Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 6/9/2008
-- Publishers Weekly, 6/9/2008
nonfiction| Web Pick of the Week |
 Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives Edited by Peter Orner. McSweeney’s, $24 (384p) ISBN 9781934781159McSweeney’s Voices of Witness series continues (following Voices of the Storm and Surviving Justice) with this collection of oral histories from undocumented immigrants, aka “illegal aliens”: “We hear a lot about these people in the media… [how] they are responsible for crime… take our jobs… [and] refuse to speak English. But how often do we hear from them?” Culled from new interviews, the book’s 24 subjects come from around the world (Mexico, China, South Africa, Colombia, Cameroon and others), each offering a vivid, personal, often wrenching and occasionally enraging first-person look into the immigrant experience, what editor and novelist Orner calls a “state of permanent anxiety.” Roberto, for instance, details narrow brushes with government agents as well as the everyday dangers inherent to unregulated work: “Nectarines are covered in this dust that makes your skin itch... You wear gloves when you’re [picking them] but, because of the sweat, your skin absorbs everything, right into the pores.” Diana, from Peru, worked on Hurricane Katrina cleanup and reconstruction crews while living 20 or more to a house: “I still have spots on my legs… from the chemicals and insulation that came off the walls at those jobsites.” Average news-watchers who think they have a grasp on the immigration debate may well find these stories, speaking for millions of invisible American residents, no less than revelatory. (June) |
NONFICTION
1001 Historical Sites You Must See Before You Die
Edited by Richard Cavendish, preface by Koichiro Matsuura. Barron’s Educational Series, $35 (960p) ISBN 9780764160448
In this thick travel guide, Cavendish, a veteran travel writer and columnist for History Today magazine, assigns readers enough must-see agendas to fill several lifetimes. Well-organized by region and graced with thorough historical descriptions of each locale, this volume’s impressive range incorporates everything from typical tourist destinations like Westminster Abbey, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, as well as unusual spots like the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Guinness Brewery in Dublin, and the Mercedes-Benz Factory in Stuttgart, Germany. What’s missing is the information a tourist would need actually to visit these sites: directions, hours of operation, and other handy tips are overlooked. Probably too heavy handed for a casual tourist, this guide would be most useful for the experienced traveler or history buff. (June)
Anatomy of Baseball
Edited by Lee Gutkind and Andrew Blauner. Southern Methodist Univ., $22.50 (232p) ISBN 9780870745225
In the intro to her contribution, Susan Perabo offers up a reason for once again delving into the subject of baseball: “As with love, the topic is inexhaustible because it feels like personal property to everyone who holds the sport dear.” The love connection shows clearly in these sweet, sometimes sentimental essays, penned by more than enough authors to field a team. Heavy-hitters George Plimpton and Frank Deford observe the overlooked virtues of playing right field and the mysterious ubiquity of the baseball cap. An excellent piece from Caitlin Horrocks introduces America to Pesapallo, a Finnish version of the game, while Rick Harsch battles it out with umpires as the manager of a ball team in Slovenia. Only a few of the essays strike out; despite occasional cloying nostalgia, clichés (one essay is actually titled “Ya Gotta Believe”), and a characteristically incoherent foreword by Yogi Berra, the collection offers a wide enough range to please both casual fans and the stat-obsessed. They may be circling a well-worn literary path, but most of these writers find, as Perabo suggests, “there is always something new—something original, something crucial—to add to the conversation.” (May)
Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition
Robert Pogue Harrison. Univ. of Chicago, $24 (262p) ISBN 9780226317892
