Week of Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Welcome to our Adult Gifts issue! Look no further to find the ideal gift for a friend or loved one, or a token of gratitude for a helpful neighbor.
Among this week's reviews: Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine by Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel, which "brilliantly showcases hundreds of photos and objects" from the Bob Dylan Center, plus commentary from dozens of writers and artists; the "visually stunning" The New Brownies' Book, in which Karida L. Brown and Charly Palmer showcase a multigenerational assortment of collaborators who continue telling the story begun by W.E.B. Du Bois in his monthly magazine The Brownies' Book; and John Waters: Pope of Trash, edited by Jenny He and Dara Jaffe, offers an "audacious and vivacious companion volume" to an Academy Museum of Motion Pictures retrospective by the same name.
In The Writer's Life, find out what Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mitchell S. Jackson has been reading and what may have shaped Fly, what he calls "the very first book on NBA fashion, the most sartorial-minded sports league." Plus, we have more gift recommendations, reviewed earlier this year.
Art Is Art: Collaborating with Neurodiverse Artists at Creativity Explored
by Ann Kappes
A San Francisco, Calif., nonprofit organization called Creativity Explored culls a wildly imaginative array of artwork from neurodiverse artists who use different media to express themselves for the fascinating Art Is Art: Collaborating with Neurodiverse Artists at Creativity Explored. The "voices of artists 'on the margin' " interact with the world differently, and this collection of hundreds of paintings, drawings, illustrations and sculptures showcases their artistic visions. Their creations can be as simple as found objects on a wooden tray or a love poem written on a brown paper bag and decorated with color markers--and as striking as a sequined skull or a mannequin head startlingly painted to resemble a "devil woman." Throughout it all, editor Ann Kappes reminds readers that art is art and can be found everywhere. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer
The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from 'Do the Right Thing' to 'Black Panther'
by Ruth E. Carter
The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from 'Do the Right Thing' to 'Black Panther' is a stunning book that celebrates the three-decades-long career of Ruth E. Carter, the first Black Oscar-winner in costume design, and the Black heroes she dressed. Its 152 full-color pages contain a dazzling collection of sketches and movie stills. Breathtaking photography captures the intricacy of Carter's creations, providing stunning visuals to accompany her insights and anecdotes about costuming iconic actors, such as Angela Bassett and Eddie Murphy, and working with award-winning directors, including Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg. This inspiring showcase demonstrates how Carter helped to shape the narrative of Black experience in American cinema and introduce Afrofuturism to the mainstream. --Grace Rajendran, freelance reviewer
The Art of the Line in Drawing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Simple, Expressive Drawings
by Frederic Forest
The Art of the Line in Drawing is an attractive and informative book on the deceptively simple art of line drawing. As French artist Frédéric Forest notes, the line is "one of the earliest forms of mark-making in human history." It's a technique that's been used by everyone from Keith Haring, "one of the most well-known and celebrated line artists of the modern world," to today's fashion designers. In this amply illustrated book, Forest teaches the basic techniques of line art; describes the effects created by fine, smooth, brushed, and colored lines; and demonstrates how he uses each technique to draw everything from the body to portraits to swans. The result is a fun, useful guide intended to bring out the inner artist in readers. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer
Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine
by Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel
At once comprehensive and enigmatic, Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine brilliantly showcases hundreds of photos and objects from the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Okla. Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel asked roughly 30 writers and artists to reflect on images or items from the Dylan archive, adding their diverse perspectives to the popular perceptions of the singer's long career and musical influence.
The book dives into Dylan's origin story, his years on the folk circuit, and the context of the American folk scene he would come to shape. It chronicles his experience of touring, recording, making videos, and becoming an activist. The book's sheer volume--photos, letters, ephemera, manuscripts--contrasts with its tightly focused deep-dive essays, forming a fascinating, kaleidoscopic portrait of an American icon. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
The Flowers of Provence
by Jamie Beck
The sumptuous photographs featured in Jamie Beck's The Flowers of Provence--taken on location or in her studio--arose from a lockdown Instagram challenge. For the American expat, the flora of the countryside of southern France is "a source of salvation and creative expression." The canvas may be large--lavender and sunflower fields, roses climbing stone walls--or small. Her still lifes are as detailed and colorful as medieval paintings, and incorporate fruit and insects. Irises and poppies play starring roles. Fallen petals and mist, or lilac and spring blossoms, evoke turning seasons. Beck (An American in Provence) creates impressionist homages: a tasteful nude self-portrait recalls Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe; mother-and-baby scenes with her daughter, Eloise, mimic Mary Cassatt. There's also advice for preserving cut flowers. Beck presents a gorgeous book, perfect for gardeners, romantics, and armchair travelers. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck
The Golden Screen: The Movies that Made Asian America
by Jeff Yang
After Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now (with Phil Yu and Philip Wang), Jeff Yang turns his focus to the history of Hollywood productions featuring Asians in the captivating The Golden Screen.
