2book

Literature

Two fascinating explorations into Herman Melville’s world

Feature by James Webb

Books that endure tell us about lives we can only dream of. Austen, Dickens, and Twain all lived what they wrote about, and what they lived was radically different from what we know today.

Then there's Herman Melville. In my humble opinion, Melville's Moby Dick is the greatest novel ever written. As we learned in English class, Moby Dick is really about man's struggle against death. Well, of course it is. Moby Dick is about death, but first and foremost it is about whaling. We no longer hunt whales; at least most nations don't. This shouldn't preclude readers from enjoying two books that are fascinating explorations into Melville's world.

The first, In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, details the little-known incident that provided Melville with the foundation of his masterpiece. In 1820, the whaling ship Essex, out of Nantucket, was deliberately hit and sunk in the south Pacific by an enraged sperm whale. The ship's stunned crew of 20 was forced to make their way across 3,000 miles of open ocean to the western coast of South America. It took three months, and along the way they faced death, dehydration, starvation, and ultimately, cannibalism.

Philbrick presents this horrifying tale in a direct, deliberate manner, detailing the culture of the New England whalers, how they fit into the wider world of the early 19th century, and why their fate considering what they had to do to survive was not what we in the 21st century would expect. A sailor as well as an historian, Philbrick's richly detailed account of this tragedy stands on its own merits as a narrative; the fact that the story is the basis for one of the great novels of literature only adds to its attraction.

So, Melville had a historical basis for the sinking of the Pequod. What about Moby Dick himself? Was there a basis for this fish tale? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Tim Severin's forthcoming book, In Search of Moby Dick, explores the existence of a white whale from both an historical and a modern perspective. As Howard Schliemann searched for the gates of Troy by following Homer's writings, Severin retraces the voyage of the Pequod as well as Melville's travels through the south Pacific to get to the roots of the story. Was there a white whale? Does one exist today? He finds some surprising answers. Tropical island gods and legends lead to modern-day whale hunters who search for the great beasts much the same as their ancestors; gasoline motors attached to their outrigger canoes are their only modern innovations. Their physical daring is amazing, and their whispered stories will raise goosebumps. The vividness of Severin's writing as well as his careless disregard for his own safety make In Search of Moby Dick compelling reading.

With a major biography of Melville also on the way for summer, this promises to be a banner year for whaling or at least for the examination of it. If you are a fan of true adventure stories, snap up In Search of Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea.

 

James Neal Webb doesn't go fishing that often, but when he does, he always throws 'em back.

Editor’s Note: This review has been edited after publication.

So many books these days are like Chinese cooking—they're a great meal, but they don't stay with you very long. Books that endure tell us about lives we can only dream of. Austen, Dickens, and Twain all lived what they wrote about, and what they lived was radically different from what we know today.
Children's & YAPicture Book

New picture books honor powerful moments in black history

Feature by Robin Smith

It’s hard to know what to do about Black History Month. On one hand, it might be the only time of year that schoolchildren will learn about the important moments and people in black history that shaped our country and world. On the other hand, one month seems paltry when there are so many stories. This year, when the news of Ferguson, Missouri, #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #BlackLivesMatter were trending issues that only the most out-of-touch could ignore, we need books about Black History more than ever. Lucky for us, there are some wonderful books out this month.

THE RIGHT TO LEARN
Starting with books for the very young, husband and wife team Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome explore the importance of education for newly enfranchised African Americans in Freedom’s School. Attending school in a very simple one-room schoolhouse turns out to be joyful and painful. Joyful because Miss Howard’s gentle and loving teaching inspires all the children to help each other learn and to share their knowledge with their parents. Painful because local white children are cruel as the kids walk to school, and eventually the school is burned to the ground. Though fiction, this is based on many stories and is an important slice of history to share with all children. Ransome’s illustrations, rendered in watercolor, are filled with emotion, extend the gentle text and are respectful of the subject.

CHRONICLING HISTORY
In Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America, Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Jamey Christoph have created a moving volume for young photographers and historians. Adults might know Parks as the first black photographer for Life magazine, but it’s doubtful that children have heard of him at all. They should. His life is fascinating. He was brought back to life by a bucket of ice water after he was thought to be stillborn; he photographed everyone from models and famous people to the most ordinary of folk; he wrote novels, composed music and made movies. The story is told in Weatherford’s clear, understandable and beautiful present-tense prose and is digitally illustrated by Christoph. In one especially evocative spread, we see Parks, with the Capitol building lightly drawn in the background, observing life in the alleys of D.C. where poor blacks lived. They became his favorite subjects to photograph. The story of his famous study of Ella Watson, a D.C. chairwoman, is also beautifully told in words and images. The final line of the book tells it all: “Through Gordon’s lens, her struggle gained a voice. You don’t have to hear her story to know her prayer.” Wow.

A NONVIOLENT VICTORY
I have a friend who grew up in Huntsville during the period that Hester Bass and E.B. Lewis explore in Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama, so I was especially interested to read a longer book about this era. The title refers to the little things that the people of Huntsville did to integrate this small Alabama city, also called in 1962 the “Space Center of the Universe.”

After making reference to the various injustices that black people faced all over America (Jim Crow laws, segregated public spaces and schools, etc.), Bass goes deeper. The first “seed” amazed me: Three black women (a college student, a very pregnant doctor’s wife and a dentist’s wife with her new baby in arms) sat at a public lunch counter and were arrested. The baby’s presence in jail made read news—the kind of news that the city with the space program and funding from the U.S. government could ill afford. Second was as economic boycott of the Huntsville stores for Easter, when everyone, black and white, was known to spend a lot of money on clothes. Instead, they created Blue Jean Sunday, and local merchants lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. For me, the most amazing story came when Governor Wallace closed Alabama public schools rather than integrate. In one private religious school for blacks, 12 white students integrated!

