Sunday, July 29, 2007

Writers Guilty Pleasures

What Would William Read? - TIME
Thursday, Jul. 12, 2007
By MAXWELL BRYER, LAURA FITZPATRICK, AMY LENNARD GOEHNER, LEV GROSSMAN, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, MEG MASSEY, TOM MINTZ, P.G. SITTENFELD


This is an article from Time that I had to share.
Just click on the title above and enjoy!

Stardust

by Neil Gaiman
This novel by Gaiman is coming to the box office with a star studded cast. Check out the book or movie sites. Time magazine just recently ran an article on Gaiman, see the links below.

Ruth Rendell

Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell
&
Live Flesh
by Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, and Ángela Molina


Ruth Rendell has just released a new psychological thriller,
The Water's Lovely, but did you know she can also be connected to Pedro Almodovar. Almodovar based his 1997 film Live Flesh on Ruth Rendell's 1986 novel of the same name. Above are the two links to the novel and film. Enjoy!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Week Thirty, Book Forty Two

by Ben Mikaelsen
"Cole Matthews knelt defiantly in the bow of the aluminum skiff as he faced forward into a cold September wind."

Review:
Picking this up, I was hoping that my school could use it for a Literature Circle next year and now feel it is a definite "yes". I read this book a few years ago because Judy recommended it to me and am so glad she did. Believe me, this is one of those stories that can stand the test of time. Young or old, there is a very important message here.

Fighting and stealing for years has finally caught up with Cole Matthews. At the age of fifteen, he is sentenced to prison or isolation for one year by the Native American Circle Justice. He chooses a year on a remote Alaskan island. This story is one boys journey to self-realization and truth through hardship, confrontation, and ritual. I recommend this book to all middle school teachers and students.
Site for Teachers to Check Out:
Touching Spirit Bear (Novel Study Guide)
www.benmikaelsen.com (Author Site)
Lesson Plans:

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Tribute to Chicago

I just spent a week in Chicago and found myself in a surprising literary world among the celebration of architecture and art the city had to offer. The following posts will be a tribute to Chicago through the the world of literature. Enjoy!
(Time Out Guides)
by Time Out

*Great book, even better weekly magazine that I purchased as soon as we landed in Chicago. I was so excited to find out that one of my favorite NYC magazines has a Chicago version. If you are interested in finding out what the city has to offer just during your stay, then look no further.
by Carl Sandburg


*I picked up a copy of this book right across the street from The Art Institute of Chicago and plan on using some poems in my classroom this Fall. Great Poet, Great City!


Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
by Erik Larson


by Audrey Niffenegger

*There are some really odd tours in the Chicago area. If you like books, art or history you have a few good choices. We took the architecture boat tour on the Chicago River and it was worth every penny. The two books listed above have tours that take you to the places described in the stories settings. I have read The Devil in the White City and am now anxious to read The Time Traveler's Wife.

by Nick Hornby


*For all you music fans out there, no trip to Chicago is complete without visiting the hot music shop John Cusack worked at in the movie version of the book (Reckless Records - visit us) and the music club he went to hear Lisa Bonet perform (Welcome to Double Door). By the way there is so much Jazz and Blues being played every day of the week, you would think you were in New Orleans.
Chicago Cubs: Memorable Stories of Cubs Baseball
(Game of My Life)
by Lew Freedman

*One of the highlights of the trip was our day at Wrigley Field. The Cubs played the Diamondbacks, Boo! Even though the Cubbies lost, we had great seats ($12 standing room only) for this sold out game. It was hard to get tickets and we tried all week via phone, but were able to pull off buying some last minute tickets at the stadium box office in person. The area around the ball park is unreal! You have to check out Goose Island Brewery just a block away from the stadium for post- game drinks/grub and cool live music.
The Rise And Self-Destruction Of The Greatest Football Team In History: The Chicago Bears And Super Bowl XX
by John Mullin and John Madden

"That 1985 season was the most fun year I ever saw, not only for broadcasting, but for the whole NFL. For the country, really. . . . I mean, the whole thing was right out of central casting. . . . It was like a smorgasbord, a buffet." —from the Foreword by John Madden

*Sorry to say, but Soldier Field was closed the day we trekked out to sneak a peek. Good news, we did have a great view from our hotel and we took tons of pictures from the outside.
by Jr., Pasquale Bruno
Classic recipes for deep-dish, stuffed, thin-crust, and vegetarian variations.