Readers will likely have heard of hits like The Joy Luck Club and Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won an Oscar for Best Picture, but Yang's book covers more than 100 additional films that are seminal in their own ways: 1986's A Great Wall, for instance, was the first American movie permitted to shoot in mainland China. The book also features conversations with stars such as Kelly Marie Tran and Kal Penn, and vibrant artwork by Asian illustrators, who reimagine posters of such popular movies as The Goonies by putting the Asian characters front and center--instead of near the margins. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja
Gotcha Day! Adoption Tales of Remarkable Rescue Dogs
by Greg Murray
In Gotcha Day!, animal advocate and photographer Greg Murray (Peanut Butter Puppies) beautifully captures "the happiness, love, and connection shared between rescue dogs and their humans." More than 60 inspirational stories--paired with crisp, striking photographs--cleverly highlight rescues like Moose, a one-eyed mix of Husky, Bull Terrier, Chow Chow, and Hound, who believes he's invisible whenever he hides under blankets; Dante, a Basset Hound, who exemplifies his Italian namesake: he loves to devour tomatoes from the family garden; Trinket, a Chihuahua mix whose rough start in life contributes to her nail-biting fixation; and Tilly, a pug who sings whenever she gets excited. These fun, captivating profiles of quirky canines will rescue pet lovers from the stressors of life. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines
John Waters: Pope of Trash
by Jenny He and Dara Jaffe, editors
When filmmaker John Waters wrote in Mr. Know-It-All, his 2019 memoir, "Somehow I became respectable," he likely had no idea that four years later, he'd achieve the ultimate in respectability as the subject of an Academy Museum of Motion Pictures retrospective: John Waters: Pope of Trash. This audacious and vivacious companion volume looks back at his 12 feature films and four shorts--40 years of spirited schlock and experiments in shock. The book brims with movie stills and souvenirs from Waters's cinematic outings: props, production-design drawings, and so on. All this reinforces a remark made by film historian Jeanine Basinger, one of several writers who contribute essays on Waters's work: "His world is a wild ride, all right, but someone sane is driving." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer
Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now
by Phaidon Press editors
Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now expands on Phaidon's iconic The Art Book with a collection of images created by 308 artists from 20 countries and territories, accompanied by brief but serious supplementary text. With a thorough introduction by academic art historian and curator Raphael Fonseca, this large-format book is an art object in itself. Each artist is represented by a single important work and brief biographical and artistic context, written in an academic tone. These enormously diverse artists, who span a broad range of media, are organized not chronologically, conceptually, or regionally; instead, an alphabetical presentation results in surprising and thought-provoking juxtapositions. Perfect for art lovers or scholars and essential for academics, this is a simply stunning visual feast for readers at large. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia
Let It Burn: Illuminate Your Life with Candles and Fragrance
by Sir Candle Man
Scent-forward living and perpetual ambience imbue Let It Burn: Illuminate Your Life with Candles and Fragrance,a petite coffee-table book by Sir Candle Man. The former tech executive turned TikTok sensation provides practical selection advice--scent, strength, style, and wax--along with candle-maintenance tips, self-care imperatives, and vibe curation through scent and placement. Even long-time wax warriors will alight on fresh perspectives. A refreshingly warm tone of inclusivity is found throughout the pages, such as when he reminds readers that scents aren't gendered. Sir Candle Man also honors all sorts of candle budgets, from bargain shoppers to high-end purveyors. As Sir Candle Man says, "Fragrance is an art that helps make your life beautiful, and everyone deserves to feel that." --Nina Semczuk, writer, editor, and illustrator
Liberation Tarot Deck
by Elicia Epstein
With the Liberation Tarot Deck, artist and organizer Elicia Epstein offers not only an alternative to standard tarot decks but reframes the "traditional arcanas as an activist tool." The result of a multi-year collaboration with more than 30 artists and activists across the globe, this deck and its accompanying booklet eschew coherent aesthetics to showcase the style of each artist in cards "reimagined to fit a worldview that is beyond gender, disrupts assumptions of violence as power, and centers interdependence." Idiosyncratic suits of Vessels, Flowers, Spirals, and Blades blend with transformations of the known (such as the King of Cups becoming the Crone of Vessels, a card featuring "godmother of the Black Trans Lives Matter Movement" Ceyenne Doroshow) in this revolutionary entry into the tarot canon. --Kristen Coates, editor and freelance reviewer
Mondrian's Dress: Yves Saint Laurent, Piet Mondrian, and Pop Art
by Nancy J. Troy and Ann Marguerite Tartsinis
Celebrating the 1965 launch of Yves Saint Laurent's iconic frock, Mondrian's Dress: Yves Saint Laurent, Piet Mondrian, and Pop Art by Nancy J. Troy and Ann Marguerite Tartsinis documents the spectacular, fortuitous collision of French couture, Dutch abstract art, and American pop culture that resulted from that simple yet striking dress.
