bookpagedev

HistoryBlack History

Review

Review by bookpagedev

No current book brings the oppressive life of slavery to reality like Remembering Slavery. This unique book-and-tape combination features actual interviews with former slaves gathered by such writers as John Lomax and Zora Neal Hurston as a part of a 1930s Federal Writers’ Project. The text is filled with insights on daily slave life and debunks many popular myths surrounding this dismal chapter in American history.

No current book brings the oppressive life of slavery to reality like Remembering Slavery. This unique book-and-tape combination features actual interviews with former slaves gathered by such writers as John Lomax and Zora Neal Hurston as a part of a 1930s Federal Writers' Project. The…

Biography

Review

Review by bookpagedev

It is rare to read a biography these days that doesn’t trash its subject. Mary Beth Rogers’s book, Barbara Jordan: American Hero, presents Jordan, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, as the consummate politician and Constitutional orator. Courage and commitment are the major themes in this haunting, important account of a woman who battled illness, isolation, and bigotry in her short, accomplished life.

It is rare to read a biography these days that doesn't trash its subject. Mary Beth Rogers's book, Barbara Jordan: American Hero, presents Jordan, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, as the consummate politician and Constitutional orator. Courage and commitment are…
Memoir

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are Black America’s First Family of the theater and film. In their warm, sentimental joint memoir, With Ossie and Ruby , the couple, who have been married for half a century, have written a witty primer that shows how you can have it all and not crack up in the process.

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are Black America's First Family of the theater and film. In their warm, sentimental joint memoir, With Ossie and Ruby , the couple, who have been married for half a century, have written a witty primer that shows how you…

Biography

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University professor, has done the impossible with his reconstruction of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., compiled from the vast collection of King’s writings, speeches, and interviews. With the blessing of the slain civil rights leader’s family, Carson assembles a fascinating portrait of King as spokesman, husband, and father in this excellent introduction to one of the most significant figures of the 20th century.

Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University professor, has done the impossible with his reconstruction of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., compiled from the vast collection of King's writings, speeches, and interviews. With the blessing of the slain civil rights leader's family, Carson assembles a…
Graphic Novels & Comics

Graphic novels aren’t just kid stuff anymore

Feature by bookpagedev

Comics get a bad rap. They're generally seen as kid stuff and admittedly, some are. But these days, publishers are producing graphic novels of maturity, complexity and beauty that appeal to a wider audience. Whether they're original illustrated novels, adaptations of classic literature or collections of single-issue comics, graphic novels tend to have a heft and seriousness that mean grown-ups don't have to be embarrassed about reading them. They're also becoming more mainstream, thanks in part to the attention garnered by film versions of major works (Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning Spirited Away and the Tom Hanks vehicle Road to Perdition, for example). And there's a growing respect for artists such as Art Spiegelman and Joe Sacco, who use graphic novels to tell stories as powerful and profound as any literary fiction. We've selected a handful of new titles worthy of attention even from those who don't see themselves as comic book obsessives.

Transcending the genre

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir about growing up in 1970s Iran as the daughter of revolutionaries and the granddaughter of a prince-turned-communist. Satrapi's position at the crux of her country's political struggles adds a sharp, urgent edge to what would otherwise be the charming story of a precocious little girl full of dreams and questions. The author's cute, deceptively simple black-and-white drawings and warm sense of humor belie the outrage and tragedy that came with growing up amid a revolution. Widely praised in France where it was originally published, Persepolis is destined to become a classic alongside Spiegelman's Maus or Sacco's Palestine. It's vital reading, particularly given our current interest in the Middle East.

Equally moving and ambitious, but completely different in style, is beloved Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. This five-volume set, adapted from the Oscar-winning animated film, is designed to be read right-to-left in the Japanese manner; at the end of each book there's a key to the manga-style sound effects embedded in the story panels. For a less authentic (and more kid-friendly) but still gorgeous version of the epic tale of a little girl trying to rescue her parents in a strange, mystical realm, check out the Spirited Away Picture Book, which interweaves Miyazaki's luscious, painterly artwork with explanatory text.

