nefarious Granny and her knitting needles. When she escapes, can Kung Pow Chicken overcome his self-doubt and save the City of Featherly Love? First of four to be released over the course of the next year and part of Scholastic’s Branches line of heavily illustrated easy chapter books, Marko’s debut is a perfectly puntastic page-turner. Hybrids of comics and traditional pictures, the goofy all-color illustrations propel the fast-moving, high-interest story.

“Ham and eggs!”—you don’t want to miss this! (Graphic/ fiction hybrid. 5-7)

LOST COVENANT

Marmell, Ari Pyr/Prometheus Books (250 pp.) $17.99 | $11.99 e-book | Dec. 3, 2013 978-1-61614-811-9 978-1-61614-812-6 e-book Series: Widdershins Adventures, 3 Poor Widdershins: The further she runs the worse things get.

After the tragic events at the end of her last major adventure (False Covenant, 2012), Widdershins and her unsanctioned god, Olgun, took off. But shady characters are looking for her, the church might want to use her, and then it turns out someone is killing off her deceased guardian’s noble family. In an effort to repay the debt she owes Alexandre Delacroix (and perhaps to atone for running off on others who needed her), Widdershins heads to the Outer Hespelene to save the last branch of the Delacroix family, a large clan with a fearsome matriarch and a whole lot of stubborn descendants, plus one scion who turns out to be a decent sidekick.

The usual quips, near escapes and breakneck action scenes ensue, intercut with some disturbing goings-on back home in Davillon.

Marmell’s writing has tightened considerably but stayed colorful (“…some resemblance to a drunken beetle trying to scale an icicle…”), giving fans everything they want in a Shins story while avoiding most of the lapses into florid overwriting. Two unfinished threads—unrest in the church and the return of two old foes—leave plenty of room for more more more.

Start with Book 1 and just keep going. (Fantasy. 13 & up)

NO SUCH THING AS NESSIE

McBain, Chani Illus. by Harris-Jones, Kirsteen Floris (32 pp.) $11.95 paper | Dec. 1, 2013 978-0-86315-953-4

and a skeptical attitude, he “spots” Nessie everywhere: in a local business’ sign; in an inflatable toy monster left at the loch’s shore; a “head” that turns out to be a research submarine’s periscope; and a long, spooky shadow from (adding a surreal note) a construction crane that rolls out of the woods. Ultimately, of course, when Finlay declares that there is no monster and angrily chucks a handful of Gran’s shortbread into the water, up rises a green monster reminiscent of what Steven Kellogg’s eponymous Mysterious Tadpole (1977) grew into. The older figures in Harris-Jones’ bright cartoon illustrations mostly just stand around in static poses and watch as Finlay goes from high excitement to drooping disappointment—but the lake and the green, rolling hills all around give the quest and encounter an idyllic setting.

A bit of monster hunting, contrived of plot but predictable of outcome and too bland to be scary. (Picture book. 5- 7)

WHAT WE LOST IN THE DARK

Mitchard, Jacquelyn Soho Teen (288 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 17, 2013 978-1-61695-143-6

Two teens afflicted with a rare medical disorder continue unraveling the mystery begun in What We Saw at Night (2013).

Rob and Allie, bound together since childhood due to their diagnoses with a life-threatening allergy to sunlight called Xeroderma Pigmentosum, are deeply in love. They are also both convincingly bereft as they mourn the death of Juliet, the former third of their trio.

Less believably, Allie is convinced that Juliet’s suicide was actually a murder perpetrated by an undetected serial killer, who she suspects is a member of the wealthy, powerful family that founded the clinic in her town that treats XP. When Rob introduces Allie to free diving—which involves descending under water to great depths with no oxygen source—she discovers bodies the killer has hidden in Lake Superior. While each of these plot points is fascinating, their combination strains credulity and eventually weighs down the narrative. Unlikely coincidences also abound, including the fact that the land that bears the den of horrors and burial ground of the villain was originally owned by Allie’s pal Gideon, so he’s able to give her plenty of tips about it.

A wild cliffhanger ended the first, so readers will definitely want to get their hands on this sequel, but the suspension of disbelief it demands is mammoth. (Thriller. 14 & up)

A young dinosaur lover’s dream comes true when he visits his Loch Ness grandmother.

Finlay’s gran claims to have seen the monster—even to have fed it shortbread. Trailed by a big sister sporting both earbuds |

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

James Patterson

Publishing has made the multibest-selling writer wealthy; he’s not only giving back, but trying to save lives in the process

By Claiborne Smith

Photo courtesy Sue Patterson

The latest news to emerge from James Patterson isn’t that he’s got a gruesome new thriller out that will add to his roster of 57 New York Times best-sellers or that he’s adopted another new writer to his stable of co-authors to pen that thriller. The news isn’t even about a book, exactly, but about the places where they’re sold: Patterson announced in September that during the next year, he will donate $1 million to independent bookstores. In addition, Patterson has donated at least one box of books to every school in the Palm Beach County, New York City, Savannah, and Los Angeles Unified school districts, as well as many underserved schools in Chicago—over 500 middle and high schools in total.

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ReadKiddoRead.com, the heart of his effort to get more children reading, is currently gearing up for a pilot program in four New York City classrooms. The We Read in Our House program will donate to each student in each classroom 12 books to take home throughout the year (two fifth-grade classrooms in the Bronx, a secondgrade classroom in Newburgh and a second-grade classroom in Poughkeepsie are part of the pilot program).

The hope isn’t just that owning a shelf of books improves kids’ reading habits, but that it will influence their overall confidence and happiness.

Anyone who has followed Patterson’s career closely is aware that the million-dollar gift isn’t the first of his philanthropic efforts; he has a history of funding reading, teaching and education efforts, including $1.5 million in scholarships this year to students who want to become teachers and the spearheading of an essay competition for high school seniors whose prize money goes toward college book purchases. That initiative has disbursed $170,000 in three years. He also gives books to schools and book stipends to students. I talked to Patterson recently about his philanthropy and wanted to get right into the details of how a children’s book ends up on ReadKiddoRead.com (at 2 million page visits per month, the site can be considerable help to a writer). But Patterson wanted to first talk about the big ideas behind his donations: He describes it as nothing less than saving children’s lives.

How do you decide which books go on the lists of good books on ReadKiddoRead.com?

Well, I think the bigger picture for me is when I talk about what I’m trying to do: I’m here to save lives, and

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I think that’s something that some publications don’t get. There are millions of kids at risk out there, and there are millions of kids in this country who’ve never read a book they like. At the end of it, we want them to pick up another book they like. There are the kids who are at-risk, the kids who are not reading at all, and with those kids, it’s a difficult thing: They don’t like to read, it’s going to be hellish for them to try to get through high school, and if they do make it in some crazy way, they have trouble getting jobs and a life that has some satisfaction. The other side of it are kids who are decent readers but they don’t read that much, so their view of the world isn’t as broad as it could be. When Jack [Patterson’s son] was 8, he wasn’t a big reader, and we said, “You’re going to read every day this summer.” And he said, “Do I have to?” We said, “Yes but we’re going to get books you like,” and he read about 10 of them. That at-risk side is an even bigger deal to me because it’s serious stuff.

So how do you convert nonreaders into readers?

The only trick, I think, is that you really need to ingrain a habit; they go into a book once, and then they go back to their habits again. I wish parents would use the summers better and really enrich them; they don’t do it often enough. You wouldn’t knowingly send your child out with a handicap, but that’s what you’re doing when you don’t encourage them to read. We have bumper stickers that say, “We read in our house,” and it’s just a simple reminder.

We’ve started publishing one of my children’s books and an adult book on the same day and then parents are reminded, “Oh yeah, I have a child.”

Now with the e-book phenomenon, unfortunately, fewer adults go into the store, and kids haven’t switched over to e-books. As individuals, we can’t solve global warming and we can’t solve the health care crisis, but as an individual, I can do a lot in terms of getting people reading and slowing down this process of moving to e-books.

There’s nothing wrong with e-books, but no bookstores and no libraries is not good. There may be an evolution where that can be dealt with on the Internet. You may be able to shout your mouth off on amazon or bn.com, but that doesn’t really do anything, and that’s not taking the place of having someone in a bookstore or a library who can recommend good books.

In general, it seems like there might be more reluctant readers who are boys than reluctant |

readers who are girls. When you’re writing a middle grade or teen book, are you thinking about whether it’s intended for boys or girls?

I try not to; I’ve never written that way. I always want them to be entertaining, and I had an agent at one point who had four kids, and she encouraged me to write kids’ books. That’s how I got into Maximum Ride. I don’t think you can force people to turn pages. Illustrated books are not simple-minded; there’s something to think about, but I think the illustrations help kids get into them more often. Some kids will go, “Oh man,” but they can read the chapters pretty easily. There’s pictures in movies and there’s pictures in museums—I think it works with kids.

I think it’s useful.

Claiborne Smith is the features editor at Kirkus Reviews.

Treasure Hunters was reviewed in the Aug. 1 issue of Kirkus Reviews.

Treasure Hunters Patterson, James; Grabenstein, Chris Illus. by Neufeld, Juliana Little, Brown (480 pp.) $14.99 | Sept. 16, 2013 978-0-316-20756-0

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“The words ‘IT’S MINE!’ run across two pages, white shaky letters on a red background, the ball filling the spread. One can almost hear the music from Psycho.” from it’s not yours, it’s mine!

THE SEVERED TOWER

Mitchell, J. Barton Dunne/St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 19, 2013 978-1-250-00947-0 978-1-250-02070-3 e-book Series: Conquered Earth, 2 Does the Severed Tower grant wishes or death for the children of the Conquered Earth?

Teenage Freebooter Mira, her bountyhunter boyfriend, Holt, and their young, strangely powerful charge, Zoey, survived the destruction of Midnight City and are on their way to the Severed Tower at the heart of the Strange Lands. There, reality is warped by deadly Anomalies, and only experienced Freebooters with instructional Lexicons like Mira’s survive. However, several factions of Earth’s conquerors, the alien Assembly, are after Zoey for different reasons. When one of them snatches Zoey and Holt, Mira must team with the pirates known as the Menagerie, who have placed a price on Holt’s head and have business of their own in the Strange Lands. Mira must overcome self-doubt as she tries to fulfill her promise to Zoey to get them to the Severed Tower. Mitchell’s second Conquered Earth title would be rough going without knowledge of the first, especially near the beginning.

But action will keep pages turning, as the characters are constantly in peril. The mechanisms of the artifacts created in the Strange Lands are clearer than in the series opener, and the science-fantasy explanation of the tower itself is good fun, as is the setup for Book 3 in a much-changed world.

A good-enough read to make it worth plowing through the first weighty installment to get to this one—and that’s something. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

IT’S NOT YOURS, IT’S MINE!

Moores, Susanna Illus. by Moores, Susanna Child’s Play (32 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-84643-600-0

This otherwise appealing, sweetly simple story can’t avoid the pitfall of a prescriptive message about “sharing.”

Blieka, a winsome, floppy-eared bunny, looks blissfully happy with her new present: a big red ball. But when friends ask to borrow it, Blieka’s response is defensive: “It’s not yours… / IT’S MINE!” The words “IT’S MINE!” run across two pages, white shaky letters on a red background, the ball filling the spread. One can almost hear the music from Psycho. Poor Blieka. She begins to worry that someone might try to take her ball, and she guards it with a worrisome jealousy, taking it everywhere with her— “even to circus school.” However, when the ball springs a leak and friends come to her rescue with a pump, Blieka begins to unwind a bit. The satisfactory but unsurprising conclusion: Lots of friends bring toys to share together. Moores’ pencil-and-wash 92

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art, more childlike than the text, is delightful. Blieka and much of the background share a rich, warm yellow, and Blieka’s friends are depicted as a variety of appealing, rounded little creatures.

No doubt some parents will find this conveys just the lesson they are looking for, but the lack of empathy for the child’s viewpoint—why shouldn’t something special belong only to me?—makes the story less than perfect for, well, sharing. (Picture book. 2-5)

HISTORICAL HEARTTHROBS 50 Timeless Crushes—from Cleopatra to Camus

Murphy, Kelly with Fryd, Hallie Zest Books (224 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-936976-10-2

A hit-or-miss selection of notable personalities who made a dent in history.

That “the 50 people in this book made other people swoon” is debatable, even accounting for taste, but since the authors consider the nature of “hotness varied, from physical to intellectual to emotional,” much yardage is added to the meaning of “heartthrob.” On the upside of the book are the pithy character sketches, which get to the nub of their historical impact while keeping the language light. It can drift into campy or corny, but that probably comes with the territory. Each entry ends with short paragraphs marking why this person mattered, his or her best feature, his or her ranking on the “heat factor” (an index of their pros and cons), and the story of his or her sex life. This last, except in the most notorious cases—Lord Byron, George Sand—is either rumor or farce: Harriet Beecher Stowe? W.E.B. DuBois? The overarching issue is “heartthrob”—a hook that doesn’t deliver. The emphasis here is on sex appeal—why else make special note of their sex lives?—not just passion, and it is difficult to count Leni Riefenstahl, Bugsy Siegel and Benazir Bhutto in that number (though Eddie Chapman and Maya Deren are gusts of fresh air).

“Historical Game Changers” doesn’t have the teasing selling power of “Heartthrobs,” but it may nail John Wilkes Booth more squarely. (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

PRINCESS PENELOPE AND THE RUNAWAY KITTEN

Murray, Alison Illus. by Murray, Alison Nosy Crow/Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Dec. 24, 2013 978-0-7636-6952-2

In this amusing if slight tale, a runaway kitten leads Princess Penelope on a merry chase through the palace, leaving chaos in his wake.

Princess Penelope wants to play with the mischievous kitten with wool wrapped around his tummy, but the frisky pet takes

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off. The princess must search for him; luckily, he has left a trail of yarn behind him. In a gimmicky but brilliant (literally) hook, the string appears in glitter-glue pink. Rhyming lines, some forced, describe the princess’s hunt for the kitten. The narrative, much like the kitten, sometimes takes unexpected jumps, but tots following the line of yarn will find the visual clues they need to fill in the lapses. Detail-oriented children will notice that other creatures join the chase: the dog, birds and a rabbit freed from their cages by the kitten when he passed, a peacock and squirrel from the garden, the duck from the stable. The topsy-turvy commotion the kitten causes in each location is sure to provoke some giggles. All the action is captured in digital art with a retro, blockprint look featuring bold shapes and matte pastel colors, with a special emphasis on pink. In the end, the unaware, worn-out, toocute kitten is found innocently cuddling with his mother.

Not quite a seamless romp, but certain youngsters will be drawn to the glitter like iron filings to a magnet. (Picture book. 2-5)

CRABTREE

Nichols, Jon; Nichols, Tucker Illus. by Nichols, Jon; Nichols, Tucker McSweeney’s McMullens (32 pp.) $17.95 | Oct. 15, 2013 978-1-936365-82-1 Trying to find his false teeth, Alfred Crabtree is forced to organize his stuff.

And he really has a lot of stuff.

