Book Break

Netflix ... for books

2009-11-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

We've got a hot new tip today from fellow Captivate editor Jacqui Pini. (Check out her blog Indulge when you're done here!)

by Jacqui Pini

If books are getting a little too pricey and the library doesn’t have what you want, try a book rental service. Bookswim.com, which calls itself ‘the Netflix for books,’ is offering a service where you can pay a flat fee per month to receive books with no late fees. You tailor the plan to your reading style.

In addition, BookSwim is offering a free $10 gift certificate for everyone on your holiday gift list!

Just visit http://www.bookswim.com/gift to start sending out the free gift certificates.

Don't look for "Lost Symbol"

2009-10-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Today we're joined by guest blogger (and fellow Captivate editor) Amber Plante, who recently delved into Dan Brown's long-awaited Lost Symbol.

by Amber Plante
When you have a tried-and-true format that sells, why in the name of Da Vinci’s Last Supper would you mess with it? This was the question plaguing me the entire 528 pages of Dan Brown’s newest attempt at a controversial mystery-adventure, The Lost Symbol.

Everyone’s favorite tweed-and-turtleneck-wearing Peter Langdon is back for his third – and hopefully final – book in Brown’s series. This time around, we trade in conspiracy theories surrounding the Catholic Church for the rituals of Freemasonry, and, unfortunately, we also trade suspense for annoyance.

Langdon, who at this point should be old-hat at solving centuries-old mysteries that have baffled scholars and fanatics for years in a matter of a few hours, still feigns ignorance at delving into another legend. Every possible clue is met with skepticism, and every eventual revelation is met with awed wonder and shock. Really? You’re in a cellar storage facility in the Capital Building, and you’re surprised to find a secret back room with an ancient pyramid? Really?

Or, perhaps it’s the reader’s inability to suspend our disbelief, especially given his background adventures, over Langdon’s lack of faith in anything fantastical– which, let’s be honest, is the most fantastical thing about The Lost Symbol.

Let’s examine Dan Brown’s previous formula, used in both Angels and Demons and the much-heralded Da Vinci Code:
1.) Old man dies at the beginning, and the experts call in the symbolgist.
2.) Beautiful female shows up, and together she and Langdon solve the first mystery.
3.) With seconds to spare, the pair dash around looking for and solving clues.
4.) Meet Trusted man, who explains the legend and tries to help.
5.) Final chase for the secret before bad guy shows up, threatening death.
6.) Trusted guy turns out to be ultimate bad guy.
7.) Sterile kiss scene before Langdon solves the final and greatest mystery.

Seven steps to a great mystery. However, in Symbol, Brown strays from this path in a way that at once is boring, ambivalent and, worst of all, forced. Yes, that is a slight on Brown’s ability to craft a good story, which, before Symbol, I never questioned.

Not that changing it up is bad – look at Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn which veered so far off the path it might as well have been on a different planet. The character-driven mechanics of the plot must be believable and stick within the realm of actual plausibility: Would the character really act that way? Is baffled, unrelenting skepticism really Langdon’s reaction to everything? Evolution is key, and other than a forced, brittle attempt to break the mold, Lost Symbol just can’t move past itself.

However, Brown’s strength has always been in the symbology discussions within the Langdon stories and the research that goes into each book. As readers, we delight in having the wool pulled from our eyes about the meanings of familiar phrases, messages in iconic works of art and fantastic places swathed in mystery yet hidden in plain sight. There were some gems hidden in the hay, but unfortunately, they were few and far between. The connections felt flimsy, and the reasoning behind the revelations felt flimsier despite the fascination. And, when I can guess who the killer really is within the first 50 pages, eek.

Sorry, Dan – I really wanted to like it. I devoured the Da Vinci Code, sucked down Angel, but Lost Symbol left a bad taste in my mouth. Or worse, it really left no taste at all.

Next time, stick to the formula that made you a household name and give the readers what they’ve come to expect: suspense, intrigue and a shot of something fantastic. Otherwise, Langdon becomes just another textbook hero waiting to be forgotten.

When I Married My Mother

2009-09-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

My grandmother wanted to die in her own home. And at the age of 98 she did just that. So reading Jo Maeder’s When I Married My Mother brought me back to a time of Ensure shakes and hospice help – and it made me miss my nana.

When I Married My Mother is the story of a middle-aged woman who abandons her life in New York to buy a home in the Bible belt and care for her estranged, elderly mother, Mama Jo. Maeder is frank when relaying her broken relationship with her mother, (“I strongly suspect if you’re not right with your mama, you’re not going to be right with anyone.”) and is just as honest in sharing how much she enjoyed caring for her mother.

“I was living with my very own little Buddha. She would claim her only resemblance to him was her belly. What I saw was a joyful person who greeted everyone with an all-knowing grin, made pithy remarks, and was happily served by others.”

Maeder savors every moment of the three years she spent with her mother, from watching old Any Griffith episodes to dancing with drag queens.

“Occasionally, someone would make a comment to me about how I was earning a halo or angel wings by taking care of my mother, as though it were an unpleasant obligation. It felt strange to hear that. I didn’t deserve any special recognition. I enjoyed doing this. It was an honor.”

Maeder pulls you through the heart wrenching act of caring for a loved one who is slipping through your fingers before you’re ready to let go.

“It ripped a hole clear through my heart … It was like watching a photograph slowly fade. She was paler, more hunched over, more easily winded when she walked, eating less, sleeping more.”

This is a beautiful, sweet memoir. Anyone who has cared for a loved one, or is considering taking on such a duty, should pick up this book. You won’t regret it. It might even make you call up your mother. Just because.

Oprah's next pick

2009-09-17T10:45:00.001-07:00

Someone let the book out of the bag.

According to Washington Post, book distributer Ingram International leaked Oprah’s next book of the month a day early. Ingram claims Uwem Akpan's 2008 short story collection, Say You're One of Them , will be the next pick for Oprah's Book Club.

Oprah is slated to announce the pick Friday. She hasn't announced a book club selection since David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle last September.

Are you planning on picking up Say You’re One of Them? Have you read any other Book Club picks? Were you pleased/disappointed with them?

fall book list

2009-09-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here’s a rundown of the bigwigs coming out with books this fall:

The Last Song (Tuesday)
by Nicholas Sparks

A film based on Sparks’ latest novel is due out next January, starring Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, and Kelly Preston. Sparks actually wrote the screenplay before he wrote the book.

True Compass (Sept. 14)
by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy A firsthand look at one of America's most famous political dynasties.

The Lost Symbol (Sept. 15)
by Dan Brown
Growing Up Bin Laden (Oct. 27)
by Najwa Bin Laden and Omar Bin Laden with Jean Sasson Osama's wife and son share their view of a husband and father feared by many.

You Better Not Cry (Oct. 27)
by Augusten Burroughs

Last Night in Twisted River (Oct. 27)
by John Irving

Ford County (Nov. 3)
by John Grisham

Under the Dome (Nov. 10)
by Stephen King

I, Alex Cross (Nov. 16)
by James Patterson

Pirate Latitudes (Nov. 24)
by the late Michael Crichton

What's on your fall book list?

Blago's book is out

2009-09-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared on the “Today Show” this morning to promote his new book, which hits the shelves today.

The book, The Governor, reveals the former governor’s side of proceedings that led to charges he tried to sell Pres. Obama’s vacant US Senate seat.

'I was arrested in the early morning hours on Tuesday, December 9, 2008. I didn’t anticipate it or expect it. I had no idea it was coming. It came out of nowhere — a nightmare that was hard enough to live through as it happened and, quite frankly, is hard to relive now.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Blagojevich also uses the book to attack White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, claiming he tried to get a placeholder in his House seat when he took the White House job in case he wanted to go back some day.

If you haven't had your fill of Blagojevich yet, he's scheduled to appear on "The View," tomorrow, "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Thursday and "The Daily Show" on Sept. 24. He also has a date with court next June.

And even though he was stripped of his governor status, Blagojevich has set up his own website called GovernorRod.com.

Are you sick of hearing from Blago? Any plans on reading his tell-all?

Hurry Down Sunshine

2009-09-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hurry Down Sunshine is a moving story of a father trying to face his daughter’s abrupt mental breakdown.

Author Michael Greenberg does not tip-toe around the subject as you can tell when you open to page one: “On July 5, 1996, my daughter was struck mad.” Her transportation from a vital young woman to a possessed, feverish psych patient is sudden and drastic.

But Greenberg does not hide behind the cloak of fiction either – he tells his family’s story with the view of an insider but the voice of a cold, hard lens. You won’t find any sugar coating here. Not even when the stress builds up and explodes out of his hand onto his wife’s face. “I slap her face, a hard nasty snap … My head is roaring. The tensions of the summer seem to mass in me, and it is as if I am walking beside myself, hollow and enraged.”

From her acute psychotic attack on a playground, to her medicated stint in a psych ward, 15-year-old Sally has to learn to question everything she thinks is real. “I don’t trust my mind anymore. I don’t know when I’m being psychotic.”

At one point, Greenberg even swallows a full dose of his daughter’s medication in an attempt to feel what she feels. “The air feels watery and thick, until finally I am neck-deep in a swamp through which it is possible to move only with the greatest of effort, and then only a few feet at a time.”

Hurry Down Sunshine is about a father’s helplessness, a mysterious disease and a life that slaps you in the face when you least expect it – “a hard nasty snap.”

This isn’t a story with a happy ending. In fact, there is no ending. It gives an honest look at mental illness and refuses to package it up in a pretty bow. Sally’s struggle to anticipate bouts of psychosis is ongoing. “I’m trying to recognize when it’s coming on so I can get out of the way or at least drop to the ground like you would when caught in the crossfire of a shootout.”

Whether mental illness has touched you in some way or not, Hurry Down Sunshine is a gripping story you won't want to put down.

When Greenberg told his daughter he was writing a book about her, she simply replied, “I want you to use my real name.” Obviously brave honesty runs in the family.

Barack's book list

2009-08-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

President Obama doesn’t really get the whole “vacation” thing. While in Martha’s Vineyard this week he has appointed officials, received daily briefings, held a press conference, played copious amounts of sports, and is working on a reading list that certainly does not resemble proper paperback beach reads. Someone should give him a few good chick-lits.

Want to get a closer look at our commander-in-chief? Check out the list of books he’s planning on breezing through this week, according to USA Today:

The Way Home, by George Pelecanos

A crime thriller involving a father who sent his teenage son to a juvenile prison near DC. Years later the son tries to reform his life, but gets dragged into a world of murder and greed.

Lush Life, by Richard Price

A look at survival in the NYC jungle.

Hot, Flat and Crowded, by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman

Friedman delves into the upcoming Energy-Climate era, explaining how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the internet have combined to bring climate and energy issues to the forefront.

John Adams, by David McCullough

A 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of John Adams, who rose to become the second president.

Plainsong, by Kent Haruf

The lives and struggles within a small Colorado town.

What’s on your summer reading list?

'Lost Symbol' can be found online

2009-08-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Fans of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons will be able to get Dan Brown’s latest page turner without any actual pages. An electronic version of The Lost Symbol will be released September 15, the same day as the hardcover version, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group announced, according to the NY Times. But don’t worry if you prefer that new-book scent; the publisher is also planning a first printing of five million copies.
The novel features Da Vinci’s protagonist Robert Langdon in DC this time, and takes place in a 12-hour period, according to Brown's editor.

Over the summer, Doubleday has conducted a campaign of codes, trivia, puzzles and problems on Twitter and Facebook. It’s also offering a chance to win a free book.

Which will you go for? Old-school or E-book?

previous post

no lame duck here … only stuffed ones

2009-08-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

When I moved into my condo last year, my mother bought me a bottle of pink champagne and a Joy of Cooking cookbook*. (And told me only to mix the two with caution.)

Growing up, Julia Child was a fixture in our kitchen, with her batter-spattered pages and a binding so worn it mimicked an accordion. She brought French cuisine to America, but – more importantly – crepes and cakes to me.

And now she’s enjoying a revival in sales with the release of the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Her first book Mastering the Art of French Cooking shot to No. 1 on Amazon.com’s most-popular list this past weekend, and bookstores nationwide are seeing a surge in sales of Mastering, Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom and My Life in France, Child’s memoir which played a part in the movie.

Mastering publisher Knopf has already ordered 75,000 more copies of the book, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

While Child died nearly five years ago, it’s nice to know her legacy is still piping hot.

*Julia Child's first cookbook was reportedly the 1943 edition of The Joy of Cooking.

Romney isn't apologizing

2009-08-07T03:20:00.000-07:00

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, considered a frontrunner for the next presidential race in 2012, is coming out with a new book next March, the NY Times reported. No Apology: The Case for American Greatness is already written and includes his take on the economy, health care, energy and education.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by Romney’s publisher, St. Martin’s Press.

Romney seems to be following in the footsteps of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, another likely competitor for the Republican presidential nomination who signed a book deal in March.

Sounds like books are the new campaign ad.

Previous post: Saved by the Bell tell-all

Saved by the Bell tell-all

2009-08-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

While ‘Screech’ – Dustin Diamond – was banned from the recent “Saved by the Bell” reunion in People Magazine, fans will still get a chance to see him in print when his tell-all memoir, “Behind the Bell” is released on September 29, the NY Observer reported.

Originally, his book was set to be published by Gotham Books, but the publisher dropped it several months ago after receiving the manuscript. Makes you wonder what’s in it! According to one source, the manuscript was deemed unpublishable by Gotham, partly because it contained many unverifiable claims about Saved by the Bell cast members. But Gotham publisher Bill Shinker refused to comment. "It just didn't fit our publishing program," he said.

Now Transit Publishing plans on publishing the book, which is expected to include "sexual escapades among cast members, drug use, and hardcore partying."

Previous Post: Armstrong strong against all odds

Armstrong strong against all odds

2009-07-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

You wouldn’t think a 7-time Tour de France winner would have been raised by a high school dropout, lost police in a high-speed chase or that he would have waited until the end of high school to pick up racing.

But Lance Armstrong didn’t even know professional cycling existed when he grew up in Plano, Texas, according to John Wilcockson, author of Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion.

And his mother, Linda, was pregnant with Lance when she was only 16 years old. She dropped out of high school, got married and worked at a grocery store while her husband delivered papers. Their marriage didn’t last two years and soon Linda was a single mother, raising a future champion.
Lance first dabbled in football and baseball – your typical all-American sports. Soon he got involved in BMX racing, running and swimming. And so the tri-athlete was born.

When he finally made the switch to cycling, he quickly became known as the cocky American. But some might say that bravado is a necessary evil when competing on such a high level, taking on national and world champions.

What kept me reading Lance was the way author John Wilcockson’s gripping biography didn’t deify Lance. He showed the vulnerable side of the athlete and shared his troubled upbringing in suburban Texas.

Critics say Wilcockson should have looked more thoroughly at the doping accusations that marred Lance’s past, but seeing as Lance never failed a drug test, I’m fine with the way Wilcockson handled the claims.

Wilcockson also delves into the severity of Lance’s cancer diagnosis, revealing he only had a 20% chance of surviving the advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his brain.

I enjoyed reading about Lance from the perspective of those who knew him best – his mother, ex-wife, friends, mentors, trainers and doctors.

“I interviewed more than 50 people and one of the most surprising interviews was interviewing Lance's adoptive father, Terry Armstrong, the guy who gave him his name, who's barely mentioned in Lance's autobiography or Lance's mother's autobiography. Although Terry split with Lance's mother when Lance was 16, I believe that the 14 years he was Lance's dad was a very interesting period. That's when the making of Lance as a champion happened. It was fascinating,” Wilcockson told USA Today. “There were a few people who wouldn't talk for some reason or another and one was Sheryl Crow," Wilcockson said. "Even though Lance talked about her extensively and I talked to other people about that relationship, I was disappointed that Sheryl didn't want to talk.”

