Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter
By Frank Deford
(Atlantic Monthly Press, $25, 288)
Who is this author?
Raised in Baltimore and educated at Princeton, Benjamin “Frank” Deford III went straight to Sports Illustrated from college in 1962. He did stints at Vanity Fair and Newsweek, but is best known as a sports journalist in print and on the air.
Deford, who lives in Connecticut, is a paragon among sports scribes. His credits include being named National Sportswriter of the Year not once or twice but six times, being a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, a commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition, a correspondent for HBO’s RealSports with Bryant Gumbel and publishing many sports books, as well as novels and a touching memoir about his daughter, Alex. He is in the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters and has won an Emmy and a Peabody award for his on-air journalism.
A heads-up to fans: Deford will speak and sign books tonight, May 15, at 7 at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. Information: 203-245-3959.
What is this book about?
It’s about 50 years of sports as observed by one of the game’s – any game’s – best chroniclers. There’s hardly a major sports figure that Deford did not write about, and this book is packed with anecdotes and recollections about the whole roster. Deford also writes with reverence about sportswriters who preceded him, such as Ring Lardner and Grantland Rice. And he tells personal stories, too, about his wife, Carol, his son Christian, his adopted daughter Scarlet and the daughter the Defords lost at age 8 to cystic fibrosis, as told in his touching memoir, “Alex: The Life of a Child.”
Why you’ll like it:
Deford is a graceful writer and life has given him wonderful material. Here he gives an insider’s perspective on the good (and bad) sports superstars, as well as some oddball characters. His book also provides a smart assessment of how sports journalism has changed over the years. While it is a book aimed at sports fans, you do not have to be one to appreciate his writing and in fact, the book can be seen as a crash course in recent sports history. And don’t forget that Deford is a successful novelist, too. He knows how to tell a story.
What others are saying:
Publishers Weekly says: “ Sportswriter (Sports Illustrated) and author … Deford tells the story of his rise from the comfortable and modest streets of Baltimore to the top of the sports journalism world. He discovered that he “had some facility for writing” when he was nine, even though he had not “suffered a miserable upbringing,” which helps “if you are to become a writer.” He was hired by Sports Illustrated in 1962, despite the personnel department classifying him as “not very bright…The mixture of homage to sportswriters who came before him, such as Grantland Rice; sometimes wistful vignettes of sports figures like Arthur Ashe; and his own personal reflections on the evolution of sports journalism combine to offer a cultural perspective that transcends a mere job.”
“Some life. Joining Sports Illustrated in 1962, Deford quickly discovered fellow Princetonian Bill Bradley and Canadian Bobby Orr; he eventually won both a Peabody and an Emmy, wrote ten novels, and continues to star on NPR. Here, he revisits his personal and professional lives while interweaving the story of American sportswriting. Interesting stuff from a proven commodity,” says Library Journal.
“His accomplishments are many, but in this wildly entertaining and informative memoir, he refers to himself only as the scrivener. His subjects are what matters, and he gives them their due, as in a poignant chapter on the late Wilt Chamberlain, which offers more insight into that enigmatic basketball icon than any half-dozen books. Fortunately, despite the self-deprecating tone, Deford does portray the highlights of his remarkable career, including his early stint covering the NBA at a time when players flew commercial, played doubleheaders to boost the gate, and hung out with sportswriters because they could expense the bar tab. He was also ahead of the pack in covering women’s sports, especially tennis, and he offers some insight into why women’s team sports have never moved beyond a niche level of popularity in the U.S. A lifetime sportswriter, he’s very aware of the history of his craft, and, along the way, he shares his thoughts on “then-and-now,” including pointed anecdotes on some sportswriting legends from the past,” says Booklist in a starred review.
“Frank Deford is the best sportswriter I’ve ever read. His profiles at Sports illustrated were magic. I wanted to write like him, and the sad part for me was that I knew he was playing in a higher league. If there’s a Mount Rushmore of sportswriting, Deford is up there, purple ties and all,” says sports columnist Tony Kornheiser.
When is it available?
It’s waiting for you at the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Right-Hand Shore: A Novel
By Christopher Tilghman
(FSG, $27, 368 pages)
Who is this author?