Strewn in the hundreds across large spreads and even one double gatefold, Alfred’s possessions are easy enough to recognize since they’re drawn in a simple cartoon style and conveniently labeled. Categorizing, however, really isn’t his strong suit—so even browsers who aren’t particularly sharp-eyed will have no trouble noticing, for instance, the traffic cone in his row of “Hats & Helmets” or the hot-dog bun amid “Tools & Utensils.” Creative labeling ranging from rhymed combinations of favorite foods (“Spam and a yam,” “Hash stew with cashews”) to a set of flint spear points dubbed “old tools” and, in a movie reference less likely to be caught by children than by their parents, a “stinkin’ badge” will also produce chuckles. Following one spread of “Broken Things” and another of ambiguous items headed “I Don’t Know What These Things Are,” Alfred, exhausted, gets a savvy suggestion from his sister that ends his search. That search, at least: The rear endpapers are a bulletin board of other misplaced items that may tempt viewers to go back and find them.

A witty alternative to Richard Scarry’s classic visual inventories or the simpler I Spy challenges. (huge foldout poster) (Picture book. 5-9)

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Paige, D.M. Darby Creek (112 pp.) $7.95 paper | $20.95 e-book $27.93 PLB | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-4677-1497-6 978-1-4677-1676-5 e-book 978-1-4677-1372-6 PLB Series: Opportunity An aspiring fashion designer spends a summer in LA as an intern for the successful but demanding Lorelei Roy. In a new series featuring African-American teen protagonists, billionaire entrepreneur Harman Holt chooses 10 students each year upon whom to confer once-in-a-lifetime career opportunities. Thea Roberts is shocked and delighted to be chosen but soon discovers that the fashion world is cutthroat and people are not what they seem. Jamie, the employee who introduces Thea to the House of Lorelei Roy, insults and backstabs Thea. Madison Belle, despite being a famous teen model, shows Thea compassion and kindness. Lorelei herself can be a cruel bully but is also unexpectedly supportive of Thea’s work.

Despite the title and several ominous references to extreme dieting, an eating disorder appears only as a side plot. Madison faints while trying on clothes, and the industry’s callous indifference to her condition is disturbing but believable. Chapters are short, but each scene and detail is carefully chosen. Both Madison’s struggle with her eating disorder and Thea’s newfound push for the fashion industry to move away from ultraskinny bodies and showcase “more girls who look like girls” are resolved in a feel-good but hard-to-swallow ending.

A well-crafted and relatively easy read, despite a simplistic resolution. (Fiction. 12-18)

THE SEVENTH PLEIADE

Peters, Andrew J. Bold Strokes Books (340 pp.) $11.95 paper | Nov. 19, 2013 978-1-60282-960-2

A gay Atlantean prince combats gossip, a creepy priest and throngs of serpents in an attempt to deliver his ill-fated city from annihilation.

Sixteen-year-old Aerander is the crown prince of Atlantis. Like other noble sons, he is training for the Boys’ Panegyris, a festival that showcases the athletic prowess of royal young men. As is customary, Aerander has taken a boyfriend of equal nobility to hold hands with (and incite flurries of tittering gossip). Aerander’s powerful father, Pylartes, disapproves, but when two of the royal boys go missing amid growing political unrest, decorum regarding homosexual flings is the least of Pylartes’ concerns.

Aerander’s distant cousin and former best friend is implicated, so Aerander works to solve the mystery and clear his family’s

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name. The advent of an elusive, legendary star (the titular seventh Pleiade) leads Aerander to the missing boys. In so doing, he unearths the macabre truth behind their disappearances and unravels an ancient mystery. Heterosexual characters are the minority here, and sexual content is unflinchingly included, though at times it can read like a Chatterly-esque romance: “Calyiches climbed between his thighs…awakening a shy sensuality.” Saving the day is Aerander’s foremost goal, but contemplation of the complexities and realities of same-sex relationships is a close second. Varied, vivid landscapes will entice discerning fantasy readers, and beefy vocabulary keeps the narrative hearty.

A marriage of equality among fantasy, mythology, action and same-sex romance. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

THUNDERSTONE

Pietron, Barbara Scribe (260 pp.) $12.99 paper | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-940368-91-7 A girl who is unaware of her mystical powers inadvertently awakes a monster and tries to imprison it again.

On a family vacation at Lake Itasca, near the Mississippi’s headwaters in Minnesota, 15 year-old Jeni buys an interesting cat statue that looks demonic. Almost immediately, Ice, a “Native American” boy studying to be a “medicine man,” tries to buy it from her. Ice knows that if the statue gets wet, it might awaken a fearsome underwater monster that dwells in the lake. Little does he know that Jeni already has fallen into the lake with the statue in her pocket. Shortly thereafter, people start dying. Ice convinces Jeni that she has some supernatural powers, but he can’t keep her out of his own struggle to defeat the monster. Feeling responsible, Jeni is determined to help, a choice that places both her and Ice in several life-threatening situations.

Pietron deftly juggles action, paranormal elements and a burgeoning romance between Jeni and Ice. Characterizations ring true: Jeni comes across as believable and attractive, and so does Ice. Unfortunately, the author’s implicit assertion of an undifferentiated pan–Native American mythos troublingly perpetuates old stereotypes—a mystifying choice, given her care in including tribal affiliations for all the speakers identified in the chapter epigraphs. Had Ice’s religion and culture been equally thoughtfully and authentically developed, this book might have succeeded.

Hugely problematic. (Paranormal suspense. 12 & up)

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TO DARE MIGHTY THINGS The Life of Theodore Roosevelt Rappaport, Doreen Illus. by Payne, C.F. Disney Hyperion (48 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 17, 2013 978-1-4231-2488-7

U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt certainly dared mighty things, and this lavish picture-book biography deftly captures the legendary man’s bold, exuberant nature.

Young “Teedie” Roosevelt wanted to be fearless like Daniel Boone and the Valley Forge soldiers he read about, but he was a sickly child. A dramatic full-bleed spread shows the quiltwrapped Teedie reading in a big chair, visions of polar bears and eagles dancing in his head—an apt reflection of the boy who would go on to keep a giant tortoise in his room at Harvard and then to help protect America’s wildlife. Roosevelt’s private joys and sorrows as well as professional highlights from his Rough Rider days in Cuba to his 1906 Nobel Peace Prize are chronicled here in colorful, accessible prose, punctuated by character-illuminating quotations. This is a portrait of a passionate man who wanted to make a difference and did, as police commissioner or author, cattle rancher or U.S. president. Payne’s expressive, muted paintings—quite grand when showcasing America’s majestic landscapes—are full of warmth and humor befitting the joyful man who declared “No man has had a happier life than I have led; a happier life in every way.”

A truly inspiring tribute to a seemingly larger-than-life U.S. president. (timeline, selected research sources, bibliography, websites, acknowledgments) (Picture book/biography.

7-12)

TRAINING TALLULAH

Reeve, Rosie Illus. by Reeve, Rosie Walker (32 pp.) $14.99 | Jan. 21, 2014 978-0-8027-3590-4

If a human can be very good at understanding Cat, how about the other

way round?

“When Tom met Tallulah he was extremely shy—too shy to even come out of his box.” Tallulah knows what to do. She gives him a saucer of milk and a tour of the house (map of great places to catnap included). She shows him his cat door and makes him a toy. She is so good at understanding him, Tom wants to “learn Human.” He studies what she does and takes notes. When Tom perfects being a human, he finds Tallulah needs training to be a better cat. With patience she comes along nicely. That’s when he takes her to the pet shop to exchange her for a puppy. British illustrator Reeve’s solo effort, published under the title When Tom Met Tallulah in her native country in 2013, is a bit odd. The

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“Secrets and mad scientists offer a gory gothic adventure.” from her dark curiosity

illustrations are charmingly silly, but the story baffles. The title page reads “Tom and Tallulah are not exactly best friends right now….” It’s hard to know whether that’s before she brings him home in that box or if it follows his training her to be a dog, which is what appears to be happening in the final illustration despite his having exchanged her at the pet shop.

This may satisfy absurdist kitty fans but leave others scratching their heads. (Picture book. 3-7)

THE CUCUY STOLE MY CASCARONES / EL COCO ME ROBO LOS CASCARONES

Rivas, Spelile Illus. by Cervantes, Valeria Translated by Baeza Ventura, Gabriela Piñata Books/Arté Público (32 pp.) $17.95 | Nov. 30, 2013 978-1-55885-771-1

A disappointing bilingual offering.

On the morning of his birthday party, young Roberto awakens to find his cascarones— decorated, hollowed eggs filled with confetti—are missing. Roberto concludes the Cucuy, or the boogeyman, has stolen them and bravely sets out to find the villain—a decision praised in his imaginings by the little monsters that are, bizarrely, his companions throughout the story in the illustrations but that are absent from the text. Roberto journeys around his town, following the trail of confetti left by the cascarones and discovering the Cucuy has stolen items intended for his party from various shop owners. In another illustrative choice that may confuse readers, the shop owners he meets are described one way (hands on hips, hands thrown into the air, etc.) but depicted another. The ending, in which Roberto finds the lost items but doesn’t grasp what has actually occurred, paints Roberto as an unbelievably naïve character. Child readers who see through that naïveté will be unlikely to want to identify with him. It’s also disturbing that everyone in this book is portrayed as pale-skinned—a representation untrue to the diversity of Hispanic peoples.

Weak character development, poor design and graceless art will leave readers dissatisfied. (Bilingual picture book.

3-6)

HER DARK CURIOSITY

Shepherd, Megan Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (432 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Jan. 28, 2013 978-0-06-212805-8 978-0-06-212807-2 e-book Series: Madman’s Daughter, 2 Juliet Moreau struggles with monsters, morals and family tragedy in this moving, if melodramatic sequel (The Madman’s Daughter, 2013). |

Not content to relax in the well-appointed home of her guardian, professor von Stein, or to shop and gossip with her friend, Lucy Radcliffe, 17-year-old Juliet sneaks away to the slums to experiment in anatomy, botany and chemistry. Her father is gone—killed by her own hand—but his medical misconduct and her former poverty are not forgotten. When her former persecutors fall victim to a serial killer, Juliet suspects that someone or something made it off the island. Juliet finds herself torn again between her love for the faithful (if secretive) Montgomery and the tortured Edward Prince, who shifts between boy and Beast.

Amid a whirlwind of romance, fancy dresses and death, Juliet uncovers a vast conspiracy that stretches into the highest ranks of society and touches everyone she knows. Although heavyhanded, Shepherd’s unsubtle allusions to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein draw readers’ attention to the classics and may provoke discussions about medical ethics and split personalities. The experiments are more fiction than science, and Juliet contradicts her supposed delicacy by dispatching threats with chemistry and violence, but the fast pace of the story overpowers the minor imperfections.

Secrets and mad scientists offer a gory gothic adventure. (Gothic thriller. 14 & up)

REVELATIONS

Souders, J.A. Tor (352 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-7653-3246-2 Series: Elysium Chronicles, 2 Former child soldier–cum–broodmareto-be Evelyn Winters is now safe on the Surface with hunky rescuer Gavin, but she can’t escape her past.

Evie’s memory was wiped during her escape from the dystopic underwater society of Elysium (Renegade, 2012),, but that doesn’t stop the flashbacks. When these begin to threaten her life, Gavin decides she must go to the city to see a specialist. He reluctantly accepts the help of mayor’s son Asher, former best friend, now enemy, who has the connections that will get him and Evie through the city gates, and off they go into a thicket of dangers. Asher is a good addition to the series, warm, flawed and far more interesting than Gavin. The interplay between him and Gavin will intrigue readers as well as Evie, but all will have to settle for mere hints as to the cause of their animosity. The actual overland adventure serves to fill in some worldbuilding gaps and create opportunities for Evie to show off her preternatural combat abilities, but mostly it seems there just to fill pages as, predictably, all roads seem to lead back to Elysium, where Evie hopes to find her lost memories and some answers. This she does, in a hugely contrived rush that sets up Book 3.

Just another dystopian-romance middle volume, with the usual flat present-tense narration and swoony makeout scenes, though a rather higher body count than many.

(Dystopian romance. 14 & up)

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“Cepeda’s full-bleed acrylic-and-oil paintings utilize the…northern lights for a vibrant color palette of azure, lavender and green. ” from cub’s big world

FOSSIL

Thomson’s personification of Mom and Cub, along with her measured, soothing text, make for an agreeable, affirming story for both one-on-one and group sharing.

(Picture book. 2-6)

Thomson, Bill Illus. by Thomson, Bill Two Lions (32 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4778-4700-8 Exploring a lakeshore, a boy and his dog find a series of rocks which, when broken, reveal fossils that come alive in this wordless but vaguely menacing narrative.

The first rock breaks by accident; a bit of fern emerges and takes root. It takes purposeful effort to reveal the next two, but out comes an oversized dragonfly and then a pterodactyl.

Thomson’s hyper-realistic art uses exaggerated and unusual perspectives to emphasize the boy’s heavy human hand and large feet, the size of the prehistoric reptile, and the boy’s expressions of shock and awe. Some images are framed in insets on top of the wider vistas on the spread. The art, done by hand using acrylic paint and colored pencils, is almost photographic in its detail. Figures and stones alike are set against a background of cloudless blue sky and an expanse of sand; some greenery in the background provides a horizon. As in his wordless Chalk (2010), Thomson’s images come to life, but this story is disturbingly destructive. Although the author opens with a note about fossils, “By studying fossils, we can learn a lot about prehistoric life,” the boy destroys them to save his dog, carried away on the pterodactyl’s back—a mixed message indeed.

Sometimes imagination can take you too far. (Picture book. 5-9)

CUB’S BIG WORLD

Thomson, Sarah L. Illus. by Cepeda, Joe Harcourt (32 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-544-05739-5

A polar bear cub experiences her first adventures outside the security of the den—but still seeks her mother’s reassuring presence.

When Cub exuberantly tumbles down a slope, she’s separated from her (still watchful) mother. Seeking Mom’s remembered black nose, she instead encounters a squawking raven, an ermine’s black-tipped tail and a diving harp seal. In elegantly simple language, Thomson conveys the acute dependency of the toddler: “The world was too big for a cub with no mom.”

Two page turns later, the playful reunion’s complete—with a sneak peek at Mom for observant children. Cepeda’s full-bleed acrylic-and-oil paintings utilize the (unreferenced) northern lights for a vibrant color palette of azure, lavender and green.

The snowscape, influenced by the morphing light show, is alternately ice-blue, pale gray-green, ecru and mauve. Painterly strokes lend texture and weight to Cub and his adventure; shifting perspectives ensure that the snowy terrain looks ever-exciting.

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PINKBEARD’S REVENGE

Trine, Greg Illus. by Dormer, Frank W. Harcourt (128 pp.) $12.99 | Dec. 3, 2013 978-0-547-80797-3

Fourth-grade girl superhero Jo Schmo faces three revenge-hungry villains.

While Jo masters new techniques— the Tasmanian Chop and invisibility (useful for sneaking into movies, not so useful for avoiding being sat on by fat people)—Dr. Dastardly and Numb Skull bond in prison over their mutual hatred of her. Their jailbreak uses exploding macaroni and a giant slingshot made from underwear elastic. Meanwhile, a crew of time-traveling pirates led by Pinkbeard (he was Blackbeard until he drank too much pink lemonade) travels to the future to see if modern times offer more money, better-tasting grog and cuter women. They find it all at a wine tasting/fashion show before being trounced

by Jo. Pinkbeard, the only pirate to escape, encounters Dr. Dastardly and Numb Skull as they plot revenge on Jo and joins them.

