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FictionMysteryLiteratureBiography

Treasures for a rapacious reader

Feature by Julie Hale

Whether you’re shopping for a serious scholar or an armchair academic, a mystery addict or a collector, we have a title for every bibliophile on your list. Stuff a stocking with one of the books below, and you’ll look smart this holiday season.

INSIGHTS OF A FAMOUS WIFE
Offering the inside scoop, so to speak, on what it’s like to live with a moody, complicated genius, The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy, translated by historian Cathy Porter, provides readers with the rest of the story regarding one of Russia’s greatest writers. Sofia Behrs married Count Leo Tolstoy in 1862, when she was 18. Documenting their 48-year union, her fascinating diaries span five decades and chronicle events both personal and political. The daughter of a doctor, Sofia was smart and spirited, and she turned to journaling for both expression and confession. Tolstoy also kept a journal, and the two often shared their writings, no matter how hurtful the content.

As Sofia’s diaries make clear, the couple had a tumultuous relationship. Although she bore Tolstoy 13 children and supported him in his work, copying out his manuscripts and overseeing their domestic affairs, he was often cold and neglectful, and Sofia’s journals are filled with angst-ridden entries that describe her struggles to negotiate their shared life. Written with precision and earnest emotion, the diaries reveal the daily dramas—family quarrels, illnesses and financial concerns—that enlivened the Tolstoy household, and they show that Sofia was an accomplished artist in her own right. Featuring an introduction by Doris Lessing, this volume will strike a chord with both history buffs and literature lovers.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE
The title says it all: Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature’s Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Misanthropes catalogues notorious moments in the lives of famous authors. Compiled by journalist Bill Peschel, this tantalizing collection of true anecdotes documents a different kind of literary history—one of scandal and abandon, packed with scenes worthy of a bestseller. Peschel offers what amounts to mug shots of the literati, as he recounts incident after unbelievable incident: There’s Norman Mailer stabbing his wife, Adele, at the close of a night of carousing, and Theodore Dreiser slapping Sinclair Lewis during a formal dinner that becomes a bit of a brawl. Taking it to the streets are J.P. Donleavy and Brendan Behan, who duke it out on a London sidewalk.

Of course, the vino flows liberally throughout Peschel’s book, providing fuel, in most cases, for each writer’s act of passion. Peschel has organized the proceedings into chapters (“Public Embarrassments,” “Unfortunate Encounters,” “Fight Club”—you get the picture) and includes recommendations for further reading. An artful writer, he presents each priceless nugget of trivia with style and flair. Bibliophiles will love this enormously entertaining look at authors who succumbed to the very impulses they wrote about. When life imitates art, look out!

THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST
The Updikes and Munros of tomorrow are featured in 20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker, a terrific new collection compiled by Deborah Treisman, the magazine’s fiction editor. Proving that the short story form is as vital as ever, the volume presents a talented new generation of writers, all under the age of 40, whose work was showcased in the magazine this past summer.

The narratives are wonderfully varied, and the roster of authors is diverse. David Bezmozgis and Dinaw Mengestu, both transplants to the West, contribute powerful tales of the immigrant experience. Innovators Téa Obreht and Jonathan Safran Foer push the boundaries of the genre in stories that surprise, while ZZ Packer and Wells Tower use narrative voice as the foundation for their rich explorations of character. Bringing humor to the table, Joshua Ferris and Gary Shteyngart offer sharply realized satires.

The New Yorker has a reputation for fostering great fiction writers. With 20 Under 40, the magazine continues its tradition of spotlighting authors with fresh styles and exciting visions. Readers concerned about the state of literature in this digital era can rest easy: As 20 Under 40 demonstrates, the future of fiction looks bright.

’TIS THE SEASON OF SUSPENSE
Get ready for poisoned sugarplums and Santas who sleuth. Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop, edited by Otto Penzler, offers readers a different kind of Yuletide yarn. Penzler, a connoisseur of suspense fiction, owns the esteemed Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. Every year, come Christmas, he solicits a story from one of his partners in crime—i.e., some of the most popular mystery writers working today. For guidelines regarding plot and character, Penzler offers only the following: Each narrative should take place during the holidays, be centered around a mystery and use as its setting—for at least a few scenes—his shop.

Penzler started this spine-tingling tradition in 1993, publishing the tales as limited-edition pamphlets, which he gave to his customers as gifts. Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop brings the stories together for the first time in one volume. The 17 contributions include diverting whodunits and sophisticated crime dramas, as well as narratives written with good old-fashioned fun. Featuring pieces by Ed McBain (“I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Claus”), Donald Westlake (“Give Till It Hurts”) and S.J. Rozan (“The Grift of the Magi”), this roundup of holiday tales with a sinister twist is the perfect gift for the mystery lover on your list.

CRIME FICTION'S IT GIRL
Movie fans and fiction lovers alike have Lisbeth on the brain—Lisbeth Salander, that is. The heroine of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, Lisbeth is equal parts guerrilla girl and math geek—a street-smart genius with a knack for hacking who uses her computer skills to take on the baddies of Swedish society. Her adventures, chronicled in Larsson’s trio of bestsellers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, have bewitched readers around the world.

Coinciding with the holidays is the arrival of the Millennium Trilogy Deluxe Boxed Set, a handsome slip-cased collection that will provide fans with an extra Lisbeth fix. The set contains new hardcover editions of the three novels, which have been outfitted with a fresh design that includes maps, unique engravings and one-of-a-kind endpapers. Rounding out the collection is On Stieg Larsson, a volume of previously unpublished essays and correspondence with the author, who died in 2004. With more than five million copies in print, Larsson’s thrilling trilogy has turned Lisbeth into the queen of crime fiction, and her story gets the royal treatment here. This lavish set is a must-have for Millennium devotees and readers in search of suspense.

Whether you’re shopping for a serious scholar or an armchair academic, a mystery addict or a collector, we have a title for every bibliophile on your list. Stuff a stocking with one of the books below, and you’ll look smart this holiday season.

…

NonfictionPop CultureMusicBiography

Let’s hear it for the boys

Feature by Martin Brady

For the men on your list, this year’s selection has a sporty bent, with side trips into macho movies, manly pursuits and muscular journalism.

EYE OF THE TIGER
Leading off the pack—and combining good reporting with a story ripped from the headlines—is Tom Callahan’s His Father’s Son: Earl and Tiger Woods. Callahan, author of the acclaimed bio Johnny U, brings a two-tiered approach to the story of the two Woods men, outlining father Earl’s life and maverick mindset and placing the great golfer Tiger’s own life and career into that broader context. Is the child father to the man? Perhaps so, though Callahan seems better able to profile Woods the father, with his varied markers as military man, Vietnam vet, college athlete and major influence on Tiger. We also gain some insight—if not outright understanding—into the Woodses’ way with women, and that should interest many readers, this being the first major volume to grapple with Tiger’s personality since his endlessly publicized fall from grace in late 2009. (That said, Tiger still comes off here as pretty elusive emotionally.) Callahan infuses his text with many accounts of Tiger’s achievements at major tournaments and also quotes notable golf figures such as Ernie Els, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer on Tiger—the athlete and the man.

ALL ABOUT B-BALL
Two seasons ago, The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac took the sports publishing world by storm with its offbeat collaborative writing and unique graphics approach. The writers identified with FreeDarko.com are at it again, in The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History, which applies the same on-the-edge journalism to analysis of the game’s past, from the development of the early leagues, to the rise of the NBA, to rundowns of the impact on the sport by figures such as Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain through to the more modern era of Bird, Magic, Jordan, Barkley, Shaq, Kobe, etc. The text, as quirkily readable as ever, further ranges over pop culture, books, movies and on- and off-court events that have become emblazoned in the public mind in the television age.

