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September 13, 2010
Fiction
This luminous debut novel is set in British-controlled Yemen in 1935. Eleven-year-old Jama and his mother live in the seaport city of Aden; he is a "market boy," one of the throngs of children of poverty who survive by scavenging in the streets for food and things to sell, while his mother earns a little working in a coffee factory. They manage to get by until Jama's mother suddenly dies; with no one else to look after him, Jama decides to search for the father he has never met. The best information Jama has (which comes from rumors passed around in his clan) says that his father may be in Sudan, working as a driver for the British. He takes off on a perilous journey that leads him to Eritrea, where he and other Africans are terribly treated by the Italian occupiers; years later, he moves on to Egypt, finding both danger and help along the way, and still hoping to find his father. The story is based on the author's family history, and her intimate knowledge of the setting helps create a vibrant portrait of life in North Africa during the colonial era. This book is highly recommended to readers who liked Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, or Maaza Mengiste's Beneath the Lion's Gaze.
It is 1991, and Feliks Zhukovski has been living in Paris since 1939, when his parents managed to get him out of Poland just ahead of the Nazi invasion. With his brother Woodrow (named after President Wilson), he was sent to Switzerland; when Woodrow left to join the French Resistance, Feliks lost touch with his brother, and the rest of his family. After the war, Feliks ended up in Paris, becoming a committed "leftist;" he hates America and capitalism, and makes his living writing travel guides to Eastern Bloc countries. After the Soviet Union collapses and the communist countries open up to the west, Feliks' entire life is turned topsy-turvy. He is forced to travel to America to deal with the publisher that has offered to buy his travel guides. He is reunited with his brother, and has many eye-opening experiences; he begins to question the smug assurance with which he has lived his whole life, and in the process opens himself up to a future he had never even imagined. Charming, funny, and wistful, filled with great dialog and fully-realized characters, this terrific novel will appeal to fans of Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists or Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.
Conrad Maddox is at returning to LAX on a redeye flight; he finds a key to a storage locker in his rental car, and out of curiosity decides to see what's in the locker. He is amazed to find a suitcase full of guns and money, and nearly frightened out of his wits when an assassin shows up at his apartment a few hours later, planning to kill him and take the suitcase. Maddox is saved by the sudden intervention of Dandine, a strange man who appears just in time to kill the assassin, and to tell Maddox that he is now being targeted by NORCO, a mysterious security conglomerate, and Dandine's former employer. It turns out that there are spies everywhere, engaging in secret operations that go unnoticed by the "walking dead," ordinary people with no idea what's going on all around them. Maddox goes with Dandine as he cruises around Los Angeles, eliminating anyone who gets in his way and trying to find out who exactly is trying to kill them and why. This hip, fast-paced and violent thriller has an edge of black humor; fans of James Ellroy or the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson will get a charge out of this one.
Lake Canandaigua in upstate New York is a beautiful place, surrounded by wooded hills and tranquil small towns. The beauty of the setting is marred by tragedy when the three Ellis children try to escape their abusive father, rowing across the lake in a canoe borrowed from their neighbors, the Songos, as a storm is brewing. The youngest child, Luke, disappears, leaving only his sisters Maya and Melanie to return to shore. The sisters cannot bear their guilt and sorrow; Melanie self-medicates with drugs, and Maya battles mental illness. Ten years later, Melanie vanishes, leaving her young son and boyfriend frantic to discover what has happened to her. Grant Songo, now 32 and dealing with a painful divorce, has returned to his family's house on Canandaigua to regroup and heal. His first love, Echo O'Connell, has also come back to the lake, and both of them are drawn to the mystery of Luke's and Melanie's fates. This lyrical novel weaves together threads of mystery, suspense, and spirituality to create a beautiful and enigmatic novel that holds the reader's interest until the very last sentence. Readers who enjoyed Kate Morton's The House at Riverton or Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger will find want to read this.
