2book multi

Romance

Newly adult, newly in love

Feature by Lois Dyer

A relatively recent entry to the romance field, New Adult stories feature heroes and heroines negotiating the tricky transition to independence after high school. These four recent releases perfectly capture the feeling of first love—and first heartbreak—that can define the early 20s.

THE BUCKET LIST
In Cora Carmack’s All Played Out, Antonella “Nell” DeLuca has reached her senior year of college with near-perfect grades. Unfortunately, she’s been so focused on studying that her social life is non-existent. Determined to remedy the situation, she makes a bucket list of things she wants to do before graduation. First on the list: Hook up with a jock.

Football wide receiver Mateo Torres has a reputation for playing hard, both on and off the field. When he meets Nell and discovers her list, he’s determined to help her check off every item. But he didn’t expect to fall in love with her. When the list is completed, will Nell choose to stay?

This is the third novel in Carmack’s Rusk University series, and it’s a winner. The hero and heroine are both intelligent, endearing and funny, and they have enough past heartache to keep readers wondering if they will find a way to stay together.

LOVE HEALS ALL WOUNDS
Tiffany King launches her Fractured Lives series with A Shattered Moment. College sophomore Mackenzie Wilson is still struggling to cope with her broken heart a year after a car accident killed her friends and left her leg badly damaged. It’s all she can do to hobble to classes and focus on studying.

Bentley James sees Mackenzie on campus and immediately recognizes the pretty girl he pulled from the wrecked SUV a year before. She’s emotionally locked down and barely speaks, however, and it takes concentrated effort to slowly draw her out of her shell. Bentley knows he’s falling in love with her, but he also knows she may break his heart. Unless Mackenzie can face her past and come to terms with everything that happened that terrible night, she may never be able to love him in return.

King has given her fans a deeply emotional novel that addresses personal and family issues. Readers will root for Mackenzie and Bentley as they fall in love and make hard choices.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
Trusting Liam continues best-selling author Molly McAdams Taking Chances and Forgiving Lies series. College senior Kennedy Ryan breaks every personal rule and spends an unforgettable night with a stranger. Tiptoeing out without waking him, she quietly leaves the Las Vegas hotel and goes home to Florida, but she can’t forget him. A year later, a threat against her detective father has her family insisting Kennedy and her younger sister spend several months in California. Much to her shock, her new boss’ son is the man from Las Vegas.

Liam Taylor is just as stunned as Kennedy. Like her, he’s never been able to forget their night together. He’s determined to keep her close, and this time, he won’t let her slip away. But Kennedy has a complicated history, and unless both she and Liam can come to terms with the past, they may never find a way to be together.

McAdams has created thoroughly likeable characters in Liam and Kennedy and surrounded them with a cast of interesting people. The plot has enough surprises to keep readers eagerly turning pages and fans will be delighted with this latest novel in the series.

STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
Broken Juliet by Australian author Leisa Rayven is set in the world of the theater. Actress Cassie Taylor fell in love with fellow student Ethan Holt in college. Unfortunately, Ethan had deep-seated issues that compelled him to break up with her. He broke her heart and his own, as well. Several years later, they’re forced together once again when they land the lead roles in a Broadway play.

Cassie has never really recovered from losing Ethan, and much to her shock, he tells her that he’s never gotten over her either. But there is so much emotional trauma in their collective past—is it possible for them to look past it and move forward together.

The chemistry between Cassie and Ethan is steamy, their emotions raw and real. Rayven deftly juggles the lovers’ present-day relationship with their failed affair in college. Fans of the author’s debut novel, Bad Romeo, will be delighted with this sophomore offering.

Lois Dyer writes from Washington State.

 

Within the relatively new romance genre of New Adult, the heroes and heroines are focused on negotiating the tricky, independent years after high school. We’ve selected four New Adult romance novels that perfectly capture the feeling of first love—and first heartbreak—that is so definitive of one’s early 20s.
YA FictionYA

Time to celebrate Teen Read Week

Feature by Jamie Whitfield

Nearly half of those surveyed by The Young Adult Library Services Association said that although they enjoy reading, they don't have time. Teens need more time to read! The International Reading Association says teens need "specific opportunities to schedule reading into their days." If teens you know need help scheduling reading, now's the time: October 15-21 is Teen Read Week. This year's theme Take Time to Read provides the perfect opportunity to discuss books, and there are shelves of new books to recommend.

Know a teen interested in the latest scientific news? They'll be sure to make time to read two books due this month. Margaret Peterson Haddix's Turnabout is the story of teenagers, Melly and Anny Beth, who have lived over 150 years each. Once residents of a nursing home, they agreed to be part of an experiment on "unaging." The plan was for senior citizens to age backwards, eventually remaining 25-30 years old indefinitely, but the procedure didn't go as planned. Melly and Anny Beth find problems in getting younger, especially during the teenage years when they are trying to live independently. Searching for a family to adopt them before they become too young to care for themselves at all, they discover someone is searching for them. Turnabout is sure to spark discussions about aging and the problems facing each generation.

Blueprint, by Charlotte Kerner, is another discussion-sparker. Referring to herself as a blueprint rather than a clone, Siri is the offspring of Iris, a concert pianist seeking immortality after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. With the help of Mortimer Fisher, head of a reproduction clinic, Iris becomes one of the first self-generating single parents or as Siri says a "mother-twin." Now 22, Siri copes with her mother-twin's death by writing a bitter memoir, confessing that the "most effective horror goes on internally." Know a teen intrigued by adventures in worlds beyond our own?

Plan time to read The Wind Singer by William Nicholson, an adventure set in Aramanth whose slogan is "Strive harder, reach higher, make tomorrow better than today." It's a city where testing begins at age two and results in individual ratings. The rating itself means nothing; it's improving that determines how families live. Kestrel's rebellion against this system causes her family's shunning and her assignment to "Special Teaching." Kestrel, her brother Bowman, and the lowest rated classmate, Mumpo, set off to find the key to the wind singer, a device that may provide a source of happiness.

Teens will find a different world in Eva Ibbotson's Island of the Aunts. Inhabited by unusual animals, the island is tended by three very unusual, aging women. Needing help with their hard work, each kidnaps a child. Two initially frightened children, Minette and Fabio, eventually enjoy their chores and new friends the aunts, the mermaids, the selkie Herbert, the egg-bound boobrie. Then something incredible happens: they hear the Great Hum; and the third child, Lambert, finds his mobile phone and summons his father.

Based on an epidemic in Philadelphia over 200 years ago, Fever 1793 exposes teens to the hardships of living in a time that may seem like another world. From awkward low ceilings to the difficulty of fastening stays, from a cat devouring its prey on a new quilt to dogs barking and pigs running city streets, Laurie Halse Anderson takes teens into the life of Matilda, the daughter of a coffeehouse owner, during a time when a mysterious disease killed over 10 percent of the city's population in less than three months.

Carve teens some time for two books based on diaries of real teenagers facing the worst prejudice and persecution. Forgotten Fire follows Vahan, son of rich, well-respected Armenians living in Turkey in 1915, as his home shatters and he struggles to survive in a world set on his destruction. One Eye Laughing, The Other Weeping, the newest addition to the Dear America series, depicts the life of Julie Weiss, an upper-class Jewish girl in the Vienna of the 1930s, as her family's concerns shift from an eloquent dinner party to finding a way to stay alive.