BONE, JAMES BOND
For the escapist, movie-fan guy, two new entries in the Bond Collection offer fun reading and browsing. With text by Alastair Dougall, Bond Girls and Bond Villains present nostalgic, evocative pictorial coverage of all the evil geniuses, henchmen and seductive and/or poisonous ladies encountered by the seven cinema James Bonds, in films ranging from Dr. No (1962) to Quantum of Solace (2008). These are fabulously entertaining volumes, though curiously, the actors who played the many roles, men and women, are never identified by name in the text, nor are the Bonds (spanning Sean Connery through Daniel Craig). In that case, the book is particularly recommended for those who think of the Bond phenomenon—and its many personalities—as more fact than fiction.

BLOWING SMOKE
“A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke,” wrote Rudyard Kipling. In an age where tobacco is anathema to most—a sneaky killer and a social no-no—there are still folks who treasure the singular culture surrounding the cigar (which still goes nicely with brandy, by the way). Churchill, for example, supposedly smoked 8 to 10 of them a day (and Sir Winston lived to be 90). Don’t forget George Burns, Bill Cosby, Groucho Marx, Mark Twain and Fidel Castro, to name but a few on the long and worthy list of tokers. For those who embrace the occasional habit, Lawrence Dorfman’s The Cigar Lover’s Compendium: Everything You Need to Light Up and Leave Me Alone is pretty much a must-have volume. Like cigars themselves, Dorfman’s guidebook is, uh, thoroughly satisfying—from the history of cigar-making to connoisseur considerations to anecdotes and aphorisms. Plus, there’s a useful list of cigar bars and shops in the U.S. and Canada; also a glossary of terms. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.

THE BEST OF THE BEST
Finally, in praise of good writing—and an interesting gift for the guy who appreciates it—is The Silent Season of a Hero: The Sports Writing of Gay Talese. Talese is internationally known as a purveyor of the so-called New Journalism and author of literary nonfiction classics like The Kingdom and the Power and Thy Neighbor’s Wife. Yet Talese was also a sportswriter, first plying that trade as a teenager for the Ocean City (N.J.) Sentinel-Ledger. Later, he wrote for the University of Alabama’s Crimson-White and eventually the New York Times, Esquire and other major publications. This anthology gathers his pieces from every era—the earliest dating from 1948­—and displays his interest in more than merely the final score, with notably atypical, sometimes surprising reportage on basketball, football, baseball, golf, horse racing and even speed-skating, with a 1980 profile of Olympians Eric and Beth Heiden. He weaves discussion of race, media and society into these stories, and, apropos to his age group (Talese is now 78), there’s a good deal of coverage on boxing, as befits its former standing as a major, print-ready sport. Though Talese famously sympathized with underdogs, the book’s title derives from his famous 1966 Esquire article on Joe DiMaggio—still, decades later, a sports icon.

For the men on your list, this year’s selection has a sporty bent, with side trips into macho movies, manly pursuits and muscular journalism.

EYE OF THE TIGER
Leading off the pack—and combining good reporting with a story ripped from the…

NonfictionFashion

Read ’em and weep (with laughter)

Feature by Linda M. Castellitto

When the going gets tough, the tough make jokes. We’re in a recession, getting older, and the Earth is melting, but there’s humor to be had. (No, really!) This quartet of books puts a humorous spin on what it’s like to be us. Go forth and laugh!

FABLES WITH A TWIST
Oh, animals. They can be so cute and sweet. Except when they’re behaving like jerks or committing acts of violence. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of 16 twisted tales masterfully illustrated by Ian Falconer (of Olivia fame), will be literary catnip for readers who’ve speculated on what pets or wild creatures are really thinking. In David Sedaris’ world, our anthropomorphized furry and feathered friends can be thoughtful, kind, annoying or depraved; it depends on the individual. Fans of the author and radio commentator’s previous books likely will be split between those who love this wild escalation of Sedaris’ dark side and those who can’t abide stories with shocking, unhappy endings. But it’s a jungle out there, and Squirrel spares neither personality foible nor distasteful aspect of human nature or the animal kingdom (a parasite that prefers hippopotamus anuses comes to mind). This collection is a dark-humor lover’s delight that raises the question: What will Sedaris do next?

HUMANS WERE HERE
It’s been six years since Jon Stewart and his team published America (The Book), but they haven’t been idle—they’ve been working on an even more ambitious project. You see, when humans become extinct and the Earth is colonized by aliens, the new residents probably will have lots of questions about what came before. With that in mind, they created Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race, an extremely detailed reference book about what we’ve left behind, how we lived and likely reasons we’re not around anymore (pandemic? nuclear holocaust? robot rebellion?). This hilarious-yet-rueful tome—all written in the past tense, of course—covers everything from government to fashion, natural disasters to advertising. Illustrations, charts, photos and collages add to the satiric fun, though a faux nude photo of Larry King might seem un-fun to some. There’s a helpful suggestion-cum-plea for the aliens, too: that they reanimate us from DNA so we can together “give this planet the kind of caretakers it deserves.” It’s a poignant end to a funny, smart book.

NEW (PREPPY) GENERATION
It’s generally true, to be sure, that a lot has changed in the last 30 years. In the land of prep, this is the most shocking change of all: “Preppies in the 21st century all wear the unnatural fibers we collectively refer to as ‘fleece.’ ” If Lisa Birnbach says it, we know it’s true; 30 years ago, she wrote The Official Preppy Handbook and revealed the secret code of the natural-fibers set. Now she and designer extraordinaire Chip Kidd have issued True Prep: It’s a Whole New Old World, a guidebook for prepsters not sure what Muffy would do in the face of reality TV, Facebook and the Martha Stewart and Bernie Madoff scandals, to name just a few. This copiously illustrated manual offers reassurance and guidance aplenty, via advice for hiring staff (say “chef,” not “cook”), fashion rules (“Nose rings are never preppy”), a map of “Gay and Lesbian Prep America” and loads more. The creators’ cleverness is nicely tempered by their fondness for the tribe, and those who take the book seriously will be more than ready to achieve maximum preppiness. Whether you adore or eschew pastel and penny loafers, True Prep is a delight.

I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY BRAIN
Nora Ephron has met Cary Grant and Dorothy Parker, but remembers nothing about them. She was at “The Ed Sullivan Show” the night the Beatles performed, and only recalls the obnoxious fans. As she muses in I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections, “On some level, my life has been wasted on me. After all, if I can’t remember it, who can?” But, as with 2006’s I Feel Bad About My Neck, what she does remember is fascinating, entertaining and a lovely contemplation of what it’s like to grow older, every single year. The accomplished screenwriter (Julie and Julia, When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle, among others) writes about her love for journalism and New York City, and her sadness upon learning her beloved Teflon emits poisonous gases. She holds forth on the vagaries of email, and shares what it’s like to have a favorite play flop. Throughout the book, the touching sits alongside the funny; essays like “The O Word,” in which she muses on what it’s like to realize she is old, will hit home with anyone who’s wondered if they’ve made the most of life. And who hasn’t?
 