E.B. Lewis’ familiar and emotional watercolors add much to these stories, especially the heart-stopping scene of water hoses turned on Birmingham protestors juxtaposed with a small image of the March on Washington. For children and teachers who are looking for a new and inspiring true story, this gorgeous volume is a must-have.

 

Robin Smith is a second-grade teacher at the Ensworth School in Nashville, Tennessee. She also reviews for Kirkus and The Horn Book Magazine and has served on multiple award committees.

It’s hard to know what to do about Black History Month. On one hand, it might be the only time of year that schoolchildren will learn about the important moments and people in black history that shaped our country and world. On the other hand, one month seems paltry when there are so many stories. This year, when the news of Ferguson, Missouri, #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #BlackLivesMatter were trending issues that only the most out-of-touch could ignore, we need books about Black History more than ever. Lucky for us, there are some wonderful books out this month.

NonfictionMedicine

Making up your mind: Brain and body working together

Feature by Sheila M. Trask

“I’m of two minds,” we say. Or, “I changed my mind.” These phrases roll casually off the tongue, but we don’t mean them literally. Maybe we should, according to two new books that explore the fascinating history and tantalizing future of neuroscience.

COGNITIVE WONDERS
Are you primarily right-brained or left-brained? You might think you know, but Michael S. Gazzaniga is here to tell you it’s not that simple. Gazzaniga pioneered split-brain research with his colleagues at the California Institute of Technology in the 1960s. In Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience, he details the experiments that led us to talk about the brain’s two hemispheres in the first place. Filled with scientific luminaries like psychobiologist Roger W. Sperry and theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, Tales from Both Sides of the Brain takes us back to the intellectually energetic laboratories of Caltech. In scenes that read like episodes of “The Big Bang Theory”—intellectual energy abounds—we sit in on experiments done with split-brain patients, whose brains’ hemispheres had been surgically separated to treat epilepsy.

Gazzaniga meticulously documents the strange things that happen when the two sides of the brain aren’t communicating, such as losing the ability to label an item held in the left hand, even though the answer comes swiftly when the same object rests in the right. What’s even more fascinating, though, is the way the brain can sometimes overcome such limits. As Gazzaniga says, the brain is not a “random bowl of spaghetti” but a “biologic machine” with the power to rewire itself. Gazzaniga tells the stories of split-brain patients who have regained lost functionality as their brains’ hemispheres learned to “cue” each other in new ways.

Director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara and president of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Gazzaniga continues to search for answers about how the brain works. His impassioned writing invites readers into his world, where the science of the past sets the stage for even greater discoveries to come.

BRAIN, HEAL THYSELF
Where Gazzaniga carefully documents the past, Norman Doidge, M.D. marches enthusiastically into the future in a dazzling collection of stories about neuroplasticity and the ever-changing brain. Following up on his 2007 bestseller, The Brain That Changes Itself, which brought the science of neuroplasticity to a mainstream audience, in The Brain's Way of Healing, Doidge considers cutting-edge treatments that use the body’s senses to access, and improve, neurological functioning.

In friendly vignettes reminiscent of Oliver Sacks’ case studies, Doidge chronicles the heroic efforts of patients with a wide variety of apparently intractable ailments, from chronic pain to multiple sclerosis. All have been treated successfully with non-invasive, natural methods that take advantage of the adaptive abilities of the nervous system. In-depth, personal stories describe patients like John Pepper, who has kept his Parkinson’s disease symptoms in check with a vigorous, yet careful, exercise regimen, and David Webber, whose blindness was relieved with a series of relaxation and visualization exercises.

The list of successful healings is long and impressive; it’s tempting to be skeptical of such a wealth of glowing accounts, except that Doidge truly takes a holistic approach to his subjects, getting to know them and their doctors and sharing every detail with his readers. Doidge doesn’t just read about low-light laser treatments, for example, but actually sits in on multiple sessions and discusses the science behind them. Similarly, he delves into the lives and careers of innovators like Moshé Feldenkrais, whose integrative movement protocol is well known, but whose escape from Nazi Germany is likely not.

Each of Doidge’s examples suggests tangible treatment ideas for patients who may have thought they were out of options. Doidge’s penchant for considering unconventional approaches to healing offers hope for all.

“I’m of two minds,” we say. Or, “I changed my mind.” These phrases roll casually off the tongue, but we don’t mean them literally. Maybe we should, according to two new books that explore the fascinating history and tantalizing future of neuroscience.
Mystery

Spotlight: Supernatural sleuths

Feature by Emily Bartlett Hines

Readers can expect major entertainment in two paranormal thrillers that bridge the gap between mystery and horror, starring a couple of detectives who are in way over their heads.

How do you fight evil when the evil is part of you? That’s the dilemma faced by detective Zach Adams in Andrew Klavan’s Werewolf Cop. Zach works for the Extraordinary Crimes Unit, a top-secret federal task force dedicated to stopping a shadowy crime syndicate that has caused chaos throughout Europe. To do so, Zach and his partner will have to take down reclusive kingpin Dominic Abend.

But Abend is no ordinary crime boss: He’s hunting down his old connections in search of an ancient dagger said to have otherworldly powers. When Zach travels to Germany to learn more, he gets a terrifying taste of what those powers involve. Deep in the Black Forest, he’s attacked by an impossibly huge and powerful wolf. He returns home convinced it was all a fever dream—but then the full moon rises.

