bookpagedev

Behind the Book by bookpagedev

Tony Hillerman once inscribed a book to me with these words:

“For Rosemary – Who qualifies for the ‘Listening Woman’ title I once used.

–Tony Hillerman”

That inscription ranks with the most cherished compliments I have received in my life. But much as I love to know that he valued me as a good listener, I have to admit, it was easy to listen to Tony Hillerman. In fact, it was a breeze.

Like so many other people who came to know and love Tony Hillerman and his work, I first met him at a book-signing event. Working on assignment for a newspaper, I figured that while the occasion and the man would become indelible memories for me, I would be sure to fade into a sea of media faces in the mystery writer’s recollection.

I soon discovered that I was, as Tony would put it, “dead wrong.” I could not know then that I would have the privilege of co-editing The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories and A New Omnibus of Crime with this man.

When I was putting together my first book, The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews with Mystery Writers (G.K. Hall, 1994), Tony was on my wish list of interviewees. It seemed a long shot but nevertheless I sat down and wrote a letter beginning, “Dear Mr. Hillerman . . .”

To my delight, I received an immediate reply, inviting me to interview the author in his home on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Arriving at his door after the long trip from Boston, Massachusetts, I again referred to the author as “Mr. Hillerman” as I greeted him.

“Well, Ms. Herbert, you can call me Tony,” he said, smiling. “But do you know, I appreciate that you called me ‘Mr. Hillerman.’ It was one of the things that made me remember you from that time you interviewed me in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I find that politeness refreshing.”

For my part, I found it intensely stimulating to hear Tony talk about his life and work in an interview that lasted for hours, during which he even showed me a manuscript in progress and asked my opinion of a proposed plot twist. Although Tony would have shrugged off any extolling of his own importance, I felt not just trusted but honored to be privy to that secret in his plot.

When Oxford University Press asked me to find an important American mystery writer to co-edit The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories with me, Tony leapt to mind. But I wondered if he could make time for the project. So I offered to do all the groundwork and to write all the essays introducing each story and author. I told him all he would have to do is decide on the final contents and write a preface.

Tony told me, “That’s not fair. I insist on writing my share of the essays. And I’ll do the preface, too.”

And he was true to his word.

More recently, when I approached Oxford University Press to put together an anthology that would begin where Dorothy L. Sayers’ landmark 1928 anthology, The Omnibus of Crime, left off, Tony readily agreed to edit it with me. And so we launched into selecting stories to represent three quarters of a century of developments in our beloved genre.

We both knew it was a tall order to walk in the footsteps of Dorothy L. Sayers, but we were absolutely game to give it a try. To honor Sayers, we decided to call our book A New Omnibus of Crime. But while, like her volume, ours would be packed with stories that have crime at their hearts, our Omnibus was destined to speed at a faster pace than Sayers’, and to showcase crime writing in profoundly changing times.

As Tony wrote in his “Preface” to our book, Sayers’ The Omnibus of Crime “was and is a masterwork and a treasure. But, as Bob Dylan musically warned us, ‘The times they are a-changin’.

“And so has crime and the nature of mystery and detective fiction. . . . Therefore after seventy-five years which have included global warfare, the rise and fall of nations, the advent of space flight, motorized roller skates, crack cocaine, political correctness, and all sorts of other innovations, Rosemary Herbert and I feel the time is ripe for another look at what has become the most read form of printed literature on the planet.”

“How’s that for a start, Rosemary?” Tony asked me after reading those paragraphs to me out loud. Am I stealing anything you want to say in your ‘Introduction’?”

We were sitting side-by-side at two computers in his home office. I read him the opening words of my piece. It was clear we were working in tandem, without stealing one another’s thunder. And I was not just listening to Tony. He was listening to me.

When we turned back to our computer screens, Tony proved himself to be just as polite to Sayers as I had once been to him.

“With Miss Sayers,” he wrote, “and readers of today and tomorrow—in mind, we put together A New Omnibus of Crime. We think it does a fair job of representing the strengths of the crime writing genre in our time. Like her book, we hope it will also stand the test of time.”

While Tony is not here to celebrate the paperback release of our book, I’m proud to attest that his taste, his love and knowledge of the genre, and his voice are all alive in the book that was my very great joy to co-edit with him.

Rosemary Herbert co-edited A New Omnibus of Crime and The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories with Tony Hillerman, and served as editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing, all published by Oxford University Press. Her forthcoming mystery novel, Front Page Teaser: A Liz Higgins Mystery will be published by Down East Books in October.

