Archive for August 2006

Terri Jentz hunts her attempted murderer in “Strange Piece of Paradise”

Imagine that you’re a 20-year-old Yale student, celebrating the summer of 1977 by attempting to cycle across the United States with a friend. You’re one of two young women beginning an audacious adventure in the vast American West. You’re eager to soak up the country that just celebrated its bicentennial. But you’re almost murdered before […]

College textbook prices cause blogger revolts

University students across the country are standing in lines to buy textbooks for their new classes. They’re handing over clenched fistfuls of cash. They’re griping. And, in some cases, they’re protesting. Reacting to exorbitant textbook prices, illogical and self-serving bookstore policies, and few choices about where else to turn, students are up in arms.
The red […]

“Southern Cross” explores Bible Belt history

Mention the Bible Belt of the United States—bastion of religious culture—and it brings to mind the portrait of a preacher-man in flowing robes and at the pulpit, thundering messages about the wages of sin, the evils of dancing and drink, and the vile temptations of the devil. The Bible Belt carries with it a unique […]

Sy Montgomery makes “The Good Good Pig” fly

Sy Montgomery is crazy about animals. She’s stalked man-eating tigers in India, cavorted with legendary pink dolphins in the Amazon, and been emotionally restored by the touch of giant spiders. That’s just the tip of the fauna-packed iceberg floating through Montgomery’s incredible life. But in The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood, […]

“Anansi Boys” and “Rocket Boys” are books that mirror art and life

It’s said that fiction mirrors life. Here are two stories—Anansi Boys, a fiction by Neil Gaiman, and Rocket Boys, a nonfiction by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.—in which a single pivotal decision propels life in a far different direction than ever imagined and carries with it far-reaching consequences. Not only do these two tales commence in […]

Scott Smith strands readers in a creepy, crumbling “Ruins”

Many readers this summer have already booked their reservations to experience The Ruins. This long-awaited new novel by Scott Smith has become the thriller to explore this season. It has readers murmuring warnings like “Don’t go in the jungle!” as they flip through its fast-turning pages. But should you take the chance of getting lost […]

“America’s Report Card: A Novel” scores an A+

Having earlier met (and cracked wise) with my new bud, Ralph, from The Book of Ralph and likewise lived it up with assorted Troublemakers, I was ready—really ready—to check out John McNally’s grades via America’s Report Card.
Happily, the author (if not the country) earns a straight-up A+ for taking readers on an enormously enjoyable […]

Read around the planet with Salon’s Literary Guide to the World

Are you stuck at home this summer, aching to escape the pedestrian heat of your neighborhood in favor of the exotic swelter of somewhere like New Guinea? Well, Salon’s nifty, newish book feature, The Literary Guide to the World, will take you globe-trotting and book-hopping.
Bug spray isn’t required, and neither is a passport. Just put […]

Joshilyn Jackson creates a quintessentially Southern tale with “Between, Georgia”

The off-the-map Southern town of Between, Georgia, as Joshilyn Jackson tells the tale, is an eccentric place with deep-seated family feuds, ill-kept family secrets, and intermingled family lines. The town’s central attraction is nothing much to speak of: a museum devoted to porcelain dolls and butterfly farms. But the novel’s central attraction is something with […]

The Building of Renaissance Florence: An Economic and Social History, by Richard A. Goldthwaite

Much has been written of Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance. But noted author and historian, Richard A. Goldthwaite, in his book, The Building of Renaissance Florence: An Economic and Social History, provides an insightful and detailed perspective of the city’s development, beginning with historical background and concluding with the far-reaching consequences of Florence as […]