Christopher Tilghman, a graduate of Yale University, writes about the American South from an insider’s point of view. He lives in Charlottesville, Va., and directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Virginia. Tilghman has published two collections of stories: “In a Father’s Place” and “The Way People Run,” as well as two novels, “Mason’s Retreat” and “Roads of the Heart.” “The Right-Hand Shore” is a prequel to the story of “Mason’s Retreat,” which was published in 1996.
What is this book about?
Set on Chesapeake Bay, on the Eastern shore of Maryland, the novel unfolds over the course of one long day in 1922. Edward Mason has come to visit his cousin, Mary Bayly, the dying doyenne of Mason’s Retreat, the family estate that will soon be Edward’s. But first he must be schooled about the generations of the family that lived and grew peaches on the plantation, and those stories contain dark passages involving slavery, interracial relationships and a haunting history that is, to paraphrase Faulkner, “a past that’s not even past” for the current residents of the property, both black and white.
Why you’ll like it:
The book is earning kudos for Tilghman’s ability to create a layered plot, beautiful prose and complex characters. It’s a love story fraught with unrealized dangers as well as a compelling exploration of the evils of slavery and their echoes over many generations. There is plenty of history in this novel, told through characters that bring it alive.
What others are saying:
“Tilghman’s exquisite third novel returns to the eastern shore of Maryland to prefigure the events of his first, “Mason’s Retreat.” …, Edward sits with the longtime property manager, Oral French, and his wife, who recount the Retreat’s secrets, from miscegenation to slavery to murder. Listening to the pain caused by pride, selfishness, and the desire for love, Edward feels ‘mauled by the pull of the past, still so fresh for these people.’ The tale’s descent into tragedy is nevertheless beautiful; ‘creamy yellow’ sunlight and the perfume of peach blossoms pervade Mason’s Retreat alongside its ghosts and horrors. Tilghman maneuvers through the misery of three generations, following each elegant plot turn inevitably back to its source: this living, breathing land on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay,” says Publishers Weekly in a starred review.
Library Journal says:
“After more than 15 years, Tilghman returns to the story of the Mason family of Maryland’s Eastern Shore first introduced in “Mason’s Retreat,” to which this new work serves as prequel. …The stories of the Retreat and those who live and work there are relayed to Edward, and the reader, over the course of one long day. A haunting tale, richly detailed and thoughtfully planned and written; not a light read, but an enjoyable one.”
“Christopher Tilghman is a novelist’s novelist in that he can hold the years in his head and then deal them out in a layered story so achingly gracious and incisive that it becomes for a week in a reader’s house the very reason for the chair, the lamp. Offered in Tilghman’s astonishing prose, the story of this place—focusing on two families, two races, the history of a peach orchard, and a love that is both natural and forbidden—is a reader’s deep pleasure, “ says author Ron Carlson.
When is it available?
It is waiting for you on the New Books shelves of the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
A Natural Woman: A Memoir
By Carole King
(Grand Central, $27.99, 496 pages)
Who is this author?
If you love rock ‘n’ roll, I don’t really have to answer that question. You already know that Carole King, a singer, songwriter and pianist, wrote, collaborated on or performed many of rock’s greatest all-time hits. The list is fabulous: “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (her first No. 1 hit, when she was18), “One Fine Day”, “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “The Loco-Motion”, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “(You Me Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman,” all of which she co-wrote with her first husband, Gerry Goffin, and many, many more. And she was no flash in the Tin Pan Alley: “Tapestry,” her 1971 solo album, won four Grammy awards and was on the Billboard charts for six years, a record for an album by a female artist, and was No. 1 for 15 consecutive weeks. She’s written more than 100 top-selling songs and recorded 25 solo albums.
The good news is that she can write a good memoir, too.
What is this book about?
It’s about her life and career, which started early. Now 70, King looks back at growing up in Brooklyn as Carol Joan Klein, scoring her first record contract at 15, marrying for the first time at 17 and going on to become a rock legend and to work with James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Neil Sedaka and many other stars. (Sedaka was her boyfriend for a time, and his hit song “Oh! Carol” was inspired by her.)
That may all sound familiar, but there are other, less-well-known aspects to King’s life: after divorcing Gerry Goffin, she married three more times and suffered abuse at the hands of husband No. 3.
Having lived in New York and California, she later developed a deep interest in environmental issues that were inspired by living with her family in Idaho’s mountain country.