*If you ever go to Chicago you have to have two types of pizza: the classic deep dish and the stuffed. I especially enjoyed Pizano's Pizza & Pasta A Chicago Italian Restaurant and Giordano's, Chicagos World Famous Stuffed Pizza which are both in the Downtown area.
Madams, Ministers, Playboys,
and the Battle for America's Soul
by Karen Abbott

Freelance journalist Abbott's vibrant first book probes the titillating milieu of the posh, world-famous Everleigh Club brothel that operated from 1900 to 1911 on Chicago's Near South Side.
*Although I did not see any of this type of nightlife, I thought this new release looked interesting.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Week Twenty Nine, Book Forty One

by Yasmina Khadra
Review:
Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra, is a novel that has been translated from the French by John Cullen. The book's dustcover notes that Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Mohammed Moulessehoul, an Algerian army officer who used the feminine pseudonym in order to avoid censorship. This story takes readers into the lives of two couples in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. It is a compassionate novel written about the mentality of Islamic fundamentalists and the complexities of the Muslim world. Although this is a work of fiction , it reads like a memoir and is a complete page turner. I read the book in roughly two sittings. If you enjoyed and read The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad, then you have to read this as well.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Week Twenty Eight, Book Forty

by James McBride
Review:
I am currently reading a few books that may be possible Literature Circle ( Welcome to LiteratureCircles.com) selections for my 8th grade English class and this one made the list. If we decide to use this book it would be for the honors classes, since this is not a teen book, but an adult memoir. This is not a new book by any means, but has just been re released in it's 10th Anniversary Edition. The story is an interesting mix told by two narrators. The author and his mother alternate chapters telling their story of growing up in a very non traditional way. James is an African American and Ruth is a White Jewish woman from the South. This topic drew me in immediately and the stories only got better as the book progressed. I found myself flying through chapters because I wanted to know what happened to the characters from the previous chapters. I recommend this to anyone. Definitely a great read and a touching family story.


Check out these sites, especially the one on the author who by the way is also a musician.
SparkNotes: The Color of Water
ReadingGroupGuides.com - The Color of Water by James McBride
Penguin Reading Guides The Color of Water James McBride
James McBride

Graphic Classics

(Graphic Classics (Graphic Novels))
by O. Henry, Mort Castle, Rod Lott, and Rick Geary

Book Description
Graphic Classics: O. Henry is a great collection of stories from the master of the surprise ending. This eleventh volume in the Graphic Classics series features "The Ransom of Red Chief," the precursor to "Home Alone." Plus "The Cabollero's Way," the original tale of The Cisco Kid, and O. Henry's Christmas classic "The Gift of the Magi," along with seven more stories, including a new O. Henry "sequel" by Mort Castle. taken from: amazon.com

for more info. on Graphic Classics:
http://www.graphicclassics.com/index.htm

Short Stories

by Helen Simpson

From an English author, a stunningly imaginative collection of 11 short stories--with emphasis on short. These hard-edged but soft-centered pieces are equal parts humorous and satiric. They are the author's own perceptions of real life from unique, even odd perspectives. Simpson could not care less about offering tidy moral lessons on how life should be led. Her intention in these tough-as-nails yet poetically styled stories is to get us to laugh along with her at the silliness of human nature but also to laugh with her over the fact that she, and we as well, are all part of human nature's silliness. "The Door" concerns a woman replacing an important feature of her house--as well as of her sense of personal security--after a break-in and finding herself stepping through a psychological frontier of peacefulness as she locates someone to do the job. The collection's crown jewel is "Every Third Thought," which opens provocatively with the lines "It happened very fast, without warning. One day everybody started dying" and proceeds to mock people's obsession with other people's illnesses, which, of course, is rooted in the universal condition of schadenfreude. One character, in reflecting on how everyone in her particular social group seems to have fallen ill, concludes, "I put it down to dairy. And the pill. Cut out cheese and change to condoms, that's what I say!" Remarkable fiction. Brad Hooper