After Googling Jo Schmo’s vulnerabilities (three boys she has crushes on and her dog, Raymond), the terrible trio abduct the boys and Raymond in a plot that includes “an enormous piece of bacon dancing in the moonlight.” Sometimes, especially early on, chattiness and repetition threaten to bog things down, but the lively action and illustrations propel the story forward to a drool-filled fight on a pirate ship.

Packed with warped logic, twisted common sense and silly hijinks—offbeat fun. (Adventure. 6-9)

THE BAD BIRTHDAY IDEA

Valentine, Madeleine Illus. by Valentine, Madeleine Knopf (40 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 12, 2013 978-0-449-81331-7

A lovely package of a picture book about siblings and sharing, birthdays and toys.

Ben loves to play with his toy robot, to the point where he seems oblivious to his little sister Alice’s love for him. He refuses to play with her and her doll, saying, “No dolls allowed.

This is a robot game.” Forlorn but not dissuaded, Alice devises a plan that ends up getting Ben’s attention: She requests a new Roboy 2000 for her upcoming birthday. Jealous, Ben surreptitiously unwraps her gift and plays with it, which is a bad idea.

He mistakenly breaks it before the guests arrive for her party

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THE MISSING CHANCLETA AND OTHER TOP-SECRET CASES / LA CHANCLETA PERDIDA Y OTROS CASOS SECRETOS

and then quickly hides it away where no one can see it. Wracked with guilt, Ben eventually confesses his misdeed, and then he generously gives Alice his own robot to replace her broken one.

While this arises as an idealistically easy and swift resolution, the expressive, cartoonish graphite, gouache and colored-pencil illustrations support the believability of the characters’ actions and reactions. Ben looks truly distraught when his father asks, “Where is the family’s gift?” and Alice is lovingly forgiving and eager to play with her brother when he makes amends.

Reading this book is a good idea. (Picture book. 4-6)

ENGINES OF THE BROKEN WORLD

Vanhee, Jason Henry Holt (272 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-8050-9629-3

Not even a million of God’s animalshaped Ministers can save people this time around. The end of the world is here, and 12-year-old Merciful Truth and her older brother, Gospel, are among the

last left standing.

In this vivid horror novel set in a cabin in the woods, Merciful and her wild brother, who is “halfway to the Devil,” are not quite home alone. Their mother’s corpse is decomposing under the kitchen table as there’s too much snow outside to bury her, and the Minister, a shape-shifting, God-appointed “made thing,” pads about the house murmuring its daily gospel.

Worse still, Mama isn’t staying dead. Is that milky-eyed corpse singing “Hush, little baby” in their late papa’s rocking chair their once-crazy mama, or is it a “ghost angel” from a faraway world of cities and science? This is full-on horror, complete with putrid undead, a world-devouring fog and creepy ballerina music boxes. Merciful’s frank, down-home, first-person voice is steady and true as she navigates not only the challenges of pioneer-style survival and the impending apocalypse, but also tricky relationships with God, the newly undead, the enigmatic Minister and her embittered brother.

Faith and hopelessness swirl like snow in a winter storm in this scary but terrific debut novel with a fresh, engaging voice. (Fantasy/horror. 13 & up)

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Vicente, Alidis Illus. by Mora Des!gn Translated by Baeza Ventura, Gabriela Piñata Books/Arté Público (80 pp.) $9.95 paper | Nov. 30, 2013 978-1-55885-779-7 A bilingual early chapter book inducts a new character into the pantheon of precocious child detectives.

Detective Flaca is an 8-year-old gumshoe. In this first offering, readers are privy to three of her cases, involving a missing chancleta (or flip-flop), deadly oranges and disappearing salsa (of the dance, not the food, variety), respectively. Geared toward an audience that appreciates snarky humor rather than hard-core mystery fans, all three cases are the result of comedic misunderstandings on the part of Detective Flaca and are “solved” by her learning the truth in each situation. Vicente does a commendable job of including the meanings of Spanish words within the text in such a manner that non-Spanish speakers should easily be able to understand them without the need for a glossary (which is good, since there isn’t one). While Detective Flaca’s language and thought processes belie her age, the stories themselves are entertaining enough to allow readers to suspend disbelief. Baeza Ventura’s Spanish translation of the story follows the English rendition.

Short and sweet, this book is a good choice for reluctant and early readers, while its humorous content will appeal to fans of comedy. Chuckle-inducing fun. (Mystery. 6-9)

ASHES TO ASHES

Walker, Melissa Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 23, 2013 978-0-06-207734-9 Walker’s imaginative first installment of a two-part afterlife drama about what comes next.

Six when her mother died, teenage Callie lives with her dad and doesn’t believe in ghosts, other than “the ones that haunt the corners of my dad’s mind. The ones that keep him quiet, unable to give me a real hug….” Dad may have locked in his feelings, but Callie still knows how to get a rush: with her boyfriend, Nick, and with risky driving in the new convertible her dad has given her. Frequent allusions to Charleston’s storied ghost history and best friend Carson’s obsession with the spirit world all portend one outcome: tragedy. Post-death Callie has a soft landing into the Prism, where dreamy guide Thatcher, stalled in his own quest to move on to the next level, explains her post-death haunting assignment: act as a silent, hidden grief

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counselor to the living. But Callie (“my curiosity has always overwhelmed my caution”) is drawn to ghostly outliers Leo and Reena, who have their own plans. Rather than provide comfort and progress from the Prism to Solus (Solace? Soulless? Callie notices the ambiguity…), they are determined to rejoin the living, and Callie’s unique energy is crucial to their success. Callie’s present-tense narration emphasizes her limbo status.

An appealing and sometimes-poignant blend of savvy adolescents, young romance and paranormal evil suggests there’s no escaping teen drama—even in the afterlife. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

THE RACE FOR THE CHINESE ZODIAC

Wang, Gabrielle Illus. by Rippin, Sally Candlewick (32 pp.) $14.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-7636-6778-8

The oft-retold story of how the Chinese astrological symbols came to

occupy their places.

The Jade Emperor majestically rings his gong, and the race begins. Twelve animals will be honored. In this Australian import, each animal receives a brief description of its significant character traits, which have as much to do with success as speed. Powerful Dragon, though he stops along the way to help “people and animals suffering from a terrible drought,” slowing him down, is awarded the fifth year. The cooperative natures of Gentle Goat, Clever Monkey and Lucky Rooster, the playful nature of Faithful Dog and the lazy disposition of Happy Pig are evidenced in the terse but descriptive text. Ironically, while Charming Rat and Friendly Cat (previously pals) ride on Kind Ox, the not-really-so-charming rodent pushes the innocent feline off Ox into the river and out of the zodiac forever, thus setting cats against rats for all time. It’s nothing very original, but illustrations incorporating Chinese ink, linocuts and digital media in browns, oranges and greens are handsome, and each animal is named in maroon rectangles inscribed in white, looking as if they were produced with Chinese seals. There is no background information, but readers born from 1924 to 2043 can consult the list at the end and discover their zodiacal characters.

While not an essential purchase, this could easily join the ever-growing flock of attractive picture books about the Chinese zodiac. (Picture book/folk tale. 5-8)

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THE BOOK OF LOVE

Weingarten, Lynn HarperTeen (272 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Dec. 31, 2013 978-0-06-192620-4 978-0-06-223924-2 e-book In this sequel to The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers (2011), Lucy regrets becoming a Heartbreaker, taking power from the tears of the boys whose hearts she breaks. But can she find a way out?

Lucy knows she has a magically unbreakable heart, but she has become aware that she feels less and less emotion of any kind. Her singing no longer captivates her audience. She can’t get over the guilt she feels after deliberately breaking sensitive Colin’s heart in the last book so that she could join the Sisterhood. She learns from an elderly former Heartbreaker that, indeed, she’ll never feel emotional pain again, but at the cost of never feeling any emotion. Together with her three “sisters,” Lucy joins a contest among the North American Sisterhood to break the hearts of selected celebrities. In the course of their efforts, Lucy learns of someone who might be able to help her escape….Weingarten crafts a clever vehicle for her thoughtful message. The book looks like a romance novel, but it becomes so much more as Lucy’s thinking evolves and as she tries to escape the fate she realizes she was foolish to choose. Yes, young girls fear the pain of heartbreak, but could that pain be worth the trouble?

A perceptive novel that has the power to capture romance and paranormal fans while delivering real insight into the power of love and friendship. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

RAIN OF THE GHOSTS

Weisman, Greg St. Martin’s (240 pp.) $9.99 paper | $7.12 e-book | Dec. 3, 2013 978-1250029799 978-1-250-02980-5 e-book Series: Rain of the Ghosts, 1 A clunky story narrated by a mysterious dog with an omniscient viewpoint and graceless grammar.

Rain Cacique’s grandfather ’Bastian has died but not before giving her his gold armband of intertwined snakes. Now Rain is seeing ghosts. Specifically, they are the ghosts of men operating the B-17 bomber that her grandfather piloted and crashed into the sea years ago, killing everyone but him. The ghosts want to go home. No one but Rain can see or hear them, not even her long-suffering friend Charlie. But when the ghosts, with an ethereal ’Bastian piloting, fly their rusted hulk of a plane out from the sea floor (the best part) and radio to a Navy base, the control tower can hear them. Why? Don’t know. Plot inconsistencies plague readers even as the narrative

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“Minimalist illustrations are painted in muted hues on pale gray backgrounds dotted with snowflakes, creating a hushed atmosphere that makes the final message stand out.” from the message of the birds

confuses them. Like ’Bastian, whose soul is tethered to the gold snake bracelet and inconveniently dragged around by it, readers are jerked in and out of the story as the narrative moves from very omniscient third person to tail-wagging-dog first person. One casualty of this know-all narrative (besides lack of tension) is that readers are left feeling no connection to the story. Another is the question of why the dog is narrating in the first place.

Hints of a semi-intriguing premise may, with better writing, make this series palatable going forward. (Paranormal adventure. 10-14)

THE MESSAGE OF THE BIRDS

Westerlund, Kate Illus. by Oral, Feridun Minedition (32 pp.) $16.99 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-988-8240-55-5

This calm, unassuming story tells how the birds of the world spread a message of peace at Christmas by singing their special song for children around the world.

The proverbial wise old owl tells a mixed flock of birds the story of the Nativity, and the gathered birds are inspired to spread the song of peace themselves by reaching out to children.

Told through simple, lyrical words, the story of how the birds fly off to spread a song of peace by singing to children is a touching and profound interpretation of the role of the Christ Child and the meaning of his birth. The birds share their song, and lines of children join hands on snowy hills under a guiding star. The message of the birds’ song is revealed on the final pages: “Let there be peace, peace on Earth!” with the word peace written in dozens of different languages on the last page. Minimalist illustrations are painted in muted hues on pale gray backgrounds dotted with snowflakes, creating a hushed atmosphere that makes the final message stand out. Even the cover is understated, with a single robin perched on the tip of an evergreen, snow falling in the background.

A lovely, quiet book with something powerful to say.

(Picture book/religion. 3- 7)

THE CREATURE DEPARTMENT

Weston, Robert Paul Illus. by Framestore Razorbill/Penguin (352 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-59514-685-4

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Monsters, Inc. in this tale of two preteen geeks who help to save a local business from a (very) hostile takeover.

Thanks to inventions like refreshing, wireless TransMints, DENKi-3000 is the fifth-largest tech firm in the world. But its secretive research-and-development |

department, run by Elliot von Doppler’s enigmatic uncle Archimedes, hasn’t produced in so long that the shareholders are on the verge of accepting a takeover bid from equally secretive Quazicom. Elliot discovers the reason for the hush-hush when he and new friend Leslie Fang take a private tour of the company headquarters and discover that DENKi-3000’s R&D is staffed not by humans but by Creatures ranging from a diminutive French fairy-vampire to a more sizable and aptly dubbed “bombastadon,” among many diverse others. Moreover, it later turns out that Quazicom is likewise owned by Creatures—malign Ghorks armed with both Taser-equipped security droids and the ability to shoot high-velocity boogers. Weston crafts a suspenseful if predictable plot that culminates in a wild melee and the unveiling of an awesome new invention, but the Creaturely cast (developed in collaboration with CGI studio Framestore) elbows both the human one and the storyline aside here to take center stage.

A literal Creature feature, with plenty of cinematic and digital spinoff potential. (illustrations, webpage and app still under development) (Fantasy. 10-13)

1492 New World Tales

Young, Richard; Young, Judy Dockrey August House (180 pp.) $16.95 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-1-939160-73-7 In this much-expanded version of a 1992 collection, two veteran storytellers present tales that were being told in the Americas, North Africa and on the Iberian Peninsula the day Christopher Columbus made landfall.

Probably, that is. As their conscientious source notes indicate, the 50-plus short myths, legends, anecdotes and animal tales (up from 20 in Stories from the Days of Christopher Columbus) were all gathered from later collections or learned from modern members of indigenous groups. Still, the cross-sectional approach results in a mix of relatively well-known episodes with those that are less familiar. Among the former are “Why Anansi Has a Narrow Waist,” a Spanish version of “The Three Sillies” called “Bastianito” and two verse extracts from the legends of El Cid. Readers are less likely to know scary tales from Aztec Zempoala and Tlacopán, exploits of the clever Mayan “Dwarf of Uxmal,” creation myths from Taíno Guanahaní, Basque, and Moroccan Jewish tales—among dozens of other rarities from carefully specified locales. Despite a generally informal tone (“King Sancho the Eleventy Leventh became angry”), this lends itself less to reading straight through than using as a storyteller’s resource; along with frequent prefatory cultural notes, the Youngs add discussion points, glossaries, and inserted pronunciations for proper names and non-English phrases.

A respectful, sometimes irreverent and broadly multicultural treasury of dramas, romances, chillers, knee-slappers and teaching tales. (introduction) (Folk tales. 11-14, adult)

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“Berger uses both traditional and digital media to portray a confident, squiggly-hairedgirl dressed in a pink, polka-dot dress enthusiastically immersed in whatever activity she chooses.” from dot.

MISSION 1 Game On

Zucker, Jonny Illus. by Woodman, Ned Darby Creek (144 pp.) $7.95 paper | $20.95 e-book | $27.93 PLB | Nov. 1, 2013 978-1-4677-1465-5 978-1-4677-2051-9 e-book 978-1-4677-1207-1 PLB Series: Max Flash, 1 A series opener introduces a crime-fighting preteen escapologist.

Max Flash is a first-class escape artist and master illusionist who spends his free time bound in chains trying to escape from tanks of water. But when Max discovers that his parents are actually undercover agents for a secret organization known as the Department for Extraordinary Activity, life at the Flash household becomes even more interesting. In this kickoff novel, a programmer from the hottest gaming company in the world accidentally creates a portal between the real and Virtual worlds, and Max is called on by the DFEA to use his unique skill set to travel to the Virtual world and close the portal so that rogue characters can’t travel back and forth between worlds and wreak havoc. All of the ingredients are there—the premise is intriguing, there’s the promise of fast-paced action, and a Houdini-esque kid protagonist has the potential to be a winning character—but unfortunately, the book fails to ever truly bring Max or his story to life. Even the artwork is disappointingly one-dimensional. The story is told in the third person by a decidedly adult narrator, and Max is never allowed to find his own voice and connect on an emotional level with readers.