Why you’ll like it:
King came from an ordinary background and she writes in a straight-forward, regular-person way. It’s fascinating to read how she evolved from being a kid who liked to scribble down lyrics to the creator of so many heartfelt songs that spoke eloquently to an entire generation and beyond, and how she managed this in an industry long-dominated by men. The book is enhanced with childhood and family photos and shots taken during and behind the scenes at her performances.
What others are saying:
Says Kirkus Reviews: “a down-to-earth, optimistic and liberated worldview of a woman with some timely stories to tell….when her marriage deteriorated, she set off for Los Angeles to seek her own voice. That voice comes through strongly on every page of this memoir, an engaging assortment of recollections comprising a journey that started in her working-class Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, took her to Manhattan and Laurel Canyon and saw her escape what Joni Mitchell called “the star maker machinery” to settle in rural Idaho. She is also refreshingly candid about her four marriages. A warm, winning read that showcases baby-boomer culture at its best.”
Publishers Weekly says: “Weaving a tapestry of rich and royal hue, King’s affecting memoir eases readers through her life, from the girlhood in Brooklyn where she was already jotting down lyrics.”
“…There’s a big audience for this memoir by the four-time Grammy Award winner, who says, sweetly, that “the journey probably started with my grandparents,” says Library Journal.
When is it available?
You can find it now on the new book shelves of the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
One Hundred and One Nights
By Benjamin Buccholz
(Back Bay Books, $13.99, 368 pages)
Who is this author?
Benjamin Buccholz is an author who writes about the war in Iraq with authority: he was deployed there as a Civil Affairs Officer from 2005 to 2006. From that tour of duty came his first book, a nonfiction account about his Wisconsin National Guard unit, called “Private Soldiers.” He and his family lived in Oman from 2010 to 2011, and Buccholz now lives in Princeton, N.J., where he is working on a graduate degree in Middle East Security Studies.
In an essay for the Huffington Post, Buccholz had this to say about witnessing the death of a 6-year-old Iraqi girl:
“While I had studied Arabic for two semesters at West Point, visited Egypt as part of an exchange program and hosted several visiting officers from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Jordan during American officer training programs, nothing in my experience prepared me for the chaos of that scene: women wailing and pulling their hair, the father of the girl haggling over the price of his daughter’s life, the local police unwilling to intervene, and the town council members in their western suits providing a constant stream of contradictory commentary and advice.”
His debut novel, “One Hundred and One Nights,” has an Iraqi girl as a main character.
“The experience of this girl’s death haunted me, both because of the sudden shock of the situation and because the girl had been roughly the same age as my own sons,” Buccholz wrote.
“Her image, seared onto the film of my mind’s eye, stayed with me not only as a soldier but also, more importantly, as a father. I wrote about her, at first, as catharsis. And from that kindred father-feeling I birthed the idea of Abu Saheeh’s situation in “One Hundred and One Nights.” I appropriated my own feelings about the death of the six-year-old girl and I projected them onto Abu Saheeh as the young girl Layla latched onto him in the market place, infecting his loose grip on the world and threatening to unravel all the work he had done to overcome his sense of dislocation and his hidden, insurmountable grief.”
What is this book about?
Abu Saheeh, an Iraqi trained to be doctor in the United States, returns after 13 years to his home country, where the American presence during the war has changed everything. He has a past he wishes to forget, and when he chances to meet a wise-beyond-her-years 14-year-old named Layla, who is obsessed with American culture, she enchants him, Scheherazade-like, with her whimsical stories. He begins to build a new life, but his connection to a powerful merchant and to a volatile young man he hires to assist him soon bring back memories that threaten to destroy Abu Saheeh and those closest to him.
Why you’ll like it:
The Iraqi War divided America – and Iraq — while it was going on, and still does. One way to get a realistic grasp on the war and the people it directly affected is to read about it, and “One Hundred and One Nights” written by an American who was on the scene, offers that opportunity. Although Buccholz’s book is fiction, or should we say because it is fiction, it explores the emotional costs of that war and the way it damaged soldiers and civilians alike.