Talented storytellers with a true passion for their subject matter, art scholars Troy and Tartsinis embellish Mondrian's Dress with lavish photography, newspaper and magazine articles from the era, and eye-catching graphics illustrating the "phenomenal impact" of Saint Laurent's geometric patterned dress on New York street fashion. This elegant coffee-table collectible is sure to intrigue readers with its animated exploration of the "manifold connections" between fashion and art in the pop-culture explosion of the swinging '60s. --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer
The New Brownies' Book: A Love Letter to Black Families
by Charly Palmer and Karida L. Brown
During the Harlem Renaissance, The Brownies' Book was published as a monthly magazine by W.E.B. Du Bois. It was geared toward Black children to show them the very best in Black culture. In The New Brownies' Book, Karida L. Brown (Gone Home) and Charly Palmer (The Legend of Gravity) showcase a multigenerational assortment of collaborators who continue telling the story. Chapters, which give a broad survey of perspectives, include "Family Ties," "Young Langston" (Hughes was an early contributor), "School Daze," and "She'roes." Although the original Brownies' Book was created for children, this volume will be enjoyed by all readers and become a staple in many family libraries. Black life and culture in the early 20th century is beautifully revisited and revered in this visually stunning history lesson. The art, essays, photographs, and ephemera add weight and context to the various types of writing. This book is an ideal gift for anyone who appreciates the Black American diaspora and the beauty of its history and culture. --Shannan L. Hicks, freelance writer and librarian
Now Is Better
by Stefan Sagmeister
In Now Is Better, visual artist and world-renowned designer Stefan Sagmeister (Beauty, with Jessica Walsh) sets out to convince readers that, despite our present-day challenges, we are living in a vastly improved world when compared to the past. Sagmeister's art--combining classic works of Western art history with a modern sense of color, bold shapes, and design--accompanies short essays that point out the growth of humanity over time: we live longer, experience less hunger, have come to favor peace over war, and value democracy over dictatorships.
Sagmeister, who never negates the challenges of the present day, invites readers to consider a new way of framing those challenges within a larger historical and modern context. With full-color art, gilded edges, and in a softcover binding with a decorative slipcover, Now Is Better is a visually and intellectually stunning work of art from start to finish. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer
Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies & Bees
by A. Scott Meiser, illus. by Sarah Kaizar
Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies & Bees is a wildlife field guide for a new generation. Artist Sarah Kaizar (Hiker Trash) presents a gorgeously designed, deceptively simple collection of pen-and-ink illustrations of winged creatures of various kinds. Each animal has a threatened status, either through the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or the Red List of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Paired with Kaizar's art are evocative essays from A. Scott Meiser, each one highlighting the natural history or conservation challenges facing these species. The polished art and informative but funny writing will appeal to a broad range of eco-conscious readers and thinkers. Rare Air makes a perfect gift for style-conscious birders or environmentalists. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian
Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of 'Airplane!'
by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams
Fans of the iconic 1980 movie Airplane! will savor Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! But so will film buffs and anyone who appreciates a memoir of decades of friendship and collaboration.