Tony Hillerman created the celebrated Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee mysteries, set in New Mexico. He was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

Tony Hillerman once inscribed a book to me with these words: “For Rosemary – Who qualifies for the ‘Listening Woman’ title I once used. –Tony Hillerman” That inscription ranks with the most cherished compliments I have received in my life. But much as I love to know that he valued me as a good listener, […]

Are you ready for grilling season? Steven Raichlen shares his top tips

Behind the Book by bookpagedev

Grilling guru Steven Raichlen's best-selling cookbooks have been teaching readers how to get the most out of barbecue for years. In Planet Barbecue! (read our review here) he travels around the world to learn how other countries hone their grilling skills. Here he shares a few extra tips to get you on the right track.

Tune up your grill
Charcoal grill owners will want to scrape out any old ash and spray the vents with WD-40. Gas grill owners should make sure the burner tubes are free of cobwebs and spiders. Replace the igniter batteries if the grill won’t light. If you smell gas, brush the hoses and couplings with a leak detection liquid (made of equal parts water and dish soap)—bubbles will show any leaks.

Buy a second grill
Gas grills are convenient, but when it comes to smoking, you can’t beat charcoal. Join the more than 30 percent of Americans who own more than one grill. Use the gas grill on busy weeknights and fire up the charcoal grill on the weekends, when there is plenty of time to smoke low and slow.

Load up on fuel
Always keep an extra bag of charcoal or an extra tank of propane on hand. To take if up a notch, if you normally grill with charcoal briquettes, try natural lump charcoal because it burns cleaner. If you normally use natural lump charcoal, graduate up to wood (like oak or hickory) for a richer smoke flavor.

Ready your rubs
Prepare a few extra batches of Raichlen’s Basic Barbecue “Four Four” Rub (equal parts salt, pepper, paprika, and brown sugar) at the start of the season, so you always have some on hand for an impromptu grill session.

Gather your tools
Make sure you have the three essential tools: a long-handled grill brush; spring-loaded tongs; and an instant-read meat thermometer. Other more specialized cool tools that come in handy include a wood chip soaker, rib rack, cedar grilling planks, beer can chicken roaster, and a set of flat skewers for authentic shish kebabs.

Learn the lingo
• Grilling means to cook small, tender, and quick cooking foods directly over a hot fire.

• Barbecue is cooked next to, not directly over, the fire, at a low temperature for a long time in fragrant clouds of wood smoke.

• Indirect grilling is also done next to, not directly over, the fire, with or without wood smoke, at a higher temperature.

• Spit-roasting is what you do on the rotisserie.

Review the basics

• The surest way to burn or undercook food on the grill is to overcrowd the grate. Remember to leave 1 inch between each item and leave 1/3 of your grate [or grilling space] open. That way, if flare-ups occur, there is a safety zone to move the food to and dodge the flames.

• Steaks, chops, chicken, pork shoulders, and briskets will taste best if they rest for a few minutes before serving. This allows the meat to “relax,” which makes it more tender and succulent. Loosely tent with foil to hold in the heat.

Barbecuing on a budget? Try these tips:

• Stay home and fire up your grill. Simply commit to grilling at home and automatically save money—especially when entertaining a group. Grilling at home is also healthier for you and more fun.

• True barbecue is the original budget food. The low, slow heat of the smoker breaks down tough meat, making cheap cuts like brisket and ribs supernaturally flavorful.

• Save leftover charcoal for next time. If there is charcoal left over, cover the grill, closing the top and bottom vents to put out the fire. Use the remaining charcoal for a future grill session.

• Inexpensive steaks, like skirt and hanger, have a lot more flavor than costlier cuts, like filet mignon. Tenderize these cuts by flash grilling over high heat and slicing the meat thinly across the grain.

• Choose the less-expensive dark meat pieces of a chicken. Dark meat, like thighs and legs, are better marbled, richer tasting, and less prone to drying out when exposed to the high, dry heat of the fire than pricier white meat pieces. 95 percent of the world’s grill masters prefer dark meat.

• Expensive sirloin and kobe may have the prestige, but chuck delivers more flavor when making a burger. Choose chuck that is at least 15 percent fat and your burgers will be jucier. And try making an inside-cheeseburger by grating sharp cheddar, pepper jack, or blue cheese directly into ground meat; it melts as the meat cooks, producing an exceptionally moist burger.