The result is a series opener that falls frustratingly short of its potential; here’s hoping subsequent volumes (the first six are publishing simultaneously) improve.

(Adventure. 9-12)

DOT.

Zuckerberg, Randi Illus. by Berger, Joel Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 5, 2013 978-0-06-228751-9 Dot is tech-savvy. Dot really likes using her many devices—all the time. But one day, after Dot appears to have overdone it, her mother tells her to go outside and reboot—which leads to a surprising discovery.

Zuckerberg—CEO of her own media company and sister of Facebook’s CEO Mark—is all too aware of the impact of technology on children’s lives. With this title, she shows a respect for kids’ interest and skill with technology but also illustrates the value in going out to interact with others. In the first half of the book, readers see Dot “tap” on a keyboard, “touch” a screen, “tweet” at a desktop computer and “tag” by using a mouse. She also “knows how to surf… / to swipe… / to share… / and to search.”

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The second half of the book utilizes the same terms, but this time, Dot is happily tap dancing, touching a sunflower, whistling or tweeting like a bird, playing a game of tag with diverse friends and swiping paint to create a picture. Berger uses both traditional and digital media to portray a confident, squigglyhaired girl dressed in a pink, polka-dot dress enthusiastically immersed in whatever activity she chooses. On the pages where Dot is glued to a device, he limits the palette to bright pinks and oranges that contrast sharply with the remaining white space. Once she exits the house, walking like a sleepwalker, the spreads take on more color, with pale greens, blues and yellows.

The story is a bit slight, but many parents who struggle with tech-obsessed kids will appreciate the message. Like it or not, Dot is truly a modern child navigating online and in person with equal success. (Picture book. 4-7)

interactive e-books COWZAT

Atherton, Bruce Illus. by Redlich, Ben Colour Me Interactive $2.99 | Aug. 17, 2013 4.0; Aug. 17, 2013 Melodramatic Aussie narration and broadly comical art milk this tale of cricket’s origins Down Under for all it’s worth.

It all begins when a Jersey cow named Jenny Bramble Rose, getting a cricket up her nose, sneezes out a ball of cud that one pasture mate whacks with a willow stick and another catches in her hat after a heroic gallop (“HOWZAT?”). This proves so exciting that the other cattle all want to play. They get together to set rules, take team pictures, appoint a goat as referee and play for five days to a (voluntary) draw before a riveted crowd of farm animals. Most of the hilariously dodgy-looking creatures in Redlich’s rustic cartoons squawk, moo, hop, bleat, grimace, cheer, lay an egg or poop when tapped. Viewers can drag the bat and ball, move scenes along at will (using either arrows or the thumbnail index or just by tapping screens) and have any words in the rhymed text re-pronounced with a touch. There is an autoplay option but no silent mode. Along with that sticky wicket, children won’t come away with more than a vague notion of how cricket is actually played. Still, the closing stanza’s “From that day on the game became a ritual sort of test, / Of having fun but playing fair and giving it your best” is applicable to any sport.

Udderly engaging, if an innings short of a finished match. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

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THE MUD MONSTER

Bourgonje, Chantal Illus. by Bourgonje, Chantal Tizio BV $1.99 | Aug. 20, 2013 1.0; Aug. 20, 2013

A fanciful, almost dreamy little story featuring a turtle, a goose, a rabbit and—who would want it otherwise?—a

monster.

This app is a simple piece of work, asking only that readers turn the page when they are ready, after following the bouncing words in the narrative or having digested the lovely artwork.

The story, of which there are two similar versions to choose from, follows the young animals from their bath to a rowboat by the sea, where they catch a giant clam that—surprise!—harbors not a bivalve but the mud monster, a cheery soul who looks to be cut from kelp (very muddy kelp) and enjoys dancing in circles with his new friends. As a wind instrument peeps along in the background, they dance until tired and then tuck the mud monster back into his shell and send him home. The three chums than turn homeward as well, back to their bath. The story is gentle, which accounts for much of its charm, but it is not milquetoast. It has an engaging energy in its call for adventure and the realization that adventure can be sweet as well as daring. The illustrations’ loose lines and kaleidoscopic watercolors endow the characters, even the monster, with a seraphic air.

A story that is as happy as a clam at high tide. (Requires iOS 6.0 & up.) (iPad storybook app. 3-6)

THE BLACK DEATH

Britton, Peter TimeMaps $2.99 | Sep. 8, 2013 1.0; Sep. 8, 2013

A mobile version of a much more expensive online visual aid that maps the spread of the 14th-century pandemic.

Above a row of seven fixed buttons on a timeline that runs from 1346 to 1351 is a pale, sparsely labeled map that shows most of Africa and Eurasia. Tapping the buttons changes the display. A blot of solid black spreads from an area north of the Caspian Sea in 1346 to encompass, by 1351, southern Japan to western Africa. Overlaid on that, viewers can opt to see about two dozen cities, plus major trade routes; by tapping scattered “I” icons, they can bring up general information in side windows about the time’s major political entities and regional economics, brief quotes from contemporary chroniclers, details of the plague’s spread and some of its long-term consequences. Along with some typos, claims that rats (rather than their fleas) were plague carriers and the implication that the church always opposed pogroms against European Jews are, at best, simplistic. Furthermore, there is no audio, video or (aside from the aforementioned blot) animation, |

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and the extensive review questions supplied by the online version have been trimmed away (a set of discussion/essay topics labeled “Learning Challenges” remains).

A dispensable supplement to the nondigital likes of James Cross Giblin’s When Plague Strikes (1995), superficial of content and, by current standards, feature-poor. (iPad informational app. 9-11)

THE ASTEROID [hypernovel]

Cataldo, Bruno Bruno Cataldo $3.99 | Aug. 20, 2013 1.0; Aug. 20, 2013

A young man is determined to save Earth from an alien invasion—with a few breaks for video games.

The fate of the planet hinges on readers’ successfully completing a series of simple (or at least simplistic) games between chapters. The planet watches in shock as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth, then slows, stops and proves to be an alien spaceship. The newcomers make friendly overtures to train humanity in its advanced technology, and teenage Vincent is one of a dozen youngsters chosen. Of course, the aliens have more nefarious intentions: They need youthful brains to help power the ship’s organic supercomputer.

It’s a familiar but fun setup, and though the writing is generally flat, Cataldo gives Vincent an appealingly whip-smart attitude.

(Echoes of Ender’s Game are strong.) But the weakness in the storytelling is exacerbated by the interstitial games, which have a stylish 1980s-arcade look but are dull to actually play when they’re not exasperating. One, involving landing a ship on the asteroid, requires maddeningly hyperprecise steering to complete; another, in which readers swipe to shoot down alien craft, is rock-simple. Have paper handy: There’s also an “intelligence test” with 24 questions of the SAT-prep variety (“If 20 swallows build 40 nests in 60 days…”). Though closing the app will bookmark the story, failing a mission sends users back to the very beginning, to work puzzles and games all over again—a serious flaw.

Integrating games and narrative has potential, but shouldn’t saving humanity demand something more gripping than working a Sudoku? (Requires iOS 6.0 & up.) (iPad science-fiction app. 10-16)

MAGGOT MOON

Gardner, Sally Illus. by Crouch, Julian Candlewick $12.99 | Aug. 13, 2013 2.1; Aug. 13, 2013

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“The text is curious and inviting, with an eccentric cadence that keeps it this side of child’s play....” from locomotive

been positively shoveled into this “multi-touch edition” of Britain’s 2013 Carnegie Medal winner.

The actual story is set in an alternate Britain under the boot of an authoritarian Motherland and narrated by Standish, a bullied, dyslexic teenager who exposes a much-ballyhooed moon landing as a hoax. Adjustable of font size and also presenting different views in portrait and landscape orientation, the enhanced e-book is festooned with dozens of thumbnail images and icons in the margins. Tapping these activates extras that include video clips of the author vaunting her own dyslexia (“the greatest gift you’ve ever been given”), her troubles at school or a nearly 10-minute inspirational “speech for losers.” There are also dramatically read snippets from the text, writing prompts, review quizzes, original video shorts, and slide shows on topics such as recent civil wars or outbreaks of genocide. Photos of historical documents and skeletal constructs representing a sinister “leather coat man” mingle with Crouch’s original line drawings (presented separately here and also as a disturbing stop-motion animation) of a dead rat filling up with maggots.

All of this added material, interesting as it may be, makes it nigh impossible either to follow the already-chronologically-jumbled plotline or to be caught up for more than a few moments at a time in Standish’s mordant, often lyrical narrative.

Bonus content aplenty, but first-time readers will be better off with either the print or the unadorned e-book version. (afterword, with links and more imbedded video) (Enhanced e-book/science fiction. 12-15)

FANCY HAT

Majcher, Sylvia Illus. by West, Andrew The Sequence Group $3.99 | Aug. 24, 2013 1.2; Aug. 28, 2013 A young girl finds she can be happy without her newfound token of joy in an app that favors striking visuals over sound design or needless frills.

Forever frowning amid the gloom of cold rain and loneliness, a child identified only as “the grumpy girl” finds a bright yellow hat with a red ribbon. The fancy hat brings sunny days, flying kites and ice cream cones. “With her fancy hat, she laughed harder, smiled brighter, and felt like the happiest girl in the world.” The girl temporarily loses her favorite new item of clothing but discovers quickly that she can be just as happy without the hat. With its well-executed, painterly illustrations, the app is more sophisticated than it first appears. The visuals favor subtle shifts of perspective over full-blown animation.

Movement is activated by tilting the iPad in different directions to make the scenes breathe in unexpected ways. There are no extra features, not even page numbers, and the lack of sound effects, music or narration creates a silence that only seems noticeable when compared to the tweedles and beeps of competing iPad storybooks. A fierce seaside storm and a bus splashing through a puddle seem made for sound cues, but in this case, 102

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the decision to embrace silence works fine. The text isn’t revelatory, but its message of building happiness from within comes across clearly.

This gloomy girl’s transformation to happy camper is worth embracing, silent or not. (iPad storybook app. 4-10)

BLACK CAT ROBIN ROLLING ROLLING

Miyazaki, Yoshiichi Illus. by Miyazaki, Yoshiichi BlueArt $3.99 | Aug. 31, 2013 1.0; Aug. 31, 2013 Translated from a Japanese original, this terse but cozy episode features a bored cat, marbles and other rollable items, then a scary thunderstorm and a pair of comforting arms.

Moving from left to right at cued swipes with no simulated “page turns,” successive images of a black cat—looking sharp in a beret and starched collar—appear and dissolve against plain white backgrounds. In succession, the cat bats a marble, a ball of yarn, a world globe, a daruma (a round, hollow Japanese doll) and, in a lovely animated loop, Saturn’s rings while a sprightly tune plays in the background. The cat becomes a jagged ball of feline terror when a sudden storm rolls in but then relaxes bonelessly into the arms that reach down from above. The end comes quickly, and it is followed by several screens of publisher’s ads. The text, as spare as the art, swims into view piecemeal with a nonoptional audio reading attached; as it runs to lines like “Thunder goes / roar roar roar roar” and “Robin goes / prr prr” that just reflect visible actions or echo sound effects, it is superfluous.

Robin is definitely a cat with character, but this minimalist opener is more like a sampler than a developed story. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)

LOCOMOTIVE

Tuwim, Julian Illus. by Szymanowicz, Maciej Big Rabbit $1.99 | Sep. 13, 2013 1.0.1; Sep. 13, 2013 A completely delightful interactive ride on an old train full of surprises.

From the beginning, the top-drawer artwork, filigreed, naïve and with burnished, antique color that gleams, captivates. The subject: An old steam engine with a good complement of wagons (as the English would say) filled with burly men and salamis; bananas and a resident monkey; grand pianos, piggies complete with butchers’ marks; milch cows (across-the-pond English, again); cannons and like entertainments. This provides readers with an opportunity to do some counting, learn some new words—stoker, kirkus.com

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bolster—and engage with the material. Readers can slide a window up and down or load the cannon to produce a bang of festive fireworks, place baggage into a jigsaw, pull a whistle chain and release a bunch of balloons (and then pop them). The text is curious and inviting, with an eccentric cadence that keeps it this side of child’s play: “And of these wagons there’s forty all told, / I can’t tell myself what they can all hold.” The background music is just that: in the background; merry, but pleasingly so.

There is also a frame where the train slips quietly into being a toy train—a bow to the imagination—and then out, once again under steam, to resume its journey.

Children lucky enough to encounter this app will understand why certain adults mourn the demise of the night mail, the branch line and the narrow gauge. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)

ALPHABET

Twin Sisters Twin Sisters $1.99 | May 23, 2013 1.0; May 23, 2013 While ABC apps are in abundant supply, this abecedary will appeal to parents and teachers seeking an educational experience for their little ones.

With its clean, simple design, this app helps children become familiar with letter names and objects that begin with the corresponding letters. Each page features two to three letters in both upper- and lowercase, along with objects that begin with those two or three letters. Young readers will enjoy uncovering one or two outlined objects on each page; this straightforward interactive element keeps little ones engaged on each page, instead of quickly flipping through the app. Clear narration announces letter and object names, short facts and quiz questions, making this app suitable for independent reading by both young children and English language learners. A simple fact is shared for 13 objects: “Boats float in the water”; “Baby goats are called kids.” Unfortunately, the screen seems too sensitive—users may find themselves inadvertently turning the page when they are trying to tap on an object or letter. The final page includes six different alphabet songs, from the familiar ABC song to amusing variations such as “Alphabet Rock” or “The Alphabet Swing.” Throughout, this app provides a supportive, well-designed learning environment.

Certainly not an app that distinguishes itself with lively interactions or animation, but it’s mighty useful. (iPad alphabet app. 2-6)

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HEX BOYFRIENDS

Wilson, Lacy Illus. by Beevers, Ash Tin Man Games $2.99 | Aug. 21, 2013 1.0; Aug. 21, 2013 Series: Strange Loves, 2

An electronic choose-your-own adventure story with multiple dark twists and turns that will hook readers as they attempt

to avoid being eaten.

Readers are warned from Page 1 that this is “not a normal book,” an admonition that is underscored by opening prompts to input a name and select both a gender and a college major.

These prompts personalize the experience and set off the adventures at Mountain State College. No matter the path selected, they seem to include potential boyfriends and black magic that conjure deadly creatures, which readers must outsmart based on their selections and the spells they collect along the journey. Although there’s plenty of fun, there are a few quirks.

For example, regardless of the sex selected, the text does not change, so the narrative “you” will always be engaging with men.

Black-and-white images in a gritty, graphic-novel style are sprinkled throughout, and blood soaked pentagrams are prevalent.

Extras include a campus map, opportunities to Tweet progress and bookmarking capabilities that enable returning to marked points. Although the text, which is generally presented in two- or three-page chunks, can feel hokey, it fades into the background as the challenge to choose wisely and stay alive dominates.

A great mix of black magic, hot boyfriends and bloodthirsty beasts makes this interactive app an addicting read. (iPad game app. 14-18)

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continuing series SPARK

PINKALICIOUS AND THE CUPCAKE CALAMITY

Angler, Evan Thomas Nelson (272 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-4003-2198-8 Swipe, 4 (Dystopian adventure. 10-14)

ATTACK OF THE SHADOW SMASHERS

Cummings, Troy Branches/Scholastic (96 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-545-55298-1 978-0-545-55297-4 paper Notebook of Doom, 3 (Light horror. 8-10)

MS. SUE HAS NO CLUE!

