bookpagedev

Review by bookpagedev

Her portrait is one of the treasured icons of American painting. Her image an alluring woman standing in profile with her alabaster skin in contrast to her black velvet dress mesmerizes visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painter, John Singer Sargent, considered her to be one of his finest works yet refused to release her name to the public. Today, we still refer to the painting only as Madame X.

Hooked by this mysterious title, biographer Gioia Diliberto embarked on a search for the real woman, Madame Virginie Avegno Gautreau. An accomplished writer, Diliberto has published three biographies of influential women. When historical material on Virginie proved rare, Diliberto blended fact with imagination to craft her debut novel, I Am Madame X. Written as Virginie’s memoir, the novel opens on a Louisiana plantation during the Civil War. The daughter of a prominent Creole family, Virginie grows up surrounded by French culture. After the death of her father at Shiloh, Virginie’s mother flees with her daughter to France. Virginie’s astounding beauty gains her prominence in the social swirl of turn-of-the-century Paris. Her life becomes one of passion, scandal and notoriety in a city full of fabulous characters. The author creates a stunning backdrop of Parisian haute monde a world of old aristocrats, social climbers, writers, politicians and of course, artists.

Virginie’s story culminates in the painting of her portrait by John Singer Sargent. They may have first met in 1881. At the time, Virginie was a young wife and mother at the height of her loveliness. Sargent pursued her for more than a year until she agreed to sit for him. The completed full-length portrait debuted at the Paris Salon of 1884. The public was horrified. The pure white skin, attenuated arms and striking pose drew raking reviews from Parisian art critics. The scandal changed forever the careers of artist and subject. It is the author’s attention to these historical details that makes Virginie’s world so lush. Diliberto’s Virginie proves an unabashed, powerful woman with the touches of pride and vanity visible in her portrait. An engrossing tale, I Am Madame X delves into a beloved work of art to create a stunning work of fiction. Lisa Porter is a curator with the Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville.

Fiction

Fiction

What if God were one of us?

Review by bookpagedev

by Michael Paulson

What if, say, God were a Manhattan father named Blaine who cures his son of cancer, discusses theology with a Catholic priest and proves his divinity by winning $100,000 playing blackjack at the Bellagio in Vegas? Well, He isn’t, but in this deliciously intriguing first novel by Mike Bryan, Blaine does exist sort of.

Bryan, writing as himself (or so it seems), claims The Afterword is indeed the lengthy afterword to The Deity Next Door, a fabricated piece of fiction that spent 102 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Detailing the aforementioned Blaine’s process of discovering and dealing with his unique circumstances, the novel-within-a-novel explores the parallels between the new deity and Jesus, as well as the author’s explanation of how the story was written. Though a bit dizzying at first, The Afterword quickly establishes itself once Bryan focuses on telling the actual story of Blaine. What follows is a wide-ranging inquiry into such weighty topics as religion, faith and the human condition. Bryan handles these adroitly, peppering his exploration with Biblical quotes and references from a diverse collection of other sources (fictional friends and acquaintances, supposedly true tales from the field of psychology); what emerges is a thoughtful, sensitive investigation into matters spiritual. Yet the novel refuses to let itself be labeled merely an interesting work of theological fiction, for Bryan adds a layer of authorial intrusion that pulls the reader further into this piece of clever post-modern prose.

One way to read The Afterword is as the extended conversation that would result if the author were asked, “So, how does a book come about?” Bryan dodges the more difficult task of actually writing The Deity Next Door, since he essentially provides an outline of that story (albeit one saturated with fascinating theoretical plot twists and strands of character development that didn’t pan out) without the burden of adding a skin of dialogue, description, and other accoutrements of the modern novel. But we learn enough of Blaine the Possible Messiah to recognize him as an ordinary, likable man who just happens, maybe, to possess omnipotence. He asks questions about his predicament just like anyone else would, and the trappings of divinity do not sit easily on him. Bryan certainly deserves praise for creating such a character, even if He exists solely within the confines of Mike Bryan’s considerable imagination. Michael Paulson is a teacher in Baltimore.