Wisconsin high school buddies David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker--who segued their quirky comedy act called Kentucky Fried Theater into the comedic genius of Airplane!--share anecdotes, photos, and behind-the-scenes insights: Who really, for instance, wrote the jive talk scene? As "kids who spent 100 percent of their lives looking for things to spoof," they happened upon Zero Hour!, a 1957 air disaster drama, and Airplane! was born. Dozens of fans, including Sarah Silverman, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and Gore Vidal, attest to the timeless hilarity of this classic cinematic icon. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.
The Style Thesaurus: A Definitive, Gender-Neutral Guide to the Meaning of Style and an Essential Wardrobe Companion for All Fashion Lovers
by Hannah Kane
The introduction to Hannah Kane's The Style Thesaurus, her first solo piece of nonfiction, summarizes the importance of style; she writes that "the clothes we wear have accrued meaning through history and culture, and function as a language that can, to some extent, be read." Kane previews a broad array of styles, ranging from retro to fetish fashion. Periods and trends are discussed in sections such as time, utility, music and dance, leisure, conformists, subcultures and countercultures, statement, and sex and gender. This beautifully organized and well-written fashion guide is immensely practical and will inform and inspire fashion enthusiasts. Each entry--which places styles in their historical contexts and provides synonyms, cross references, and pairings--also includes beautiful visuals. The Style Thesaurus is a one-stop resource for all things style and fashion. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer
Video Game of the Year: A Year-by-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977
by Jordan Minor
PCMag editor Jordan Minor sidescrolls through the greatest gaming hits, from 1977 to 2022, in the gorgeously designed, thoroughly researched compendium Video Game of the Year, featuring dynamic, color-drenched illustrations by Wren McDonald. Minor highlights one game per year, from the debut of simplistic Pong through complex franchises like Final Fantasy and the rise of mobile gaming with Pokémon Go.
Readers looking to level up their knowledge of game evolution and mechanics or get a dose of nostalgia should find plenty to love as Minor explores the medium in which "a portly plumber, speedy rodent, and an armor-clad space marine [can] all be equally famous mascots." Sidebars entitled "Extra Life" cover additional titles of note. Minor's book is perfect for anyone who spent their youth rescuing the princess. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
More Great Gifts
The Writer's Life
Reading with… Mitchell S. Jackson
photo: Christa Harriis |
Mitchell S. Jackson won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing and the 2021 National Magazine Award in Feature Writing. His debut novel, The Residue Years, won a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. His essay collection, Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, was named a best book of 2019 by 15 publications. Jackson's other honors include fellowships, grants, and awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Creative Capital, the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, the Lannan Foundation, PEN America, and TED. His writing has been featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, Time, and Esquire, as well as in the New Yorker, Harper's, the Paris Review, the Guardian, and elsewhere. Jackson is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Esquire and holds the John O. Whiteman Dean's Distinguished Professorship in the Department of English at Arizona State University. Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion (Artisan, September 5, 2023) is a photo-rich lookbook and cultural commentary on NBA fashion.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
This is the very first book on NBA fashion, the most sartorial-minded sports league. It's also an exploration of the culture that shapes fashion.
On your nightstand now:
What's on my nightstand right now is a bound manuscript of Jesmyn Ward's next novel, Let Us Descend. Both of Jesmyn's last two novels won the National Book Award, and this book is more of what I love and admire about her work--the rich language, her gift for imagery and metaphor, her empathy and acuity. It is also evidence of her pushing herself to write about a different time. (It's set during slavery.)
Another one on the shelf is a galley of Safiya Sinclair's stunning upcoming memoir, How to Say Babylon. It's a memoir that explores Safiya's upbringing in Jamaica, her life in a strict Rastafarian household, and her liberation from those strictures with the help of poetry. Safiya is also one of the most gifted poets writing today, and there's ample proof of that fact in the lushness and lyricism of her prose.
I also have a copy of A. Van Jordan's new hybrid prose-poetry collection, When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again. (If you can't tell, I love reading poetry.) Jordan usually has a concept organizing his collections. In this book, Jordan draws comparisons between Black characters in Shakespearean plays and the deaths of Black people, particularly Black children, at the hands of police officers.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I never read for pleasure when I was a child. But when I was young, there was a door-to-door salesman hawking encyclopedias. My mom bought me a pair of them, and I studied them the rest of the summer. And it was a pleasure.