Drawing from sources religious, literary and scholarly, Italian literature professor Harrison examines the human quest for happiness through centuries of gardens and gardeners, both real and fictional: “For millennia and throughout world cultures, our predecessors conceived of human happiness in its perfected state as a garden existence.” Gardens have provided education, creative expression and sanctuary throughout time, yet are “by nature impermanent creations that only rarely leave behind evidence of their existence.” Epicurus was among those who taught by means of the garden, cultivating patience in his followers: “a serene acceptance of both what is given and what is withheld by life in the present.” Other subjects include Homer, Camus, Dante and Boccaccio; what gardens in the Bible and the Qur’an say about attitudes toward life and afterlife; and the difficulty of perception in the modern world (“We live in an age… [that] makes it increasingly difficult to see what is right in front of us”). A fitting follow-up to The Dominion of the Dead, his thoughtful look at mortality, Harrison’s latest will give gardeners and nature-lovers a fascinating historical tour and a deeper appreciation for the craft: “Neither consumption nor productivity fulfills. Only caretaking does.” (June)
How Math Explains the World: A Guide to the Power of Numbers, from Car Repair to Modern Physics
Jim Stein. Collins Books/Harper Collins, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0061241768
Stein, a mathematics professor at California State University, explores the application of math to problem solving in the everyday, explaining tricky concepts and developing elegant algorithms for everything from scheduling auto repair to organizing a closet. He also demonstrates the power of the solution: “We advance, both as individuals and as a species, by solving problems. As a rule of thumb, the reward for solving problems increases with the difficulty.” Stein blends math history and complex theories with jokes in a seamless manner while looking into everything from quantum mechanics to voting, while still realizing the limitations of his field—“without experiments and measurement these tools [mathetmatics] are essentially useless”—and its more whimsical possibilities: “We do not yet have the mathematical objects needed to discuss art, or beauty, or love; but that does not mean that they do not exist.” Stein's work, mathematically rigorous but with minimal equations, will appeal to both casual and serious fans of math or physics, as well as those who take keen interest in problem solving. (May)
The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal
Laurie Notaro. Villard, $23 (240p) ISBN 9781400065035
In her latest collection of essays, Notaro (The Idiot Girl’s Action-Adventure Club) turns out a double-handful of chuckle-worthy vignettes, looking at episodes of panic on an airplane, spying on guests at a mountain resort, learning to live with the ex-con down the street and, of course, handling the numerous disappointments and betrayals of the human body. Notaro blends sardonic, often self-deprecating comedy with disarming sincerity, delving into weight gain and body hair issues without hesitation, but staying closer to house, hearth, and everyday life with husband and dog. Most of the time, her quips rise to the occasion, but occasionally fall flat (as in “Death of a Catchphrase”). Although the majority of Notaro's musings are light-hearted, she reveals an affecting serious side in her essay on a pet’s death. With plenty of humorous insight into the everyday debacles of an average gal from Arizona, these entertaining essays should make satisfying, bite-sized beach reading. (June)
My Trip Down the Pink Carpet
Leslie Jordan. Simon Spotlight, $21.95 (272p) ISBN 978141695559
Actor and playwright Jordan, who calls himself “the gayest man I know,” makes a raucous, energetic and occasionally wistful tour guide to his life in Hollywood and out. Readers may know Jordan best as “Beverley Leslie,” his Emmy-winning recurring role on TV sitcom “Will & Grace,” but Jordan spends remarkably little time dishing about that, or any other, job. Instead, he focuses much of the book on his personal life, especially the challenge and isolation of growing up gay in Chattanooga, Tenn., dealing with alcohol addiction and learning to accept himself. Sober since 1997, readers might wish for more details of his “drunken-addled sex life, a soap opera unto itself” (his harshest anecdote is a catty story about buying underwear for Beverly D’Angelo), but Jordan is funny and entertaining throughout. His grateful and optimistic tone is likable, and he proves most memorable when he gets serious; a story about joining an addiction recovery group populated entirely by heterosexual men sums up his appeal: vulnerable, wise, eye-opening and welcoming, Jordan should connect with just about anyone who’s felt like an outsider. (June)