Fiction, World Fiction

Fiction World Fiction

A cult’s apocalyptic endgame

Review by bookpagedev

by Kenneth Champeon

A cult’s apocalyptic endgame The most recent works by Nobel Prize-winning Japanese author Kenzaburo Oe have tended to be readable, thinly veiled autobiographies featuring his mentally challenged son, Hikari. But his massive new novel, Somersault as ambitious as it is ambiguous focuses on the Japanese fascination with quasi-Christian, apocalyptic cults.

Inspired by the Aum Shinrikyo cult that attacked a Tokyo subway with nerve gas, Oe’s fictional cult is led by two men named Patron and Guide. They believe that humanity is doomed, the world moribund, and repentance our only chance. The cult prepares to convert a nuclear power plant into a nuclear bomb to be used in expediting Armageddon. But Guide has second thoughts, so the leaders publicly recant. This is the somersault of the title.

For a decade the leaders go into exile or, as they put it, into "hell." But just as they contemplate a re-emergence, some of their former adherents kidnap and interrogate the ailing Guide, who dies in the process. Enter Kizu, an art teacher who is groomed to become the new Guide. Inspired by Kizu’s lover Ikuo, a group of young militants called the Fireflies join in the preparations for the "end time." Drawing on his experience with Hikari and with the Hiroshima victims, Oe has always been preoccupied with mayhem, distortion and death. But he has also sought transcendence through the imagination or its close cousin, religion. Perhaps the best-known living Japanese writer, Oe offers an invaluable vision of post-War Japan. Gone are sake, sushi, the Shinto shrine, haiku and Mt. Fuji. Instead we find beer-and-whisky, ham-and-eggs, future shock, repetition and the superstore.

Not a pleasant read, but a timely one. For should the curtain fall on humankind, perhaps our successors will find a few copies of Somersault among the ruins, better to understand our anxious last days.

A cult's apocalyptic endgame The most recent works by Nobel Prize-winning Japanese author Kenzaburo Oe have tended to be readable, thinly veiled autobiographies featuring his mentally challenged son, Hikari. But his massive new novel, Somersault as ambitious as it is ambiguous focuses on the Japanese…

Arts & Culture, Film

Film Arts & Culture

And the award goes to . . .

Review by bookpagedev

by Julie Hale

Amid the usual flurry of sequins, excitement and suspense, Hollywood celebrates itself again this month with the 75th annual Academy Awards. You know the routine: the red carpet unrolls; the most tarnished stars shine. The secrets in those little white envelopes are disclosed. There’ll be tears, pageantry and fashion faux-pas, an overlong ceremony and endless thank-you’s. Ah, the traditions of Tinseltown! Yet each year, most of us endure the symptoms of celebrity the platitudes and attitudes, eccentricities and frippery with good-natured equanimity. Why? Because a season without Oscar is simply unthinkable.

BookPage pays tribute to the movies this month with a group of books sure to satisfy the most celebrity-obsessed cinemaphile.

A treasury of film trivia The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Knopf, $35, 960 pages, ISBN 0375411283) by critic David Thomson has provided the final word in movie trivia for the past 25 years. International in scope, organized alphabetically and freshly updated with 300 new listings (for a total of 1,300 entries overall), this weighty reference volume contains brief biographies of actors and directors, tycoons and producers, including everyone from Rin Tin Tin to Steven Spielberg. Thomson, a London native who contributes regularly to The New York Times and Film Comment, supplies plenty of insider info birthdays, lists of films and other irresistible tidbits, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s middle name (the martial-sounding Wilhelm) and George Clooney’s birthplace (Maysville, Kentucky, of all places.) A word of warning: Thomson is fearlessly free with his opinions. Moviegoers may take exception to his unsparing evaluations of Ben Affleck (“boring, complacent, and criminally lucky to have got away with everything so far”) and Gwyneth Paltrow (star of “a host of silly films”), but there’s no denying that the author’s criticisms are smart, discerning, often downright hilarious. Hollywood how-to Actors and executives, set builders and costume designers all share the spotlight in The American Film Institute Desk Reference (DK, $40, 608 pages, ISBN 0789489341). Produced by the American Film Institute, this authoritative guide to the industry offers the basics, from a timeline of movie history to an in-depth look at foreign film. The book is divided into fascinating categories. A chapter called “Movie Crafts” provides details on special effects, sound and music, while “Movie Basics” will tell you how to get started in the biz. A host of wonderful visuals brings the text alive. Edited by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, authors of more than 30 books on cinema, this wonderfully comprehensive volume includes the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best Films of the Past 100 Years. With an introduction by Clint Eastwood, it’s an engaging survey of the film world.

