AltWeeklies Wire
What a Long, Strange — But Incredibly Fruitful — Trip It's Beennew

There’s a now-old adage that goes, “If you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there.” Activist, author and former politician Tom Hayden was there — helping shape those historic times.
Pasadena Weekly |
Carl Kozlowski and Kevin Uhrich |
01-11-2010 |
Nonfiction
Steven Levitt on His Controversial New Book, 'SuperFreakonomics'new
In 2005, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times columnist Stephen J. Dubner co-wrote Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Now comes the highly entertaining sequel, SuperFreakonomics.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
John Ervin |
01-06-2010 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
10 Sexy Books Published in 2009new

And as I peruse the many books deemed by many opinions to be the best of the year or, grander yet, best of the decade, I find myself compiling a modest, literary list of my own: 10 Sexy Books Published in 2009.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Juliette Tang |
01-06-2010 |
Nonfiction
Meet the 21st Century's New Literary Movementnew

Early in the aughts, a new creative force emerged. Worldwide political events, crystallized by the 1999 Seattle WTO protests and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, energized a self-aware readership that embraced New Weird, the 21st century’s first major new literary movement.
San Antonio Current |
Rick Klaw |
01-06-2010 |
Books
'Death By Oboe': Fiction Contest '09 Winnernew
From the Judge: Death By Oboe invites us into a complete, quirky and tangible world. It isn't self-indulgent, but doesn't hesitate to linger over odd, honest details like the jostling of a roomful of porcelain figurines — a moment both physically present and emotionally revealing.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Jessica Penzias |
01-05-2010 |
Original Work
Favorite Books of 2009 (Yes, We Still Read Books)new
"What? Reading?" In a year when we were all too busy tweeting on our iPhones to cook a meal, even the ever-present Kindle-coma is preferable to no reading at all. So, if you're willing to stop playing Farmville for a minute, here are a few books worth skimming at the local bookshop.
Dig Boston |
Rachael Katz |
12-30-2009 |
Books
Poppy Z. Brite's 'Second Line'new

When Poppy Z. Brite put aside her popular vampire stories, she wasn't looking to enter a new genre, partially because she only had plans for one novel, but also because, she says, the only food fiction on radar is a subgenre of mysteries set in the culinary world.
Tags: Second Line, Poppy Z. Brite
In Matthew Flaming's Debut, the Secret, Sordid Origins of... Toledo?new

Life before the internal combustion engine was no damn fun. That, along with a vague sense of disquiet, is the thrust of The Kingdom of Ohio (Amy Einhorn Books, 322 pages, $24.95), the debut novel of Matthew Flaming, who lives either in Brooklyn or Portland.
Willamette Week |
Ben Waterhouse |
12-30-2009 |
Fiction
Anne Rice: Interview with the Vampire Killernew

Anne Rice will never write about vampires again. Not even with these tragically hip, newfangled bloodsuckers lurking about, dating high school girls and coming out of the closet, demanding equal rights. She has told enough vampire stories to last her an eternity.
L.A. Weekly |
Gendy Alimurung |
12-28-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Writer Collaborates With Iraqi Refugee to Tell a Different Story From Iraqnew

What Justin Sirois wanted to do was offer a different perspective of the war that wasn't being as accessibly covered in conventional war journalism. He wanted to argue that there might be more going on than journalism can offer. He wanted to tell a different story.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
12-21-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
The New Gay Romance, By and For Straight Womennew

One evening, a small crowd gathers at the Hustler Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard for a reading of James Buchanan’s new romance novel, Personal Demons. In the book, a gay FBI agent is about to make love to his boyfriend, an LAPD officer.
L.A. Weekly |
Gendy Alimurung |
12-18-2009 |
Books
'Manual of Trickery and Deception' Not Nearly So Intriguingnew

The title is misleading because John Mulholland’s essay (on how the CIA could exploit conjurers’ tricks for covert purposes) isn’t a “manual of deception." Most of the essay is about one thing: how to secretly drop poison into a bad guy’s drink.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Rick Lax |
12-17-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Midwest's First Celebration of all Things Yaoi: Where the Screaming Never Stopsnew

Yaoi (pronounced "yowee") is stories of beautiful, deeply emotional boys who are desperately in love with each other. One can find these erotic tales in Japanese comic books or watch the animated versions on DVDs that are sold at mainstream bookstores.
Riverfront Times |
Aimee Levitt |
12-11-2009 |
Books
'Sisters in War': A Vermont Journalist Recounts the Stories of Women in War-Torn Baghdadnew

In 2004, as Baghdad became increasingly dangerous for journalists, Christina Asquith took refuge in the apartment of two sisters. Now she tells their story in Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq, which was published by Random House in September.
Seven Days |
Margot Harrison |
12-09-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Bagel King Noah Alper Serves Memories and Advice in a New Booknew

Two decades before he founded the bagel company that he would eventually sell for $100 million, Noah Alper was locked up in a mental hospital. Shocked to find their student son in a mania exacerbated by drugs, lack of sleep and the chaos of the Vietnam years, his parents had committed him.
East Bay Express |
Anneli Rufus |
12-09-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews