AltWeeklies Wire
A Father and Son Connect by Way of the Summer Game in 'The Opposite Field'new
The Opposite Field blends Jesse Katz's both painful and comic struggles as a single dad to remain connected with his growing son through baseball. And like a crafty pitcher, Katz is deft at mixing speeds in his book so that readers are always surprised at what's coming next.
Willamette Week |
Henry Stern |
11-04-2009 |
Fiction
Michael Chabon Discusses Children and Popular Culturenew
Chabon is the jack-of-all-trades of contemporary literature. His literate, humorous, elegiac books include everything from a Pulitzer Prize winner about comic book creators to an alternate-world mystery in a Jewish free state. Now he's got a new collection of essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son.
INDY Week |
Zack Smith |
10-30-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Tom Cushman Revisits His Memories from Ali, Frazier, Foreman and Morenew
"It's hard to convey this, but I actually wouldn't ever have called myself a fight fan," Cushman says. "I was just fascinated with the people..."
Colorado Springs Independent |
Ralph Routon |
10-29-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Sweet Smell' is an Intimate Portrait of a Distinctive Tohono O'odham Artistnew
In the affecting, beautifully illustrated oral history of the local artist's life and work, The Sweet Smell of Home: The Life and Art of Leonard F. Chana, his distinctive voice is paired with his even more distinctive art to create a very intimate portrait of Chana, who died of neurocysticercosis in 2004 at the criminally young age of 54.
Tucson Weekly |
Tim Hull |
10-29-2009 |
Nonfiction
'A New Deal for Native Art' Explains How the Gov't Undermined Indigenous Art During the New Dealnew
Jennifer McLerran makes the case that administrators of New Deal Indian policy, particularly John Collier, then-commissioner of Indian Affairs, insisted on romanticizing pre-industrial forms of indigenous art rather than pushing native artists toward self-sufficiency.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
10-29-2009 |
Nonfiction
Populist Carolyn Chute Disbands the 2nd Maine Militia, Turns to Revising Her Book Seriesnew
Militant populist author Carolyn Chute has disbanded the 2nd Maine Militia, which she has led for many years, to focus on revising the book series that began with School last year. After that five-volume work is complete, though, she hints that she may retire.
Portland Phoenix |
Rick Wormwood |
10-29-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Why 'High Fidelity' Fans Will Hate Nick Hornby's Latest Booknew
Hornby's sixth fictional offering, Juliet, Naked, features another developmentally arrested male who's trapped in a codependent relationship with his record collection. Chances are Fidelity fiends are not amused. Here's why.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Smith Galtney |
10-29-2009 |
Fiction
Jordanian Journalist Rana Husseini Talks About Honor Killingsnew
Husseini can never forget the way the uncles of a 16-year-old murder victim dispassionately described how their niece deserved to die. "It was as if they were speaking about a sheep," she writes in her new book, Murder in the Name of Honor.
Willamette Week |
Henry Stern |
10-28-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Illustrator Chris Lane Plays Off Our Pathogen Fears in His New Graphic Novelnew
Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection imagines a public health crisis in the year 2012 caused by a sickness that percolates through the air and gets under people's skin. By the end of the year, more than five billion people have succumbed. The idea is horrifying, but in a weirdly seductive way.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
10-28-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Wal-Mart Lowers the Guillotine on Authors and Independent Bookstoresnew
The devaluation of work is a brutal injustice to the Kingsolvers and the Grishams and the Pattersons (though, for the record, the latter two aren't exactly wading in the same talent pool as Kingsolver). Even -- and I cannot believe I am going to say this -- even Dan Brown and his formulaic prose deserve better than $8.99 on new releases.
San Diego CityBeat |
Aaryn Belfer |
10-28-2009 |
Books
Philosopher Peter Singer Wants You to Give Away Your Moneynew
The premise of The Life You Can Save is simple: With so much conspicuous affluence in the world, especially in the U.S., there's no good reason for so much poverty to exist. Singer's solution? Give away a reasonable percentage of your money.
New Haven Advocate |
John Stoehr |
10-27-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
David Byrne Talks Bicycles, New York and Urbanismnew
Byrne is not the kind of cyclist out there proselytizing. He's just a guy who realizes that biking is faster and more convenient and that it feels good. And Byrne makes clear he is not a fanatic. "When I sit down at dinner with people, it's not like I only talk about bicycles," he says.
NOW Magazine |
Paul Terefenko |
10-26-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Journo Ann Louise Bardach Publishes Exposé on Castro While Feds Seek Her Testimonynew
Without Fidel cements Bardac's stature as America's best-informed and most insightful writer about Castro's 50-year reign and the fervid passions, plots, and politics of Washington and South Florida aimed at destroying it.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Jerry Roberts |
10-26-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Manhattan Goes Meta in Jonathan Lethem's 'Chronic City'new
Unlike Pynchon in The Crying of Lot 49, which this book at first resembles, Lethem keeps his readers (and his narrator) at too critical a distance, and explains far too much, and thus leaves me still waiting for that novel where Lethem finally knocks one all the way into the bleachers.
Willamette Week |
Matthew Korfhage |
10-21-2009 |
Fiction
'A Rebel Life' Remembers Molly Ivinsnew
In First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family, Bill Minutaglio deciphered Dubya's career as a campaign of filial devotion and rebellion. Turning now to Bush's spunkiest critic, Minutaglio interprets Ivins as similarly driven by resentment toward her overbearing, overachieving father.
San Antonio Current |
Steven G. Kellman |
10-21-2009 |
Nonfiction