Trespassers Will Be Baptized: The Unordained Memoir of a Preacher’s Daughter
Elizabeth Emerson Hancock. Center Street, $21.99 (288p) ISBN 9781599957081
“Daddy had a sermon voice and an at-home voice; his church smiles and his at-home grins; his damnation-from-above tone, and his damnation-on-whoever-flooded-the-bathroom-floor-trying-to-play-Olympics tone,” writes first-time author Hancock in this beautifully crafted and downright funny memoir about growing up a Southern Baptist pastor’s daughter in Kentucky. Hancock’s voice is a real find, managing both spirituality and irreverence in her account of family and flock. Parishioners jostling for her father’s attention are particularly skewered; on the competition among church ladies to prove themselves the most charitable: “Yes, Jesus was dirt poor… But this does not take away from the fact that if you really want to show that you love someone, you have to give them things.” While her father is the focus, Hancock gives much time to nuanced, loving observation of her mother, sister and other family members, achieving unexpected depth in the ongoing narrative of her grandmother’s long illness. A true gem of a memoir, this will resonate with anyone who grew up in a religious and/or Southern family. (June)
Undiscovered
Debra Winger. Simon & Schuster, $23 (208p) ISBN 9781416572671
In this lyrical, meditative memoir, film actress Winger (of Urban Cowboy, Terms of Endearment and others) employs a distinct voice—whimsical but economic, wise but restless, stylized but warm—to explore episodes from her life as a mother, daughter and actress. In short chapters and poems, each engaging and thoughtfully composed, fans will enjoy a few personal glimpses behind the scenes of her early work, but movie making isn’t the focus: “I love the work and don’t much care for the business.” Much of the text is devoted to family, motherhood and life in the country, but she expounds insightfully on the creative process and her desire to “light up the shadowy places, translate the unspoken, and allow it all to live together on the same page.” Illustrations of doors (by famed Twin Towers tightrope walker Philippe Petit) complement the text nicely, if never directly. Though it’s not for everyone, this slim volume should definitely click with an artistic or literary audience, and will give unsuspecting moviegoers a surprising new appreciation for Winger’s talents. (June)
LIFESTYLE
The Essential Best Foods Cookbook: 225 Irresistible Recipes Featuring the Healthiest and Most Delicious Foods
Dana Jacobi. Rodale, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 9781594866685
This thorough collection of recipes keeps health-conscious eating simple by making the most of fresh vegetables, lean meats and low-fat dairy products. Author Jacobi (12 Best Foods Cookbook) focuses on classic preparations with inventive twists: egg salad is brightened by curried onions, and citrus and capers turn that self-righteous standby kale into an appealing side dish. Main courses are wholesome, hearty, and frequently vegetarian, like Crisp Buckwheat Polenta with Mushroom Topping, which transforms humble ingredients into a decadent, crisp-salty treat. However, the book does include several meat and fish recipes, including Persian Chicken with Sour Cherries, a whole bird stewed in an exotic mix of fruit and spices, and Roasted Salmon with Moroccan Tomato Compote, which benefits enormously from the addition of fresh summer tomatoes (the sauce that pools at the bottom of the plate begs to be mopped up with a thick piece of bread—whole-wheat, of course). Since virtuous does not always mean abstemious, Jacobi concludes with a nice assortment of desserts, including offbeat options like Nutty Popcorn Bundt Ring and Tropical Fruit Salad with White Tea Syrup. Nutritional information at the bottom of each recipe assures that even these tempting indulgences won’t end in regret. (May)
The Family Table: Recipes and Strategies
Marie Breton and Isabelle Emond. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, $18.95 paper (192p) ISBN 9781554550371