Representing yet another type of illustration the ukiyo-e style, or images of the floating world is Patrick Atangan's brilliant debut, The Yellow Jar. This slim, elegant volume features two traditional Japanese morality tales brought vividly to life by the artist's pristine lines and rich use of color. In the first story, a fisherman marries the mysterious woman he finds floating in a beautiful yellow jar, only to lose her to a demon; in the second, two weeds that invade a monk's garden turn out to be lovely flowers, but only one is treasured, the other neglected. There's an introduction by comic-world heavyweight P. Craig Russell, famous for his herculean adaptation of The Ring of the Nibelung and the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde. Russell discovered and coached the young Atangan.

Escapism, far and near

In Orbiter, the latest from Transmetropolitan writer Warren Ellis and Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil), a space shuttle that vanished 10 years ago suddenly swoops back to earth piloted by the one remaining member of its crew and covered in what seems to be a living skin. As a team of NASA scientists tries to figure out where the ship has been, a long-out-of-work astronaut shrink is called in to explore the broken mind of the pilot. The book is smart, suspenseful and well written, and its tremendously detailed, realistic artwork is perfectly suited to the more-science-than-fiction plot.

Road to Perdition: Oasis is a fantastic hard-boiled crime graphic novel by Max Allan Collins with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Josef Rubinstein. A sort of eddy in the main RTP story arc as seen in the Paul Newman/Tom Hanks film last year Oasis finds the gangster "Angel of Death" Michael O'Sullivan and his son hiding out in a farmhouse from a pair of ruthless bounty hunters while Michael Jr. recovers from scarlet fever. The artwork is lighter and much less gloomy than in the original book (or the movie), but the gangsters look so alive it's hard not to start predicting the cast of the next film.

Isolation & Illusion collects a batch of short stories spanning two decades by master illustrator P. Craig Russell. This new collection includes adaptations of stories by O.Henry and H.P. Lovecraft; a loopy, brightly illustrated fantasia by Cyrano de Bergerac; the hauntingly dark and surreal "Insomniac"; and the oddly silent, beautifully drawn title story, reminiscent of classical Italian sketches.

For escapism that's slightly closer to home, there's the star-crossed romance of Cheat by Christine Norrie (Hopeless Savages). The book, from indie publisher Oni Press, follows two young couples who start to fall apart when love fails to conquer all. The cover is an utterly gorgeous, swirling vision you'll want to hang on your wall, and the rest of the book lives up to its promise with black-and-white illustrations that blend simplicity and realism.

Also recommended

Batman: Deathblow, by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, a visually awesome, dark, inventive story starring our grumpiest superhero.

Skinwalker, a cool sci-fi crime foray into Native American culture.

 

Becky Ohlsen has been a comics geek since she plundered her brother's X-Men collection at age 7.

Comics get a bad rap. They're generally seen as kid stuff and admittedly, some are. But these days, publishers are producing graphic novels of maturity, complexity and beauty that appeal to a wider audience. Whether they're original illustrated novels, adaptations of classic literature or collections of single-issue comics, graphic novels tend to have a heft and seriousness that mean grown-ups don't have to be embarrassed about reading them. They're also becoming more mainstream, thanks in part to the attention garnered by film versions of major works (Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning Spirited Away and the Tom Hanks vehicle Road to Perdition, for example). And there's a growing respect for artists such as Art Spiegelman and Joe Sacco, who use graphic novels to tell stories as powerful and profound as any literary fiction. We've selected a handful of new titles worthy of attention even from those who don't see themselves as comic book obsessives.

HistoryBlack History

Review

Review by bookpagedev

A superbly researched recounting of the controversial 1856 Margaret Garner case, which inspired Toni Morrison’s Beloved, can be found in Modern Medea: A Family Story of Slavery and Child Murder from the Old South. University of Kentucky professor Steven Weisenburger, the author, explores the moral questions posed by slavery with his artfully crafted analysis of this antebellum tragedy stemming from the decision of Garner, a fugitive slave, to kill her children rather than permit them to endure the agony of bondage.

