Sunday, April 20, 2008
"In Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living, Doug Fine writes about his hilarious adventures in green living and some surprising facts he discovered about energy consumption; such as, it takes several thousand gallons of jet fuel to fly an organic banana from Honduras to Silver City, NM, or three times the amount of fuel he uses in his car each year. After graduating from Stanford, Doug Fine strapped on a backpack and traveled to five continents, reporting from remote perches in Burma, Rwanda, Laos, Guatemala and Tajikistan. He is a correspondent for NPR and PRI and the author of Not Really An Alaskan Mountain Man. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Wired, US News and World Report, Christian Science Monitor, and Outside magazine. A native of Long Island, he lives in an obscure valley in Southern New Mexico alongside many goats and coyotes. Visit his web site at www.dougfine.com
Thursday, February 14, 2008
It’s the variety that makes Joe Hill’s collection of 20th Century Ghosts, (William Morrow, 2007) stand out from the crowd of horror novelists. The stories range from the grotesque, to unnerving, even poignant and nostalgic.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
A poet from the age of fifteen, Xiaolu Guo first came to London in 2002 as an experienced novelist and filmmaker from mainland China. Her observations led to her third book, the first in English, a remarkable mix of eastern and western ideals with a clever, funny, often profound and engaging writing style. Titled A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers: A Novel (Published by Nan A. Talese, September 4, 2007), The novel explores a subject that many people can relate to, the acquisition of a new language. This book was nominated for the 2007 Orange Prize for fiction. Read the review then listen to the interview, and view clips from her filmography. Xiaolu Guo is a talent we will see and hear more.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
"Prometheus stole fire and gave it to men."
-Apollodorus, The Library, book 1:7, second century B.C.
"My two great loves are physics and New Mexico. It is a pity that they can't be combined." So wrote J. Robert Oppenheimer, the enigmatic and mystic genius who managed to do just that at Los Alamos following his appointment as Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project.
The father of the atomic bomb was a unique polymath who can justifiably be credited with founding the foremost school of theoretical physics in America. Moreover, in contrast to many gifted mathematicians and physicists, Oppenheimer's intellectual curiosity extended well beyond the limits of his chosen career. He was a prolific reader and loved the arts, especially poetry. He was also fascinated by mysticism and with his remarkable facility to acquire languages with astounding ease, he learned Sanskrit so that he could study the ancient Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
The End of the Alphabet
by CS Richardson (Doubleday, 2007) is a one-hundred-and-nineteen-page gem coming out in paperback that you can read in one sitting. Be prepared to be taken on a roller coaster of emotion. It is the story of a couple, one of whom has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and told will not live past one month. It is a story of love, of courage, and of loss. It is a story you will read and pass on to friends, because we all admire this kind of love; we all fear this kind of devastation and find ourselves compelled to look into their abyss. The End of the Alphabet has just been awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for First Novel. Congratulations Charles!!
Monday, February 05, 2007
BookBuffet's political books review editor, Loree Fahy tackles the latest book by CNN anchor and managing editor, Lou Dobbs. Read this review of War on the Middle Class (Viking, Oct 2006) and weigh-in with your comments.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
As Barack Obama ponders the presidential bid, our new political books editor, Loree Fahy has chosen a timely review of this US Senator from Illinois' book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
(Crown, Oct 17, 2006)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
One of my favorite writers and critics, Francine Prose, has published a new work directed toward just about anyone interested in books. It has the unwieldy title, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write. (Harper Collins 2006) An excellent interview of the author appears in The Atlantic today.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Growing up with Dyslexia and ADHD, Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea learned to become an expert at reading people. He used these skills, 'learning opportunities' as he calls them, to build a $2 billion dollar empire.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Dan Brown's bestselling book, The Da Vinci Code has gone down in history as one of the most popular novels. Translated into 40 languages with over 40 million copies sold and garnering the author an annual income of $76 million dollars. But another book combining a plot to threaten the foundations of the church with stolen artifacts and Templars is out. The Parchment (Lindisfarne Books) by Gerald T. McLaughlin. Lovers of The DaVinci Code should take a look.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
I consider myself a reasonably fit person; I've done a couple marathons, I play tennis, bike and jog regularly, and I put in about 30 days of skiing a year. I've always had an inch or so of unwanted "padding." You know—that little bulge beside the bra strap, and spillage around my low-rise jeans. Well, it's gone -- all gone! I have an emerging abdominal six pack, and arm definition a 20 year-old would be proud of, and I am in my mid-forties. How? The Boot Camp Workout, by Cat Smiley.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Zadie Smith's first novel White Teeth (Penguin) set critics on the edge of their seats. Now that she has reached the ripe age of thirty she is once again back on track and solidly claiming her place in the literary firmament with her third work, On Beauty: A Novel.(Penguin) This work gathers narrative steam from the clash between two radically different families, with a plot that explicitly parallels Howards End. (E.M. Forrester is a favorite)
Sunday, April 24, 2005
If you're looking for a book you, your husband, boyfriend or co-worker might like, look no further than Malcolm Gladwell. The wunderkind writer for NewYorker magazine is influencing all the hip-intellectuals with his first two books... (photo by Brooke Williams)
Friday, January 21, 2005
It is Paris 1854 and Ella Lynch, a broke and beautiful courtesan, decides to take-up with the dashing and wealthy Francisco Solano—the future dictator of Paraguay—and move to his isolated country to become his mistress. Taking with her a servant, her possessions and a horse called Mathilde, she reports the news in letters back to Paris of her experiences in an exotic new world of isolation and adventure, power and wealth, fraught with harrowing challenges of war, disease, and her own spiral into her husband's cruel ambition.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Ann-Marie MacDonald's second novel, The Way the Crow Flies tops bestseller charts in the paperback edition in her home country. It portrays the Canadian Cold War perspective as experienced by the McCarthy family, who live in a small Ontario border town on an RCAF military base.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
If you are not inclined to air guitar while listening to your favorite rock riff, and playing in a Rock & Roll band was never your secret fantasy, then you must certainly go out and buy Jake Slichter's new book because you are missing-out on an interesting perspective of life.
Monday, August 02, 2004
In this technological age, statistics show reading is down. What individual and societal effect does this fact imply? Why should we care? Beyond all we are taught in school, the morals we learn from family while growing up—only reading, Edmundson argues, can shape our thoughts, opinions, actions as adults.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Betsy Prioleau is author of The Seductress (Viking Press, 2003), about women who ravished the world through the lost art of love. Reviewed by David Bowmanat Salon.com.
