All Features

Most anticipated books of 2011

Feature by the editors of BookPage
We’re excited for these 20 books—all coming out in 2011—for different reasons: Maybe we’ve heard a lot of buzz about a first novel. Or maybe it’s time for a follow-up after a hit debut last year. Maybe, we love a particular author so much that any new release is something to celebrate.
 

Feb 22

T.C. Boyle, WHEN THE KILLING'S DONE (Viking)
 
T.C. Boyle’s When the Killing’s Done is set off the coast of Santa Barbara and follows a National Park Service biologist who is trying to keep invasive, non-native species from killing off the island’s endangered native creatures. Her task is complicated by a local businessman and his folksinger girlfriend, who don’t think that the non-native species should be eliminated. This isn’t Boyle’s first foray into environmental fiction: His 2000 novel, A Friend of the Earth, is set in the future (2025, to be exact) in the wake of a massive species extinction.
 

March 8

Téa Obreht, THE TIGER'S WIFE (Random House)
 
She’s been published in the New Yorker (and included on their list of 20 Best Writers Under 40); her first novel has drawn glowing blurbs from the likes of Ann Patchett and T.C. Boyle. And, oh yeah, she’s just 25 years old. The pressure is on for Téa Obreht and her first novel, The Tiger’s Wife, about a young woman’s unraveling of family secrets, set in a Balkan country. Added bonus? An interview with Obreht happens to be BookPage’s March cover story.
 

April 5

Meg Wolitzer, THE UNCOUPLING (Riverhead)
 
In The Ten-Year Nap, Meg Wolitzer took a provocative topic—the lives and needs of stay-at-home mothers—and turned it into an insightful page-turner. Wolitzer's newest book, The Uncoupling, is equally intriguing: The women of Stellar Plains, New Jersey, mysteriously stop having sex with their significant others when the local high school's drama department decides to perform Lysistrata.
 
 
 
Tina Fey, BOSSYPANTS (Little, Brown)
 
Who doesn’t love Tina Fey? Whether she’s Liz Lemon of “30 Rock,” Sarah Palin on “SNL” or Ms. Norbury in Mean Girls, Fey keeps us laughing harder than just about anyone else. Bossypants tells her story, and the publisher says it includes “Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!”—sounds good to us!
 

April 12 

Ann Packer, SWIM BACK TO ME (Knopf)
 
Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Songs Without Words, crafts beautiful sentences and writes female characters (put in difficult situations) that will stick with you for days. Knopf is calling her newest work, Swim Back to Me, “her strongest work yet—a collection of burnished, impossible-to-put-down narratives framed by two stunning, linked novellas.”
 

April 13

Gwyneth Paltrow, MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER (Grand Central)
 
From her Academy Award-winning role in Shakespeare in Love to her commentary on goop.com, Gwyneth Paltrow is known for her good taste and sophistication (okay, and her uber-strict macrobiotic diet). We’re eager to see what she’ll bring to the table in My Father’s Daughter, a collection of recipes inspired by Paltrow’s dad.
 

April 14

Meghan O'Rourke, THE LONG GOODBYE (Riverhead)
 
Captivated and heartbroken, we read along with Meghan O'Rourke’s “The Long Goodbye” series on Slate. Now, we are eager to read the full-length book on the same topic: saying goodbye to a loved one. (O'Rourke was 32 when her mother died on Christmas Day.) The Long Goodbye will mix personal reflection with an analysis of grief. It’s sure to be a fascinating, emotional read. Have tissues handy.
 

April 15

David Foster Wallace, THE PALE KING (Little, Brown)
 
David Foster Wallace is considered by many to be one of the finest contemporary writers, and Infinite Jest a masterpiece. Two-and-a-half years after his suicide, Wallace’s final novel will become available to readers. The Pale King is about an IRS agent named David Foster Wallace, and Little, Brown is calling it “as original as anything Wallace ever undertook.”
 

May 3

Geraldine Brooks, CALEB'S CROSSING (Viking)
 
Geraldine Brooks writes some of the smartest historical fiction around (March, People of the Book). Her next novel, Caleb’s Crossing, takes place in the 1660s and is also inspired by a historical event—this time, the graduation of the first Native American from Harvard University. Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck is taken under the wing of a minster who sees the opportunity to convert his tribe through education. Caleb’s story is juxtaposed with that of the minister’s own daughter, who, despite a similar yearning for knowledge, becomes an indentured servant.

 

Adam Hochschild, TO END ALL WARS (HMH)
 
Best-selling history writer Adam Hochschild has written a history of World War I—To End All Wars—with a focus on moral drama. Known for his powerful storytelling, Hochschild turns his eye toward the people who refused to fight in the war: generals, cabinet ministers, war resisters.
 

June 7

Ann Patchett, STATE OF WONDER (Harper)
 
South America is the setting for both Ann Patchett’s biggest hit, Bel Canto, and her newest novel, State of Wonder, the story of two physicians who make discoveries in the Amazon jungle. The author herself says it’s a “sort of ‘Heart of Darkness’ journey.” Run, Patchett’s most recent novel, took place over the course of a single day in Boston; State of Wonder promises to have a more global scale.
 

June 28

Josh Ritter, BRIGHT'S PASSAGE (The Dial Press)
 
Josh Ritter is a talented singer-songwriter with an uncanny ability to tell a lyrical story in just a few hundred words. With Bright's Passage, his debut novel, we’ll see if the knack carries over to a longer form. Set in Appalachia, the story is about a World War I veteran who has lost his wife and must care for their baby. If the writing is as good as what we’ve come to expect in Ritter’s songs, readers are in for a treat.

 

Adam Ross, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (Knopf)
 
Adam Ross’s novel Mr. Peanut—part police procedural, part marital drama—had us flipping pages, deciphering symbolism and feeling very excited about a new talent. Now with Ladies and Gentlemen, Ross is back for his second outing, this time a collection of stories about “brothers, loners, lovers, and young people navigating lives full of good intentions, misunderstandings, and obscured motives.”
 

July 5

Chevy Stevens, NEVER KNOWING (St. Martin’s)
 
Chevy Stevens’ Still Missing—about a Realtor who gets abducted during an open house—was one of our favorite thrillers of 2010. Luckily, we only had to wait a year for a follow-up. Never Knowing is a companion book to Still Missing, about a woman who discovers her biological father is an infamous killer. The creepy factor is sure to be high.

 

Bonnie Jo Campbell, ONCE UPON A RIVER (Norton)
 
Bonnie Jo Campbell was a National Book Award finalist for American Salvage, a story collection set in the backwoods of rural Michigan. Her newest book, Once Upon a River, sounds like it’d be right at home next to True Grit and Huckleberry Finn. In it, a 16-year-old girl (armed with a biography of Annie Oakley) takes off in search of her mother and must use her wits to survive.
 

July 12

Glen Duncan, THE LAST WEREWOLF (Knopf)
 
Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf sounds like The Passage with a little bit of Twilight mixed in. Jake, “the last werewolf,” counts down to his own suicide (he’s worn out from too much hunting and sex). The plot thickens when Jake discovers that “there are powerful forces who for very different reasons want—and have the power—to keep [him] alive.” Should be sexy, gory—and lots of fun.

 

John Hart, IRON HOUSE (St. Martin’s)
 
With each subsequent novel, it seems that John Hart gets more acclaim. His first novel, The King of Lies, received an Edgar nomination; his second, Down River, won an Edgar Award; and his third, The Last Child, was a New York Times bestseller. (BookPage called it “a lineal descendant and spiritual soul mate of Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield.”) Iron House is about a couple of orphaned brothers accused of murder.
 

