Chillin' with Enzo

Stein, Garth. (2008). The art of racing in the rain. New York: Harper.

Kirkus: Stein uses a dog as narrator to clever effect in this tear-jerker about an aspiring race-car driver who suffers more woes than Job but never mistreats his dog. Pointedly inspirational

From vaccuum tubes ...

Ira Brodsky. (2008). The history of wireless: how creative minds produced technology for the masses. St. Louis: Telescope Books.

Sunny Cooper has been running since she was eighteen ...

Hendricks, Judith Ryan. The laws of Harmony. New York: Harper.

... both from the New Mexican commune where she grew up and from the haunting memory of her younger sister's death. When a second tragic accident turns her world upside down, Sunny runs again, to the town of Harmony on San Miguel Island where she takes a new job, learns to ride a motorcycle, and makes some surprising new friends. But the past is never far behind.

Black Mamba Boy

Mohamed, Nadifa. (2010). Black mamba boy. London: Harper Collins.

Mixed reviews.

Lorriane Adams, in the NY Times: Had she dived deeply into just one city in this atlas of misery, Mohamed might have told us more about what it is like to be a scavenger child in Africa than this novel does. Perhaps one day, with her considerable talents, she will write such a book.

Kirkus: With one glorious exception, an eccentric intellectual in Djibouti, the author shows little talent for characterization. Pulled this way and that, Jama reflects Mohamed's own indecision, torn between naturalism and magic realism.

On the other side:
Library Journal Reviews: A pleasure to read, with descriptive language that allows readers to envision themselves in the story, this novel shows a distinctly non-European way of life in mid-20th-century Africa that is captivating. Highly recommended.

Publishers Weekly Reviews: Mohamed's beautifully rendered debut

Whiskey

Liss, David. (2008). The whiskey rebels. New York: Random House.

" ... a ripping yarn of intrigue, money, politics, real-life heroes and villains, and even a love story ..."

Kirkus: Uneven, sometimes risibly overstuffed narrative that's nevertheless compulsively readable.

Hogeland, William.(2006). The Whiskey Rebellion : George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the frontier rebels who challenged America's newfound sovereignty. New York: Scribner.


Kirkus: Contrarian account of a contrarian struggle, in some senses America's first civil war. A vigorous, revealing look at a forgotten—and confusing—chapter in American history, one that invites critical reconsideration of a founding father or two.

American comedy in black and white

Reid, Tim. Tim & Tom: an American comedy in black and white. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

1960s comedy team. Tim Reid was in WKRP Cincinnati; Tom stayed a comedian.

Idiosyncratic first novel

Cutting for stone : a novel / Abraham Verghese Very popular these days

49er football

The genius: how Bill Walsh reinvented football and created an NFL dynasty

Love?

The unprofessionals

Stolen art

Loot : the battle over the stolen treasures of the ancient world

Speaking treason fluently : anti-racist reflections from an angry white male.

In this absorbing compilation of essays, Wise (White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son), an anti-racist activist and writer, continues to plumb white privilege, racism and responsibility.

The school of essential ingredients

Book of the day on Book-a-Day calendar liked it; Kirkus: The stifling humidity of the prose will push a lot of readers out of this kitchen..

A mighty long way

 LaNier, Carlotta Walls. (2009). A mighty long way: my journey to justice at Little Rock Central High School. New York: One World Ballantine Books.

An inspiring and important story: Book-a-Day calendar.

Kirkus: Well-crafted look at the wrenching experience of the youngest of the "Little Rock Nine. Keenly observed and moving.

How the dead dream

Millet, Lydia. (2008). How the dead dream. Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press.


Book of the day on Book-a-Day calendar praises it, Kirkus not as much.

The botany of desire

Pollan, Michael. (2001). The botany of desire: a plant's eye view of the world. New York: Random House.

The invisible line : three American families and the secret journey from Black to white

Montecore

A distinguished, linguistically complex narrative that examines the ordeals of a Tunisian immigrant to Sweden.

Portraits of a marriage

Márai, Sándor. (2011). Portraits of a marriage. translated from the Hungarian by George Szirtes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

The adults

Espach, Alison. (2011). The Adults. Simon & Schuster.

Well regarded by Kirkus: Wry rather than out-loud funny, laced with melancholy and angst, this book is an enviable first effort.

Reviewed in Sunday Times Books, less favorably: It saddened me to watch the small marvel of this fierce, tender adolescent narrative being submerged by waves of extra storytelling. Too much storytelling. I also had some minor factual quibbles. Lehman Brothers was never known for having a bustling office in Prague in the mid-1990s, and to suggest this detracts from the authenticity of Espach’s portrayal of Emily’s father, even Espach’s understanding of the world of finance.

Beat the reaper

Bazell, Josh. (2009). Beat the reaper. New York : Little, Brown.