What others are saying:
Says Masha Hamilton in The Washington Post: “Iraq war veteran Benjamin Buchholz has written a seductive, compelling first novel that depicts war as intimate and subtle. He captures the distant rumbling of a Humvee, the dappled shadow left by a passing soldier and the ordinary dramas of sibling rivalry and unrequited love. War is no more or less meaningful than those details, but it increases the stakes, Buchholz proposes. And in war, us-against-them is a vast oversimplification. The insurgent is likely to be motivated by concerns more complex and murky than mere jihad. ….In considering Safwan from the viewpoint of the Iraqis, Buchholz’s novel draws readers deeply into the suffering that has colored the country’s recent history.”
“An eye-level view of war-ravaged Iraq with a story that centers around lost relationships, longing and regret….[Buchholz] clearly has an eye for detail; the book boils with observations on the culture and daily life of the residents of Safwan and Baghdad. The author is an astute observer, turning sights, sounds and smells into eloquent snips of the lives of a people who have sustained great loss and devastation. Buchholz’s prose is vivid,” says Kirkus Reviews.
“[“One Hundred and One Nights”] is an intimate view of the war in Iraq as seen through the eyes of one deeply troubled man. Beautifully written, it is a complex yet simple tale of friendship and love, betrayal and sacrifice, and hatred and evil. An important glimpse into a world few of us know or understand,” says Booklist.
When is it available?
It’s in the new books section at the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
When I Was a Child I Read Books
By Marilynne Robinson
(FSG, $24, 224 pages)
Who is this author?
Greatly admired for her luminous prose and sharp intellect, Marilynne Robinson has earned many prestigious awards. Her debut novel, “Housekeeping” (1980), won the PEN/Hemingway Award for best first novel and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2004, her second novel, “Gilead” won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Ambassador Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She has also published several nonfiction essay collections, has written for such prestigious literary journals as Harper’s, Paris Review and The New York Times Book Review and teaches at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
What is this book about?
Her new book is a collection of 10 essays in which she defends that which you may feel needs no defense: the God of the Old Testament. She also laments the coarsening of contemporary culture and the misuses of religion in regards to politics and public discourse. In addition to her pieces about religion, education, politics and the pitting of faith vs. science, she muses about the craft of writing and her own life.
Why you’ll like it:
Robinson is a consummate stylist who manages to take on dense and difficult subjects in a conversational, often humorous tone that makes following her arguments smooth and easy. That is no easy feat. Her ideas can be controversial, but she backs up her opinions with deep research and her own considerable intelligence.
She has said that writing can be like prayer because “it’s exploratory and you engage in it in the hope of having another perspective or seeing beyond what is initially obvious or apparent to you.”
What others are saying:
“Brilliant . . . As the credo of a liberal Christian, Robinson’s new book of essays stands on its own. But it is also an illuminating commentary on her novels . . . This collection is a rewarding reminder that the author’s faith infuses every word she writes . . . Like every good preacher, Marilynne Robinson judges others while including herself—in theory at least—in the judgment,’ says Andrew Delbanco in a New York Times Book Review piece.
“There is more food for thought in one of Robinson’s well-turned paragraphs than in entire books. Esteemed for her award-winning novels Gilead (2004) and Home (2008), Robinson is a consummate and clarion essayist. In her third and most resounding collection, she addresses our toxic culture of diminishment, arguing that as our view of society shrinks, public discourse coarsens, corruption spreads, education is undermined, science denigrated, spirituality and loving kindness are siphoned from religion, and democracy itself is imperiled . . . Intellectually sophisticated, beautifully reasoned with gravitas and grace, Robinson’s call to reclaim humaneness beams like the sun breaking through smothering clouds . . .” says Booklist in a starred review.
Robinson weighs in with a series of tightly developed essays, some personal but mostly more general, on the Big Themes: social fragmentation in modern America, human frailty, faith. Her project is a hard-edged liberalism, sustained by a Calvinist ethic of generosity. … In these times of the ever-ascending religious right, in the aftermath of what she sees as the ideologically secularist-driven cold war, Robinson bravely explores the corrosive potion of “Christian anti-Judaism” and what it really ought to mean to be “a Christian nation,” says Publishers Weekly.
“The Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist returns with a collection of essays that are variously literary, political and religious . . . Robinson is a splendid writer, no question—erudite, often wise and slyly humorous (there is a clever allusion to the birther nonsense in a passage about Noah Webster). Articulate and learned descriptions and defenses of the author’s Christian faith,” says Kirkus Reviews.