Coping with a new alter ego is bad enough, but things get even more complicated: A months-ago act of infidelity threatens to destroy Zach’s marriage, and he’s starting to suspect that his trusted partner, Goulart, is taking bribes from bad guys. As Zach closes in on Abend, he struggles to control the appetite of the werewolf inside him—while knowing it may be the only thing that can stop the gangster’s rise to power.

Despite portentous themes of sin and redemption, Werewolf Cop is ultimately a fast-paced page-turner that delivers all the gory thrills its title promises.

Lupine sleuthing may be hard work, but it’s downright glamorous in comparison to the daily grind of Thomas Fool, the beleaguered everyman in Simon Kurt Unsworth’s debut, The Devil’s Detective.

This hardboiled thriller is set in a “frayed and dirty” hell—think less sulfur and lakes of fire, more Soviet-style bureaucracy. Food is scarce, violence is ubiquitous, and the legions of damned don’t even know what they’re being punished for. Humans exist as a permanent underclass, brutalized by the demons who were hell’s first inhabitants.

Fool is leading an especially uninspiring afterlife: He’s is an Information Man, tasked with solving the underworld’s many demon-on-human murders. But with no resources or training, his three-person crew doesn’t stand a chance.

The status quo starts to shift when a series of bodies turns up stripped of their souls. As Fool’s investigation gathers momentum, his self-doubt is replaced by hope that he could actually serve justice. He becomes a rather unlikely folk hero, which naturally places him in serious danger.

Unsworth has created a vivid subterranean world, a place where men merge with plants, skinless demons lay claim to dumped bodies, and a delegation of visiting angels is none too pleased with the accommodations. While its relentlessly dark tone may chill some readers, this is a vivid and wildly inventive look at the banality of evil.

 

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

Readers can expect major entertainment in two paranormal thrillers that bridge the gap between mystery and horror, starring a couple of detectives who are in way over their heads.
Fiction

Memorable journeys of faith

Feature by Melissa Brown

The centuries may differ, but the faith remains the same. From present-day America, to an Atlantic crossing in the 1700s, to a newly established 19th-century Seattle, these three inspirational novels show that while circumstances may vary, the need to trust in God does not. 

In Christa Parrish’s fifth novel, Still Life, photographer Julian Goetz is shooting a magazine story and, while on assignment, meets young Ada Mitchell. Hosea-like, Julian responds to God’s call to marry Ada, the daughter of a militant religious “prophet” and founder of a secluded community.

Soon after their marriage, as Ada is still trying to find her place in the new world, Julian dies in a plane crash. Katherine Walker, unhappy in her own marriage and pursuing an affair to the detriment of those she loves, gave up her seat on that plane for Julian—and now she must face her reasons for doing so.

For Ada, Julian’s loss is both a death and a rebirth. Without him, she must navigate life outside the brownstone they briefly shared. Her journey to a life of her own is guided by five photographs he took—and brings her into contact with Evan, Katherine’s son.

Christy Award winner Parrish deftly guides the reader through the past and present of all her characters. She has a gift for imagery—for capturing, like a camera, all that a scene can hold. Her writing is poetic as she plumbs the angles and emotions of tragedy. As we witness the pangs of Ada’s indoctrination and wounds made by Katherine’s mistakes, Parrish reminds us that even in a broken world, there is still life worth living. Still Life is a story of starting over with the pieces that are left and building more than there was before—mercifully, by God’s grace.

AMISH AT SEA
Persecuted for their beliefs, followers of Jacob Amman in Germany undertake an arduous sea voyage to a new world aboard the Charming Nancy in 1737 in Anna’s Crossing. Though she was reluctant to make the voyage, Anna König was selected because of her ability to speak English.

There are tensions between the Amish and the others on the ship. Bairn, the ship’s Scottish carpenter, begrudges the presence of these Peculiars, as he calls them. Having them on board stirs up his ire—and something else long buried. Curious 9-year-old Felix, whom Anna is tasked with watching over, adventurously explores the ship, his exuberance giving the story its energy. The crew, and the Amish and Mennonite passengers, must deal with deprivations, death, storms and a pivotal encounter with a slave ship.

Author Suzanne Woods Fisher is known for evoking the Amish experience, and the hardships and lurking dangers of the Atlantic crossing are brought to life here as well. She draws from historical fact: A ship of the same name set sail with Amish aboard from Rotterdam to Philadelphia in 1737, in what was one of the first significant Amish crossings to America.

Anna’s steadfast trust in God is sorely tested over the months-long journey, yet she still makes strong arguments for trusting Him during those trials. These arguments slowly begin to reach Bairn, whose resistance to faith in Anna’s God is thoughtfully rendered. The touch of romance and many plot twists in Anna’s Crossing keep Fisher’s story entertaining as well as genuinely interesting.

SPOUSELESS IN SEATTLE
Two young women are at the center of best-selling author Tracie Peterson’s quaint story set at a training school for brides in late 19th-century Seattle, Steadfast Heart. Abrianna Cunningham and Lenore Fulcher make unlikely friends. Outspoken Abrianna cares for the city’s poor, while Lenore lives largely in a privileged world whose rules are dictated by society and her parents. Then Kolbein Booth arrives from Chicago to find his runaway sister, Greta, and changes the game for all three young people—as well as that of the matrons who run the Madison School for Brides. It appears that while suitors mingle with potential mates, more insidious affairs are being conducted in the city streets.

Meanwhile, Lenore experiences an awakening, Abrianna suffers a loss and Kolbein finds himself drawn to Lenore. As change swirls about them all, they must remember to find their anchor in God, trusting him for the best outcome.