When the going gets tough, the tough make jokes. We’re in a recession, getting older, and the Earth is melting, but there’s humor to be had. (No, really!) This quartet of books puts a humorous spin on what it’s like to be us. Go forth…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Christmas is coming

Feature by Alice Cary

Don’t forget to deck your halls with picture books for the little ones. Here are some jolly new selections to add to your holiday favorites.

DAVID'S AT IT AGAIN
When it comes to kids, “no” is a much-used word by adults during the crazy days and weeks leading up to Christmas. So a Christmas story is a natural for the hero of the award-winning “No, David!” books. Author David Shannon presents plenty of hilarious shenanigans in It’s Christmas, David!. His title character is the personification of a nonstop, super-curious, fearless kid, ready to get away with anything.

David’s latest quests go from bad to worse. First he peeks around corners and reaches for cookies, but then his exuberance takes him streaking down a snow-covered sidewalk wearing only a hat, boots and mittens. Later, he writes his name in the snow with a highly suspicious-looking yellow liquid. The brilliant accompanying text says simply, “Naughty list, naughty list, naughty list . . .”

You’re likely to read this delightfully fun book over and over again to your eager little elves—and you’ll all enjoy every minute of it!

CHRISTMAS IN THE FOREST
Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas is a lovely holiday book, sparkling in both language and illustrations. This is the third book about Fletcher the fox and his forest friends, and it contains gentle drama that’s all about friendship, helping others and holiday anticipation.

Fletcher’s friends, the rabbits, have moved, leaving Fletcher to worry that Santa may not be able to find their new burrow. So he and his pals use sticks to show Santa the way. However, a nighttime snowfall covers their trail of twigs. How will Santa find them?

Writer Julia Rawlinson uses precise prose that enlivens every page, while artist Tiphanie Beeke’s pastels are full of layered, lavish color. Fletcher and Squirrel are so fuzzy you can practically touch them, while the forest is a rainbow of soft color. Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas is a wonderfully cozy bedtime read.

NEW FACES AT THE NORTH POLE
For some snappy Christmas fun, try a ride on Santa’s sleigh with Jeannette Claus Saves Christmas. Jeannette is Santa’s daughter, and she’s got plenty of gumption, thanks to the writing of Douglas Rees. Santa’s in a pickle, because he’s too sick to man his sleigh. Jeannette quickly steps to the plate, listening to her dad’s advice about how to handle the tricky reindeer. (“Dasher’s the worst. If he had his way, no one would get any presents.”) This is an adventure with plenty of fun ’tude.

On Christmas Eve, an equipment malfunction allows Dasher and his gang to soar off into the starry night, leaving Jeannette—and Santa’s presents—stranded on a city roof. This crafty kid quickly rounds up a gaggle of cats and dogs to deliver the gifts. And imagine the reindeers’ surprise back at the North Pole when Jeannette introduces her new team: “Buster and Blackjack, Wheezer and Grover, Tiger and Squeaky, Caesar and Rover.”

Olivier Latyk’s illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to this funky, spunky tale, adding a crisp, retro-modern look.

A COLOSSAL PROBLEM
More trouble is brewing at the North Pole in The Christmas Giant, a tale of ingenuity and friendship between a giant named Humphrey and his elf friend, Leetree. The pair is in charge of designing Santa’s wrapping paper, but in the off season they are asked to grow Santa’s Christmas tree. Their beautiful tree floats away on an iceberg, however, and they must quickly find a solution.

The pair triumphs, and author/illustrator Steve Light’s soft, carefully drawn pen, ink and pastel illustrations give this story a soothing glow. This is a lively, yet quiet tale, far removed from the usual holiday hubbub.

AFRICAN LORDS-A-LEAPING
In need of a vigorous holiday diversion? Grab Rachel Isadora’s The 12 Days of Christmas. I’ve seen plenty of renderings of the “12 Days” over the years, but this one stands out, bursting with color and energy, recounting the well-known song with African images, patterns and palette. Isadora, inspired by her own visits to the continent, has created pages filled with color that remind me of Ashley Bryan’s wonderful books.

A map and note at the end explain some of the artist’s influences. The ladies dancing, for instance, come from Swaziland, while the drummers’ drums are from Ghana and Nigeria.

An added bonus for young readers is Isadora’s use of a rebus to stand for each of the 12 days. As the verse progresses, rebuses for all the previous days fill the pages, giving children a colorful, creative “code” to crack.

A NEW NATIVITY
Preschoolers will enjoy a fresh new look at the nativity story with Christmas Is Here. In this highly accessible, warm book, a young family walks through falling snow in a small town, where a sign announces, “Live Nativity Tonight!” The first few pages are wordless, as the family rounds a corner and sees the actors and another sign saying, “Come celebrate Jesus’ birth!”

A young child peers at the sleeping manger baby, imagining the Christmas story. On the next page, readers are taken back to the time of Jesus’ birth, and the simple words of the King James Bible tell the age-old story. The ink and watercolors of artist Lauren Castillo cast soft gray-blue tones on the nighttime story, drawn in simple lines and keeping the action front and center. In the final pages, we come full circle, returning to the watchful family of today. Christmas Is Here is simply and artfully told and illustrated.

TODDLER-FRIENDLY
Another excellent choice for young children is the toddler version of The Child in the Manger. Belgian-born author/illustrator Liesbet Slegers illustrates with bright primary colors and dark, thick lines, making the artwork appear childlike. The nativity story is full of solemnity, but Slegers conveys this sacred story in a warm way that never overwhelms.

The Child in the Manger is the perfect introduction to the Christmas story for the very young. It’s excellent, also, for both religious and nonreligious families, thanks to the carefully worded conclusion:

Now everybody knows who Jesus is. / He was born on the day we call Christmas. / And when you get a Christmas present, / it also celebrates the birthday of Jesus.

Don’t forget to deck your halls with picture books for the little ones. Here are some jolly new selections to add to your holiday favorites.

DAVID'S AT IT AGAIN
When it comes to kids, “no” is a much-used word by adults during the crazy days and…

Children's & YAPicture Book

Creative choices for young minds

Feature by Joanna Brichetto

Gift books for children seem to get better and better with each new holiday season. When authors, artists and publishers show this much care for budding young readers and their nurturing parents, the hopeful promises of the season seem all the more achievable.

SWEET DREAMS
The Goodnight Book for Moms and Little Ones, edited by Alice Wong and Lena Tabori, offers a surprising amount of material perfect for easing the often-difficult transition from day to night. The chubby little treasure is stuffed with “stories to read, poetry to inspire, activities to delight, songs to sing, recipes to soothe and [multicultural] prayers to calm.” Brief excerpts pluck favorite sleepy moments from classics like Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Charlotte’s Web, and are interspersed with short tales from Greek mythology, the Brothers Grimm, Native American traditions and other sources. Poets represented include Robert Louis Stevenson, Shel Silverstein, Christina Rossetti and e.e. cummings, and the lullabies are culled from the canon, now extending generously to John Lennon and Paul Simon.

As the title promises, Mom also gets a bit of attention, with relaxation techniques, parenting tips and neat projects (like scented sachets and dream-journaling). The crisply organized table of contents is a necessity with so much on offer, but the book lends itself to soporifically random—call it “sandman”—sampling, thanks to all the classic illustrations on these sleepy, color-soaked pages.