August 2

Amy Waldman, THE SUBMISSION (FSG)
 
Amy Waldman’s The Submission is about the competition for a 9/11 memorial—with a twist that could be lifted from current headlines. After the planning committee for the memorial chooses a submission, they discover that the anonymous designer is Muslim. If the chaos surrounding the “Ground Zero mosque” is any indication, we can bet that this will be a debut that gets people talking.
 

August 23

Alexandra Fuller, COCKTAIL HOUR UNDER THE TREE OF FORGETFULNESS (Penguin Press)
 
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller’s memoir of growing up as a white girl in Rhodesia, is a contemporary classic of the memoir genre. With Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, Fuller returns to Africa and the story of her mother and father.
 

October 25

Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 (Knopf)
 
Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (a play on Orwell’s 1984) was first published in three volumes in Japan. Critics have called this story a “magnum opus,” and readers have made it a bestseller in Japan. Now Americans can see what all the fuss is about. Added convenience: Knopf will release the trilogy as one single volume (it’ll be 928 pages!).
  

Find these releases and more on our Google Calendar:

 

We’re excited for these 20 books—all coming out in 2011—for different reasons: Maybe we’ve heard a lot of buzz about a first novel. Or maybe it’s time for a follow-up after a hit debut last year. Maybe, we love a particular author so much that…
Family & Relationships

Dating guides share helpful tips for getting lucky in love

Feature by Trisha Ping

Just in time for February 14, publishers are releasing scads of dating advice books promising a one-way ticket to relationship bliss. But in the sea of books with snappy titles, how to discover which one is best for you? And how long before the author brings forth the inevitable nugget of wisdom from "Sex and the City"? Read on to find out.

The Book: A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend: For Every Guy Who Wants to Be One, for Every Girl Who Wants to Build One

The Authors: Actress Felicity Huffman is best known for playing working mom Lynette on "Desperate Housewives"; Patricia Wolff is a playwright. Both are hilarious.

The Hook: This is a relationship book for guys, and it has the vintage-style noir illustrations to prove it.

Who Should Buy: Those who look for laughs with their relationship advice. But let’s face it: This book may be "for the boyfriend," but women will be the ones buying it for their boyfriends or brothers (or themselves).

Sample Quote: "A man’s emotional checklist is pretty basic: Am I hungry? Am I sleepy? Am I horny? If he’s content in all three areas, he’s pretty much okay. A woman’s emotional checklist reads more like a Russian novel. It’s long, complicated, confusing, and you spend a lot of time trying to keep the characters straight."

First Mention of "Sex and the City": page 91.

 

 

The Book: He’s Just Not in the Stars: Wicked Astrology and Uncensored Advice for Getting the (Almost) Perfect Guy 

The Author: Jenni Kosarin is a sex columnist.

The Hook: A man’s suitability for everlasting love and faithfulness is written in the stars. By pairing his Sun sign (determined by birth date) with his Venus sign (determined by birth year), you can "discover your man’s predisposition in love." Though the writing is sometimes reminiscent of US Weekly ("love profiles" of celebrities, and their romantic histories, are included), the astrological profiles are scarily accurate.

Who Should Buy: Anyone who thinks the stars tell all, or serial daters. If you’re in a relationship, just read the page on your current squeeze’s sign in the bookstore.

Sample Quote: "Isn’t it time someone tells the real story about how you should define men in love?"

First Mention of "Sex and the City": page 2.

 

 

The Book: Better Single than Sorry: A No-Regrets Guide to Loving Yourself and Never Settling

The Author: Jen Schefft won her season of "The Bachelor" when she became engaged to Andrew Firestone in the finale. After their break-up, she starred in "The Bachelorette" but ended up turning down all 25 of her eager suitors.

The Hook: Being alone is better than being in a bad relationship, so wait for the right man. And don’t let your parents, grandparents or smug married friends make you feel guilty about your single status.

Who Should Buy: Fans of Schefft (though don’t expect any meaty behind-the-scenes gossip about the TV show), or any woman who’s fed up with feeling bad about being single.

Sample Quote: "If you focus too much attention on the idea of getting a ring or having a wedding, you’ll lose sight of the most importation thing: the marriage. When I walk down the aisle, I want to feel 100 percent certain that the man waiting at the altar is the best person for me. I won’t let the glare of a diamond cloud my judgment. In fact, I’ve had one, and I assure you it doesn’t guarantee happiness."

First Mention of "Sex and the City": page 10.

 

 

The Book: Kiss and Run: The Single, Picky, and Indecisive Girl’s Guide to Overcoming Her Fear of Commitment

The Author: Elina Furman is a self-proclaimed commitment-phobe, and she’s written several books on dating and singles.

The Hook: Men aren’t the only ones with commitment issues. Don’t let a fear of commitment keep you from saying "yes" to true love and happiness.

Who Should Buy: Jen Schefft. (Just kidding.) Women who could say yes to at least three of Furman’s Top Ten Signs You’re Commitment-phobic, which include "You have a long and elaborate list of requirements for your ideal mate" and "You have a habit of dating ‘unavailable’ men."

Sample Quote: "If you’re choosing to be with someone who isn’t ready for a serious relationship, what does that say about you? Remember the Golden Rule: IF YOU’RE WITH A COMMITMENT-PHOBE, YOU ARE A COMMITMENTPHOBE."

First Mention of "Sex and the City": page 12.

 

 

The Book: Secrets of a Fix-Up Fanatic: How to Meet and Marry Your Match

The Author: Amateur matchmaker Susan Shapiro also wrote the memoir The Five Men Who Broke My Heart. Her narrative voice comes across as a bit smug at times—but after sending 12 couples to the altar, maybe she’s earned it.

The Hook: Getting someone you know to hook you up is the best way to find a good match—but you also need to learn to recognize the men who are marriage material and fix yourself up before you can be fixed up.

Who Should Buy: Singles with a large network of social, trustworthy friends—after all, any setup is only as good as the person making the connection.

Sample Quote: "The beauty of having someone near and dear to you set you up is that there’ll be no surprises or shocks about what lies ahead . . . you can feel semicertain that your next suitor will not be a tranny in hiding, a serial adulteror, or an axe murderer."

First Mention of "Sex and the City": page 3.

 

 

The Book:  Actually, It Is Your Parents’ Fault: Why Your Romantic Relationship Isn’t Working, and How to Fix It

The Authors: Philip Van Munching wrote Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt), and psychoanalyst Bernie Katz counsels families and couples on Long Island.

The Hook: Your childhood experiences shaped your personality and set the course for your adult life. If you can understand the way they did that, you too can have a healthy, conflict-free relationship.

Who Should Buy: Those with an interest in psychoanalysis; anyone who believes in nurture over nature; people who can’t seem to be in a relationship without conflict (Van Munching says that’s because you’re playing out dysfunctional relationships from your childhood).

Sample Quote: "[W]e don’t ask ourselves the single most relevant question when it comes to figuring out the origin of our longing for someone else: What does the personality trait I seem to be so drawn to in others reveal about me?"

First Mention of "Sex and the City": page 30.

Trisha Ping is currently single, but refuses to hold her parents responsible.

Just in time for February 14, publishers are releasing scads of dating advice books promising a one-way ticket to relationship bliss. But in the sea of books with snappy titles, how to discover which one is best for you? And how long before the author…

Children's & YA

Harry’s final bow

Feature by Howard Shirley

What weighs more 16,700 tons, has an orange and yellow jacket and appears one minute after midnight on July 21? It doesn’t take much wizardry to guess it’s the first U.S. printing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling’s record-breaking series about the boy wizard. The story runs for 748 pages, the only instance where this book’s numbers dip below any of its predecessors. (Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, topped out at 870 pages, making Book 7 the second longest in the series.)