Armstrong, who ditched retirement at the age of 37 and came in 3rd in the Tour de France this past weekend plans to form his own team for the Tour next year. So you've got plenty of time to pick up Lance before then. And you will finish the book feeling humbled and inspired.

Previous Post: make your vocabulary sizzle

make your vocabulary sizzle

2009-07-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

If you’re an autodidact looking for a way to improve your vocabulary (or if you didn’t know what the word “autodidact” meant) you should get a copy of Captivate Network’s The Word Lover’s Delight. Yes. I work for Captivate Network. No. This is not shameless self-promotion. Wait. Maybe it is. Just a little. But I would promote this book anyway. It’s chock-full of quirky words and real-life sentences you can use like these:

“Lucy appreciated Tom’s foursquare breakup style, but she still popped all his tires and smashed his windshield.”

“Vicky vituperated her husband when he came home late from work with lipstick on his cheek.”

“The vociferous kids were fueled by Twinkies and Ding Dongs.”

“No one dared make a joke around the umbrageous receptionist.”

Are you worried you might have an umbrageous receptionist or want to vituperate someone but don’t know what it means? Check out The Word Lover’s Delight. This is not just puffery. Reading this book will make you perspicacious.

Previous post:books in film

books in film

2009-07-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Besides Harry Potter and Twilight, several other movie adaptations of books are on their way next month.

Julie & Julia opens August 7 and features Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell. The film is based on Powell’s book Julie & Julia and Child’s book My Life in France. It covers their life struggles and kitchen successes.

Powell has another novel coming out in December, Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession is about her experiences as an apprentice butcher.

Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife is in theaters Aug. 14 and stars Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana.
She also has new novel coming out at the end of September, Her Fearful Symmetry.

What’s your all-time favorite movie adaptation?

Previous Post: best books of the year … so far

Amazon.com Widgets

best books of the year … so far

2009-07-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

Amazon has come up with a Best Books of the Year…So Far list. I know. The year's not over yet. But summer's here, and you're probably looking for a good beach read.

So here a few that made the list:

The Book of Dead Philosophers, by Simon Critchley Critchley examines the deaths of nearly 200 philosophers and explores how one might be inspired to live a richer life.

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, by Amy Stewart Stewart's guide to the misdeeds of Mother Nature’s roguish members includes those that kill, irritate, paralyze and intoxicate. Sounds like a great crime novel.

Nine Lives by Dan Baum From the '60s through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Baum follows 9 lives that could only be lived in New Orleans.

Crazy for the Storm, by Norman Ollestad

As an 11-year-old boy, Ollestad was the only survivor of a small-plane crash and he lived using skills he learned from his father, who was killed in the crash.

Sag Harbor, by Colson Whitehead
This pop culture piece follows a 15-year-old Converse-wearing, Smiths-loving, Dungeons & Dragons-playing nerd in 1985 as he leaves the city to spend 3 months with his younger brother in an enclave of Long Island's Sag Harbor.

Do you have any books that belong on this list? Send them over my way!

For the rest of the list, check out www.amazon.com/books.

Sanford book up in the air

2009-07-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Before South Caroline Gov. Mark Sanford was caught shacking up with his Argentine mistress, he wrote a book about fiscal conservatism, set to come out next March. But whether or not it will actually come to fruition is in question.
The problem is Within Our Means is already in the publisher’s Spring 2010 catalogue, which has gone to the printer. So if Sentinel, the conservative imprint of Penguin Group that’s publishing the book, backs out now they might look a little silly.

Sentinel told CNN it will "most likely" make an announcement about the book later this week. Stay tuned. Maybe Stanford will add a bit about his affair in the book.

Previous Post: Cheney cashes in

Cheney cashes in

2009-06-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

After 8 years spent in office avoiding the media, former vice president Dick Cheney has opted to put his life in print in a deal reportedly worth more than $2 million.
Simon & Schuster is set to publish Cheney’s memoir in the spring of 2011, just months after former President George W. Bush’s book is due out.

And since Cheney’s 40-year govt career goes as far back as the Nixon and Ford administrations, chances are this is going to be quite the page-turner – or at least there will be a lot of pages to turn!

Other Bush officials also writing books including Laura Bush, Karl Rove, Condoleeza Rice, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Previous Post: MLK books to be republished

MLK books to be republished

2009-06-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Beacon Press plans to publish four books that have been long out of print by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

New editions of Stride Toward Freedom, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, Trumpet of Conscience and Strength to Love will be released next year.

Stride Toward Freedom is King's account of the Montgomery bus strike. The Trumpet of Conscience is a collection of speeches Dr. King made during November and December 1967, published in after his death in 1968. It also includes a foreword by his widow. Strength to Love is a collection of some of his classic sermons.

Beacon also plans to compile King's writings, sermons, lectures and prayers into new editions.

Previous Post: Barack's brother has a book

Barack's brother has a book

2009-06-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

I’m not calling him the black sheep, but George Obama isn’t exactly the Harvard-educated family man who’s running our country right now. And Barack Obama’s half-brother certainly will have a different story to tell when his book comes out next January.

George, 27, the youngest of seven children, has only met Barack twice in his life. He lives in Kenya and was in the news most recently for being arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession.

George’s memoir, tentatively called Homeland, will detail his fall into crime and poverty as a teen and his rise up in community organizing and advocacy for the poor.

"Even had George Obama not been our President's half brother, his story is moving and inspirational," Simon & Schuster publisher and VP David Rosenthal said. "It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage."

According to one source, George’s story was worth six figures to Simon & Schuster – a lot of money for a man who reportedly lives in a shack and earns a dollar a day.

Previous Post: scan Scribd for popular reads

scan Scribd for popular reads

2009-06-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

If you’re not so keen on the Kindle, Simon & Schuster will soon have 5,000 digital books for sale on Scribd.com, including selections from Stephen King, Dan Brown and Mary Higgins Clark. Readers will also be able to peak at the pages of thousands of books before they buy the print versions.

The books will be sold for 20% off the list price, and you’ll be able to transfer them to devices like the Sony Reader and some mobile phones, but not to Amazon’s Kindle.

While Amazon sets the price for its e-books and only gives publishers up to 50% of revenue, Scribd gives publishers much more control over the sale of their books. Publishers will be able to see what’s selling and change prices accordingly. And Scribd gives publishers 80% of revenue.

The site is working on building its library, according to Trip Adler, Scribd’s chief executive. “This is the first public endorsement by a major force in publishing that the social web will play a major role in the future of book sales,” Adler said.

And for all you iPhone fanatics out there, Scribd’s working on a reading application for the iPhone, which should be done in a few weeks.

Side note: Scribd isn’t just for leisure reading, it’s also a great site for nosey Nancies! I just found a copy of the State Department’s espionage case against former State Department official Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber. Take a peak!

Previous Post: the real slumdog story

the real slumdog story

2009-06-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

9-year-old Slumdog star Rubina Ali plans to write a memoir about her life (all 9 years of it!) growing up in India. Ali played an orphan in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, and last month Mumbai authorities demolished her shantytown home in an effort to get rid of illegal slums.

The filmmakers of Slumdog responded by setting up a trust for several of the films’ child stars, including Ali, to provide them with a decent education and a place to live.

Slumgirl Dreaming: My Journey to the Stars will be published by Transworld Publishers in Britain in next month. All royalties will go to Ali and Medecins du Monde, a French medical aid organization, according to the publisher.

Previous Post: Obama's bookshelf

Obama's bookshelf

2009-05-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

President Obama has been staying up late with Joseph O’Neill’s novel Netherland, he told the NY Times Magazine.

The story follows a Dutch financial analyst living in NY who rediscovers his love of cricket after separating from his wife. "It's fascinating,” Obama told Newsweek. “It's a wonderful book, although I know nothing about cricket."

When does the president find time to read? “I usually have about a half hour to read before I go to bed … about midnight, 12:30 a.m. – sometimes a little later,” he said.

Netherland, which has been compared to the Great Gatsby, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

So if you want to feel more presidential, or you're just a night owl like Obama, pick up a copy of Netherland and learn a thing or two about cricket.

In related news, the Obamas plan to host the ninth National Book Festival Sept. 26 on the National Mall. The daylong event was started in 2001 by former first lady Laura Bush, a retired teacher and school librarian. It’s free and open to the public and will feature about 70 award-winning authors, poets and illustrators.

Previous Post: The Road Home

The Road Home

2009-05-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Rose Tremain’s lackadaisical writing style is perfect for laid-back leisure reading. At first I had a hard time getting into her detailed voice, but a 5-hour flight across country last week gave me all the time I needed to devour all 411 pages.

The Road Home is a winding story about a middle-aged Russian who loses his job and his wife and must leave his daughter to travel to England in search of work. Mixed up in a society he doesn’t understand, Lev struggles to find his place in his new country, overcoming homelessness, loneliness, heart break and naïveté without becoming cynical.

Tremain gives insight in immigration and puts a face on a foreigner while treating readers to simple, vivid descriptions.

“The cola seemed to pinch at his teeth.”

“with moles like splashes of mud on her face”

“daylight pale as milk”

“It was a street of choky little houses.”

While some overly descriptive books come across contrived, Tremain succeeds in opening up a world foreign to most readers. Bring this book on a long car drive or vacation. You’ll feel just a little empty when you come to page 411, and you’ll have a new appreciation of immigrants.

Previous Post: fierce fashion guru’s guide

fierce fashion guru’s guide

2009-05-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Brimming with sass and style, Project Runway winner Christian Siriano is sharing some of his secrets in the new book Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self, written with People magazine's Rennie Dyball.

It's "design heavy," Siriano told USA Today. It also has tips from the people Siriano has dressed: Whoopi Goldberg, Vanessa Williams and "normal, everyday people like my sister and mother."

Siriano splashed onto the scene with asymmetrical bangs last year as the youngest winner of Project Runway at 23 years old. Since then, he showed two collections in NYC and has designed for the likes of Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Anne Hathaway, Lady Gaga, Tori Spelling and Vanessa Williams.

“The book actually did come very quickly after the win of Project Runway,” Siriano told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “ The book is very funny and kind of kitschy. It is supposed to be entertaining and not so serious, serious fashion; kind of having style and coming into your own. It is very picture heavy and very visual.”

Fierce Style will be out in October. And if “hot mess,” “ferosh” and “trannie” aren’t a part of your daily vocab, don't worry – there’s also a glossary in there.

Previous Post: bringing a legend back to life

bringing a legend back to life

2009-05-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Every time I have salad, salsa or cereal, I think of Paul Newman. The actor-turned-entrepreneur died last fall, and though I missed most of his acting career, I know him well for founding a company that donated all its profits and royalties to charity.

Shawn Levy, an Oregon reporter, has come out with a new book about the American icon’s life – his affinity for Coors beer, his love of racing and the loss of his only son from an accidental overdose.

While Levy tried and failed to get an interview with the very private Paul, he pieces together Newman’s life through others’ stories, old quotes and a vast film career.

Paul Newman: A Life is for anyone looking to see the man behind the salad label.

Previous Post: Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

2009-05-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Even though you’ve known her for a while, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to buy your mother. So we’ve compiled a list of books your mom might like to take a break with.

Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home
by Doree Shafrir, Jessica Grose
Sweet and nagging e-mails from mothers to their adult children.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them

by Amy Dickinson
"Ask Amy," columnist talks about the women in her family who helped raise her daughter after Amy's husband left. “A moving testament to the many women who have led small lives of great consequence in a tiny place.”

If You Give a Mom a Martini

by Lyss Stern, Julie Klappas

100 ways moms can spend their time when they have 10 minutes to themselves.

Life With Mother
by the Editors of LIFE Books
Photos of celebrity and everyday mothers.

Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews The former Mary Poppins shares her journey from a hard life in war-torn Britain to America stardom.

When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror
by Carol Leifer
A former writer for Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show and SNL, Leifer recounts coming out, a breast-cancer scare and adopting a newborn son at age 50.

When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
by Sandra Martz (Editor)
Essays and photos depicting the beauty, humor and courage of women living in their later years.

Previous Post: revealing the Ramones

revealing the Ramones

2009-04-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

What’s a punk rock book release without some drama and confrontation? Vera Davie, wife of the late Dee Dee Ramone, has written Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone, an inside look at the ’70s punk rock band the Ramones. However, the executor of Dee Dee's estate, Ira Herzog, has gone to court to stop publication of the book, claiming Davie broke a deal with him that said he could review and change anything she wrote about the bassist.

Hopefully the book comes out – it sounds pretty candid. Poisoned Heart details Dee Dee’s first heroin overdose, chaotic recording sessions with the notorious Phil Spector, and the reason behind the band’s breakup. It also includes dozens of never-before-seen pictures.

If you’re a fan of the Ramones, you’ll definitely want to get a copy. For now the book is set to be released in June, and Vera, who is writing under the pen name Vera Ramone King, is planning a NY book signing June 8.

Previous Post: symbols and codes

symbols and codes

2009-04-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

Dan Brown’s protagonist Robert Langdon returns this fall in The Lost Symbol, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Knopf Doubleday announced this week.

It took Brown 6 years to write this story, which takes place in a 12 hour period. “Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine,” Brown’s longtime editor, Jason Kaufman said.

If history is any indicator, this should be a good one. The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003, spent 144 weeks on the NY Times bestseller list and has been translated into 51 languages. The film version came out in 2006, starring Tom Hanks as Langdon, and made $758 million. And Brown’s earlier novel, Angels and Demons, is due out in theaters this May.

So, if by some fluke you haven’t read The Da Vinci Code, start now. It’s a big book.

Previous Post: zombies, cherries and fools

zombies, cherries and fools

2009-04-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Since the sun has finally decided to come out of hibernation, and my bike has been itching for attention, I haven’t had much time to read lately. So I’ve decided to compile a list of books I’d like to read, but haven’t. Feel free to weigh in on any of these.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith
A mix of manners and man-eating zombies. Seth Grahame-Smith, who brags that he once took a class in English literature, has decided to rework Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to include the un-dead.

"Subconsciously, Austen was writing a horror novel and didn't know it," Grahame-Smith said. "People taking these strolls, riding their carriages to and fro. . . . There are so many opportunities there – for zombie attacks."

A Wolf at the Table, by Augusten Burroughs
I’ve read mixed reviews on this, but I liked Burroughs’ Running with Scissors, so I’m going to give this memoir of his father a shot.

Bowl of Cherries, by Millard Kaufman
91-year-old Kaufman’s first novel is appropriately a coming-of-age tale about a 14-year-old prodigy who gets kicked out of Yale and ends up in an Iraqi prison awaiting execution. Written by the co-creator of Mr. Magoo, how could this novel not be great?

Fool, by Christopher Moore
A 21st-century take on King Lear, narrated by his jester Pocket.

Voluntary Madness, by Norah Vincent
She must be crazy. Vincent voluntarily commits herself to 3 mental facilities to do research for this book. She’s also the same woman who lived like a man for a year for her last book, Self-Made Man.

What are some books you’re itching to open?

Previous post: “a giddy trip ...

“a giddy trip ...

2009-04-14T08:12:00.001-07:00

... through the brilliant mind of one of Britain's most valuable exports.”

British comedian Russell Brand – famous in the U.S. for his rocker role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall – has come out with a memoir detailing his life of heroin and humor.

I heard an interview with Russell on NPR last week and was surprised by how intellectual he came across. He wasn’t the air-headed Brit I had imagined him to be. He’s obviously been through a lot and has come through scathed, but incredibly reflective and self-actualized.

Here’s a borrowed excerpt from the book (lifted from Brand’s website):

“Cruise of the Gods was filmed on a ship sailing the Aegean Sea for three weeks, visiting Greek islands and the Turkish port of Istanbul. I was in no f***ing state to be going anywhere on my own, but it was a great job and an amazing opportunity.