Kirkus: The past comes knocking for a physician with a fistful of secrets.Medical resident Bazell opens his debut novel with a bone-crunching interlude between Manhattan ER doctor Peter Brown and a mugger whom he beats senseless, then treats for injuries. Brown soon confesses that his real name is Pietro Brnwa. He's a former hit man whose lethal trade drove him into the witness-protection program, where he reinvented himself as a pill-popping trauma physician. "It's a weird curse, when you think about it," says the killer turned doc. "We're built for thought, and civilization, more than any other creature we've found. And all we really want to be is killers." The past catches up with Brown when a terminal patient at the hospital recognizes him as the mob assassin called "Bearclaw." The patient threatens to out Brown if he does not work to save the man's life. Bazell's profane, hyperactive novel is readable and fun, and no fan of shoot-'em-ups or medical dramas can afford to miss it. Among the book's highlights is a riotous set of doctor's rounds that find Brown making out with a cancer patient, chasing down a wheelchair-bound fugitive and suffering a particularly vile needle stick.A wildly funny mashup between genres that makes ER and St. Elsewhere look tame

Black rain

on page 305 of Escape from Amsterdam, the film is mentioned.

The 1989 Japanese version: A woman caught in fallout during the bombing of Hiroshima returns to her village, where she is ostracized and considered unsuitable for marriage. There is another film with the same title that is only on VHS. And a third film, with Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia, is a piece of shit.

Capitalism's new reality

Napoleoni, Loretta. (2008). Rogue economics. New York: Seven Stories Press.

 In bed with the enemy -- Nobody controls rogue economics -- The end of politics -- Land of opportunity -- Fake it -- The market matrix -- High tech : a mixed blessing? -- Anarchy at sea -- Twentieth-century great illusionists -- The mythology of the market-state -- The extravagant force of globalization -- Economic tribalism -- Epilogue : the new social contract.

Airball

Boice, James. (2007). MVP. New York : Scribner.


Kirkus: though the developing writer has considerable stylistic flair, the novel mixes slam dunks with air balls.

 PW Reviews: With its bristling intelligence and crystalline prose, this provocative novel secures Boice's status as a player to watch.

Being Indian, being Israeli

Migration, diaspora and Indian Jews in Israel --
Where are the Indian Jews today? Immigration and the Israeli setting --
Emigration from India: "When we came to the land of milk and honey" --
Accountants as watchmen and clerks digging roads: negotiating work and professions --
Raising Jewish families in Israel: gender, religious practice and life cycle rituals --
Mediating assimilation and separation: community networks, national politics and Indian-Israeli identit

Twenty-four eyes

An elegant, emotional chronicle of a teacher's unwavering commitment to her students, her profession, and her sense of morality. It takes a simultaneously sober and sentimental look at the epic themes of aging, war, and death.

Madadayo

Set in postwar Japan, the film follows the last two decades in the life of Hyakken Uchida, a free spirited writer and teacher, highlighted by his relationship with his students who venerate him in his old age.

Biruma no tategoto

An Imperial Japanese Army regiment surrenders to British forces in Burma at the close of World War II and finds harmony through song. A private, thought to be dead, disguises himself as a Buddhist monk and stumbles upon spiritual enlightenment.

Cultural battlefield

Giberson, Karl. (2008). Saving Darwin: how to be a Christian and believe in evolution. New York: HarperOne.

Library Journal: Giberson is an outstanding scientist and scholar who tries to unite the uncompromising correctness of creationism and intelligent design with proven scientific knowledge, thereby saving Darwin's evolution theory and re-examining its basic tenets from a Christian worldview.

Rejuvenation?

Spencer, Scott. (2008). Willing. New York: Ecco.

Booklist: His frank view of a trashed and corrupt world in which men and women struggle to do right is immensely moving, and his subtle alignment of our abuse of women with the pillaging of the earth deepens the resonance of this very human tale of the many faces of love.

Kirkus: Against all expectation, considering the subject matter, Jankowsky is a more interesting character than the novel in which he finds himself.

Personal days

Park, Ed. (2008). Personal days. New York: Random House.

Swashbuckling Spymaster

Waller, Douglas C. (2010). Wild Bill Donovan. The Spymaster Who Created the Oss and Modern American Espionage. New York: Free Press.

A Covert Affair: The Adventures of Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS

Due out April 5.

The second son

Rabb, J., (2011). The Second Son. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Road to freedom

Blight, David W. (2007). A slave no more: two men who escaped to freedom: including their own narratives of emancipation. Orlando: Harcourt.

Kirkus: Two newly discovered narratives of slaves who escaped to freedom during the Civil War ... A powerful, welcome addition to the Civil War library

Norton anthology of Latino literature

The Norton anthology of Latino literature. (2011). Ilan Stavans, general editor. New York: Norton & Co.