Here are a few more numbers to consider as anticipation builds for this unprecedented publishing phenomenon:

• 12 million — Total number of books in the first U.S. printing, the largest first printing of any book in history, beating out the runner-up by 1.2 million books. The runner-up was 2005’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had a first printing of 10.8 million copies and sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, making it the fastest-selling book in history.

• 65 percent — The percentage of the paper used in the U.S. first printing of Deathly Hallows that will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), making Harry Potter’s seventh installment the largest purchase of FSC-certified paper to be used in the printing of a single book title. All of the paper will contain at least 30 percent post-consumer waste fiber.

• 100,000 — Deluxe edition sets of Deathly Hallows available in the U.S., featuring an exclusive wraparound jacket and full-color frontispiece by illustrator Mary GrandPré, along with a foil-stamped slipcase. List price for the deluxe edition is $65, compared to $34.99 for the regular book, although both prices are being deeply discounted by many booksellers.

• 37, 10 and seven — The number of libraries, cities and weeks for the cross-country Knight Bus National Tour sponsored by Scholastic. The tour features a triple-decker purple bus decorated like the magical bus Harry rides in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Fans can add their thoughts about the series to a video journal when the bus stops in their town.

• 1,700 — Fans who will get to meet Rowling for a midnight book-signing party at London’s Natural History Museum on July 21. Five hundred lucky winners, chosen at random, will also attend her midnight reading prior to the signing. And seven of these fortunate youngsters will be from the U.S., courtesy of an online sweepstakes from Scholastic

• 325 million — Total sales of the first six Harry Potter books to date, worldwide.

• 120 million — Number of Harry Potter books in print in the U.S. alone.

• $3.5 billion — Total gross worldwide for the Harry Potter films (so far).

• 138 minutes — Reported running time for the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, to be released in the U.S. on July 11. Not bad, considering the length of the book (870 pages).

• 12 — Number of Harry Potter stamps to be released by the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail. The stamps will feature the cover art from Bloomsbury’s British editions of all seven novels, as well as the Hogwarts school crest and the emblems for each of its four houses.

• $265 million — Expected cost to build "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," a theme park set to open at Universal’s Orlando Resort in 2009. Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the village of Hogsmeade, the mysterious Forbidden Forest and, of course, Hogwarts castle. "The plans I’ve seen look incredibly exciting, and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," Rowling says of the project.

Enough facts, more fantasy

Of course, the impending release of this seventh and final book has only served to spur curiosity about the fate of Rowling’s magical hero. And the biggest question is: Will Harry survive his final battle with Lord Voldemort?

Though the "Harry dies!" voices are the loudest in this discussion, most fans (including this writer) think they’re wrong, based on the tone of the novels, statements by Rowling and the audience for the books. On the other hand, bookmakers in the U.K. are now refusing wagers from bettors who believe Harry will be killed off in the final book, citing an avalanche of bets.

In any case, Rowling has stated that at least two major characters will die, and that one will get a reprieve, but she has hinted that these are not the only deaths. Speculation revolves around which of the characters she is referring to—Harry, Lord Voldemort, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Snape, Draco, Neville Longbottom, Ginny or another Weasley (or more than one).

Other questions fans would like to see answered in Deathly Hallows: Is Dumbledore really dead? Will Sirius Black come back from the dead? (In Egyptian mythology, the dog star Sirius is a symbol of resurrection.) What are Harry and Lord Voldemort reaching for on the book’s cover (shown above)? And of course, the classic question: Is Severus Snape evil or good?

Whatever the outcome for Harry and his friends, one prediction is certain—on July 21 a legion of fans will be reading into the wee hours to find out what happens to their hero. And I’ll be one of them.

Howard Shirley is a writer in Franklin, Tennessee, with a fascination for Harry Potter and the wizarding world.

What weighs more 16,700 tons, has an orange and yellow jacket and appears one minute after midnight on July 21? It doesn't take much wizardry to guess it's the first U.S. printing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in…

Children's & YAPop Culture

Junior pop-ups

Feature by MiChelle Jones

"I have this little sister, Lola. She is small and very funny. Sometimes Mom and Dad ask me to. . ." Thus begins each book (and episode) of Charlie and Lola, entertaining siblings with active imaginations, and it's a good thing, too, as little Lola has a strong will and a picky appetite. Clever (and extremely patient) Charlie comes up with all sorts of ideas to get her to eat in Charlie and Lola's I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, the hilarious pop-up version of Lauren Child's Kate Greenaway Medal-winning book. Tomatoes aren't the only things Lola refuses to eat, and in one spread her eyes roll around in her head as the uneaten items on her plate change. More nixed items show up on pull-down menus on the adjacent page. There are lots of flaps to tug this way and that as readers play with Lola's food. Try this with your own discriminating eater.

Peek in My Pocket is another great book for tiny ones. With paper-engineering by David A. Carter (who also created this year's 600 Black Spots, the latest in his design museum-worthy series) and simple text by Sarah Weeks, young readers are introduced to shapes, colors and textures presented by well-dressed animals.

In The Pompeii Pop-up subtle, but effective pop-ups by David Hawcock (The Ancient Egypt Pop-up Book) tell the story of the famous Roman city. Written by textbook author Peter Riley with Dr. Thorston Opper, curator of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum, the book covers more than what happened on that August day in AD 79. The authors also present a detailed view of life in the ancient world, explaining currency, religion, water management and home life. Pop-ups include a sailing vessel, a Roman bath and an erupting Mount Vesuvius; there is also a little booklet on Herculaneum and a wearable gladiator mask.

The classics are ripe for pop-up interpretation and Sam Ita jumps in with Moby-Dick, A Pop-up Book. Spectacular spreads in this graphic novel meets pop-up put the reader into Herman Melville's story: watching the Pequod sail out of harbor and later standing among the rowdy sailors on deck. For pure spectacle, though, nothing matches the moment when Capt. Ahab and his crew meet the legendary white whale. Ita sticks with water for the next book in this series, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, coming next spring.

The bright colors in Journey to the Moon by husband-and-wife graphic designers Lucio and Meera Santoro give it a storybook quality. But the defining feature of this book is the use of suspended pop-up elements: a steam locomotive in the Harry Potter-esque opening spread, a Spruce Goose-like plane (puffy clouds and the view of houses down below complete the illusion of flight), a Jeep kicking up dust. This series of adventures prepares the intrepid young narrator for the ultimate one dodging asteroids and star clusters as his bright-red rocket ship heads to the Moon, where a lunar module and other surprises await.

Who better than Matthew Reinhart to interpret George Lucas' Star Wars saga in pop-up? Not only is Reinhart a devoted fan (as he told BookPage in June), but his in-depth, layered approach is necessary to do justice to the beloved series. In Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, Reinhart employs his signature mini-pop sidebars, hand-painted paper and info-crammed pages to create a complete 30th-anniversary reference volume. Familiar characters and creatures (good and evil) are featured in large pop-ups C-3PO and R2-D2 with foil highlights, Darth Vader's head or small ones (Jedis, Yoda and a not-so-small Chewie). Anyone longing for their 1970s Star Wars toys will love the working lightsabers and a hovering Millennium Falcon, along with smaller pops of X-wing Starfighters and other ships.

Popigami: When Everyday Paper Pops! is a little like P.H. Hanson's books (My Grandpa's Briefcase and this year's My Mommy's Tote) in that it takes the ordinary accoutrements of adult life and renders them as fascinating as they appear to little ones. Through James Diaz's origami-like pop-ups and Francesca Diaz's illustrations, the pages of a newspaper become a flock of birds, boats made from boarding passes and passport pages sail across a map and chewing gum-wrapper birds swirl along with fall leaves (this spread could also be used to teach a lesson about littering). Father and daughter Diaz are masters of detail: An office mishap includes ducks made from legal pad paper swimming in coffee spilt across a calendar marked with deadlines and meetings.