…

The story concerned a TV science-fiction convention, held on a cruise ship, where obsessive fans of a Star Trek–type show would get to meet the heroes of the program they had watched in its heyday, ten to fifteen years before. The central theme was the interaction between these aged and jaded stars. I can’t remember the exact intricacies of the plot; I didn’t read the script.

But it should not be assumed that I embarked on this cruise ship with a bad attitude: quite the reverse. I put myself through a mild heroin withdrawal before going on board (falling back on whiskey and grass), as I thought it would be stupid to take hard drugs on the boat. I said to Martino, who demonstrated his limitless compassion by remaining my friend after the carnage of RE:Brand, “I don’t want to get in any trouble on this job. I want to be known as the bookish actor who just kept himself to himself.” Martino encouraged this. “That is a good ambition to have, Russell. If you can achieve it, you will have done well.” So off I went with that goal in mind. Within a week, I had been fired and sent home in disgrace.

....

I got back home, and almost as soon as I arrived, Conor called me up from ICM. “Russell,” he asked, in an ominously somber tone, “what did you do on that boat?” “Oh, nothing,” I muttered, “just the usual . . . I can’t really remember.” “Well,” he said, “they’ve sacked you. I’ve never had a client sacked before, and the people down there, the producer and the casting director, say they’ve never in all their careers experienced anything like it: they just think you’re an animal.”
Before I could blurt out, “But I just tried my hardest to fit in – I thought I was this bookish sort of feller,” Conor said, “I’m going to have to talk to you face to face.”

I realized this was bad, so I went out and bought a load of heroin. I knew I’d really ballsed things up. It should have been a f***ing amazing job, that Cruise of the Gods. There we were, stopping off at all these gorgeous islands – going to Athens and Istanbul – and look how I, as usual, converted these beautiful experiences into a grimly picaresque ordeal.

…

I’ve always been drawn to the seamier side of life. Those are the kind of characters I’m attracted to, there’s an energy I get from them that drives a lot of the work I do. At this stage, though, my predilection for de cadence and abuse of drink and drugs was threatening to bring my career to an end before it had even properly started.

...

I finally met Conor in a café in Soho Square. It was raining. He said, “I’m sorry Russell, but I’ve got to let you go.”

I was all too familiar with the feeling that overtook me at this juncture (“I’ve had a lot of sobering thoughts in my life” – as Lennard Pearce said to Del Boy – “it was them that started me drinking”). I’d felt it when I couldn’t go back for a second year at Italia Conti, when I was thrown out of Drama Centre, when I was sacked from MTV and XFM and on numerous other occasions when I’d been sacked from jobs.

Up until those particular instants of helplessness and despair, I felt myself to be an invincible blur, impervious to any kind of judgment – “Your bullets can’t harm me, my wings are like shields of steel!” – but then suddenly, like Icarus, I’d clatter back to earth. The difference was, on this occasion, I had no idea how I was ever going to get back up in the sky again.”

Previous Post: a mother's sojourn

a mother's sojourn

2009-04-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

This week, Book Break has a guest blogger. Fellow Captivate editor Jacqui Pini – blogger of Indulge and Captivate Cooking – reviews Anne Tyler's Ladder of Years. Enjoy!

By guest blogger Jacqui Pini

Delia Grinstead, the main character in Anne Tyler’s Ladder of Years takes the term “alone time” to a new level.

In dealing with the recent loss of her father and the indifferent attitudes her husbands and three children (actually – young adults), has toward her, Delia walks out on them in the middle of a family vacation. She hitches a ride out of town and lands in Bay Borough, a town about 2 hours from her home in Baltimore. There is no premeditation involved in her journey at all. She is found by her family, but chooses to stay where she is with little explanation to anyone, including herself.

Tyler has a way of slowly unfolding the realities of life in a small town and the characters involved. Some are funny, some sad but they all hold an important role in shaping Delia in her new life away from her family. Delia gets a job, rents a room, eats alone, vacations alone and makes a circle of new friends. As she grows in a way that she was never able to before, she is still haunted by the fact her family has really not pursued her.

Eventually she is called back home to Baltimore to attend her daughter’s wedding, which leads the book down a few interesting final turns. Some of the issues she faces include whether or not her family will forgive her and if she’ll decide to come back.

Tyler’s smooth style of writing builds up characters and plots to the point where you are hooked, but never feel saturated in details. This book clearly defines the importance of figuring out your personal strengths before being a rock for everyone else. Ladder of Years is an easy book to pick up and read during your next relaxing vacation. Bonus – it’s in paperback now too!

Previous Post: Fox focuses on optimism

Fox focuses on optimism

2009-04-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

For those Alex P. Keaton fans who can’t get enough, Michael J. Fox has written a second memoir, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. It covers the last 10 years of Fox’s life, when his positive outlook helped him navigate his struggle with Parkinson's disease.
“The last ten years, which is really the stuff of this book, began with such a loss: my retirement from Spin City. I found myself struggling with a strange new dynamic: the shifting of public and private personas. I had been Mike the actor, then Mike the actor with PD. Now was I just Mike with PD? Parkinson's had consumed my career and, in a sense, had become my career. But where did all of this leave Me? I had to build a new life when I was already pretty happy with the old one.”

If you want to catch Fox, check out Rescue Me tonight at 10 pm. He plays a character who is paralyzed from the waist down. He’ll also be on Larry King Live tomorrow night.

If you want to start from the beginning, check out his first book, Lucky Man, which came out in 2002.

Previous Post: sex symbol shares her stretch marks

sex symbol shares her stretch marks

2009-03-31T10:54:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to pre-empt this post with a note (mainly for my mother). I’m not pregnant. Even though I picked Jenny McCarthy’s Belly Laughs to review, I am not – nor do I wish to be in the near future – pregnant. And I don’t think you necessarily need to have the belly bump to enjoy this book.

Just the fact that a former Playmate model gained 60 lbs, had really bad gas and wore granny panties is reason enough to read Belly Laughs.

“To women who escape getting stretch marks, I offer you lukewarm congratulations. No, scratch that. I actually hate you.”

I actually struggled not to chuckle out loud while reading Jenny’s take on water retention and morning sickness:

"Strangers gawked at me as they saw me gagging in Aisle 3 holding up some cheese. It’s hard having these symptoms in public when you don’t look pregnant. If I were nine months along they would look at me like ‘oh look, poor little pregnant lady doesn’t feel so good.’ Instead they are looking at me as if to say, ‘Don’t bulimics puke after they eat?’

Some sample chapter headings are: Holy Sh** I Think I Hard-Boiled My Baby! (Taking Hot Baths), Granny Panties (Letting Go of the G-String), Passing Stonehenge (Constipation), Where the He** Can I Find a Muumuu? (Nothing to Wear) and Is That an Apple on Your Rectum, or Are You Just Happy to See Me? (Hemorrhoids).

Somehow, by totally grossing me out, McCarthy made pregnancy not so scary. Maybe it’s because you know she’s not sugar-coating anything for you.

Chapters dealing with bodily functions were funny, frank and graphic. But as much as Jenny delves into the world of doo-doo, she doesn’t dig as deep as I would have liked. (Some chapters are only 2 pages long.)

It takes a woman with a strong sense of self to divulge the kind of information Jenny so freely wields in this book (Okay. I’m going to say it. She poops on the delivery table.) And I expect, expecting moms everywhere will welcome the info and the light-hearted humor.

Previous Post: spring festivals

spring festivals

2009-03-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

If you’re itching to get your spring book fix, here’s a list of book festivals going on next month.

April 1-3
Fay B. Kaigler Int'l Book Festival
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

This year’s speaker lineup includes Judy Blume, Ashley Bryan, Eloise Greenfield, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, John Green, Yuyi Morales, Arthur Yorinks, Pat Scales and Louise Borden. Workshops will cover banned books, illustrations, the ’09 Newbery Challenge and early childhood literacy.

April 14-19
Fox Cities Book Festival
Appleton, Wisconsin

Featured authors include Sherman Alexie, Simon Armitage, Elizabeth Berg, Samantha Chang, David Giffels, Michael Perry and William Sleator. Activities include poetry and novel readings, breakfast with the author, genre presentations, panel discussions on how to get published as well as musical performances.

April 15-19
Border Book Festival
New Mexico

This year, the festival will host singer/songwriter Perla Batalla and her musical group and writer Luis Rodríguez, author of the autobiography Always Running. Other events include readings, panels, workshops and performances.

In an effort to celebrate it’s 15th anniversary, organizers are asking the public to submit reflections, stories, or artwork celebrating the number 15, i.e. 15 favorite books, 15 favorite meals, 15 sacred memories, 15 reasons to love the desert, 15 lessons you’ve learned in your life, 15 favorite sayings or when I was 15. . .

April 18
Annapolis Book Festival
Annapolis, Maryland

Kathy Lee Gifford, NewsHour's Jim Lehrer, and Newsweek managing editor Evan Thomas are just a few of the featured authors. Panel discussions will touch on such topics as wine, immigration policy, music, parenting and the future of politics.

April 18
Southern Kentucky Book Fest
Bowling Green, Kentucky

The 11th annual festival is held during National Library Week and will include book signings, panel discussions, workshops and children’s events. More than 130 authors will participate in the festival, including Chuck Barris, Jill Conner Browne, Michael Buckley, Canedy, Elizabeth Emerson Hancock, Ellen Hopkins, Silas House and Janis Ian.

April 22
Green Book Festival
Los Angeles, California

This festival honors books that contribute to understanding and action on the changing worldwide environment on Earth Day.

April 25-26
LA Times Festival of Books

The 14th annual festival, held on the UCLA campus, will host nearly 450 authors and is expected to attract 140,000 attendees. The event is free and includes panel discussions with authors, cooking demonstrations, storytelling and poetry readings. This year’s programming guide will be published in the LA Times Sunday, April 19.

Let me know if any of you have any to add!

Previous Post: mental moral war

mental moral war

2009-03-17T09:53:00.001-07:00

I admit I felt weird when I first picked up The Sirens of Baghdad, by Yasmina Khadra. Seeing the world through the eyes of an ordinary boy driven to violence was unsettling, but after following the unnamed Iraqi student through his country’s war, I now somewhat understand the mindset of one willing to sacrifice their life to take the lives of others.

Khadra’s main character is 21-year-old Iraqi who had been studying in Baghdad when war hit the city. Soon his academic aspirations were ruined and he returned home to his quiet town of Kafr Karam.

His village remained far removed from the war until a mentally challenged boy was gunned down by American soldiers who believed him to be a threat. Then a nearby wedding was mistakenly bombed and celebrating families were turned into ash and rubble. “I didn’t remember ever having borne a grudge against anybody, anybody at all, and yet there I was … outraged, sick, tormented,” the young protagonist said after viewing the accidental massacre.

The final straw came when soldiers raided his town at night and inflicted the ultimate disgrace upon his family, turning the former student who “simply hated violence” into a human weapon. “All the stars in the sky lost their gleam. The sun could keep rising, but I’d never be able to distinguish day from night anymore.”

“Such a smooth transition!” he said. “I had gone to bed a docile, courteous boy, and I’d awakened with an inextinguishable rage lodged in my very flesh.”

The author humanizes a country far removed from America, and doesn't shy away from the atrocities of war.

“I was condemned to wash away this insult in blood.”

The characters’ anguish and anger are so real it’s disturbing and Khadra’s narrative is chillingly similar to terrorism today and the very real future of viral war.

The novel ends somewhat abruptly, especially after so much time is spent following the main character from his small life in Kafr Karam to Baghdad and eventually to his secret terrorist mission in Beirut. But the story is worth the journey.

Previous post: no slumdog sequel

no slumdog sequel

2009-03-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

Amid all the hubbub about Slumdog Millionaire, I never knew it was based on the book Q&A, which was published in 2005. Maybe that’s because Q&A’s success in the states wasn’t realized until recently. The publishers of the book have hopped on the film's coattails and changed the novel’s name to Slumdog Millionaire, slapping a shot from the film on the cover. As a result, sales have surged, and the book has risen to No. 8 on the NY Times Best Sellers List.

Author and Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup hasn’t wasted any time, either. He’s written a second book, Six Suspects, which has also been optioned for a film. The book follows the lives of 6 murder suspects: a corrupt bureaucrat, an American, a stone-age tribesman, a Bollywood sex-symbol, a small-time thief and an ambitious politician.

I wonder if this film will end in song an dance, too.

Previous post: 25 most influential books

pages you shouldn't pass up

2009-03-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

Mental-floss magazine has taken on the task of naming the 25 most influential books of the past 25 years. But its criteria are not exactly based solely on plot.

Paula Coelho’s The Alchemist made the list because of the way Coelho marketed his book. He offered it for free online back when Blackberries weren’t even born yet. In 1999, 10 years after he published The Alchemist, Coelho’s publisher dropped him for lack of sales. So the author turned to the web and sales immediately jumped. In the first year 10,000 copies were sold. Less than 10 years later, 10 million books were sold. Maybe musicians should take the hint.

Other titles that made the list include:

Thinking in Pictures – a picture of autism
And the Band Played On – a focus on AIDS
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – a complex translation about Japan
Middlesex – from the author of The Virgin Suicides

Personally, I think The Giving Tree should be up there, but that’s just me. What book do you think belongs on this list?

Previous Post: your valentine guide

your valentine guide

2009-02-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is more than just an excuse to gorge yourself on chocolate and make googly eyes. It's also a perfect time to pick up a paperback – especially since most of you have Monday off. Here are a couple of suggestions for your long weekend:

What Was I Thinking? 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories, edited by Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman

If you’re spending Valentine’s Day alone, pick up a copy of What Was I Thinking – a collection of 58 love stories gone wrong. You’ll feel better about being single.

Why Him? Why Her? Finding Real Love by Understanding Your Personality Type, by Helen Fisher

Fisher decodes desire and helps readers find their life partner while revealing how people unconsciously find their mate.

He’s Just Not That into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys, by Greg Behrendt

With the movie coming out, what better time to pick up a copy of He’s Just Not That into You? Though the title is pretty self-explanatory, you'll basically learn how to tell when you’re in a dead-end relationship.

How to Talk to Girls, by Alec Greven

For guys out there that need some guidance, turn to Alec Greven, the 9-year-old girl guru. Learn everything from how to overcome shyness to how to gain a girl’s affection.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment, by Steve Harvey

Harvey guides women through the male mind. Pick up how to spot a mama’s boy, when to introduce your kids and 5 questions that will determine how serious your man is.

Have any other recommended readings? Let us know!

Previous post: drinking with depp

drinking with depp

2009-02-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

Aaron Eckhart is in negotiations to join the cast of Rum Diary, an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Johnny Depp and Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins have already signed up to do the film.

Depp, who first played Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, stars in this film as an alcoholic journalist in 1950s Puerto Rico. Sound like someone we know? It should. The film is a somewhat fictional account of Thompson's experiences in Puerto Rico, when he was a freelancer there in 1960 and supplemented his income as a male model for Bacardi Rum, according to msnbc.com.

Shooting starts March 30 and the film is expected to come out next year. That should give me enough time to scrounge around and find my own copy of Thompson's book.

Previous post: pilfering president

pilfering president

2009-02-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

According to Boston.com, JFK wasn’t the honorable, trustworthy president that we though he was. He was a thief. Well, maybe he didn’t steal a book from the Library of Congress, but he never returned it. So, basically, president number 35 had sticky fingers.

The library has A. Lincoln by Ross F. Lockridge listed as missing, but the book was found among JFK’s things. Apparently Kennedy or one of his staff members borrowed the book in the 1950s while he was in the Senate. (So we actually elected a thief.)

The JFK Library plans to display the book as part of a weeklong celebration of Presidents' Day.

But don’t worry. The book will be returned to the Library of Congress after the weeklong event. I wonder what the overdue fee will be.

Previous post: Obama book deal

big deal for Obama campaign

2009-02-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

David Plouffe, Pres. Obama’s campaign manager, has signed a book deal with Viking reported to be worth $1.5 M.