• Grill dark oily fish like sardines, Spanish mackerel, or kingfish as an inexpensive seafood alternative. The omega-3 fatty fish oils are great for your health and keep the fish from drying out on the grill.

• Smoke whole briskets, beef clods (shoulders), pork shoulders, whole turkeys, and racks of spareribs. This yields more meat for the money, much less work is required, and everyone loves the primal pleasure of cutting into a communal size roast.

• Cook the whole meal on the grill. appetizer, main course, vegetable side dishes, and even dessert. It saves on fuel, clean-up, and wear and tear in the kitchen. And don’t forget, if something tastes good baked, fried, or sautéed, it probably tastes better grilled!

Grilling guru Steven Raichlen's best-selling cookbooks have been teaching readers how to get the most out of barbecue for years. In Planet Barbecue! (read our review here) he travels around the world to learn how other countries hone their grilling skills. Here he shares a few extra tips to get you on the right track. Tune […]

Middle Grade

Middle Grade

Behind the book: From NASA to novel

Behind the Book by bookpagedev

By Kristin Tubb

Growing up, I once told my father that I wanted to “own NASA.” Monetary and logistical issues aside, this seemed like an excellent career path to pursue. Space shuttles! Space stations! And, well . . . Space!

It was with much regret that I left this dream behind, and focused instead on the more realistic dream of studying to become an Aerospace Engineer at Auburn University. Alas, this was not to be my calling, either, as I consistently fell asleep during my classes and while reading my textbooks. (I took this as a sign. Rightfully so.)

Many years and numerous job changes later, I found myself nodding eagerly when editor Kathryn Knight at Dalmatian Press asked me to write an elementary-school-age activity book about space.

“It’ll be the universe, in 64 pages,” she said. I might’ve squealed.

The piecing together of the universe began. Constellations and black holes and meteors. When I reached the topic of comets, I started with the one comet I knew: Halley’s Comet. Within minutes of researching Halley’s Comet, I discovered that it travelled so close to our planet in the spring of 1910, Earth actually passed through the comet’s tail. People who lived in that time knew that Halley’s Comet was approaching, knew that Earth would pass through its tail, but no one knew—not exactly—what to expect. People began prophesying the end of days. And with that sniff of fear, out came the con artists.

Lead umbrellas. Gas masks. Trips to the moon. And comet pills, selling in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a dollar per. All of these items were hawked in the spring of 1910 by con artists and snake oil salesmen looking to turn a quick buck. Looking to cash in on fear. Reading those words—comet pills—I knew it was a novel I’d like to write.

I finished the book for Dalmatian Press (titled Space: An A+ Workbook), and started researching the fear that led up to May 18 and 19, 1910—the days that Earth was in the tail of Halley’s Comet. The event has been called the world’s first case of mass hysteria; it was the first time there was ample enough media to alert most of the world’s population to this kind of event. (And by media, we’re talking newspapers. Radios weren’t yet widely in use.)

Headlines read “Hey! Look Out! The Comet’s Tail is Coming Fast” and “Whole Science World Waits Comet’s Tail As It Sweeps Earth” and “Earth Ready to Enter Tail of Comet.” But despite the fact that the world’s top scientists promised that no danger would befall Earth, the citizens of our dear planet believed what they wanted to believe.

Farmers refused to plant or tend to their crops. People donated all their belongings to their churches in penance. Rumors started that being submerged in water would keep you safe, and rentals of U-boats and submarines soared.

Yet knowing all of these fantastic (and true!) details, I still needed a backdrop for my main character, Hope McDaniels. Why would she want to sell comet pills? It’s difficult to write a character who is a con artist and still manage to make her likeable. I needed Hope to be desperate.

Since the story took place in 1910, I started researching vaudeville as a possible career for 13-year-old Hope. (It was plausible she’d have a career at 13. In 1910, most children studied to around age 11 before leaving school to find work.) Vaudevillans had a grueling schedule—many of them didn’t even own a home or rent an apartment, they travelled so much. They lived in sleeper cars and boarding houses and performed the same act four times a day, every day, except for days on the rails.

That was it. Hope hated travelling on the vaudeville circuit, and she saw the opportunity to leave blazing toward her in the nighttime sky. Others were cashing in on the fear of the comet—why shouldn’t she?

Writing Selling Hope was a rare opportunity to combine my interests in space, live entertainment and history. The research was, in some parts, so funny, so breathtaking, so scary and so touching that you can guarantee I never fell asleep over those books.