Yes, readers will learn about forts, Native Americans, prospecting, upholding and breaking the law, and the Civil War in Anton Radevsky's The Wild West Pop-up Book. But what will really fire young imaginations are the amazing free-standing props that come with the book (once they figure out how to set them up). A Conestoga wagon, three-car Iron Horse, stage coach and a cowboy and his trusty horse cover transportation of the era, while the main drag of a bustling Western town forms the backdrop for countless showdowns.

Little girls, and some not-so-little ones, who loved Robyn Johnson's The Enchanted Dolls' House will find a beloved second home in Dream House. Billed as an interactive play house, the book opens out to reveal a two-story Georgian, complete with a formal dining room, ballroom, balcony and columns, courtyards and working lights(!). Young Mary-Beth, who lives in the house, shares her thoughts in a little booklet. While it would have been nice to have a paper doll of Mary-Beth, active imaginations (or a set of paper dolls to scale) will help fill the rooms, for which, by the way, there are several pieces of furniture to assemble.

"I have this little sister, Lola. She is small and very funny. Sometimes Mom and Dad ask me to. . ." Thus begins each book (and episode) of Charlie and Lola, entertaining siblings with active imaginations, and it's a good thing, too, as little Lola…

Children's & YA

Siblings see a hidden world

Feature by Alice Ray

Ever since the first Harry Potter book hit the bestseller list, children’s literature especially fantasy has been a hot commodity with editors. And if a story is strong enough to get people into bookstores, film producers figure it’s a sure bet to draw them into theaters. The success of the film versions of Eragon and The Chronicles of Narnia are ample proof.

Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi’s playful five-book series for middle-grade readers, The Spiderwick Chronicles, is next in line to get the star treatment. On February 15, the story of twins Jared and Simon Grace, and their older sister Mallory, will be brought to theaters by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios in a film directed by Mark Waters. The three Grace children move to an old Victorian mansion in upstate New York with their mother. There, in a secret room, the children find an old book, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You, written by their great-great uncle, that classifies the different types of fairies, goblins, brownies, ogres and other magical creatures. They also uncover a seeing stone, a way to catch a glimpse of the Unseen World surrounding the ramshackle mansion. Longtime friends Black and DiTerlizzi came up with the idea for the series as a way to work together. Black, whose acclaimed novels (Tithe, Valiant and Ironside) are for a teen audience, and DiTerlizzi, a Caldecott Medal winner who writes and illustrates picture books (including G Is for One Gzonk!), found common ground in writing for middle-grade readers. The co-creators collaborated on every aspect of the series. Holly and I would discuss in detail the best way to tell the story, and, at the end of the day, she would go off and actually write the story and I would draw the illustrations, says DiTerlizzi. But, he continues, I helped with structuring the plot, and she offered lots of feedback on the visuals. The duo, who also share executive producer credits on the film, must be pleased that their best-selling series is being brought to life by an all-star cast. Though the Graces (like their creators) are American, the children’s parts will be played by young talent from overseas: British actor Freddie Highmore (August Rush) stars as the twins (both of them!) and Irish actress Sarah Bolger (Stormbreaker) has the part of Mallory. Emmy-nominated actress Mary-Louise Parker plays their mother, Helen. The goblins and other inhabitants of the Unseen World are voiced by other well-known actors, including Martin Short, Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), and Nick Nolte, who plays Mulgarath, the villanous ogre who wants the Field Guide.

Those eager for the release of the film will be happy to hear that Simon &andamp; Schuster has plenty of movie tie-in books ($10.99 each, or $49.99 for the boxed set) in bookstores January 1. In addition to re-releasing the original novels with movie cover images, the publishers have commissioned all-new works, like The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie Storybook and The Official Spiderwick Chronicles Movie Companion, both of which contain stills from the film and interviews with the cast. There are also activity books galore, including a Make-Your-Own Field Guide Carry-Along Coloring Kit and Uncle Arthur’s Art Studio.

So go ahead, lift up your seeing stone and enter the magical world of the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Ever since the first Harry Potter book hit the bestseller list, children's literature especially fantasy has been a hot commodity with editors. And if a story is strong enough to get people into bookstores, film producers figure it's a sure bet to draw them…

Get away with a good book

Feature by the editors of BookPage

Whether you’re headed to the beach or the mountains this summer, we’re guessing you’ll share the dilemma of many readers: which book(s) to stash in that suitcase for the best vacation reading? Add one of these choices to your packing list—and don’t forget to send us a postcard!

Each review will open in a new window.

FICTION
The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos by Margaret Mascarenhas

The Husband Habit by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri

The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

NONFICTION
Bobby & Jackie: A Love Story by C. David Heymann

I'm Off Then by Hape Kerkeling

Notes from the Underwire by Quinn Cummings

 

Whether you’re headed to the beach or the mountains this summer, we’re guessing you’ll share the dilemma of many readers: which book(s) to stash in that suitcase for the best vacation reading? Add one of these choices to your packing list—and don’t forget to send…

Family & Relationships

Looking for love: books for every dater

Feature by Carla Jean Whitley

With so many dating books out there, it seems there’s a guide for just about everyone. Here’s a look at five of this year’s offerings. By the time you make your way through this relationship gauntlet, you’ll be equipped to find a date this Valentine’s Day—and perhaps find love by the next!

Decoding men
Women always claim men are so hard to understand—but could that be because we’re reading into them the complexity we see in ourselves? Jeff Mac thinks so. In Manslations, the stand-up comic offers something of a you’re-too-smart-for-your-own-good (that’s us, ladies!) handbook to understanding men. With Mac as your guide, it’s suddenly easy to interpret what the man in your life is saying. Do his words and actions contradict each other? There’s truth in the old axiom, Mac says: “listen” to the actions and you’ll find mixed signals aren’t so mixed after all. Unsure whether he likes you? Again, Mac breaks it down: if he’s getting physical and keeping you around even when he’s not, you’re golden. Mac is like your best well-meaning but often blunt guy friend—one who’s happily involved and therefore willing to share insight into relationships. Ladies, we’re wrong when we assume men are hard to understand, and that’s perhaps the most useful manslation of all.

Get over it
Patti Novak won’t spoon-feed you. Get Over Yourself!, written with Laura Zigman, is filled with advice on how to move from being dateless to committed, but Novak, the star of A&E’s 2007 series “Confessions of a Matchmaker,” is just the guide—you’re the active participant. The book’s worksheets and quizzes show women ready to dig in and do the hard work of getting ready for love how to process their own desires and needs, and think about why they are where they are. That’s not always easy, especially when Novak tells you that it is you, after all! It sounds harsh, but she guides you through common self-protective behaviors to help you recognize actions that are holding you back and then heal the hurt beneath them. As you work through the past to change your future, the pressure you place on each date will diminish—and success will come.

Back in the dating pool
What do you do when, after years of marriage or a committed relationship, you find yourself single again? It’s been years (perhaps decades) since you left the 20-something’s singles scene—how has it changed? How have you?

In Getting Naked Again, Judith Sills, Ph.D., who appears frequently on the “Today” show, serves as the newly single woman’s tour guide to the now-unfamiliar world of dating. This isn’t your daughter’s book, she says, and dating is no longer as clear-cut a process as it is for your daughter. Her goals are likely easy to define: she’s dating to find love, marriage and children. But you’ve already had all of those things. What’s your goal? Your relationships with single men, married friends, your children and even yourself may have changed when you found yourself alone. But with Sills on your side, you can learn how to make the most of being single again.