"The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory" is due out next fall, according to the Associated Press.

Viking says the book will offer a unique look at campaign decisions, the initial battle with Hillary Clinton, McCain drama and lessons learned.

While Viking declined to discuss financials, 2 anonymous publishing executives said bidding reached $1.5-$2 M.

I wonder if he’ll pay taxes on that.

Previous post: royal suffocation

royal suffocation

2009-02-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

The Commoner, written by a male Harvard graduate from Brooklyn, is a compelling portrait of a young headstrong woman who marries the Crown Prince of Japan.

Characters drive this historical novel, based on the story of Michiko Shoda, the current empress and the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.

John Burnham Schwartz softly treads on Japanese tradition, giving voice to the private lives of the royal family. Though this novel is only loosely depicts the life of the current empress, it’s easy to get lost in the story and the painful isolation of a young commoner suffocated by the royal world.

The heartbreaking story of Haruko begins during the war, when her family was forced to evacuate Tokyo, which never was the same after the war was over.

“One would have noticed nothing amiss except on those days when a breeze rose up from the distant harbor and what we thought was purely soil and gravel and flowers behind our house turned out to hold ask as well. It entered our noses and our hair. Tokyo had burned and for a long time it would stay burned, and in my sleep even now sometimes it is burned.”

Haruko lived a normal life into her teens, studying at a prestigious Catholic school and playing tennis. Haruko and the Crown Prince met during a tennis match and romance grew on the court.

Haruko’s parents were fiercely against her marriage to the Price. “I believe the gulf is too wide,” her father told the Crown Prince’s messenger. “The gulf between the Imperial Family and our daughter. More than a gulf, it is an ocean. … Haruko could not possibly swim across such an ocean. She understands nothing about the water – how cold and deep it is, how rough – and she will drown. And when she drowns, we, her mother and I – allow me to say that I don’t believe we could accept it. It’s a sacrifice that we are not willing to make.”

But the sacrifice was made, and proven to be true. Haruko drowns in a sea of depression after her son is born, losing her voice for several months. She finds strength again in the eyes on her son’s wife, another young commoner trapped in royal matrimony.

Schwartz’s tender detail is enticing and his story is stirring.

Previous post: Wisdom in six words

wisdom in six words

2009-01-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

I never would have put so much weight on so few words. But in this memoir, six words house the story of love or loss. Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak is a pocket-sized book with 500 different authors, including some famous folk like Dr. Drew. Contributors share their story of love or heartbreak in just 6 simple words. Some are profound. Some are funny. And some don’t really make much sense at all:

I wish that life gave mulligans

Married wrong woman. Divorce is sin.

We would have named her Grace

Despite our decade, he's a stranger

Feet touch in bed; we're okay.

This book (and the website that gave birth to it) is very similar to a challenge once given to Ernest Hemingway, who was asked to write a story in six words. He came up with “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Smith Magazine isn’t just obsessed with matters of the heart, the site also shines the spotlight on motherhood (I really miss seeing my feet), the environment (I recycle my neighbor's trash), life (Officer, "Ma'am, it's about your son...") and food (Sushi and Snickerdoodles. A Balanced Diet).

At $10 a pop, this is a great gift for that significant other on Valentines Day, or just a sappy friend.

Of course now I have to have a go at this:
He’s neat, my clutter is cluttered.

What's your six-word memoir?

Previous Post: Slackonomics

a time of creative destruction

2009-01-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

Slackonomics: Generation X in the Age of Creative Destruction is a smartly written book that doesn’t go over your head. With references to Alex P. Keaten and Melrose Place, Lisa Chamberlain deftly defines a post-boomer generation driven by economic insecurity and the flood of human potential unleashed by new technology.

“Slackonomics is not an academic white paper; it is written for people who … understand family dynamics from watching Married With Children and The Simpsons. It is written for women who got in touch with their post-feminist rage through riot grrrl music and Thelma and Louise. It is written for people who might have dabbled in Corporate America, but found themselves working at one time or another in an entirely new arena or as free agents without having exactly planned for it. It is written for people who, regardless of whether they have taken a traditional route to marriage, parenthood, and homeownership, still don’t exactly fell (or look or act) like ‘grown-ups.’”

“After spending years in the shadow of baby-boomers only to find themselves facing the prospects of economic ruin and environmental meltdown, Xers are realizing the time may finally have arrived for them to be in charge.”

This book is not just economic babble. Chamberlain sprinkles chapters with the stories of real Xers: “from artists unwilling to starve to MBAs unwilling to be corporate tools, economic instability inadvertently created an entire generation of practical risk-takers.”

She also cites many noted economists, studies, news reports and relevant pop culture references, including Oprah, Reality Bites, Seinfeld, Donnie Darko, Beck and Guns ‘N Roses.

“… one definition of happiness for Gen X is the ability to translate creative freedom into market share.”

Chamberlain talks about love, money, McMansions, suburbia and why marriage isn’t the household staple it used to be. More women are waiting to have kids, Chamberlain says, and men are more involved in child rearing. Gender neutrality is a growing theme.

Everything Chamberlain discusses seems so familiar, but she takes it further into an analytical state, giving more meaning to what is happening in the world today.

“Yes, markets are self-correcting – eventually. But how devastating the correction will have to be is, like it or not, up to us: a generation that started young adulthood as outliers and losers, but has since bridged the analog and digital worlds, created alternatives to Corporate America, endured the dot-com and real estate bubbles, adapted to and even pioneered the technological revolution and globalization without much in the way of security (i.e., universal health insurance, pensions, etc.), transformed long-standing institutions such as married and parenthood – and all the while maintaining our sense of humor. We’re going to need it.”

Rarely do you find a fluid and entertaining book of great intellectual value. You’ll feel comforted, enlightened and validated when you pick up Slackonomics (and don’t let the title distract you).

Previous Post: Resolution reviews

navigate the new you in '09

2009-01-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

It’s a new year, a new chapter in your life and it’s time to turn the page. I’ve picked a few books that should help you along the way, or at least show you what to strive for.

Becoming Enlightened
by the Dalai Lama
Drawing from traditional Buddhist meditative practices, using modern-day examples, the Dalai Lama presents exercises designed to cultivate spiritual growth. You’ll also learn more about the Dalai Lama himself, with personal anecdotes and intimate accounts of his experiences as a student, political leader and Nobel Laureate.

Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan
by Suze Orman
Find out what to do, when to do it, and how to do it from financial expert Suze Orman. Topics include credit, retirement, savings, spending, real estate and paying for college.

You Being Beautiful
by Michael F. Roizen
Discover the scientific standards of beauty and how it’s really all about your health and happiness. Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz take a scientific, yet entertaining, look at the three levels of beauty: Looking Beautiful, Feeling Beautiful and Being Beautiful.

Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide
by David Zinczenko
Find out what to skip at Stop & Shop and what to keep in your cart. This book contains nutrition secrets that lead to fast and permanent weight loss while decoding nutritional information and busting myths.

For example, did you know Rice Krispies Treats have half the sugars and calories as Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars?

I Can Make You Thin: The Revolutionary System Used by More Than 3 Million People
by Paul McKenna
McKenna, a hypnotist from the UK, uses new psychological techniques to change the way you think about food.

Organize Now!: A Week by Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life!
by Jennifer Ford Berry
Get simple and effective tools to organize every aspect of your life. If it feels overwhelming, don’t worry, this book breaks it all down to one topic a week.

50/50: Secrets I Learned From Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days - and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!
by Dean Karnazes
In 2006, Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days and wrote a book about it. Dean also shares running tips on what to do when you hit a wall and the best diet and exercise tips to improve your own best time. Even if you’re not a runner, you can still enjoy this story of incredible accomplishment. It might even spur you to lace up those running shoes … or at least try to name all 50 states.

Previous Post: Bookworm Gift Guide

Bookworm Gift Guide

2008-12-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

If you’re looking for something to get that lit lover of yours, don’t break a sweat. Book Break has got the gift guide for you. From fashion to function, we’ve got some novel ideas.

Book Bags $100-$150

Don’t be mistaken. This isn’t a bag for your book, it’s a book-turned-bag. D.C. artist Caitlin removes pages from old hardcover books, reinforces the binding and adds some fabric flair. If you have a favorite book of your own, she’s willing to make you a custom purse.

And if you’re trying to buy for a guy, Caitlin also makes Paperback Wallets.

Reading Mug $12
For the caffeinated bookworm, check out Sarah Utter’s Reading is Sexy mug, made from 100% biodegradable corn plastic.

Guybrarian $14.95
Or if your guy friends don’t want a sexy mug, you can get Utter’s organic Guybrarian t-shirt, which sports “a dapper, glasses-nibbling, goatee-having, turtleneck-wearing fellow” on the front.

Book Shelf $350

Looking for a place to put all those books? Make a statement with a shelf with Jim Rosenau's themed book shelves made out of old books. (Humpty Dumpty isn't for sale anymore, but the Fisherman's Self is!)

twisted tinsel and holiday humor

2008-12-02T08:00:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of books that will help put you in the holiday spirit, or at least help you cope with the spirit of others.

Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas by John Grossman

Drawing from antique postcards, greeting cards and advertising giveaways, Grossman shares a Christmas, circa 1800, that looks nothing like the holidays of today.

Christmas Sucks: What to Do When Fruitcake, Family, and Finding the Perfect Gift Makes You Miserable by Joanne Kimes

A look at the commercialization of Christmas and the family strife that accompanies it.

Why Does Santa Wear Red? … and 100 Other Christmas Curiousities Unwrapped by Meera Lester

Get all the Ho ho ho info and Santa stats you need to know for the holidays.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

With generous amounts of sarcasm and dark wit, Sedaris recounts his humorous holiday experiences, including his bout as an elf at Macy's.

What are your suggestions for good holiday books?

Previous Post: author takes action

author takes action

2008-11-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

Props to Penguin Group, which announced it has built a school in Afghanistan in partnership with the U.N. Refugee Agency and the U.S. Association for UNHCR.

The school was built after Afghan-native and Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini was named a U.S. envoy to UNHCR. Last year, Hosseini went to Afghanistan and saw a need for better education in a country where students were taught by teachers under trees or in tents. The new school teaches 270 students grades one through six.

Hosseini has been sharing Afghan’s culture with readers for years with his book The Kite Runner.

“Over the past few years, I have been humbled by the outpouring of empathy and compassion from my readers for the people of my homeland,” Khaled Hosseini said. “It is a great honor to me when readers write me to say that they have found a personal connection to Afghanistan and the suffering of its people through my novels. To me, this school is the physical expression of that connection."

Riverhead Books VP Geoffrey Kloske added, "We are sincerely grateful to Khaled Hosseini for inspiring us to turn our attention to a community in need halfway around the world. We are honored to be working so closely with Khaled and UNHCR to provide a more fertile learning environment for the children of Afghanistan, who may very well become our leaders of tomorrow."

It’s good to finally report on more than massive celebrity book deals. Thanks Penguin.

Previous Post: ‘Clueless’ in the kitchen

'Clueless' in the kitchen

2008-11-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

It seems like oodles of actors are ditching scripts and picking up pens. Alicia Silverstone is the third actress in recent weeks to announce a book deal, though her diet and fitness book probably won’t be as funny as Sarah Silverman or Tina Fey’s book.

The Kind Diet is due out next fall and will guide readers on how to choose the right foods in the kitchen while also taking into account the environmental impact of what we eat. It also comes with a 3-step diet program and 75 vegan recipes.

Apparently, Silverstone’s not so Clueless when it comes to the environmental eating.

Publishing director Pam Krauss said, "We were … struck by the breadth of her knowledge about environmental issues and the impact of diet on the planet …She really makes the plant-based foods that are the cornerstone of her diet sound delicious and indulgent, and her enthusiasm for her program is infectious.”

Silverstone is also well known for her support of animal-related charities such as the Amanda Foundation and PETA, which honored her several years ago with a Special Humanitarian Award.

If a Kind Diet will help me look like Alicia, I’m definitely down with talking nicely to my food.

Previous Post:Sarah Silverman's book deal

Silverman on the shelf

2008-11-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

Sarah Silverman has signed a $2.5 M book deal with HarperCollins, according to The Observer. But, apparently, three of the publisher’s imprints are still fighting over who gets to print her book, and Silverman may end up meeting with the top editors at Harper, Collins, and William Morrow before she makes her decision.

The Emmy-winning comedian plans to write a collection of comedic essays, similar to Tina Fey’s book, which was recently sold for a reported $6 M. Sarah’s agent actually promoted her book as "Just like Tina Fey." But from the look of the price tag, she’s not even half as good a Tina.

Previous Post: The Opinion Makers

lying facts

2008-11-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

There’s something wrong with polling today, according to David Moore, former senior editor for Gallup Poll for 13 years. In The Opinion Makers, Moore claims pollsters don’t repeat public opinion, as most people believe, they manufacture it.

As I was covering the recent election, I found myself reporting poll results almost daily – sometimes several polls a day. It was amazing to me how we could rely on these results, which varied so widely from poll-to-poll and day-to-day, as public opinion.

“Media polls give us distorted readings of the electoral climate, manufacture a false public consensus on policy issues, and in the process undermine American democracy,” Moore says.

Moore’s writing is succinct, witty and incredibly interesting – especially given the recent election.

For instance, I never knew pollsters usually exclude Alaska and Hawaii in polls because of their time zones and small populations. (Which means Pres.-elect Obama’s home state didn’t participate in many of the recent polls)

And pollsters don’t take into account respondents’ ignorance on subjects.

“News media polls typically gloss over public ignorance and apathy, and instead, through the use of forced-choice questions, squeeze some type of answer out of virtually all respondents – with typically only a small percentage who volunteer that they know too little to express and opinion.” Pollsters are treating these responses as serious judgments

This is an issue overlooked by many news agencies. An issue many Americans aren’t even aware of. We all take polls at face value.

“The problem lies not in the declining response rates and increasing difficulty in obtaining representative samples, though these are issues the polling industry has to address. The crisis lies, rather, in the refusal of media polls to tell the truth about those surveyed and about the larger electorate. Rather than tell us the ‘essential facts’ about the public… they feed us a fairy-tale picture of a completely rational, all-knowing, and fully engaged citizenry.”

Moore’s book is so captivating because it relates to current issues and events: the Iraq war, presidential elections, the troop surge, Guantanamo Bay, children’s health insurance and abortion.

He notes that the problem with telling the truth about public opinion is that it’s not news that large proportions of voters are undecided or that many Americans have no strong opinion on an issue.

“[Pollsters] studiously avoid reporting on widespread public apathy, indecision, and ignorance. The net result is conflicting poll results and a distortion of public opinion that challenges the credibility of the whole polling enterprise. Nowhere is this more often the case than in election polling.”

“Eventually, the many conflicting and nonsensical results should shame pollsters and the news media into reform. Only if that happens will polls achieve their ideal role in the democratic process – telling the truth about the public, warts and all.”

Previous Post: the man behind the mic

the man behind the mic

2008-11-11T11:56:00.000-08:00

George Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin-McCall, has made a deal with Hyperion Books to create an oral history of her father's life, including his struggles with drugs and alcohol, USA Today reports.

Due out next fall, the story will come from family and friends such as his older brother, Patrick, and his manager of 30 years, Jerry Hamza.

Five months after he died of heart failure, Carlin is still on the minds of many. Just yesterday, Jon Stewart, Joan Rivers and others were at the Kennedy Center in Washington, where Carlin was named the first posthumous recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

‘I hope he is looked upon like Mark Twain,” Carlin-McCall said, ‘someone who wanted to slap us into higher thinking and used humor to help us laugh at ourselves."

Previous Post: Something Borrowed review

a book worth borrowing

2008-11-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

I usually try to pick gender-neutral books for Book Break, but this week I ditched the mainstream man and picked up Something Borrowed.