Recently there has been a groundswell of interest in the Second World War as veterans of that cataclysm, and others who lived through it, are growing old and passing away. This is a gripping history of the Allied Forces campaign to retake Pacific islands occupied by the Japanese, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, between 1942 and 1945. The battles to recapture these islands began with treacherous amphibious landings, and they were usually long, bloody, and savage as the Americans met with fierce resistance; the Battle of Okinawa lasted for 82 days, with casualties of more than 150,000, including Japanese and American soldiers, as well as civilians on the island. The long and brutal campaign certainly had an impact on Allied strategy to bring the war to an end; the Japanese troops had demonstrated that they were willing to fight to the last man, and the American military feared that invading the home islands of Japan would result in devastating casualties on both sides. This contributed heavily to the decision to drop the atomic bomb in August of 1945. Miller's very effective account uses official records, photographs, and eyewitness testimony to tell the story of one of the most terrible military campaigns in human history.
A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb
The author, a novelist and English professor at Vassar College, considers the human costs of the American war on terror. After the events of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Government enacted domestic and foreign policies aimed at preventing further terrorist attacks; this included detaining suspected terrorists without charges, secret courts, and the suspension of basic civil liberties in some cases. Many artists and intellectuals have protested these actions; this book discusses some of their responses. One example is the Bangladeshi-born conceptual artist Hasan Elahi, who was questioned by the F.B.I. for no apparent reason other than his ethnicity; he now maintains a website that documents nearly every moment of his life, as a sort of constant alibi in case the Feds come back to interrogate him again, and as an art project and political commentary. Kumar focuses on how a few individuals' lives have been dramatically affected by the war on terror, bringing a very personal perspective to these contentious issues. Whatever your perspective on the aftermath of 9/11, this book is a fascinating and very personal take on the subject.
Menzel and D'Aluisio build on the legacy of their previous books Material World, which illustrated how thirty different "average" families from all over the world live by showing them in a portrait with all of their possessions. This time the husband and wife team travel the globe to explore people's diets in different countries. They use 80 examples, from a Japanese Sumo wrestler to a Masai herdswoman, and a wide spectrum in between. Each example shows calories and foods consumed, as well as the age and activity level of each person, with photographs providing a strong visual component that brings it all home to the reader. The results are fascinating, and truly thought-provoking. This book will appeal to those who have read about the slow food movement in books like Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma or Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
This intriguing book asks the question "What is wisdom?" and proceeds to enlighten the reader on the philosophical, cultural, and scientific attempts to define this rather elusive idea. The concept of wisdom was addressed in ancient Greece, China, the Middle East, and India by great thinkers like Socrates, Confucius, Jesus, and Buddha; they placed the question of defining wisdom in the realm of philosophy and religion, where it pretty much remained until recent advances in neuroscience offered a whole new line of inquiry. Scientists have spent the last three decades trying to discover how wisdom is acquired and enhanced by the brain over time, and have made some progress, although the mysteries of how the brain and the mind interconnect remain elusive. Hall has written a very absorbing book about how science works as a lens providing new insight into ancient questions.
September 7, 2010
Fiction
In the year 2027, Turkey has recently become part of the European Union. This attempt to join with the Western world is not entirely successful; Turkey is the most populous country in the Union, but also the most socially, politically and economically divided, and the old Byzantine culture of political machination endures. In this future Europe, petroleum is a precious commodity, and everyone must live within their allotted ration of carbon allowances. The novel begins with an explosion as a suicide bomber blows herself up on a city tram in Istanbul; a young man who witnesses this event starts seeing supernatural apparitions immediately afterward. Meanwhile, a gallery owner is searching for a mysterious relic, a secret government cabal is recruiting intellectuals, and a young woman becomes involved with a nanotechnology research firm. How all of these events are related makes for a gripping story that extrapolates how current economic, social and ecological events and trends might play out in the future. The city of Istanbul is like a separate character, so richly and beautifully described that it becomes a living, breathing presence. Readers who enjoyed Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow or the works of Cory Doctorow or Alastair Reynolds will definitely want to read this.