ANIMALS ON PARADE
British pop-up master Robert Crowther launched his career more than 30 years ago with The Most Amazing Hide-and-Seek Alphabet Book, and this creative wonder is now available in a new edition. Crowther makes kids work a bit to find the animal whose name begins with each letter, but the payoff is worth it. Big, black lowercase letters march across white pages looking quite severe until little hands figure out how to slide, flip, pull or push the tab to release a colorful critter. An ape swings beneath the “a,” a frog leaps the curve of an “f,” a koala slides down the leg of a “k,” and an owl blinks inside the “o.” The names of the animals are revealed as well, so that even the youngest operator can see the spelling. Both upper- and lower-cases of the letters appear at the top of each page for reference and comparison, each pair designed with the colors and patterns of its assigned animal.

Crowther’s now-classic pop-up is even more fun when paired with its companion volume, The Most Amazing Hide-and-Seek Numbers Book. Like his abecediary, the counting book is irresistible. Stark numerals (with the name spelled above) hide adorable animals in just the right number: one spider, two swans, three caterpillars, four snails and so on, but all squeezed behind or inside the actual numeral, ready to pop, uncoil, scoot or slide. And he doesn’t stop at 20; Crowther crams in enough critters to make it by tens all the way to 100. All animals are named, whether ordinary or exotic, teaching animal identification and spelling along with number literacy.

WHEN LIFE GIVES US LEMONS . . .
“A torn piece of paper is just the beginning,” Barney Saltzberg assures young readers in Beautiful Oops!, a happy little book that celebrates the potential power of mistakes. Turn the page, and the other side of that torn paper is now the goofy grin of an alligator. Same with a stain, a bent corner, a scrap, a spill: All are playfully transformed into something imaginative and unexpected—a wide-mouthed frog, a penguin’s head, a collage, a pig in a car. Using ingenious pops-ups, flaps, overlays, holes and splashy illustrations, Beautiful Oops! shows us that anyone can turn blunder into wonder. This art lesson, if taken to heart, can be a valuable life lesson, too. In fact it may be the perfect chance to nip perfectionism in the bud and cultivate a lifelong tendency to be creative and react to screw-ups with flexibility. Maybe kids really can learn to learn from mistakes. Beautiful Oops! is for ages three and up, which means everyone old enough to read books instead of eat them (which would be a real mistake, by the way) has the chance to get in on the magic.

SOMETHING'S COOKING
I’m a Scientist: Kitchen, by Lisa Burke, looks like the best kind of children’s cookbook: It has clear, simple graphics, big color photographs, easy instructions and an illustrated materials list so that even nonreaders can collect supplies, but its real goal is to help young children (ages four to eight) cook up a healthy love of science. Each two-page spread contains one kitchen-based experiment that calls for stuff already on hand, like pantry items, toys or household bits and pieces. For example, kids explore density by layering oil, syrup and water into a jar and adding small objects to see if they sink or float. Simple questions act as prompts to encourage observation and curiosity. At the right of every spread is a big flap covering scientific conclusions and follow-up ideas for kids curious enough to want more. Other experiments look at static electricity, magnets, ice and more, but always in the easiest and most fun ways. A colloid, for example, is a big new word, but when put into action as Gobbledy Goo (cornstarch suspended in colored water), the concept is fabulously weird and memorable.

BRICK BY BRICK
David Macaulay, award-winning author and artist of The Way Things Work and many more must-have books, offers a new title that combines three of his most famous and beloved works in Built to Last. The impetus behind the original editions of Castle, Cathedral and Mosque was “not only to show why and how some of the world’s best-known buildings were designed and constructed, but to connect the bricks and mortar with the vision and courage of the builders,” Macaulay writes. He did this with exquisitely detailed renderings of every phase of building and every job required, from mixing mortar to assembling stained-glass windows, plus maps, plans, illustrations, background information and stories—historical fiction, really—that made history feel immediate and real. And he does it even better in Built to Last.

All the material—illustrations and information—has been completely revised by the author and is now in full color, a process that took him far longer than anticipated. Although aimed at children ages nine to 12, Macaulay’s new collection will appeal to anyone interested in architecture, history or just the way things work.

TELLING THE TALE
What could be better than hearing a child read a story except, perhaps, hearing a child tell a story? But storytelling is an art, isn’t it, best left to those with the training and the talent? Not according to Storyworld: Create-a-Story Kit, by John and Caitlin Matthews, which sets out to prove that any reader can be a storyteller. Storyworld is a book-like box containing 40 story cards and a short guide. Each elaborately illustrated card “features people, creatures, places and special objects” based on age-old folktale traditions that are ready to mix and match in any way the teller wishes. Readers are instructed to “pick a handful of cards, and use their pictures and words as inspiration to tell a new story every time the box is opened.” There is no right or wrong way to craft a story with this kit. The storytelling book offers ideas for creating stories, games to play with the cards, suggestions for further inspiration and ways to use Storyworld alone, with a friend or even with parents. This “ingenious toolkit for the mind” is designed for ages 9 to 12.

SHIP-SHAPE
A new toolkit of another sort awaits Star Wars fans. Star Wars Millennium Falcon: A 3-D Owner’s Guide, by Ryder Windham, illustrated by Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff, is a spectacular oversized board book with a “pilot’s view” of the most famous ship from that galaxy far, far away. Every page highlights a particular system or area (propulsion, life support, crew quarters, armaments, etc.) in a cool cut-away format, which exposes only that particular area. As the pages are turned, the resulting overlay gradually builds to form the entire ship. Meanwhile, abundant specs and factoids will please the most mechanically obsessed devotee, and quotes from Han Solo and Lando Calrissian add a little dash of humor and film trivia. The whole thing is presented as if it were an actual owner’s manual, and pilots are advised to read thoroughly before taking the Falcon out for a spin.

SHHHHH
Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Best-Kept Secrets, by John Farndon, dares readers ages 10 and up to risk exposure to a world of “weird history, strange science, mysterious places, random happenings, freaky facts of nature” and other oddities. The range and amount of information is staggering (as is the nature of some of it), and each subject is presented on a double-page spread with loads of visual variety and catchy graphics. A sample of topics culled from the index includes the Fibonacci sequence, iris recognition, haunted places, bar codes, spontaneous combustion, the curse of Tutankhamun, dark matter, UFOs and Elvis. Some of this stuff can pass as cultural literacy, some is just for fun, but all is supposedly true. Not to open Do Not Open is not, realistically, an option, but where to open is—your enthralled child could start right at the beginning, or she might choose to follow the enticing leads in the cross-references at the bottom of nearly every spread. “From DNA to the CIA, hackers to hoaxes, time travel to telepathy: it’s all in here.”

Gift books for children seem to get better and better with each new holiday season. When authors, artists and publishers show this much care for budding young readers and their nurturing parents, the hopeful promises of the season seem all the more achievable.

SWEET DREAMS
The…

BookPage Top 40 Books of 2010

Feature by BookPage staff

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the books that impressed us. We editors put our heads together and came up with a Top 40 list of books—fiction and nonfiction—that stood out from the crowd in 2010. From literary novels to memoirs to mysteries, they include established authors, new voices and a few surprises.