Within the first few pages, Rachel, a single lawyer in NYC, finds herself in bed with her best friend’s fiancé on her 30th birthday. I know. It sounds terribly cheesy and soapy, but stay with me.

This book is Shakespearian Sex in the City with a dash of Devil Wears Prada, minus the fancy talk and fashion tips. It’s steamy and sordid and I found myself feeling bad for the cheaters, Rachel and Dex. You end up rooting for The Other Woman. Emily Giffin was able to skew my moral compass, but I couldn’t help wonder what Dr. Phil would say.

I admit, I didn’t like how neatly everything wrapped up, but that’s what you get when you pick up Female Fiction*. The book flows and like Cheetos or chocolate you won’t want to stop. (I read this is one sitting and felt less guilty than I would had it been chocolate or Cheetos.)

Borrow Something Borrowed from a friend, or buy it for someone you know turning 30. Just make sure you keep a close eye on her and your own man.

*I don’t care for the term Chick Lit.

Previous Post: Stone Angel

Stone Angel comes alive

2008-10-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to imagine a woman in her 30s could know the mind of a 90-year-old woman, but Margaret Laurence writes so vividly in “The Stone Angel” that you can almost feel the weariness of time settle in your own bones.

Laurence was only 38 when she wrote about Hagar Shipley – an unlikable, stubborn woman who somehow wins you over as she struggles to accept her waning body and mind. Born to a successful merchant in a fictional prairie town of western Canada, Hagar floats between past and present, uncovering a woman whose pride prevented her from fully living or loving.

“Pride was my wilderness, and the demon that led me there was fear. I was alone, never anything else, and never free, for I carried my chains within me, and they spread out from me and shackled all I touched.”

Hagar’s mother dies during childbirth, her brother dies of pneumonia, she loses touch with her father when she marries a man he disapproves of, and eventually loses her son to the life she never wanted for him.

The simple prose pulls you through heartbreaking moments that aren’t overly sentimental, making them even more stirring.

“I straightened my spine, and that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my entire life, to stand straight then. I wouldn’t cry in front of strangers, whatever it cost me. But when at last I was home …. I found my tears had been locked too long and wouldn’t come now at my bidding. The night my son died I was transformed to stone and never wept at all.”

Through the story of a stern woman Laurence also dusts off old age itself.

“My satin nightgown, rumpled and twisted, hampers and hobbles me. I seem to be rather shaky. The idiotic quivering of my flesh won’t stop. My separate muscles prance and jerk. …I shuffle slowly, thinking how peculiar it is to walk like this, not to be able to command my legs to pace and stride.”

If you never had to read this book for school, pick up a copy for one of those cold winter weekends coming up. And if you did read it in school, dust off that copy and read it again. You’ll enjoy it more now.

(For those of you who refuse to read anything that isn’t glossy, instructional or in email form, visit co-Captivator Justin Anderson’s blog for a review of the film version of this book.)

Previous Post: Confessions of an Eco-Sinner

enlightening eco-lit

2008-10-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Don’t read Confessions of an Eco-Sinner if you love chocolate, ice cream or burgers. Fred Pearce will ruin your care-free consuming ways, but he may help control your waistlines and your waste.

Pearce spent a year tracking down the origins of his stuff, uncovering the hidden worlds that sustain us consumers. He goes to the source of his shirt's cotton, the coffee in his cupboard and the prawns in his curry in an effort to “find out whether I should be ashamed of my purchases and their impact on the planet, or whether I should be proud to have contributed to some local economy or given a leg up to some hard-pressed community.”

Confessions is as much a history lesson as an eco-lesson, but that’s not to say it isn’t as gripping as a Stephen King classic – if anything it’s a little bit scarier because it’s real. Yes, it feels like a text book complete with an index, and yes, some parts are a bit too detailed for my liking, but once you skim to sections that interest you, Pearce provides a plethora of fascinating facts.

On his journey, he discovers African farmers have to pollinate their vanilla by hand, since bees don’t populate the area. He links eating ice cream to accelerating rain-forest destruction, and explains why the banana – a sterile, seedless “mutant” as he calls it – could be on the verge of extinction.

It takes 40 gallons of water to grow enough wheat to produce a slice of toast, but it takes nearly 3,000 gallons to make a hamburger. So you can only imagine how much water it takes to make a Big Mac and fries.

But Pearce isn’t an environmental Eeyore. The last couple of chapters are full of eco-optimism for the future. Pearce talks about the importance of cities turning green, and cites cities that have already taken steps toward cleaner quarters.

“At the new $40 million home of Melbourne’s city council in Australia, hanging gardens and water fountains cool the air, wind turbines and solar cells generate most of the electricity, and rooftop rainwater collectors supply most of its water.”

“In San Diego garbage trucks run on methane extracted from the landfills they deliver to. … In Germany, they are greening the roofs of their high-rises to grow good, encourage birdlife, collect rainfall, and cool the street below.”

Developing worlds are also working hard to keep up. The city of Curitiba in Brazil has created bus-only roads, and recruited poor people to recycle garbage in exchange for food and bus passes.

He sends an encouraging message that change is possible and doesn't have to come with massive sacrifice – just a different way of thinking. “For the past century planners have designed cities as if resources like land, fuel, water, and concrete were unlimited, and as if waste was something to be dumped as cheaply and as distantly as possible. Cities need a new metabolism, conserving their resources, cutting our carbon-based energy sources, and mining their trash.”

Previous Post: Celebrity Book Report

fey fodder and walken report

2008-10-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have to start off my celebrity section with news about my famous twin.

30 Rocks’ Tina Fey – recently lauded for her eerily-accurate Sarah Palin impression – has signed a book deal with Little, Brown & Co., according to the N.Y. Observer. The book will reportedly consist of humorous essays in the style of Nora Ephron and will be edited by executive editor Reagan Arthur.

The deal also involves a donation to the Books for Kids foundation to help sponsor the construction of six school libraries in New York, according to an Observer source. The exact price-tag is unknown, but Fey earlier last week had received a $6 M offer to write a book, according to reports.

In other big book news from USA Today, a new book, arriving in stores next week, takes on the “duke of spook” in Christopher Walken A to Z: The Man, The Movies, The Legend, by Robert Schnakenberg.

Fans get a closer look at this two-time Oscar nominee who once was a lion tamer, had a cooking show on TV and used to worship the moon.

Previous Post: The Last Lecture

a lecture on life

2008-09-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Randy Pausch wanted his kids to remember him. At 46, Pausch had 3 young kids, ten tumors in his liver and only a few months left to live.

“There are so many things I want to tell my children, and right now, they’re too young to understand. … I want the kids to know who I am, what I’ve always believed in, and all the ways in which I’ve come to love them. … I wish the kids could understand how desperately I don’t want to leave them.”

In an effort to preserve himself for his children, Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, decided to deliver a lecture. His topic: “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

Unlike so many who forget their dreams, or think them impossible, Pausch achieved almost every one of them. (And you can’t help but think, if he had more time, his list would have been full of check-marks).

Pausch wanted to become a Disney Imagineer. He did it. He wanted to be in zero gravity. He did it. He wanted to author an article in the World Book encyclopedia. He did it. He wanted to become Captain Kirk. While this he couldn’t achieve, but he did get to meet the man. And he wanted to play in the NFL. Well…we can’t win them all.

This book inspires you to reevaluate your own life and poke around that old toy box to find your own list of childhood dreams.

Pausch’s book is inspiring because of the impressive life he led, not because of what he did after he was diagnosed with cancer. With only a few months to live, he didn’t have to dig up his list of to-dos. It was his list of already-dones. He reminds us that we should always be living our life like we only have months to live.

I can’t help but think if he weren’t dying of cancer, I wouldn’t like him. He comes across condescending and contradictory at times. But I can’t fault him for this, since he had a very limited time to write this book. I’m sure he didn’t have time to mince words.

His messages are clear and simple, and a little bit obvious:

Stop complaining.

“Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I’ve always believed that if you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out.”

Look for the best in everybody.

“Almost everybody has a good side. Just keep waiting. It will come out.”

Say thank you.

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. And despite my love of efficiency, I think that thank-you notes are best done the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper.”

Tell the truth.

“Honesty is not only morally right, it’s also efficient. In a culture where everyone tells the truth, you can save a lot of time double-checking.”

Be prepared.
No job is beneath you.
Just ask.
Know who you are.
Never give up.

Pausch delivered his last lecture on September 18, 2007.

“’Lucky’ is a strange word to use to describe my situation, but a part of me does feel fortunate that I didn’t get hit by the proverbial bus. Cancer has given me the time to have these vital conversations … that wouldn’t be possible if my fate were a heart attack or a car accident.”

Randy died July 25th, 2008. He was 47.

Previous Post: Review of Through the Storm, by Lynne Spears

mom Spears' tell-all memoir

2008-09-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

by guest contributor Jacqui Pini

As an avid magazine reader, I have witnessed Britney Spears’ career since the beginning … how could I not? She’s everywhere. Between her custody battle, head shaving and hospitalizations, it is hard to deny these past few years have been extremely difficult for Brit. Who knows what the future holds for her, but these days it seems she is on a much better path. While I am not exactly a fan of her or her music, I was curious what her mother had to say for herself about all of this.

I just finished Through the Storm, Lynne Spears’ book about the family’s life with Britney, Jamie-Lynn and their brother, Bryan. This book is a very easy read. At times I skipped entire pages while Lynne rambled about her faith and various relationships. There were points in the beginning where Lynne was a little too focused on sharing what was happening in Louisiana. Sorry to say, but that is not really why people are reading the book. On the other hand, I felt Lynne was true to herself in the Southern-manner in which she told the story. She seems to be an endearing woman, naïve at times, but always in fierce defense of her children.

While I do not necessarily see Lynne as a stage-mom, it is apparent she enabled her daughters by allowing them to travel and audition at very young ages. She has positioned Britney as the one who was so “driven” that Lynne could not help but take her to auditions. When I was 10 or so I was driven too… driven by my mom’s Volvo to elementary school like I think Lynne should have been doing with her young kids. Despite the fact Lynne was a teacher, there are few references to school for the girls, and that never really seemed to be a priority.

Lynne touches upon Britney’s unstable behavior, basically blaming it on a man named Sam Lufti. Lynne says he weaseled his way into Britney’s life and was crushing up drugs and putting them in her food last year – around the time Britney was acting erratically and speaking in accents. She also says Sam controlled all of Britney’s staff and would kick her family out as he pleased. They eventually got a retraining order against him … and got Britney back on the right path.

I would have liked to hear this story through Britney as there were so many things that Lynne fluffed right over. It is almost like she is giving us a timeline of Britney’s career through her perch in Louisiana. This has potential to be a very interesting story, but we need to hear it from Britney herself.

Previous Post: The Professors' Wives' Club review

garden secrets

2008-09-16T07:44:00.001-07:00

Four women connected to Manhattan U come together when the dean of the university decides to demolish a faculty garden and build a parking lot. But the real meat of The Professors' Wives' Club is about friendships, conquering fears and figuring out who you are.

First-time author Joanne Rendell successfully juggles four major characters with ease, alternating between women each chapter. Mary is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist with an abusive husband (the dean), Hannah is a former model and art student married to a man who doesn’t understand her, Sofia is a former Hollywood agent who gave it all up to be a mother and Ashleigh is a successful lawyer who is afraid to come out of the closet to father.

Rendell, who happens to be married to a New York University professor, seemed to base Manhattan U largely on NYU. "We live in university housing," Rendell said, "so that's the world I know, and so, of course, real life sneaks into the novel here and there. But I'm not telling exactly where. My husband likes his job at the university too much!"

This isn’t a groundbreaking novel, but it’s a fun read with well developed characters and multiple story lines that keep you on your toes – not to mention a literary subplot involving Edgar Allan Poe.

It’s light enough that you can crack it open when you have a couple of minutes, but interesting enough that you’ll struggle to put it down. This is Desperate Housewives on a mission.

Previous Post: Review of Bitter is the New Black

from Coach bags to coupons

2008-09-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Jen Lancaster is condescending, cynical, egomaniacal, self-centered and downright b*tchy. But in a weird way she makes being bitter becoming. Her blatant, unapologetic honesty gives way to her humanity, flaws and inner strength in Bitter Is the New Black.

I recently interviewed Jen Lancaster after reading her newest book Such a Pretty Fat, and I was interested in her story. She’s a former sorority girl who went from being a successful corporate mogul to getting her car repossessed and almost being evicted from her ghetto Chicago apartment. Bitter Is the New Black follows Jen from her corporate office to the unemployment office (with Prada bag in tow).

And I wasn’t disappointed. Jen is funny, cynical, sharp and sweet. Her panache for pearls and designer duds don’t mesh well with clipping cat food coupons, but she makes do. Bitter Is the New Black reveals the humiliation and shame of losing everything, but does so with wit and unconventional tactics.

In the course of 400 pages (a breezy weekend read) Jen will:

1. Steal a Coach bag from a homeless guy
2. Decide to get married to get out of debt
3. Cancel her COBRA health insurance for a pair of new boots
4. Hurl a laptop at her husband on their wedding night
5. Turn to her pantry to primp, using vanilla extra as perfume and Crisco as lip gloss. (Just call her Miss. MacGyver!)

This chick-lit is light, but deals with the dark subject of unemployment. And with the way the economy has been rolling lately, a lot more of us seem to be following in Jen’s COBRA-financed shoes.

Lancaster’s snotty, sarcastic, self-depreciating humor is addictive. Once you’re done reading all three of her books, you can still get your Jen fix at her popular blog www.jennsylvania.com.

Previous Post: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

david disappoints

2008-09-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

While I’m not a David Sedaris devotee, I’ve heard the roars of his readership, so I picked up his latest book When You Are Engulfed in Flames – and I got burnt. It’s not that the book is bad, it’s just that it isn’t as good as the hype and I guess I set my sights too high for Sedaris.

He is funny and quirky and poignant at points, but most of the book dragged. Sedaris’ essays jump around in time and place from child molesters in Normandy to skeletons in bedrooms, and most of the good parts are too politically incorrect to post here.

The book culminates with “The Smoking Section,” a chapter that follows Sedaris on his cigarette-quitting journey to Tokyo.

“I didn’t stop throwing my cigarette butts down until at the age of forty-eight, I was arrested for it … in Thailand.”

This is Sedaris’ sixth book of essays, so he must be doing something right, but some essays just left me wondering why they were written. Read it if you want, but I’d suggest sticking to some of his older works.

Previous Post: Twilight review

adult take on Twilight

2008-08-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

This week, two guest reviewers are taking on Stephenie Meyer's book Twilight, which is being turned into a movie and hits theaters this November. On Tuesday, high-school junior Ashley DiFranza shared her take on the novel, and corporate mom Dee Murray joins Book Break today:

By guest contributor Dee Murray

“Just because I can’t taste the wine, doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the bouquet …”
Edward Cullen, says to Bella, in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight

It’s full of corny lines more suited to Harlequin Romance Novels and some big words no one uses in real conversation (count how many times the word ‘incredulous’ is used in this book … it’s … incredulous!) Stephenie Meyer’s writing debut Twilight redeems itself with a breathtaking storyline and two outrageously passionate main characters who take unconventional romance to an entirely new level.

Book 1 in Meyer’s Twilight series was released nearly 4 years ago, but has recently been thrust into the spotlight again, thanks to the Twilight movie due out in November (moved up from a December release date, thanks to the pushback of the 6th Harry Potter movie) and the recent release of the final book in the four-part series, Breaking Dawn.

Even though the average age of those reading Twilight is more in tune to a Jonas Brothers fan club, Meyer’s teen dream duo of the no-more-than average Isabella Swan and dark, mysterious Edward Cullen can entrance even the most hardened board-room wheeler and dealer.

