Recently in Books: News Category

It is one of those headlines or emails that comes across your screen and feels like a punch in the gut.  I was aware that his health was failing but you just don't think about losing someone like this until it happens.  And then it hits you that the world is somehow different.  It feels like the end of an era.

WFB, as he was often known, changed the face of American conservatism and politics like few others.  And like millions of others it was his writing, persona, and magazine that lead me to conservatism.  I own all of his books and have read them all excepting his last (Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription)

His range was remarkable.  He wrote political polemics; syndicated columns; unique memoirs; books on sailing, language, and faith; and novels.  He singlehandedly changed the perception of what conservatism could be.  And in the process changed America.

RIP.

I am getting closer to solving the technical difficulties that have played no small role in the lack of content around here. I hope to have everything ready for the big announcement next week. At that time I will announce my plans for the future and roll out some content including a contest, reviews, and a pod cast.

I realize that in many ways this is a lame thing to post on Friday, and I am not really even sure people care at this point, but that is where we find ourselves. C'est La Vie and all of that.

Seriously, however, there are going to be some changes and I hope they are for the better.

Madeleine L'Engle has passed away. NYT:

Madeleine L'Engle, who in writing more than 60 books, including childhood fables, religious meditations and science fiction, weaved emotional tapestries transcending genre and generation, died Thursday in Connecticut. She was 88.

I remember reading A Wrinkle in Time when I was younger but it has been a long time. I feel like I should re-read some of her work to see if I might appreciate it more now. Of course, soon I will be reading such books to my daughter. That is the beauty of these types of works.

She seems to have been a writer through and through:

Her deeper thoughts on writing were deliciously mysterious. She believed that experience and knowledge are subservient to the subconscious and perhaps larger, spiritual influences.

"I think that fantasy must possess the author and simply use him," she said in an interview with Horn Book magazine in 1983. "I know that is true of 'A Wrinkle in Time.' I cannot possibly tell you how I came to write it. It was simply a book I had to write. I had no choice.

"It was only after it was written that I realized what some of it meant."

And as it seems with so many famous authors, it was almost not to be:

What turned out to be her masterpiece was rejected by 26 publishers. Editors at Farrar, Straus and Giroux loved it enough to publish it, but told her that she should not be disappointed if it failed.

Thank God for FSG! And thank God for Madeleine L'Engle.

I achieved another milestone yesterday, my first book review in a newspaper. That's right. The Washington Times published my review of The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk.

To whet your whistle:

Russell Kirk occupies a paradoxical place in the history of modern American conservatism. Nearly everyone agrees Kirk was a critical force in the right's resurgence after World War II. His most famous work, "The Conservative Mind," helped to spark and define this resurgence while its six canons of conservative thought remain a touchstone of what it means to be conservative.

But Kirk is also in danger of becoming an empty historical gesture, a reference made out of habit. Despite his prolific career -- Kirk probably wrote more than any other conservative figure save William F. Buckley Jr. -- mainstream conservatives rarely engage his ideas today. He seems to have left few clear followers or doctrines to carry his influence forward.

In his informative and thought provoking new book, "The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk," Gerald J. Russello seeks to better understand Kirk's unique conservatism and to situate it within both the wider American Right and the intellectual currents of the time. He asks the question: Is Kirk still relevant?

Read the rest.

The opening paragraphs of David Frum's review (sub. req.) of Nixon and Kissinger:
Partners in Power by Robert Dallek is something I wish I had written. It sets up the subject, builds the tension, and then slides the knife in:

A protracted war. Divisions at home. Insecure energy supplies. Tensions with allies.

America in 2007? Yes, but also America in 1969. In the introduction to his new study of the foreign policy of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, Robert Dallek writes: “I am convinced that the many questions raised in this book have relevance for current national and international problems.”

The questions faced by Nixon and Kissinger do indeed resonate in our own time. Should Americans promote democracy abroad? How can peace be kept between India and Pakistan? Between Arabs and Israelis? Across the Taiwan Strait? How much deference should Congress show the president in foreign policy?

Nixon and Kissinger articulated forceful and coherent answers to these questions and many more — and Americans have fiercely debated their answers for nearly four decades. The debate continues into our own time. When President Bush charged, in his November 2003 Whitehall Palace speech, that “your nation [Britain] and mine, in the past, have been willing to make a bargain, to tolerate oppression for the sake of stability,” it was Nixon and Kissinger he was criticizing.