A superbly researched recounting of the controversial 1856 Margaret Garner case, which inspired Toni Morrison's Beloved, can be found in Modern Medea: A Family Story of Slavery and Child Murder from the Old South. University of Kentucky professor Steven Weisenburger, the author, explores the moral…
Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Early publicity on Mars Hill’s debut novel, The Moaner’s Bench, never mentioned the stunning pictorial quality of the book’s glorious narrative. With the author’s uncanny ear for dialogue, the old coming-of-age formula of a black boy sent to live with deeply religious relatives in the depression-era South assumes a rich mythic quality. Anyone who has spent any time “down yonder” will feel right at home in these pages.

Early publicity on Mars Hill's debut novel, The Moaner's Bench, never mentioned the stunning pictorial quality of the book's glorious narrative. With the author's uncanny ear for dialogue, the old coming-of-age formula of a black boy sent to live with deeply religious relatives in the…
Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

The much-anticipated first novel, Among Others, from Lois Griffith, a director of New York City’s noted Nuyorican Poets Cafe, has finally arrived. Lean, triumphant, and knowing, the novel offers a welcome break from the current wave of “girlfriend” fiction, with a probing examination of the racial strife of the late 1960s as seen through the eyes of Griffith’s alter ego, Della. She acts as our wise Everywoman searching for love and purpose in New York City amid the turmoil of post-Camelot America.

The much-anticipated first novel, Among Others, from Lois Griffith, a director of New York City's noted Nuyorican Poets Cafe, has finally arrived. Lean, triumphant, and knowing, the novel offers a welcome break from the current wave of "girlfriend" fiction, with a probing examination of the…
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents tops the imaginative vision of her 1994 Nebula Award-nominated outing, Parable of the Sower. In this latest installment, the futuristic world inherited by Larkin, the daughter of Lauren Olamina (the heroine of the first book), is a liberal’s nightmare; there, most of the basic freedoms are repressed. This is a wry but intelligent cautionary tale — science fiction with both heart and soul.

Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Talents tops the imaginative vision of her 1994 Nebula Award-nominated outing, Parable of the Sower. In this latest installment, the futuristic world inherited by Larkin, the daughter of Lauren Olamina…
Fiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Sometimes an author can flop with a second book after a big hit (The View from Here), but that is not the case with Brian Keith Jackson’s follow-up novel, Walking Through Mirrors. The new work brilliantly chronicles the emotional homecoming of a young photographer to a Louisiana town for his father’s funeral, in which all the usual themes of love, loss, forgiveness, and familial secrets are efficiently reworked in lyrical, elegant prose.

Sometimes an author can flop with a second book after a big hit (The View from Here), but that is not the case with Brian Keith Jackson's follow-up novel, Walking Through Mirrors. The new work brilliantly chronicles the emotional homecoming of a young photographer to…
NonfictionPhotographyCrafts, Hobbies & HomeAnimals

Heavenly creatures

Feature by bookpagedev

Loving, entertaining, clever, confounding . . . our precious pets enrich our lives, and attentive pet owners are always looking for more: more ways to understand them, decode their behavior, have a closer relationship or pay tribute. These new books offer wonderful ways to do just that, via pet psychology, inspiring stories, poetry and creative DIY.

CAT CURIOSITY
With CatWise: America’s Favorite Cat Expert Answers Your Cat Behavior Questions, Pam Johnson-Bennett has created an informative, insightful go-to resource for current or aspiring cat owners. The author, a certified cat behaviorist for 30 years with eight bestsellers and a TV series under her belt, created the book to serve as an FAQ, but it’s also a work of advocacy. She writes, “[C]ats are often placed in a no-win situation. We . . . pick and choose what aspects of catness are acceptable, which usually means convenient—to us.” She urges readers to remember that, just like humans, cats are individuals. She also encourages readers to see cats’ more confounding behaviors as the problem-solving efforts they are, rather than attribute them to aloofness, spitefulness, etc. To wit, if your cat turns her back to you, she’s not being rude—it’s actually an expression of deep trust (i.e., she doesn’t have to keep a suspicious eye on you). Readers can choose sections of interest, specific questions (Why does my cat eat grass?), or read straight through from babyhood to the golden years. Whether readers are considering a new kitten or caring for a longtime feline companion, there’s much to learn from Johnson-Bennett’s patient, smart, encouraging expertise. 