 
1. Room by Emma Donoghue
2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen  
3. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand 
4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
5. Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell 
6. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart  
7. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
8. Great House by Nicole Krauss 
9. Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
10. A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova
11. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
12. The Passage by Justin Cronin
13. My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
14. Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff
15. The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass 
16. Faithful Place by Tana French
17. Mr. Toppit by Charles Elton
18. The Privileges by Jonathan Dee
19. So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
20. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
21. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
22. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
23. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
24. The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
25. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
26. The Tiger by John Vaillant
27. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
28. The Big Short by Michael Lewis
29. Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides
30. The Line by Olga Grushin
31. How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
32. I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
33. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
34. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
35. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
36. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
37. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
38. Breath by Martha Mason
39. The Grace of Silence by Michele Norris
40. Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens

 

 

 

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the books that impressed us. We editors put our heads together and came up with a Top 40 list of books—fiction and nonfiction—that stood out from the crowd in 2010.…

BookPage Top Children’s Books of 2010

Feature by the editors of BookPage

The editors of BookPage put their heads together and came up with our choices for the Best Children's Books of 2010—10 picks in each age range (picture books, middle grade and teen). Our picks include humor, historical fiction, fantasy and much more:

 
PICTURE BOOKS
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Written by Philip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead
Bridget's Beret
Written and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Chester's Masterpiece
Written and illustrated by Melanie Watt
Chicken Big
Written and illustrated by Keith Graves
City Dog, Country Frog
Written by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon J Muth
Flora's Very Windy Day
Written by Jeanne Birdsall, illustrated by Matt Phelan
How Rocket Learned to Read
Written and illustrated by Tad Hills
So Many Days
Written by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
The Boss Baby
Written and illustrated by Marla Frazee
The Quiet Book
Written by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska

MIDDLE GRADE
A Long Walk to Water
By Linda Sue Park

Bamboo People
By Mitali Perkins
Bink & Gollie
By Kate DiCamillo & Alison McGhee
Countdown
By Deborah Wiles
Finding Family
By Tonya Bolden
Keeper
By Kathi Appelt
By Kathryn Erskine
By Rita Williams-Garcia
By Aaron Hawkins
Touch Blue
By Cynthia Lord 
 

TEEN

 
By Lynne Rae Perkins
By Neal Shusterman
By Melina Marchetta
By Chris Lynch
By Suzanne Collins
By Jennifer Donnelly
By Paolo Bacigalupi
By Francisco X. Stork
By Sarah Smith
By David Levithan & John Green
 

 

The editors of BookPage put their heads together and came up with our choices for the Best Children's Books of 2010—10 picks in each age range (picture books, middle grade and teen). Our picks include humor, historical fiction, fantasy and much more:

…
Religion & SpiritualityMemoirCrafts, Hobbies & HomeBusiness & Finance

Books to inspire personal change

Feature by the editors of BookPage

Are you ready to make a fresh start in the new year? We’ve lined up a bevy of guidebooks to help you launch 2011 with a renewed sense of purpose and effective new strategies for dealing with life’s challenges. Choose the approach that best suits your lifestyle and take those first steps toward a new and improved you.

LESS IS MORE

Dave Bruno was a success: booming business, loving family, nice home and solid Christian faith. He owned lots of stuff, which led to wanting more stuff, leading to a blog called Stuck in Stuff, where he complained about consumerism but continued to buy—wait for it—more stuff. Finally, all that stuff started to take its toll, and in a quest to examine his consumption more closely, Bruno decided to pare back to just 100 personal items for one year. He chronicles that journey in his inspirational new memoir, The 100 Thing Challenge.

Bruno’s book is often funny, as when he finds a pair of cleats he will never use again but had kept “in case I started to age in reverse.” One-liners like those sometimes steal focus from the project, which is only described in detail halfway through the book. By that time, our attention has been diverted down so many side paths it’s hard to remember what we came for. Thankfully, a detailed appendix will assist readers inspired to try the 100 Thing Challenge themselves, as many apparently have.

After reading about Bruno’s experience—which he says helped him to regain his soul—you’ll never look at the contents of your junk drawer the same way again. And don’t feel too conflicted about buying the book: Bruno counts his whole “library” as one item, a form of cheating any avid reader would wholeheartedly endorse.

—Heather Seggel

CHANGING THE STATUS QUO

Guides to sustainable living bend the shelves at bookstores these days, but David Wann takes sustainability farther than most. In The New Normal, he maps out a future without dependency on fossil fuels, cheap goods or processed food. Because we are all faced with a warming world, he offers steps to deeply transform our resource-dependent routines to self-reliant, more fulfilling lives that are easier on our planet.

Changes in population, technology and available resources have outdistanced our cultural ideals, says Wann. For our “new normal,” we should ditch old status symbols, such as huge McMansions in the suburbs, and instead value actions that build local communities, such as bike-friendly thoroughfares, energy-efficient housing and shorter food and energy supply lines. Wann describes how meeting our needs locally will make life not only sustainable but more meaningful, through closer ties with our family and neighbors.

The New Normal provides both the vision and the actions needed to change the status quo. It is an excellent resource for people who want specific information on creating a sustainable culture where they live—and beyond.

—Marianne Peters

FROM ANXIOUS TO PEACEABLE

Dr. Henry Emmons’ new book, The Chemistry of Calm, offers natural solutions to overcoming anxiety, maintaining that there is an alternative to panic attacks and Prozac. Emmons, a psychiatrist, laid the groundwork for a holistic path to wellness with his last book, The Chemistry of Joy. In this follow-up, Emmons outlines what he calls the Resilience Training Program.

Meditation, diet, exercise and supplements comprise the program. What Emmons lays out is a very doable regimen for readers that begins with self-care and acceptance. Although many other self-help books center on fixing the problem(s), Emmons takes the position that individuals are innately healthy and simply need to refocus.

The shift from anxious to peaceable takes seven steps. Emmons walks readers through each in The Chemistry of Calm, from how to choose better food options at the grocery store, to using dietary supplements linked to brain health, to integrating a routine of meditative exercises.

For Emmons, “Mindfulness” is the key to corralling the thoughts and emotions that ratchet up our anxiety, and The Chemistry of Calm is an in-depth how-to guide that can benefit us all.

—Lizza Connor Bowen

A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR FINDING PEACE

Fifteen years after the phenomenal success of Simple Abundance, which spent a year at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, author Sarah Ban Breathnach admits, “All the money’s gone.” Her new book, Peace and Plenty, explains how she hit bottom and offers an approach perfectly timed for the new year: “a fresh start for all of us: living well, spending less, and appreciating more.”

Ban Breathnach’s writing is therapy on a page as she copes with her monumental losses: multiple homes, nine assistants, extravagant purchases (Isaac Newton’s prayer chapel in England, Marilyn Monroe’s furs) and a thieving husband. In dealing with the aftermath, she uncovers the emotionally volatile relationship women have with money.

Instead of writing another dry investing how-to, Ban Breathnach gives women a guide to finding spiritual and emotional peace after financial loss. Anyone who has suffered financial catastrophe—losing a home to foreclosure, losing a job to the recession, losing it all in a messy divorce—will find reassurance and compassion. With gentle advice, Peace and Plenty helps readers face their guilt about past money mistakes and move forward.

Ban Breathnach brings her Victorian sensibilities to plain-Jane finance; her budget includes a Christmas Club, her cash system creates a pin money stash. Readers rediscover the “thrill of thrift” by cleaning out purses and closets for a fresh start, and pampering themselves with poetry and early bedtime routines.

Ban Breathnach, who popularized the Gratitude Journal, now recommends several more tools for inexpensive self-reflection. The Journal of Well-Spent Moments, the Contentment Chest and the Comfort Companion all focus on finding the positive without spending much money.

Advice and anecdotes from famous women who’ve dealt with their own reversals of fortune are included throughout, but Ban Breathnach is at her best when sharing the deeply personal stories of her own financial foibles. And perhaps her greatest lesson came from the treachery of her English husband: Protect yourself first, she advises.