The Golf Novel

For Michael L.- I hope you're still reading!
by Billy Mott
From Booklist
The golf novel--typically a source of either slapstick or treacly inspiration--has finally come of age. This remarkably assured debut stands out from the pack because it takes the game seriously as a subject of literary fiction and then delivers a story that can carry its thematic weight and a character whose humanity is as palpable as his golf swing is smooth. Mott sets the action mainly in the caddyshack, but this isn't another of those one-dimensional riffs aimed at ridiculing fat-cat golfers. Mott's caddy hero, Charlie McCleod, once a golf phenom, was forced to quit the game after a freak injury. On the run from personal demons, he lands in San Francisco and impulsively hires on as a caddy at an exclusive club. Gradually drawn back into the game, Charlie soon finds himself involved in a big-money match with a legendary golf hustler. The setup suggests all sorts of melodramatic potholes--the Rocky cliche being only one of them--but Mott steers away from trouble as skillfully as Ben Hogan, Charlie's hero, could guide the flight of a one-iron. The novel works because Mott gets the golf exactly right, from dialogue to swing details. He makes us care about Charlie, not because he plays a particular game but because he shows us how playing that game can make you feel alive in a very special way. In The Hustler, Fast Eddie Felson explains how, when he is on a roll, the cue becomes an extension of his arm. A one-iron is Charlie's cue stick, and The Back Nine is golf's Hustler.
Bill Ott

The Metamorphosis

by Lance Olsen
From Booklist
Combining his dexterity for cutting-edge experimentation and a love of classic literature, Olsen takes on Franz Kafka's surreal novella "The Metamorphosis" and ingeniously adapts the story line to multiple perspectives. In the original, Kafka chose authorial omniscience to recount the misfortunes of traveling salesman Gregor Samsa, who awakens one morning to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin." Olsen surveys the unsettling events in the Samsa household from the viewpoints of, respectively, Gregor's sister Greta, his parents, the kitchen staff, and even a contemporary London woman perusing Kafka's yarn in a British Museum reading room. The essential twist in Olsen's interpretation is that Gregor never actually changes into anything except his birthday suit. He merely goes mad, hallucinating his insectile transformation. This variation allows Olsen free rein to incorporate stray biographical details from Kafka's life and allusions to his other works, most notably "The Hunger Artist." While some Kafka connoisseurs may embrace Olsen's creative retelling, others may just be driven back to the original masterpiece. Carl Hays

Marc Chagall

by Jonathan Wilson
From Booklist
Chagall's bewitching paintings of flying lovers, otherworldly cows, and enormous floating bouquets appear to be joyously romantic and exuberantly folkloric, but in fact they are poetic memorials to a doomed world. Chagall, a "master of color" who painted right up until his death at 97 in 1985, survived the brutal anti-Semitism of czarist and Soviet Russia, lost hundreds of paintings during World War I, and barely avoided the concentration camps when he fled Vichy France. Novelist Wilson, whose inventive way with words perfectly matches his subject's topsy-turvy visual lexicon, succeeds in illuminating in fresh and penetrating ways the mysteries and sorrows inherent in Chagall's complex work. He elucidates the influence of Hasidic mysticism, speculates about Chagall's chameleon-like personality and possible sexual ambiguity, eloquently articulates Chagall's "Orphic/Cubist" aesthetic, and revels in Chagall's best works. Wilson also cogently analyzes the Jewish painter's obsession with Christ and unsettling use of the Crucifixion as "an icon of Jewish suffering." Ultimately, Wilson portrays Chagall as an artist trapped between "apparently irreconcilable worlds that could only be unified in his work." Donna Seaman