It’s also important for dog owners to resist preconceived notions and pay attention to individual personalities, as Victoria Stilwell explains in The Secret Language of Dogs: Unlocking the Canine Mind for a Happier Pet. The author, an accomplished trainer and host of the TV series “It’s Me or the Dog,” writes, “Like humans, dogs communicate consciously and unconsciously, using body and vocal signals that reflect what they are thinking and feeling.” Recognizing and responding to them (while remembering that doggy intent may not be the same as human interpretation) encourages a strong, happy relationship. The book covers everything from tone of voice (high = playful, low = serious) to the reason bitter spray won’t stop inappropriate chomping (bitterness receptors are on the back of dogs’ tongues, so they won’t taste it on a shoe). Photos and illustrations are helpful for deciphering body language. Throughout, Stilwell shares her knowledge while advocating for a consistent, loving approach to training and caring for dogs.

OLDIES BUT GOODIES
An adorable, fuzzy-headed senior dog named Susie turned out to be the key to unlocking Erin Stanton’s passion for helping senior dogs find forever homes. After she began co-parenting the pooch with husband Brandon Stanton, of Humans of New York fame, “Improving their lonely, vulnerable lives became my purpose,” she writes in Susie’s Senior Dogs: Heartwarming, Tail-Wagging Stories from the Social Media Sensation. Stanton realized that, like her husband, she could use social media to spur change, and it’s working: The Susie’s Senior Dogs Facebook page has 585,000-plus followers, and the eponymous nonprofit organization has helped arrange 500 adoptions of senior dogs. This book is sure to inspire more. It’s a charming collection of adoption stories, plus profiles of inspiring dog-centric sorts like a longtime city shelter volunteer and a rescue dog photographer. Photos abound, and the book is dotted with tips from Susie, who says, “Don’t be scared of old age. Great things still do happen.” She sure would know.

QUOTH THE FELINE BARD
Jennifer McCartney is a writer and humorist who struck a chord with her bestseller The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place. Her new book, Poetry from Scratch: A Kitten’s Book of Verse, is a “collection of the best (and only) cat poetry in existence.” She discovered the collection in Milan, you see, where the owners of a century-old cat cafe had faithfully been transcribing the feline residents’ literary efforts. Now, everyone can enjoy poems like “The Rodent Not Taken” (“I took the one less fit and spry/And that has made all the difference.”) and “Ode to a Sunbeam.” There’s also beat poetry (“88 Lines About 44 Cats”), plus haiku and limericks. This is funny stuff for poets, cat lovers, poetic cats, catty poets and whoever else might appreciate a literarily inclined laugh.

ADORABLE CAT ABODES
DIY meets cat worship in Cat Castles: 20 Cardboard Habitats You Can Build Yourself, a how-to guide for creating fanciful and functional cat habitats. As Carin Oliver notes, although cats “are experts at relaxing,” they are “not great at arts and crafts. That’s where you come in.” Though it’s likely a curious cat will want to “help” when they see construction begin, that shouldn’t prove a hindrance, because Oliver’s instructions and diagrams are clear and easy to follow—and she devotes many pages to proper preparation via detailed materials lists, basic techniques and design tips. Projects include a castle, airplane, condo, nap tubes, couch and the especially hilarious and on-trend food truck. Lots of fun for budding builders—or those who just want to look at lots of photos of cats as they climb, hide, play and explore a variety of cardboard domiciles.

FEELING SQUIRRELLY
The cover of How to Keep a Pet Squirrel—a wide-eyed red squirrel on a trapeze—will inspire delight in those who see the furry tree-dwellers as cute . . . and stomach-clenching angst in those who consider them birdseed-stealing, wire-gnawing miscreants. More lively, witty illustrations from Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo) accompany the text, which Scheffler discovered while paging through a circa-1910 children’s encyclopedia. While the book isn’t actually advocating squirrel adoption, peaceful coexistence might feel more achievable after reading it. This would be a delightful gift for an animal lover, or a funny way to tweak someone who talks perhaps a bit too much about their ongoing battles with these resourceful rodents.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Loving, entertaining, clever, confounding . . . our precious pets enrich our lives, and attentive pet owners are always looking for more: more ways to understand them, decode their behavior, have a closer relationship or pay tribute. These new books offer wonderful ways to do just that, via pet psychology, inspiring stories, poetry and creative DIY.
Memoir