MIKA

My New Life

Kann, Victoria Illus. by Kann, Victoria Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-06-218777-2 Pinkalicious (Picture book. 4-8)

May, Kyla Illus. by May, Kyla Branches/Scholastic (96 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-545-49620-9 978-0-545-44519-1 paper Lotus Lane, 4 (Fiction. 6-8)

TAKE ME TO YOUR LOSER

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

Kowitt, H.N. Scholastic (240 pp.) $9.99 paper | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-545-50795-0 Loser List, 4 (Fiction. 10-14)

Meyer, Joyce Illus. by Sullivan, Mary Zonderkidz (40 pp.) $15.99 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-310-72354-7 Everyday Zoo (Picture book. 4-8)

CONTAGION

Gutman, Dan Illus. by Paillot, Jim Harper/HarperCollins (112 pp.) $3.99 paper | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-06-219838-9 My Weirder School, 9 (Humor. 6-10)

Lebbon, Tim Pyr/Prometheus (210 pp.) $17.95 | $11.99 e-book | Nov. 5, 2013 978-1-61614-821-8 978-1-61614-822-5 e-book Toxic City, 3 (Post-apocalyptic adventure. 12-16)

WAR OF THE WERELORDS

Jobling, Curtis Viking (528 pp.) $16.99 | Oct. 8, 2013 978-0-670-78559-9 Wereworld, 6 (Fantasy. 10-14)

HORIZON

Noël, Alyson St. Martin’s Griffin (336 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 19, 2013 978-0-312-66489-3 Soul Seekers, 4 (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

DINOSAUR DISASTER

Lubar, David Illus. by Loveridge, Matt Branches/Scholastic (96 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Oct. 29, 2013 978-0-545-49605-6 978-0-545-49606-3 paper Looniverse, 3 (Fiction. 8-10)

SPHDZ 4 Life!

Scieszka, Jon Illus. by Prigmore, Shane Simon & Schuster (192 pp.) $16.99 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-1-4169-7957-9 Spaceheadz, 4 (Humorous science fiction. 7-10)

ZOM-B BABY

Shan, Darren Little, Brown (176 pp.) $15.00 | Oct. 1, 2013 978-0-316-21420-9 Zom-B, 5 (Horror. 12 & up)

This Issue’s Contributors # Alison Anholt-White • Mark Athitakis • Marcie Bovetz • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Elise DeGuiseppi • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn Omar Gallaga • Laurel Gardner • Faye Grearson • Melinda Greenblatt • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Deborah Kaplan Joy Kim • K. Lesley Knieriem • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis Meredith Madyda • Lauren Maggio • Joan Malewitz • Hillias J. Martin • Jeanne McDermott • Shelly McNerney • Kathie Meizner • R. Moore • Deb Paulson • John Edward Peters • Kristy Raffensberger • Katie Scherrer • Mary Ann Scheuer • Dean Schneider • Stephanie Seales • Karyn N. Silverman • Karin Snelson • Deborah D. Taylor Gordon West • S.D. Winston • Monica Wyatt • Melissa Yurechko

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indie ELDERWRITERS: CELEBRATE YOUR LIFE! A Guide for Creating Your Own Personal Legacy Document

These titles earned the Kirkus Star: THE LIGHT CHANGES by Amy Billone............................................106 SILEVETHIEL by Andi O’Connor.......................................................116

Barocas, Sue CreateSpace (178 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 6, 2013 978-1-48-482564-8

Anything goes for novice senior authors, according to this encouraging debut primer on the rewards of “elderwriting.”

Barocas, a retired math teacher and current leader of writing workshops for seniors, lays out the basics of creating a “personal legacy document”—a loose-limbed assemblage of valedictory articles. It’s a form that eschews the effort and formal difficulty of longer memoirs in favor of short, easily composed pieces that, according to Barocas, can convey an author’s individuality without overtaxing his or her literary powers. The book covers a large variety of formats, including simple lists of favorite things; collections of jokes, anecdotes and proverbs; character sketches of loved ones; brief accounts of important life events and their meanings; letter-to-the-editor–style polemics on political or social issues; how-to pieces; poems; recipes; and more. She even urges elderwriters to prepare their own obituaries and eulogies.

This isn’t a manual of prose style, but Barocas does occasionally provide useful hints on “reducing the monotony of your writing” by varying sentence length, adding rhetorical questions, changing points of view and deploying concrete details. She also includes exercises on brainstorming and memory retrieval to get creative juices flowing and provides tips on using computers to research, print and decorate one’s writings. Most usefully, she includes many engaging examples of her own and others’ personal legacy documents to serve as models. Barocas explains her material in clear, concise and very readable prose that will likely make writerly self-exploration less daunting for her audience.

Throughout, she emphasizes familiar, comfortable literary forms that will help elderwriters fluently express themselves.

A simple, reassuring road map for seniors seeking to put their thoughts on the page.

THE LIGHT CHANGES

Billone, Amy Hope Street Press (78 pp.) $6.12 paper | $0.99 e-book Jun. 5, 2013 978-0-98-907400-1

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“[R]ich, fraught sensuality with sharply lucid verse.” from the light changes

EXTRAORDINARY HEARTS Reclaiming Gay Sensibility’s Central Role in the Progress of Civilization

THE LIGHT CHANGES

Billone, Amy Hope Street Press (78 pp.) $6.12 paper | $0.99 e-book | Jun. 5, 2013 978-0-98-907400-1

Benton, Nicholas F. Lethe Press (344 pp.) $20.00 paper | Sep. 15, 2013 978-1-59021-392-6

Moving, psychologically nuanced free verse on death, rebirth and the powerfully generative potential of loss.

Billone’s debut poetry collection opens with the distinctly violent thud of metal on flesh: “I was raped by a speeding train.

I asked it to. / I threw myself before it….Oh what enormous / metal thighs. Oh what fast thudding hips. Again / again against my blackening eyes, skull, chest, waist.” The rattle of crushing bones reverberates through this volume as Billone revisits again and again this vivid moment of loss, of clarity and of new beginnings. For all the isolation this act of surrender implies, Billone’s narrator seems as concerned about the repercussions for her father as for herself. Recently emerged from a coma, she peers from the buzzing confines of her damaged skull and notices his small discomforts: “Now almost dead I wake to feel him stroke / my hand with his weary feet in buckets / full of ice.”

Though headed by epigraphs drawn from Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Barrett Browning—their influences here are undeniable—this volume’s insistent attention to self-violence, suffused with a complex longing for, and yet wariness of, paternal blessing begs for comparison to Sylvia Plath, a comparison in which Billone more than holds her own. Poems such as “Invitation from a Carnival after a Storm,” “Paris to London” and “If Nothing Else” demonstrate her ability to convey a rich, fraught sensuality with sharply lucid verse. Like Plath, she evokes a father both omnipotent—one who can tear down her “tiny words” with “bare / gigantic / father arms / overwhelming”—and omnipresent, a hovering, suffocating presence whose “terrified eyes” and “gasping face” may have been prescient or may have pushed the narrator to attempt suicide. Unlike Plath, however, she learns—from her father’s fears, from that thudding train and from her late mentor, the poet Jack Gilbert—to savor the profound intensity of approaching loss. As her attention moves from her own recovery to the birth of her son, she cherishes each exquisite moment preceding the loss of their shared bodies: “My God, I have never loved / anything as much as these / ripples inside me.” Indeed, in this tightly woven exploration of how to hold onto something important amid constant change and loss, the “gray light changes / will change // is changing now / as it always does.”

Thrilling in its courageousness, breathtaking in its vividness.

A distinguished, prolific journalist collects two years of published essays on the homosexual movement and its historic legacy.

Benton’s long-running article series “The Gay Science Papers” appeared online and in print in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., media from October 2010 to September 2012, two years that proved particularly pivotal for the gay community.

The book is meant to be both a supplement to the Falls Church News-Press global affairs column he’d been penning since 1997 and a truer translation of the term “gay,” as opposed to Friedrich Nietzsche’s use of the term in his 1882 tome The Gay Science—of which Benton is “not a fan.” The outspoken author believes his writings collectively galvanize “a new dialogue on shaping LGBT identity and self-esteem going forward into a new world of equality.” Readers will come away with much the same sentiment. Throughout the text, Benton weaves in his own personal history as an early gay liberation advocate, and his highly intellectual, pioneering nature is evident from the opening sections, where he challenges preconceived assumptions of gay culture as an entity comprised solely of “radical hedonistic dominance.” The essays paint a wonderfully multifaceted portrait of the gay community, incorporating unique concepts like “gay sensibility” and “sensual perspective” into a dialogue that becomes more adventurous as the collection progresses. Some of the more moving pieces find Benton intelligently assessing the genesis of the LGBTQ population through conversations between Tennessee Williams and William Burroughs, or opining about how AIDS has reshaped both homo- and heterosexual cultures, and what the future holds for equal rights and marriage privileges for the LGBTQ community. Benton bolsters his ideology with liberal references to many influential, trailblazing gay writers and entertainers like Larry Kramer, Andrew Holleran, Walt Whitman and Randy Shilts—not to mention contemporary role models like Ricky Martin and Johnny Weir. His opinions on the paradigm of the homosexual “closet,” the Stonewall riots, and the devastation wrought by AIDS and hate crimes are insightful and valid, reiterating how significantly those topics have contributed to the richly diversified cultural fabric of gay history in America.

Though occasionally rambling or repetitious, this fulfilling collection will certainly edify, enlighten and entertain.

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EYES WIDE OPEN

PEPPINO A Nineteenth Century Medici

Cannon, Amanda G. Gray Water (440 pp.) $15.99 paper | Aug. 13, 2013 978-0-61-568369-0

Coleman, Seth Seth Coleman (274 pp.) $12.95 paper | $4.95 e-book | Jul. 2, 2013 978-0-98-859631-3

In Cannon’s debut novel, recent college graduate and fashionista Olivia “Livvy” Sue Hunnicutt has a teaching degree but no job—and really wants a steady boyfriend.

Auburn University grad Livvy is an overachieving size-two brunette with gorgeous hair and a phenomenal wardrobe, including an ever-expanding collection of Jimmy Choo shoes, Vera Wang dresses and Tory Burch accessories. She also has a supportive family and loyal friends. Aside from the fact that she has Type 1 diabetes, Livvy has everything a girl could wish for, except a committed boyfriend. Her mother, an aspiring novelist, takes her on a post-graduation trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and convinces her to read her novel on the way. Poolside, Livvy meets a book publisher, which leads to her mother signing a book deal. Later, Livvy enjoys adventures with three male friends who are also staying at the resort. After a romantic, chaste fling with one of them, Livvy flies home in time to join her family on a Christmas ski trip.

There, an old flame, Robert, emotionally crushes her by saying he doesn’t want to see her anymore. Livvy drowns her sorrows with a succession of quickie romances and bemoans the fact guys seem awed by her virginity: “I can’t give it away,” she says in her trademark, self-deprecating style. Soon, a hotshot banker boyfriend whisks her around New York, London and Paris, but things turn a little too James Bond when bullets start flying.

Back in Alabama, filmmakers are shooting a movie version of her mother’s book, and Livvy finds work as a personal assistant to British actor Peter Weston, who’s temporarily living in her parents’ lake house—and she soon finds herself falling for him.

Despite occasional typos, this fast-paced tale will keep readers turning pages to find out how Livvy gets herself in and out of her various troubles. Readers may find it a stretch that no boyfriends attempt to take advantage of Livvy, but they’ll likely find her reluctant-virgin dilemma amusing. Cannon also masterfully navigates the diabetes subplot, making Livvy’s health a minor but important part of the story. By the time the plot reaches its happily-ever-after conclusion, readers will likely be fans of Livvy and her adventures.

A fun, lively romp sure to please fans of smart chick lit.

Loosely based on true events from the author’s ancestry, this historical novel tells the tale of Peppino, an upperclass troublemaker in a small Italian village who resents the restrictions of his highborn status and longs to fight for the

common people.

In late-19th-century Italy, the village of Brancaleone is divided by an imaginary line that keeps the poor from fraternizing with the rich. Teenage Peppino resents this division, which prevents him, a baroness’ son, from being able to freely socialize with his peasant friend Emilio. He also resents the monsignor, the local head of the church; more corrupt than godly, he uses his position of power to manipulate the locals for his own gain. When Emilio enlists Peppino to help rescue local hero Nicola from being executed, Peppino finds his life finally veering off the narrow, upper-class path previously laid out for him. From fraternizing with outlaws, a stint at a monastery, being accused of murder and meeting Pope Leo XIII, Peppino’s journey leads to much personal growth—and a few startling revelations. Often, the novel doesn’t feel like a period piece, which is both good and bad. Much of the dialogue seems distractingly modern, yet Peppino’s conversations with a Hasidic Jew named Abramo provide interesting insight into the era’s attitudes toward religion. Coleman (Critical Transfer, 2013), who based the novel on his grandfather’s exploits, jumps quickly from one action-packed event to another in fast-paced storytelling that’s highly enjoyable. Despite Peppino’s fascinating interactions, the baroness proves to be the most compelling character. Her complex relationship with Peppino and the mixture of love and resentment they seem to share are more intriguing than many of Peppino’s exchanges with the more heroic characters of the story.

A fast-moving historical tale of religious and class conflicts, told with a personal touch.

WE’RE DOING WHAT FOR SUMMER VACATION?

Davis, Cindy; Rollason, Ali AuthorHouse (112 pp.) $23.99 | $14.95 paper | $3.99 e-book May 3, 2013 978-1-48-174673-1 The matchless true-life travelogue of a 9-year-old’s trip to Borneo, co-authored by a mother-daughter writing team.

Nine-year-old Ali is less than thrilled when her parents announce that the whole family will be going to Borneo for their summer vacation.

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“Though the novel’s setting and pervading air of corruption recall AMC’s TV miniseries The Killing, its pacing is quicker and its payoff much more satisfying.” from currents of deception

school librarian. Ali wonders why they can’t spend their summer on the beach in Florida, preferably staying at a hotel with decent toiletries and nightly chocolates on the pillow. However, Ali and her older brother, Zak, know all too well their formerhippie parents’ penchant for traveling to exotic locations to experience the way other people live. The trip to Borneo forces Ali to confront one of her biggest fears—flying—and unfortunately introduces her to new fears: bedbugs, leeches, kidnapping and being stuck in a stairwell. Despite her continued hope for a nice, luxurious hotel, Ali concedes that their experiences— whitewater rafting with natives, diving, hiking in the rain forest and staying in a treehouse—make the family’s atypical holiday worthwhile. Rollason’s naturally engaging writing style (perhaps assisted by her multipublished, academic mother) makes this a quick, enjoyable read, equally appealing to adults and slightly advanced younger readers. Similarly, the unattributed illustrations and black-and-white photographs add visual interest for younger readers and adults alike. Rollason, age 10 when the book was written, manages to be indulgently exasperated with her parents without the attitude an older child might express.

She shares her perceptions of cultural differences and environmental descriptions in an unaffected manner, without being bogged down by research or too many facts. Leeches and bedbugs notwithstanding, the unique experiences shared in Borneo bring the family closer together. Allusions to headhunting in Borneo’s history, as well as that disturbing leech incident and an island of lost children, may make this memoir inappropriate as a read-aloud for younger children, but tweens of both genders will happily join the adventure.