Teens always find time to read about "outsiders." In Ghost Boy, Iain Lawrence's albino teen Harold Kline joins the circus freak show, and meets others more unusual than he. Though doll-sized Princess Minikin and Samuel, called Fossil Man, accept Harold as their own son, Harold soon learns he's as capable of cruel prejudice as those who gawk at them. Richard Peck's A Year Down Yonder continues the story of Mary Alice. She begins her 15th year living with Grandma, feeling like the only outsider in a hick town a long way from Chicago. She dreads life among those who won't accept her and views Grandma with suspicion. By year's end, she dreads leaving the town and all its quirky inhabitants, feeling she "was one of them now." Another continuing character is Jack Gantos' Joey Pigza Loses Control. Joey has gained control over his behavior thanks to a medication patch. Joey's mom is sending him and his Chihuahua Pablo to stay with his dad. There are two obstacles to an enjoyable visit: Joey's impulsive dad convinces Joey to stop using his medication and Joey's chain-smoking grandmother seems to resent him altogether, especially when the meds wear off.

Have I convinced you to celebrate Teen Read Week? Well, it's about "time"!

 

Jamie Whitfield has all the time in the world to read and write, now that she has retired from teaching teenagers.

Nearly half of those surveyed by The Young Adult Library Services Association said that although they enjoy reading, they don't have time. Teens need more time to read! The International Reading Association says teens need "specific opportunities to schedule reading into their days." If teens you know need help scheduling reading, now's the time: October 15-21 is Teen Read Week. This year's theme Take Time to Read provides the perfect opportunity to discuss books, and there are shelves of new books to recommend.

NonfictionEducation

Making it count in the classroom

Feature by Angela Leeper

Between high-stakes testing and the high price of college, school can seem stressful and uninviting. But four new books show how education can inspire children, uplift communities and transform the future.

BEATING IMPOSSIBLE ODDS
For Kristina Rizga, what started as a reporting assignment for Mother Jones turned into a four-year investigation of San Francisco’s Mission High School. When she first entered Mission High—a school of 950 incredibly diverse students from more than 40 countries; 75 percent are poor and 38 percent are English language learners—it was one of the lowest performing schools in the country. It was also at a crossroads, forced to face its subpar test scores or prepare for serious government intervention. In Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph, Rizga delivers an intimate look at how an alternative, progressive approach to education works at this school. 

Accessible and thoroughly researched, Rizga’s book covers a brief history of America’s education reform and the path to high-stakes testing, and weaves in profiles of Mission’s students and faculty. These profiles form the heart of the book, showing students who find community and success (even if not measurable by a multiple-choice test), teachers who provide encouragement, personalized instruction and more meaningful assessments, and a principal who refuses to “teach to the test” and gives teachers a say in developing curriculum. Through their accounts, Rizga makes a strong case against test scores as a way to monitor individual learning and for teachers being in charge of school reform and accountability.

OPENING MINDS AND WALLETS
For many families, going to college is one of the biggest expenses they will ever undertake. Understandably, they want a return on this investment. But with no definite information on the payoff, the answer is never a simple yes or no. In Will College Pay Off?, Peter Cappelli examines factors that will determine whether a college or four-year degree program is worthwhile.

Cappelli focuses on the changing relationship between college and the workplace. As companies increasingly expect certain skills in recent graduates, colleges have found themselves in the middle of a dysfunctional supply chain. Many have responded with a massive shift toward programs that target niches in the job market and promise job skills. Cappelli asserts that the push away from the liberal arts may actually be hindering students’ chances of finding jobs after graduation.

He also dispels many myths about college education and the labor market, such as the rumor that there is a shortage of talent in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, or that students just need to pick “practical” majors with a clear path to jobs. The best chances for a return on a college education, Cappelli contends, come through simply finishing college in a timely manner and considering a career as a marathon, not a sprint.

MAKING HERSTORY
Once your daughter, granddaughter or niece has been admitted to college, The Her Campus Guide to College Life should be requisite reading. Authored by the writers and editors of HerCampus.com, this guide’s direct, conversational style covers concerns like safety—both on and off campus—healthy eating habits, getting enough sleep and homesickness while also including advice for smarter alcohol consumption and the warning signs of addiction. The Her Campus Guide also breaks down ways to manage a wide variety of relationships, from roommates (including roommate conflicts and contracts) and resident assistants to professors and even “frenemies.” The chapter on dating, hooking up and sex offers straightforward, no-nonsense advice on “dormcest,” what to expect with first-time sex and other difficult, real-world topics.

Later sections cover balancing studying with extracurriculars, Greek life and social media as well as tips on managing money and landing an internship or first professional job. A variety of checklists and wellness check-ins keep this guide interactive and make it ideal for both individual use and sharing.

IN THE FAST LANE
Veteran educators may know Ron Clark from his New York Times bestseller The Essential 55, with rules about manners and success for the classroom and beyond. The former Disney Teacher of the Year Award winner and co-founder of the nationally recognized Ron Clark Academy returns with Move Your Bus. Once again he blends Southern charm with a direct approach to inspire high performance.

Clark begins with a parable of an organization like a Flintstones-style bus powered by the passengers. He then defines five types of individuals on the bus: runners (the force behind the success), joggers (who meet basic expectations), walkers (who plod through their jobs), riders (who are dead weight) and drivers (who steer an organization). To make a bus, or organization, move, Clark declares that more runners are needed and that the desire to run is in all of us.

He continues the bus parable throughout, offering practical and encouraging tips on how to become a runner. While seemingly easy advice such as asking for help, accepting criticism and listening more than talking requires deep reflection. Clark’s personal experiences, as well as anecdotes from his teaching staff, highlight the tips in action. Although examples come from Clark’s teaching career, this guide is great for teams, committees, businesses or any organized group that wants to move forward—and enjoy the ride.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Between high-stakes testing and the high price of college, school can seem stressful and uninviting. But four new books show how education can inspire children, uplift communities and transform the future.
FictionDebut Fiction

Debut authors writing from the outside in

Feature by BookPage contributors

Looking at a world from an outsider’s point of view is a common theme in literature—with good reason. It supplies a powerful perspective and often enlightenment, as demonstrated in these four memorable first novels.

REACHING A BREAKING POINT
The Islamophobic phase of America’s fitful xenophobia is nothing new: The religion may change, but the fear rarely does. Rajia Hassib’s In the Language of Miracles shows its effect on an Egyptian-American family after their eldest son kills his Christian girlfriend. The novel is topical both in its take on race relations and in its depiction of a troubled young man with ready access to firearms.

Samir and Nagla Al-Menshawy are model immigrants. Samir is a doctor building a family practice and aspiring to home ownership. Nagla is a supportive wife, and their kids, Hossam, Khaled and Fatima, are, in Samir’s words, “well-bred.” But something goes wrong with Hossam, even if what exactly that is isn’t clear. Is he mentally ill, or does he only suffer from the “loneliness and boredom” afflicting many newcomers? Either way, one day, in a fit of jealousy, he takes his girlfriend’s life and his own. Some reactions are predictable: threatening letters and graffiti (“Go Home”). Others are more sinister: posting photos of Samir’s house and children to Facebook. Hassib makes it clear, however, that 9/11 did change things for Muslim Americans. Khaled concludes that, as a Muslim, he is frequently seen as “a cancer that brought nothing but suffering.”

