Reading
Bookini
Follow this ‘Guide’ on a Literary Exploration of the Circle of Life
May 15th, 2013
The stories in Ramona Ausubel’s new collection, A Guide to Being Born, will appeal to readers who are willing to make a certain intellectual commitment, appreciate lyricism and delight in the absurd. Read more »
Bookini
Tweep-Turned-Author Off to a ‘Perfect’ Start
April 30th, 2013
Kelly Oxford is a legitimate Twitter phenomenon with more than 507,000 followers, including Jimmy Kimmel and Mindy Kaling. She’s not the first person to parlay humorous tweets into a book deal (Justin Halpern did it in 2010 with Sh*t My Dad Says), but this 35-year-old mother of three is something special. Her new book, Everything Is Perfect When You’re a Liar (It Books, $26), proves her sassy sense of humor isn’t limited to 140-character bursts. Oxford can really write, and these short, biographical essays about growing up awkward (and frequently stoned) in Canada are every bit as funny as deadpan tweets such as, “How do you get a red wine stain off a baby?” Read more »
Reading
‘Led’ Tablet
'Sound and Fury' turns classic Zeppelin images into a multimedia experience. Is this the future of coffee-table books?
April 30th, 2013
Neal Preston, whose photos grace the hallways and rooms of the Hard Rock Hotel, was Led Zeppelin’s tour photographer in the band’s heyday. Now, more than 30 years later, he’s releasing an e-book for the iPad, Led Zeppelin: Sound and Fury (Warner Music, $10). This is like a traditional book turned up to 11. In addition to photos and text, there are video and audio interviews, set lists and memorabilia (tickets, backstage passes, press releases and Swan Song Records inter-office memos). There’s a forward by Stevie Nicks and testimonials from other bands (Heart, MuteMath, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, etc.) about how much they love to get the Led out. There’s also the fun of swiping and scrolling on a device that would have been unimaginable during those ’70s-era national tours. Read more »
Bookini
Heart Joins Hilarity in New Sedaris Collection
April 24th, 2013
I know David Sedaris is a funny writer, and you should know it too. Since the publication of Barrel Fever (Little, Brown & Co., 1994), he’s kept readers and live audiences howling at his comic misadventures and wry observations. Remember Sedaris’ stint as a department store elf at Christmas? How about his essays on life in France, where he and his partner, Hugh, lived before relocating to England? Sedaris is the real deal. He’s not just concerned with being witty and tickling funny bones; he has a way of sharing the truth that’s as artful as any fiction writer. Sedaris creates an honest connection with his readers—a genuine bond. Read more »
Reading
In Memoir, Astor Heiress Details Impoverished Mansion Upbringing
April 24th, 2013
There is almost nothing about Alexandra Aldrich, a direct descendant of John Jacob Astor, our nation’s first multimillionaire, that gives away her aristocratic roots. She is shy and unassuming. She drives an old Subaru and wears ankle-length skirts that would be less at home in a four-star restaurant than they are in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Crown Heights, New York, where she now lives. In a world of Paris Hiltons, Aldrich is not your typical heiress. Then again, your typical heiress doesn’t grow up dirt-poor in a storied, nearly two-century-old mansion. Read more »
Bookini
'Drunk Tank Pink' is a Red-Letter Read
April 9th, 2013
The title of Adam Alter’s Drunk Tank Pink comes from a late-’70s experiment that revealed “the miraculous tranquilizing power of bright pink.” Once researchers noted test subjects were significantly weaker after staring at a piece of pink cardboard, prisons started painting their holding cells pink. Public housing enjoyed less vandalism after a new coat of pink paint, and community buses installed pink seats. Read more »
Reading
Forgive Us for Not Recommending the Bland but Passable 'A Thousand Pardons'
March 26th, 2013
If you like your contemporary fiction nice and safe, look no further than Jonathan Dee’s A Thousand Pardons (Random House, $26). The plot is layered and reasonably paced, but the novel has no sharp edges. It is almost completely free of any stylistic flair, there’s nothing here that announces “This is a novel that must be read.” Read more »
Reading
Karen Russell’s Last Book was a Finalist for the Pulitzer. Maybe this One Will Win.
March 12th, 2013
When critics and readers describe Karen Russell’s fiction as fantastic, they’re not just referring to Russell’s facility with language, her clever plotlines or her boundless imagination. Russell’s stories are surreal little gems—humorous, macabre and uniquely her own. Read more »
Book Jacket
In the thrilling Bob Lee Swagger series, The Third Bullet’s the charm
January 31st, 2013
Remember what I said last time about making an effort to read more serious fiction in 2013? I’ve already broken that resolution with one of my guilty pleasures. For the last few nights, I’ve curled up with Stephen Hunter’s The Third Bullet (Simon & Schuster, $27), the latest installment in Hunter’s “Bob Lee Swagger” saga that began with Hunter’s excellent Point of Impact (1993). Read more »