You might imagine that a historian would hesitate to join this voluminous and ferocious controversy unless he had something new and important to say. You would imagine wrong. Robert Dallek has written bestselling books about John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Somebody — his publisher, his agent, his wife, the financial-aid officers at his children’s colleges — obviously decided it made sense for him to add another administration to the series. Whoever that unknown adviser was, he did Dallek no favor.

Nixon and Kissinger represents itself as a deep new study of the making of American foreign policy. In reality, it is a hasty summary of newly released memos and phone transcripts from the Nixon and Kissinger archives, lightly seasoned with authorial commentary.

Ouch!

Anyone interested in rare or antique books might be interested to know I have two items for sale at eBay. OK, I don't really know how rare they are, but they are old.

- The first is a unique 1961 school edition of Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. This edition has a special study guide included.

- The second is a signed 1949 edition of I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Ogden Nash.

Both are hardbacks in good condition. So make a bid if you are interested.

I am finding it hard to post on all the interesting things that find their way to my inbox - I have no idea how bloggers with serious traffic sort through it all - and I am late to the game on this but I wanted to make a note of it nonetheless.

As part of the relaunch of the Vintage Classic Imprint Vintage is launching something called Vintage Classic Twins. The idea is to pair a classic work of literature with a contemporary novel in such a way as to provoke a new way of thinking about both classic and contemporary novels:

Each Twin consists of two books: a specially designed limited edition of one modern classic and one established work. The two books have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination. They have linked cover designs and will be shrink-wrapped together and sold for a special RRP of £7.99. Some of the pairings could be considered controversial but Vintage is keen to incite debate about these works and encourage readers to look at the classics from new and perhaps unexpected angles.

As a fan of both classics and contemporary works I think it is a great idea. Check out the website for the details and pairings. I am looking forward to the Crime pairing of Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith &Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky shamefully neither of which I have read. The same goes for the Youth pack of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh &Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Which pairing interests you? Any that you think are wrong? What classic and contemporary books do you think would match up well?

Here are some links for your browsing perusal:

- Interesting Christianity Today article by Ted Olsen: (A Bit Less) Positive About Potter:

"Harry Potter books and films have been attacked in the past by evangelicals for allegedly glamorizing the occult," say the papers. But Christians "are now eschewing condemnation for praise, embracing Ms. Rowling's tales as powerful religious fables for our time."

It's a narrative as fictional as the Potter books themselves. In late 1999, I noted that, contrary to media reports, no major Christian leader had spoken against the Harry Potter series, and several had actually supported the books. Some readers were upset with my summary, but the most prominent critic they could come up with at that time was Texas pastor John Hagee. Four books and five films later, it's time for an update to that piece.

- As part of a new marketing strategy author Brad Thor will be using BlogTalkRadio for a book tour:

Breaking the paradigm for the traditional, in-store author book tour, on July 26, 9:00 pm EST, Brad will log onto BlogTalkRadio, and open the phone lines for discussion of The First Commandment. Fans around the world can listen online via Brad's page or on their phones by calling: (646) 478-5945. Fans can also interact with Brad by using BTR's, "click to talk" feature online or using the same phone line they're using to tune in. The entire program is live via Internet stream and will be archived on BlogTalkRadio and made available as a subscribable podcast. As a special bonus for BlogTalkRadio listeners, Brad will also be signing books for a select group of fans who tune in to be distributed after the show.

- Bold Type has a new issue out:

This month we go a little bit country with a bevy of books that will transport you far from the concrete jungle. There's a surprisingly gripping account of the world's biggest trees and the people who love them, as well as a new history tome that exhumes a neglected chapter of the Civil Rights movement, and a memoir by a pair of Canadian writers who decided to mini-size their diet by only eating locally. In the fiction department, Sherman Alexie charts cycles of violence in his new novel, while Norwegian writer Per Petterson plumbs the dark echoes of a pastoral past, and novelist Matthew Sharpe won't let history be, imagining a post-apocalyptic Jamestown. Equally marvelous is a monograph of stunning landscapes and interiors by Swedish painter Mamma Andersson. We conclude with an interview with Shannon Ravenel of Algonquin Books, who edited and published the last, unfinished novel by the late Southern fiction titan Larry Brown.

- If you are part of a Book Club or want to join one, check out Simon and Schuster's Book Club Resources. They have launched on online book club themselves. The pick for July was The Last Days of Dogtown By Anita Diamant. Visit the Book Club Reader Discussion Board to post your opinion of the book, hear what others think, and converse with author, Anita Diamant herself. The August pick is America's Report Card By John McNally

I will confess to not being involved in the whole online social networking thing. I don't have a MySpace page, or twitter, or anything else.

But today I did stumble upon a couple of book orientated social networking sites and decided to try them out.