You can hurry love
If you were ready to find love, like, yesterday, pick up How to Make Someone Fall in Love with You in 90 Minutes or Less. Love is an emotional progression, not a time-sensitive development, Nicholas Boothman argues, and he’s going to tell you how to find it in 90 minutes or less. As a former fashion photographer, Boothman developed a knack for presenting people in their best light, and he’ll help you capitalize on love at first sight. After all, it’s how he fell in love with his wife of more than 30 years. Throughout the book he breaks down preparation and action into practical steps. You’ll quickly discover whether someone is your “matched opposite,” a person who shares your values but has a personality different enough to keep life interesting and fun.

Take Boothman’s ideas into account next time you meet someone with whom you have chemistry, and you may well fall in love within an hour and a half. Now staying in love? That’s another book—and a lifetime commitment!

Carla Jean Whitley lives, writes and dates in Birmingham, Alabama.

With so many dating books out there, it seems there’s a guide for just about everyone. Here’s a look at five of this year’s offerings. By the time you make your way through this relationship gauntlet, you’ll be equipped to find a date this Valentine’s…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Stories from the road to freedom

Feature by Alice Cary

To commemorate Black History Month, here are four excellent new picture books—two biographies, plus two fictionalized accounts of escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

Most children today are well-versed in Martin Luther King Jr.’s tremendous struggles and accomplishments. A beautiful new picture book, Coretta Scott, focuses on his wife. The text is a poem by award-winning poet, playwright and author Ntozake Shange, accompanied by glorious artwork from Kadir Nelson. Shange’s poem provides a lyrical yet focused look at Coretta Scott’s life and spirit, with lines like: “over years / learning and freedom / took hold of Coretta’s soul / till she knew in her being / that the Good Lord intended freedom for the Negro.” An additional page of biographical explanation and a photograph at the end fill in additional details. Nelson’s oil paintings are rich and vibrant, portraying not only the story but the passion, dignity and difficulty of Coretta Scott King’s life. Coretta Scott is a masterful encapsulation of an important life—perfect for young children as well as elementary students.

Another fascinating but largely unknown story is told in The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby about jockey Jimmy Winkfield, who lived from 1882 to 1974. Crystal Hubbard’s detailed, well-paced text, illustrated by Robert McGuire, starts with a foreword about horse racing, which in this country began with many slaves as jockeys. Winkfield was born into a family of sharecroppers in Kentucky, the youngest of 17 children. He went on to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies in 1901 and 1902, and narrowly missed winning a third in 1903. Hubbard’s crisp writing makes each of these races come alive. She explains how black jockeys were forced out of racing for a while, and how Winkfield then trained and raced horses in Poland and Russia for many years. When Winkfield returned for a Kentucky Derby banquet in 1961, he and his daughter were not allowed to enter through the front door. Hubbard’s picture book biography is a superb addition to any library for young readers.

The journey north
I Want To Be Free is a thoughtful, inspiring story about two young runaway slaves, written in poem-like text by Joseph Slate, author of the popular Miss Bindergarten books. The story is based on a Buddhist tale as told in Rudyard Kipling’s novel, Kim, but Slate’s version is set in America during the days of slavery. The tale starts with a young slave announcing, “Before I die, I want to be free. / But the Big Man says, ‘You belong to me.’ ”

The slave manages to escape and avoid the slave hunters and their dogs, but cannot remove the iron shackle on his leg. During his escape, he risks his life to save a young boy whose mother has died—and who eventually helps him remove the shackle. Caldecott-winning artist E.B. Lewis’ watercolors are dark and powerful, setting the mood for this amazing journey. I Want To Be Free is not only a riveting picture book about slavery and freedom, but also a transcending parable about the magical rewards of helping others in the face of danger.

Most Loved in All the World is another riveting, heartbreaking story about slavery. The narrator is a young girl, the daughter of a slave who toils in the cotton fields and returns from the Big House with whip marks across her back.

Mama makes her daughter a quilt and whispers what it means: “A log cabin means a place is safe. This star is the brightest in the sky; it’s for you to follow. The moss should only be growin’ on the side of the tree in the direction you are headed.” Her mama adds that the little girl on the quilt is happy because she’s the “most loved in all the world.” Mama then takes the girl out in the night and hands her over to people who will lead her to freedom, but stays behind herself so she can help others escape. Author Tonya Cherie Hegamin offers a fact-filled note at the end of the book about mothers, slavery, freedom, quilting and the Underground Railroad, and includes a list of suggestions for further reading. This excellent book also showcases strong artwork (acrylic paint and textile collage) by artist Cozbi A. Cabrera, well known for making handcrafted cloth dolls. Her art conveys not only the details of this Underground Railroad story, but the beauty and handwork of the quilting, so central to this story.

Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

To commemorate Black History Month, here are four excellent new picture books—two biographies, plus two fictionalized accounts of escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

Most children today are well-versed in Martin Luther King Jr.’s tremendous struggles and accomplishments. A beautiful new picture book, Coretta Scott,…

MemoirBlack History

Exploring the African-American Identity

Feature by Ron Wynn

Most of us who remember when state-imposed segregation was the norm rather than the exception (particularly in the South) remain amazed by the election of Barack Obama as our country’s president. Thus it’s quite appropriate that the question of racial identity and what it truly means is the dominant theme for this year’s survey of books for Black History Month.

There’s no better place to begin than the visually stunning, authoritative volume Freedom in My Heart: Voices From The United States National Slavery Museum, edited by Cynthia Jacobs Carter. With amazing, rare photographs underscoring and reaffirming tales of triumph and achievement chronicled in its 10 chapters, the book begins where the nightmare of enslavement started, in Africa. Rather than simply linger on that horror, however, the opening section has valuable information about that continent’s proud heritage and anthropological importance while also showing how the vicious African slave trade developed. The book continues with stories about rebellion and intimidation, tracing the emergence and evolution of a culture steeped in the African past and shaped by the American present. Freedom in My Heart covers familiar names and obscure figures, venerable institutions and little-known sites in various states while deftly examining slavery’s initial and lingering impact.

Finding a place in society
If any modern television or film producer conceived a story as elaborate and incredible as the one depicted by Martha A. Sandweiss in her remarkable book Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line, they would have a hard time finding any studio willing to back it. Sandweiss, a professor of history and American studies at Amherst College, has uncovered the true feats of pioneering scientist, author and brilliant public speaker Clarence King. This same man led a second life as black Pullman porter and steel worker James Todd. He managed for decades to keep these two existences separate, hiding in the process a loving wife and five biracial children. King/Todd darts back and forth between stardom and near poverty, privilege and deprivation, for reasons that still aren’t completely clear despite Sandweiss’ research and storytelling acumen. Not even the deceptive path taken by critic Anatole Broyard or the decision by Walter White to be a champion for legions who distrusted his light-skinned looks compares to this constant juggling and personality switching. The fact that King/Todd did all of this long before there was any hint of radical change coming in America (the late 19th and early 20th centuries) makes what he did even more astonishing and Sandweiss’ work in uncovering it more noteworthy.

By contrast, author and academic Jennifer Baszile’s challenges come in supposedly more enlightened times. The Black Girl Next Door spotlights Baszile’s struggles growing up in an integrated (actually largely upper-class white) California neighborhood and trying to understand who she was, how she felt and what she wanted to do with her life. Constantly pushed to excel by parents anxious not to be judged by stereotypes they fought to escape, Baszile deals with identity problems among the elite and educated. She also describes the turf wars and clashes she experienced as she became the first black female professor at Yale, and how switching surroundings from an affluent community to the Ivy League’s supposed ivory tower didn’t mean she would automatically find happiness, fulfillment or professional respect.