Your top five authors:
Toni Morrison, who, as far as I'm concerned, is the GOAT of American letters. James Baldwin for nonfiction; though I also love his fiction, his nonfiction was the paragon of sagacity and prescience. John Edgar Wideman for his excellence in fiction and nonfiction, always pushing himself creatively, and maintaining excellence over a 50-year career. Natalie Diaz for her poetry, her astounding imagery and metaphor, the richness and texture of her work. Junot Díaz for his indelible voice, his formal ambition, and his humor.
Book you've faked reading:
Moby-Dick. That joint is too long. I always feel like I could read two or three good books in the time it would take me to finish it.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Junot Díaz's Drown was a book I read in graduate school that really blew me away. He was writing about kids and a young man in the Dominican Republic and New Jersey, but those characters spoke to me. Plus, he didn't sound like anyone else. I think I could pick up Junot's work without a byline and know it's him, which to me is just about the ultimate compliment.
The same goes for Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son. Another great voice. Also, the imagery and metaphor in the book are astounding.
The same goes for Joan Didion's The White Album. Didion must be mentioned with all those men considered pioneers of creative nonfiction.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Hmm. I just saw the cover of Justin Torres's new novel Blackouts, and it's amazing. On the surface it looks like a simple cover, but also sophisticated. I'm buying that book for the cover and for the prose. Torres is an amazing writer. I loved his debut, a novel in stories, We the Animals.
Book you hid from your parents:
I didn't have to hide any books from my parents, because I wasn't reading anything but my textbooks. But I did have to hide my Too Short cassette tape. It featured waaaay too much cursing for a 10- or 11-year-old's ears. My mom used to confiscate the tape, and I'd find it in the trunk, sneak it out, and listen to it again until I was busted. Late '80s and early '90s rap music has been a huge influence on my literary voice.
Book that changed your life:
Hmm. The book that stands out as a measure of literary greatness is Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. I think it's Morrison's best. It changed my life in terms of showing me what's possible as an artist and writer. However, I also must mention the short story "Weight" by John Edgar Wideman. The story is about a man who is dealing with the loss of his mother. And I mention it because of the voice of the narrative, which became a license for me to lean into my instincts as a prose stylist, to embrace language that had been foundation to me.
Favorite line from a book:
I love Edward P. Jones. One of my favorite short stories of his is titled "Old Boys, Old Girls" from the collection All Aunt Hagar's Children. In the story, a man named Caesar goes to prison for murder and, when he gets there, is mentored by some old lifers. One of the lifers counsels Caesar that to survive in prison he must be aggressive, and that Caesar should start by intimidating his celly. He tells him: "Caes, you gon be here a few days, so you can't let nobody fuck with your humanity." That line is one of my favorites because it illuminates how humanity in prison is often the opposite of what it is in the world, the flip of caring for people, treating them with kindness, of seeing others as human.
Five books you'll never part with:
Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. The best book I've read. It's epic in scope, filled with symbolism and imagery and complex characters. Its language is as close to perfection in prose as I've read.
Junot Díaz's Drown is one of the best collections I've read. I love Junot's use of high and low diction and the scope of the collection, how it moves from childhood into adulthood, from the Dominican Republic to Jersey.
James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time. It was published in 1963, but Baldwin could be talking about 2023 America with its rampant bigotry and racism.
John Edgar Wideman's Brothers and Keepers. As a formerly incarcerated person, this book resonated with me deeply. I felt like I was a cross between Wideman, the scholar, and his brother, the hustler who served decades in prison.
Joan Didion's The White Album. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm drawn to indelible literary voices. Didion's voice is one such example. It's lyrical and precise. I also love how matter-of-factly she sees the world. It's sober to the point of being almost jaded. But only almost jaded.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The book I want to read again for the first time is the Bible. I'm working on a novel that centers on a cult leader who is also a preacher. I need to read scripture again and again. Plus, every time I read it, I learn something else, or something becomes clearer. One thing is for sure: the Bible is an example of the power of repetition. And, again, I don't read for pleasure. I read for instruction, inspiration, edification. If it's pleasurable, that's all the better.
Book Candy
Book Candy
"Blessed are the cheesemakers: University of Leeds acquires oldest surviving book about British cheese." (via the Guardian)
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Open Culture shared "the only color picture of Tolstoy, taken by photography pioneer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1908)."