“….Robinson, though some of her views are well known, is never predictable, for her discipline is to look at every question as though she were considering it for the first time. It is impossible not to be fortified and enlarged by a few hundred pages in her company,” says Stefan Beck in a Barnes & Noble review.
When is it available?
It is available now at the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Escape
By Barbara Delinsky
(Knopf Doubleday, $25.95, 320 pages)
Who is this author?
Barbara Delinsky has published a raft of best-selling books about marriage, parenthood and friendship. But while her name may be familiar, you probably did not know that it is not the one she was born with, which is Ruth Greenberg. Or that she also has written under the pseudonyms Bonnie Drake and Billie Douglass. Or that she lives in Newton, Mass., lost her mother to cancer and is a cancer survivor herself, is a kayaker and was once a newspaper photographer and writer.
Not that those things matter: what you really need to know is that Delinsky made the difficult jump from a writer of mass-market romance novels to an admired author of what Barnes & Noble calls “hardcover escapist fiction,” books that appeals to women but never condescend to readers, presenting complex plots and characters that hold their attention.
What is this book about?
“Escape” gives you the main point of its plot in its title. In it, Delinsky offers escapist fiction about a woman who actually does flee her overly busy, underly satisfying life – an impulsive move that just might reflect a fantasy of many of her readers.
Emily, a lawyer married to another lawyer, is drowning in details, obligations and work demands. Her husband, whom she loves dearly but sees too rarely, is similarly overwhelmed. One day, she just snaps, and takes off for a seaside New Hampshire town, Bell Valley, where, a decade earlier, she had found happiness, until her boyfriend, who was her best friend’s brother, dumped her. She has fence-mending to do with her ex-friend, and would you be surprised to learn that her former lover is back in town? Meanwhile, Emily’s husband is not giving up on her, and a legal case in Bell Valley has re-energized her lawyerly talents.
Why you’ll like it:
You could dismiss this as a mere “beach book,” but it has more going for it, such as interesting characters and a plot based on their relationships. Delinsky “gets” women and their concerns, and she is not afraid to explore a taboo subject: the secret desire some women have to just chuck it all and begin over. You might never act on such a fantasy, but it’s fascinating to read a story that shows what you might gain – and lose – if you were to do it.
What others are saying:
“Best-selling author Delinsky’s… novel features a scenario many readers likely fantasize about, but it also has a protagonist whose actions may induce mixed feelings. While Emily puts her happiness first and escapes the life she no longer wants, her selfishness affects others, especially her husband. Ultimately, this thought-provoking book will be popular summer reading.” says Library Journal.
“Delinsky nails it in her trademark latest, a captivating and moving story about a woman who’s had enough of her life and wants a fresh start… Delinsky keeps the story moving with some nice twists on a familiar plot, rich characterizations, and real-feeling dilemmas that will keep readers hooked,” says Publishers Weekly.
“A soul-tugging romance by a proven master of the craft,” says a Barnes & Noble review.
When is it available?
You can escape into the world of “Escape” now. Copies are available at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and Albany, Blue Hills, Camp Field, Dwight, Park and Ropkins branches.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Oh. Oh. Back up. You’ll love this. When I was in high school, I was kicked out of Honors English because I couldn’t keep up! No, I never did go back to gloat. The truth is that though I came from a family of lawyers and never dreamed of publishing books, I did learn the basics of writing in high school, and, yeah, that skill has come in handy, too.
Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.
I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book – and it sold.
My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I’m an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.
My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I’ve been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. Family Tree was published in 2007, The Secret Between Us in 2008, While My Sister Sleeps in 2009, and Not My Daughter in 2010. My latest, Escape, is a 2011 publication.
Cloudland
By Joseph Olshan
(Minotaur, $24.99, 304 pages)
Who is this author?
Joseph Olshan, who divides his time between Vermont and Cambridge, Mass., has written 10 novels and has garnered awards for his work. His first novel, “Clara’s Heart” won the Times/Jonathan Cape Young Writers’ Competition and was adapted for a feature film starring Whoopi Goldberg as the Jamaican housekeeper who befriends the lonely young boy in her charge.
