11/24/2009

Prize-winning author tells story of civil rights pioneer
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine author Phillip Hoose said winning a National Book Award for his chronicle of a young civil rights pioneer was all the more moving because she took the stage with him when he accepted the honor.

BESTSELLERS
1. “Under the Dome” by Stephen

Books Calendar: Nov. 24
TUESDAY

Year’s new words have plenty of ‘lex-appeal’
You could “unfriend” your neighbor for remarking on your “tramp stamp”

11/22/2009

Dubious characters populate two thrillers
“Habits die hard,” the title character of “Rainwater” (Simon & Schuster, 245 pages, $23.99) says early on. “But I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known it would make you angry.”

American Relos keep moving on, from job to job
Americans have always been more willing than most to move to improve their lives, but now there is a name for it: “Relo.” Usually a noun but also a verb and adjective, it derives from “relocate.” As the economy is increasingly globalized, there will be more and more Relos.

Entertaining bio brings James K. Polk to life
On Sept. 4, 1844, former Massachusetts Gov. Marcus Morton attended a large rally in Providence for the release of the embattled reformer Thomas Wilson Dorr, who was being held in state prison. The rally served the dual purpose of advocating for Dorr’s freedom along with advancing the presidential candidacy of James K. Polk. Indeed, the tagline in many northern states in 1844 was “Polk, Dallas, and the Liberation of Dorr.” Yet, while the lingering affects of the 1842 Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island remained politically potent, the central issue in the campaign was the question of American expansionism.

Stories, quotes illustrate New England Patriots’ years of struggle
Providence Journal sports columnist Jim Donaldson has covered and written about New England Patriots football since 1979, during which he has collected enough facts, stories and quotes to bring the full history of this intriguing NFL franchise to light.

Violence against women, girls get a global look
Years ago, when I was director at a Providence shelter for battered women and children, we learned that a local official was demanding sex from women applying for federally subsidized housing. The young mother who alerted us feared for her family and for mothers who had been desperate enough to comply. She dropped her complaint.

Foster author’s ‘Crazy Heart’ gets reprint now that movie is on the way
Upcoming film starring Jeff Bridges brings first novel by RIC professor back into print

11/20/2009

Brown professor wins national poetry award
“I was surprised” to win the National Book Award for poetry, Keith Waldrop says

11/17/2009

BESTSELLERS
1. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books) (F-H)

In Agassi’s autobiography, he basks in his own lonely spotlight
His life is basically about tennis and he reveals how much he hates it

Sarah Palin sets the record right
Sarah Palin’s new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter’s pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn’t contain a single reference to the father of her grandson, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.

Here’s the real story behind the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’
It wasn’t so much the pilot who saved the day, as it was the construction of the plane itself

BOOKS CALENDAR
TUESDAY

11/15/2009

Brown professor in the running for a National Book Award
PROVIDENCE — At Keith Waldrop’s house, four graduate students read their poems and wait, heads bent, for their peers to comment.

On Turkey Day, Beyonce & Paul
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC says Paul McCartney and Beyoncé will star in back-to-back one-hour specials Thanksgiving night. It starts at 9 p.m. with a Beyonce concert that was taped last summer in Las Vegas.

Super villains spice up thrillers
Vince Flynn’s latest devastatingly effective thriller, “Pursuit of Honor” (Atria, 432 pages, $27.99), opens in almost typical fashion. I say “almost” because we never actually see the “series of explosions [that tear] through Washington, D.C., killing 185 and wounding hundreds.” The book starts after that Flynn staple has already occurred, setting the stage for a different, and more ambitious, tale.

The strange etchings of Giovanni Tiepolo
The Venetian Giovanni Tiepolo (1696-1770), father of nine, was celebrated for his luminous frescos on the ceilings and walls of villas, palaces, and churches, particularly in the New Residenz palace in Wurzburg above the grand staircase. His ceilings “become skies in which figures wheel and circle” in an “airy and intoxicating” composition, theatrical, operatic, mixing mythic and historical figures in a sumptuously lush crowd of angels and princes. He was also known for using “a cherry pink peculiarly Venetian . . . called Tiepolo pink.”