A mischievous look at the movies Richard Roeper, co-host of Ebert ∧ Roeper at the Movies, has compiled a humorous collection of movie-related lists that’s a must-have for any film freak. In Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed, and Other Surprising Movie Lists, Roeper takes stock of Hollywood, skewering celebrity culture with his clever categories. Along with the usual best-of and worst-of rosters are lists that never existed until now, like “The Gross-Out Hall of Fame,” “Age Difference Between Michael Douglas and His Leading Ladies,” and “12 Actors and Actresses Who Took Their Clothes Off When They Should Have Kept Them On.” A mix of roguish comedy and expert criticism, this ingenious paperback covers almost every element of the movies. So you won’t have to, Roeper has indexed the best film portrayals of presidents (Harrison Ford in Air Force One; Bill Pullman in Independence Day), the worst singers turned actors (Madonna, Mariah Carey) and pop songs perennially used in the movies (Born to Be Wild; I Will Survive). From soundtracks to screen kisses to casting disasters, no aspect of the cinema is safe from the wisecracking Roeper. Frank, funny, masterminded by a movie authority, Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed is one mischievous little volume.

Arts & Culture, Film

Film Arts & Culture

And the award goes to . . .

Review by bookpagedev

by Julie Hale

BookPage pays tribute to the movies this month with a group of books sure to satisfy the most celebrity-obsessed cinemaphile.

A treasury of film trivia The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Knopf, $35, 960 pages, ISBN 0375411283) by critic David Thomson has provided the final word in movie trivia for the past 25 years. International in scope, organized alphabetically and freshly updated with 300 new listings (for a total of 1,300 entries overall), this weighty reference volume contains brief biographies of actors and directors, tycoons and producers, including everyone from Rin Tin Tin to Steven Spielberg. Thomson, a London native who contributes regularly to The New York Times and Film Comment, supplies plenty of insider info birthdays, lists of films and other irresistible tidbits, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s middle name (the martial-sounding Wilhelm) and George Clooney’s birthplace (Maysville, Kentucky, of all places.) A word of warning: Thomson is fearlessly free with his opinions. Moviegoers may take exception to his unsparing evaluations of Ben Affleck (“boring, complacent, and criminally lucky to have got away with everything so far”) and Gwyneth Paltrow (star of “a host of silly films”), but there’s no denying that the author’s criticisms are smart, discerning, often downright hilarious. Hollywood how-to Actors and executives, set builders and costume designers all share the spotlight in The American Film Institute Desk Reference. Produced by the American Film Institute, this authoritative guide to the industry offers the basics, from a timeline of movie history to an in-depth look at foreign film. The book is divided into fascinating categories. A chapter called “Movie Crafts” provides details on special effects, sound and music, while “Movie Basics” will tell you how to get started in the biz. A host of wonderful visuals brings the text alive. Edited by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, authors of more than 30 books on cinema, this wonderfully comprehensive volume includes the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best Films of the Past 100 Years. With an introduction by Clint Eastwood, it’s an engaging survey of the film world.