He’s also been a contributor to the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine,, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, the New York Observer, Harper’s Bazaar, People magazine and Entertainment Weekly and wrote book reviews for the Wall Street Journal during the 1990s. Olshan also has been a professor of Creative Writing at New York University. His other novels include “Nightswimmer” and “Vanitas.”
With “Cloudland,” he moves from writing literary fiction to crime fiction, but brings his descriptive talents with him.
What is this book about?
Set in Vermont’s rural upper Connecticut River valley region, generally a safe place for its well-off and working-class residents alike, “Cloudland” tells what happens when a serial killer disrupts the peace and quiet, murdering young women by strangling or stabbing them and leaving not a trace of his identity.
It’s a book based on true events. Olshan became the friend of a woman who found one of the six victims and was haunted by its horror.
In the book, he tells the story through Catherine, a divorced former journalist and teacher whose life is a mess: she lost her teaching job for having an affair with a student, her daughter won’t talk to her, she lives with her dogs and pot-bellied pig. Now a household hints columnist and teacher of writing for jailed prisoners, she sets out for a walk and sees a woman sitting under an apple tree. Except the woman is not enjoying the afternoon sunshine: she’s dead.
Catherine can’t resist getting caught up in the investigation, which also involves a neighbor who is a forensic psychologist. And she realizes that details of the case reflect the classic Wilkie Collins novel, “The Moonstone.” Worse, she thinks the killer may be someone she knows – and that she might be his next victim. Meanwhile, her younger forbidden lover has shown up, giving Catherine another puzzle to resolve.
Why you’ll like it:
Olshan spins an intriguing tale here, mixing the hunt for a killer, the complexities of a troubled woman’s life and echoes of the Collins book that many consider to be the first mystery novel. This multi-level plot will keep you hooked.
What others are saying:
Kirkus Reviews says: “In this refreshingly cliché-free serial-killer tale, Olshan tries his hand with a female narrator/heroine, whom he handles just as deftly as his sensitive male heroes (“The Conversion,” 2008, etc.). Although all these chilly, hurting souls are well worth your time, the real keeper is Catherine, still grieving the death of the husband she’d divorced and the loss of the younger lover she’d pushed away. ….Even as you wonder who the killer will turn out to be, you’ll worry mainly about how she’s going to come through all this.”
“Unlike the more common, adrenaline-fueled serial-killer thrillers, this is literary, character-driven fiction with remarkable empathy not only for those whom murder leaves behind but also for the perpetrator. Another fine performance from a critically acclaimed author,” says Booklist.
“Rarely do you find a story with characters so fully developed that you feel as if they might live next door. Conjuring a distinctly 19th-century atmosphere, Olshan excels at crafting a Dickensian literary piece, but the amount of detail may put off some readers expecting more action. Wilkie Collins fans, on the other hand, will be delighted by the role of the author of “The Moonstone” in this plot,” says Library Journal.
“Joseph Olshan’s latest novel, “Cloudland,” captures a neglected part of the Northeast with verve and accuracy. The rural places of Vermont — away from the ski condos and golf courses which lure the high-end city folks from Boston and New York — where head in the heavens college professors and dirt-stained farmers mingle on lands that seem barely settled is the setting for a story about savage murder, about misshapen love and about the emotional debts that are carried inside us all. While ostensibly a tale about serial killings in this isolated part of the nation, it probes deeper into the darker and more complex realms of the heart. It is a thriller in the widest sense of the word — where not only does the reader wonder what happens next, they wonder why it will happen. Written in consistently elegant prose, with memorable psychological acuity, “Cloudland” is both exciting and compelling and will keep readers turning pages energetically,” says bestselling author John Katzenbach.
When is it available?
You can borrow it now from the Downtown Hartford Public Library or the Blue Hills Branch.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World
By Eve Ensler
(Random House, $13, 192 pages)
Who is this author?
Eve Ensler’s name may not be immediately familiar to you, but I’ll bet the title of her internationally performed and powerfully provocative play, “The Vagina Monologues” is.
Ensler, who lives in New York and Paris, is a bestselling author and a playwright whose works also include “Necessary Targets” and “The Good Body.” She has also written a political memoir, “Insecure at Last,” and she founded V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised more than $70 million for grassroots groups dedicated to doing just that around the world.