Voices lifted
Finally there’s the epic poem The Children of the Children Keep Coming: An Epic Griotsong from onetime pro football player, Harlem gallery owner and financial backer of Essence magazine Russell Goings. Goings’ piece offers praise, optimism tempered by an understanding of past horrors and upcoming challenges, and the upbeat, rousing vocabulary that’s helped instill in generations not only of black Americans, but oppressed people around the world, the self-esteem and pride necessary to persevere no matter the circumstances.

Ron Wynn writes for the Nashville City Paper and other publications.

Most of us who remember when state-imposed segregation was the norm rather than the exception (particularly in the South) remain amazed by the election of Barack Obama as our country’s president. Thus it’s quite appropriate that the question of racial identity and what it truly…

Biography

Presidential library

Feature by Martin Brady

The writings on Abraham Lincoln are almost too considerable to calculate, thus testifying to his endurance as historical personage, iconic hero and the source of curiosity for endless researchers. But with the bicentennial of his birth upon us, a wealth of recent publications retrace his life and legacy, hoping to shed new—or merely refocused—light on all that is already known about the man.

Ronald C. White Jr.’s A. Lincoln: A Biography is an imposing doorstopper of a book, close to a thousand pages and exhaustively annotated and referenced. As near as any interested reader might determine, White has left absolutely no stone unturned, from an account of forebear Samuel Lincoln leaving England for the New World in 1637, to the family struggles in Kentucky and Indiana, to the young Abe’s adventurous younger years, to his rise as lawyer and politician in Illinois, and on through the Civil War and the grief of the nation upon his assassination in 1865.

White’s research benefits from the availability of the recently completed Lincoln Legal Papers—which offer a more thorough view of Lincoln’s law practice—and also the emergence of newly discovered letters and photos. Besides a sense of Lincoln’s integrity—something pretty much easily assumed by most anyway—it is perhaps the man’s smartly practical spirit that emerges through this stout tome, in particular as relates to the great political issues before him (e.g., slavery) and the difficult task of guiding his armies and a nation through a horrific war, which tested every aspect of daily life and constantly demanded a nurturant sense of its absolute necessity. Finally, Lincoln rises up in this volume as a patriot of the ultimate rank, one with a determined eye on the prize: Union.

Presidential brief
Abraham Lincoln is an entry in the highly regarded American Presidents series, originally under the editorship of the late Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. These volumes are usually authored by distinguished journalists or historians, and, once in a while, by noted politicos, in this case former South Dakota senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George S. McGovern. McGovern capably sticks to the series formula, which involves a more general overview of the subject’s life and career, along with a development of the key themes that shaped his most important actions. McGovern’s tone is laudatory throughout, as he offers insights into Lincoln’s attitudes on politics, the war and his most dearly held personal beliefs. Coverage is from hardscrabble Kentucky beginnings to the last moments at Ford’s Theatre. This is a fine read for those who want to know about Lincoln but may not have time for the more in-depth biographies.

Inside the Lincoln White House
Pulitzer Prize winner James M. McPherson’s Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief mines a topic that’s been touched upon previously in many other publications—Lincoln dealing with the command aspects of war. Yet the author offers an engrossing narrative that shows how Honest Abe grasped the reins of his new and heretofore untested presidential duties, while also examining his difficulties in dealing with a string of Army generals whose failings often proved vexatious. McPherson gives us a Lincoln who, after taking office, immersed himself in a crash course on military strategy, then steadfastly applied what he’d learned to the enormous task at hand. Leaving the micro-issues of campaigns and tactics to his military men, Lincoln nevertheless consistently prodded them with commonsensical admonishments on the value of stalking the enemy and striking hard when necessary. Flummoxed by the vain and overly cautious McClellan, the unprepared Burnside, the disappointing Hooker and the merely competent Meade, Lincoln finally found his fighter in Ulysses Grant. McPherson effectively mixes the political undercurrent of events with his deconstruction of Lincoln’s process in eventually achieving victory.

Daniel Mark Epstein’s Lincoln’s Men: The President and His Private Secretaries captures the lives of Lincoln’s secretaries—John Hay, John Nicolay and William Stoddard—each of whom claimed Illinois roots by virtue of residence, education or work. Nicolay had essentially run Lincoln’s 1860 presidential campaign, Stoddard had been a supportive Illinois newspaperman, and the youngest, Hay, came recommended as a young poet and fresh graduate of Brown University. Epstein mixes their accounts into one narrative, with the obvious bulk of the material focused on their time in the White House, where the trio basically comprised the whole of the president’s staff. Nicolay did the chief executive’s scheduling and Hay ran interference; this duo eventually went on to jointly publish a seminal Lincoln biography years later. Stoddard, originally hired as a patent officer at the Interior Department, juggled several jobs, including assisting the president with his speeches, but eventually dealing more with the affairs of Mrs. Lincoln. Hay ultimately established the biggest name for himself—he was secretary of state under McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt. This is a readable joint biography that connects its subjects to Lincoln with legitimacy.

His final act and legacy
Lincoln’s last year as president was certainly taken up in large part with the prosecution of the war, but, as Charles Bracelen Flood makes clear in 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, the man was also dealing with intense extracurricular political matters. Somehow continuing to more or less efficiently battle the Confederate Army, Lincoln meanwhile dealt with the presence of French troops in Mexico, grousing cabinet members, myriad technical issues regarding the continued settling of the expanding American West and related railroad legislation, not to mention the onslaught of a stormy re-election campaign, which brought with it endless pressure from an often-hostile press and infighting within his own party about the terms of impending Reconstruction and the disposition of the freed-slave issue. Flood’s extensively sourced text tracks the official Lincoln in great detail, while also making sure the well-researched quoted excerpts provide insight into the president’s admirable character and manners and incredible strength under pressure.

The Lincoln Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Legacy from 1860 to Now would make an astute gift for any Lincoln buff, but it’s a definite keeper for any home library as well. Editor Harold Holzer (whose Lincoln President-Elect was released last fall) gathers more than 100 works composed by writers, historians and politicians, from Lincoln’s time to the present day. The pieces represent all genres—essays, novels, plays, biographies, speeches, magazine articles, poetry and memoirs—and the topical coverage is essentially universal. That includes discussions on Lincoln’s fascination with language, the lost love of his life (Ann Rutledge), his historic debates with Stephen Douglas, his outlook on race and religion, his daily work regimen, and his politics and policies. Men and women of verse are here in force (Robert Lowell, Mark Van Doren, Stephen Vincent Benét, Marianne Moore, Carl Sandburg, etc.), and the general range of contributors throughout is all-encompassing (Emerson, Marx, Hawthorne, Stowe, Ibsen, Melville, Twain, Tolstoy, Wicker, Vidal, Safire, Doctorow et al.). Walt Whitman, perhaps Lincoln’s most ardent literary fan, weighs in with no fewer than nine separate contributions. Arrangement of the entries is chronological, but Lincoln diehards can pick this one up and start reading just about anywhere.

Thanks to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Brady believes in the “better angels of our nature.”

The writings on Abraham Lincoln are almost too considerable to calculate, thus testifying to his endurance as historical personage, iconic hero and the source of curiosity for endless researchers. But with the bicentennial of his birth upon us, a wealth of recent publications retrace his…

NonfictionBiography

The origins of Darwin’s theories

Feature by Howard Shirley

As the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth arrives, along with it come three books celebrating the scientist and his revolutionary ideas. All three offer intriguing views on the man and his theories, and their mutual impact on society and science.

