Wichita Eagle: Books

Essays offer a fresh introduction to a profound, brave thinker

Arlice Davenport — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:03 CDT

“Is God Happy? Selected Essays” by Leszek Kolakowski, translated by Agnieszka Kolakowska (Basic Books, 327 pages, $28.99)

Leszek Kolakowski is likely the most important thinker you’ve never heard of.

Novelist draws a winning hand in ‘Octavo’

Lois Carr — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:02 CDT

“The Stockholm Octavo” by Karen Engelmann (Ecco, 416 pages, $26.99)

Karen Engelmann’s first novel, set in late 18th-century Stockholm, is a captivating indulgence in political intrigue, romance, societal manners of the time and cartomancy. “The Stockholm Octavo” centers on Emil Larsson, a card player and bon vivant of the Town (that is, Stockholm). He has recently done well enough at the gaming table to purchase a position of responsibility in the Office of Customs and Excise. This rise in station is accompanied by a demand from his superior to elevate his standing in society by marrying. Determined not to risk his newly gained title and ensuing comforts, Emil sets about to find a suitable and desirable trophy wife.

In poetry and faith, life matters

Gordon Houser — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:03 CDT

“My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer” by Christian Wiman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 182 pages, $24)

Christian Wiman, a well-known poet and until recently the editor of Poetry magazine, has written what may become a spiritual classic.

Watermark Books & Cafe best-sellers (May 19)

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:04 CDT

Watermark Books & Cafe

Best-sellers

1. "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss

New biography shows how ‘Narnia’ author C.S. Lewis’ intellect, imagination were formed

Arlice Davenport — Sun, 12 May 2013 09:03 CDT

“C.S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet” by Alister McGrath (Tyndale House, 448 pages, $24.99)

One of the great ironies of British literature is that some of the best writers in the English language have been Irish: James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney.

Novel set in WWII France doesn’t hold together

By Lisa McLendon — Sun, 12 May 2013 09:01 CDT

“Ignorance” by Michele Roberts (Bloomsbury, 231 pages, $25)

War has a thousand stories, and many – most, one could argue – don’t have to do with the battlefield. The stories that make the newspaper are the big ones, but everyday people trying to get on with their everyday lives often have far more complicated stories to tell.

It’s these people who are at the center of Michele Roberts’ novel “Ignorance” – residents of a village in France during the Second World War, trying to get by while food is rationed, winters are cold, and German soldiers inhabit their streets.

Best-sellers from Watermark Books and Eighth Day Books (May 12)

Sun, 12 May 2013 08:59 CDT

Watermark Books & Cafe

Best-sellers

1. "About Crows" by Craig Blais

From myth to movie: 'The Searchers' explores cinematic classic

Gaylord Dold — Sun, 05 May 2013 08:05 CDT

“The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend” by Glenn Frankel (Bloomsbury, 405 pages, $28)

The Parker clan were Baptist revivalists, part-time rustlers and small-scale con men who pulled up stakes in the Appalachians and headed for Texas, a Mexican backwater where a lack of law courts and free land beckoned.

‘Stag’s Leap’ shows triumph of art over heartbreak

Arlice Davenport — Sun, 05 May 2013 08:01 CDT

“Stag’s Leap: Poems” by Sharon Olds (Knopf, 112 pages, $16.95, paperback)

Whoever thinks that the confessional movement in American poetry died with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton in the 1970s should think again.

Texas Book Festival announces one-day Highland Park fest

Robert Philpot — Sun, 05 May 2013 08:00 CDT

For the past several years, if you wanted to get a taste of the Texas Book Festival, you traveled to Austin in October and spent a weekend hopping from session to session while dozens of authors spoke.

But the Texas Book Festival, working in partnership with Texas Monthly and the city of Highland Park, will bring a one-day event featuring top Texas authors on May 11 at Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane in Dallas.

The festival is only a few hours long, but as several authors will be speaking simultaneously, it still offers that Texas Book Festival session-juggling experience.