In this bright, accessible collection, dieticians Breton and Emond (co-authors of Lunch Box: Creative Recipes for Everyday Lunches) offer over 100 recipes designed not only to get kids gathered around the dinner table, but also to get them helping out in meal prep. After a lengthy introduction covering everything from dinner table etiquette to the importance of daily routine to the logistics of cooking with children in the kitchen, Breton and Emond offer up simple recipes for kid favorites like meat loaf, pizza, Tex-Mex Tacos and Chicken Enchiladas, and a fun, quick and customizable baked egg dish called Eggs A La Carte. Most recipes are rounded out with tasks for kids like mixing spice rub for grilled flank steak, or dipping sandwiches in egg wash for Mozzarella Carozza (a meatless cross between a Monte Cristo and a grilled cheese sandwich). Many of the recipes will be familiar to children and their families, though some, such as Apple Veal Cutlets, Tomato Pesto Pork and Steak with Mushroom-Coffee Sauce may require parents to employ their salesmanship skills. (June)
ILLUSTRATED
Manhattan in Detail: An Intimate Portrait in Watercolor
Robert L. Bowden. Universe, $17.95 (78p) ISBN 9780789316912
This book features charming watercolor renderings of some of Manhattan’s most beloved landmarks, as well as some little-known treasures: alongside the evocatively blotchy image of Times Square at night is Vesuvio Bakery in Soho, run by Anthony Dapolito, “known and loved as the unofficial mayor of Greenwich Village.” Each painting is accompanied by a few telling details—who knew the city originally used Washington Square Park as a public gallows?—making a brisk, satisfying tour of Manhattan. Though watercolor is typically used to capture nature scenes, Bowden bridges the gap effortlessly with a careful brush stroke, muted colors and a skill for capturing the movement of a busy street scene. An artist who teaches at Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Bowden provides both a carefully observed introduction to the city and a new look at a familiar landscape, suitable for tourists and natives alike. (June)
FICTION
The Art of Keeping Secrets
Patti Callahan Henry. NAL Accent, $14 paper (384p) ISBN 9780451223951
Two years after Annabelle Murphy’s husband Knox dies in a plane crash, the wreckage is found—and with him is the body of a woman. In the disappointing latest South Carolina Lowcountry saga from Henry (following Between the Tides), the firm ground under Annabelle’s feet suddenly dissolves with questions as to who the woman was, and what her relationship to Knox might have been. Annabelle’s teenaged daughter, Keeley, struggles with feelings of anger and betrayal; her college-aged son Jake mans up as best he can. Her close male friend, Shawn, may turn out to be something else entirely. And into all their lives comes Sofie Milstead, a sad young woman who studies dolphins, who avoids most relationships and who knew who the mysterious woman was. Sofie doesn’t explain her connection to Knox until late in the story, and a sense of foreboding pervades the entire read. When all is finally explained, the payoff is meager, and a downer. (June)
The Front
Patricia Cornwell. Putnam, $22.95 (192p) ISBN 9780399154188
At the start of this weak sequel to 2006’s At Risk from bestseller Cornwell, Monique Lamont, a politically ambitious D.A., uses a speech at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., to launch an implausible anticrime initiative she’s labeled No Neighbor Left Behind (“The decline of neighborhoods is potentially as destructive as global warming”). Lamont orders her main investigator, Win Garano, to reopen the case of a blind English woman, Janie Brolin, murdered in Watertown in 1962. Lamont suspects Brolin may have been the first victim of the notorious Boston Strangler. For reasons that Lamont fails to coherently articulate, solving this crime will galvanize the public into caring about crime in general. Not incidentally, it will also bolster her chances of ascending to greater power. Lamont’s irresponsible approach to her job may strike some readers as bizarre, while Garano’s ambivalence about his boss adds little to his appeal. The unsophisticated depiction of power politics (e.g., Lamont suggests to the governor of Massachusetts that solving Brolin’s murder will make him Time magazine’s man of the year) is not what the legions of Kay Scarpetta fans have come to expect. (May)
Peach Blossom Pavilion
Mingmei Yip. Kensington, $14 paper (352p) ISBN 9780758220141
