There are way too many books coming into my life to keep all of them, but I wish I'd kept my copy of Stephen King's second novel, "Salem Lot". I sold it 20+ years ago, and now it's commanding a pretty nice price.
Category: Good Books
What urban dwellers never see
"Burtynsky: Oil" is a photography book that questions human accountability regarding the cost of the resource we so depend on to run our cars. It's worth a look. Also, check out the video of the curator at The Corcoran Art Museum who says, "Burtynsky shows us a world that has incredible importance in our lives."
100 years ago, Paris went under water
This month Palgrave Macmillian publishes a book about the great Paris flood of January 1910. It's by an author recently honored as one of the top young historians in the U.S. The publisher's website and book's blog link to astonishing photos of this historical event.
New books to anticipate
Here's a dozen new books to browse for upcoming reading January through April. Author names on the list include the known and unknown, the "known" being Ian McEwan, Anne Lamott and Martin Amis, among others. A mix of fiction and non-fiction. Get your reading table ready!
No monkey business here
Steve Jenkins children's book "Never Smile at a Monkey" tells you what you should never do if you encounter one of the surprisingly dangerous animals illustrated in his book. I went looking for it because of the book's cover deemed a favorite of 2009, and then found the content informative.
Best unread books
"The Spare Room" and 11 other books that should have succeeded this past decade but didn't. From The Guardian.
Audubon’s camera: “Waterbirds”
Theodore Cross has spent half his life photographing waterbirds on four continents. This book showcases his passion.
The unforgettables: 2009
All Sides Weekend on WOSU 820 AM NPR News last Friday included a discussion about unforgettable books read in 2009. Here's my complete list.
Xiao’s “The Cave Man”
Xiaoda Xiao's debut novel is a work of history in fictional form. Its spare prose lures us into a powerful story of imprisonment and human rights violations in Mao's communist China. Here's a review.
While holiday shopping … 5 books
When it comes to buying books-as-gifts for readers, I'm challenged to find something they'll like but haven't already read. So I'm on the alert for unusual books. These five caught my eye.
You can’t begin again with “Beginners”
It's been widely known for a long time that editor Gordon Lish reworked Raymond Carver's short stories. A new biography about Carver as well as one of Carver's original manuscripts pulls back the curtain on what went on between the writer and Lish. But how does that influence the way we read Carver going foward?
The book I missed: “Tears in the Darkness”
Here's the book I knew last summer I should read. "Tears in the Darkness" is described as history written as story. The husband-and-wife authors created it from thousands of sources and hundreds of interviews. They have received nothing but praise.
Content & design: “Too Much Happiness”
Alice Munro's recently released collection of short stories is predictably winning praise. But it's the design of her new book that's initially caught my attention.
Read me! A collection of American book ads
Dwight Garner's new book "Read Me: A Century of Classic American book Advertisements" gathers 300 vintage ads published during the 20th Century -- the century when "The Great Gatsby," "Ulysses," "On the Road," "Lolita," "Silent Spring," "The Joy of Sex," "Gone With the Wind," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Helter Skelter" and so many other classics hit our bookshelves.
In “A Meaningful Life” everything is all wrong
L. J. Davis's 1971 novel “A Meaningful Life” was reissued this year. It's a funny story about a protagonist who gets a wake-up call to do something about his dull life.
The Longest Chapter 