A mischievous look at the movies Richard Roeper, co-host of Ebert ∧ Roeper at the Movies, has compiled a humorous collection of movie-related lists that’s a must-have for any film freak. In Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed, and Other Surprising Movie Lists (Hyperion, $14, 304 pages, ISBN 078688830X), Roeper takes stock of Hollywood, skewering celebrity culture with his clever categories. Along with the usual best-of and worst-of rosters are lists that never existed until now, like “The Gross-Out Hall of Fame,” “Age Difference Between Michael Douglas and His Leading Ladies,” and “12 Actors and Actresses Who Took Their Clothes Off When They Should Have Kept Them On.” A mix of roguish comedy and expert criticism, this ingenious paperback covers almost every element of the movies. So you won’t have to, Roeper has indexed the best film portrayals of presidents (Harrison Ford in Air Force One; Bill Pullman in Independence Day), the worst singers turned actors (Madonna, Mariah Carey) and pop songs perennially used in the movies (Born to Be Wild; I Will Survive). From soundtracks to screen kisses to casting disasters, no aspect of the cinema is safe from the wisecracking Roeper. Frank, funny, masterminded by a movie authority, Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed is one mischievous little volume.

Arts & Culture, Film

Film Arts & Culture

And the award goes to . . .

Review by bookpagedev

by Julie Hale

BookPage pays tribute to the movies this month with a group of books sure to satisfy the most celebrity-obsessed cinemaphile.

A treasury of film trivia The New Biographical Dictionary of Film by critic David Thomson has provided the final word in movie trivia for the past 25 years. International in scope, organized alphabetically and freshly updated with 300 new listings (for a total of 1,300 entries overall), this weighty reference volume contains brief biographies of actors and directors, tycoons and producers, including everyone from Rin Tin Tin to Steven Spielberg. Thomson, a London native who contributes regularly to The New York Times and Film Comment, supplies plenty of insider info birthdays, lists of films and other irresistible tidbits, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s middle name (the martial-sounding Wilhelm) and George Clooney’s birthplace (Maysville, Kentucky, of all places.) A word of warning: Thomson is fearlessly free with his opinions. Moviegoers may take exception to his unsparing evaluations of Ben Affleck (“boring, complacent, and criminally lucky to have got away with everything so far”) and Gwyneth Paltrow (star of “a host of silly films”), but there’s no denying that the author’s criticisms are smart, discerning, often downright hilarious. Hollywood how-to Actors and executives, set builders and costume designers all share the spotlight in The American Film Institute Desk Reference (DK, $40, 608 pages, ISBN 0789489341). Produced by the American Film Institute, this authoritative guide to the industry offers the basics, from a timeline of movie history to an in-depth look at foreign film. The book is divided into fascinating categories. A chapter called “Movie Crafts” provides details on special effects, sound and music, while “Movie Basics” will tell you how to get started in the biz. A host of wonderful visuals brings the text alive. Edited by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, authors of more than 30 books on cinema, this wonderfully comprehensive volume includes the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best Films of the Past 100 Years. With an introduction by Clint Eastwood, it’s an engaging survey of the film world.

A mischievous look at the movies Richard Roeper, co-host of Ebert ∧ Roeper at the Movies, has compiled a humorous collection of movie-related lists that’s a must-have for any film freak. In Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed, and Other Surprising Movie Lists (Hyperion, $14, 304 pages, ISBN 078688830X), Roeper takes stock of Hollywood, skewering celebrity culture with his clever categories. Along with the usual best-of and worst-of rosters are lists that never existed until now, like “The Gross-Out Hall of Fame,” “Age Difference Between Michael Douglas and His Leading Ladies,” and “12 Actors and Actresses Who Took Their Clothes Off When They Should Have Kept Them On.” A mix of roguish comedy and expert criticism, this ingenious paperback covers almost every element of the movies. So you won’t have to, Roeper has indexed the best film portrayals of presidents (Harrison Ford in Air Force One; Bill Pullman in Independence Day), the worst singers turned actors (Madonna, Mariah Carey) and pop songs perennially used in the movies (Born to Be Wild; I Will Survive). From soundtracks to screen kisses to casting disasters, no aspect of the cinema is safe from the wisecracking Roeper. Frank, funny, masterminded by a movie authority, Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed is one mischievous little volume.