Hassib, who was born and raised in Egypt before moving to the U.S. at 23, is a capable writer, especially when dealing with the interpersonal. Her natural use of language resembles that of Khaled Hosseini. Both writers deal with a common theme: Sometimes melting pots have a propensity to boil over.

—Kenneth Champeon

MAKING THE WRONG FRIEND
If Shirley Jackson and Mary Gaitskill had a literary daughter, it might be Ottessa Moshfegh, whose unnerving debut is sure to garner attention. Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel, Eileen shares a week in the life of its title character: a young woman stuck in a dead-end job in a juvenile detention center who crosses paths with a polished and privileged social worker. Looking back on her life, Eileen narrates with a precise, mesmerizing clarity. 

In her early 20s, Eileen is living in a dilapidated house in an unnamed Massachusetts town with her alcoholic father. Eileen, who also drinks too much, loathes her body and settles more deeply into her filthy home every day. She heartily despises her co-workers and harbors an unrequited crush on a guard, more out of boredom than real emotion. But when the attractive new head of education, Rebecca St. John, makes overtures of friendship, Eileen can’t resist her charm. She soon finds herself complicit in Rebecca’s atypical methods. 

Eileen takes place over a single snowy week, and the locations—from the attic bedroom and dank bars to the narrow linoleum halls of the jail—add to the feeling of claustrophobia that Moshfegh, currently a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, expertly builds. It’s the how and not the why that this strange and unsettling novel reveals, and readers will be holding their breath by the final pages.

—Lauren Bufferd

ODD COUPLE IN AN ODD LAND
Fans of immigrant stories—think Americanah or House of Sand and Fog—will be captivated by Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, the striking first novel from Ohio-based writer Julie Iromuanya. 

Nigerians Ifi and Job may have married sight unseen, but they’re united by their determination to present themselves as the perfect, upwardly mobile immigrant couple to their families back home. This provides something of a challenge, since Job—who has been in America for nearly two decades—is not the doctor he claimed to be during their courtship, but a college dropout. As Ifi adjusts to her new home (under Job’s dubious tutelage), they attempt to make the most of their circumstances. That is, until Job’s first wife, whom he married for a green card, resurfaces.

Iromuanya weaves this tale of a mismatched couple with dark humor and careful observation. From the first scene, where Job tries to woo Ifi with techniques learned by watching American pornography (spoiler alert: it doesn’t go over well), it’s clear that no subject is off-limits. Her insights into assimilation—its difficulties and pitfalls—are astute and at times, eye-opening.

—Trisha Ping

THE INSULATED ELITE
For centuries, New York City has been a magnet to dreamers with fantasies of catapulting themselves into the upper echelons of society. Unfortunately, as Evelyn Beegan discovers in Stephanie Clifford’s debut novel, Everybody Rise, the higher you rise, the farther you have to fall should you lose your grip on the social ladder.

Evelyn has landed a job with an up-and-coming social media site, which seeks to attract the crème de la crème. Therefore, Evelyn makes it her mission to land Camilla Rutherford—the queen bee of Manhattan’s young, beautiful and rich—as a client. Knowing that a blue blood like Camilla would never rub elbows with a new-money nobody, Evelyn sets out to reinvent herself. What begins as fudging the truth soon spirals until Evelyn barely recognizes herself. It’s only a matter of time before her carefully constructed house of cards comes tumbling down.

With Everybody Rise, Clifford has crafted a sharp and witty cautionary tale about wealth and the pursuit of the American dream in the 21st century, right before the 2008 financial crash. Her shrewd look at upper-class dynamics in modern day New York society takes up the torch of Edith Wharton. And although her story is sobering in its scope, Clifford keeps it afloat with bursts of comedy; the end result is a thoughtful yet entertaining yarn that manages to bring to mind both The Great Gatsby and The Shopaholic series. Filled with scandal and schadenfreude, Everybody Rise will keep readers flipping pages.

—Stephenie Harrison

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Q&A with Stephanie Clifford about Everybody Rise.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Looking at a world from an outsider’s point of view is a common theme in literature—with good reason. It supplies a powerful perspective and often enlightenment, as demonstrated in these four memorable first novels.
Mystery

Mysteries wrapped in enigmas

Feature by Tom Corcoran

The best mysteries, these days, go beyond mind puzzles and character studies to remote, unique locales and to a spectrum of lifestyles. This month we visit Hawaii, Alaska, England, and Southern California. Nowhere do we find plain settings or run-of-the-mill personalities.

Dana Stabenow's ninth Kate Shugak book, Hunter's Moon, pits boardroom treachery against the elements and occupants of Alaska's wilderness. Alaska regulates those who lead tourists to big game. Shugak is a resourceful 34-year-old native Aleut with a Class A Assistant guide's license and a dislike of cellular phones. For the first time in years, she finds herself close to romantic commitment, with former fellow Anchorage D.A. investigator and, now, fellow guide Jack Morgan. Kate and Jack help staff a hunting lodge leased by the nine-man, one-woman management team of a German software company. The firm's executive retreat, perhaps in response to international rumors of financial misdeeds, turns into an intramural range war with two accidental deaths and an abundance of motives and suspects. To survive the battle – especially after Jack is injured – Kate must summon deep survival instincts and backcountry knowledge, and use the wilderness as her best ally.

Perfect for fans of historical mysteries, Search the Dark, by Charles Todd, is a fine surprise for those accustomed to current-day plots. World War I changed everyone in England, throwing into turmoil the lives of surviving soldiers and those who awaited their return. Political and financial power changed the least. Even outside sophisticated London, power struggles and battles of jealousy and revenge lead to murder. The battered body of a young woman is found in a field. A distraught veteran is arrested. Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge, who also suffers post-war trauma, senses that the hurried case closure indicates a flawed investigation. Trespassing on local jurisdiction, charmed by a female suspect, Rutledge must travel village to country village to coax information from reluctant and conniving citizens. Then another body is found. Assisted by the voice in his head, words of a comrade who failed to return from war, Rutledge must unravel unspoken rules of social hierarchy and decipher clues from gossip. There are plenty of suspects; perhaps the wrong man sits in jail. Shell shock is real in the hunter and the hunted. Suspense holds to the final page.

Marcia Muller's 20th Sharon McCone mystery, A Walk Through the Fire is as fresh as any Muller effort. McCone is summoned to Hawaii where friend Glenna Stanleigh's film-in-progress is suffering mishaps aimed at shutting down production. This film, like previous Stanleigh documentaries intended to fight prejudice, is based on an unpublished manuscript on Hawaiian culture written by a wealthy man who vanished in 1992. McCone and longtime lover Hy Ripinsky arrive in Hawaii to a familial civil war and threat of terrorist action by a group inspired more by drugs than native rights. An attempted murder, a witnessed murder, and a bizarre suicide change the nature of McCone's investigation. Her attraction to a local helicopter pilot (and friend of the missing author) strains her relationship with Ripinsky. A web of financial treachery, greed, and grandiose plans must be untangled to dodge danger and survive.