In this disappointing courtesan novel, a 98-year-old Chinese émigré woman in present-day San Francisco reviews her youth in early 20th-century China, where she was a ming ji, or “prestigious prostitute.” Falsely accused of rape and murder, Xiang Xiang’s father is executed, and her mother retreats into a Buddhist nunnery. Xiang Xiang, alone and friendless at 13, is tricked into entering the Peach Blossom Pavilion, where she is given the “art name” of Bao Lan, or “Precious Orchid.” Her extraordinary beauty and gifts in painting, writing poems and performing music, and in the bedchamber, make her a prize. After some improbable adventures (including a liaison with a female transvestite and a love affair with a Taoist monk), Xiang Xiang eventually makes her peace with what fate has made of her—just as the Japanese invade China. While Xiang Xiang’s forthright perceptiveness, grace and smarts are intriguing, Yip's English language debut vacillates between melodrama and fictionalized sociological study. That split personality is reflected in the clunky prose, which never does its lead justice. (June)
| Two Turtledoves |
| Prolific “alternate historian” Harry Turtledove poses moral questions among post-apocalyptic L.A. farmers and 1940s Nazi guerrillas in two July novels. The Man with the Iron Heart Harry Turtledove. Del Rey, $27 (544p) ISBN 9780345504340 In this disturbing novel, Turtledove examines the possible responses of the U.S. Army, Congress and ordinary Americans if they had been confronted with asymmetrical warfare after the official surrender of Nazi Germany. In our time line, number two SS leader Reinhard Heydrich was killed in 1942. In this novel we see what might have happened had Heydrich survived and lived to lead a grassroots resistance movement. Borrowing ideas from their late Japanese allies, the fanatics of the German Freedom Front launch a campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and assassinations. The Russians respond with calculated brutality, while the mother of a slain American soldier pressures President Truman to bring the boys home. The parallels to the current situation in Iraq are obvious but cleverly drawn, leaving readers on both sides of the war debate with much to think about. (July) The Valley-Westside War Harry Turtledove. Tor, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9780765314871 The thought-provoking sixth Crosstime Traffic book (after The Gladiator), set in a time line where 130 years have passed since the devastating worldwide nuclear war of 1967, shifts the series focus from commerce to wartime ethical dilemmas. The people of Westside, one of the tiny fiefdoms around what was once Los Angeles, don’t know that friendly trader Jeff Mendoza and his family are actually scholars visiting from the “home” time line, where the Soviets and Americans never launched their missiles. Jeff’s teenage daughter, Liz, chafes under the local conditions, struggling to get along with the sexist, condescending locals. When troops from the nearby Valley invade Westside, Liz finds herself fending off a love-smitten Valley soldier who, much to her surprise, is not stupid, just ignorant. Turtledove subtly challenges Liz’s assumptions about the superiority of her own culture, raising the question of the home time line’s responsibility to help the people of other lines, but leaving it for presumed sequels to answer. (July) |
CHILDREN’S
As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom
Richard Michelson, illus. by Raul Colón. Knopf, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 9780375833359
Michelson (Tuttle’s Red Barn) deftly draws comparisons between Martin Luther King Jr. and the German-born rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as he describes what led them to walk together in the famous 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. His brisk narrative, divided in two parts, chronicles their parallel experiences: both have parents who instill self-respect, both encounter discrimination and hatred, and both follow their fathers into religious careers. The first half, which Colón renders in earthy hues, covers King, while the blue palette of the second half focuses on Heschel. (Blue reminded the illustrator of “old movies about Europe in the World War II era.”) Similar language in both sections, e.g., the titular “You are just as good as anybody,” as well as scenes that echo each other, drive home the connections. Subtle variations in wording and layout keep the parallels from feeling contrived. Colón’s (My Mama Had a Dancing Heart) trademark mixed-media illustrations incorporate wavy, etched lines full of movement, suggesting the dynamism of a pastor and rabbi who insisted on bringing about change. Ages 6–10. (May)
The Donkey of Gallipoli: A True Story of Courage in World War I
Mark Greenwood, illus. by Frané Lessac. Candlewick, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 9780763639136