Children's & YA, Middle Grade

Children's & YA Middle Grade

Giving history a human face

Review by bookpagedev

by Dean Schneider

As Hazel Rochman has written, "Great literature humanizes history." Beverly Naidoo’s new collection of short stories is excellent literature, and it humanizes the history of apartheid in South Africa. Each story in Out of Bounds represents a decade of that history, dramatizing a crucial political act in the step-by-step, decade-by-decade suppression of the rights of Africans. Readers will feel they have read a great book and gained a good deal of understanding at the same time.

Many of the Afrikaners who took over the South African government in 1948 had been supporters of Adolph Hitler. They institutionalized racism through the passage of hundreds of laws classifying the so-called races and defining the respective rights and restrictions of the classes. The stories in this superb collection are grounded in the everyday experience of children Whites, Coloreds, Indians and black Africans who daily faced the effects of racism. "The Dare" (1948) portrays a white girl who gains a bit of understanding when her stealing of poinsettias is overlooked, while a black boy who stole an orange from the same man is beaten. In "One Day, Lily, One Day," (1960) Lily says, "I didn’t understand that Uncle Max wasn’t allowed to take me a little white girl to the park because he was black. When the police took Daddy away, I didn’t understand that as well." By 1995, Nelson Mandela had been released from prison after 27 years, apartheid laws had been cancelled, and democratic elections had been held. Schools were opened to all children, yet some white parents and teachers resisted. "The Playground" (1995) portrays the tension and the hope as schoolchildren made their way in this new world.

Grim as the history is, the spirit of this collection is hopeful. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu says in his foreword, the history must be acknowledged and the new democracy supported. "Never again will we want to treat fellow human beings in this fashion." Naidoo writes, "There have been many different tests for the human spirit in South Africa the land in which I was born and they are the stuff of my stories." A fine collection it is, sure to be among the best and most important books of the new year.

Dean Schneider is a middle school English teacher in Nashville.

As Hazel Rochman has written, "Great literature humanizes history." Beverly Naidoo's new collection of short stories is excellent literature, and it humanizes the history of apartheid in South Africa. Each story in Out of Bounds represents a decade of that history, dramatizing a crucial…

Children's & YA

Children's & YA

A mythical, modern tale

Review by bookpagedev

by James Webb

Children’s books often take us into worlds of magic and imagination that’s what they’re supposed to do. Rare is the book that not only takes us to those places, but does so in such a way as to create something that is both fresh and familiar. Daniel Pennac’s latest effort, Eye of the Wolf, does just that. It’s a new book that feels like a story your grandfather might have read as a boy. The form of the tale is old, but the issues it explores are as timeless as a sunset.

Eye of the Wolfis actually two stories, that of Blue Wolf, a one-eyed Canis lupus caged in a zoo, and that of his daily visitor, a silent boy named Africa. Their stories, while separate, gradually converge, and their eventual intersection holds a surprise that is delightfully unexpected.

Like a modern-day Kipling, Pennac relates how the smart and resourceful Blue Wolf came to be where he is. The author takes us swiftly from the wolf’s position as a unique pup among many to the fateful day when his curious sister changes all their lives. The animal’s sacrifice in the face of the inevitable encroachment of man is the first of many environmental messages in the book. Meanwhile, Africa’s travels take us from deserts to grasslands to jungles, and from despair to hope to heartbreak. His journey to the other side of the bars of Blue Wolf’s cage is as much a result of outside forces as it is Blue Wolf’s allure and it gives us a stinging reminder that man is just as endangered as those he endangers. Yet even so, with his elegant prose, the author shows us that oneness can still be achieved in our world.

The amazing thing about Eye of the Wolf is that it manages to be both mythical and modern a new-age fable. Coupled with Max Grafe’s unforgettable illustrations, this beautifully written book will enthrall any middle-schooler who loves nature or a good story.

James Neal Webb recommends a trip to the zoo after you read this book.