Steadfast Heart has a sequel coming, and like any good first book in a series, it leaves just enough questions unanswered to make readers eager for the next installment. What this tale may lack in depth, it possesses in earnestness and the author’s desire for her characters to reflect a sincere growth in faith.

 

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

The centuries may differ, but the faith remains the same. From present-day America, to an Atlantic crossing in the 1700s, to a newly established 19th-century Seattle, these three inspirational novels show that while circumstances may vary, the need to trust in God does not.
Nonfiction

Spotlight: The royals at war

Feature by Deborah Hopkinson

The abdication of Britain’s King Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor, to marry an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson seems to have all the trappings of a romantic legend. After all, he famously announced in December 1936 that he found it impossible to continue on the throne “without the help and support of the woman I love.”

But as two new books make clear, this particular story wouldn’t have a fairy tale ending. Authors Deborah Cadbury and Andrew Morton provide readers with a rich appreciation for the historical context of World War II and reveal how the royal couple became embroiled in international intrigue and Nazi plots. As one British politician reflected before the abdication, “What a problem this king has been.”

Cadbury sets the stage by placing the story of Edward and Wallis within the broader context of the royal family in WWII and chronicling the lives of all four surviving sons of George V. Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain’s Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII opens some years earlier, with the death of the Edward VII, in May 1910. His oldest son, Prince Edward, was already confident and assured at 16, having been groomed from birth for the royal role he would assume in life. Certainly he overshadowed the second son, shy and stammering Prince Albert, known as Bertie, whose struggles were illuminated in The King’s Speech and who assumed the throne as George VI after Edward’s abdication.

The Duke of Windsor may have been fickle and feckless, but one pleasure in reading Cadbury’s account is learning more about the conscientious George VI and his efforts to be a good leader to his people. After bombing raids, he and his wife visited battered neighborhoods, and the family remained in London even when the palace sustained damage from a bomb. 

Cadbury also traces George VI’s deepening appreciation for Winston Churchill’s leadership as prime minister as the situation with Germany worsens. But the new king can never seem to get clear of the shadow cast by his older brother; he remained frustrated with Edward’s demands for money and recognition, and more disturbingly, his dangerous flirtation with Nazi Germany.

In 17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis, and the Biggest Cover-Up in History, Morton, best known as the biographer of Princess Diana, brings his considerable narrative skills to telling the story of how the Duke of Windsor went from being an eligible bachelor and playboy to becoming a Nazi sympathizer and embarrassment to the British royal family.

He also explores Simpson’s relationship with Nazi official Joachim von Ribbentrop, who arrived in London to serve as German ambassador to Great Britain in 1936. (The title of Morton’s book derives from the flowers that Ribbentrop apparently sent daily to Mrs. Simpson during this time, along with the speculation that the two had an affair and that 17 referred to the number of times they had slept together.)

In 1940, as Edward and Wallis flitted through Spain and Portugal, their Nazi sympathies posed a danger to their country. While their main objective seemed to be to ensure the continuation of their luxurious lifestyle, Edward spoke out openly against Churchill and the war. Eventually Britain banished him to Bermuda to become governor, hoping to squelch the German plot to make him a puppet king. Even there, the couple continued to court Nazi sympathizers.

But was Edward more than just a problem? Was there written evidence of his treachery and treason? Morton argues that there was indeed, and that British authorities kept the evidence under wraps as part of “the Biggest Cover-Up in History.” He cites archival materials to back his claim that Edward was complicit in the German plot to restore Edward to the throne.

While the story of Edward and Wallis may begin as a romance, by the end it has all the hallmarks of a spy novel.

The abdication of Britain’s King Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor, to marry an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson seems to have all the trappings of a romantic legend. After all, he famously announced in December 1936 that he found it impossible to continue on the throne “without the help and support of the woman I love.”

Hidden poetic moments

Feature by Julie Hale

Providing a moment of repose in our accelerated era, poetry is an enduring art. Just in time to celebrate National Poetry Month, we’re exploring three new collections that address the joys and challenges of contemporary existence with compassion, wit and linguistic ingenuity.

In The Beauty, her eighth book of poetry, Jane Hirshfield continues to do what she does best: sift and refine reality—the experience of the self in its surroundings—into poems that contain startling moments of recognition for the reader. Throughout this unforgettable collection, Hirshfield excavates the everyday and finds romance in the routine of being human.

In poems that are tidy and efficient, with brief lines that are notable for their lack of extravagance, Hirshfield celebrates the status quo—“the steady effort of the world to stay the world”—and imbues the homely, plain or pedestrian with wonderful significance. The mundane, everyday items that fall in her way present fresh opportunities for poetic moments. In “A Common Cold,” she makes a common ailment seem cosmopolitan: “A common cold, we say— / common, though it has encircled the globe / seven times now handed traveler to traveler . . . common, though it is infinite and surely immortal . . . ” Now, at the age of 60, Hirshfield also reflects upon her own meandering timeline in a series of equally rewarding and astounding “My” poems. Poetry is embedded in the world, and—fortunately for the reader—her ability to recognize it seems inexhaustible.

LATE-LIFE MUSINGS
A new batch of poems from Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate Charles Simic is always a cause for celebration. The Lunatic marks a welcome return from a writer who’s singularly attuned to the absurdity that attends the human condition. The narrator is frequently a tragicomic figure who grapples with a sense of identity and the unrelenting passage of time. Many of the poems find him caught in the grip of history, as the past invades the present, and the intervening years constrict into a single utterance or remembered vision: “The name of a girl I once loved / Flew off the tip of my tongue / In the street today, / Like a pet fly / Kept in a matchbox by a madman,” Simic writes in “The Escapee.” “Oh, Memory” fixes upon a central, haunting image drawn forth from the speaker’s boyhood: “a small child’s black suit / Last seen with its pants / Dangling from a high beam / In your grandmother’s attic.”