Sharing tears, laughter and many cups of tea with Ban Breathnach, readers will come away with a new perspective for finding peace.

—Stephanie Gerber

FOLLOWING THE GOLDEN RULE

Everybody knows the world lacks compassion, yet it’s something we deeply desire. To care about others, we must set aside our own egos, which is hard. Toward this end, self-described religious historian Karen Armstrong has written Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, calculated to mirror other 12-step programs and help us “dethrone ourselves from the centre of our worlds.”

Armstrong is the 2008 TED Prize winner and creator of The Charter for Compassion, crafted in 2009 by prominent religious leaders of many faiths and the general public. She believes that all religions are saying the same things, albeit in different ways, and that we must restore compassion to the heart of our religious practices. Considering that her narrative draws from the myths and precepts of many disparate faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, her prose is clear and her concepts surprisingly easy to follow; it’s a warm and, yes, compassionate book. Yet she is still able to convey a sense of urgency: We are hardwired for compassion as well as cruelty, and it’s time to take the high road.

Armstrong’s genius is her ability to distill an impressive amount of information into just over 200 pages, making complex concepts easy to understand. In the end, living compassionately means following the Golden Rule: Always treat others as you yourself would want to be treated. With Armstrong as a guide, we can learn to do just that.

—Linda Leaming

YOUR PERSONAL MONEY TRAINER

If getting your family’s financial house in order seems like an overwhelming task, then Ellie Kay’s The 60-Minute Money Workout is for you. Every topic is broken down into chunks that make paying down debt, planning for retirement and even college planning doable in just one hour a week. From warm up to cool down, Kay acts as your money trainer as you discover your money personality and get on the same page with your partner.

Kay is called America’s Family Financial Expert for good reason. She brings real wisdom from supporting seven children on an annual income of just $55,000. The Kay family pays cash for cars, has no college loans and even paid off $40,000 in debt.

Her head-of-household experience shines in chapters like “Cha Ching Guide to Paying Less” and “Travel and Fun Guide Workout.” She shares loads of family-friendly ways to shop smarter for groceries, clothes and gas, saving time and money that can then be spent on more meaningful family vacations. She addresses other common family money matters with “workouts” for situations from launching a home-based business to determining children’s allowances.

Kay admits to being born thrifty, but she balances it by giving generously. Her 10/10/80 spending budget allocates 10 percent to giving and 10 percent to savings. That’s a hefty chunk for someone overwhelmed with credit card debt. But her Giving Guide Workout challenges you to strengthen your generosity muscle by doing more to share your time, resources and money, promising that you’ll feel and live better. And if you don’t have a dollar to spare, she includes 25 gifts that don’t cost a cent.

—Stephanie Gerber

Before you can start using your brain most effectively, you must understand it. This is the thinking behind Your Creative Brain, which contains the most up-to-date research-based exercises and rules to help you deliver your creative potential. For those who consider themselves “uncreative types” or are too attached to tried-and-true concepts, Your Creative Brain acts as an interactive guide to determine your weaker points and put them to work.

According to Harvard psychologist and researcher Shelley Carson, creativity is not an attribute reserved only for crafty types or inventors. Carson is the first researcher to frame creativity as a set of neurological functions, and Your Creative Brain lets you discover her findings for yourself.

Carson’s research explains the seven “brainsets” of the mind and how you can use those brainsets to increase creativity, productivity and innovation. Quizzes and exercises help you understand how your brain works, determine where your creative comfort zone lies and pinpoint the areas in your creative process which need some beefing up.

From Rorschach tests to association exercises, Your Creative Brain doesn’t simply teach you how to be more creative—it actually starts the process for you.

—Cat D. Acree

THE GIFT OF GRATITUDE

When John Kralik was a boy, his grandfather gave him a silver dollar, along with the promise of another if Kralik would send a thank you note. He wrote the letter and got the second dollar, but Kralik didn’t get the lesson behind it until midlife.
Overwhelmed one New Year’s Day by a series of personal and professional setbacks, he decided to focus on gratitude by sending one thank you note per day for a year, to anyone and everyone: his children, clients of his law firm, an on-and-off girlfriend, even his regular barista at Starbucks. And things did change in Kralik’s life; his work life and home life both improved, he reconnected with old friends and boosted his health and self-esteem, and his focus shifted from the problems in his life to the things that were going right, and deserving of recognition and thanks.

For a small story predicated on a seemingly minor activity, 365 Thank Yous is told with impressive humility, heart and soul. It’s touching when the Starbucks worker explains his reluctance to open Kralik’s note, anticipating another complaint from an entitled three-dollar-latte drinker, only to be pleasantly surprised by the gift of simple appreciation.

Readers will forgive Kralik for taking 15 months to write all 365 notes, and thank him for sharing the fruits of the project in this sweet and uplifting book.

—Heather Seggel

 

 

Are you ready to make a fresh start in the new year? We’ve lined up a bevy of guidebooks to help you launch 2011 with a renewed sense of purpose and effective new strategies for dealing with life’s challenges. Choose the approach that best suits…

Readers’ Choice: Best Books of 2010

Feature by the editors of BookPage

In November we asked readers to tell us their favorite book of 2010. More than 2,600 readers responded, and the results span genres from literary thriller to YA phenomenon to historical epic. Several of these books overlap with our own Best of 2010 picks. The results are in order of votes.

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin
2. Room by Emma Donoghue
3. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
4. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
5. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
7. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
8. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
9. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
11. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
12. Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
13. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
14. 61 Hours by Lee Child
15. A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
16. Ape House by Sara Gruen
17. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
18. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
19. Faithful Place by Tana French
20. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Note: Although our Readers' Choice "Best of 2010" picks were limited to books published in 2010, several older books received a significant number of votes. The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay remain especially popular with BookPage readers.

 

In November we asked readers to tell us their favorite book of 2010. More than 2,600 readers responded, and the results span genres from literary thriller to YA phenomenon to historical epic. Several of these books overlap with our own Best of 2010…

Steve Harvey says: Put a ring on it

Feature by Beth E. Williams

All you single ladies who are looking for love and commitment—listen up. Steve Harvey is offering a dose of realism, plenty of wise counsel and a bit of cautious optimism for women hoping to find a good man. Whether you take his advice is up to you.

The top-rated radio host delivers his message in a frank and eye-opening new book, Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man, released just in time for the holidays. It’s a gift that Harvey’s millions of fans would undoubtedly love to find under the tree on Christmas morning.

Harvey’s first book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, was the number two best-selling hardcover nonfiction book in America in 2009, and has now sold more than two million copies. His blend of honesty, humor and hope clearly struck a nerve with women trying to understand the sometimes mystifying behavior displayed by the male of the species.

Speaking from a man’s perspective, Harvey advises women to wise up, wash their hands of the men they’re wasting time with and put themselves in a position to find and keep a guy worth holding onto.

In particular, he warns women to avoid men bearing gifts (but not love) and men who won’t commit. In a chapter titled “Every Sugar Daddy Ain’t Sweet,” Harvey writes, “Trust me when I tell you, there is nothing sugary or sweet about giving so much of yourself to a man who, at the end of the day, is giving you so little in return.” If you’re stuck in a relationship with a Sugar Daddy, Harvey has two words of advice: Walk. Away.

A dilemma that even more women can relate to is a happy dating relationship that lasts for years but never leads to marriage. “Thing is, even as society keeps pushing on little girls, young ladies, and grown women the notion that they have to be married to be complete and secure, nobody is really preaching this to boys and men,” Harvey points out. In a chapter called “The Standoff,” he spells out a step-by-step plan to help women decide whether to stick around and work toward commitment or cash in their chips and move on.