Matt Diehl

Green Day, Fall Out Boy, The Distillers, Bad Religion
How Neo-Punk Stage-Dived into the Mainstream
by Matt Diehl


From Publishers Weekly
In this energetic survey of current trends in punk rock, journalist and music critic Diehl (Notorious C.O.P.) delivers a knowledgeable and sympathetic overview of the current "neo-punk" bands that achieved success with "the pop music mainstream in the mid-1990s," from big names such as the Offspring and Rancid to lesser-known artists such as Brody Dalle. taken from:amazon.com

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Quick Taste

by Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Meehan


With all the repeat episodes of Top Chef
(BRAVOtv.com : Top Chef) and the new episodes of Hell's Kitchen (FOX Broadcasting Company: Hell's Kitchen) how can you not want to pick up this book. Yum!

International Bestseller

by Anosh Irani
The Song of Kahunsha is Vancouver writer Anosh Irani’s second novel, following his critically successful debut, The Cripple and His Talismans, published in Canada (by Raincoast Books) and the U.S. in 2004. Irani moved to Vancouver from Bombay in 1998 and wrote that first novel as his thesis in UBC’s MFA Creative Writing program. He is also a playwright—his first play, The Matka King, debuted at the Arts Club Theatre in 2003, and his second play, Bombay Black, was produced by Toronto’s Cahoots Theatre in January.
http://www.joewiebe.com/books/kahunsha.htm

Steven Almond

You have to check out this website: http://www.candyfreak.com/
About Steve
Steve Almond is the author of two story collections, My Life in Heavy Metal and The Evil B.B. Chow, the non-fiction book Candyfreak, and the novel Which Brings Me to You, co-written with Julianna Baggott. He lives outside Boston with his wife and baby daughter Josephine, who can and will kick your ass with cuteness.

Debut Novel

Jeff Hobbs

A stylish debut about the dark and sometimes destructive aspects of physical attraction and love, marital disillusionment, and the inevitable disappointments life can bring.

New From Coffee House Press

The Ocean in the Closet
by Yuko Taniguchi


9-year-old Helen Johnson can't understand why her mother locks Helen and her brother in the closet of their 1975 California home or why her father, recently returned from Vietnam, seems so distant. On the other side of the ocean, Helen's great-uncle Hideo still struggles with the loss of his sister who became a comfort woman to American soldiers after the bombing of Hiroshima destroyed the family silk farm and left the Takagawa family broken and scattered.
When Helen travels to Japan to meet Hideo they start to unravel the circumstances of her mother's adoption from Japan and the role that both World War II and the Vietnam War play in her family's legacy. Helen's journey and her boundless hope begin to bridge the fissures keeping her family apart as she sifts through the complex emotional sediment left to the children and grandchildren of war.
taken from: http://www.coffeehousepress.org/

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Great Cover, Great Title

Your Body Is Changing
Synopsis:
Glittering with mischief and perversity, Pushcart Prize?winner Jack Pendarvis's latest collection introduces readers to a world of losers poised on the brink of all sorts of disaster?a world only a wink and a nod away from our own. In the title novella a fundamentalist teenager must single-handedly confront the horrors of a spiritual quest filled with secular humanists, an apocalyptic folk artist, and a couple of movie stars. The other stories deal poignantly with ? among other things ? a young millionaire pretending to be a detective, Alabamians getting violent in a New York bar, the good folks who invented the diarrhea-inducing chewing gum, a man who becomes an impromptu drug mule, magnetic healers, and a candidate's unfortunate stump speech. Underlying each comedic gem and neurotic twist is an intelligence and empathy rarely found in modern satire. Like the best guidebooks, Your Body Is Changing will invite you in with its zany humor and indict you with its moving truths.
taken from: powells.com