Darwin’s Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution by Adrian Desmond and James Moore places Darwin and his ideas within the context of the worldwide struggle with slavery that eventually exploded into the American Civil War. Darwin was born into a family at the forefront of the British abolitionist movement, growing up during the days of Wilberforce—British emancipation was passed while Darwin was aboard the HMS Beagle. But that was an opening salvo, and to Darwin’s horror the pro-slavery forces latched onto science as a rationalization, declaring that the various races of man were distinct species created independently—with Europeans conveniently the dominant race. This idea was anathema to Darwin on a moral level as well as a scientific one, and authors Desmond and Moore set out to show how Darwin’s fury over slavery drove his theory of the unified descent of man as much as did his innate curiosity about nature.

Darwin’s Sacred Cause is a compelling narrative, well researched and convincingly presented, offering a new understanding of who Darwin was and the passions that motivated his thought. Particularly eye opening is the surprising connection between Darwin’s theory and the Christian abolition movement as they together fought a scientific community that rejected the Christian belief that all mankind was descended from a single pair. The story of that unlikely alliance is fascinating to follow, full of colorful characters both noble and vile, revealing how science and religion were debased by the evil of racism.

Darwin’s Garden: Down House and ‘The Origin of Species’ by Michael Boulter uses the garden of Darwin’s country home—Down House—as a picture of the progress of evolution science and ongoing biological studies. Still in existence today (maintained both as a museum and a living laboratory as Darwin used it), the garden at Down House becomes, in Boulter’s words, a metaphorical path through both history and modern science, its plants and animals offering the same insights to the reader as for Darwin. Here are fascinating glimpses into the lean edge of modern biological science, beautifully tied to the simple pleasure Darwin found in experimenting in his garden. Like a stroll with the scientist himself, the book points out that for all we do know about life, we still do not even fundamentally understand the events happening in a quiet English garden, much less the raucous turmoil of the living world. Science, like life, Darwin might say, continues to evolve.

After Darwin
Banquet at Delmonico’s: Great Minds, the Gilded Age, and the Triumph of Evolution in America by Barry Werth is as much about the societal impact of Darwin’s theory as it is about Darwin himself. On November 9, 1882, a remarkable group gathered at the famous Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York to host a banquet honoring the ideals of evolution, and in particular the philosopher of evolution, Herbert Spencer. Though Darwin himself had died seven months before, everyone attending acknowledged the naturalist as the founder of the movement (with the possible exception of the rarely humble Spencer). It was a night to praise the ideals of evolution and look forward to the golden age the philosophy would bring. The dignitaries present ranged from the capitalist Andrew Carnegie to the famed preacher Henry Ward Beecher, with an assortment of scientists, politicians and orators mixed into the bunch. The story of how each came to be at the banquet is the story of how Darwin’s theory of evolution was influencing American thought in the latter 19th century.
Werth’s book is a thoroughly involving read, weaving history and biography together as the various actors move toward the culminating dinner. It is a tale of philosophy, science, political chicanery, public scandals, capitalism, socialism and eccentricity on many sides. The final contrast between the attendees’ assumptions compared to the eventual progress of history (for good and ill) ends the book on an ironic note. The banquet at Delmonico’s may not have signaled a triumph for anyone, but the book is a deliciously evolving read.

Howard Shirley writes from Franklin, Tennessee.

As the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth arrives, along with it come three books celebrating the scientist and his revolutionary ideas. All three offer intriguing views on the man and his theories, and their mutual impact on society and science.

Darwin’s Sacred Cause: How a…

Memoir

Artists and writers share the stories of their lives

Feature by Pat H. Broeske

A quartet of new memoirs provides an eclectic roadmap of personal journeys set in Hollywood, the Brooklyn projects, Philadelphia public housing, Oklahoma, Broadway and beyond.

In Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found  Allegra Huston comes to terms with the convoluted ties of one of Hollywood’s legendary families. “My family was made up of individual people who shared an accident of circumstance,” she explains. She was four when a car accident claimed the life of her mother, a former ballerina and fourth wife of iconic filmmaker John Huston. Sent to live at his Irish estate, she seldom saw him (he was making movies) or her much-older brother and sister. “I was living one of those stories where there aren’t any parents, and the children run free,” she writes.

Today a director of a respected Taos writer’s program, Huston tells her story as it unfolded—recapturing the innocence and confusion of a child grappling with her place in an ever-shifting realm of family and logistics. Often packing her suitcase, she moves from Ireland to Long Island to live with her mother’s parents. At eight she’s off to California, to be with her father and his fifth wife (and a step-sibling). But even when sharing a house with her father, he remains distant and imposing. In a rare “ordinary” moment he reaches out to touch her feverish forehead.

Similarly mythic is big sister Anjelica. A dozen years older and a glamorous model, she will go on to become a compelling actress and filmmaker. But when she takes her little sister under her wing, she is girlfriend to Jack—as in Nicholson. Later she’ll be with Ryan—as in O’Neal. Both men appear through young Allegra’s eyes (not those of a cineaste). Life becomes even dizzier when 12-year-old Allegra learns her real father is a British Lord with whom her mother had an extramarital affair. And what of her late mother? Allegra seeks to make her acquaintance through a scattering of letters and journal entries, but much remains an ethereal mystery in this beautifully written, haunting exploration.

Living for the City
Nelson George grew up in very different surroundings, in the projects of Brownsville in Brooklyn, where he and his sister were raised in a single-parent household. City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success traces George’s ascent to influential journalist, author (books on hip-hop, Motown and more) and filmmaker (he is the writer-director of the HBO movie Life Support, based on his sister’s battle with HIV). In a direct but passionate writing style, George recounts what it was like to be young, black, poor—and driven. 
A voracious reader at nine, and an avid collector of Marvel Comics, at 14, George sent a dollar bill to the Literary Guild and was rewarded with volumes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Wolfe. He wrote and filed away short stories, worked on the high school newspaper and escaped the projects, moving to a near-middle-class neighborhood. He was becoming a student of film (Sidney Poitier was a role model), but music was his passion. George credits the Motorola stereo in the family living room for early on becoming “my passport, not simply to records, but to the vast nation outside New York that the music came from.” He listened and studied the credits of the Stax, Motown and Tamla records in his mother’s collection.

While attending a local college he wrote for a black newspaper and was a Billboard stringer. He also climbed the freelance ladder, by bringing his cultural sensibility to articles on black artists and black sounds, including the explosive hip-hop scene. City Kid puts the reader at the pulsating fault line of the seismic shakeup of black movies and music in the 1980s and 1990s. It also has quiet virtues—including the joy of discovery through reading and writing.

Life with father
Pop culture critic Joe Queenan can get goofy: he once wrote about spending a day talking like Yoda; for a piece on becoming Mickey Rourke, he didn’t bathe for a week. Funny and fearless—and often vitriolic—Queenan reveals how he developed his thick skin in Closing Time, a dark story of emotional survival.

His was an Irish-Catholic childhood, in a Philadelphia housing project in the 1960s. Poverty was a challenge, but Queenan’s father was the true nightmare. A man in perpetual rage, he went from job to job (13 in a single year) and drink to drink, and often came at his children with a belt. Even after they’d retreated to their beds, Queenan and his sisters endured sleepless nights—fearing their father’s destructive behavior would result in setting the house on fire. The public library and the bookmobile provided escape. Still, Queenan sought his father’s love and acceptance. A botched suicide attempt changed all that. Why, he wondered, had he tried so hard for approval from such a person?

Queenan’s father went on to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and, in one of the group’s famous steps, sought to make amends. Though Queenan shook his father’s hand, he also wrote an opinion article for Newsweek entitled, “Too Late to Say ‘I’m Sorry.’” As anyone who reads Queenan’s writing knows, he’s not into clemency.

