Wichita Eagle: Books

Watermark Books: New & Recommended (Feb. 5)

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:08 CST

“Wild Thing,” by Josh Bazell (Little, Brown, $25.99) In this sequel to his best-seller, “Beat the Reaper,” Bazell once again applies his keen eye for irony and hypocrisy to murder, corruption, insanity, and the occasional lake monster. Fast-paced, violent, and hilarious, “Wild Thing” confirms Bazell’s reputation as one of the most unforgettable voices in crime writing.

“New York Diaries,” edited by Theresa Carpenter (Modern Library, $26) New York City: the Big Apple, the crossroads of America. What better way to experience this iconic metropolis than through diary entries by natives, visitors, tourists and philosophers? Beginning on January 1, Carpenter pulls entries from four centuries worth of archives, in order to provide a compelling snapshot of life in the Capital of the World.

Watermark Bestsellers

Children’s books: How much mischief can one dog cause?

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:28 CST

What do you say when your dog misbehaves? “Eli, No!” words and pictures by Katie Kirk (Abrams Books, ages 3-8, $14.95) gives a pretty good answer.

Eli is a good dog who sometimes gets into bad trouble. Whether it is eating too much, making a mess, or hogging the bed, the owner’s response is the same: “Eli, no!”

Kirk writes an engaging story that explores the many ways a dog be a bother. Most two-page spreads are a simple five-word sentence followed by “Eli, no!” Her full-color block illustrations, however, greatly expand the story, giving ample detail.

‘A Good American’ tells a family’s history, set to music

Lisa McLendon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:14 CST

“A Good American” by Alex George (Amy Einhorn Books, 387 pages, $25.95)

As a nation of immigrants, the United States has millions of stories of arrival, finding a way in a new country, creating a new self. Some are bold; some mundane. Some are tragic; others joyous. “A Good American” starts off with two of these stories.

‘The Demi-Monde: Winter’ posits a chilling future

Lisa McLendon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:11 CST

“The Demi-Monde: Winter” by Rod Rees (William Morrow, 517 pages, $26.99)

“The last thing we wanted was peace breaking out in the Demi-Monde.”

Where did the time go?

David L. Ulin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:17 CST

“The Fat Years” by Chan Koonchung, translated from the Chinese by Michael S. Duke (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 336 pages, $26.95)

I’ve long been partial to E.M. Forster’s formulation that the role of fiction — or one of them, anyway — is to suggest a “buzz of implication,” a flavor of time and place more nuanced than history allows. That’s because fiction is an art of narrative, of emotion, defined by the singular movements of individuals as they navigate specific corners of the world.

‘Tender Hour’ an inside look at publishing of decades past

Gaylord Dold — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:15 CST

“The Tender Hour of Twilight: Paris in the ’50s, New York in the ’60s: A Memoir of Publishing’s Golden Age” by Richard Seaver, edited by Jeanette Seaver (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 457 pages, $35)

Now that American publishing is dominated by anonymously gigantic international conglomerates, and now that Amazon threatens to monopolize the terms of the book trade and any knucklehead with a laptop can call himself an author, it is hard to believe that books once threatened to torch culture’s superstructure by throwing literary bombs at the religious and social hierarchies. But that’s what happened when writers like Beckett, Genet, Burroughs and Henry Miller appeared in Boston and Biloxi, courtesy of a courageous few small publishers. One can only imagine the shudders of horror (and secret prurience) that passed through the Monsignor when he first opened “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” in 1958.

1968 Paul Theroux mystery best left buried

Gaylord Dold — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:14 CST

“Murder in Mount Holly” by Paul Theroux (Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious, 160 pages, $22)

In 1968, “Murder in Mount Holly,” by the then-28-year-old Paul Theroux, was published in the United Kingdom. It was the third novel by Theroux, who would go on to create a number of universally admired travel works, along with a handful of genre-bending novels that established his reputation as a world-class writer.

Watermark Books: New & recommended

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:15 CST

“West of Here” by Jonathan Evison (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $15.95) Spanning more than a hundred years, “West of Here” follows the narrative one

small fictional town, Port Bonita, on the Olympic Peninsula. With a vibrant cast of characters, “West of Here” tackles the never-ending tension between

taming nature and preserving it. This is storytelling at the grandest scale. Evison will be at Watermark on February 15.

Newbery, Caldecott winners announced

HILLEL ITALIE — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:21 CST

NEW YORK – This year’s winners of the top prizes in children’s literature were honored for stories of resilience over the most everyday troubles: a boy grounded by his parents, a dog that loses its favorite toy.

Jack Gantos’ “Dead End in Norvelt” won the John Newbery Medal for the best children’s book of 2011, and Chris Raschka’s “A Ball for Daisy” won the Randolph Caldecott Award for best illustration. The prizes were announced Monday by the American Library Association during its midwinter meeting in Dallas.

No cash prizes are given, but the awards are watched closely by booksellers and librarians and often lead to increased sales and a lasting place on a school or store bookshelf. Previous winners include such favorites as Louis Sachar’s “Holes” and Brian Selznick’s “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film “Hugo.”

Watermark Books: New & recommended

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:49 CST

"The Odds: A Love Story" by Stewart O’Nan (Penguin, $25.95) Marion and Art Fowler are struggling: with their marriage, with unemployment, with the impending foreclosure of their house. Taking a risk, they book the bridal suite at Niagara Falls’ swankiest hotel, taking a chance that the roulette wheel will salvage their finances and perhaps even save their marriage. This novel is a bittersweet gem, much like the charming "Last Night at the Lobster." O’Nan will be at Watermark Books for a ticketed event on January 26 at 7 p.m.