Alex and Ruth Cohen are trying to sell their New York City apartment; Alex, a painter, is 78, and Ruth, a retired teacher, is 74, and they are getting weary of walking up five floors to get to their home. As they get ready to have an open house, their dachshund, Dorothy, develops a medical problem and must be rushed to the emergency animal hospital. Alex and Ruth love Dorothy like a child, and as potential buyers tramp through their apartment, they wait by the phone for news of Dorothy's prognosis. Meanwhile, a gasoline tanker truck has gotten stuck in the Midtown Tunnel, and its driver has mysteriously disappeared; frazzled New Yorkers are afraid that this may be another terrorist attack. The media breathlessly follows every second of the story, sending the city into a frenzy of wheeling and dealing as the rumors fly and the situation becomes more and more fraught. This novel is a funny and touching story of two people whose world revolves around their beloved pet, and how they survive one long crazy weekend of media insanity. If you liked Cathleen Schine's The New Yorkers or The Whole World Over by Julia Glass, this would be a good choice.
Frankie Ross is fourteen when her father decides to move the family from the quiet Hudson River town of Poughkeepsie to bustling Rock Harbor, a mill town located on the Massachusetts coast. It is 1917, the U.S. is about to enter the First World War, and life will change for everyone in ways they can't even imagine. Frankie becomes involved with two quite different young men: Winslow Curtis comes from wealth and privilege, and Joe Barros is a Portuguese mill worker who aspires to a better life. Frankie is attracted to both of them, and they become friends and rivals for her attentions. As Frankie and her family and friends live through war, economic boom and bust, and bewildering changes in the very fabric of society, she must learn to live-and love-in the world in which she finds herself. Chace has written an excellent coming of age story, and the historical setting comes vividly to life; readers who like Richard Russo or Lily King will want to try this one.
In this debut novel, we meet Lindsey Adams, who is staying at her family's seaside home near the coastal resort town of Sunset Beach, North Carolina; while exploring the beach she discovers the "Kindred Spirit" mailbox, which contains notebooks and writing implements for passers-by to record their thoughts, prayers, and stories. Pouring her heart out to the Mailbox appeals to Lindsey in a way she doesn't really understand, but she keeps coming back, year after year, to leave letters chronicling her life, her relationship with her husband, Grant, and the arrival of her children. When Lindsey's husband abandons her, she makes the trip to Sunset Beach to share her sorrow and anger at the Mailbox; to her surprise, her first love, Campbell Forrester, still lives there, along with his daughter. He is also divorced, and it seems as though the two may have a second chance together; but it won't be easy to overcome their hurt and mistrust, and to make the transition from teenage infatuation to an adult relationship. This novel will appeal to fans of Nicholas Sparks or Karen Kingsbury.
Angels are everywhere; these ethereal beings abound in theology, philosophy, and popular culture, and the meanings they take on are as varied as their appearances. The author explains the origins of angels, the different functions they perform as guardians and messengers, and the fascinating idea of fallen angels. He chronicles how angels have morphed over the centuries from beings who appeared to be living men (always male) to beautiful androgynous or female beings with wings and haloes; he also discusses the manifestation and meaning of angels in the three major Western religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Jones, a professor of theology at St. Mary's University College in England, has written a history of angels that is accessible, enjoyable, and scholarly, all at once.
Marvel, a well-respected Civil War scholar, offers the next volume in his series covering each year of the war; his take is a bit different than that of many other historians. The year 1863 was a pivotal one; the war entered its third year in April, and a significant portion of the public was growing weary of the bloody battles. The three-year enlistments of many Union soldiers would be ending soon, and there was doubt regarding how many would re-enlist. The New York City Draft Riots in July were an ugly reminder of the nearly universal hatred of the Conscription Act, which allowed exemptions and buyouts for the privileged and wealthy, but forced the poor to fight. Significant defeats for the Union at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and the terrible casualties at Gettysburg, made many in the North wonder whether "Mr. Lincoln's war" was worth the tremendous amount of blood being shed. Marvel believes that the Union effort was in far greater danger of collapsing than has previously been stated; if that had happened the outcome of the war might have been very different. His premise is intriguing, and his scholarship is impeccable. This book is highly recommended for Civil War and American history buffs.