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Ithaka is a beautifully written memoir of Sarah Saffian’s search for her own identity. This story begins with an unexpected phone call to then-24-year-old Saffian; it is a call from her birth mother. Her birth mother’s re-entry into her life creates much emotional chaos for the author, and raises many important questions about the definition of family. Saffian’s birth parents begin to write her letters filled with heartfelt emotion, requesting her involvement in their lives and their new family. Their efforts are not entirely welcomed by the author or her adoptive parents and leave Saffian struggling with how to best manage everyone’s feelings as well as deciding what is best for her. This poignant and revealing story takes us through the next four years of Saffian’s life as she begins to correspond with her birth parents. One letter at a time, the reader is drawn into the emotions of the author as she sorts out what is to be her role among those who want to claim her as their daughter and their sister.

Saffian’s description of how this story unfolds, through these letters, her diary, and her personal reflections, makes us understand the painful uncertainty of the journey she takes towards forming a clear identity. In telling her tale, we are taken back to her early life story: the discovery of her adoption; the death of her adoptive mother; her life as a young woman and writer; and ultimately, her reunion with her birth parents three years after the phone call.

With her honest and sensitive self-portrait, one can see that Saffian has much love in her heart as she attempts to come to terms with the people that make up what become to her, “family.” The author’s poetic language is complimented by the beauty of the actual book itself. The book’s cover, graceful design, and evocative poems that introduce each chapter further indicate the depth of care which was taken to make Ithaka a book of thoughtful and compassionate expression.

Ithaka is a beautifully written memoir of Sarah Saffian's search for her own identity. This story begins with an unexpected phone call to then-24-year-old Saffian; it is a call from her birth mother. Her birth mother's re-entry into her life creates much emotional chaos for…
NonfictionEssays

Review

Review by bookpagedev

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Norman Podhoretz was influential both as a literary critic and as the editor of Commentary magazine. He wrote a positive review of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, a novel for which the early reviews were mixed. He wrote an essay on Norman Mailer’s early work that appeared in Partisan Review, which helped Mailer gain credibility within the literary establishment. As an editor, Podhoretz brought the writings of Paul Goodman and Norman O. Brown to the attention of a national audience. He also became the youngest member of “the Family,” a group of New York-based writers and intellectuals whose work appeared regularly in various literary and activist journals of opinion.

Podhoretz, like others in the Family, was an “old style liberal” who, as he writes, “participated in the conversion to radicalism” during this period. But gradually, his political views changed. He began to believe “that the revolutionism of the New Left was both futile and dangerous” and that it had caused a “spiritual plague” to descend on many young people. As he saw it, what many of those in the counterculture shared was an intense hatred of America. Even at Podhoretz’s most radical, he still loved America, and his “own utopian aspirations were directed at perfecting, not destroying, it.” As Podhoretz’s Columbia University professor and literary mentor Lionel Trilling put it, there were serious disagreements and broken relationships. In his absorbing new memoir Ex-Friends, Podhoretz shares stories about some of his relationships with major cultural figures during this turbulent time. Each relationship was unique both in the depth of friendship and the issues over which they disagreed. Perhaps of equal importance are the richly drawn portraits of notable figures such as Lionel Trilling, Lillian Hellman, and Norman Mailer. Of Trilling, Podhoretz writes “. . . against very stiff competition, I am still inclinded to rate him . . . as the most intelligent person I have ever known.” Mailer called Podhoretz his “foul-weather friend,” someone who stood by Mailer during the most difficult times. But Podhoretz can be both generous in his praise and harsh in his criticism of his ex-friends. Despite everything, Podhoretz regrets the loss of the intellectual-literary world that he was part of during that period. He believes “that the absence today of a community like the Family constitutes a great loss for our culture.” Anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the literary culture of the ’60s will want to read this insightful, at times combative, memoir.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Norman Podhoretz was influential both as a literary critic and as the editor of Commentary magazine. He wrote a positive review of Joseph Heller's Catch-22, a novel for which the early reviews were mixed. He wrote an essay on…

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