Eat, Pray, Love for tweens.

murky depths of the drug ring, dredging up all kinds of info on Sadie, Phil and their bigwig father—the governor of Washington state—as well as Sadie’s gorgeous beau, Taylor Grant, part of the drug ring. Kaitlin’s delightfully ambiguous handler, Max, makes memorable appearances, as do heavies from both the international cartel and other players (the feds, MI6, the FBI and Interpol, etc.) who have a stake in the proceedings. Kaitlin’s slippery persona shifts with alarming ease as her own intriguing story unfolds in Dallas, London, Dublin and ultimately Tahiti.

Early on, one character observes that secrets are always the breaking point of life; in this stylish, brutal tale, everyone has secrets, and many would kill to keep them hidden—including Hunter/Kaitlin—or whoever she really is. Though the novel’s setting and pervading air of corruption recall AMC’s TV miniseries The Killing, its pacing is quicker and its payoff much more satisfying.

An excellent start to what might prove to be a rewarding new thriller series.

THE EXECUTION SHORTCUT Why Some Strategies Take the Hidden Path to Success and Others Never Reach the Finish Line De Flander, Jeroen The Performance Factory (196 pp.) $19.95 paper | Sep. 17, 2013 978-9-08-148736-8

De Flander’s (Strategy Execution Heroes, 2010) latest book charts a strategy for taking any idea off the drawing board and into real life.

Coming up with a great idea is the easy part; executing it is much trickier. That’s where this book is intended to help.

The execution shortcut referenced in the title is a pathway De Flander has mapped out to help ideas make it past the shoals of development. In the first chapter, he explains the importance of appealing to the three H’s: head, heart and hands. In addition to appealing to reason and emotion (the head and heart, respectively), an idea must also be achievable (the hands). The rest of the book is divided into sections that explain how to engage the heads, hearts and hands of the implementation team: In the head section, De Flander describes the common psychological impediments—i.e., “the villain Decision Paralysis on the execution road”—to implementing a new idea; the heart section discusses ways to connect with the implementers’ emotions and inspire them to adopt the idea as their own; and the hands section covers various problems that arise during implementation as well as the corresponding solutions. At the end of the book, De Flander also includes a few resources for further investigation. The well-researched work cites various studies and examples that back up De Flander’s plan, as well as fictional stories that point out how specific ideas have succeeded or failed and why. Similarly, for most steps on this road map, he includes a thorough explanation of how to incorporate his tactics in the real world. For example, after explaining the

CURRENTS OF DECEPTION

Davis, M. C. CreateSpace (236 pp.) $17.99 paper | $9.99 e-book | Jul. 6, 2013 978-1-48-276352-2 A brisk, drug-filled page-turner jets from the Pacific Northwest to various hot spots abroad, leaving a trail of bodies—and questions—in its wake.

Aficionados of suspense will savor Davis’ rich debut. Commencing, as most mystery tales do, with a corpse and a quest to discover how and why it got there—in this case, the nude body of an affluent, troubled young woman posed in an otherwise-immaculate, upscale cabin near Seattle—the bulk of the novel follows the investigation of a vast cocaine distribution network in the region. At the behest of Phil Monroe, deputy district attorney of King County, undercover agent Hunter poses as “Kaitlin Reynolds,” a marine biology student at the University of Washington, to infiltrate the network, which seems to include Monroe’s younger sister, Sadie (the corpse in the novel’s prologue). The petite, ruthless Hunter is joined by Graham McKenzie, a freelance agent with his own agenda and complex connections to various international intel organizations. Kaitlin and Graham delve into the 108

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THE MOURNING AFTER

importance of writing a “List of Noes”—the areas into which an idea will not venture—De Flander gives several examples of how to come up with that list for any given idea. Other steps in his plan, however, are a bit lacking in this regard.

A great help to anyone looking to bring a good idea into the real world.

Fahey, Edward CreateSpace (168 pp.) $11.95 paper | $0.99 e-book Jun. 12, 2013 978-1-48-415742-8

Fahey’s dreamlike novel chronicles a life from childhood to adulthood.

Denis lives a very sheltered 1950s childhood overseen by his loving mother and his militaristic father. His mother doesn’t allow him outside, but his imaginative way of playing with his toy soldiers transforms the inside of his house into an adventure land; he also dreams about Civil War soldiers. Fahey’s powerful prose during these sequences describes graphic scenes of violence and war: “The biting metal stink of smoke and powder. Tearing into my nose, my throat, my chest. Eyes stinging.”

These scenes dovetail with reality, however, when Denis meets M, a girl his age who seems to share his fantasies and knows about Enoch, a mysterious figure from Denis’ past. Denis’ life takes a sudden turn when he watches the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on television; at that moment, he’s exposed to tragedy for the first time. Years later, after the heartbreaking deaths of both of his parents, Denis embarks on a journey to find M, with whom he’s been in love all his life. Along the way, he meets a companion named Waters, who has his own buried issues. An abrupt twist occurs two-thirds of the way through the novel that causes a shift to a third-person narrator; the story then focuses on M and Waters. M’s sudden importance in the final part of the novel may cause readers to wonder why she’s re-introduced so late. In the end, however, Fahey delivers a remarkably written tale that reveals thoughtful insights about memory, hope and love.

An engaging, introspective novel, despite an odd turn toward its end.

DRONE PILOT 2061 Diogenes, Thomas Manuscript (259 pp.)

In Diogenes’ sci-fi debut, a military drone pilot steps into a dystopian world to lead a murder investigation and clash with renegade robots.

On a casual weekend with potential love interest Anna, military agent Ray Alexander has to put himself back into work mode when robots arrive that have been reprogrammed to attack Anna and her uncle Cal. Before Ray has a chance to determine the robots’ specific target, he’s nearly killed by swarmers—small flying automatons that successfully murdered another drone pilot. Ray looks into identifying a person who fled the scene of the robot attack and is soon faced with more trouble when Anna disappears. The author permeates his story with delectable sci-fi bytes, like a peculiar time convention called “qhours,” each comprised of 10 90-second minutes, and Ray’s Panviewer headgear that allows for a panoramic “fullview.”

The book further boasts stellar action, particularly the multiple swarmer assaults, as well as tech humor, including crashlanded, lucky-to-be-alive passengers complaining that they can’t access social networking; even Ray is upset that he has no time to peruse his backlog of emails. There’s a robust backdrop of inharmonious systems of government—the Constitutional Republic, for which Ray works, is set against the anti-freedom United Christian States and the Caliphate. Yet the novel’s most notable feature is its broad, fertile language; readers may want a dictionary handy, since uncommon words—“moue” and “pellucid,” for instance—appear in liberal doses. But the vocabulary, while certainly intelligent, occasionally has a dulling effect, as when Ray uses an aurally harsh word like “pulchritudinous” to compliment Anna’s beauty or in the frequent sex scenes between Anna and Ray (as well as Ray and fellow pilot Zinnia), which feature somewhat clinical descriptions: Ray “skillfully palpated all the plicae of her pudenda.” Their physical encounters have the same cold, detached feel as the virtual alternative.

Still, it’s captivating following Ray’s exploits—he gets help from an old lover while finding a new lover and looking for his current lover—all the way to an ending that’s fearlessly unreserved.

Delivers sci-fi action while maintaining a highbrow, character-driven narrative.

IT’S JUST A MATTER OF BALANCE You Can’t Put a Straight Leg on a Crooked Man Garrison, Kevin S. iUniverse (160 pp.) $22.95 | $12.95 paper | $3.99 e-book Dec. 7, 2011 978-1-46-206286-7

A heartwarming debut memoir about finding meaning in the face of loss.

In Garrison’s debut memoir, he recounts his experience with amputation and how it led him to devote his life to the study and production of prostheses. At 17, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in his right foot, and his doctors told him there was a “ninety-five percent chance” that amputation would be necessary—a pivotal moment in Garrison’s life that he recreates with vivid feeling (“The effect of those words as |

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“Gilbert depicts the family’s struggles with tension and poignancy, deftly handling harrowing events.” from the eternal dream

I tipped my head back, looking directly at the blinding bright lights above, shocked me in a way that I had never experienced before”). Three months after this fateful appointment, surgeons removed his foot and ankle. To any teenager, losing a limb might seem like the end of the world, and particularly to the athletic young Garrison, who admits that before losing his foot, he was uncomfortable around people with physical disabilities. Thankfully, his intrepid spirit helped him adjust to his prosthesis; however, he was underwhelmed by his device’s quality, and his desire for a better prosthesis spurred him to pursue a career path he’d never considered before—one that began with a minimumwage job at a prosthetic manufacturer and ended with Garrison making a living as a certified prosthetist. Garrison is a proficient writer with an inspiring story, but his self-awareness and insight into disability give weight to his memoir. His sly sense of humor, meanwhile, provides a good balance to his heavier material, as when he reflects: “I was such a wild youth, before I lost my foot, that if I had ever gone into the military, I probably would have gotten into a lot of trouble….I would be hiding from the military authority way up in the mountains somewhere with two beautiful Asian women who loved me.” Overall, this book would likely be a valuable resource for anyone learning to embrace life with a prosthesis.

A quick but moving memoir of resilience.

store, as father and son challenge the mighty Persian Empire.

But, in hints and bits, we get the idea that smugly detached Ptolemaios himself has a “great” surprise brewing. While Alexandros remains somewhat vague—with coy nods to his rumored homosexuality and/or incest with his mother—and the narrator an aloof, callow cipher, Geiger eschews distractions of sci-fi gadgetry altogether to present facts and suppositions about Alexandros and his era (including his memorably monstrous mother, Olympias) in novelistic detail and occasionally questionable modern vernacular (Philippos: “Wham! We punched them in their kissers. You shoulda seen it”). Readers will look forward to future installments.

Pop-edutainment; a clever reliving of ancient Mediterranean history.

THE ETERNAL DREAM Gilbert, Daniel K. Manuscript (577 pp.)

In Gilbert’s debut historical novel, a family fleeing Nazi persecution endures a series of forced relocations.

Throughout the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany, Walter Baum, a slight young man with a stout heart and lofty ideals, never loses sight of what he values most: the love of his wife and children. As a Jewish sociologist in post–World War I Germany, Walter watches with dread as friends and family either become members of the Brownshirts or fall victim to them. His marriage to Caroline, a like-minded Protestant, causes family estrangements and forced flights that make up the plot of this highly affecting narrative. Characters make their way to Paris, Angouleme, North Africa and even the French Foreign Legion. The family’s brief periods of stability offer little respite; news of family members murdered or imprisoned in concentration camps reminds them of the horrors they left behind. Even when Walter accepts an offer to head a Jewish settlement in the Dominican Republic, he can’t escape oppression, as President Rafael Trujillo exerts his own brand of tyranny; the settlement succeeds for a while, but as the dictator tightens the screws and Caroline’s strength falters, Walter believes one more trip may be in order. Gilbert depicts the family’s struggles with tension and poignancy, deftly handling harrowing events. The suspense of whether each new home will bring stability or persecution will keep readers turning pages.

Often, the smallest moments carry the most weight: young Fred collecting stamps from the rejections to his father’s frantic visa applications; Caroline earning a few francs by translating love letters between French women and German soldiers; Walter, a retired major, gardening “to bring life out of a ground that had absorbed so many dead.”

A captivating story of fortitude, family bonds and hope against all odds.

PRIME DIRECTIVE Book One of the Ptolemaios Saga

Geiger, Alexander Ptolemaois Publishing & Entertainment LLC. (430 pp.) $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book May 15, 2013 978-0-98-925840-1 With a stranded time traveler in the fourth century B.C. as his narrator, author Geiger brings a fresh take to the rise of Prince Alexandros of Macedonia.

The kickoff of author Geiger’s planned series is an enjoyable, if not entirely original, thought experiment propelling a quasi-fantastic historical narrative. A nameless young time traveler with an interest in classical antiquity—and armed with the pseudonym Ptolemaios and a false bio—is on a strict nointerference mission to observe the mythic Mediterranean circa 338 B.C. But he interrupts an orgiastic pagan ceremony (briefly pretending to be the god Dionysos to prevent a ritual murder of an innocent boy). Captured, Ptolemaios is brought before the battle-scarred, bemused King Philippos of Macedonia. Semibarbarian though he is, Philippos senses something unique about the wily stranger and puts Ptolemaios in charge of minding his son and heir apparent, Alexandros, as their dynasty conquers Athens and Thebes. Yes, this Alexandros will become Alexander the Great, though Ptolemaios, knowing their fates in advance and expecting imminent rescue by his Time Travel Corps, will do nothing to inform his captors of what lies in 110

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LAST CHANCE HIGH SCHOOL A Principal’s Crusade to Rescue Throwaway Teens

RALLY CAPS, RAIN DELAYS AND RACING SAUSAGES A Baseball Fan’s Quest to See the Game from a Seat in Every Ballpark

Golubtchik, Harold CreateSpace (194 pp.) $12.99 paper | $8.99 e-book Jun. 14, 2013 978-1-48-116384-2

Kabakoff, Eric Manuscript (188 pp.)

Debut author Kabakoff chronicles his quest to visit every major league ballpark in this cheerful travelogue.

The author grew up attending games at Yankee Stadium with his father, but in 2001, at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, he met a man intent on visiting every baseball park with a major league team.

The idea nested in the back of Kabakoff’s mind, and over the next several years, he took in games at New York’s Shea Stadium, Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field. On a 2005 vacation in Southern California, he watched the Anaheim Angels battle the Boston Red Sox, and Kabakoff’s game was on—he vowed to visit every major league ballpark himself. From August 2005 to September 2011, Kabakoff traveled to every major league city in the U.S. and Canada, not only to watch the hometown teams, but also to explore the ballparks, sample the concessions, visit the halls of fame and meet local fans.

Throughout this chatty book, he recaps memorable games, spars with mascots, collects oddball souvenirs and receives frequent sunburns. He also expertly summarizes several team and ballpark histories along the way. There’s nothing scientific about the way he compares stadiums’ retractable roofs or evaluates fans’ enthusiasm, but his casual metrics will likely make indelible impressions on readers nonetheless. His writing style is boyish and agreeable, informal and full of occasionally silly wit. Serious fans won’t find many historical tidbits that they don’t already know, but there are a few odd gems, such as the reason why Honus Wagner’s baseball card is so valuable and what was unearthed during the construction of Denver’s Coors Field. Kabakoff brings his baseball narrative full circle as he describes how his childhood delight in discovering baseball reappeared in his young cousin Rachel, and he expands upon this legacy of shared experiences in the book’s final pages.

An engaging trip around Major League Baseball’s bases that may inspire readers to go on their own ballpark odysseys.

An instructive, inspirational debut memoir that recounts a teacher’s lifelong efforts to educate troubled students.