Oates is one of our most prolific, varied, and astute writers; her massive creative output includes novels, plays, criticism, and essays. After her husband died, Oates spent many sleepless nights as a new widow reading and re-reading her favorite writers, and taking notes on their work; this collection of essays is the result of that undertaking. The writers she analyzes run the gamut from Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy, to Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe; her insight into their work is powerful and compassionate, and her writing is breathtaking. Anyone who loves books and reading will find much to enjoy here.
Underhill is the guru of marketing researchers; his previous books The Call of the Mall and Why We Buy are classic studies of consumer behavior. This time, Underhill investigates the buying habits and priorities of women, who make up half the population but make or strongly influence more than eighty per cent of the buying decisions, especially for big-ticket items like cars and appliances. The author wants businesses to recognize the enormous buying power of women, and understand how making their business more friendly to women can have a strong positive effect on the bottom line. Underhill is an entertaining writer, and makes what could be a rather dry subject-marketing-seem like something fun and interesting; the book also shows women consumers how they are marketed to, sometimes in very subtle ways, and this knowledge can be very useful when choosing where to shop and what to buy.
August 30, 2010
Fiction
The latest installment in the series of thrillers with Seattle lawyer David Sloane finds our hero about to win a huge malpractice case against pediatrician Peter Douvalidis for the death of a young boy. Sloane should be ecstatic, but he has doubts about the case; despite his performance in court impugning the doctor's skills, he doesn't really believe that the doctor caused the death. When a crazed-looking man shows up outside the courtroom with a sheaf of documents he claims prove the doctor's innocence, Sloane is even more conflicted. It turns out the agitated man is Kyle Horgan, the toy designer whose creation was responsible for the boy's death; his design was changed by a greedy toy company out to minimize costs and maximize profits, uncaring about safety. Sloane tries to contact the toy designer to get more information, but finds his home torn apart, and Horgan nowhere to be found; someone wants to make sure that the truth is never uncovered. Sloane must find out what really happened before a ruthless assassin gets to him and his family. This is an exciting and fast-paced thriller with plenty of action; readers who like Gregg Hurwitz or Stephen White should try the Sloane series.
Tolstoy's famous observation about unhappy families is illustrated in this novel. Winnie McClelland and Jerry Trevis, two people in their seventies, have fallen in love and decided to marry and begin a new life together. However, Jerry's family is horrified when moves from Chicago, where he is a rich businessman, to upstate New York, where he buys a mansion for his new wife. Jerry's daughter Annette sues her father to take control of his business empire and protect her inheritance, while Winnie's daughter Rachel asks Jerry to lend her money for her husband's medical expenses as he recovers from a head injury. Added to this volatile mix is Annette's son Avery, a recovering addict and chef who dreams of opening a restaurant (bankrolled by Jerry, of course). The situation becomes more complicated when the relationships between Jerry, Annette, Avery, and Jerry's new step-family develop in unexpected ways, and everyone discovers that money may not be the most important thing they are fighting over, after all. The lovely writing and detailed, convincing characterization make this debut novel something truly special.
In this hilarious re-imagining of the Beatles saga, John Lennon is a zombie and aspiring rock guitarist who decides to start a new band by killing and re-animating Paul McCartney, and then recruiting young zombie George Harrison and Seventh Level Ninja Lord Ringo Starr to complete the group. On their way to the top, they literally fight off rival bands and musicians (like vampire Pete Best and zombie killer Mick Jagger), feast on the brains of their fans, and make great music. When Eighth Level Ninja Yoko Ono attacks, the band's own inner rivalries and conflicts threaten to tear them apart; will they stay together and go on dominating the charts for eternity? This horror mash-up continues the trend started by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; it's a laugh-out-loud funny and imaginative alternative version of the Beatles story.
