AltWeeklies Wire
Frank Deford's memoir of the sportswriting high lifenew
Frank Deford is one of America's greatest sportswriters, and although his new memoir, Over Time, probably isn't the place to discover why, it's an engaging, raffish ramble through his 50 years in the peculiar business of writing about sports.
Tags: Frank Deford
Wojciechowski's The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentuckynew
Although the full title occasions three objections all by itself, Gene Wojciechowski's book is nevertheless essential reading for anyone interested in college basketball—and especially, in these environs, for local sports lovers.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
01-11-2012 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Gene Wojciechowski
Wilmington's John Jeremiah Sullivan Roughs it in Pulpheadnew
The wide-ranging subjects in Pulphead are unified into a coherent book by Sullivan's fine prose and lively voice, which can be scholarly, snarky, lyrical or harsh as suits the occasion.
In his new novel, Nightwoods, Charles Frazier returns to the Appalachians for inspirationnew
Frazier has a natural dramatic instinct, and Nightwoods is a shrewd piece of writing—shrewder still for its I-see-what-you-did-there literary and cultural references.
It Happened on the Way to Warnew
Rye Barcott's book about his work with the Kibera slum in Kenya.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
03-29-2011 |
Nonfiction
Interrogating Donald Rumsfeldnew
Published by McSweeney's, Donald imagines what would happen if the former defense secretary were abducted to a detainment center much like Guantanamo or Bagram and subjected to "enhanced interrogation."
Tags: Donald Rumsfeld, Eric Martin
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War is a Familiar Tour of Dutynew
For Karl Marlantes, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, the publication of his book may very well exorcise his Vietnam demons. It may also do the same for his comrades in arms.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
11-10-2010 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Vietnam War, Karl Marlantes
New Yorker Writer Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberianew
At nearly 500 pages long, Frazier's Siberia rambles through ancient history and contemporary anecdote, is full of both affection and frustration, and has a deliberately inconclusive ending. It seems appropriate.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
11-05-2010 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Ian Frazier
Sweet, Sweet Saccharinnew
Empty Pleasures views 20th-century America through the progress of its sweeteners.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
10-27-2010 |
Nonfiction
Tags: Empty Pleasures
Walking in Black Women's Footstepsnew
Two important new histories of the Civil Rights movement.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
10-25-2010 |
Nonfiction
Algonquin Books' 25th edition of New Stories From the Southnew
Are guest editor Amy Hempel and series editor Kathy Pories pointing us to a change in Southern literature?
Tags: Amy Hempel
Chapel Hill transplant Rosecrans Baldwin publishes his debut novelnew
You Lost Me There has received ample advance praise, "so now I'm in a daily cycle of panic attacks and nervous anticipation," Baldwin says, laughing.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
08-16-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Rosecrans Baldwin
'The Book of Dads' Elicits Pungent Prose from Nearly All of its Contributorsnew
It seems appropriate that both The Book of Dads and Father's Day arrive at the onset of summer, when dads and kids head for the shore. A handful of these 20 essays take place on the water, and an aquatic vacation might be the best time to give your favorite father this enlightened, enlightening book.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
06-18-2009 |
Nonfiction
Author Justin Catanoso Discovers His Family's Remarkable Legacynew
My Cousin the Saint is a reminder that the word "work" is as crucial as "miracle" in the phrases they share.
INDY Week |
Adam Sobsey |
10-16-2008 |
Nonfiction
Clyde Edgerton's Modesty Sells 'The Bible Salesman'new
Like Henry, his protagonist, Edgerton wants to sell you a story, and if you give him a few pages' worth of your time, you have little chance of resisting him.