First Novel

Steven Hall


- Here's the blurb from the back of The Raw Shark Texts:
First things first, stay calm.
If you are reading this, I’m not around anymore. Take the phone and speed dial 1. Tell the woman who answers that you are Eric Sanderson. The woman is Dr Randle. She’ll understand what has happened and you will be able to see her straight away. Take the car keys and drive the yellow Jeep to Dr. Randle’s house. If you haven’t found it yet, there’s a map in the envelope – it isn’t too far and it’s not hard to find.Dr Randle will be able to answer all your questions. It’s very important that you go straight away. Do not pass go. Do not explore. Do not collect two hundred pounds. The house keys are hanging from a nail on the banister at the bottom of the stairs, don’t forget them.
With regret and also hope, The First Eric Sanderson
taken from: http://www.myspace.com/stevenhallbooks
Eric Clapton and the British Blues Boom:
1965-1970 by Christopher Hjort


With a wealth of illustrations and never-before-published details, the book reveals the way the musicians behind the blues boom worked together, influenced each other, and pushed one another to ever greater achievements. take from: amazon.com

Books That Rock!

by Paul Trynka

Trynka covers all phases of the "driven, talented, indomitable creature" born James Newell Osterberg Jr. in 1947, with special attention paid to how his band the Stooges roared out of Detroit in the late 1960s, then crashed in a "slow, painful" drug-addled disintegration in the early '70s. taken from:amazon.com

Monday, July 9, 2007

Daniel Wallace

by Daniel Wallace



You have to check out the authors website below, very odd and fresh.



From the author of Big Fish comes this haunting, tender story that weaves a tragic secret, a mysterious meeting with the Devil, and a family of charming circus freaks recounting the extraordinary adventures of their friend Henry Walker, the Negro Magician. taken from: http://www.danielwallace.org/

Relative Stranger

Piecing Together a Life Plagued by Madness
by Mary Loudon


After learning that her older sister Catherine, who had vanished long ago, had been “inhabiting the identity” of a man called “Stevie,” Mary Loudon plunges into a kind of post-mortem investigation to understand who her sister was. Interviewing doctors, nurses, social services representatives, nuns, cafe owners, grocers and ministers, Loudon paints an explicit, clear account of how schizophrenia affected a promising young life while exploring the assumptions people make about mental illness. taken from: amazon.com

Joyce Carol Oates


This prolific writer is celebrating her newest novel The Gravedigger's Daughter. Can you believe she has graced the cover of 117 volumes of poetry, fiction, and criticism?
Check out this extensive site highlighting the author.
Celestial Timepiece http://jco.usfca.edu is intended to be a resource for fans, students, and scholars of Joyce Carol Oates's work.

Week Twenty Seven, Book Thirty Nine

Don DeLillo
Excerpt Chapter One
It was not a street anymore but a world, a time and space of falling ash and near night. He was walking north through rubble and mud and there were people running past holding towels to their faces or jackets over their heads.
Review:
A few weeks ago I was hanging out with my best friend at the South Street Seaport and we decided to walk around a bit. I have no idea why, but I suggested we go to Ground Zero. Neither of us have been there in awhile and it was a clear, beautiful sunny day. My friend use to work in the city and has been to the site since 911, but I had not and really didn't desire to. It seemed like enough time had passed and I thought why not? So, we get over near the Century 21 building side and wow! Tons of people are trying to peer in through a tarp that covers the whole site. There is actually a lot of construction currently going on for what I suspect the goal of rebuilding the area. We spoke to a few tourists and residents, which was odd, I didn't think many people uttered a thought about the event. So, whenever I see books about 911, I never have a desire to read them and usually just pass onto something less depressing. Since, I have been on a Kabul book streak, the novels mention the event and I felt it was time to visit some 911 literature. Do not get me wrong, I read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and enjoyed the back drop, but that really has been it for fiction. Although, Falling Man is a work of fiction, DeLillo deals with the a few characters emotions during and after the event. I loved this book! I respect DeLillo as a writer and I think that he took a risk in fictionalizing this tragedy so close to the actual date. It is less than 10 years and people are still daily coping with the results. I think that stories like this can help not harm.
This Is Your Brain on Music:
The Science of a Human Obsession
by Daniel J. Levitin


Whether you load your iPod with Bach or Bono, music has a significant role in your life — even if you never realized it. Why does music evoke such powerful moods?