Short and incisive, biting in their brevity, the poems are full of black humor and diluted joy. Simic writes with a winning humility: “I’m the uncrowned king of the insomniacs / Who still fights his ghosts with a sword, / A student of ceilings and closed doors,” he says in “About Myself.” Simic’s mining of the human psyche and portrayals of the creaturely discomforts that come with being alive in the world make this a sympathetic and penetrating collection.

AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY
A visionary book, beautiful and bleak, that speaks to the ills of the current era, The Last Two Seconds is the seventh collection from acclaimed poet and 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award winner Mary Jo Bang. In this tense, unsettling and apocalyptic collection, Bang focuses on the nature of time as it relates to contemporary experience—on what it’s like to live in a world that’s both speeding up and winding down.

Bang is an expert at depicting the machinations of the modern mind, and in this collection, she portrays that interior space as a place of terror and isolation. A character in an extended three-part poem called “Let’s Say Yes” is trapped inside her own thoughts, “the edge of her mind turning meaning for hours / at a time. Hours and days. A sound like a sickle. / Her head a bunch of heather.” Many of the poems address the difficulties of processing the here and now, of sorting out reality. The overall atmosphere is unsettling: One narrator hears “the cricket voice of suffering.” A loaf of bread is like “a dead armadillo.” Disturbing imagery abounds as, again and again, Bang turns the mirror toward the reader. Having arrived at the precipice, where humankind has achieved and yet destroyed so much in this world, we struggle to navigate the most critical of moments. This is a collection that demonstrates Bang’s rare gift as a writer: her uncommon capacity to shake and awaken us.

 

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

Providing a moment of repose in our accelerated era, poetry is an enduring art. Just in time to celebrate National Poetry Month, we’re exploring three new collections that address the joys and challenges of contemporary existence with compassion, wit and linguistic ingenuity.
Nonfiction

The brains behind America’s pastime

Feature by John C. Williams

Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half physical, Yogi Berra once said. That precise calculation is debatable, but, however you cut it, the game has always been the thinking person’s sport. So it’s appropriate that each of these books on the national pastime highlights some aspect of baseball’s brain. 

Perhaps “brain” is not the first word one associates with the subject of Bill Pennington’s new bio, Billy Martin: Baseball’s Flawed Genius. “Brawn” is more like it. The longtime manager got into so many brawls—on and off the field—that it’s hard to keep track. Over 500-plus pages and 49 chapters, Pennington provides a comprehensive document that amply illustrates the thesis stated in his introduction: that Martin represented an American dream of freedom.

Freedom of the damn-the-torpedoes sort, at least. It’s the version of freedom in which you tell the boss to take the job and shove it, which Martin effectively did again and again, most famously leading to five firings by George Steinbrenner’s Yankees. But Pennington also makes a good case that Martin indeed had a managerial brain of the first order. His tactics were often unorthodox and hardly in line with what has become conventional wisdom among statistics-minded managers. He relied heavily on playing head games with the opposing team. Whatever was in the sauce, though, it usually worked, as he often wrung production out of underperforming players and won the 1977 World Series with the Yankees.

Martin’s life was a rollicking one, and as with the life, so with the book. Pennington’s take is great fun, and the author’s drive to talk to everyone who may have known Martin—from the most arrogant star to the humblest bartender—is impressive. But perhaps Pennington should have left some of his material in the dugout. This reader, for one, did not need to know that Martin was a bad shot at the toilet. Still, the hits are greater than the misses. It’s sure to become the definitive biography of one of the game’s most fascinating characters.

We meet Martin’s polar opposite in Baseball Maverick: How Sandy Alderson Revolutionized Baseball and Revived the Mets. Steve Kettmann, who previously ghostwrote Jose Canseco’s steroids tell-all, Juiced, opens with a strong vignette of general manager Alderson’s wheeling and dealing to trade Mets star Carlos Beltrán for phenom pitcher Zack Wheeler in 2011. Kettmann then details Alderson’s time as a Marine in Vietnam, his stint at Harvard Law School and his seemingly accidental rise to the Oakland A’s front office in the early 1980s. Oakland won the World Series in 1989 under Alderson’s guidance, and Kettmann shows how Alderson tutored Billy Beane, who would later become the A’s general manager, of Moneyball fame.

At this point, the book begins to lose some steam, becoming less an Alderson biography and more a day-to-day chronicle of the 2013 and 2014 Mets seasons. The book’s subtitle contains a bit of false advertising, as the Mets have not produced a winning season under Alderson (though the 2015 team shows promise). Nevertheless, for the reader—particularly the diehard Mets fan— interested in insider accounts of the front office, this book is worth seeking out.

Alderson’s key contribution was to pay closer attention to statistical analysis. A Bible of this data-driven style is The Hidden Game of Baseball: A Revolutionary Approach to Baseball and Its Statistics by John Thorn and Pete Palmer, originally published in 1984 and now available in a third edition. The book is a defiant challenge to conventional wisdom that dominated professional baseball for most of the 20th century—that batting average is an accurate metric of batting performance, for example, or that RBIs can tell us who the greatest hitters are. The authors propose a series of new measures, some of which—such as on-base percentage plus slugging—have become standard. Others had suggested similar ideas before, mostly in technical papers, but the beauty of this book is its pure literary merit. It contains plenty of daunting graphs and equations, but it almost always gives those graphs and equations a heart with its prose.