"The Quality of Mercy" by Barry Unsworth (Random House, $26.95) Unsworth’s latest book revisits the time and characters from his 1992 Booker-Prize winning book, "Sacred Hunger." It is 1767, as Britain is on the brink of the Industrial Revolution, and the lives of two men–one an Irish fiddler, the other a banker and son of a shamed slave ship owner–are entangled through revenge, loss, and the business of making money. Complex and poignant, "The Quality of Mercy" explores the struggles of the poor and powerless against the rich and powerful.

Watermark Bestsellers.

'The Odds' explores a broken marriage and a desperate choice

Lisa McLendon — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:11 CST

“The Odds” by Stewart O’Nan (Viking, 179 pages, $25.95)

Stewart O’Nan doesn’t write sweeping epics, doesn’t delve into places far away or times long past. Instead, he peers deeply into the personal — the real lives of real people, their dreams and fears, their triumphs, however small, and their failings, however petty. In these lives, he teases out larger truths, the truths we can all relate to, even if we haven’t shared the experience.

Marriage with a few extra quirks

Jim Higgins — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:05 CST

“The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband” by David Finch (Scribner, 240 pages, $25)

“Someone else might question why his wife would sit him down and informally evaluate him for Asperger syndrome — in her pajamas no less,” David Finch writes in his unusual memoir. “(But) at no point during that evening in Kristen’s office did I wonder about it.”

One book, two sides of a story

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:26 CST

“The Thorn and the Blossom” by Theodora Goss (Quirk Books, 80 pages, $16.95)

Books with a gimmick often make me wary — they run the risk of relegating the story itself to the background, or being too-clever-by-half in service to the gimmick.

The gimmick of “The Thorn and the Blossom” is a two-sided, accordion-folded presentation: start on one side and you get “Brendan’s Story”; start on the other side and you get “Evelyn’s Story.”

WSU students launch online literary journal

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:17 CST

The students in the MFA program at Wichita State University will launch Mojo, an online literary journal, this weekend. The journal features short fiction and nonfiction pieces as well as poetry. The inaugural issue includes an interview with Tim O’Brien, author of “The Things They Carried,” the most recent Big Read Wichita selection.

The journal can be found at www.MikrokosmosJournal.com. The annual print literary journal Mikrokosmos will continue to be published.

The journal’s producers will host a launch party at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Jaded Pearl, 1716 E. Douglas. The event is open to the public.

Author mixes fantasy, history in ‘A Discovery of Witches’

Alice Mannette — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:26 CST

Not all vampires are evil. So says a prize-winning Renaissance scholar who created a fantasy world where a centuries-old vampire intermingles with a witch who neglects her powers.

On Tuesday, Deborah Harkness, author of the New York Times bestseller “A Discovery of Witches,” will discuss her novel in Wichita.

Recently out in paperback, “A Discovery of Witches” examines a world where humans live alongside vampires, witches and daemons.

'Running the Rift' finds hope amid horrors of war

Lisa McLendon — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:46 CST

“Running the Rift” by Naomi Benaron (Algonquin Books, 363 pages, $24.95)

When a book wins an award for promoting social justice — in this case, the Bellwether Prize, established by writer Barbara Kingsolver — one might expect it to be heavy-handed or preachy.

End of ‘Child 44’ trilogy disappoints

Connie Ogle — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:12 CST

“Agent 6” by Tom Rob Smith (Hachette, 467 pages, $25.99)

There are two books fighting for attention in Tom Rob Smith’s latest novel, and the fact that one of them is fairly compelling isn’t enough to prevent “Agent 6” from becoming something of a mess. The third and final work in what has been up to this point a bracing, original series, “Agent 6” turns out to be a disappointment. It’s overcrowded with plotlines and stretches over too long of a timeline to sustain any narrative momentum. Worse, it’s at least one story short of satisfying resolution.

Wichita State professor Albert Goldbarth’s poetry collection 'Everyday People' is inventive and satisfying

DONALD MACE WILLIAMS — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:45 CST

“Everyday People” by Albert Goldbarth (Graywolf Press, 185 pages, $18)

This, by my count, is Albert Goldbarth’s 26th full collection of poetry, and it runs to roughly 40,000 words, not including a comparatively skippable prose essay near the end. That’s a lot of poetry to have written in the 2½ years since the last previous collection, especially when most of it — even where the themes turn to illness, death, and grief — throbs with Goldbarth’s garrulous energy, as exuberant and unpredictable as a Barry Sanders touchdown run.

Books offer fun and often insightful facts about words

Howard Shapiro — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:34 CST

“Alphabetter Juice Or, The Joy of Text” by Roy Blount Jr. (Sarah Crichton Books, $26)

“Robert Hartwell Fiske’s Dictionary of Unendurable English: A Compendium of Mistakes in Grammar, Usage, and Spelling with Commentary on Lexicographers and Linguists” (Scribner, $17 paperback)

New collection features William Gibson’s nonfiction writings

Chris Foran — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:15 CST

“Distrust That Particular Flavor” by William Gibson (Putnam, 272 pages, $26.95)

Ever since he coined the term “cyberspace” in 1981, speculative-fiction writer William Gibson has been a go-to guy for people looking to get a jump on where technology is taking world culture.

Turns out being the go-to guy makes for a busy schedule. In addition to his 10 novels — the longer he writes, the closer his stories get to the present — Gibson has been a recurring contributor to magazines, spoken at publishing events and written introductions to and reviews of books he’s admired.