Other sections of Straight Talk, No Chaser deal with presenting yourself well and understanding a man’s approach to dating in each decade of life, from the 20s (“He is being driven solely by his financial clock at the same time your biological clock is most likely driving you.”) to the 50s and beyond.

And finally, there’s the all-important topic of sex, or as Harvey calls it, “the cookie.” Here, the comedian-turned-relationship advisor lays it on the line with “Straight Talk” about what motivates men: “There is nothing on this planet that makes him feel better than sex. Not a hole in one on the golf course.

Not a game-winning three-point basket at the buzzer,” Harvey writes. He elaborates on the “Ninety-Day Rule,” outlined in Act Like A Lady, in which couples forgo sex at the start of a relationship. “Treat sex as if it’s something special and let the man you’re interested in know that it’s special and guess what? He’ll either leave . . . or he’ll see something special in you.”  

All you single ladies who are looking for love and commitment—listen up. Steve Harvey is offering a dose of realism, plenty of wise counsel and a bit of cautious optimism for women hoping to find a good man. Whether you take his advice is up…

NonfictionMemoir

True tales of love and marriage

Feature by Amy Scribner

If a heart-shaped box of chocolates just won’t cut it this Valentine’s Day, pick up one of these unique takes on finding—and keeping—love. They’re entertaining, thought-provoking and way lower on calories than a chocolate cherry cordial.

MEET ME IN MANHATTAN
What is it about New York City romances? We love those stories about couples who happen upon each other at the top of the Statue of Liberty or wandering through Times Square. Author Ariel Sabar has a theory about why Manhattan is so conducive to coupling: It’s all by design. “If you want strangers to talk, give them something to talk about: an unusual sculpture, a mime, a juggler, a musician, a street character. . . . It takes two strangers with ostensibly nothing in common and, through a shared, immediate experience, links them, even if just for a moment.”

Sabar’s thoroughly engaging Heart of the City profiles nine couples who met at famous New York City public spaces, much like his own parents, a Kurdish Iraqi father and upper-crust American mother who met by chance in Washington Square Park. The stories span generations, from the sailor who met a lost teenage girl in Central Park in 1941, to Claire and Tom, who met in 1969 at the top of the Empire State Building (“with its setbacks, clean lines, and needle-tip mast, the building looked like some precision scientific instrument, a scalpel under operating room lights”). Sabar has teased out each of these couples’ magnificent, ordinary stories and compiled them into a sparkling love letter to the city.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Want a more practical take on love? Settle in with Spousonomics, a wry and convincing treatise from two financial journalists on why economics is the key to building a marriage that endures through good times and bad. Paula Szuchman, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and Jenny Anderson of the New York Times clearly explain why common marital problems can be solved by applying simple economic principles. Fights over housework are really just an issue of division of labor. Are never-ending arguments the bane of your marriage? You might be loss-averse. And sex, say Szuchman and Anderson, is a simple “function of supply and demand.”

The thing is, Spousonomics actually makes a lot of sense, and you don’t feel like you’re reading a hellish undergrad textbook. When they explain the principle of incentives (a tool to get what you want), you understand that in economics, incentives work because they entice you to buy a pair of shoes just to get a second pair half off. In a marriage, incentives work because they get your husband to finish his honey-do list. Spousonomics “doesn’t demand that you look each other in the eye until you weep tears of remorse. It doesn’t require you to keep an anger log, a courage journal, or a feelings calendar.” It is simply a common-sense, laugh-out-loud guide to a happier marriage.

HEART, SOUL . . . AND KIDNEY
Angela Balcita has already undergone one kidney transplant and needs another when her new college boyfriend Charlie O’Doyle offers his kidney—an unorthodox way to kick off a romance, to be sure. Moonface is about what happens after she says yes to this most unusual proposal.

Balcita writes with humor and dignity about her second transplant at age 28, outlining the incredibly complex, fascinating process of removing and replacing an essential part of the body. But at its core, Moonface is a not-so-simple love story. “I wanted to take all of him, not just his kidney,” Balcita writes. “I wanted us to be like one person, one brain and one body, moving through the world. It was already starting to feel this way.”

Most gratifyingly, unlike so many memoirs of illness and recovery, this one keeps going after Balcita gets better. It won’t spoil the reader’s enjoyment to reveal that she and Charlie stay together and even have a baby. With her sharp ear for dialogue and unflinching honesty, Balcita offers a sweet story of love and healing.

If a heart-shaped box of chocolates just won’t cut it this Valentine’s Day, pick up one of these unique takes on finding—and keeping—love. They’re entertaining, thought-provoking and way lower on calories than a chocolate cherry cordial.

MEET ME IN MANHATTAN
What is it about New…

FictionWorld FictionWomen's Fiction

Sweet reads for Valentine’s Day

Feature by Julie Hale

In the spirit of the season, we have gathered a group of new novels that delightfully explore the elusive nature of love. If you’re looking for fresh insights concerning the inscrutable ways of Cupid, then peruse the books below. Here’s to true love!

A VERY LITERARY ROMANCE
Fans of old-fashioned amour will cozy up to Love Letters. The novel’s leading lady, Laura Horsley, is a bibliophile to the bone. When her bookstore closes and she finds herself out of a job, she impulsively joins the organizing committee of a literary festival. A misunderstanding leads the committee to believe that she has inside connections to Dermot Flynn, a celebrated writer notorious for his love of privacy. Laura, who has adored Dermot’s work since her university days, is dispatched to Ireland to sign him up for the festival. Can she charm the reclusive author into participating? It’s an incredible mission, and one that seems doomed to fail when Laura finally meets the difficult Dermot. Wrestling with his latest work, he’s moody and gruff, yet Laura finds him irresistible, and as she tries to commit him to the festival, the events that transpire defy her wildest fantasies of fandom. With Laura, British author Katie Fforde has created a spirited heroine the reader can’t help rooting for, and she spins her adventures into an unforgettable story. This hilarious romance will convince the harshest cynic that love conquers all.

DATING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
A shrewd depiction of romance in an era of instant connection, Teresa Medeiros’ Goodnight, Tweetheart demonstrates the ways in which courting via computer can expedite seduction—but also trick the heart and muddle the mind. So it goes for the story’s central character, novelist Abby Donovan. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Abby’s a writer with serious aspirations. How, then, to account for her addiction to Twitter, the famous social networking site that’s a bit, well, frivolous?

Led to the website by her publicist, Abby intends, at first, to tweet only for promotional purposes, but business gives way to romance when she connects with the bookish “MarkBaynard,” a charmer who can pack poetry into the briefest tweet. As the two forge an online relationship, Abby finds it increasingly difficult to concentrate on her work. Her story unfolds, in part, through tweets and direct messages, as she compulsively corresponds with a guy who seems, onscreen, like Mr. Right. But how much does Abby really know about Mark? The mysteries and questions Medeiros puts into play are timeless, and they give extra depth to this cleverly crafted tale.

L’AMOUR PARISIAN
A poet, food critic and radio personality, Hervé Le Tellier is known in France as a Renaissance man. His 15th book, a piece of chic, contemporary fiction called Enough About Love, chronicles the turbulent romantic lives of a group of well-to-do Parisians. Elegant, accomplished and on the brink of 40, Anna has a solid marriage and a pair of adorable children. Yet when she meets Yves, an offbeat writer, she’s more than a little intrigued. Likewise, Louise—a successful lawyer, wife and mother—experiences sparks with Thomas, who happens to be Anna’s psychiatrist.