John Saul’s latest, and best, gothic novel
John Saul’s 36th psycho-gothic novel is riveting, frightening, deliciously eerie and outright terrifying. I couldn’t leave its compulsive and compelling plot, involving would-be orphans, a battle between a possible witch and a self-righteously rigid suburban crew of would-be Christians, hallucinations, voices, legends of an old insane asylum, strange murders, weird drawings, eviscerated dogs, sudden conflagrations and terrifically sympathetic main characters.

Jewish angst, finely wrought
Growing up gentile in the Catskill borscht belt, I was awed at the effortless wit of Jewish classmates whose nimble minds and tongues resembled Lauren Grodstein’s. She fills this novel with an entire New Jersey enclave of rich Jews who enjoy limitless possibilities marinated in angst.

Four new books look at life in ancient Rome
The more one knows of Rome, the more one understands oneself. Four new books aid the discovery.

11/10/2009

King ‘Dome’ of disappointment
Imagine the horror when a talented writer runs out of good ideas

President Wilson’s vision for world peace never materialized
America’s 28th president suffered a stroke that left him isolated in the White House

John Grisham’s short stories are long on characters
‘Ford County’ is set in the Mississippi community he often uses in his novels

BESTSELLERS
1. “Tempted (House of Night Novels)” by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast (St. Martin’s Press) (F-H)

Palin’s book tour aims straight for her fans
The former governor of Alaska will concentrate on visiting smaller cities and towns

Son, father clash no more
Ariel Sabar tells how he found solace in his memoir

BOOKS CALENDAR
TUESDAY

11/08/2009

Sometimes poetry can just be fun
Sometimes it’s important to let words slip outside their language. Sometimes we need to stop making sense. Lewis Carroll certainly realized this. His poem “Jabberwocky” has been beloved through the years because it uses English only as a basic foundation, then layers on its own tasty sounds. Children who hear the poem for the first time often respond by bursting out laughing. They understand instinctively that words don’t necessarily have to mean anything. They know that word sounds can create their own kind of meaning and music, and fun.

It’s not so easy being a man
Society has created injunctions around its idea of masculinity: one is told to “take it like a man,” “man up,” or, most simply, “be a man.” But in a culture that considers male issues to be as simple as a fist to the jaw, Kevin Canty’s “Where the Money Went” shows us what it is to write like a man, and as one. Writing about men’s issues is, at bottom, an analysis of the concept of domain — where one person ends and another begins. And in the small, fleeting spaces that allow for overlap, there is fertile ground for Canty’s talent.

Two mystery series still going strong
From the back alleys and boatyards of Vermont and Maine to the wild country and pub-riddled towns of Yorkshire: two new mysteries in successful series that show no signs of wear.

The life and hard times of Molly Ivins
There’s something about Molly: An eye-catching reporter with red hair, saucy, wide-apart eyes, an infectious laugh. . . . Molly went everywhere, making friends, enemies, and a devoted band of admiring colleagues. She was an intelligent original, a drinking, smoking, cursing charmer, who pushed the boundaries of journalistic wisecracking until her editors nudged her to move on. Like the time she wrote this rebuke of a Republican Congressman: “If his IQ slips any lower, we’ll have to water him twice a day.” Remarks like that gathered loyal readers and paved the way for Maureen Dowd.

Classic Irving, with all the twists and turns
Just as the season starts its stately march into the dark evenings of hibernation, John Irving gives us a wonderful, long read to carry us away. “Last Night In Twisted River” is Irving’s 12th novel and it’s just as satisfying as “The Cider House Rules,” “A Prayer for Owen Meany,” or “The World According to Garp.”

Peter Paul Rubens other life as a spy
When people think of Peter Paul Rubens, the 17th-century Flemish painter, they probably conjure up images of rosy-cheeked, buxom women, proud courtiers, and grand historical scenes. In “Master of Shadows: The Secret Diplomatic Career of Peter Paul Rubens,” Mark Lamster does nothing to dispel that familiar impression but a great deal to modify it.