When Golubtchik became principal of a floundering New York inner-city school, he didn’t have the professional experience he needed to prepare him for the job. He’d been a longtime teacher and administrator, but Last Chance High School was a destination for “severely emotionally disturbed” students, cynically labeled “throwaway kids.” He quickly learned that the educational environment was crippled by an unwieldy bureaucracy that wasn’t creative or nimble enough to respond to its students’ challenging needs. Before he could teach them basic skills, he had to confront the stark reality of their broken homes and fractured hopes. The anecdotes can often be despairing: The administration struggled with students smuggling weapons into school and the constant threat of sudden violence; local bodegas sold alcohol to underage students not for profit, but out of fear of retribution; and students complained of hunger, abuse and abandonment. Golubtchik came to realize that no set of minor revisions would improve the school’s educational outcomes; its whole culture needed systemic rehabilitation. He bases much of this book on psychiatrist William Glasser’s “choice theory” and looks at the proper “internal motivations” that may help even the most troubled students to succeed. Overall, this work is a pastiche of personal stories, educational theories and student profiles; one chapter, “Letters from the Trenches,” shares dispiriting but refreshingly candid appraisals of the school before Golubtchik took the helm. Although it often reads like a memoir, it also has elements of a policy wonk’s white paper, along with philosophical reflections on the human condition.

The prose is sometimes a bit rough (one chapter subdivision, for example, is titled “He Cursed My Mother So I Hit Him”), but the personal stories are clear and compelling, and the advice on how to improve the educational outcomes of at-risk youth is courageous and profound.

An engaging look at the values that represent the best chance for the future of education in America.

A LETTER TO TIA Grief. Grieving. The Love, Pain and Loss of a Friend

Landy, Don CreateSpace (148 pp.) $11.95 paper | $3.95 e-book | Jul. 11, 2013 978-1-48-259065-4 Landy (Unconditional Love, 2011), in this memoir, chronicles the emotional highs and lows of helping a dog through devastating illness.

The author and his wife spent 30 years raising show cats but never included a dog in their family—until a cold and hungry |

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Interviews & Profiles

Bob Mayer

The Successful Veteran Writer Reveals Why You Should Build a Team to “Self”-Publish

By Bob Mayer indie road. But I didn’t do it alone. Jen had already been working on getting my backlist up for almost a year. In January 2011, we sold 347 e-books. By the end of the year, we’d sold over 600,000. The difference?

Jen Talty and I launched our independent e-publishing company, Cool Gus. Cool Gus now has 10 authors, including New York Times best-seller Jennifer Probst, with whom we’ll launch a new series in 2014. Our sales have gone into the millions, but truthfully, we don’t concern ourselves with copies sold but income generated for our authors.

Perhaps this is mercenary, but income pays the bills.

We do everything in-house, from story editing (even bringing authors in to stay at my house) through formatting, covers and uploading. The only things we outsource are scanning and copy editing.

Thus, I believe the term “self”-publishing primarily means that the author retains most of the rights to his or her work (particularly electronic) but also teams with others in order to bring a story to market, including sometimes selling rights to print, foreign and audio (although we are big fans of Audiobook Creation Exchange). And this last bit is key: Authors create product, which is story (not book), and readers consume product through a variety of mediums.

Everyone else is in between. Authors need people of value in between in order to get the story to the reader.

Photo courtesy Bob Mayer

My wife often says I’m a contrarian, and I’m afraid I have to disagree with her.

That pretty much sums up my learning curve. It’s been hard, but I get there eventually.

When I saw a front-page article in the New York Times about David Mamet “self”-publishing through his agent, my knee-jerk reaction was: Well, that’s not self-publishing! Unfortunately, I was not looking in the mirror. In 2009, after 20 years in traditional publishing, with over 40 titles and having hit all the best-seller lists, I was approached by Jen Talty about publishing the titles in my backlist, which I had the rights to. I said, “yeah, yeah” while I was still focused on finishing a spec manuscript and getting it to my agent. It was only when that manuscript was done in 2010 and I took a good look at what was happening that I decided to commit 100 percent to taking the 112

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Why do authors need a team to publish?

Two heads are better than one. Seems trite, but clichés are based on truisms. I come from a military background, and having commanded a Special Forces A-Team, I was part of the best “force multiplier” in the world. We weren’t individual Rambos running around; we called ourselves the quiet professionals |

and worked together for a common goal. The key to team success is trust, and it’s important that those working with you to publish your stories have more than a flat-fee, one-time concern; they should be invested in your future.

firm believer in authors managing their own social media. When I tweet or post to my Facebook page, it’s me, Bob Mayer, doing so. Your teammate works behind the scenes, finding sites, promotional opportunities and making it all cohesive for you.

You need creativity (right brain) and technical savvy (left brain). While Ulysses S. Grant, one of the top-selling authors of the 19th century thanks to Mark Twain, had math and art as his two best subjects at my alma mater, West Point, most of us aren’t gifted with an even brain. He ended up being the first four-star general in our Army and president. Mark Twain (who claimed to have gone against Grant’s first command early in the Civil War during his brief stint as a Confederate) had been egging Grant to write his memoirs, and, facing a terminal diagnosis of throat cancer, Grant set about writing it in order to leave his family in good stead. He finished just days before his death; the book became one of the best-selling titles of the century.

We are in the digital age. To succeed, an author has to negotiate the digital world to reach readers. So you need both creativity and tech savvy. Which means a team. Find someone who complements the way you think and act.

Your team has bigger reach. Cool Gus goes to Book Expo America, Romantic Times, Romance Writers of America Thrillerfest and other industry events.

For a new author with only a few manuscripts, selfpublishing is viable. However, look around for similar authors in your genre and see what they are doing.

Look for small publishers that might be willing to work with you while leaving you in control of your career and rights. Even consider doing what we did: Start your own small business, perhaps with like-minded authors and a person willing to do the grunt work.

The author is in charge. When the music business imploded a decade ago, the artists who survived did so in one of two ways: touring or owning their rights.

Since I’m not likely to sell out the Meadowlands along with The Boss, owning rights is key. With a team that works for the author, the author maintains not only the rights, but the final say on a number of critical decisions (with expert advice from the team, of course) such as pricing, distribution, exclusivity, marketing campaigns and promo specials, among other duties.

You need to write. This one sounds simplistic, but there’s simply more work to go around than an author can do on his or her own and still write. There’s a reason so many people work at traditional publishing houses. They do important things that help books get sold. The same is true of selling story. For example, each time you have a new release, your team should go back through every single one of your old books and update the buy links, a time-consuming but essential process. One of our mottos at Cool Gus is that the best promotion is a good story; better promotion is more good stories. So you have to focus on writing.

The bottom line is that while many authors like the idea of going indie, the truth is that it’s necessary to have a team to help get the story to readers while maintaining control of rights. As writers, our story is part of us. And a team that helps us get that story out while we still control it is priceless.

Bob Mayer is the New York Times best-selling author of the Green Beret and Area 51 series of books and the CEO of Cool Gus Publishing.

E-books are organic, not static. Beyond a task like inserting buy links, an e-book can be changed, updated, revised, given a new cover, even a new title, all rather quickly. The same is true with finding, learning how to use, and then engaging in marketing opportunities and mediums. You need a full-time person to work the Internet for you and take care of the overwhelming number of details needed to successfully publish digitally. It is important to note, however, that I’m a |

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“[Learsy’s] posts combine insider knowledge and trenchant wit, and he isn’t afraid to rebuke people when he feels they deserve it.” from ruminations on the distortion of oil prices and crony capitalism

stray named Lokey showed up at their door. After caring for Lokey and finding him a home, they realized they needed to bring a new canine friend into their lives. They adopted a 9 1/2-week-old German shepherd, Sabrina, and Landy felt overwhelmed by the love he felt for, and received from, this very special animal. When it came time for Sabrina to “cross the Rainbow Bridge” due to cancer, Landy was distraught beyond anything he could have imagined. He spent eight months trying to understand his extraordinary grief and pain, but when he brought home a baby shepherd named Tia, a new romance began. At the tender age of 4, though, Tia was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, and Landy swore he would do everything possible to help her beat the odds—despite a 10 percent chance of survival. At times, this memoir serves as a tribute to both Tia and Sabrina; Landy’s nightly ritual includes an entreaty to the late Sabrina to watch over her “sister” and give her the strength to keep fighting. Overall, this slim volume is a very personal, articulate account of the author’s journey through the grieving process, and it may help readers through the loss of their own four-legged family members. “Don’t let anyone tell you that the healing process doesn’t take time,” Landy writes. “It may be difficult for some to understand the everlasting bond that was created.”

A poignant, sometimes-heartbreaking love song to Landy’s special pets.

address a range of oil-related topics, and his central theme soon emerges: The oil market has been hijacked by profiteers who game the system. Learsy alleges cronyism and inept oversight by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, Congress, the courts and multiple presidential administrations. His posts combine insider knowledge and trenchant wit, and he isn’t afraid to rebuke people when he feels they deserve it—including former Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and JP Morgan Chase head Jamie Dimon. The book suffers, however, from a limitation that’s common to blog-based collections: Its brief chapters whiz past like a series of editorials instead of probing deeper like an investigative exposé. That said, the author’s stated goal is to educate everyday consumers, and as such, the book effectively elbows its way into the growing Main-Street-fights-back genre.

A rallying cry for readers who feel ripped off at the gas pumps.

Where Do I Belong?

An Immigrant’s Quest For Identity Mankus, Tony CreateSpace (286 pp.) $14.95 paper | $7.95 e-book May 28, 2013 978-1-48-180865-1

RUMINATIONS ON THE DISTORTION OF OIL PRICES AND CRONY CAPITALISM

In his debut memoir, Mankus traces his origins as a refugee from war-torn Lithuania during the waning years of World War II, when Russian occupation grimly loomed like the German bombardment that preceded it.

Mankus’ narrative reveals the devastating changes forced on Lithuanian families in the early 1940s, when they measured the benefits of escaping oppression against the inestimable costs of leaving behind their homes, culture and traditions. Mankus uses a direct, unadorned style, sometimes heartbreaking in its simplicity, as in the brief yet poignant scene of his mother giving her beloved cow a kiss goodbye. His tragedy, and that of the many others who fled their homes for squalid displaced-person camps, needs no adornment. The book follows his circuitous path from one such camp to a hardscrabble childhood in New Jersey, where his family settled, then through several false starts in his attempts to make a life for himself as an adult. The pacing can be problematic, however: The story, a strictly chronological account of Mankus’ life, gives equal or disproportionate weight to moments big and small. His father’s imprisonment on manslaughter charges, for running over a man with a military truck while driving drunk, is presented as an aside, but Mankus’ later work as a tax collector for the IRS, which he describes as tedious and mundane, takes up several chapters.

And the abrupt, declarative style that works well in describing the atrocities of war comes across as terse and choppy in tender moments, such as his mother’s death: “She died October 10, 1988. She was eighty-two. She’d had a hard life.” At times, the thread that binds the narrative together—Mankus’ struggle to

Learsy, Raymond J. iUniverse (276 pp.) $30.95 | $20.95 paper | $3.99 e-book Jul. 8, 2013 978-1-47-599452-0 In this fiery collection of blog posts, veteran commodities trader Learsy (Oil and Finance, 2012, etc.) rails against the

global oil industry.

According to the oil industry, oil is a commodity that’s subject to the forces of supply and demand. But this is far from the complete truth, writes Learsy, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post who made his fortune as founder of a worldwide commodities trading firm. Oil prices, he asserts, are captive to the machinations of commodity speculators, investment banks, OPEC and petroleum heavyweights such as Russia. These entrenched interests can influence U.S. policy at the highest levels, he says, and distort prices for their own benefits. “We are robbed of billions of dollars every day by oil interests, in their manipulation of the market pricing mechanisms, at massive cost and risk to the world’s economy,” he writes. Penned with a hefty dose of what the author calls “rightful anger,” the book looks at a turbulent 18-month period from January 2012 to May 2013 that witnessed the 2012 U.S. presidential election, oil prices spiking more than 9 percent in a single day and revelations of JP Morgan Chase’s “London Whale” trading debacle. Learsy’s blog entries 114

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A VOICE IN THE THUNDER Book One of the Children and Ghosts Quintet

derive identity and meaning from the brutality of his early experiences—is abandoned, leaving readers craving more reflection and deeper insight.

A striking firsthand account of war and the disorientation of the immigrant experience, told candidly and without self-pity by a narrator who has yet to make meaning of it all.

McCormick, Kevin CreateSpace (510 pp.) $12.99 paper | $4.95 e-book Dec. 28, 2012 978-1-48-391695-8

THE ENTREPRENEURS Success and Sacrifice

In McCormick’s epic sci-fi debut, Book 1 of the Children and Ghosts series of five books, the destruction of a desolate planet in a distant system will forever shape the fate of mankind as it sets in motion events of a greater-than-galactic scale.

In a galaxy controlled by the Galactic Coalition, the fledgling independence movements on the frontier planets never have a chance, thanks in particular to the well-funded operations—secretly sponsored by the government—that rob or assassinate separatists in an arrangement known to a select few as “Operation Peacemaker.” But when her associates are killed in front of her while stealing a package from an armored car, career criminal Christmas “Crazy Eyes” Parker is put at odds with both her boss, ruthless industrial magnate Atusa Navarro, and their government contact, Horace Murchison. Out for revenge, Parker seeks to uncover the mystery behind the package she stole that night, and Murchison might have answers.

There’s one problem: Parker isn’t the only one looking for him. After Murchison has a religious experience that focuses on the destruction of the planet Mozha II—the ramifications of which are continuously revealed to be greater than readers expect—Murchison disappears. That brings Detective Benjamin Weizmann of the Major Crimes Bureau to planet Eridan, and he intends to do his job even if it means exposing the entire clandestine operation—or breaking the very laws he has sworn to uphold. This work is more than sci-fi adventure, though; even the title—a reference to a 19th-century poem by William Blake—hints at the narrative’s intelligence. McCormick’s attention to detail makes both major and minor characters memorable, each one distinctly motivated and flawed, and although the story’s start is a little rocky, it’s not long before readers will be drawn into the inescapably alluring combination of criminal activity, political intrigue, sci-fi wonderment and unalloyed action. Readers will be frequently astounded at the ingenious ways he finds to tie together the seemingly disparate storylines as events move beyond the reach of any one character’s grasp.

Smart, compelling and multifaceted—promising is an understatement.

Marlow, Kip CreateSpace (144 pp.) $14.95 paper | $2.99 e-book | Jul. 5, 2013 978-1-48-202383-1 A retired entrepreneur and business radio show host offers thumbnail profiles of entrepreneurs in an engaging format that makes for light, quick reading.

While it lacks depth, this compendium of true stories makes up for that deficiency through its broad coverage. Here, the business-owner wannabe will read about 22 self-made men and women who overcame all sorts of odds to build their own successful companies. For instance, Scott Marincek developed an environmentally safe cleaning liquid in his mother’s kitchen, turning it into a $100 million business. Arline Kneen got interested in business in her early 40s, and today, at 96, she continues to work as an independent travel consultant. Each of these stories is a little nugget of encouragement for those with a burning desire to strike out on their own. The tales are cautionary as well: Many of the individuals speak candidly about facing widespread skepticism and starting seriously underfunded businesses. The commonality, however, is the entrepreneurs’ passion to pursue their dreams and do whatever it takes to succeed. Readers looking for a do-ityourself game plan will not find it here; rather, they’ll get a taste of the trials and tribulations of successful people who forged their paths in diverse industries. Marlow does an admirable job of writing these encapsulated case histories, but discriminating readers may find his style to be just a bit too breathless. On occasion, some of the stories come off as public relations hype; for example, Marincek, writes Marlow, “took home samples of the raw material ingredients and blew up his mother’s kitchen.

