"The Border Lords" by T. Jefferson Parker
31 Jan 2011 23:13:37
In the past, he has given us characters like Allison Murrieta, an outrageous lady outlaw descended from a famous early California bandito, and Robbie Brownlaw, a homicide detective suffering from a rare neurological disorder that makes him "see" voices as colors.
But in "The Border Lords," Parker introduces Joe Leftwich, a Roman Catholic priest who exposes two characters to a deadly disease for reasons that are never made clear.
Parker also brings back Mike Finnegan, who first made his appeara... Read Full Story
J.D. Salinger full over the understanding by his letters
31 Jan 2011 23:11:45
he 50 letters and four postcards have been donated to a British university, which made them public Thursday on the first anniversary of the author's death at the age of 91. They show that the enigmatic writer of "The Catcher in the Rye" was an affectionate friend who enjoyed gardening, trips to the theater and church suppers — and thought one restaurant chain's burgers were better than the rest.
Chris Bigsby, professor of American studies at the letters' new home, the University of East Anglia,... Read Full Story
J.D. Salinger has got hat to say for the world
29 Jan 2011 23:20:07
Salinger wrote the letters to Donald Hartog from London, between October 1986 and January 2002, and Hartog's daughter Frances and his other children have donated them to Britain's University of East Anglia (UEA) Archives.
The men met in 1937 when they were both 18 years-old and sent by their fathers to study German in Vienna. They stayed in touch after their return home in 1938 and continued to write to each other until the 1950s, although these early letters no longer survive.
After several d... Read Full Story
Stieg Larsson relatives attitude
29 Jan 2011 22:39:08
Eva Gabrielsson, who was Larsson's partner for over three decades, last week published a memoir titled "Millennium, Stieg and Me" in which she claimed that his brother and father, his heirs, built a "Stieg Larsson industry."
The brother, Joakim, hit back at the allegation in an online open letter writing: "We have not contributed to a 'Stieg Larsson industry' aside from books and films, which was Stieg?s own wish."
"On the contrary, we have actively prevented attempts at this. But now that so ... Read Full Story
Jo Shapcott took a main prize on the awards "On Mutability"
27 Jan 2011 00:55:47
Shapcott said she was shocked to take the 30,000-pound ($48,000) prize, more often won by novelists.
She said late Tuesday the book was "a series of meditations on mortality, some of which are terribly cheerful, in fact ecstatic."
The Costa prizes are awarded in five categories, with one chosen as the overall winner.
The other finalists were Maggie O'Farrell's novel "The Hand That First Held Mine," Kishwar Desai's debut novel "Witness the Night," Edmund de Waal's memoir "The Hare with Amber E... Read Full Story
"The Cypress House" by Michael Koryta
27 Jan 2011 00:53:13
Not as deeply supernatural as Stephen King, Koryta does match King for storytelling, and he creates characters who come alive for readers.
In "The Cypress House," his latest noir-thriller, he introduces Arlen Wagner, a laborer who served in World War I and is now trying to make it through the Great Depression.
Wagner has a talent he would rather not have: He can tell when someone is about to die. It starts with a trace of smoke about the eyes, a sign that is never wrong.
The book opens on a t... Read Full Story
Donald Rumsfeld will give us a new memoir
27 Jan 2011 00:52:14
When Rumsfeld began thinking about his book, "Known and Unknown," he imagined a more typical Washington release: a quick, impressionistic story based on whatever he recalled. Instead, he and a team of six aides worked four years on what became a 700-page narrative, with an additional 100-plus pages of end notes. Dozens of books were consulted and thousands of documents reviewed, from White House memos to letters Rumsfeld's parents wrote to each other during World War II. Rumsfeld's sister Joan a... Read Full Story
"And the Rest Is History" by Marlene Wagman-Geller
26 Jan 2011 02:13:56
Some of the couples will be better known than others — Antony and Cleopatra, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu — but some of the most interesting, Charles Parnell and Katharine O'Shea, for instance, are among the lesser known.
Parnell, a 19th-century Irish politician and confirmed bachelor, said that on meeting O'Shea, he knew she was his destiny even though she was a married woman. The relationship, which continued devotedly for decades, finally cos... Read Full Story
Muslim-majority Kashmir has got acient books collections
26 Jan 2011 02:12:12
Muslim-majority Kashmir has a rich literary tradition dating back to the 14th century, but few outside readers are familiar with its beauty because little has been translated.
But now a growing number of Kashmiri works are appearing in English as reader interest in a region beset by a separatist insurgency since 1989 is growing, festival organisers said.
Invited to appear at the five-day Jaipur Literary Festival, which began on Friday and is billed by organisers as the biggest in Asia, poet Na... Read Full Story
Justin Bieber wrote a book called "Celebrity Autobiography"
26 Jan 2011 02:10:12
That's the premise behind "Celebrity Autobiography," a riotous, slightly subversive show with a rotating lineup of famous people who read from the books of such dabbling authors as Justin Bieber, Burt Reynolds, Star Jones, Geraldo Rivera and Tiger Woods.
Though some participants take a few creative liberties, for the most part there are no impersonations, props or costumes. Just the carefully selected indulgent words spoken aloud, as if anyone cares about Suzanne Somers' poetry or what order Jo... Read Full Story
Something interesting about chuch book "The Lost Manuscripts From the Sistine Chapel"
24 Jan 2011 01:47:00
For its only U.S. stop, the display of the books with vibrant illustrations complementing liturgical writings opens Sunday at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University.
"The Lost Manuscripts From the Sistine Chapel: An Epic Journey From Rome to Toledo," which was on view at the National Library of Spain in Madrid in the fall, will run through April 23 in Dallas before the books, called codices, go back to their respective archives at three libraries in Spain, away from public view.
T... Read Full Story
About Stieg Larsson's familly
24 Jan 2011 01:44:36
On a talk show to be aired by Swedish Television on Friday, Joakim Larsson says he and his father — who inherited the author's estate — plan to donate most of the 250 million kronor ($38 million) they've earned to date from the popular books to charity.
"How much to keep for ourselves? We've never even thought about it," he said.
The writer's companion for three decades, Eva Gabrielsson, wants control of Larsson's works and says the family is commercializing his legacy for profit. She inherite... Read Full Story