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In 1891, Pellegrino Artusi helped forge a national cuisine with Scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well). (via Gastro Obscura)
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Author Daniel Schreiber picked his top 10 books about solitary living for the Guardian.
Great Reads
More Great Gift Ideas
We've selected a handful of the many books we reviewed earlier this year that we think would make ideal gifts for that special someone.
In a "stunning" anthology, The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape (Tin House, $29.95), Irish artist Katie Holten collects essays, poetry, and aphorisms on trees from more than 50 contributors, ancient and modern, and translates them into her Trees font, a custom-made arboreal alphabet consisting of hand-drawn trees. This one's for anyone who feels most alive in nature, or has ever fallen in love with a tree. This beautifully designed volume boasts an introduction by Ross Gay, and contributors as wide-ranging as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ada Limón, Richard Powers, and Ursula K. Le Guin, all housed in a hardcover with a gorgeous wraparound dust jacket.
Hersch Wilson's Dog Lessons: Learning the Important Stuff from Our Best Friends (New World Library, $24.95) is part homespun meditation on what dogs teach humans and part memoir. Wilson "writes movingly" about 60 years of living with a total of 18 canines, and the enlightenment inspired by these beloved companions. Not just for dog fanatics (though they may most appreciate it), this volume brims with insights from writers (whose quotes kick off each chapter) and prescribes such universal balms as taking long walks in nature, sitting in silence, and... napping.
For friends and family members (or perhaps yourself!) who prefer to keep their reading to a manageable length, the "delightfully accessible" Great Short Books: A Year of Reading--Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis (Scribner, $28) presents 58 fact-filled reviews of brief novels, a smorgasbord of titles "sure to entice readers." He includes classics as well as more contemporary works. Each review follows a pattern: first lines, plot summary ("NO SPOILERS!" Davis promises), an insightful author bio, a "why you should read it" critical analysis, and "what to read next" by the same author. Davis also includes a short essay on titles he left out, and lists his own 15 favorite short books.
While Davis extolls the virtues of short fiction, Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink (Dutton, $28) aids writers with "an indispensable primer" on how best to communicate effectively in writing in a world with overwhelming competition for people's time and attention. Concision and precision are critical. The authors present valuable recommendations alongside convincing examples and compelling data that make it clear that these tips are not their mere preferences.
James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (Riverhead, $28) is perfect for readers who wish to sink into a "mesmerizing work" that places them in the center of smalltown life as a microcosm to the larger world. The novel begins in 1972, when construction workers in Pottstown, Pa., find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. McBride then shifts to 1925, centering on the Jewish owner of an integrated jazz club, his polio-stricken wife, and the janitor of the club, who asks the couple to help him hide his nephew from a visiting official who wants to put the newly orphaned boy in a "special school." Even minor characters are "richly imagined." McBride has found the perfect vehicle for dramatizing conflicts among Jewish, Black, and white Christian communities in this lively story. --Jennifer M. Brown
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Read what writers are saying about their upcoming titles
Brodie (An Until Her Novella)by Aurora Rose Reynolds
Dear Reader, As an author, it's sometimes difficult to write the demise of a couple especially since I'm in the business of giving out happily ever afters. In Until Willow, I watched Brodie lose the woman he loved due to his own negligence, and even though I knew he messed up, I truly believed that he wasn't a bad guy and that he deserved to find love again. And he didn’t make the same mistakes when falling in love with Reese. Aurora Rose Reynolds 1001darknights.com/authors/collection-eleven/aurora-rose-reynolds-brodie |
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Read what writers are saying about their upcoming titles
The Challenger (Phantom Stallion #6)by Terri Farley
Dear Reader, Filmmaker and friend Ashley Avis says, "Storytelling carries great power in educating people about what is really happening in our natural world." I totally agree! Storytelling and STEM are natural companions. On the cover of THE CHALLENGER, you'll see a crouched cougar and a young stallion in danger. The scene is rooted in truth. Because I love wild horses, it's not always easy to love their predators. But I do. In THE CHALLENGER, ranch girl Samantha Forster is torn between wanting to protect both the wild horses she loves and the orphaned cougar stalking them. My books are fact-based. Samantha's encounter with a fictional cougar grew from talking with a friend whose daughter survived a cougar attack. I write to bring my readers adventure, empowerment, empathy and the fun of riding the range with best friends. Come and ride along! Terri Farley |
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