Children's books often take us into worlds of magic and imagination that's what they're supposed to do. Rare is the book that not only takes us to those places, but does so in such a way as to create something that is both fresh and…

Children's & YA

Children's & YA

A sweet treat for Valentine’s Day

Review by bookpagedev

by Alice Cary

A sweet treat for Valentine’s Day Here’s a book that will have you singing along as you read. In The Ballad of Valentine, Alison Jackson’s simple yet clever text matches the cadence of the classic song, “Clementine:” In a cabin, in a canyon, Near a mountain laced with pine, Lived a girl who was my sweetheart, And her name was Valentine. Valentine’s love-smitten suitor lives on a cliff on the side of a steep peak, where he fervently types valentines to his love. Alas, matters of geography and “acts of God” (cyclones, blizzards, etc.) intervene, meaning that Valentine never gets his messages of love. Of course, any woman would love Valentine’s suitor for his do-or-die tenacity, especially since most men don’t seem to care a fig about sending valentines. This fellow won’t be stopped: when the mail person fails him, he resorts to a series of hilarious efforts, including a homing pigeon, smoke signals, Morse code, a train and the Pony Express, all to no avail. Young kids will chuckle at the man’s desperate though fruitless efforts, and Tricia Tusa’s illustrations are an absolute delight, lighthearted and full of humor. Her animals are especially expressive and animated, yet appropriately scruffy-looking for their rural, isolated life. The man’s dog is a constant observer and participant, leaping in the air to try to catch some of the 40 letters his master types for his sweetheart.

Tusa says she based the figure of Valentine on a doll she had when she was 10 years old, and Valentine is a true indomitable spirit, a dogged mountain woman whose towering hairdo indicates her staunchness. The flip side of “Mr. Valentine’s” failed efforts is that we also get to see Valentine at work on her farm, all the while tending to her duties and her own special project. Eventually we realize what she is up to: making a cake for her sweetheart, who by this time has given up on Valentine’s Day. Yes, The Ballad of Valentine has an appropriately happy cliffhanger of an ending, making it a fun-loving tribute to the labors of love and its ultimate rewards, even in the face of seeming impossibility. Alice Cary writes from Groton, Massachusetts.

A sweet treat for Valentine's Day Here's a book that will have you singing along as you read. In The Ballad of Valentine, Alison Jackson's simple yet clever text matches the cadence of the classic song, "Clementine:" In a cabin, in a canyon, Near a…

Children's & YA

Children's & YA

Abe learns the power of words

Review by bookpagedev

by Deborah Hopkinson

The childhood of America’s most beloved president is brought to life in Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books, an engaging picture-book biography by Kay Winters. Born in Kentucky in 1809, our 16th president lived with his family in a small, backwoods cabin, where “A tiny window looked out on his world.” In simple, eloquent language, Winters follows Lincoln’s childhood as the family moves to Knob Creek, Indiana, near the Cumberland Trail. When Abe meets the travelers that pass by their cabin “peddlers, pioneers, politicians, traders, slaves” we can sense his growing curiosity about the world, reflected in his love of books and learning.

Nancy Carpenter’s illustrations are a delight. A versatile artist, she works in a variety of styles, always challenging herself to do something new and at the same time extending and enhancing the text. Here, her warm oil paintings and deceptively simple compositions lovingly evoke the early nineteenth century. Tiny touches provide details of everyday life: bonnets drape the bedposts, a flatiron sits on the mantelpiece, and when Abe’s stepmother arrives to fill the void left by his mother’s death, it’s clear from the spilled milk and clutter in the cabin that Abe and his sister need her presence.

The theme of this portrait is love of books and learning. We see young Abe eager to spend time in school and tucking a book into his pocket in the midst of plowing chores: “When Abe plowed a book sat in his back pocket. At each row’s end he’d take it out and read.” As we all know, the young Lincoln found a way to follow a different path than splitting rails and farming. Abe’s political career is covered in just a few spreads, and the book closes with a clearly written biographical note.

Flowing language, superb illustrations and loving attention to detail make this a welcome introduction to the young Abraham Lincoln. And at a time when electronic media is dominant, it’s nice to be reminded that one of the reasons we admire Lincoln is that “he learned the power of words and used them well.” Deborah Hopkinson’s newest books for young readers are Our Kansas Home and Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings.