In Heartbreaker, Robert Ferrigno's fifth mystery, there is no honor among thieves. Only distrust and layers of triple-cross. Ferrigno's characters inhabit the edges; night stars are the spilled milk of the Milky Way. In this high-octane interplay of scammers and the wealthy in sad tuxedos, separate agendas weave a tangle of lies, greed, violence, and misused intelligence. Contract hits, public taunts, and jokes in the face of death prove that Ferrigno's disaffected characters could be Elmore Leonard's. They spout the bizarre dialogue of Robert Crais's blase low-lifes; the most evil possess the twisted minds of James Ellroy's noir felons. This one works.

 

Tom Corcoran is the Florida-based author of The Mango Opera (St. Martin's) and the forthcoming Gumbo Limbo.

The best mysteries, these days, go beyond mind puzzles and character studies to remote, unique locales and to a spectrum of lifestyles. This month we visit Hawaii, Alaska, England, and Southern California. Nowhere do we find plain settings or run-of-the-mill personalities.

Dana Stabenow's ninth…

NonfictionParenting

Advice for parents: back off

Feature by Amy Scribner

The era of helicopter parenting is officially over, if this new crop of parenting books is any indication. Gone are the days of tracking your child’s every move and fighting her every battle.The focus now is on preparing children for the real world by letting them venture out and even—gasp!—make mistakes. 

In How to Raise an Adult, former Stanford dean Julie Lythcott-Haims argues that we are so focused on our children that “what they eat, how they dress, what activities they pursue [and] what they achieve have be- come a reflection of us. Of how we see ourselves. Like their life is our accomplishment. Like their failures are our fault.”

In her years as Dean of Fresh- men at Stanford, Lythcott-Haims watched as parents encroached on their children’s collegiate pursuits, showing up for social events and contacting professors. She once saw a woman in her mid-20s walking around campus, looking for the engineering building. How did Lythcott-Haims know? Because the mother of this Ph.D. candidate was doing all the talking. It’s a wonder parents haven’t moved into the dorms.

How to Raise an Adult is a bit of a manifesto, and I mean that in the best way. Lay off the Adderall, stop fretting that the Ivy League is the only route to success and let your children have unstructured time to dream, play and do nothing. Raising an adult, Lythcott-Haims posits, means letting go.

UN-ENTITLERS
With chapters titled “They’re Not Helpless” and “Overcontrol,” parenting expert Amy McCready makes clear starting with the table of contents that she finds overparenting to be underwhelm- ing. In The Me, Me, Me Epidemic, McCready, who founded Positive Parenting Solu- tions, dishes out advice in a crisply no-nonsense tone on everything from peer-pressure-proofing your kids to navigating social media.

“If we dish out empty praise and lavish rewards for the type of behavior that should be expected (such as not pitching a fit because we won’t buy them a new action figure or not making rude noises in a restaurant) we’re writing a recipe for an entitled child, one who thinks he takes ‘special to a whole new level,’ ” McCready writes. McCready offers tools she calls “Un-Entitlers,” which are like vitamins to instill capability in children. My favorite is Mind, Body and Soul Time, in which parents give an uninterrupted 10 or 20 minutes to their children and let the kids choose what they do together. It’s simple and surprisingly effective.

LIVE AND LEARN
I have a son entering middle school this fall, so The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey was a gift to me. With common-sense advice on how to stand back and let your children learn through their mistakes—including an entire chapter on navigating the hormone-drenched middle school years—this book is one of my new favorite parenting manuals.

Lahey is a warm, engaging writer who spent years in the trenches as a middle school Latin and English teacher. She advocates a lovingly hands-off approach that instills confidence from an early age.

“As adults we all have our own bullies to deal with: mean bosses, vicious enemies, and jealous peers,” she writes. “How your kid learns to deal with those people in their childhood, when failure means a day or two of hurt feelings or social exclusion, can mean the difference between a thin skin and a strong sense of self.”

TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS
Forget gimmicky baby toys—all your child really needs is you. Vanderbilt University child development researcher Stephen Camarata offers an antidote to all the products marketed to guilt-rid- den parents in The Intuitive Parent. “What does a baby really need to know?” he writes. “That his parents love him, will take care of him, and will encourage him and empower him to learn. This does not require special videos, special toys, special DVDs or computer programs.”

Camarata starts with a fascinating section on the science behind child development. (How many au- thors can make something called brain plasticity interesting? Very few.) Then it gets even better, as Camarata lays out his case for why parents need not obsess over every developmental milestone, instead focusing on what he calls intuitive parenting, simply enjoying your child and reacting to his activities. The father of seven children, Camarata blends research and experience to create a parenting book that lets parents off the hook.

SUCCESSFUL STARTERS
The co-authors of Raising Can-Do Kids are perhaps an unlikely duo—Jen Prosek is a public relations executive and Richard Rende is a developmental psychologist. But the partnership works. Raising Can-Do Kids is both interesting and actionable, written from the points of view of someone who under- stands development and someone else who understands what skills it takes to make a great entrepreneur. Together, they identify seven traits that entrepreneurs need (curiosity and risk-taking are among them) and show parents how to cultivate these qualities in their children.

Perhaps most intriguing is their exploration of snowplow parents, who are apparently helicopter parents on steroids. As they write, snowplow parents “don’t just try to control a child’s environment and experiences but overtly eliminate perceived obstacles in a child’s path. Requesting that a specific child not be in your child’s class is one thing; demanding to review the class roster is quite another.” Makes that Stanford mom seem almost reasonable, doesn’t it? 

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Q&A with Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How To Raise an Adult.

This article was originally published in the August 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The era of helicopter parenting is officially over, if this new crop of parenting books is any indication. Gone are the days of tracking your child’s every move and fighting her every battle.The focus now is on preparing children for the real world by letting them venture out and even—gasp!—make mistakes.
Romance

Cowboy, take me away

Feature by Lois Dyer

Who doesn’t love a handsome guy wearing boots, jeans and a cowboy hat? There’s something romantic—and sexy!—about that iconic American image. This month, we’re featuring four heroes who epitomize the lure of cowboys for romance readers.

With more than 50 best-selling novels under her belt, author Johanna Lindsey returns readers to the American West with Wildfire In His Arms. Her latest novel features Degan Grant, whom readers met in One Heart To Win. The mysterious gunslinger is heading for California when a U.S. Marshal calls in a favor. Helping his friend sets Degan on a collision course with outlaw Max Dawson. Catching Max is the beginning of a most unusual journey, however, when Degan discovers that “Max” is really Maxine. The circumstances surrounding the beautiful blonde’s alleged crimes are highly suspect, and before long, Degan finds himself more protector than captor.

Try as she might at first, Max can’t escape Degan—but soon, she doesn’t really want to flee. She’s not the only one trying to outrun problems, however, for Degan has his own ghosts. How can two people with so many unresolved issues plan to build a future together? Can they hope for anything beyond surviving the dangerous present?

Practical, resourceful Maxie is a perfect match for the dangerous Degan. He’s never met a woman quite like her, and she’s never before found a man she can trust. Lindsey deftly paints the western setting with a sure hand as a backdrop to Degan and Maxie’s love story, which is fraught with danger and action. There are also many tender, heartwarming moments, which all adds up to a wonderful, satisfying read.