Often cheerless, this tribute to a WWI foot soldier and the donkey he used to evacuate the wounded doesn’t shy away from representing the grimness of war. The husband-and-wife Greenwood (The Legend of Moondyne Joe) and Lessac (Caribbean Alphabet) tell of Englishman Jack Simpson, who, while fighting for Australia, stumbled upon a donkey. Greenwood matter-of-factly relates Simpson’s brave deeds: “They made twelve to fifteen trips each day, carrying water to thirsty troops and returning with a soldier straddled over the donkey’s back.” Spreads showing the bandaged and bloodied are tempered by the naïve styling of the gouache illustrations. Only close examination of the dramatic scene of army boats going ashore under a barrage of Turkish gunfire will reveal the dead body floating in blood-tinged water. This account pays homage to the fallen of Gallipoli and one soldier’s unique heroics in particular, though colorful folk art and a furry animal don’t make the content any easier to digest. Ages 6–up. (May)
The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine
April Lurie. Delacorte, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 9780385731256
Sibling relationships form the core of Lurie’s (Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn) busy novel, but with so much diffuse action and so many half-sketched characters, readers might have trouble finding a focal point. Dylan Fontaine, the 15-year-old narrator, lives in chaos: his mother has moved out to live with Dylan’s art teacher; his older brother, Randy, gets stoned all the time and might drop out of school to tour with his band, The Dead Musicians Society; his father, an obstetrician, is never around, making their Brooklyn house the 24-hour gathering place for the band and, maybe, a spot to stash drugs. Dylan also struggles with girls—the one he wishes were his girlfriend has tapped her ex-boyfriend to help her shoot a documentary about Dylan, and the one in the band flirts with both Dylan and his brother. By the time Dylan steps out of the little brother/sidekick role to take center stage in his own life, the author wraps up remaining conflicts so tidily that she seems to cheat (Why would the boys have thought their mother had left for another man? Didn’t they know the art teacher was just a friend?). Ages 14–up. (May)
My Tiki Girl
Jennifer McMahon. Dutton, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 9780525479437
As McMahon’s (Promise Not to Tell) uneven first YA novel begins, 10th-grader Maggie, the narrator, has ensconced herself in the dysfunctional family of her new best friend, Dahlia Wainwright, whose imbalanced mother uses dolls to “predict the future, or maybe even control it.” While describing the Wainwrights’ rituals in great and often burdensome detail, the author gradually reveals that the formerly popular Maggie has survived a car accident that killed her mother and has left her with scars, a limp and a terrible sense of guilt. Maggie admires Dahlia (who “leaves traces of herself wherever she goes, the way a shooting star leaves a streak of light behind it”), and soon her feelings turn sexual. To this already freighted plot McMahon adds a story line about an improbably good band which the girls form with two classmates, both of whom seem cast much too conveniently. Although much of the story is far-fetched and ancillary characters are unconvincing, Maggie’s feelings for Dahlia are believable, and lyrical descriptions buoy the prose. A satisfying end rewards readers who make it to the finish line. Ages 14–up. (May)
Sorority 101: Zeta or Omega?
Kate Harmon. Puffin, $8.99 paper (272p) ISBN 9780142410172
Three likable college freshmen navigate the ups and downs of sorority rush. Starting at Florida’s Latimer University are Veronica (Roni), the rich Bostonian who turned down Harvard in order to blend in with the everyday kids; Lora-Leigh, the free-spirit fashion designer forced by her overprotective parents to attend college in her hometown; and Jenna, the Atlanta-born good girl who adores her family. The girls, who share the same dorm, bond immediately, though it’s unclear what connects them at first beyond being cute and nice. Everything is actually a bit too cute and nice in Harmon’s Disneyfied world; the friends adjust swiftly and easily to college and each immediately meets a hot guy. And while the girls’ excitement over choosing the “right” sorority is palpable, the author makes the choice seem like a life-or-death decision. About to learn what house she’ll belong to, “Roni was about to have a major organ breakdown.… Lungs collapsing. Brain aneurism. Heart attack.” Even for beach reading, this is lite. Ages 12–up. (May)