(And for the record: writing history for kids? Much better than owning NASA.)

Selling Hope is Kristin O’Donnell Tubb’s second work of historical fiction for young readers. Her debut novel, Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different, tells the story of families in Tennessee’s historic Cades Cove who were displaced by the opening of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Tubb and her family live near Nashville.

By Kristin Tubb Growing up, I once told my father that I wanted to “own NASA.” Monetary and logistical issues aside, this seemed like an excellent career path to pursue. Space shuttles! Space stations! And, well . . . Space! It was with much regret that I left this dream behind, and focused instead on […]

Behind the Book: Knitting nirvana

Behind the Book by bookpagedev

"There."

"Like this?"

"No, too styled."

Too styled? I thought that was our mission: "styling" the handknits for the photographs that are to go into our book, Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters’ Guide.

We are in the kitchen of a Victorian house in the Catskills, hunkered around a knitted dishcloth, seeking to capture its soul. There are five of us: Steve Gross, a distinguished architectural photographer who has in a weak moment agreed to shoot our book for us; Sue Daley, his partner who is a gifted stylist; my co-author, Kay Gardiner; my sister-in-law Mary Neal Meador; and me. The kitchen is crammed with laundry baskets filled with stuff we are going to photograph for the book, including the baby burp cloths which are still not finished. Steve’s equipment is a tangle of cables, cases and shiny umbrellas that look like leftovers from a moon mission. It’s not obvious to me how this is going to go.

When we decided to write a book about knitting, Kay and I had a clear vision of what we wanted to create. Ours would be the knitting book we always wished we could find. It would have stories, a wide variety of cool patterns, and most of all, glorious, lush photographs which convey the warm-hearted wonderfulness of handknits. As we worked on the book, certain elements fell into place. Patterns: check. Stories: check. But the photography? Yikes! It loomed like a soul-sucking black hole. We knew nothing about photography. At some point we knew we had to start the photography process, but the word Hindenburg lurked in my mind. There was no way the photographs could come together. We avoided setting a schedule for the shoots. Maybe MAGIC would happen and some beautiful pictures would turn up.

Well, it really was magic. It was like when Penn and Teller explain the trick to you, then do the trick again and you still don’t know how they did it.

We first met Steve and Sue in their Manhattan studio, which looked like Hollywood’s idea of a photographer’s loft: industrial, high-ceilinged, with a huge light table in an otherwise empty room. It seemed impossible that these people would want to work on a knitting book. Surely they were too busy being cool. But they kept talking to us, and they never blinked when we said we would be photographing homely handknits like bath mats and baby bibs. We could not believe our good fortune.

Steve told that us that on a good day, they take 10 shots. This seemed ridiculously slow to us, who rou-tinely take a zillion (blurry) (ill-framed) shots of a sleeve when we’re writing about a knitting project on our blog, masondixonknitting.com. Snipsnap let’s get it to it, we thought.

But months later, now that we’re huddled around that dishcloth, debating whether soap bubbles will photograph well, worrying whether the dishcloth looks sincere enough, I begin to wonder if we will get one shot a day.

We move on. We wander through the house, figuring out where to shoot each item. Steve and Sue communicate at some frequency only dogs can hear. We conclude that they can read each other’s mind. They go 10 minutes without a word, in the tiniest attic bedroom of this rambling old house, climbing into the closet to get the right angle, futzing with the lighting in order to photograph a blanket casually draped around a bedpost. The dozens of black flies swarming in the window behind the bed worry us—a bit too much plague. Steve doesn’t seem concerned.

Kay constantly works on the baby burp cloths. Mary Neal presses hand towels. Never have I felt less necessary.

At intervals Steve lets me look through his lens. From its well-used appearance, his Hasselblad has clearly taken a million photographs, but to me, the small, square image is the freshest thing I have ever seen.

Piece by piece, Steve and Sue transform our baskets of precious, lumpy handknits into one lovely still life after another. Not only do Steve and Sue seem to communicate in some secret code, they also understand instinctively how we want the photographs to feel.

We traveled to four locations with Steve and Sue: the Catskills house, Kay’s apartment, a Manhattan townhouse and a house in Southampton. Today, as I flip through the finished book, seeing all these places lurking in the background, I marvel at the way Steve and Sue created a single mood for these photographs. We cared desperately about the way these pictures ought to look, yet we had no idea how to do it. It was an education to watch Steve and Sue make it happen so easily, and with so few words.