The Hartford Public Library selected “I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World” to be its One Book One Hartford choice this spring, and is now offering an intriguing program of book discussions, forums, readings, films, art exhibits and more at the Downtown Library and all its neighborhood branch libraries, culminating in a free talk by Ensler at the Downtown Library on May 6 at 4 p.m., followed by a ticketed appearance presented by the Mark Twain House &Museum Center, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and World Affairs Council that day at 7:30 p.m. at Cheney Hall in Manchester ($45 and $75).
Information on library One Book events: 860-695-6096 orwww.onebookonehartford.org.
Information on the Cheney Hall event: 860-647-9824 or www.marktwainhouse.org.
What is this book about?
The book is a collection of fictional monologues, poems, blog entries, conversations and stories inspired by girls the world over. Ensler based the pieces in this book on actual conversations she had with young women in many countries. They speak out and up about problems they face, from something as seemingly trivial as wearing the wrong color boots (and paying an outsized social price for not fitting in) to coping with sex slavery. Just as “The Vagina Monologues” aimed at empowering women about their bodies and sexuality, this book’s goal is to give legitimacy to the feelings, thoughts and problems of teenage girls.
Why you’ll like it:
Ensler brings the skills of a dramatist to her book, employing vivid and compelling voices to express the concerns she heard about in her many discussions with young women. The book opens a door to their world, and while some may find disturbing things there, reading it is a valuable experience.
What others are saying:
“The collection shines when dealing with more serious material (arranged marriages, genital mutilation), but those powerful pieces unintentionally overshadow the more common concerns of girls struggling to fit in or cope with the popular crowd. As such, the average American teenager should gain a good bit of perspective…” says Publishers Weekly.
“Written in the same format as her watershed work, “The Vagina Monologues” (1998), Ensler’s latest mélange of dramatic voices continues the mission of her philanthropic organization, V-Day, to stop violence against women. Published for adults but aimed straight at young adults, this volume provides a searing look at the inner lives of young females today in entries that explore sex, violence, love, body image, materialism, identity, family, friends, and the future,” says Booklist.
“ ‘I am an Emotional Creature’ is a collection of writings – including monologues, dialogues, poems, and stories – that paint a picture of what it is like to be a teenage girl in contemporary society. Ensler writes from the perspective of a wide variety of girls dealing with vastly different issues, from the girl living in an American suburb suffering from anorexia to a Chinese factory worker who works twelve-hour days to make the heads of Barbie dolls. The common thread amongst all of these characters is the unique balancing act of pleasing others and pleasing one’s self that is characteristic of being a teenage girl,” says a female reviewer on Goodreads.
“As a male, it was hard to read Ensler’s work without going through stages of denial, guilt, recognition and solidarity with women. As the acclaimed author of “The Vagina Monologues,” Ensler has been recognized as a pioneer. In this work, she enters territory that has been explored but mines it more deeply…. Yes, the work is written for girls, but it could also deepen the insights of boys,” says a male Goodreads reviewer.
When is it available?
It is available now at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its branches.
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The Expats: A Novel
By Chris Pavone
(Crown, $26, 326 pages)
Who is this author?
Chris Pavone had a 20-year career as an editor. “book doctor” and writer – but a lot of it was of the ghost-writing variety. He edited “The Wine Log” and such cookbooks as Giada De Laurentis’ “Everyday Italian.” Then his wife got a job offer she couldn’t refuse in Luxembourg, of all places, and off the Pavones went, two kids in tow. There, Chris became a European Mr. Mom, hanging out with expatriated moms, all of whom had left interesting lives behind, as he had. Noticing that, he began to muse about what those lives might have been like. In no time, he had cooked up his first novel, “The Ex-Pats,” which went on to spark some of the best book buzz of 2012.
What is this book about?
It’s a spy fiction thriller, but unlike the popular espionage novels by Graham Greene, John Le Carre and Robert Ludlum, this one has a female protagonist, and she is a struggling working mom, balancing the demands of career, kids and marriage. Then Kate Moore’s husband gets a job offer he can’t refuse in Luxembourg, of all places, and off the Moores go, two kids in tow. (Pavone was following that old saw: Write what you know.”