This book has one significant weakness, which is that its main text has not been updated since its original publication. It illustrates statistical principles with early 1980s players sure to be unfamiliar to many of today’s readers. The authors have compiled an updated list of the best players of all time—Barry Bonds is greater than Babe Ruth!—but they provide no additional reflections on that list. Still, as an introduction to statistical analysis of the game, it’s hard to go wrong with Thorn and Palmer.

 

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

Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half physical, Yogi Berra once said. That precise calculation is debatable, but, however you cut it, the game has always been the thinking person’s sport. So it’s appropriate that each of these books on the national pastime highlights some aspect of baseball’s brain.
Romance

The edge of love

Feature by Lois Dyer

Are you in the mood for a little suspense and mystery with your romance? These three titles have enough action and adventure to keep you on the edge of your seat, even as the hero and heroine find their way to a happy-ever-after. 

MARRIED TO DECEPTION
New York Times best-selling author Nora Roberts’ latest romantic suspense novel, The Liar, is a compelling, richly layered story. Readers are introduced to Shelby Foxworth, a beautiful young mother and wife. Her husband, Richard, went missing in a sailing accident and is presumed dead, leaving Shelby alone with their 3-year-old daughter, Callie, and abrupt widowhood. She soon learns that nearly everything she believed about Richard was a lie. Their wealthy lifestyle was a sham, and she is now in a mountain of debt. As she struggles to cope with these truths, each day seems to bring a new and disturbing revelation, such as the fact that Richard had more than one identity. Shelby decides to close down her life in Philadelphia and return to her family’s home in Tennessee. Her hometown welcomes Shelby and her daughter with open arms, and at last, Shelby feels relief from the uneasy dread that has stalked her since Richard’s disappearance.

Life in Rendezvous Ridge, Tennessee, is familiar and dear to Shelby, and here, she reconnects with friends and extended family. She is also increasingly drawn to Griff Lott, a relatively new resident of her hometown. Griff couldn’t care less about Shelby’s past, but he’s very interested in being an important part of her future. He adores her daughter, almost as much as he adores Shelby. But all is not sunshine and roses in Rendezvous Ridge, for it’s becoming increasingly clear that Shelby’s connection to Richard isn’t over. Her vanished husband’s secret life damaged people, and they want answers from Shelby—answers she doesn’t have.

Roberts’ well-known writing talent is evident as she creates a charming small-town setting and a well-rendered, warm family for the heroine. Paired with a solid suspense plot and a believable romantic relationship between Shelby and Griff, and the end result is an engrossing story that is certain to satisfy and delight Roberts’ longtime fans and new readers alike.

DOGGED PURSUIT
D. D. Ayres continues her K-9 Rescue series about cops and their puppy partners with Force Of Attraction. Policewoman Cole Jamison has moved on after her divorce from handsome agent Scott Lucca two years ago. She loves her current job and her adorable yet ferocious canine partner, Hugo, a 95- pound brindle Bouvier des Flanders. When she’s asked to join an undercover team to break up a drug smuggling ring that’s using then killing puppies, she’s eager to join. But then she discovers she’ll have to pose as one-half of a couple with her ex-husband. She refuses the job and walks away.

Scott is still in love with Cole and will do anything to get her back. It takes all his persuasive powers to convince Cole to join the undercover team, but it will take far more effort to make her believe that this time around, he’ll do whatever it takes to win and keep her.

Working undercover on the drug smuggling case is dangerous enough, but Scott soon discovers he’s being targeted. A member of the Pagan motorcycle gang went to jail after an earlier undercover operation, and he blames Scott. Scott’s skill as a cop will be put to the test in order to stop the Pagan biker from exacting his revenge.

There is much to like about this novel, especially the powerful emotional connection between Scott and Cole. The mystery plot is thoroughly enjoyable as well, and Cole’s adorable Bouvier and Scott’s chocolate Lab, Izzy, enhance the entire story.

DEADLY SECRETS
Author Colleen Coble takes readers to a gorgeous island off the coast of Maine in The Inn At Ocean’s Edge. Claire Dellamare arrives at the Hotel Tourmaline in mid-May to join her CEO father for a work conference. Upon arrival, she immediately has her first ever full-blown panic attack. To her shock, she later learns that she has been to this hotel before, when she was only 4 years old. Twenty-five years earlier, she disappeared into the woods on the island, only to suddenly reappear a year later. She has no memory of this entire year, and her parents never told her about her disappearance.

Claire soon meets handsome Luke Rocco, a local resident whose family owns a cranberry farm. Eerily, his mother disappeared at the same time Claire went missing. Luke’s mother, however, never returned and is presumed dead.

These events set in motion an enthralling tale of mystery stacked upon mystery as the author takes readers on a tangled trail of family secrets, death and deception. Coble does a stellar job of keeping the reader guessing, and the ultimate revelations of secrets and villains are surprising and riveting. Fans of both suspense and romance will love this enthralling tale.

Lois Dyer writes from her home in Washington. 

 

Are you in the mood for a little suspense and mystery with your romance? These three titles have enough action and adventure to keep you on the edge of your seat, even as the hero and heroine find their way to a happy-ever-after
Children's & YAPicture Book

Exploring the wide world of poetry

Feature by Hilli Levin

National Poetry Month is the perfect time to introduce young readers to the joys of verse and rhyme. These three new picture books—from treatises on treats to a collection of kid-friendly masterworks—are filled with reflection, adventure and just plain silliness.  