TO LOVE A COWBOY
Oregon author Maisey Yates continues her Copper Ridge novels with Bad News Cowboy, the third installment in the popular series. Kate Garrett grew up with no mother, two brothers and an emotionally unavailable father. She’s capable, confident and accustomed to working with men, but has never been romantically interested in anyone. Until her brothers’ best friend and her childhood protector, Jack Monaghan, suddenly makes her feel restless in a way no one has before. But Jack is a heartbreaker who has never offered a woman anything more than a night of mutual pleasure. What chance does Kate have with a man who openly enjoys women but rejects anything hinting at a permanent relationship?

Unbeknownst to Kate, Jack is struggling to cope with the same issue. It isn’t until they share an unexpected kiss that the simmering attraction between them flares out of control. Now they have to find a way to balance their loyalty to Kate’s brothers with the undeniable pull of overwhelming sexual attraction.

There is much to like about this latest novel from Yates. The setting is vivid, the secondary characters charming, and the plot has depth and interesting twists. But it is the hero and heroine who truly drive this story. Readers will be fully absorbed in Kate and Jack’s struggle to come to grips with emotional scars that block their ability to love. Fortunately for romance fans, the ending is everything they could wish for.

MONTANA MYSTERY
New York Times best-selling author B.J. Daniels continues her Montana Hamiltons series with Lone Rider. Set in Montana’s rugged mountain ranch country, this novel continues the story of Senator Buck Hamilton’s family. The lovely Bo Hamilton manages a family philanthropic foundation for her father, the Senator. When she learns that thousands of dollars are missing, she immediately hires an independent auditor. While waiting for his report, she rides into the mountains for an overnight camping trip in search of peace and quiet. She never expected to be taken captive by a crazed, dangerous man.

When Bo doesn’t return home when promised, rancher Jace Calder agrees to search for her. He and Bo have quite the history—they’d dated, he’d proposed, and she’d backed out of the wedding. Although he would never admit it, he has never stopped loving her. Now, he’ll have to risk his life in order to keep them both alive.

This excellent romantic mystery has lots of twists and turns, with more than one tangled knot to unravel. The setting in Montana’s backcountry is vivid and realistic, the villains edgy and evil, and the romance between Jace and Bo emotionally satisfying. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this much-anticipated installment in the Hamilton family saga.

A HELPING HAND 
Best-selling inspirational romance author Debra Clopton delivers a charming new novel in her Four Of Hearts Ranch series, Counting On A Cowboy.

Abby Knightly badly needs a change of scenery, so she packs her belongings and heads for Wishing Springs, Texas. Night has fallen; she’s tired and barely five miles from her destination when she nearly runs into a steer and a cowboy. Terrified, she runs her car into a ditch.

Rancher Bo Monahan literally catches Abby when she staggers out of her wrecked vehicle and faints, and he finds himself reluctant to let her go. Which is why she’s with him the next day when he finds a baby on his front porch—a baby with a note that says the little boy named Levi belongs to him. Stunned, Bo hasn’t a clue what to do with the child. Fortunately, Abby seems to know how to cuddle and calm the sobbing baby. Despite knowing Bo is a confirmed bachelor, Abby is drawn to him in ways that may endanger her heart. But Abby can’t turn her back on the struggling new father and his son. Soon, caring for Levi has these two damaged people, each with dark pasts, pondering whether they might share a future filled with love.

Readers will cheer for Bo and Abby as the couple struggles to overcome their fearrs. The secondary characters add color and humor to the story, and fans of this series will thoroughly enjoy this latest novel from Clopton.

Lois Dyer writes from Port Orchard, Washington

Who doesn’t love a handsome guy wearing boots, jeans and a cowboy hat? There’s something romantic—and sexy!—about that iconic American image. This month, we’re featuring four heroes who epitomize the lure of cowboys for romance readers.
Fiction

Tales that pack a powerful punch

Feature by Michael Magras

Some people would have you believe that short stories are the literary equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues, a place to hone your skills until you’re ready for a bigger and more prestigious stage. But as masters such as Alice Munro have proven, a great short story is no less of an achievement than a great novel.

These four collections demonstrate that a new generation of authors is happy to experiment with the possibilities of the short form.

The most audacious collection here is Only the Animals by the South African and Australian writer Ceridwen Dovey. How’s this for a daring conceit: Each story is written from the perspective of an animal killed in a conflict wrought by humans. And an author appears in almost every narrative.

A cat owned by Colette escapes from the author’s car and witnesses horrors on the front lines in France during World War I. Chimpanzees in Germany who are being trained to adopt human characteristics become more refined even as food rationing dehumanizes men and women. A dolphin born into captivity writes to Sylvia Plath, “a human writer who meant something to me,” to explain the circumstances by which the dolphin performed echolocation activities for the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program.

Seeing events through an animal’s eyes gives us an outsider’s perspective on major events in recent history, including atrocities like the rise of Nazi Germany and the wars in the Middle East. In forcing us to do so, Dovey suggests that some animals have a capacity for empathy that humans would do well to emulate.

RUSSIAN JEWELS
The Tsar of Love and Techno is an intricately structured and powerful collection. These interconnected stories set in Russia span more than 70 years. They begin with the tale of Roman Markin, a “correction artist” who works for the Department of Party Propaganda and Agitation. His job is to airbrush images of political dissenters out of photographs and paintings. One of the dissenters is his younger brother, Vaska.

In memory of his brother, Roman draws tiny portraits of Vaska in the pictures he censors, including a photo of a ballerina who looks like Vaska’s widow and a painting of a dacha in a pasture. The painting links tales of the ballerina’s granddaughter, a telephone operator at a nickel combine who wins the Miss Siberia pageant and marries the 14th richest man in Russia; a former deputy art director who, after the 1999 bombing of Chechnya, is forced to become head of the Chechen Tourist Bureau; and a soldier who carries a mix tape his brother gave him before his first tour of duty.

This collection showcases Marra’s wit and his gift for unforgettable details, such as when a soldier fires a round into the earth to loosen it before he digs a grave. Some characters are capable of great brutality, whereas others are capable of declaring that no invention is “more humane, more elegant, more generous” than the wheelchair ramp. The Tsar of Love and Techno is the work of an elegant and generous writer. 

EVERYDAY PROBLEMS
Lauren Holmes’ debut, Barbara the Slut and Other People, is lighter fare than the previous books, but don’t equate light with inconsequential. Holmes’ deceptively breezy stories focus on women grappling with sexual politics and make important observations about challenges faced by millennials.

A 20-year-old woman from Los Angeles travels to Acapulco to see her distant mother and to announce that she’s a lesbian. “Mike Anonymous” is a quietly devastating story of a woman who works at a clinic that helps people with sexually transmitted diseases, and of a married Japanese man convinced that he’s HIV positive. And in the title story, a high school senior applies to Princeton and struggles to lose the reputation she earned several times over in 11th grade.

Holmes, whose work has appeared in outlets like Granta and Guernica, has a keen ear for dialogue and a sharp memory for the high school life, as proven in the description of a student who “removed her retainer with her tongue and spit it onto her desk every time she was about to say something in class.” Barbara the Slut contains surprisingly tender depictions of love and family, which show that you should never judge a book by its title.