But there is something else in the balance, and that is Kate’s very secret double life as a CIA operative for 15 years, something even her husband didn’t know about. Moving to Luxembourg offers a chance to start over, which Kate embraces, learning a new language and becoming a dutiful housewife – but she finds her husband is growing oddly distant. Then another American couple arrives and Kate becomes suspicious that they too are hiding deep secrets. She begins to dig into them and finds herself in a dangerous place, uncovering a “long con” that threatens to destroy all she holds dear.
Why you’ll like it:
Who doesn’t like a good puzzle — especially one with clever twists that keep readers on the edge of their chairs? Pavone is getting raves for the plot of “The Ex-Pats” and for how deftly he handles the complex intrigues his characters spin. If you like a spy story that keeps you guessing right up to the end, check this book out (in both senses of that phrase.)
What others are saying:
Says The New York Times: “Sly. . . . Pavone strengthens this book with a string of head-spinning revelations in its last pages. . . . The tireless scheming of all four principals truly exceeds all sane expectations.”
“Brilliant, insanely clever, and delectably readable,” says Library Journal in a starred review.
“Meticulously plotted, psychologically complex. . . . The sheer amount of bombshell plot twists are nothing short of extraordinary, but it’s Pavone’s portrayal of Kate and her quest to find meaning in her charade of an existence that makes this book such a powerful read,” says Publishers Weekly in its starred review.
Says the San Francisco Bay Guardian: “Hard to put down. . . . ‘The Expats’ is as much a novel about a woman trying to balance a job, a husband and kids as it is a spy thriller. . . . It works.”
When is it available?
“The Expats” is hiding in plain sight on the shelves of the Downtown Hartford Public Library and the Mark Twain Branch.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Great Northern Express: A Writer’s Journey Home
By Howard Frank Mosher
(Crown, $25, 256 pages)
Who is this author?
Devotees of fiction set in New England are familiar with bestselling author Howard Frank Mosher, who has written 10 novels, including “A Stranger in the Kingdom,” which won a New England Book Award for fiction and was adapted for a film, as were “Disappearances” and “Where the Rivers Flow North.”
His “On Kingdom Mountain,” the story of an eccentric, savvy Vermonter who makes exquisite bird carvings, falls in love with a dashing pilot and won’t be moved off her family place, would have made a terrific vehicle for Katherine Hepburn at her prime. Mosher has won a New England Independent Booksellers Association’s President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts and a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has also written two memoirs.
What is this book about?
“The Great Northern Express” was inspired by bad news, but it is good news for readers. Just shy of 65, Mosher was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent 46 radiation treatments. Undaunted, he followed that up with a coast-to-coast “Great American Book Tour” and road trip in his 20-year-old Chevy (which had 280,000 miles on the odometer and was dubbed the “Loser Cruiser”) to explore America while he still could. He encountered an angry moose, homeless hitchhikers, country singers, exotic dancers and would-be writers, among many others, in his travels.
Why you’ll like it:
Mosher has mastered the art of vivid description and has an unerring eye for the quirkiness of ordinary life. This book can be read as a travelogue, a memoir or a wise analysis of current life in these United States. Its 65 short chapters celebrate such things as America’s independent bookstores (long may they live) and swing back and forth from what Mosher recalls about his past and what he sees – and feels – in the present. Written with humor and sweetness, this is a captivating book.
What others are saying:
Says Publishers Weekly: “Mosher colorfully weaves stories about his teaching in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont with his misadventures in the Loser Cruiser, cheap hotels, and at readings and book signings to create a brilliantly vibrant quilt that covers us with his warmth, humor, and love of discovery, reading, and writing. …With vivacious humor, Mosher carries readers along on this adventure that offers him a chance to gain a fresh perspective on what he loves enough to live for.”
“Rather than presenting a linear career story, he refreshingly alternates chapters between past and present. With equal aplomb, Mosher also looks back at challenges such as moving a piano, raucous motel patrons, rest-stop brawlers, limited audiences that included only the staff that organized the event and being mistaken for homeless….Mosher provides a genial reminder that adventures are possible at any age. One man’s appreciation for curious experiences, portrayed with self-effacing wit; best suited for fans of the author’s work,” says Kirkus Reviews.
“Hilarious, poignant, and honest, this bittersweet memoir is a sheer delight to read,” says Booklist.
When is it available?
The Hartford Public Library expected the book to arrive yesterday.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
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