The first, is Shelfari:

Based in Seattle, Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers (for now). Shelfari was the first social media site focused on books, and will continue to innovate as it brings together the world's readers. Our mission is the enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word.

Harry Potter fans please note that Shelfari is having a Seven Days of Harry Potter contest:

If you're like us, you love the Harry Potter books and you're gonna buy the book right away. If you post a review of Harry Potter 7 on Shelfari.com within a week of its release, you will be entered to win one of the prizes, including a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

If that strikes you as simply more crass commercial marketing, then skip that part and just track your books and compare notes with friends.

- The other site I joined is Good Reads. Here is what the founder has to say about the site:

When I was in second grade, I discovered the Hardy Boys series. Ever since, I've loved to read — both for fun and to improve my mind. And I'm always looking for the next great book. Reviews on Amazon and other sites are helpful, but I thought there might be a better way.

One afternoon while I was scanning a friend's bookshelf for my next great read, it struck me. When I want to know what books to read, I'd rather turn to a friend than any random person, bestseller list or algorithm. So I thought I'd build a website — a website where I could see my friends' bookshelves and learn about what they thought of all their books.

Goodreads is that site. It is a place where you can see what your friends are reading and vice versa. You can create "bookshelves" to organize what you've read (or want to read). You can comment on each other's reviews. And on this journey with your friends you can explore new territory, gather information, and expand your mind.

I have to say after just a few moments of noodling around, I like the way this site works. I may just use this to track the books I read.

So if you enjoy this sort of networking sign up and connect with other avid readers.

Trying desperately to finish the first six Harry Potter books before Saturday I have neglected posting some interesting links and information. Since it appears I will fail to finish the books anyway, I might as well clear out my email and share these links.

- Writers will want to be sure to check out the The Warren Adler Short Story Contest . The 2007 Contest Theme is New York City

Born-and-bred, out-of-towner, tourist for a day, or just longing and dreaming to visit, you’ve got a story about New York, some moment or snapshot you feel evokes this mad, exciting city and the fascinating people at its core.

Maybe you’ve already written it and have it buried deep in your desk drawer or in the bowels of your hard drive. Or maybe it’s still bouncing around your head, waiting for that chance bolt to strike you.

Try telling it in no more than 2,500 words and you might share it with the world.

- In conjunction with the release of (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions Steve Almond is also having a contest:

In Steve Almond’s latest book, (Not that You Asked), Almond shares his rants, exploits, and obsessions about everything from why he hates Oprah’s Book Club to why he loves Vonnegut to what he thinks about being a first-time dad (whether you asked for it or not). Now, we are asking you for your own rants, exploits, and obsessions!

For more info on the contest see the unofficial rules for instructions and the official rules for the technicalities.

Here is how Steve describes how the book came together:
Seeing as how the format of Not That You Asked is somewhat unique in structure, how did the book itself and the content within evolve?

SA: By “unique in structure” I take it you mean “complete mess.” The book began life as a proposed biography of Kurt Vonnegut, whom I’d worshipped during high school and college. It was my Corporate Masters at Random House who suggested a book of essays. I was immediately suspicious, fearful that I’d be sent off to Toledo and told to write about the Amazing Bearded Fat Lady at the State Fair. (I have enough Bearded Fat Ladies in my life as it is.) So I told these Corporate Masters, I says to them: “Listen, I’m not really an essayist. I’m more a writer of depressing, pornographic short stories. Are you sure you want to me do this?” And they said, “Yes.” And I said, “I only write essays about the stuff that obsesses me.” And they said, “Fine.” And I said, “Okay, look. I want to believe you. But I’m a pathetic, anxiety ridden wretch. Meaning, I don’t really believe you, because you’re a bunch of Corporate Masters and it’s pretty much your job to hornswoggle pathetic, anxiety-ridden writers. So what I’m going to do is send you some of my essays and you can tell me if this is what you had in mind.” So that’s what I did. And their response was, “Looks dandy.” So I finally got it through my thick skull that they actually weren’t pulling an elaborate April Fools gag and signed on the dotted line. The manuscript I turned in had about twenty essays, many of them shorter pieces. My editor, Julia “Please Stop Being a Pathetic Wretch” Cheiffitz, suggested I cut some of these, and write a few more long pieces, which I did, after the standard period of aggrieved grumbling. This is a very long answer that I hope makes perfectly clear why the book is a complete mess. I deserve all the blame. Then again, I’m not sure readers care so much about organization. In the end, they just want good stories, a laugh, something to remind them how deeply embarrassed we all are, all the time.