HOME TO KANSAS
Andrew Malan Milward focuses on the rich history of his home state of Kansas in his second collection, I Was a Revolutionary. Milward’s hometown of Lawrence has been the site of significant moments in American history, including pro-slavery guerrillas’ 1863 massacre of abolitionists—the largest act of domestic terrorism until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He recreates many such historical moments in these stories.

The protagonist of “The Burning of Lawrence,” which chronicles the 1863 killings, is the Confederate guerrilla fighter William Quantrill. “The Americanist,” a modern-day story about a gay couple, invokes John Romulus Brinkley, the “Goat Gland Doctor” of the 1920s who injected goat testicles into men to improve their virility. “What Is to Be Done?” presents the eccentric sculptor Samuel Perry Dinsmoor, a retired teacher who, in later years, was known to lecture about socialism to a roomful of invisible students.

Milward’s habit of providing excessive historical detail diminishes the tension at times, but when he minimizes background information, as he does in the brilliant title piece, the results are compelling. There are lovely, unexpected touches: A pro-slavery fighter in “The Burning of Lawrence” trashes an abolitionist’s home, but pauses long enough to play the family’s organ with “long-dormant familiarity.” 

Throughout the book, Milward makes astute observations about politics, not only about the political climate of past eras but also of our own—a rarity in contemporary American fiction.

Who says short-story writers occupy a low rung on the literary hierarchy? As these collections prove, great short fiction not only is its own major league but also boasts an impressive lineup that any contingent would envy.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Some people would have you believe that short stories are the literary equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues, a place to hone your skills until you’re ready for a bigger and more prestigious stage. But as masters such as Alice Munro have proven, a great short story is no less of an achievement than a great novel. These four collections demonstrate that a new generation of authors is happy to experiment with the possibilities of the short form.
Food & DrinkCookbooks

Reading to leave you shaken and stirred

Feature by Eve Zibart

Americans discover, and rediscover, trends in drinking just as they do in dining. A few years ago, the holidays were afloat in variously erudite or encouraging tomes on wine-tastings, great regions and terroirs, and beginners’ ways to “express” beverage flavors, not to mention a slew of wine guides especially for women.

Then the evangelicals of beer hopped up to defend that equally ancient and venerable tonic, followed by the prophets of whiskeys, shrubs and, well, tonics. Not to mention the numerous re-inventors of the cocktail.

All this alcohol-inspired abundance may explain why beverage experts are looking more into niche and novelty approaches this year.

PROPOSE A TOAST
Paul Dickson has written 65 nonfiction books on a variety of subjects, including cocktailing and toasting, language and baseball—often in combination (i.e., a history of drinking in baseball). Dickson’s latest, Contraband Cocktails: How America Drank When It Wasn’t Supposed To, began as a fascination with Prohibition-era recipe books that along the way naturally snowballed into an engaging discourse on classic cocktails replete with trivia, recipes, a list of -alcohol-related slang of the period and a fair amount of Golden-Era literary and celebrity gossip. As Dickson points out, the years of Prohibition coincided with some of the most flamboyant drinking in literature and on Broadway and the Silver Screen (think The Great Gatsby and W.C. Fields). 

Although not exactly unknown, the asides are entertaining: Henry Craddock, who fled Prohibition Manhattan for London and compiled the still-revered Savoy Cocktail Book, told an interviewer in 1926 that he was then mixing up at least 280 cocktails—a number that did not include juleps, fizzes, punches, highballs, etc. Dickson defends the use of vodka in the Bloody Mary, though he does dispense with the common misconception that it has anything to do with the onetime Queen, and goes with the often-disputed version of the drink having been created at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. (A disproportionate number of famous bartenders and recipe writers were named Harry, possibly giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “hair of the dog.”) 

THE PUN'S THE THING
More self-consciously “literary” is a stocking stuffer for unrepentant punsters (actually, the sort of entertainment that used to be found in the bathrooms of the well-read). In Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas, populist Shakespeare professors Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim have pulled out all the stoppers, condensing the plots of the Bard’s plays into “riotous prose” and then naming slightly twisted cocktails for long-suffering characters. Consider the Lady Macbeth’s G-Spot (something like a Lear-ing bastard offshoot of a whiskey sour and a Rob Roy); Much Ado About Frothing (pisco sour with heart-shaped sprinkles) and chapters entitled “Shall I Campari Thee to a Summer’s Day?” 

As Shakespeare was already an inveterate punster, the book is almost too much of a muchness, best consumed in small quantities. Maybe it could serve a peculiar book club—one reading, and one round of drinks, at a time.

AN APPLE A DAY
Longtime beer-book author and blogger Jeff Alworth has temporarily swapped suds for cider, which he believes is the next specialty brew, and which he pointedly defines not as the insipid fruit juice of childhood but a whole family of artisan beverages including Calvados and Lambig. In Cider Made Simple: All About Your New Favorite Drink, Alworth travels from apple farms in the U.S. to Canada, England, France and Spain, talking and tasting with artisan cider blenders. He discusses the roles of aromatics, acidity, sweetness, tannins, fermentation, florals, “funkiness”—and if this sounds reminiscent of a wine primer, it’s no accident. Craft cider can range in alcohol content from 3 percent to 10 percent. It may be blended from a carefully curated balance of apple species, like vine varieties. Some of the best cider is even riddled and disgorged, à la Champagne, although with a somewhat different technique. 

Alford may be jumping the gun a little on calling cider the next favorite beverage, but he isn’t too far ahead of the curve: While its following is small compared to that of craft beer, the cider market is estimated to double every three years. 

A CLASSIC MIXER
The glossiest book of the bunch, and the one best suited to the cocktail obsessive, is Adam Ford’s Vermouth: The Revival of the Spirit that Created America’s Cocktail Culture. It’s part love letter to what has become his actual profession—he’s the founder of Atsby, a groundbreaking vermouth producer—and a bit of a vanity production, as it’s hard for him to resist specifying one of Atsby’s vermouths in his recipes.

Either way, it’s a passion project. Ford has dived deeply into drinking history—about 10,000 years’ worth—to show that herb- and spice-infused alcohols have been recognized as medicinal and recreational potions since Neolithic times nearly everywhere around the globe. (Admittedly, that’s a pretty broad definition of vermouth, but he has a point.) He strolls through decades of America’s evolving cocktail culture: the New York Exhibition of 1853, when four different Italian “vermout” makers poured a liquor that Charles Dickens admired; the wild and wicked post-Civil War Manhattan; the “Mad Men” era; etc. 