Aspiring author Nancy Markopolis is writing her first novel, based on the life of her much-loved late father. When she is invited to join the Leopardi Circle, a writer's group that includes several successful writers, Nancy is excited, and somewhat surprised at the offer. She is uncertain that her work is up to the group's standards, and insecure about how she will react to the group members' opinions of her writing. As Nancy gets to know the other members of the Circle, the complexities of their relationships emerge; Bernard, a somewhat pretentious writer of biographies, and his ex-wife Virginia, the group's mother hen, have not figured out how their new situation will play out. Chris, a divorced man who writes bestselling thrillers, is trying to be a good father to his sons, despite the animosity of his ex; and the youngest of the group, Adam, is obsessed with his unrequited love for Gillian, a brilliant and successful poet whose coldness is as evident as her talent. Nancy's presence acts as a catalyst, forcing the group members to re-examine their work, their lives, and their relationships to each other. Demas is very effective at creating distinct viewpoints and voices for all of the characters, and this close-up view of the creative process of writing is fascinating. Readers who like Karen Joy Fowler or Anna Quindlen will want to try this one.
After graduating from college in 2003, the author was at loose ends, looking for meaning in her life. As the child of two atheists, she had explored various religious traditions, but Islam seemed to resonate most closely with her; however after the incidents of September 11, 2001, Wilson was uncertain that she wanted to embrace that faith. She went to Cairo to teach English at a high school there, and was surprised at how well life in a Muslim country suited her. She learned Arabic and immersed herself in Egyptian culture; she even found romance with Omar, one of the other teachers at the school. Wilson beautifully evokes the feeling of being a stranger in a completely unfamiliar place, and how it feels to be both embraced and rejected by the culture you have decided to adopt. This memoir provides unique insight into the Muslim world for American readers, and illustrates how the things that unite us as human beings are more important than the things that divide us.
According to a recent survey of Americans, public concern about global warming has decreased significantly since 2008; the percentage of people who are worried about global warming, who believe that it is real, and who believe that human activities have caused it, have all declined sharply in the last two years. What caused this shift in public opinion? Pooley, the deputy editor of Bloomberg Business Week, spent three years investigating the controversy around climate change theory; he spent time with people in all areas of the spectrum of opinion, from leaders in the coal industry to radical environmental activists. Pooley discovered that contrary to popular belief, there is strong consensus among scientists that global warming is real, and is a grave danger to the future habitability of Earth; the doubt can be traced to a group the author calls "the Denialosphere," made up of people and groups that have a vested interest in preventing change and avoiding stronger environmental regulation. The author examines how and why this state of affairs has happened, and analyzes the political dimensions of the battle over climate change. Whatever your position on climate change, this book is well worth reading; Pooley has written an informative, absorbing, and well-researched book about a vitally important topic.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of August 28, 1963 was an amazing moment in history, a gathering of hundreds of thousands of people focused on achieving social justice. The march took place one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln's directive ending slavery in the Confederate States; a century later, true racial equality still seemed very far away. The most celebrated moment of the march came with the "I have a dream" speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but there were many other moments, both public and private, that helped chart the course of the Civil Rights movement. The march's organizers, Bayard Rustin and Asa Philip Randolph, wanted it to be a peaceful demonstration of how ordinary people of all ethnicities supported the aims of the movement; the 250,000 people who attended came from all over the country, by plane, bus, car and even on foot, to participate. Euchner documents the celebrated events with King, John Lewis, and other notables, but he also interviewed hundreds of others, creating an oral history of the event as it was experienced by those in the crowd. This is essential reading for anyone interested in American history.
It has been reported that modern-day terrorists have studied the ideology and methods of nineteenth-century anarchists, communists, and nihilists; these included Russians Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin, French Communards Louise Michel and Henri Rochefort, and even some Americans. They advocated the creation of a utopian individualist state, where everyone could do as they pleased without the oppression of laws and social rules. As the struggle to enact their ideas intensified, some became disillusioned and began to use violence-assassinations, bombings, and other such tactics-to try to achieve their aims. The governments of Russia and other nations fought back by creating secret police, infiltrating the movement to destroy it from within, and often running roughshod over their citizens' civil liberties. Butterworth paints a fascinating, in-depth portrait of a social and political movement that began with lofty goals, but drifted into chaos and violence; he also demonstrates how the response of those in power failed to stop these terrorists, and has some interesting observations on the relevance of this history to our own times. This excellently written, well-researched, and gripping book is essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of terrorism.
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