The story follows Isabella Swan through relocation to Forks, Washington – a rainy, dank small town outside of Seattle, where she decides to live with her father, who’s police chief of the not-so-fare hamlet. Bella, who was just average in the beauty-ridden city of Phoenix, immediately catches the eyes of several of the Forks boys, but spurns them all in the hopes of understanding the solemn, reclusive Edward Cullen – the middle kid in a rich doctor’s family. Mystery surrounds the Cullens and their separateness; their standoffish behavior and their super-modelish beauty.

Bella and Edward are drawn to each other but in a very dangerous way – as Bella discovers shortly after arriving in Forks, that Edward and his family are vampires – vegetarian ones (they don’t drink human blood).

It’s easy to go on and on about the plot twists, analyzing the relationship between Bella and Edward and Edward and the rest of his family. But in the name of sheer entertainment and character development, it’s just not necessary. Meyer does a brilliant job of telling you what you need to know, painting a beautiful picture of danger, mystery and wanting – and she does it in a way that constantly leaves a reader needing more (not wanting more … NEEDING more).

Her character development of Bella Swan is right on – she’s an average girl with insecurities, less-than-average beauty (at least that’s what she thinks) and is quite talentless. Meyer taps into the awkwardness of almost all of us during our teen years and portrays it wantingly and matter-of-factly – as if something key is missing.

Then comes Edward: The dangerous, beyond beautiful boy (Meyers’ constantly describes him as beautiful vs. cute or handsome – in an effort to convey the unconventional perfection of his looks). Meyer sets up the expectation of him being dangerous and kind of unstable in a very seductive way giving just enough info to really start falling for him – before the two have even really met. She further develops his character into a powerful, indestructible vampire who has finally found his only weakness – Bella.

After several chapters, a reader will discover Edward is actually more than 80 years old – which attributes to his old-fashioned ideas and some of the beyond-corny things he says (the “bouquet” phrase being only one) … and even though it most definitely makes a reader roll her eyes, it’s understandable. Meyer develops Edward through showing him as a needy boyfriend, an over-protective defender and a soft-hearted teenager. But all of this has the overtone of a character wise beyond his years – so it all works.

Meyer even throws in the ‘action’ twist, which adds a sense of excitement to the book (not quite as action-packed as a Batman/Joker sequence ... but hey … what could be?) She is methodical in her pacing of the book – its highs and lows – and allows it to deliver in a way that is satisfying, yet still thirsty.

OK yeah. It’s sappy. The stories are slightly predictable and at times, the writing is a little obnoxious and calculated. But the bottom line is Twilight's addictive. Meyer has written an entire world a reader can get lost in – obsess about even (Um, this reader finished all four books in less than 7 days).

So readers beware. There really isn’t a natural ‘pause point’ in this book – it’s a huge temptation to finish it without sleep, without food and without interruption … so plan accordingly. And while you’re at it, make sure to have New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn handy … because they’re all the exact same way … no sleeping required.

Check out Ashley DiFranza's review of Twilight.

a teen's perspective on Twilight

2008-08-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

This week, two guest reviewers are taking on Stephenie Meyer's book Twilight, which is being turned into a movie and hits theaters this November. High-school junior Ashley DiFranza, Meyer's targeted audience, joins Book Break today:

By guest contributor Ashley DiFranza

Having been in the midst of the Twilight phenomenon for quite a while now, I knew what Stephenie Meyer’s book would eventually come to, though Meyer hid it very well for a good amount of time.

Isabella (Bella) Swan is a teenage girl who has never had a boyfriend before. She’s the too-ordinary, clumsy girl at school in Phoenix and everyone has come to know her as that. So when her mother gets remarried, Bella decides to move in with her father in Forks, Washington. Bella, dreading the first day of school almost as much as the daily forecast of rain, suddenly realizes that she’s not the same person. She has a lot of friends, is really smart here, and there are boys asking her to dances left and right. She’s never had to deal with anything like this before. Then again, her sudden rise in popularity is nothing but normal compared to the deathly looks she receives of the beautiful and mysterious Edward Cullen.

As I waited for Bella Swan to discover the truth about Edward, I actually felt like I was the new girl who was mixed up with this dark romance. For two days straight, I sat there on my couch, reading.

I even blame Meyer for the house fire I almost started. I was so engrossed in the story I didn’t even notice the food I had put in the microwave was on fire, filling the kitchen with smoke. I was pulled from the pages only when my mother began to yell and as I looked up, I couldn’t even see the room in front of me. My food had burnt and I hadn’t even noticed! Now that’s what I call a story that sucks you in!

As the story of Bella’s life in Forks progresses, Edward’s relationship with Bella changes and friendship grows as many crazy situations turn him into her savior. They bond over Edward’s hidden secrets that only Bella can seem to figure out on her own and not be afraid of. Still, as the secrets continue to poor out, Bella beings to realize that her feelings for Edward are strong, even if their relationship could mean danger to her. And in the end, it does.

This book is such an extravagant mix of teen love, adventure and sacrifice. I found myself actually yelling in shock as some of the more frightening plot lines unfolded. And oddly enough, just like every girl I’d ever talked to about Twilight with, as Bella fell for Edward, I found myself doing the same thing. Somewhere between his worry for her life and his soul-bearing love for her, Edward Cullen was made out to be the perfect, fictitious guy. And that is truly the only problem with Meyer’s creation: the fact that it is fiction and there really is no Edward Cullen gliding down the foggy streets of Forks, Washington.

And it was this mix of forbidden love and a twisting plot that made this book one of the best I’ve ever read. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from page one to page five hundred. And trust me; those five hundred pages go by FAST as you’re swept into the whirlwind of this teen love and love’s dangers. So, please, if you intend to read this novel, read it with an open mind and an open heart.

Stayed tuned for corporate mom Dee Murray’s review of Twilight later this week.

Previous Post: Table Talk

smitten in the kitchen

2008-08-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, on a trip to Martha’s Vineyard, I discovered the best Veggie Burger I’ve ever had at Espresso Love Cafe. When I tried to steal the recipe, owner Carol McManus told me she had a cook book coming out in August. So I trekked back to the island this past weekend for another taste and the secret ingredients to make my very own best Veggie Burgers.

Truth be told, I would have bought Table Talk for just that one recipe, but as I stood in the café I couldn’t help but devour the entire book. The pages are full of warm, authentic Vineyard photographs, and unintimidating recipes.

The food is simple, but unique, and most of the ingredients are pantry staples. The book is organized into useful categories: dinner, breakfast, healthy food, weekend meals and dessert. Eighty recipes include fat-free muffins, spicy shrimp wrap, butternut-apple soup, spinach meatloaf, bread and easy brownies. The book is sprinkled with interesting stories about how the recipes came about, along with time-saving tips, cooking quotes and dinner conversation starters.

McManus’ basic theme isn’t food, but family and food. Owning her own business and raising 5 children, McManus has experience juggling a lot on her plate. So she designed her cookbook to help bring busy families back to the table.

The fabulous photographs make this a great gift, but the recipes definitely deserve a spot on your own shelf too.

And you definitely have to try the Veggie Burger.

Previous Post: The Glass Castle

unconventional upbringing and good posture

2008-08-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to imagine that a successful writer who has worked at MSNBC, Esquire and USA Today once lived in a shack with no heat, running water or electricity. From the moment Jeannette Walls drives by her mother digging through a NYC dumper, “The Glass Castle” grabs your attention and locks on.

I read this book in a weekend and wish I never finished it. Walls tells her heartbreaking story without an ounce of bitterness or self-pity, growing up with two sisters, a brother and nomadic parents who couldn’t hold down jobs and liked to frequent isolated mining towns and sunken, abandoned shacks.

“Dad was so sure a posse of federal investigators was on our trail that he smoked his unfiltered cigarettes from the wrong end. That way, he explained, he burned up the brand name, and if the people who were tracking us looked in his ashtray, they’d find unidentifiable butts instead of Pall Malls that could be traced to him. Mom, however, told us that the FBI wasn’t really after Dad; he just liked to say they were because it was more fun having the FBI on your tail than bill collectors.”

At the age of 3, Walls was already cooking for herself – a feat that landed her in the hospital with severe burns. Walls’ flightily artistic mother, Rose Mary, and alcoholic father, Rex, were obviously ill-suited to raise children, but certainly weren’t lacking love. (This is evident when Walls almost drops out of college, and her father, who is homeless, gives her money for school. “So, when I enrolled for my final year at Barnard, I paid what I owed on my tuition with Dad’s wadded, crumpled bills.”)

Even though their parents were extremely untraditional and often irresponsible, Walls has you convinced that they’re parenting skills weren’t all that bad. “Mom had us all reading books without pictures by the time we were five, and Dad taught us math. He also taught us the things that were really important and useful, like how to tap out Morse code and how we should never eat the liver of a polar bear because all the vitamin A in it could kill us.”

When the Walls children were occasionally enrolled in school, they were much more advanced than their classmates. “Sometimes [Dad] made me do my arithmetic homework in binary numbers because he said I needed to be challenged.”

The children with raised with tough love and no illusions of Santa Clause. “Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you’re young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and soul.” Maybe her mom had a point.

This bizarre story makes you reevaluate your life – if these children with nothing could make Somethings out of themselves, how do you compare? The Walls children were taught to make do with what they had, and not to complain about it. “We slept under the stars. We had no pillows, but Dad said that was part of the plan. He was teaching us to have good posture.”

This story is heartbreaking and uplifting. Walls speaks with frank honesty and a clear, untainted tone, which is amazing considering all the abuse and neglect she encountered. Her story is much like that of a Joshua tree.

“From the time the Joshua tree was a tiny sapling, it had been so beaten down by the whipping wind that, rather than trying to grow skyward, it had grown in the direction that the wind pushed it … leaning over so far that it seemed ready to topple, although, in fact, its roots held it firmly in place. I thought the Joshua tree was ugly.”

But when Walls wanted to replant the tree to protect it, her mother stopped her. “You’d be destroying what makes it special," she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.”

Walls’ story is certainly beautiful. It will touch you, tire you and inspire you. It’s a Lost and Bound that’s definitely worth finding.

Previous Post: Puppy Chow is Better than Prozac

Lost and Bound

2008-08-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

“Lost and Bound” is a new Book Break feature for books that aren’t newly published, but definitely worth reading. My “Lost and Bound” book this week is “The Glass Castle” – a true story about a woman who grew up with parents who lived like nomads in the mountains and Southwest desert towns. Look for my review of Jeannette Walls’s memoir next week.

What “Lost and Bound” have you recently found?

doggy dooty dupes depression

2008-07-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Bruce Goldstein’s “Puppy Chow is Better than Prozac” vividly describes a manic depressive’s mental prison.

Goldstein, a 27-year-old New Yorker with Crohn’s disease (“I was constantly conscious of my colon”) and a mean case of bipolar disorder, loses his girlfriend, his job, his identity and his mind.

“It had been six weeks since the knives in my sink tried to kill me.”

After therapy, lithium, Prozac and Paxil did nothing to quiet the ”charismatic cutlery” calling to him from the kitchen, Goldstein decides the only way to salvation is through salivation – the slobbery love of a bundle of fur.

Ozzy – a black Labrador named after heavy metal’s “Prince of Darkness” – forces Goldstein out of the house and into the world, if only for dooty duty.

“Before Ozzy came along, my spirit had been on empty. Now he was my everyday energy attendant. He filled up my soul with unleaded love and prosperity. My once temperamental tank now overflowed with pride and joy.”

Three-fourths of this book is not enjoyable – it’s scary. Goldstein is almost too good at taking you into the mind of a manic depressive and it’s not a place you want to be.

“The key to getting through the morning was to keep moving. If I didn’t get dressed immediately, I was in trouble. I’d sit down and start thinking. It didn’t matter what. Or where. As far as I was concerned every chair in my apartment was an electric chair.”

The book is heavy and dark and deeply depressing. But all that is necessary for you to see just how Ozzy turns Goldstein’s life around. And humor is a key element in surviving this mental memoir.

“Raising a puppy was like being drafted into the army. Except in the army they let you sleep.”

Previous Post: Tori Spelling's new memoir

Tori's new mommy memoir

2008-07-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Tori Spelling is apparently ready to dish about diapers, according to People. The 35-year-old 90210 veteran is reportedly writing a tell-all about raising son Liam, 1, and newborn Stella, publishers Simon & Schuster say. The memoir is tentatively called Mommywood and is set to be released next April.

But Tori isn’t the only celebrity to dabble in the world of writing. Kevin Nealson and Jenny McCarthy have also decided share their parenting perspective, while Tony Danza, Goria Estefan and Trisha Yearwood have cracked open their crock pots for us.

Check out other celebrity selections:

Julie Andrews, Home
Jules Asner, Whacked
Lewis Black, Me of Little Faith
Jimmy Buffett, Swine Not?
Tony Danza, Don’t Fill Up on the Antipasto
Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio (Nov.)
Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Estefan Kitchen (Oct.)
Tom Farley, The Chris Farley Show
Michael J. Fox, Always Looking Up: Meditations on Optimism (Sept.)
Nina Garcia, The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own
Magic Johnson, Magic Moves (Dec.)
Judge Greg Mathis, Inner City Miracle (Sept.)
Jenny McCarthy, Mother Warriors (Sept.)
Kevin Nealon, Yes, You’re Pregnant, But What About Me?
Maria Shriver, Just Who Will You Be: Big Question, Little Book, Answer Within
Ted Turner, Call Me Ted (Nov.)
Trisha Yearwood, Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

Previous Post: Some Assembly Required

seaside eccentrics and an autistic boy

2008-07-16T08:38:00.001-07:00

Quirky, Cape Cod characters populate this coastal whodunit, though you don’t know exactly what the mystery is until the end.

Lynn Kiele Bonasia starts off every chapter in Some Assembly Required with instruction manual mumbo jumbo – the main character, Rose, was a successful writer of appliance manuals. The blurbs either make profound sense in relation to the story and characters or no sense at all – and sometimes I couldn’t tell which:

“Due to the nature of the product, we cannot accept a return on a unit that has been used. – from the Solution ComfortSeat Instruction Manual.”

“We accept no responsibility for crash damage. – from the HeliHobby RC Nitro Powered Helicopter Instruction Manual.”

“Risk of entanglement: Keep hands away from moving parts. Tie up or cover long hair. – from the Global Machinery Company Finishing Nail Gun Kit Instruction Manual.”

“Reactive forces, including kickback, can be dangerous. – from the Stihl Chain Saw Safety Manual”

“Sometimes the agitator will crack. – from How to Remove a Washing Machine Agitator on ehow.com”

Some Assembly Required follows Rose, a 39-year-old who quits her job writing manuals for appliances and moves to Cape Cod after learning that her long-time boyfriend cheated on her.

“Instructions. Rose hadn’t just written them, she’d followed them all her life. It was only when she realized she knew all too much about ceiling fans, curling irons, and cappuccino makers, and nothing about relationships, or life, for that matter, that it was time to move on.”

At first you may think this is your typical beach read about a middle-aged woman, her hot fling and the salty summer air. But then you meet Noel, an autistic boy who connects a community through his artwork:

“Autistic savant is what they call them nowadays. Just say Rain Man and everybody knows what you’re talking about. They used to call them idiots. Show me an idiot who can paint like that.”

Then Rose meets Simon, Noel’s alcoholic uncle who theorizes that God is also a drunk: “It explained everything .... It explained why sometimes He was just plain missing in action, facedown on a cloud somewhere, letting down the masses … If you looked back on history, you could see the times when God was on the wagon, times of significant human achievement: Egyptian times; the Roman Empire; the Han Dynasty; the Renaissance, when He was cranking out quality product like da Vinci and Michelangelo; or the sixties when he was sending men to the moon. And you could see when He was off during the dark times, the Middle Ages, the Spanish Inquisition, the Reign of Terror, the Hundred Years War. … And just maybe He was sleeping it off in a celestial gutter the morning the towers came down in New York.”