About the Author
Daniel J. Levitin runs the Levitin Laboratory for Musical Perception, Cognition, and Expertise at McGill University, where he holds the Bell Chair in the Psychology of Electronic Communications. Before becoming a neuroscientist, he was a record producer with gold records to his credit and professional musician. He has published extensively in scientific journals and music trade magazines such as Grammy and Billboard. taken from: powells.com
The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America
Chris Epting
Synopsis:
Journey through America's rich rock 'n' roll history with the musical landmarks detailed in this extensive collection. Nearly 600 locations, including birthplaces, concert locales, hotel rooms, and graves, are neatly compiled and paired with historical tidbits, trivia, photographs, and backstage lore. taken from: powells.com
Kyle Anderson

Publisher Comment:
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Hole and Alice in Chains are the names that come to mind when we talk about grunge. But never before has there been a complete history of grunge with razor-sharp critical analysis—until now.

About the Author
KYLE ANDERSON is an Assistant Editor at Spin magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

It's been a long time since I rock and rolled...

For Jason: Here are a few music oriented books to check out. Rock n Read!

An Unauthorized Biography
George Case
Synopsis:
Jimmy Page - Magus, Musician, Man is a meticulously researched life story of Led Zeppelin's legendary guitarist and producer. From his childhood in war-torn Britain and his pivotal role in the recording studios that launched the British Invasion of the '60s to his milestone achievements, his dark, nefarious excesses with Led Zeppelin, and his emergence as a revered cultural icon and honored philanthropist, this biography - the first ever written about Jimmy Page - portrays all his spiritual, artistic, and personal dimensions. Swinging London, the Sunset Strip, Bron-yr-Aur, Kashmir, and Clarksdale: Magus, Musician, Man traverses through all of Page's hallowed stomping grounds and tells, at last, the complete story of one of rock 'n' roll's most enigmatic and influential talents.
taken from: powells.com


The Apocalypse Reader

by Justin Taylor

Thirty-four new and selected Doomsday scenarios: an enthralling collection of work by canonical literary figures, contemporary masters, and a few rising stars, all of whom have looked into the future and found it missing.


About the Author
Justin Taylor is the Books Editor for Econoculture.com
His writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications, including American Book Review, Rain Taxi, Punk Planet, The Brooklyn Rail, and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He earned his MFA in fiction from The New School and lives in Brooklyn.
Visit him online at http://www.justindtaylor.net/




Bangkok Haunts

by John Burdett
"Few crimes make us fear for the evolution of our species. I am watching one right now."

John Burdett’s third mystery novel set in Krung Thep (Bangkok) again features the half-Thai, half-American Buddhist detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who unravels a murder and struggles to stay true to himself. Burdett spins his tale against a grimly fascinating backdrop of sex, drugs, violence and powerful rich men in Thailand’s capital city.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Week Twenty Six, Book Thirty Eight

by Haruki Murakami
Review:
This story takes place in Tokyo over seven hours late in the evening. Here are three loosely related stories, linked by Murakami's surrealist style and realistic coincidences. The underlying themes of loneliness and alienation are carefully crafted through only a few sad characters. I originally thought that I would read Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, but then when I kept coming across reviews of After Dark and saw it in the library, I knew I had to read this one first. I own Kafka, so I plan on tackling that one soon. Murakami's writing is whimsical, magical and mysterious, which made you not want to put this book down. If you haven't read anything by this author, I suggest you give him a try. You will not be disappointed!

about the author:
www.randomhouse.com/features/murakami/site.php?id=

other titles:
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Norwegian Wood
The Elephant Vanishes: Stories
Dance, Dance, Dance