TASTY TURNS OF PHRASE
Readers take caution: You might not want to open Deborah Ruddell's The Popcorn Astronauts: And Other Biteable Rhymes without a snack at the ready. This collection of 21 food-themed poems is the perfect treat for pint-size readers. Organized by seasons alongside whimsical watercolor illustrations by Joan Rankin, this collection is brimming with rhyming odes to summer peaches (“the summery sweetness within" and their "flannelpajamaty skin") or ripe fall apples ("Peel it / Slice it / Cinnamon-spice it"). But Ruddell knows her audience, and there’s plenty of playfulness mixed right in, like the mystery ingredients of “A Smoothie Supreme”  ("A whisper of pickle / is what I detect, / with glimmers of turnip / I didn't expect!"). This is an expressive and delectable picture book that begs to be read aloud—it may even help inspire some picky or reluctant eaters.

RHYMES HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
Elizabeth Hammill, a children's bookseller and critic, became intrigued by the influence of nursery rhymes when she became a mother. But during a time when the need and desire for diverse books is strong, it has been almost impossible to find "a wide-ranging collection that sits alongside these Mother Goose favorites and injects fresh life into them," Hammill writes. There’s more to nursery rhymes than “Hickory, dickory dock,” and in Over the Hills and Far Away, she rounds up the most popular and enduring rhymes from around the globe and matches them with brilliant art and illustrations from Eric Carle, Mo Willems and 70-plus equally talented illustrators. From America’s popular playground cry of, “I scream, / you scream, / we all scream / for ice cream” to South African counting-out rhymes, Latino riddles and Trinidadian clapping rhymes, this beautiful book celebrates diverse voices and the importance of laughter and imagination in every child’s life.  

OBJECTS THROUGH THE AGES
For Poetry Month, it doesn't get much better than The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects. Paul B. Janeczko takes readers on a journey from the Middle Ages to the present with 50 of the world's greatest poems. Simple objects anchor Janeczko’s selected poems, but readers will revel in the power of poetic language as a candle, sword, wheelbarrow and even a birthday card are taken to otherworldly heights. Top-notch watercolors from two-time Caldecott winner Chris Raschka buoy masterpieces by the likes of William Wordsworth, Carl Sandberg, Sylvia Plath and Mary Oliver. And of course, Billy Collins’ titular piece makes an appearance. A rare picture book, The Death of the Hat is a rich but accessible collection that children and adults alike will treasure.

National Poetry Month is the perfect time to introduce young readers to the joys of verse and rhyme. These three new picture books—from treatises on treats to a collection of kid-friendly masterworks—are filled with reflection, adventure and just plain silliness.
FictionMysteryCozy Mystery

Bookish heroines solve mysteries one page at a time

Feature by Sheila M. Trask

Who better than authors and booksellers to follow every story to its conclusion, no matter how unexpected? Mystery writers and bookshop owners star in these stories featuring amateur—but determined—sleuths. These intrepid ladies aren’t afraid to poke their noses into remote farmhouses, secluded island communities and the long-held secrets of their own small towns, and they won’t stop until they reach The End.

FAR FROM THE TREE
The mother-daughter writing and sleuthing team in Antiques Swap may share genes, but their methods are poles apart. Fans of the Trash'n'Treasures Mystery series will recognize the entertaining way level-headed narrator Brandy Borne’s sensible tone clashes with her mother's cheerful disregard for the rules. When an old flame’s vindictive wife is found dead, Brandy rushes to clear her own name, while mother Vivian gathers material for their next book. And she’s really hoping for a reality TV series. The little town of Serenity, Iowa, turns out to have plenty to work with, as Brandy and Vivian uncover the most surprising games played by the town’s elite, with the highest of stakes.

BETWEEN THE LINES
Semi-retired bookstore owner Claire Malloy is back with her signature snark in this witty 20th installment of Joan Hess’ series. Though the distractible Claire can’t be bothered to address the alarming rate at which her bookstore inventory walks out the door on its own, she is more than willing to throw herself into a murder investigation when the prosecutor makes a grievous error: He humiliates Claire in public. That’s all it takes to put her firmly on suspect Sarah Swift’s side, though the evidence paints Sarah guilty of killing her husband. Throw in a surly teenage daughter, a husband who happens to be the Deputy Police Chief and the impending visit of her mother-in-law, and you’re caught up in the chaos that is Claire Malloy’s life. None of this stops her, of course, from sneaking down back roads, climbing into dusty attics or taking seriously a 4-year-old boy’s zombie sighting. Her willingness to consider all sides of the story ultimately solves the complex case.

BEST LEFT UNWRITTEN
Best-selling author Alex Griffith has mined his childhood home, Broward’s Rock, for all it’s worth, fictionalizing the island’s secret affairs, dirty deals and suspicious deaths in his novel Don’t Go Home. The golden boy is out of ideas, though, which is how he lands in the hands of bookstore owner Annie Darling. The Death on Demand proprietress is happy to help, until she learns what he has in mind: a nonfiction book that will reveal the real names of his characters. His plan leaves Alex with plenty of enemies, and when he is murdered on the eve of his planned press conference, the list of suspects is long. Annie, however, has a native’s knowledge of the island, and she’s read Alex’s book; she can find out who had the most to lose from his tell-all. Author Carolyn Hart sets Annie on a winding path into the past, carefully curating the intricate plot twists that ultimately lead to the truth.

Who better than authors and booksellers to follow every story to its conclusion, no matter how unexpected? Mystery writers and bookshop owners star in these stories featuring amateur—but determined—sleuths. These intrepid ladies aren’t afraid to poke their noses into remote farmhouses, secluded island communities and the long-held secrets of their own small towns, and they won’t stop until they reach The End.

Children's & YAPicture Book

The buzzword is “fly”

Feature by Lynn Beckwith

My first thought when seeing the titles of these books was, “I love books about airplanes!”  Well . . . now I love books about flies . . . as in insects. These three books for very young readers will open their eyes to the joys and challenges of being a reviled critter in a butterfly world.