Watermark Books & Cafe best-sellers (May 5)

Sun, 05 May 2013 08:05 CDT

Watermark Books & Cafe

Best-sellers

1. "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed

W.S. Merwin’s ‘Selected Translations’ and two new versions of classic poetic works show why we need world literature

Arlice Davenport — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:40 CDT

“Selected Translations” by W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press, 424 pages, $40, hardback)

“Poet in New York” by Federico Garcia Lorca, edited by Christopher Maurer; translated by Greg Simon and Steven F. White (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 320 pages, $17 paperback)

Best-sellers from Watermark Books and Eighth Day Books (April 28)

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:35 CDT

Watermark Books & Cafe

Best-sellers

1. "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.

Photographers in ‘Eight Girls’ seem out of focus

Lois Carr — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:28 CDT

“Eight Girls Taking Pictures” by Whitney Otto (Scribner, 342 pages, $25)

Alfred Stieglitz recounted a time in his career when “artists who saw my early photographs began to tell me that they envied me; that they felt my photographs were superior to their paintings but that, unfortunately, photography was not an art.” Stieglitz strove from that point to get photography recognized as a respected art form.

Best-sellers from Watermark Books and Eighth Day Books (April 21)

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:53 CDT

Watermark Books & Cafe

Best-sellers

1. "Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain" by Ryan Blair

Lemony Snicket faces his fears, tales of breaking up and more

PIPER CASTILLO — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:50 CDT

In his new book “The Dark,” Lemony Snicket, a.k.a. Daniel Handler, writes,“You might be afraid of the dark, but the dark is not afraid of you.” Then he lures a young boy named Lazlo through some spooky scenarios.

But don’t despair; as he did in his 13 books known collectively as “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” Handler doesn’t just scare the bejeebers out of young readers, he also continues to make them smile.

For adults looking for a few laughs, Handler is the co-creator of the website whywebrokeupproject.com, which invites the heartbroken to share their worst breakup stories with the world. If they’re lucky, they’ll receive a reply from Handler himself.

Binchy’s latest a cozy, satisfying tale of Ireland

Shelly Walston — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:48 CDT

“A Week in Winter” by Maeve Binchy (Knopf, 336 pages, $26.95)

“A Week in Winter” by Maeve Binchy is a gratifying, blustery read full of rich characters, a sea-spray setting and a compelling plot that carries the reader from start to end.

Nobel laureate’s ‘Sandalwood Death’ a good introduction to China

Gordon Houser — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:45 CDT

“Sandalwood Death” by Mo Yan (University of Oklahoma Press, 409 pages, $24.95)

Chinese writer Mo Yan won last year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. “Sandalwood Death,” first published in Chinese in 2001, is the second volume in the University of Oklahoma’s Chinese Literature Today Book Series.

Big-name authors coming to Kansas

Lisa McLendon — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 07:55 CDT

Wichita book lovers, there’s an embarrassment of riches for you this week: four big-name authors are doing readings in the area over seven days, three in Wichita and one in Salina. And there’s something for everyone: Southern culture, wry humor, literary speculative fiction and memoir.

Ann B. Ross

The author of the “Miss Julia” series – the latest of which is “Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble” (Viking, 368 pages, $26.95) – Ann B. Ross has a doctorate from the University of North Carolina and taught literature before becoming a full-time writer. She’s hit the best-seller list several times with her “Miss Julia” books, of which there are 14 at this point.

William Least Heat-Moon publishes his travel pieces as he intended, without editorial interference

Lois Carr — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 07:50 CDT

“Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories From the Road” by William Least Heat-Moon (Little Brown and Co., 402 pages, $29.99)

The topic is travel, and the locations are far-flung: Kansas to New Zealand, Long Island to Japan, Great Britain to Alaska. William Least Heat-Moon’s latest book is not a meandering travelogue, however, but a philosophical peregrination about the act of travel, its universal effects and personal consequences.