The childhood of America's most beloved president is brought to life in Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books, an engaging picture-book biography by Kay Winters. Born in Kentucky in 1809, our 16th president lived with his family in a small, backwoods cabin, where "A…

Building on your strengths

Review by bookpagedev

by Stephanie Swilley

A new business book guaranteeing to make you a millionaire or the world’s greatest manager is born every minute. Like diet books, these cure-alls claim to fix every flaw standing in the way of fame and fortune. But forget the lessons from the super CEOs (who may be in jail now anyway); this month we’ve found four books that focus on creating lasting improvement by helping readers find and build their business strengths.

You’ve got it, so flaunt it

Barbara Corcoran became the Queen of New York Real Estate by following the simple yet savvy lessons she learned from her mother. Her new book, Use What You’ve Got: And Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom (Portfolio, $24.95, 288 pages, ISBN 1591840023), tells how Corcoran applied Mom’s advice ("If you don’t have big breasts, put ribbons on your pigtails" and "Jumping out the window will either make you an ass or a hero.") to build a brokerage firm that now does $2 billion in annual revenue. Corcoran’s mother identified special qualities in each of her 10 children, and at an early age, her daughter became an entertainer with a gift for gab. The up-and-coming real estate tycoon relied on those skills when she faced challenges or setbacks. Written with technical writer Bruce Littlefield, Corcoran’s book chronicles her highs and lows (her boyfriend/business partner married her secretary), and her candid self-revelations give readers a real sense of her high energy and relentless persona. Women cultivating their own unique strengths will be inspired by Corcoran’s dynamic story and common-sense advice.

Do I do that?

It’s too bad the Christmas holidays are over because The Achievement Paradox: Test Your Personality & Choose Your Behavior for Success at Work (New American Library, $14.95, 192 pages, ISBN 1577312287) would be a perfect gift for the annoying chatterbox in the next cube. Most Americans now spend more of their waking hours with coworkers than with friends or family, and who wouldn’t love to give a few of them a personality adjustment? But it’s not too late to give this book to yourself. Let author Ron Warren show you how your personality impacts your behavior, your success and your satisfaction at work. Warren says everyone has several success traits, along with some counterproductive ones (like Need for Approval, Controlling, Tense) that interfere with our achievement, and he explains how to create an Action Plan that will build up your strong areas. Achievement Paradox is an enlightening book for understanding yourself and others. When you’re done, you can pass it on to a "friend."

Baring all

Good PR folks are not just cheerleaders or spin-meisters who issue a press release every time the CEO sneezes. Richard Laermer, the founder and CEO of RLM Public Relations, shows how anyone can create that mysterious thing called buzz with Full Frontal PR. Remember the water cooler conversations about The Blair Witch Project and Survivor? Without a fancy PR firm, you can spark the best marketing tool of all old fashioned word of mouth. The advice here is comprehensive and competent. Tie your idea to a trend, work a celebratory/commemorative/charity event (the alternate three Cs), or find a local angle to your story. Laermer reveals the nitty gritty details of forming long-term relationships with journalists, stressing honesty, access and reliability. Armed with Laermer’s public relations know-how, you can start promoting like a pro.

Winning at sales

Discover Your Sales Strengths: How the World’s Greatest Salespeople Develop Winning Careers (Warner, $26.95, 256 pages, ISBN 0446530476) shatters several sales myths, including the lie that anyone can sell with enough effort and training. Authors Benson Smith and Tony Rutigliano along with The Gallup Organization interviewed 250,000 top salespeople and found three keys to becoming a sales superstar: discover your strengths, find the right fit and work for the right manager. If you don’t have a clue what your strengths are, a Web survey is included to help identify your talents. Eschewing specific sales techniques and corny inspirational stories, Smith and Rutigliano have created a truly helpful guide to finding a job and career that suits what you already do well.