Oh, along the way, Ford brings up two more famous Harrys: Harry Johnson, famed author of the 1882 New and Improved Illustrated Bartender’s Manual, Or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style; and Harry Hill, owner of one of Manhattan’s first Gilded Age “concert saloons.” Maybe it’s a secret society.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

An alcohol-inspired abundance has led beverage experts to look more into niche and novelty approaches to drink-themed gift books this year.
NonfictionMusicMemoirBiography

Following the beat of their own drummers

Feature by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

The lives of musical greats continue to fascinate us, and this fall once again features biographies and memoirs of key players, from the producer credited with inventing rock ’n’ roll to a woman at the forefront of feminist rock.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash got together in Memphis’ Sun Studio for an impromptu jam session. Behind the console was Sam Phillips, the man who not only discovered Presley, Cash and Lewis, but who also dreamed of bringing together black and white voices in the studio in a deeply divided South. Peter Guralnick, the dean of rock historians, draws on extensive interviews from his 25-year friendship with Phillips in the epic, elegant and crisply told Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll. Guralnick charts Phillips’ path from his birth near Florence, Alabama, to the founding of Sun Records—and chronicles his enduring contributions to rock ’n’ roll. When he produced Rufus Thomas’ version of “Hound Dog,” for example, Phillips thought it didn’t live up to Big Mama Thornton’s original, but “Rufus carried off his performance with genuine conviction—the one unwavering test Sam applied to any material he let out of the studio.” In the end, as Guralnick points out, what drove Phillips was his dream of allowing the voices he had heard singing chants in the cotton fields to express themselves in their own way. “[M]usic was not confined to the drawing room . . . there was great art to be discovered in the experience of those who had been marginalized and written off because of their race, their class, or their lack of formal education.” 

LONG AS I CAN SEE THE LIGHT
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival serves as a cracking good storyteller in Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music. Born in El Cerrito, California, in 1945, Fogerty sought music as both escape and solace after his parents’ divorce. He traces the early incarnations of Creedence and the band’s rise to the top of the charts in 1969 with “Proud Mary” and “Born on the Bayou.” He also offers backstory on his lyrics: “Bad Moon Rising,” for instance, grew out of hearing people talk in astrological lingo such as “I’m a Virgo with Libra rising.” Although Creedence was flying high in the late 1960s and early ’70s, the group soon descended into an inferno of contentious legal battles. Fogerty expresses his anger and disappointment with bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, and for the first time shares what he believes were the outlandish courtroom tactics of lawyers who knew nothing about music. After a period away from the public eye, he has immersed himself in songwriting once again—“all good songs engage you because they get you to feel something”—and emerged thankful for the journey, even the hard parts.

THE LOVE YOU SAVE
Rolling Stone writer Steve Knopper chronicles the King of Pop’s rise to fame in the compulsively readable MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson. Drawing on 400 interviews with friends, family and others, Knopper traces Jackson’s musical genius from his early days with the Jackson 5 through his out-of-this-world solo success with “Beat It” and “Thriller.” When Jackson met Quincy Jones in the mid-1970s, he saw Jones as a father figure who could take the place of the abusive Joe Jackson, and by the end of the ’70s, Jackson was working with Jones, moving toward a solo career and developing his signature dance moves. With the release of videos for “Billie Jean” and “Thriller,” he successfully “integrated radio and MTV,” Knopper writes. Through much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Jackson lived under the shadow of child sexual abuse charges, and he sank into oblivion from prescription drug use before his death in 2009. Still, for nearly three decades, he was “supernaturally graceful, the rare show-business Renaissance man who could sing, dance, and write songs.” 

PAINTED FROM MEMORY
Unlike most traditional memoirs, Elvis Costello’s Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink eschews any narrative structure, moving freely out from his childhood in Liverpool and London, where he accompanied his father to dance halls, soaking up the chords and vibes. In school, he managed to talk a couple of friends out of an “unhealthy fascination with the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer” and turn them on to the acoustic music then flowing out of Laurel Canyon. Costello mulls over his associations with musicians from Emmylou Harris to Kris Kristofferson, discussing the influence each has had on him. A prolific songwriter, he also shares insights into the composition of his songs. For “Allison,” which is based on the imagined life of a grocery checkout cashier, he writes, “I have no explanation for why I was able to stand outside reality and imagine such a scene as described in the song and to look so far into the future.” Costello’s aim is true in these peripatetic musings about his life and music.

MODERN GIRL
Guitarist Carrie Brownstein co-founded the group Sleater-Kinney, pushing the boundaries of punk and indie rock and emerging as a central figure of the riot grrrl movement. In Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, she probes her life with an honesty that is at once painful and spirited. Growing up in a suburb of Seattle, Brownstein attended her first concert—Madonna—in fifth grade, a “moment I’ll never forget, a total elation that momentarily erased any outline of darkness.” By the time she was in high school, she was alienated from her parents and immersed in Bikini Kill, whose music provided a haven from the turmoil of her teenage life. She and Corin Tucker eventually formed Sleater-Kinney and made a name for themselves in the Seattle scene and around the world. Brownstein bubbles over with fiercely blunt insights about the male-dominated music business: “[P]ersona for a man is equated with power; persona for a woman makes her less of a woman.” When Sleater-Kinney broke up in 2006, Brownstein went on to co-write, produce and star in the television show “Portlandia.” She declares that, for her, performing and playing and living the life of a working artist constitutes her search for a home: “the unlit firecracker I carried around inside me in my youth . . . found a home in music.”

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The lives of musical greats continue to fascinate us, and this fall once again features biographies and memoirs of key players, from the producer credited with inventing rock ’n’ roll to a woman at the forefront of feminist rock.
Fashion

That book looks good on you

Feature by Cat Acree

FALLING FOR FASHION
Why do we love the way we do? And how? And who? In The Looks of Love: 50 Moments in Fashion That Inspired Romance, Hal Rubenstein, author of 100 Unforgettable Dresses and co-founder of InStyle magazine, approaches this timeless topic through movies, television, music, fashion, politics and advertising, revealing how style can forever alter our notions of gender roles, sexuality and what love should look like. Rubenstein discusses influences like John Galliano, Nancy Reagan and grunge darlings Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, but his sweet spot is film, which he explores with infectious enthusiasm. Consider how Flashdance’s sliced sweatshirts resonated with a new generation of sexually independent young women. And where would trench coats be without Casablanca? Rubenstein’s prose is romantic, wry and even a little bit wicked; he knows what makes us tear up and when we want to laugh (kindly or not). Love can sour as quickly as the appeal of shoulder pads, but if you’re lucky, it can last a lifetime.

COSMETIC LEGACY
In the early ’90s, Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth insisted that wearing makeup was a “violent backlash against feminism.” Professional makeup artist Lisa Eldridge offers the ultimate counterpoint with Face Paint. Makeup can be playful and creative, and while Eldridge has plenty of fun discussing beauty pioneers such as Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich and Grace Jones, she considers makeup with an anthropological eye: “[T]he freedom and rights accorded to women during a given period are very closely linked to the freedom with which they painted their faces.” Beginning in ancient Egypt and moving through the golden age of Hollywood, Eldridge traces the vast history of cosmetics, explores the evolution of materials and techniques, and delves into the intrinsic ties between women’s history and the way we embellish our skin and lips. Makeup is what you make of it, Eldridge insists. It can make you part of the tribe, or it can set you apart from it.