Fairy-tale ending
Ready for some sunshine? In A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages, the petite, perfection-driven Kristin Chenoweth—known for starring in Broadway’s Wicked, and for appearances on TV shows including “The West Wing” and “Pushing Daisies”—shares her plus-size story of show business fame. Written with Joni Rodgers (herself a gifted memoirist), Chenoweth’s lively, chatty story reveals how faith and family have held her together, offers tips on succeeding in show business, lists the questions she plans to ask God when she meets him (including, “Who is the sadistic genius behind cellulite?”) and shares several shock-and-awe recipes, including one for her “No Calorie Left Behind Butterfinger Pie.” A sweet touch if ever there was one.

A quartet of new memoirs provides an eclectic roadmap of personal journeys set in Hollywood, the Brooklyn projects, Philadelphia public housing, Oklahoma, Broadway and beyond.

In Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found  Allegra Huston comes to terms with the convoluted ties of one…

How we live now

Feature by Linda Stankard

With the economy on everyone’s mind, do-it-yourself projects are more popular than ever this spring. Even if you don’t know a C-clamp from a screwdriver, this new lineup offers a bevy of home improvement projects—from fixing faucets to whole-house overhauls—sure to inspire your “can do” spirit.

Norma Vally, the vivacious, confident host of Discovery Home Channel’s “Toolbelt Diva,” who demonstrates that femininity and fixing things go together beautifully, has two new books: Norma Vally’s Bathroom Fix-Ups  and Norma Vally’s Kitchen Fix-Ups. They come with bonus DVDs for live-action instruction, and are aimed at female DIYers, but Vally’s step-by-step approach and clear, explanatory photos will be welcomed by anyone tackling a fix-up for the first time. Both books address scores of projects “that increase in degree of difficulty—simple to moderate to advanced—with the last part stepping outside how-to and into design.” Even if you aren’t ready to take on installing new cabinets or recessed lighting, think of the savings if you could just unclog your own sink or patch your own drywall! Vally prepares you for each project first, asking you to consider various options. She tells you what to have on hand, what to shut off, what obstacles you might encounter and how to bypass them, and what prep work is necessary before you start. Then she walks you through each step of the project, providing complementing photos or illustrations for extra clarity. Pair with a tool belt for a great DIYer gift!

Do it in tile
While Vally’s books show how to install new tile or replace a cracked one, for a fully indulgent treatment of this versatile, durable material, Jen Renzi’s The Art of Tile (Clarkson Potter, $40, 320 pages, ISBN 9780307406910) is a must-have trove of information—and a feast for the eyes—with its catalog of more than 1,500 full-color tile choices. Renzi, a former senior editor at House & Garden and Interior Design, beckons you to “marvel at the breadth of materials at your disposal—from cement and concrete to cork and other eco-friendly options,” and to discover the versatility of a material like metal. On the practical side, Renzi also offers words for the wise, “cautionary tales, and helpful hints for achieving a beautiful installation.” From traditional uses around showers and sinks, to large-scale wall murals, to the concept of designing an entire home around tile, Renzi takes you through all the considerations involved: color, size, pattern, texture, function, and of course, resilience and beauty. She even takes you through the shopping process and codes her catalog so you can find the manufacturer or supplier of each tile shown.

Think small
Libby Langdon, from HGTV’s hit show “Small Space, Big Style,” has a book that’s perfect for apartment dwellers or owners of small homes. Libby Langdon’s Small Space Solutions offers her suggestions for, in the words of her subtitle, “making any room look elegant and feel spacious on any budget” and includes more than 300 color photos, floor layouts, before and after shots, and Langdon’s design “tricks of the trade.” After an overview chapter on “The Nitty-Gritty of Design,” Langdon devotes a chapter to solving space dilemmas in each room of a house (there’s even one on hallways) where she shows how limited size doesn’t have to mean limited effect.

Forget “matchy-matchy,” Langdon says, and instead “use contrast in your space.” A furnished room will appear larger than an empty one, so “keep this in mind when you’re moving into a new space or looking to rent/buy a space,” she advises. And also contrary to what you might think, Langdon explains how a large piece of artwork can make a small room feel bigger. “If your artwork is light, paint the wall dark,” and vice versa, she suggests. The contrast will make the art “pop off the wall” for a striking, eye-catching effect. As this book proves: little things do mean a lot!

In keeping with the growing trend toward smaller, more manageable homes (and payments), Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live by small-house expert Sarah Susanka, shows dozens of ways to re-imagine space without changing or enlarging a home’s footprint. In fact, a “build better, not bigger” advocate, Susanka considers even a small addition a last-resort option; every possible idea is considered before even a bump-out is suggested. While economy is important, Susanka also gives high regard to the environment, function and beauty that add to a home’s sustainability and desirability. “Something that is beautiful tends to be well cared for by all its owners over time,” and will simply be “more appealing to all future residents,” she writes. With 350 full-color photos, 40 drawings and tempting sub-headings like “double-duty dining,” “where to put the TV?” and “study at the top of the stairs,” this book will quickly have you sketching out the rooms in your own home to test your creativity and flair for maximizing the space you have.

Take it outside
No matter what size home you have, you can stretch your living area by taking advantage of its outdoor space. Backyards: A Sunset Design Guide by Bridget Biscotti Bradley is a lavish book with 400 sumptuous, inviting photos of outdoor and semi-outdoor backyard and landscaping ideas for relaxed living. Fire pits, courtyards, pools, ponds, patios and more—there’s a wide array of options for moving the fun outdoors—Bradley even offers advice for creating a regulation bocce court. She also demonstrates the importance of light and heat to a space and touches on other backyard topics such as pets, outdoor furniture, sheds and arbors and trellises. This book comes with a 3D Interactive Landscape Design DVD so you can create your own backyard and patio designs, then view them in 3D photographic realism from any angle. Whether you are dreaming of an outdoor spa, a play area for the kids, a quiet garden for contemplation or an intimate dining and entertaining spot, flipping through these pages will encourage you to spring into action on your project so you can start enjoying it this summer. Family and friends you invite over for a swim or a meal will certainly be glad you did!

That Mrs. Meyer really cleans up
Once you’ve rejuvenated your living space into a picture-perfect comfort zone, the challenge becomes keeping it that way. Enter Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home: No Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to Clean Like the Dickens, full of practical, expert advice on how to keep your lived-in home looking lovely. Millions are already familiar with Mrs. Meyer from the line of Earth-gentle cleaning products developed by her daughter, and this book embodies that naturalistic philosophy. The mother of nine (now-grown) children, Thelma Meyer has distilled more than 50 years of old-fashioned know-how into one highly relevant green guide to eco-friendly house-and-its-environs-keeping. She promotes good-for-you cleaning solutions (baking soda, lemon juice and vinegar) and explains how to get sparkling results without harsh chemicals. 
Always thrifty, Meyer offers “Waste Not, Want Not” sidebars with money-saving ideas, such as making “Muskoe” (must-go) out of leftovers, installing an inexpensive low-flow shower head, and when it’s time to clean the fish tank, using the outgoing water on your plants—“it’s great for fertilizing.” For jobs large and small, from getting gum out of the carpet to gunk out of the gutters, Meyer divulges her dynamo tactics for tackling tasks inside and out. Her easy-to-understand instructions on everything from canning tomatoes to cleaning a computer keyboard promote a lifestyle characterized by efficiency, self-sufficiency and economy. The family anecdotes she shares along the way lend a tender touch, a reminder that all this effort has a purpose higher than passing some white-glove test; it’s to make our dwellings habitable and hospitable, our homes into havens: organized, pleasant places to live, love, learn and grow.

Linda Stankard is a Realtor in Rockland County, New York.

With the economy on everyone’s mind, do-it-yourself projects are more popular than ever this spring. Even if you don’t know a C-clamp from a screwdriver, this new lineup offers a bevy of home improvement projects—from fixing faucets to whole-house overhauls—sure to inspire your “can do”…

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