A new business book guaranteeing to make you a millionaire or the world's greatest manager is born every minute. Like diet books, these cure-alls claim to fix every flaw standing in the way of fame and fortune. But forget the lessons from the super…

A shaky situation in California

Review by bookpagedev

by Edward Morris

The central premise of Marc Reisner’s A Dangerous Place is sure to wipe the smile off the face of any California dreamer. The author, an expert on the environment who died in 2000, proposes in this, his final book, that a great number of Californians are going to be killed, injured and rendered homeless by an earthquake-triggered series of calamities. What’s more, according to the experts he polled, the disaster will probably occur soon.

Reisner, who wrote Cadillac Desert, an award-winning nonfiction book about the use of water in the West, spent much of his later life exposing the colossal affront to nature that California has chosen to become. In laying out his case, Reisner traces the history of the state and the tendency its settlers had from the start to treat the fragile landscape recklessly. Using enormous water pressure, gold prospectors washed entire hillsides into riverbeds. Hyperactive chambers of commerce lured hundreds of thousands of adventurers and land speculators to Los Angeles, taxing the area’s water supplies. Up and down the coast, hordes built their homes and businesses on unstable, fire-prone land. Reisner also chronicles the occurrence and effects of major earthquakes. To drive home his point, he devotes the last half of his book to imagining the consequences of a large-scale earthquake in 2005 along the Hayward fault how it would affect the mammoth, life-sustaining bridges in the San Francisco Bay area, the region’s highway and rapid transit systems, airports, power grids and so on. It is a grim and scary scenario, not only because of the thousands of lives lost but also for the lives disrupted. What is missing from Reisner’s book is any hint that such a catastrophe can be averted, short of mass emigration which isn’t likely to happen. “In the late 1890s,” he writes, “80 percent of California’s population had settled in regions where the preponderance of its major earthquakes have occurred. In the late 1990s, that figure was unchanged. It won’t change, at least not much,” Resiner says. “What’s there is there.”

The central premise of Marc Reisner's A Dangerous Place is sure to wipe the smile off the face of any California dreamer. The author, an expert on the environment who died in 2000, proposes in this, his final book, that a great number of Californians…

Memoir

Memoir

The pain of a boy’s final days

Review by bookpagedev

by Lynn Hamilton

The pain of a boy’s final days Native American author Nasdijj delivers an unforgettable memoir with The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping, a chronicle of the death of his adopted son, a 12-year-old Navajo born with AIDS. Nasdijj, whose first son, also adopted, died of fetal alcohol syndrome, is persuaded to adopt Awee by the boy’s parents, also AIDS patients. Against his better judgment, Nasdijj agrees. Taking on hopeless boys is something of an addiction with him, he admits.

"I want the mad ones," Nasdijj writes. "The children who have had everything taken away from them. The children who are broken and mad enough to attempt to repair themselves. The children mad enough to spit and fight." Nasdijj makes some unorthodox decisions about how Awee should spend his last weeks of life, choices he suspects minivan moms would not approve of. Instead of hunkering down in a hospital or hospice, with pill bottles and intravenous drip close at hand, Nasdijj takes his son on a motorcycle to the coast, lets him play baseball, lets him spend the day in an auto repair shop and introduces him to several Indian rites of passage. Along the way, Nasdijj exposes the failure of America’s health care system to provide relief for indigent AIDS patients, especially those on Indian reservations, where welfare hospitals may take as long as six weeks to return blood test results. Awee is frequently in and out of the hospital with pneumonia, with terrible pain from nerve damage, with sarcoma. The most scathing criticism Nasdijj offers is the health care industry’s failure to relieve a 12-year-old’s pain. Here, Nasdijj runs up against a medical brick wall. Pain medications for children with AIDS haven’t been developed, he writes, and doctors are unwilling to experiment. Despite the prevailing darkness and forgone conclusion of The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping, the book has wonderful moments of humor, whimsy and warmth. But the narrative’s most important accomplishment may very well be its biting commentary on the neglect of AIDS patients in a complacent society that mistakenly believes the monster has been leashed. Lynn Hamilton writes from Tybee Island, Georgia.

The pain of a boy's final days Native American author Nasdijj delivers an unforgettable memoir with The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping, a chronicle of the death of his adopted son, a 12-year-old Navajo born with AIDS. Nasdijj, whose first son, also adopted, died…

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