PEOPLE, PARTIES, PLACES
Where’s Waldo? meets Perez Hilton in the hilariously illustrated Where’s Karl?: A Fashion-Forward Parody by Stacey Caldwell, Ajiri Aki and Michelle Baron. Fictional fashion blogger Fleur takes readers to the trendiest places around the world, from a photoshoot in Marrakech to Art Basel Miami. Our mission is to locate Karl Lagerfeld amid the riotous, flamboyant crowd, but you’ll also spot style crushes like Tilda Swinton and the Olsen twins, plus other members of the fashion elite, or as Fleur calls them, “mostly undiagnosed lunatics and megalomaniacs with highly covetable outfits.” Go ahead—obsess.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Explore the illustrious history of fashion through these stylish new books—and have a bit of frivolous fun while you’re at it.
Graphic Novels & ComicsGraphic Memoirs

Dive into a great graphic

Feature by Hilli Levin

Fall is a busy season in the publishing world, which means plenty of new arrivals are hitting the shelves! For readers looking for a little change of pace—and a more visual reading experience—we've rounded up our favorite graphic novels and memoirs that will bring a little color into these increasingly gray days. 

ADVICE FROM YOUR BETTER SELF
From The New Yorker cartoonist and author of the graphic memoir Cancer Vixen comes this satirical send-up of the New York media world. Self-serving Ann Tenna runs a celebrity gossip site that would make writers at TMZ blush, but a fateful car crash on her birthday leaves her unconscious and clinging to life. In a Christmas Carol-style chain of events, Ann leaves her body and comes face-to-face with her higher self, who takes her on a reflective journey through her most cringe-worthy life choices. Marchetto's laugh-out-loud and out-there tale is filled to the brim with pop culture references and lush artwork, making this one cosmic trip worth taking.

THROUGH THE LENS OF CHILDHOOD 
French author Riad Sattouf chronicles his childhood as the son of a French mother and Syrian father in his playful yet brutally honest graphic memoir. Sattouf was adored and doted on by his father, an academic and firm believer in pan-Arabism and the importance of education for the Arab people. Years living in Gaddafi's Libya—where each citizen was guaranteed housing, but squatters frequently took claim of the Sattouf's various residences and a later stint in Assad's Syria—take a toll on the family's bright-eyed idealism. At first called a little angel for his flowing gold locks, Sattouf is later insulted for his "ugly yellow Jewish hair," and he must come to terms with his feelings of being an outsider in a part of the world his father so badly wants to make theirs.

SUPER STAN
It's almost impossible to have a conversation about the evolution of graphic storytelling without dropping Stan Lee's name at least a few times. One of the most influential creators in the comic world (Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men, to name a few) tells his own story in the unmistakably zippy style he's known for in his new autobiography. Starting from his childhood in a Depression-hit Manhattan, Lee chronicles his first meetings with collaborators Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, but his moments of pride are balanced by shocking, painful recollections of his personal losses and family struggles. For fans of the Marvel brand and the wide world of superheroes, this is a well-executed autobiography that should not be missed.

RACING TOWARD SHAMBALA
This innovative hybrid is a captivating tale that weaves sections of prose alongside pages of comic panels for an action-packed story. Set during World War I, this immersive read will satisfy fans of classic good vs. evil adventure stories. The globe-trotting action follows an underground group of explorers sworn to seek out and solve the world's greatest mysteries, and in this volume, the Guild must travel to the golden city of Shambala from Buddhist mythology. If you're a fan of Indiana Jones, then this book will satisfy your desire for a little nostalgic fun. 

CLOWNING AROUND
Peruvian-born and acclaimed author Daniel Alarcón is known for his gorgeously rendered prose that draws frequent comparisons to Steinbeck, Nabokov and Roberto Bolaño. In his first graphic novel, he expands upon his short story, first published in The New Yorker in 2003, which follows a young Peruvian journalist in the wake of his father's death. After discovering his father's secret second family at his funeral, Chino is sent on a strange, almost absurd reporting assignment: write a feature on Lima's street clowns. What follows is Chino's tender recollections of his early childhood, interspersed alongside his increasingly sad observations of the poor working clowns. Stark visuals from Sheila Alvarado make this forelorn, moving work of literary fiction come to vivid life. 

Fall is a busy season in the publishing world, which means plenty of new arrivals are hitting the shelves! For readers looking for a little change of pace—and a more visual reading experience—we've rounded up our favorite graphic novels and memoirs that will bring a little color into these increasingly gray days.
Art

Ready, set, start coloring (again)

Feature by Hilli Levin

Remember the coloring books you scribbled in as a kid? Have you ever found yourself wishing you had a grown-up version? Adult coloring books have taken the publishing world by storm, and this blockbuster niche is only predicted to keep growing. This season, enticing titles abound, from world-renowned artists and illustrators, titles that welcome you to color in scenes from your favorite literary worlds and more. Sharpen those long-forgotten colored pencils, pick up a fresh pack of markers and get reacquainted with this fun and relaxing activity.

GET LOST AT SEA
Artist Johanna Basford is one of the pioneers of the adult coloring book and has published two worldwide best-selling collections, but her newest is almost as good as finding sunken treasure. The intricate pen-and-ink illustrations of Lost Ocean feature curious sea creatures, exotic fish, shipwrecks, coral reefs and more. Tap into your inner Jacques Cousteau and get coloring!


Illustration from Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford. Excerpted with permission from Penguin Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright 2015, Johanna Basford.

EVERY LITTLE THING COLORING BOOK
Those who are especially enchanted by patterns found on textiles and wallpapers will delight in Payton Cosell Turner's Every Little Thing. These playful designs feature woodland creatures alongside irreverent pieces of pop-culture from the 1980s like boom boxes, burgers and Trapper Keepers. This collection is sure to inspire the use of bright and playful color combinations, and the finished products will be welcome additions to any adult's fridge. 

A COLORFUL, WIZARDING WORLD 
Listen up, Harry Potter fans! Now you can have a hand a making the scenes inside this beloved series come alive with The Harry Potter Coloring Book. Coloring pages feature the grounds of Hogwarts, Snape sitting (and brooding) at his desk, Harry and the gang getting into trouble and so much more. This coloring book is especially perfect for adults and kids to share and color in together. 

Illustration from the Harry Potter Coloring Book. HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s15)

THE HIGHLANDS COME ALIVE
If you're looking to take your pencils to a different kind of literary landscape, check out The Official Outlander Coloring Book. Inspired by scenes from Diana Gabaldon's beloved time-traveling romance series, this book features excerpts from her novels juxtaposed with the images or scenes being described. 

OUTSIDE THE LINES, TOO
Sometimes a work of art pulls us in, and we long for a more hands-on way of engaging with it. Souris Hong has just the book for this exact kind of art-lover with Outside the Lines, Too. This collection features pages of art from the Eames Office, Kevin Lyons, Audrey Kawasaki, street artists, photographers, graphic designers and more. If you crave stylistic variation in the pages you color, Hong's collection will deliver while introducting you to a wide range of artists from around the world.

“Shilton's Fleas” by MISTER PHIL. From Outside the Lines, Too by Souris Hong, published September 1, 2015 by Tarcher Perigee, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright 2015, Souris Hong.

 

Remember the coloring books you scribbled in as a kid? Have you ever found yourself wishing you had a grown-up version? Adult coloring books have taken the publishing world by storm, and this blockbuster niche is only predicted to keep growing. This season, enticing titles abound, from world-renowned artists and illustrators, titles that welcome you to color in scenes from your favorite literary worlds and more. Sharpen those long-forgotten colored pencils, pick up a fresh pack of markers and get re-acquainted with this fun and relaxing activity.

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