An education, and a relief. The black flies? They vanished in a perfect exposure of bright light from the window. As for the dishcloth? Its humble, tender soul is caught on film, right there on page 19.

A former editor of BookPage, Ann Shayne rediscovered her love of knitting when she left the workplace to stay at home with her two young children. She met her co-author, Kay Gardiner, on a knitting message board in 2002, and the two began an e-mail correspondence that led to the popular blog.

"There." "Like this?" "No, too styled." Too styled? I thought that was our mission: "styling" the handknits for the photographs that are to go into our book, Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters’ Guide. We are in the kitchen of a Victorian house in the Catskills, hunkered around a knitted dishcloth, seeking to capture its soul. […]

Memoir

Memoir

Behind the book: Finding gratitude—and my way as a writer

Behind the Book by bookpagedev

Although I had wanted to be a writer much earlier in life, when I finally received a powerful inspiration, it wasn’t a call to write a book or even anything that could be described in conventional terms, as, say, an essay or something. Rather, it was an inspiration to be grateful, to notice the good things in my life, and to write thank-you notes for them. Three hundred and sixty-five thank you notes, to be specific. So for 15 months, I was writing, but not really writing a book. The only things I was writing were thank-you notes.

I needed a powerful inspiration to finish a writing project. I had long ago abandoned my dream of being a writer, and, after starting my own law firm in 2000, my life had become completely consumed by my work. But the responses and improvements in my life that sprang from the thank-you notes were immediate, surprising and themselves inspiring. So I kept writing them.

I wrote the thank-you notes first on an Excel spreadsheet. I would record the name and address, and the spiritual or material gift for which I was thankful—a kind of “gratitude list.” Then I would write out a first draft of the note in one of the fields of the spreadsheet. This helped me to organize my thoughts, so I wouldn’t have to repeatedly start over when I started to handwrite the note. I didn’t want to waste paper. In other fields of the spreadsheet, I would make notes, for example, about how someone responded when they received the note.

As the year went on, and I began to feel better about life, there were times when I would think of going back to writing. Then I would look at my spreadsheet, and see I was behind on my thank-you notes. So instead of writing something else, I would write more thank-you notes.

The book was written in the few spaces I had in my life. While I drank my first cup of coffee at Starbucks. I would finish one cup while typing, get my refill for $0.50, and be off to work. I wrote thank-you notes to two special baristas who would remember my name and my order and greet me on these mornings. Ever wonder what all those people huddled over their laptops are assiduously typing? I was one of them. This is what I was typing.

The book reveals what I could sense about the source of the inspiration at the time it came to me. The man who began the project on January 1, 2008, would not have harbored some of these thoughts. When I started writing the notes, the spell-check pointed out that I could not even properly spell the word grateful.

Writing 365 thank-you notes led me to discover that my life was not nearly the tragedy I saw it as. My life was instead blessed and protected, fostered and defended by hundreds of people who had taken an interest in me, cared about me and at various points along the way, rescued me. I hope that those who read it will find a way to make similar discoveries in their lives.

John Kralik is a lawyer whose 2008 vow to write a daily thank-you note inspired a memoir and a new way of looking at his life. He lives near Los Angeles. Read our review of 365 Thank-Yous.

Readers’ Choice: Best Books of 2009

Feature by bookpagedev

In December we asked readers to tell us the best book they read in 2009 (the book didn’t necessarily have to come out in 2009). The results span genres from literary fiction to fast-paced bestseller to time-traveling romance. Several of these books overlap with our own Best of 2009 picks. The results are in order of votes.

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn/Putnam)
2. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial)
4. South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)
5. Under the Dome by Stephen King (Scribner)
6. An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte)
7. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Vintage)
9. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (Ecco)
10. The Shack by William P. Young (Windblown Media)
11. I, Alex Cross by James Patterson (Little, Brown)
12. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press)
13. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (St. Martin's Griffin)
14. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (Harper)
15. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (Scribner)
16. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton (Putnam)
17. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
18. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Knopf)
19. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (Scribner)
20. Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult (Atria)
21. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jame Ford (Ballantine)
22. Still Alice by Lisa Genova (Pocket)
23. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (Atria)
24. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Holt)
25. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper)
26. Ford County by John Grisham (Doubleday)
27. Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
28. The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
29. Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster)
30. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Delacorte)
31. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
32. Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (HarperCollins)
33. Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (Hyperion)
34. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf)
35. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (Morrow)
36. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner)
37. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (Penguin)
38. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking)
39. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin)
40. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf)
41. Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts (Berkley)
42. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Random House)
43. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking)
44. Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson (Viking)
45. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruis-Zafrón (Doubleday)
46. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (Hyperion)
47. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin)
48. Black Hills by Nora Roberts (Putnam Adult)
49. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)
50. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)