2,489 pages of prose, verse and rap lyrics, ranging from  Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (1484-1566) in the Colonization section to  Ivy Queen's Reggaetón (in both Spanish and English). Three appendices follow, adding 177 pages.

Now, the Fary was Spanish. and thus not Latino, but he did write about Latino indigenous peoples.

Natsuo Kirino

Kirkus: From Kirino (Grotesque, 2007, etc.), a tale of teens driven to extremes.

Kirkus: Horrifying violence lurks a hairsbreadth beneath the surface of drab modern Tokyo in veteran Kirino's award-winning English-language debut.

Michael Simon recommended these; they are not my usual fare, but might be worth a read.

The man who made lists

Kendall, Joshua. (2008). The man who made lists: love, death, madness, and the creation of Roget's Thesaurus. New York : Putnam.

Kirkus: Freelance journalist Kendall does his best to jazz up the quiet life of the English polymath who turned finding the right word into a science.

Capitol offense

Accused of murdering a police officer he held responsible for the tragic death of his wife, Professor Dennis Thomas implores high-profile lawyer Ben Kincaid to defend him.

Founding foodies

DeWitt, Dave. (2010). The founding foodies: how Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin revolutionized American cuisine. Naperville: Sourcebooks.

Destiny and desire

Fuentes, Carlos. (2011). Destiny and desire. Translated by Edith Grossman. New York: Random House.

The first time as tragedy, Marx said of history’s repetitions, the second time as farce. He didn’t suggest a mode for the third time, but Carlos Fuentes does: the telenovela, the interminable soap opera of conspiracy and delusion, capitalism and its demons. “Destiny and Desire” is a novel that sprawls and circles, not exactly a parody of “War and Peace,” but certainly a spectral, playful revision of the idea of a novel that competes with history.

Twitter can't save you

Morozov, Evgeny. (2011). The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. New York: Perseus. 

The Last Brother

Appanah, Nathacha. (2011). The Last Brother. Translated by Geoffrey Strachan. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.

Inspired by the largely unknown story of 1,500 Jews who fled Europe only to be imprisoned in Mauritius from 1940 to 1945 after their ship was refused entry into Palestine (then under British rule), the novel recounts the heartfelt friendship between two boys: David, a Czech orphan, and Raj, an Indian-Mauritian grieving for the two brothers he lost in a flash flood. 

Tough without a gun

Has any leading man ever made women work so hard to get his attention? There he is, just minding his own business when along comes some dame who gets it in her head that they should fall in love. She flirts with him, ­kisses him first, talks back when he tells her off, stays when he buys her a ticket to go. He puts up a fight with all the grim resolve of a guy closing the shutters on a storm that’s about to raze his house. Sooner or later, the dame, who happens to be beautiful, wears him down and he comes around, against his better judgment. Humphrey Bogart’s shell was “a carapace,” as Stefan Kanfer writes about one of his roles, “meant to cover the psychic injuries of a decent man trying to forget the past.”

Kanfer, Stefan. (2011). Tough without a gun: the life and extraordinary afterlife of Humphrey Bogart. Knopf: New York.

Museum of the City of New York/Getty Images - Humphrey Bogart, around 1920.

This is not the Bogey we know.

So strong is the force of Bogart’s presence on screen that his performances induce a kind of double vision: we’re watching Rick, or Sam Spade, or Captain Morgan, and Humphrey Bogart at the same time.

 Indeed.

Bogart filmography.

Alaska

Brinkley, Douglas. (2011). The quiet world: saving Alaska's wilderness kingdom. New York : Harper.

A tribute to Alaska's wilderness regions details key preservation activities, leading contributors, and historical events.

Septembers of Shiraz

Kirkus: As intelligent as it is gripping.

At What Cost

THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING

Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do

By Eduardo Porter

296 pp. Portfolio/Penguin. $27.95.

Elizabeth Bishop

Born 8 February 1911

Elizabeth Bishop.: poems, prose, and letters

The inheritance of Rome

Historian Chris Wickham defies conventional views of the "Dark Ages" in European history with a work of rigorous yet accessible scholarship. Drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches, Wickham argues that these centuries were critical in the formulation of European identity.

Sophie's world : a novel about the history of philosophy

Recommended by Ellen Getreu.

The protagonists are Sophie Amundsen, a 14-year-old girl, and Alberto Knox, her philosophy teacher. The novel chronicles their metaphysical relationship as they study Western philosophy from its beginnings to the present. A bestseller in Norway.

Everlasting love

Davidson, Andrew. (2008). The gargoyle. New York: Doubleday.

Kirkus Reviews: A romance spanning centuries and continents finds a grotesque narrator redeemed by the love of a woman who claims they first met seven centuries earlier, in this deliriously ambitious debut novel.It's a credit to the craftsmanship of the Canadian writer that this spellbinding narrative seems considerably less ludicrous when reading it than when summarizing it