Well, not literally…but it sure seemed that way.” Still, this collection has value, especially since it avoids rehashing tales of famous entrepreneurs and focuses instead on lesser-known individuals—proving that anyone can indeed “make it.” The brief closing chapter ties the stories together with five “secrets to success.” Overall, entrepreneurs looking for inspiration should find plenty in the pages of Marlow’s breezy book.

Though it just scratches the surface, this worthy book offers entrepreneurial cheerleading for anyone thinking about starting a business.

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“Overall, this exotic story is sure to entice adult aficionados of such animated series as Avatar: The Last Airbender.” from silevethiel

SILEVETHIEL

result is a fast-paced foray into the human heart that never really slows until the last conundrum is dressed down and squared away.

Roberts doesn’t have a wall of degrees to support his observations, but what he does have is a kind of pointed earnestness, perhaps born out of his military background and religious upbringing. That training, along with experience filled with life lessons learned, has allowed him to parachute deep behind Cupid’s lines. “Half-stepping is for half-steppers, lovers should prefer stomping the yard,” he says. That type of heavy language is consistent throughout, only pausing now and then for some biblically inspired advice that actually comes off a lot less dogmatic than one might expect. Roberts does succumb to a few bothersome double standards, however.

Many women will no doubt feel that the author puts too much of the onus for a successful relationship on their shoulders. But even here, he manages to skirt away relatively unscathed, largely by acknowledging from the outset the inequity he perceives. For as much time as he spends on interpersonal communication, he devotes an almost equal amount of time to focusing on the individual psyche and how past hurts can impact future opportunities.

Love hurts, as the song goes, but you write the lyrics.

Relatively sound advice for the lovelorn, energetically and economically packaged.

O’Connor, Andi Purple Sun Press Oct. 24, 2013

After her father’s murder, a princess fights to save herself and her kingdom in O’Connor’s (The Lost Heir, 2013) engaging fantasy tale.

Princess Irewen Donríel of the human kingdom of Dargon spent the first 20 years of her life within the walls of her castle home, shunned by her extended family due to her late mother’s secret elven descent. After her cousin kills her father and makes an attempt on her life, Irewen is rescued by Prince Laegon of the Wood Elf kingdom of Silverden, who is accompanied by his Guardian, a lion named Brégen, and Dame Silevethiel, the Guardians’ leader. When the princess reveals her secret heritage and begins to discover that she has powers unique to two different elven races, Laegon recalls an ancient elven prophecy that says that a woman will reunite the four feuding elven races—Wood Elves, Light Elves, Sea Elves and Green Elves. Irewen accepts the prophecy and decides to further investigate her heritage, learn to fight and stop being the damsel in distress she was raised to be. Along the way, she and Silevethiel develop an emotional telepathic bond of mutual protection. With her friends and the Wood Elven community on her side, Irewen prepares for the long fight ahead. In this first book of the planned Vaelinel Trilogy, O’Connor creates a complex heroine who not only defies common tropes of female fantasy characters, but willfully overcomes them. The bonds between Guardians and Protectors offer a refreshing break from the romances (and bromances) which typically populate fantasy novels. Overall, this exotic story is sure to entice adult aficionados of such animated series as Avatar: The Last Airbender.

A fresh adventure novel sure to enchant a wide range of fantasy fans.

THE GIRL WHO LIKED TO WIN Santhiveeran, Sunaina Illus. by Soni, Nayan CreateSpace (52 pp.) $12.99 paper | Jun. 18, 2013 978-0-98-874440-0

A fun, gentle children’s story about learning to enjoy games whether you win or lose.

Everyone likes to win, but Amy refuses to lose. She expects everyone to let her win every game, and other kids, her parents and teachers live in fear of her tantrums. But one day, a new babysitter decides to teach Amy how to enjoy playing games rather than just winning them. The babysitter who finally stands up to Amy isn’t mean; she’s actually kind and patient, even as the little girl yells.

Amy realizes that she enjoys the process of playing a game after the babysitter, rather than simply giving in to her like everyone else does, challenges her to think and learn. This story would be great for parents to read with their children, especially those preparing for preschool or kindergarten, since learning how to lose gracefully is an important part of socialization. Also, since the babysitter is an older girl—not a parent or teacher—she’s also able to be more like a friend, which reinforces the fact that games can be a bonding experience, not just educational activities among friends. The bright, cheerful illustrations are delightfully simple, though the backgrounds are a bit dull; young readers would probably appreciate more variation in the drawings, too. Also, readers would most likely appreciate slightly more specific descriptions of what games Amy and the babysitter play together. However, neither of these issues are enough to detract from the fun book’s readability.

A cute story about learning how to enjoy games and appreciate new friends, featuring an admirable moral for young children.

MAN LAWS REVEALED One Man’s Insight on Love, Self-Improvement, Dating, Marriage, & Parenting Roberts, Darrell Full Spectrum Industries Publishing (204 pp.) $15.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Jun. 12, 2013 978-0-98-921580-0

Pithy analogies punctuate this largely sober self-improvement missive that aims to help men and women in the dating world.

How do you find Mr./Ms. Right? What is true love? Why do we keep falling for the wrong people? Tomes tackle these thorny questions, but in his debut work that addresses those issues, as well as many others, Roberts prefers a more rapid-fire approach. The 116

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HOW TO SURVIVE WITHIN OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

SONS OF PROPHECY: DAVIAN’S DECEPTION Volume I

Scheinberg, Philip A.; Scheinberg, Linda A. CreateSpace (84 pp.) $9.95 paper | $7.95 e-book | Apr. 12, 2013 978-1-48-011895-9

Schmutz, Steven W. CreateSpace (593 pp.) $16.99 paper | $4.99 e-book | Jul. 3, 2013 978-1-45-386531-6

This short booklet of 12 chapters serves a clear purpose: to raise awareness about individual accountability in the fields of health care and medicine.

Physician Philip Scheinberg and his wife, Linda, a nurse, succinctly illuminate the dangers of a health care system in which patients are too trusting of their practitioners and too oblivious to rapid changes that can impact daily medicine. For example, in one revealing chapter, the authors warn of hospital-acquired infections resulting from improper sanitation methods and procedural mistakes. The authors warn readers to head to the hospital equipped with sanitary wipes and disinfectant, since hospital beds and equipment are often not sanitized between patients, causing bacterial infections to spread and impacting a multitude of patients each year. Perhaps these candid suggestions wouldn’t be so powerful were they not informed by the authors’ several combined decades of hospital experience. Aside from these types of invisible dangers, the book also discusses procedural mistakes made in physicians’ offices and surgery rooms. As the authors explain, these mistakes, which are generally due to patient overload and understaffing, can range from medication mix-ups to surgery on the wrong limb or wrong side of the body. In short, the book reveals much in a small number of pages. Rather than overwhelming the lay reader with medical facts and statistics, the authors instead seem intent on raising awareness among patients about the need for more self-accountability. The book also suggests a few remedies: For example, researching your physician and boldly asking necessary questions about training and expertise can aid in receiving the appropriate treatment. The book points out that in modern health care, no family physician or general practitioner can be expected to have specialized knowledge about all diseases and conditions. Furthermore, the book suggests that readers learn as much as they can about health care policy and insurance plans, since each individual necessitates a different approach to care, depending upon conditions and finances. All in all, this book serves an important role in showing the flaws in a system that is perceived, by many, to be sterile and infallible. Readers will likely be grateful for a breath of candid reality spoken from the doctors themselves.

A blunt, useful guide to approaching health care with more knowledge and less blind trust.

Evil forces empowered by the Dark Writings threaten to destroy the Realm in Schmutz’s debut fantasy novel.

Schmutz’s first book in a planned trilogy introduces a world of heroes and villains, prophecies and magic. Davian Ul, an ambitious, ruthless man whose presence pervades the novel like the spirit of J.R.R. Tolkien’s wizard Sauron, will stop at nothing to win control over the Realm. He’s in possession of the Dark Writings—a collection of sinister secrets employed by “the most powerful man who ever walked the earth”—and has learned the power of the Dark Ways, including the ability to control minds and wipe out entire villages through the use of powerful magic. Standing in the way of Davian Ul’s total domination is the Alliance, a partnership led by the kings of the Realm. Concerned about Davian Ul’s growing power, the Alliance decides it has no choice but to wage war and attempt to overrun Davian Ul’s fortress at Tar Belg. At the center of the story is a prophecy foretelling the arrival of three brothers, separated at birth and divided, “One to Greatness / One to Strength / And One to Serve the Dark.” Schmutz swiftly links three boys to the brothers of the prophecy, as each side of the war struggles to decode and fulfill the prophecy’s larger meaning.

Schmutz’s Realm is a vivid world, full of clearly drawn lands and people, and the ambitious novel uses several hundred pages to effectively explore its politics, religion and traditions. The large web of characters is initially confusing, but the story soon takes shape and becomes easier to follow. Though the prophecy feels vaguely like a J.K. Rowling plotline, and the willingness to kill off central characters is a page from George R.R. Martin, Schmutz’s work presents unique, nuanced characters and unexpected plot twists. Fans of the genre will eagerly devour the tome, and the cliffhanger ending is sure to leave readers wanting what’s next.

An engrossing read that’s a solid addition to the fantasy genre.

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9 REALITIES OF CARING FOR AN ELDERLY PARENT

decisions, both major and mundane, that shape their lives; he then explores the forces that guide people’s determinations, such as culture, reason, intuition and mere whim, and discusses them all in depth. White goes on to ask how people know what reality truly is and introduces a wide variety of worldviews across the globe (and across time), showing that concepts of “truth” or “reality” can differ depending upon one’s time and place. The same is true of human values, the author writes, and he then addresses the larger question of where such values come from, examining biology as well as culture. Overall, he advocates keeping an open mind when discovering one’s own values, choices and telos, or purpose in life. The author’s depth of research is impressive, as he quotes and discusses writers and thinkers as diverse as Friedrich Nietzsche and Henry David Thoreau. Despite this erudite approach, however, White’s book functions more as a self-help guide than a pure work of philosophy.

For example, he sometimes uses dialogues to further illustrate and enliven his arguments, setting up discussions between “Skeptico” and “Wisdom Seeker,” and he also adds “Thought Experiments” to help readers better understand the material. Some readers, especially those facing existential or mere midlife crises, will likely find White’s work thought-provoking.

A fine introduction to exploring life’s biggest questions.

Shaffer, Stefania Pressman Books (504 pp.) $19.95 paper | $9.99 e-book | Jul. 27, 2013 978-1-45-386531-6 A 40-year-old woman moves back home to care for her elderly mother in this impassioned memoir.

Shaffer (Heroes Don’t Always Wear Capes, 2005) had been estranged from her 85-year-old mother for seven years (for undisclosed reasons) when her mother suddenly called her requesting a visit. Although the author still struggled with raw, painful feelings, she accepted her mother’s olive branch, hoping to repair their relationship. It marked the beginning of the author’s five-year quest to get her mother’s house in order. She left behind a boyfriend and her job as a seventh-grade English teacher and moved back into her childhood home—now littered with ants, cat urine, rodent droppings and mounds of unattended financial documents left over from her father’s death 13 years earlier. As Shaffer sorted through a lifetime of belongings, she unearthed long-buried memories. She also faced the gargantuan task of readying her mother for hospice care, while also grappling with her tumultuous relationships with her four siblings. (She refers to them only as numbers—“brother one,” “sister two.”) As her mother hallucinated during her last days, the author confronted the seemingly insurmountable chores of cleaning, shopping and organizing. During this emotional time, however, Shaffer married a roofer, Greg, whom she hired to get her mother’s house in salable condition; Greg gave her love, support and experience, as he’d cared for his ex-wife during her battle with cancer. This heart-rending story offers readers engaging lessons, but it isn’t a step-by-step manual on how to care for an elderly loved one. Shaffer’s “9 Realities” are instead weaved into personal anecdotes; they include such tasks as hiring an accountant and an attorney, documenting phone calls and e-mails, creating binders of documents and receipts, and drawing up a will and assigning a trustee. This unique memoir not only addresses the logistics of elder care, but also the unexpected love, fear and anger that can rise to the surface in the process.

An engaging document of a daughter’s emotional journey.

FLEETING NOTE

Young, Sherban CreateSpace (216 pp.) $9.95 paper | Jul. 9, 2013 978-1-49-044410-9 What begins as an evening out for semiretired private investigator Enescu Fleet at the Pendleton Institute of Music ends on a sour note when the body of a music critic crashes the party in Young’s (Fleeting Glance, 2012, etc.) third comic

mystery in the series.

Once again, the lovably lost John Hathaway narrates Fleet’s misadventures. He begins the story perplexed: “I couldn’t figure why an elite music college would want to toast a private eye, no matter how famous and semiretired he may be.” It’s only after John’s fiancee, Lesley; Fleet’s daughter, Ate; and their friend Hutton (another PI both less famous and less retired than Fleet) are seated that Fleet reveals that the banquet is honoring his esteemed Romanian ancestor, the composer George Enescu.

The unflappable detective accepted the invitation despite one detail that the rather more flappable Hathaway fixates on: “Fleet wasn’t related to the composer Enescu. He wasn’t even

ON BEING HUMAN An Operator’s Manual

White, David V. Meaningful Life Books (258 pp.) $12.95 paper | Jul. 30, 2013 978-0-61-577098-7 A wide-ranging, well-researched guide to examining what life’s all about.

In his debut work, White, in an easyto-read format, guides readers through issues that have perplexed and challenged him over the years—and that have troubled sages and other thinkers for centuries. He begins by addressing how people make the 118

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This Issue’s Contributors # Kent Armstrong • Stefan Barkow • LD Beghtol • Valerie Brooks • Charles Cassady Wendy Connick • Lisa Costantino • Jameson Fitzpatrick • Susan J.E. Illis • Leila Jutton Ivan Kenneally • Isaac Larson • Jennifer Latson • Barbara London • Joe Maniscalco Angela McRae • Jim Piechota • William E. Pike • Jon C. Pope • Jackson Radish • Megan Roth Leah Schnelbach • Barry Silverstein • Emily Thompson • Katherine Turro

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“Young has done it again with his unique blend of lighthearted mystery and quick-witted characters.” from fleeting note

Romanian.” Suitably trapped, the crew settles in to enjoy themselves anyway, until an obnoxious old schoolmate of Hathaway and Hutton drops in on them—literally. Chester Callas, having earlier in the evening pooh-poohed the credibility of Fleet’s previous cases in which the victims clung to life long enough to leave cryptic clues, can’t stop chuckling as he pulls himself from the table he landed on and grips Hathaway’s lapels long enough to whisper his own enigmatic clue as a final coda. Once more, it’s a marvelously clever setup, and in spite of being somewhat shorter than the previous books, it still packs a plot replete with murder, mistaken identity, blackmail, intrigue, missing masterpieces and a Maltese named Pixie. Young’s dry wit and love of language shine throughout poor Hathaway’s recollection of events, and the humor is finely tuned in a way that few authors can manage. But for all of that, the murder itself is relegated to the background by all the other events; when the truth is ultimately unveiled, it’s a letdown just shy of the one Chester got from the fifth-floor balcony. In his defense, even Hathaway expresses disappointment at the ending, but one off note is far from enough to keep a comedy of this caliber off the stage.

Young has done it again with his unique blend of lighthearted mystery and quick-witted characters.

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COLLECTION “An elegant novel.” —The New York Times Book Review

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