Bonasia melds humor and heart in an artfully-painted profile of a small town and its eccentric inhabitants.

This debut novel is more medium-bodied fluff that doesn’t make you feel so guilty about indulging in a summer semi-sizzler.

Previous Post: Cancer on $5 a Day

Robert Schimmel: I never thought cancer would be a career move

2008-07-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

After I posted my review of Robert Schimmel’s “Cancer on $5 a Day,” the stand-up comedian sent me a message:

“As a comedian, I never had the urge to write a book before. Most of my other comic friends have books that are basically their stand-up routines transcribed. Not that they aren’t funny. Just wasn’t my thing.When I was in treatment, I remember what it felt like to meet and hear about others that survived what I had. It was uplifting and gave me hope. At first, when I started writing the book with Alan Eisenstock, I thought that if this book made a difference in one person’s life, then what I went through wasn’t for nothing. I changed my mind. One isn’t enough. Thanks for helping me accomplish my mission.

Sincerely, Robert Schimmel”

Read my review of "Cancer on $5 a Day"

a profound funny man

2008-07-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Except for purchasing pot, comedian-turned-cancer-patient Robert Schimmel doesn’t really delve into the monetary cost of cancer in “Cancer on $5 a Day,” but he does cover the physical and mental toll it takes.

In the midst of starting his own Fox TV show, Schimmel got the news that he had stage three non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

“Talk about life throwing you a curve ball. Yesterday I fantasized that in six months I’d be known as Robert Schimmel, sitcom star. Today I’m fantasizing that in six months I’ll be alive. Amazing how fantasies change. Wasn’t long ago that my fantasies involved me and two women in cheerleader outfits.”

Schimmel doesn’t use humor to stay detached from the situation. He delves right in, stirring the pot with a stick of humor. He shares sad, touching moments, but still sees the humor in situations. Be warned that Schimmel can be very real, very descriptive and down right dirty. But it’s worth it because he’s also fresh, poignant, interesting and inspiring.

“Cancer. Cancer. … What’s strange, but not surprising, is that when I hear the word, my first reaction, my initial instinct, is to go for the laugh. It really is. I don’t plan it, don’t think about it. I just go for it. I realize instinctively that even though I’ve just been told I have cancer, I haven’t been told that I’m going to die. And to prove it, I’m going to do the one and only thing that shows that I am very much alive: I am going to make the audience laugh.”

Anyone facing cancer should read “Cancer on $5 a Day.”

This book is not just a jumble of one-liners. Schimmel goes through all the gory details of dealing with cancer: mouth sores, chills, constipation, hemorrhoids, migraines, extreme weakness. You’ll even learn about merkins, which are wigs for … down there … that apparently date back to the Elizabethan era.

Schimmel tries every alternative treatment he can find, including Reiki, crystals, acupuncture, yoga and meditation. And he comes away from the experience with a new outlook on life:

“Keep your sense of humor, no matter what.
Create a purpose, a focus, and never take your eyes off it.
Figure out what’s important to you. What’s really important.
Be open. Try anything. You never know.
Love. You need love. Tons of it. A s***load of love.
Sometimes you need to be selfish.
You need support. You’re in this alone, but you can’t fight it alone.
The most precious thing you have is time. Don’t waste it.
You’re only human.
And, finally, once again –
Laugh.”

Schimmel manages to make you laugh at a terrifying, deadly disease, making the humor heroic. He gives a straight, frank, funny account of a man not giving in. The language is rough and some bits are dirty, but it just adds to the honesty of the situation.

I never thought I would recommend a cancer book as a summer beach read, but Schimmel has changed my mind. “Cancer on $5 a Day” is an easy read that is both powerful and touching.

Previous post: Jen Lancaster takes a Book Break

Jen Lancaster takes a Book Break

2008-07-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Jen Lancaster has tried Atkins 11 times. She is the kind of girl that would figure out you can drink 12 glasses of wine – not eat anything else – and still stick to Weight Watchers. She still loves Barbie dolls and books that are pink.

And while Jen loves her work as a writer, she admits, “It would be nice to have a water cooler.”

Five years ago, Lancaster was laid off from her job as an associate vice president at an investment research firm. Now she’s a successful writer. How’d that happen? “I got lucky.”

“Getting from having a great corporate job, to being laid off, to being a writer, I mean, there were five years of suck in there. Things only started really getting good about a year ago when I got my first big royalty check. ... That’s one of those things that you don’t think of when people become a writer. Like, oh, suddenly you’re rich… No. Not even a little bit. For the first two to three years that I was writing I still had to temp. It gave me sort of a wealth of stories and a lot of my temp jobs were so boring that I could actually get a lot of writing done. But getting from there to here wasn’t just overnight success. I’m starting to hear rumblings from people like ‘Oh, she’s an overnight success!’ Really? You should have said that to me three years ago when I was getting coffee for people and having high school graduates lecture me on how I was stapling things wrong. It sucked.”

“It is about the worst get rich quick scheme in the entire world.”

“I got laid off and I couldn’t find any work. I think some of it was my own ego or hubris – there was just stuff that I wouldn’t do: I’m not taking anything for less than 6 figures. And I didn’t realize that, hey, the economy’s changed. It’s October of 2001 and people are not hiring and the dot com economy is over. So after a year of not being able to find anything, I just lost it. I couldn’t get retail jobs. I couldn’t get waitressing jobs. … How do I go from being a superstar, having not done anything wrong except being in the wrong place in the wrong economy, to not being able to get a waitressing job? I began to post these frustrations on blogs, people started to read it, and then I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can make money this way.’”

“So I just began to write and write and write. I wrote every single day, and after about 6 months, I thought, ‘I have enough content here to really get people to start reading this,’ and I started sending links places and posting stuff on Craigslist with links back to my site.”

A literary agent discovered Jen’s work online and contacted her. She worked with Jen for a year, putting together a book proposal that sold, “And here I am.”

“I’m a lot happier. When I was a corporate person I never realized that I wasn’t happy. I thought – I’m doing exactly what I should be doing and I’m advancing the career ladder like I’m supposed to. I worked all the time and I never had time to do anything else. So when I would get a few minutes here and there I would buy things for myself. I surrounded myself with stuff, equating that with being happy. And it really wasn’t the case. Now I think that I enjoy my life a lot more. And I’m just overall much happier.”

“Writing a book is kind of the very best celebrity you can get because people know who you are on a bookshelf, but they have no idea who you are in real life.”

Lancaster’s latest book on the shelf, Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist’s Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her A** Look Big or Why Pie Is Not the Answer, is about her on a diet, but with a sassy spin.

“I’m actually calling things out for saying this is hard. … Every time people go about losing weight, there’s always the ‘why am I f***ing bothering’ mode and all of us give into it and I just don’t think that you see that in other weight loss memoirs people are all steely-eyed, gritty and determined. I gave up like 900 times. People don’t talk about giving up and then manage to find a way to be somewhat successful.”

“And what I think is different, too, is that I don’t come from a place of self loathing. A lot of people lose weight not because they hate themselves, but because they want to feel better. And I don’t think people really address that. I’ve read every weight loss memoir that has come out recently and most of them are really sad. I don’t think a lot of people write upbeat stories about coming to terms with who they are. It’s such a funny subject but so few people tackle it with humor.”

“What was really fun, though, was that by the time I was wrapping up doing the bulk of what I had to do for the book, I found that I would rather work out with Barbie or do something healthy than actually sit down and write, which was kind of cool.” (That’s right, her trainer’s name is Barbie.)

“I can run a mile now … it takes a while and there are some breaks…”

Her trick to staying motivated? “I always find a nemesis. That’s like my big fitness plan – any time that I go to work out, I find someone who I’m going to pit myself against.”

But Lancaster wasn’t always pleasantly plump.

“I grew up really thin. I was always really thin and I was always so body conscious when I was younger, when I was thin, thinking that I wasn’t. And then as soon as I became heavy, I was like, ‘This isn’t so bad. I have to buy bigger pants, but I can also eat cake.’ I think part of it, that I never really minded getting heavy, is when I was younger and much thinner, I got a lot of attention to the point where I didn’t like it.”

The extra weight made Jen feel more protected.

Lancaster’s next book, Pretty in Plaid, was going to be about her childhood, until she realized it would basically be about “me forging Girl Scout badges.”

“Originally it was just going to be a whole collection of childhood stories like very David Sedaris or Dustin Burrows. And then I realized I had a really good childhood. There was no bad touch or anything. And I did not have enough stories to fill it, so now it’s going to be kind of a prequel to the first book. Short stories done with a narrative arc. It should be funny. It should just be a funny book.”

What books does Jen like to read?

“Honest to God, what I normally pick to read is whatever’s on the front table of Barnes and Noble, whether its fiction, nonfiction. I probably read 200 books a year. I have time. I probably buy 300 books a year because I have a problem with that.”

Some of Jen’s favorite authors include Candice Bushnell, Emily Giffin, Tom Robbins, Jennifer Weiner, Stacy Ballis and David Sedaris.

Her secret indulgence? Stories about southern women. “They are such a different species than me.”

If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader, Jen says. “Get your hands on everything. When I meet someone that says they want to be a writer, and they don’t read – It’s like wanting to be a chef and not liking to eat.”

“And if you, in fact, want to have a writing career, having an established blog is not a necessary step. It’s not something that you need. Don’t put every piece of your life online. Save it. Because what I’ve really seen on the web lately, is people are giving more and more self disclosure because they are so anxious for people to come to their site and read about them that they’re really exposing a lot of parts of them that I think is a little unnecessary – to the point that they’re train wrecking themselves.”

“Do the research and find out what it is that publishers want. Look at the trends. Go to Barnes and Noble and see what’s on the front table and see what people are writing, and then do it. It’s not enough to want it. You have to do it every single day. And it has to be something that compels you.”

“My day doesn’t feel right unless I get something on paper.”

And her new book? Just keep in mind, “It’s not War and Peace.”

Read my review of Jen Lancaster's "Such a Pretty Fat"

damn, girl, these panties be huge!

2008-07-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

No other weight loss book will make you so hungry. Softened butter and mounds of fresh shaved Parmesan cheese are sprinkled throughout Jen Lancaster’s “Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her A** Look Big, or Why Pie Is Not the Answer.” Lancaster likes food. And she likes herself. It’s a new concept: A happy, heavy woman.

“Yeah, my midriff is fat, but it’s not blobby, dimple, rippling fat. It’s … pretty fat, if that’s possible.”

This isn’t a heavy woman with low self esteem who doesn’t feel worthwhile until she fits into her skinny jeans. This is a book about a woman who just wants to be healthier. It’s a refreshing, funny spin on your typical weight loss book.

“I’m so tired of books where a self-loathing heroine is teased to the point where she starves herself skinny in hopes of a fabulous new life. And I hate the message that women can’t possibly be happy until we’re all size fours. I don’t find these stories uplifting rather, I want to hug these women and take them out for fizzy champagne drinks and cheesecake and explain to them that until they figure out their insides, their outsides don’t matter.”

This is as much about Jen figuring out her inside as it is about her working on her outside. While this is a book about trying to lose weight, Jen doesn’t actually start losing weight until halfway through. She focuses on the part of weight loss that people need the most help: starting. To officially start her diet, Jen faces how much weight she has actually gained when she steps on the scale after years of avoidance.

“I don’t weigh this much. I can’t weigh this much. I’m a cute ex-sorority girl, not some six-foot-four, corn-fed linebacker from Nebraska. … This weight is wrong. Wrong. I’m not a professional wrestler. Or a baby beluga. Or a barrel full of butter. I step on and off a fourth time.”

Lancaster stumbles upon self discoveries that women can connect with. “A month ago I was fat and happy. But ever since I made the decision to drop a few pounds – way less easy than it sounds, by the way – I’ve become obsessed with my size, and in so doing I’ve inadvertently allowed my inner critic to have a voice. And you know what? She’s a b****. Like now when I see my underpants in the laundry, I no longer think Soft! Cotton! Sensible! Instead I hear her say Damn, girl, these panties be huge.”

Then Jen decides to photograph her weight loss journey: “How the f*** did Jabba the Hutt get into my bedroom, and why is he wearing my pearls?”

Jen's empowering whit is uplifting, and she isn’t afraid to tell the world she listens to Ricky Martin, The Spice Girls and “Barbie Girl” while working out.

Lancaster doesn’t glamorize her results. She doesn’t make it sound easy, gloss over her failures or tip toe around the fact that she’s heavy. She makes her failures funny:

“The bike sold the very first day, largely due to the ad I posted: TWO FAT PEOPLE ADMIT DEFEAT. … Please buy our bike and get it out of our house so it’s no longer a daily reminder of how we failed in our quest for fitness. Also? We’re tired of dusting it. P.S. It will fit in an SUV, but we can also deliver it for an additional fee, although do you really want two sweaty fat people having simultaneous heart attacks in your stairwell? P.P.S. Naturally, we’ll need cash because we’ll probably use the money for pie.”

But this isn’t about failures. It’s about getting back up every time you slip up. This book will motivate you to make healthier choices and help you quell your inner critic.

Lancaster doesn’t focus on the numbers, she focuses on her feelings. “Despite all this dieting and working out, I’m not yet thin. … But I can carry laundry up two flights of stairs, and I can run for the phone or on a treadmill. I don’t sweat when I eat anymore, and when I do eat, it’s not cookies for dinner. My blood pressure is now normal, my cholesterol is out of the danger zone, and I don’t even have to take Ambien, because obesity no longer causes my insomnia.”

Lancaster is tough, yet vulnerably honest. If you want a bikini body by August, this may not be the guide for you. But, if you want to feel good about sporting that bikini no matter what size you are, go ahead grab a copy.

austen fan gambles on locket

2008-06-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

A lock of Jane Austen’s hair (well, not definitely her hair…but that’s what they think) sold for £4,800($9,478) at an auction house in England.

The hair – inside a locket – is shaped to look like a weeping willow that hovers over a gravestone bearing Jane Austen’s name.

It’s well known and documented that Jane’s sister Cassandra cut off some of Jane’s hair after she died, according to the Dominic Winter Auction House. But they can’t prove that this is in fact Jane’s hair.

“Of course, the lock could have been cut from the head of another Jane Austen as the name is not uncommon and Jane even had a cousin named Jane Austen,” according to the auction house. “It's easier to believe this is the Jane Austen than not.”

Image paying almost $10,000 for hair that might be from the head of a famous writer, but might also just be some random dead woman’s hair? Hairwork was popular in England during the Victorian era, according to Dominic Winter. However, this was an expensive endeavor, so not just any Joe could have hairy jewelry.

“The lock of hair was more of a gamble as in spite of research we could not prove its authenticity,” auctioneer Chris Albury said. “It's definitely of the right period and as a sophisticated piece of hair artwork incorporating Jane Austen's name on balance we and other specialists think it most likely that this is the Jane Austen rather than another of the same name. If we had been able to prove it conclusively I'm sure there would have been a lot more bidders and a much higher price. The truth may never be known and at the end of the day I don't think it was an expensive gamble for a serious Austen collector used to spending five-figure sums."

an unpleasant pheasant experience

2008-06-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

John Price explains the title of his book “Man Killed by Pheasant”:

“Well, it’s based on a unique experience – nearly being killed by a pheasant. While I was still in graduate school, when my wife and I were living in a small Iowa town, I was driving down a rural highway when a pheasant flew in my open driver’s side window, flapped around in my face and nearly caused me to dump the car in a ditch. Luckily I knocked it back outside and was able to safely pull over, where I remained for a long time, trying to recover myself.

The surrounding landscape was also experiencing some dramatic surprises that summer. It was the summer of 1993, during some of the worst state-wide flooding on record. The rural countryside along my commute had become nearly unrecognizable, a mixture of massive destruction and surprising natural beauty. Flooded cornfields were full of wild birds, and the unmown ditches erupted with native grasses and wildflowers.