MAKING MOVES
Karl Newsom Edwards' Fly! is just the thing for the youngest nature lover. With one word repeated on each spread, we see a young fly trying to figure just how to get around. At first, a pink worm encourages, “Wiggle!” and the big-eyed fly tries, but can’t quite figure out the moves. The page turn reveals a grasshopper (“Jump!”) and then a pill bug ("Roll!") until a butterfly and bumblebee finally give the fly good advice: “Flutter! Flutter! Flit! Flit!” Soon, our hero is flying! The humorous illustrations are sure to bring a smile, but clever readers will enjoy discovering one subtle touch: Each new critter is foreshadowed on the page before. My favorite is the spider’s legs flying off the right side page, with the ants marching after them.

SWATTER VS. FLY
Petr Horáček’s The Fly is sure to engage readers right from the endpages. Dozens of flies, ready for flight, grace the inside cover, making experienced adults instinctively reach for the fly swatter. Heavyweight paper, bright colors and one well-spoken fly all add up to a funny and surprising book. The opening spread has the fly addressing the reader with an enormous speech bubble. The page turn is a shocker: An enormous blue fly swatter flaps from the top, nearly hitting the quick-moving narrator. The next page turn is equally unnerving: Now the world is upside down, with the clever fly hanging from the ceiling and the boy, flyswatter in hand, looking up. (Except that for the human reader, everything is tosy-turvy!) The fly escapes the house, finds some cows (who have tails for swatting) and faces the real world of hungry flies and birds. Cleverly cut-out swatters make this an interactive book of a different sort. In the end, the reader has a moral decision of her own—to close the book and squash the fly or to carefully read it again. I would read it again.

A CREATURE GREAT AND GROSS
The fly-as-narrator trope goes one step further in I, Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are by Bridget Heos. This pop-eyed fly is tired of all the attention that schools give to butterflies, when, what with flies’ metamorphosis and wings and flight, they are just insects like flies. Our fly wonders, what's the big deal? After reading this informational book, not only will young readers have new respect for poop and garbage-eating flies, they will know lots more about these less glamorous insects. Like the students shown in illustrator Jennifer Plecas’ marvelous cartoon illustrations, readers will recoil at the discussion of maggots at first, but will warm up to Fly’s arguments and tales of amazing procreation and scientific wonder. As he compares himself to butterflies, it’s impossible not to admire the fly’s halters (little spinning appendages to help with balance) and astounding wing speed (200 times/sec versus a butterfly’s paltry 5 to 12). The glossary and bibliography at the end reminds us that even though this is a light and very, very funny book, it’s chock full of information!

All three of these books will make readers of all ages think differently about flies. But adults will still feel the urge to grab the swatter.

My first thought when seeing the titles of these books was, “I love books about airplanes!”  Well . . . now I love books about flies . . . as in insects. These three books for very young readers will open their eyes to the joys and challenges of being a reviled critter in a butterfly world.

NonfictionFictionMemoir

Paris is a woman’s town

Feature by Kelly Blewett

There is something irresistible about a talented American woman in Paris. She feels sexy and alive while strolling the city’s streets, confident the world will unfurl in her hand like a blossoming flower. 

Such young women are featured in new books by Kate Betts and Christine Sneed, and both tell wonderful stories—one true, one fictional—about taking risks and pursuing dreams abroad.

Betts’ memoir, My Paris Dream, recalls her years in the city of light after graduating from Princeton in the 1980s. Her Paris was a ladder whose climb began with freelance writing assignments for travel magazines and culminated with a position as a fashion editor and associate bureau chief of Women’s Wear Daily. Betts, who later became the editor of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, is an instantly likable storyteller. She takes you to the Parisian boulevards and describes in terrific detail what people were wearing. Perhaps occasionally too much detail. “Only the French could invent seamless stockings that stay up with a rubber sticky band that grips the upper thigh,” she writes. As a young woman looking to make a good impression, she bought several pairs. “Fashion is tribal,” she explains. “It’s not about who you are but where you belong.” This is a story of how one American woman came to belong in the fashion capital of Europe, and how she wrote about that world for an American audience. Along the way, Betts made some terrific friends, fell in love and witnessed the world of style up close during a time of major transition. Full of slangy French, delectable food and swoon-worthy fashion, Betts’ memoir is well worth the read.

If Betts’ Paris is a ladder, then Sneed’s is an escape hatch. Jayne Marks, the protagonist of Sneed’s novel, Paris, He Said, is an aspiring artist in New York who can’t find time to paint. Then she meets gallery owner Laurent Moller. Decades older and maybe a little too suave, Laurent sweeps Jayne away to Paris to be his girlfriend and to live in his luxurious apartment. In her new life, Jayne has hours each day to paint, cook and work in Laurent’s French gallery, which is located on the same street as the Louvre. “I am closer to my twenty-year-old self here,” she thinks, “closer than I am at home.” Yet she finds it hard to settle into such a decadent existence. Can she maneuver the complexities of Laurent’s social world? Will her paintings ultimately be any good? Is Laurent being totally faithful to her? And why can’t she stop thinking about her ex-boyfriend in New York? Sneed, whose previous novel, Little Known Facts, drew considerable acclaim, expertly keeps the pages turning in this delightful novel. Paris, He Said offers readers, too, an entertaining escape from the mundanities of daily life. With clever and graceful prose, Sneed deftly guides a story that explores whether satisfaction follows when all one’s deepest wishes come true.

 

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

There is something irresistible about a talented American woman in Paris. She feels sexy and alive while strolling the city’s streets, confident the world will unfurl in her hand like a blossoming flower.

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