Blindsided by emotion, the lives of all four lovers are transformed virtually overnight. This provocative novel unfolds in brief chapters, each of which offers the perspective of a different character, creating a richly textured mosaic of incident and emotion. For Anna and Louise, the comforts of family are threatened by surprising and potent passion. It’s a classic battle—sudden desire versus the long-cultivated bonds of monogamy—and Le Tellier uses the conflict to explore the difficult decisions that so often accompany love. A wise and witty writer, he brings Parisian flair to this tale of romantic entanglement.

LOVE WITHOUT LIMITS
A sensitive rendering of a remarkable friendship, The Intimates, Ralph Sassone’s accomplished debut novel, examines love in its many varied forms and the demands it makes on the human heart. Kindred spirits, Robbie and Maize gravitate toward each other in high school, but romance fails to blossom between them. Instead, they become steadfast friends, attending the same college and supporting each other as they enter the “real world.” Both struggle to make sense of adolescence even as they embark upon adulthood. Maize—at heart a sensitive writer-type—goes into real estate in New York City but finds the experience, to put it mildly, disillusioning. Meanwhile, Robbie, who has vague designs on the publishing industry, explores romantic relationships with men.

Although Robbie and Maize are driven by desires that change with time and experience, their special intimacy—a passionate yet platonic tie—endures. With authenticity and an eye for the subtle machinations that can make or break relationships, Sassone has produced a moving, often funny novel that beautifully reflects the complexities of love.

In the spirit of the season, we have gathered a group of new novels that delightfully explore the elusive nature of love. If you’re looking for fresh insights concerning the inscrutable ways of Cupid, then peruse the books below. Here’s to true love!

A VERY LITERARY…

Black HistoryAmerican History

From the famous to the forgotten

Feature by Ron Wynn

Black History Month shines a light on lesser-known topics from our past and has the potential to open new conversations on historical events often taken for granted. The latest crop of books on black history achieves both goals.

LIVING HISTORY IN HARLEM
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts’ enlightening Harlem Is Nowhere takes a new approach in her look at the venerable community. Rather than crafting a detached, straightforward account, Rhodes-Pitts makes it personal, showing Harlem’s impact on her during the time she lived there. Her trips include stops at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Lenox Avenue’s famous funeral parlor, where many of the Harlem Renaissance’s key figures were laid to rest. She encounters knowledgeable, flamboyant types like longtime Harlem resident Julius Bobby Nelson, who seems to know everything that’s ever happened there, and neighbors Miss Minnie and Monroe, who quickly become surrogate parents and close confidants. They give her insider details and a scope available only from longtime residents.

Rhodes-Pitts includes tales about photographer James Vander Zee, authors Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison and Zora Neale Hurston, and activist Marcus Garvey, among many others. Still, Harlem Is Nowhere is more an inspirational memoir than a retrospective work, and should motivate others who’ve only heard about Harlem from a distance to inspect it more closely.

FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS
Elizabeth D. Leonard’s Men of Color to Arms! looks at black soldiers who defended a nation that hadn’t yet fully recognized their humanity. In the period between 1863 and 1865, more than 180,000 African Americans joined the Union Army due to promises of freedom in exchange for service. Instead they often encountered vigorous anger and resentment from whites who saw them as inferior and even responsible for the deaths of their comrades, despite the bravery of soldiers such as Medal of Honor winners Sergeant Major Christian A. Fleetwood, John Lawson, Thomas Hawkins and Robert Pinn, who distinguished themselves in combat.

There was another enlistment surge later in the decade, when blacks joined the wars against the Sioux, Apache and other Native American nations. Once again, black soldiers found themselves fighting dual sets of enemies. They were isolated and often abandoned by their white counterparts after battles and regarded with contempt by the Native Americans, who wondered how blacks could fight alongside people who openly loathed them. Yet Men Of Color to Arms! reveals the triumphs and victories achieved by black soldiers as well as the efforts undertaken on their behalf by whites of good will against vicious and sustained opposition and hatred.

THE FUTURE OF HISTORY
Although Thomas C. Holt’s comprehensive new historical work, Children of Fire, revisits familiar territory, he does an excellent job of including newer subjects and areas of interest too. He traces the evolution of black Americans from the earliest arrivals to 21st-century figures, highlighting obscure figures alongside established giants like Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For example, Anthony Johnson, a slave in Virginia during the late 1600s, not only bought his freedom but became one of Virginia’s most prosperous landowners. In describing how Johnson was eventually cheated out of his entire empire through a series of overtly bigoted (and now illegal) court rulings, Holt reveals how racism increasingly became part of the South’s judicial and agricultural systems.

Though Holt acknowledges the debt his book owes to other major scholars, Children of Fire includes plenty of his own assessments on topics from Reconstruction to the rise in interaction between black Americans and immigrants from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Holt’s work is both a significant addition to other vital histories of the African-American past and a suggestion of new directions for the future.

CROSSING THE LINE
Daniel J. Sharfstein’s The Invisible Line doesn’t offer apologies for the conduct of the three black families it highlights, all of whom passed for white, but seeks to put their actions into context. The Gibsons knew all the land they’d amassed in 18th-century South Carolina would be taken over in a flash if the populace knew that blacks were the real owners. The Spencers of the mid-19th century became part of a poor community in the eastern Kentucky hills where racial backgrounds were obscured by the common struggle to survive. And the Walls ultimately revealed their true identity and paid the price, forfeiting a sizable amount of fame and wealth in Washington, D.C., in the early 1900s.

By 21st-century standards, the ability of the Gibsons to fool people and the reluctance of the Spencers to even discuss the subject of their origin with their neighbors seems woefully naive, even timid and disgraceful. But as Sharfstein’s research shows, the restricted path for blacks in those eras was such that neither family was willing to give up what they saw as their rightful status. Both became skilled at mimicking the language, customs and actions of whites. When contrasted with the severe price the Walls paid for coming forward, their choices might seem easier to understand. The Invisible Line is a detailed and instructive look at America’s tortured history and still-evolving attitudes toward race.

A STRUGGLE REMEMBERED
Finally, journalist Wayne Greenhaw’s Fighting the Devil in Dixie is the first complete chronicle of the struggle against segregation in Alabama, a state second only to Mississippi in terms of hatred and viciousness against its black citizens. The 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls got international coverage, but killings, lynchings and other attacks had been happening in Alabama long before. Greenhaw, who covered every major event in Alabama’s civil rights era, begins with the 1957 beating and drowning of Willie Edwards Jr., a truck driver attacked by a mob for allegedly assaulting a white woman. Edwards was married with a family and had just received a promotion.

Combining personal memories with a wealth of sources gleaned from that period, Greenhaw tracks many major developments, among them the “Bloody Selma” march, the Freedom Rides and the election of George Wallace and his rise to national fame as the face of segregation. He also documents the role of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which became one of the few organizations that publicly stood against the tide and helped ultimately defeat those who wanted to keep the Jim Crow era alive in Alabama. Fighting the Devil In Dixie shows the power of perseverance and chronicles one of the great victories in America’s ongoing struggle for social justice.

Black History Month shines a light on lesser-known topics from our past and has the potential to open new conversations on historical events often taken for granted. The latest crop of books on black history achieves both goals.

LIVING HISTORY IN HARLEM
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts’ enlightening Harlem…

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