In December we asked readers to tell us the best book they read in 2009 (the book didn’t necessarily have to come out in 2009). The results span genres from literary fiction to fast-paced bestseller to time-traveling romance. Several of these books overlap with our own Best of 2009 picks. The results are in order […]

BookPage March 2011 preview

Feature by bookpagedev

Want a preview of the March issue of BookPage? Assistant Web Editor Eliza Borné guides you through the highlights—while the other BookPage editors work out their issues with young literary phenom Téa Obreht. Click through to watch!

Want to learn more about the books featured in the video?

Read an interview with Téa Obreht.
Read an interview with Gabrielle Hamilton.
Read reviews of Georgia Bottoms, West of Here and Townie.

Want more videos? Visit BookPage.com on YouTube.

Summer suspense

Feature by bookpagedev

Plenty of chills and thrills are out there for suspense lovers this summer. Pick up one of these three novels and make it a season to shiver.

Essays, Nonfiction

Nonfiction Essays

Review

Review by bookpagedev

by Julie Hale

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s now a cultural institution, the magazine made a somewhat lackluster debut in February of 1925 and would have folded a few months later had it not been for Ross. A bluff, determined Westerner sometimes at odds with the Eastern elite, the editor fought hard to find a focus for his weekly. Rallying writers in the ’20s and ’30s many of them from the renowned Algonquin Round Table he created a forum that would publish some of the most memorable journalism of the 20th century. The magazine may be named for New York, but its span exceeds the city’s limits. Its list of contributors is long and illustrious John Cheever, Eudora Welty, James Baldwin and William Trevor, to name a few and the number of books written about it or featuring the work of its writers and artists gets bigger every season. Worthy titles crop up regularly we counted eight in the past six months alone and a few of the most recent releases are highlighted here.

One of America’s greatest humorists, New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber was an artist who could, with a few shapely, articulate lines, produce quibbling siblings, bickering spouses and, of course, canines dogs of all shapes and sizes, dispositions and breeds. His big, bumbling mutts were creatures that didn’t know the difference between man and beast, that dragged their owners whither they would and did things only humans could went snow-skiing, say, or got psychoanalyzed. These and other Thurberesque absurdities are collected in The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles, an endearing anthology, edited by author Michael Rosen, of the artist’s dog-centered writings and drawings. Comprised of New Yorker shorts and unpublished archival material, along with selections from the book Thurber’s Dogs, this delightful, amply illustrated volume is filled with humor, advice and reflection Thurber-style on man’s best friend.

In the 1930s, as a reporter for The New Yorker, John McNulty frequented Costello’s Irish saloon on Third Avenue, a boisterous gin mill filled with cabbies, horseplayers and bums on the make that he immortalized in the pages of the magazine. The results are collected in This Place on Third Avenue, a group of slice-of-life stories brimming with humor and drama that feature the saloon, its habituÅ½s and their pungent, city-steeped dialect. This is the low life writ large, no fringe, no frills. McNulty calls ’em as he sees ’em, and the titles tell all: “Atheist hit by truck.” “Man here keeps getting arrested all the time.” Though a skyscraper now stands at the site of Costello’s, thanks to McNulty, the spirit of the place and the era lives on.

The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town brings together the best of the magazine’s trademark “Talk” essays, those succinct journalistic gems, full of crystalline reportage and plainspoken prose, about the everyday and the remarkable, the little man and the big. Spanning nine decades, The Fun of It opens with selections from the 1920s and features contributions by some of the magazine’s best writers, from E. B. White to Jamaica Kincaid to John McPhee. Edited by long-time staff member Lillian Ross, who chose from thousands of pieces, the volume is studded with standouts. Especially memorable are antic essays on the city from a young John Updike, and Jane Kramer’s visit with Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton.

Another collection of classic profiles by Joseph Mitchell, McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon was included in his anthology Up In the Old Hotel but has not existed as a separate volume since it was first published in 1943, when it became a bestseller. Offering a gallery of unforgettable characters oystermen, barkeeps and street-walking eccentrics, a gypsy king and a true-blue bearded lady McSorley’s is vintage reporting from the man The New York Times once called “a listener of genius.”

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s […]