For most of my life I had thought of my home landscape and its wildlife as ordinary, overly-familiar and predictable – that wayward pheasant and the floods changed my thinking. I got a brief glimpse of what Iowa used to be, a rich ecology of wetlands and prairies, a place of surprises and danger … and it transformed me and my relationship to the place in which I had been born and raised.

Having spent most of my life wanting to leave home, I was now longing for a deeper relationship to what remains of wilderness here, a new sense of kinship with place. … This memoir is about those kinds of transformative experiences. But we don’t usually recognize their significance until much later. At the time of the pheasant incident itself, I was just frightened out of mind and embarrassed – who expects their obituary to read ‘Man Killed by Pheasant?’”

Read my review of this book.

a midwestern meditation

2008-06-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a bad review for “Man Killed by Pheasant and Other Kinships”. Up until page 109 I mechanically turned pages and read words, but couldn’t absorb anything. John Price’s memoir about growing up in Iowa is rich in subtlety and is completely ordinary, which means you have to work harder to appreciate it. (And since I’m a devout New Englander, it was hard to connect with his Midwestern mentality.) I struggled trying to pay attention to Price, and I almost gave up several times. But once I reached the meat of the memoir (around the time he marries Steph) I got caught up in Price’s tone and mindset, and the rest flowed.

The problem is the title of the book tricked me. “Man Killed by Pheasant” sounds like a quick, quirky book about life’s absurdities. It’s not. It’s a book about a man. An ordinary man. From the Midwest. It’s not groundbreaking, especially heartbreaking or shiny. (And it’s definitely not some summer fluff for the beach.)

Price’s words are quiet and soothing and comforting. His conversations with his hallucinating grandfather are especially touching and are what won me over.

This book may resonate better with regional readers, but that’s not to say coastal connoisseurs can’t embrace Price’s perspective on prairies:

“The grasses were in fall glory, the rich russet of the little bluestem, splashed with golden nests of buffalo grass, blue grama, needle-and-thread. …The place was loud with birdsong – meadowlarks, warblers – and a goshawk shot across the sun and over a distant ridgeline.”

Price may not have converted me to a life of prairies and pheasants, but he has quietly painted a beautiful ordinary life.

fashion critiques from the campaign trail

2008-06-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sen. John McCain’s daughter Meghan is writing a children’s book about her father which is set to be released in September—just about the time of the Republican National Convention. What better way for the 71-year-old to reach a different demographic – diapers in daycare. It also sounds like a smart way to sway parents.

Aladdin Books, of Simon & Schuster, will publish the biographical picture book, and some of the proceeds will go to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

“This book will offer children the unique opportunity to see the character building events that happened over his lifetime, experiences that led up to his current bid to become the future President of the United States," said Meghan, the oldest of the Junior McCain Clan of four.

Meghan, who has interned at Newsweek and Saturday Night Live, also has a blog http://www.mccainblogette.com/, which covers the campaign through the eyes of a 23-year-old.

“Yesterday, Dad gave a speech to the FL Society of Newspaper Editors in Orlando ... Mom is back on the trail and is having a blast.” It’s not often that “campaign” and “having a blast” are linked together, but that’s what you get when you visit Meghan’s blog. She also posts loads of pictures that show the senator from a more personal perspective.

While her site isn't politically poignant, you can catch “Dad” grilling, “Mom” grinning and fashion critiques from the campaign trail.

Side note: McCain's wife Cindy also agreed to write a book earlier this year, but changed her mind and the deal was canceled.

dickens' desk not quite a deal

2008-06-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Charles Dickens’ desk, which he used to write A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, has been sold for £433,250 (about $850,000) – not quite the deal you’d expect for used furniture.

The mid-Victorian mahogany desk and walnut chair were sold at Christie's auction house, and the money will go to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, which was founded by a friend of Dickens.

While the desk set was expected to sell for between £50,000 and £80,000 ($100,000-$160,000), bidding turned “extremely fierce,” BBC reported. Irish collector and tarot card tycoon Tom Higgins had the winning bid, but has no plans to craft anything more than a letter or two on the desk.

If you’re looking for a place to write your great work, you don’t have to shell out a fortune. Skip Christie’s and check out Jordan’s, which has plenty of desks for sale that give off that same retro vibe.

not your typical mommy memoir

2008-06-03T09:05:00.001-07:00

With an honest, clear voice Mary Pols uses “Accidentally on Purpose” to tell the true story of how a one-night stand gave her a purpose in life at the age of 39 – her son Dolan. Pols’ parenting partner became Matt – a 29-year-old unemployed man she met at a bar that definitely did not meet her soul mate standards. Pols learns to reprogram her parenting expectations and revel in the fact that whoever Matt was, Matt was in love with their son.

“Where or how your child comes to you doesn’t matter. How you feel about the resume of the father of your child should not matter at all. All that’s relevant is what’s written on his face when he looks at his son.”

Whether you want, have or hate kids, Pols entices you with intimate, simple and sweet moments with her son:

When we are cuddling at bedtime Dolan says, “I like you forever.”
“And I love you,” I say back.
“I love you too,” he says. I kiss him ferociously, on his forehead, on his cheeks, again on his forehead. He kisses me back, the same way.
“I have to go,” I tell him.
“No,” he says. “I’m keeping you.”
I soften. “One more minute,” I tell him.
“Two minutes,” he tells me.

But Pols doesn’t sugarcoat motherhood. And she doesn’t paint herself as an angelic mother – even with a name like Mary. She makes mistakes, and she owns up to them. Her imperfect life is so attractive because it works, and we can identify with it.

“When I went to see the movie Knocked Up, I laughed so hard I could barely hear some of the dialogue. It was our story in so many ways, except that Katherine Heigl was way prettier than I and Matt was way cuter than Seth Rogen. Also, we didn’t fall in love the way they did, which would have made everything so much easier. We were messier because we were real. And our story didn’t end on the day our baby was born.”

“Accidentally on Purpose” is a smooth, witty read that will fly by. You don’t have to be a mother or a chronic baby cooer to enjoy this book.

press secretary spills all

2008-05-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

Scott McClellan's new memoir is causing quite a stir. The former White House press secretary criticizes the Bush administration in "WHAT HAPPENED Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," which Bush backers are calling the work of a "disgruntled" former employee.

Here's an excerpt from the book:
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

There was one problem. It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."

Sounds juicy.

bag ethics and urban eco-legends

2008-05-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

“Hey, Mr. Green” is chalk full of eco-friendly solutions for extreme environmentalists and green-dabblers. Mr. Green – a.k.a. Bob Schildgen from Sierra magazine – offers realistic, simple solutions to everyday environmental quandaries, hitting on subjects such as garbage disposal guilt, bag ethics and urban eco-legends.

Schildgen obviously spent an obscene amount of time researching topics, but shares this information in an entertaining way, translating Btus and CO2s into my kind of language – dollars and sense. (And if a certain subject peaks your interest, he includes great sites and books for further reference.)

If you want an excuse to buy a new fridge, read Mr. Green’s “At Home” section, where he explains “the average refrigerator today uses a third less energy than those of fifteen years ago.” And since about 80% of an old fridge is recyclable, don’t feel guilty about chucking it.

Mr. Green taps into the new plastic epidemic, with a “Decoding Plastics” section, and compares bacon and tofu to the paper or plastic predicament. (I’m not crazy, it really does make sense. Just read the book.)

Should you charge your phone in your car or house? Which is more environmentally friendly: a six-pack of canned beer or a six-pack of bottled beer? Is embalming environmentally hazardous? These are just a few of the questions Mr. Green answers. Did you know that we burn about 300 million gallons of gas in lawnmowers every year? As the price of gas keeps climbing, Schildgen’s suggestion of ripping out your lawn and planting herbs and flowers sounds pretty good. And, at the price of groceries today, an herb garden doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all. Being eco-friendly can also save you some green!

If reading about food makes you hungry, you’ll also find recipes in here. Mr. Green offers tips on how to lighten your environmental footprint to varying degrees – from a soft saunter to a dainty tip-toe. So don’t be intimidated by the subject. You don’t have to be a tree-hugger or hemp-lover to buy this book.

Previous Post

facing the fact that your food has a face

2008-05-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Burgers don’t grow on trees. (Immediately an image of a patty bush pops into my head.) It sounds silly, but I really don’t know how many people realize their food has a face. Or maybe people just don’t want to make the connection.

Catherine Friend’s “Compassionate Carnivore” makes the connection in a way that is easy to digest because she fully admits she was once a naïve meat-eater, not questioning how her burgers grew:

“When it comes to my food, meat or otherwise, for most of my life I’ve been a baby bird, tossing my head back, opening wide, and letting corporate agriculture … feed me whatever they want. … It’s not okay anymore.” In an effort to enlighten herself about the meat industry, Friend has uncovered a world of callous factory farming that would make you lose your appetite – at least for a little while.

“Compassionate Carnivore” is a dense textbook with a human voice. In an interesting, conversational and empowering way, Friend gives you more than you can chew, but chops it up in bite-sized pieces and warns you not to try and eat everything at once. For people not interested in changing their diet, or giving up meat altogether, Friend supplies readers with simple solutions such as paying attention to where their meat comes from:

98% of the eggs we eat come from caged chickens. “They never see the sun, never chase grasshoppers, never take dust baths in loose soil…” And since these hens are always caged, they aren’t healthy, so they’re kept alive with antibiotics. Friend makes me want to spend the extra dollar on cage-free eggs.

90% of broilers – chickens bred to gain weight quickly – have leg problems, 26% have chronic pain and others have heart problems, according to a study Friend cites. These factory chickens are also fed arsenic to help them grow faster. I don’t know about you, but the idea of eating arsenic-laced chicken is not so appetizing to me.

“95% of the pigs raised in this country are raised in long, hanger-type buildings from farrow to finish, or as the industry likes to say, ‘from squeal to meal.’” But confined hogs suffer chronic respiratory diseases, ulcers, foot and leg infections and skin mange.

Instead of encouraging this animal cruelty, replace factory meat with meat from animals raised humanely, Friend suggests. Look for local farmers markets at www.ams.usda.gov/FARMERSMARKETS or research community-supported agriculture (CSA) at http://www.localharvest.org/. By paying a membership fee, you receive a share of the farm’s harvest – its like a farm subscription, Friend says.

From taste to nutrition, how an animal is raised and fed has an effect on the end result. Grass-fed cows have less overall fat, and contain up to four times as much beta-carotene as factory cows. Grass-fed beef also has more omega-3s than chicken, according to Friend.

Unlike so many animal rights activists, this book doesn’t make you feel judged for your meat-loving ways. Instead, Friend encourages readers to continue to sit at the meat-eating table, and make a difference. “Carnivores speak most loudly not through their words, but by how they spend their food dollars. People who remain at the table and support sustainable, responsible, and humane agriculture by purchasing meat from these farmers are sending a message to those farmers: ‘Keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t stop.’”

Another easy change you can make it waste less meat. According to Friend, we’re throwing away 22.5 million pounds of meat a day. “Every day we are killing then completely throwing away 5,000 cattle, 36,000 hogs, and 2 million chickens.”

What makes this book work is Friend does not assume the role of the infallible narrator. She lumps herself in with the rest of us, thus making change seem doable.

And after reading this book, “you’ll be able to impress a room full of farmers with your knowledge of farming jargon, which I’m sure is everyone’s secret desire.”

Previous Post: not all librarians like to read

not all librarians like to read

2008-05-08T06:48:00.001-07:00

If you have a strange craving for library history lessons, or you want to know when the first children’s book was published (“Little Pretty Pocket-Book,” by John Newbery in 1744) Scott Douglas’ “Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian,” is your best bet.

Unfortunately, I don’t really care about the literacy rate in Niger or Burkina Faso. (Frankly, I don’t even know where Burkina Faso is.) Maybe Douglas is just too clever for me. Or maybe he’s trying too hard to be clever (this is my guess).

“Quiet, Please” is a twenty-something librarian’s memoir set in Southern California. Douglas, the librarian, interrupts his own story with side notes and footnotes. Some tidbits are interesting, like Footnote # 13 in Chapter 355.0097, “Libraries do not usually waste the time to take someone to collections unless the fine is greater than $20.” Good to know, since I’m chronically a library delinquent who never returns books on time.

But his “For Shelving” segments added boring library facts that even librarians would snooze over. (John J. Beckley was the first librarian of the Library of Congress.) It seems as though Douglas wrote this book, then went back later and tried to make it more than just an interesting look at life in a library. Had he just stopped while he was ahead, Douglas would have had a pretty good book on his hands.

Douglas has a keen eye for observation, and he shares a witty analysis of coworkers who don't read and other crazy characters that frequent the library. At times his insightful honesty is refreshing, and at other times I want to slap him. (This must be a common reaction since several patrons in the book threaten to kill him.) In his effort to be completely honest, Douglas comes across as a jerk at times. Douglas on seniors: “As sad and cruel and insensitive as it was to say, they would be dead soon, anyway.”

“Quiet, Please” exposes a modern-day library where teens are tripping out, middle-aged mothers are addicted to computer games and paranoid patrons have conspiracy theories when they can’t print. Overall, it’s an interesting book once you skip over all the intellectual fluff.

read now, ask again later

2008-04-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

You wouldn’t think a story about cancer would be very funny, but author Jill Davis takes a sometimes morbid diagnosis and isn’t afraid to show the humor in it.

“Within a week of my mother’s diagnosis, she started interviewing caterers for her own postfuneral luncheon.”

Emily, Davis’ main character in “Ask Again Later,” uses her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis as an excuse to quit her high-stress job as a lawyer, leave her boyfriend and move back home. While it seems as though she’s running away from her life, Emily is slapped in the face by her past.

Davis cuts up her story into bite-sized segments so it’s easily digestible. Chapters such as “Wacky Sock Day,” “Sharp Right Turn” and “Funeral Food” seem silly, but are all layers, uncovering Emily’s quirky traits and the lives of others around her – her bachelor father who eats blue popsicles for breakfast; her batty mom who counts towels and tosses out those that aren’t part of a perfect set of six or eight; and her sister – a very pregnant socialite.

Davis has the ability to personify the simplest object, perfectly describing how people are faced with loss. “There is a wooden tray covered in felt. Cuff links sit there tarnishing, not knowing he’s dead.”

You find yourself bonding with Emily and her silly, irrational self. Her one-sided conversation with a baby about her enlarged pores: “He smiles. He knows stuff. He burps, and in that burp, I’m convinced, was a message: Try alpha hydroxyl.”

Emily shares illogical rationale that weirdly makes sense. “I’ve never had a mammogram, and I stopped doing self-exams after my mother was diagnosed, because I was afraid I’d find something I didn’t want to find.”

Davis, a former writer for the “Late Show with David Letterman,” has a witty voice that interweaves loss and mortality with love and a dash of crazy.

I picked up what I thought was chick-lit and finished a heartfelt exploration of a human facing the past and dealing with loss.

Barbie just has good genes

2008-04-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

“Rethinking Thin” is chock full of scientific diet studies, translated into understandable English. It’s not your normal fluff diet book. New York Times science writer Gina Kolata digs deep into the bowels of dieting, citing studies that affirm what people struggling with their weight have believed for years: Being fat is not always a choice. One study examined adopted children and found that those whose biological parents were overweight were also overweight, regardless of how heavy their adoptive parents were.

Kolata weaves studies with society’s pressure to be thin and the mental anguish that overweight people endure. She also cites studies that show how difficult it is to keep weight off, and research that shows that childhood obesity is unavoidable, regardless of health education and health-food options at school.

For anyone struggling with their weight, this book is a relief. It tells you that you’re not crazy and that sometimes your body has a mind of its own. But Kolata almost victimizes fat people, ignoring the fact that some people are overweight simply because they eat too much.

Kolata’s point is a good one: Give up trying to reach that unattainable number, and focus on being healthy and happy with yourself.