I don't know about you, but I just loved watching the complete Jane Austen televised films on PBS recently. I had never really considered myself a Jane Austen fan, but when the films were over, I went into a kind of "Jane withdrawal." So, besides her six completed novels, I looked for books about her and was surprised to find just how many there are, of all kinds.
Self-proclaimed "Austen devotee" Lori Smith has written "A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love, and Faith." This intimate memoir of a recent trip Smith took to England is an interesting mix of her experiences attending a week-long theology school, falling for a man she meets there, journaling about being an "imperfect" Christian, and "following Jane Austen's life through the country." Smith presents biographical sketches of Austen, often comparing how she feels with what Austen's characters felt or the situations they found themselves in, and thus turns Austen into a very real, accessible person. She walks the roads and fields of England in the rain and sun to see the great houses, the sea shore and other places represented in Austen's books. She muses about men, faith, trust, joy and grief, and she comes up with some nice, philosophical insights on all this, such as "God does not love me because of anything I can do ... He simply loves me."
For a fictional trip to the world of Austen, "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" by Laurie Viera Rigler is highly enjoyable. Independent California woman Courtney Stone, who says Austen novels are her "number one drug of choice," falls asleep reading and wakes up in a strange room with oddly dressed people calling her "Miss Mansfield." Somehow, she has moved through time and taken the place of a Regency-era woman. She must act as if nothing's wrong while maneuvering through the rites, rules and manners of 1813 England. The minutiae of her daily adventures in the past are grist for a lot of humor (chamber pots included). It's no "Pride and Prejudice," but it's fun, and I kept thinking of it for days after I read it, and smiling.
For a complete biography of the popular author, there's "Becoming Jane Austen" by Jon Spence. This fascinating book was fictionalized into a film, "Becoming Jane." Spence shows how Austen used material from her own family's history in her novels. He offers insights into her writing style and critiques her books. He interweaves the adventures of her characters with points of Austen's own life. The most interesting note for me: Austen based one of the characters in "Pride and Prejudice" on Tom Lefroy, who was perhaps the love of her life. But it wasn't the dashing Mr. Darcy who took on the character traits of Lefroy; it was Miss Elizabeth Bennet. The very readable biography is full of details that add color and texture to what we know of Austen.
"Jane Austen in Bath: Walking Tours of the Writer's City" by Katharine Reeve is another nice resource, and it comes in the form of a pretty little gift book. Austen was an avid walker, and here Reeve presents four mapped-out walks through the city of Bath, with stops at places Austen would have frequented, or where her characters had their adventures. Explains the author: "This book explores Bath as Jane knew it: as a young visitor, as a resident, and as a writer, following her along the streets she walked, to the areas she lived in, the places she visited, shopped, and portrayed in her novels." Reeve offers trivia about Georgian architecture, dining habits, card parties, dances, the baths, fashion, shopping, the theater and the market. The book is interspersed with quotations from Austen's novels and letters, and it's illustrated throughout with really lovely antique color prints of the city. It also works as a travel resource, with handy information for tourists.
"Jane Austen for Dummies" was written by Joan Klingel Ray, the president of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Its sheer entertainment value came as a complete surprise to me. It's a treasure trove of trivia on all the Austen novels and characters, using user-friendly language that makes it not just a good resource, but a lot of fun to read -- for example, the author calls Lady Catherine "Darcy's control-freak aunt." Ray discusses what it would have been like to live in Austen's world, rules of society, women's and men's roles, religion and morality, "knowing one's place," courtship and much more. She includes a "Jane Austen Chronology" and Top 10 lists of Austen-related topics. It's a hefty 361 pages. I really recommend this for Austen fans!
I have one more novel for you: "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler. This light and easy to read book also has been made into a movie. Six people, one for each of the popular author's novels, decide to get together on a regular basis as "the Central Valley/River City all-Jane-Austen-all-the-time book club." At times, what's happening to the characters parallels or otherwise relates to the book the group is reading that month. In this, it very much reminds me of another novel about a book club, "The Reading Group" by Elizabeth Noble.
I thought the "Dummies" book would have a kind of Cliff's Notes section; well, it didn't, but -- aha! Here's one, in the back of this novel! I found a summary of all six Austen novel plots and great questions for discussion. There are also pages of quotes from other authors and from reviewers. My favorite is from Mark Twain: "Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone." OK, so we're not all fans!
For a list of best-sellers and other book news, go to www.recordpub.com, click on "Lifetimes," and check out "One for the Books" online. Send news to Books@recordpub.com.
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BOOK NOTES, One for the Books Extra Online Exclusives:
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Here's the list of March best-selling mysteries from the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association:
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Here's what local book clubs are reading:
May 5 -- "Emma" by Jane Austen -- The Book Discussion Group at the Randolph Library, 6:30 p.m. in the Randolph Senior Center. (330) 325-7003. (June 2 -- "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler)
May 12 -- "Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens" by Jane Dunn -- Pierce-Streetsboro Library's Book Discussion Gruop, 6:45 p.m. in the library's meeting room. (330) 626-4458. (June 9 -- "Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell" by Karen DeYoung)
May 19 -- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier -- Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna, 6:30 p.m. (330) 296-2827, ext. 202.
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Congratulations to Michael Chabon! His novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, has been nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Michael Chabon is the first author to be nominated for the Nebula Award, Edgar Award, and Hugo Award for the same book.
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A new book has been added to the NCR Book Club online: Quest for the Living God: Mapping the Frontiers in the Theolofy of God by Sister Elizabeth Johnson.
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from Publishers Weekly:
"Disney Book Group has signed a deal with Miley Cyrus (star of Hannah Montana) for world rights to her first book, to be published in spring 2009 by Disney-Hyperion. The book will cover Cyrus's upbringing in Tennessee, close relationship with her family and rise to fame, and will include family photos and stories. Nearly 15 million Hannah Montana-related books have sold globally to date. Jonathan Yaged, v-p and North America publisher of Disney Book Group, negotiated the deal."
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Congratulations to Robert Hass, Saul Friedlander, and Robert Dallek! Hass' poetry collection, Time and Materials, and Friedlander's nonfiction work, The Years of Extermination, have won Pulitzer Prizes in their respective categories. In addition to these two winning titles, Robert Dallek's Nixon and Kissinger was a finalist in the History category.
For more information and a complete list of winning titles, visit http://www.pulitzer.org<>
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According to Publishers Weekly, the week of April 14 marked "a milestone for writer Sara Gruen and her Chapel Hill, N.C.-based publisher Algonquin Books. The paperback edition of her novel Water for Elephants has been on the New York Times bestsellers list for 52 consecutive weeks and has 1.8 million copies in print. The hardcover edition was on the Times list for 13 weeks and has 285,000 copies in print. The next closest Algonquin best-seller, according to publicity director Michael Taeckens, was Robert Morgan's novel Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage, which was selected as an Oprah Book Club pick in 2000 and subsequently stayed on the Times list for 12 weeks."
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"Eat, Pray, Love" fans can now take the "Eat, Pray, Love Tour" in Bali:
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The Times of London had this to say about J.K. Rowling's lawsuit against the people who want to publish a Harry Potter lexicon without her:
Here's a report on the trial from the New York Times:
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The Guardian says "First-time novelists honoured in Orange shortlist"
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from Shelf Awareness -- New Titles:
So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel by Leif Enger recounts the journey of a failed novelist and an outlaw from Minnesota to Mexico during the early 20th century.
The Whole Truth by David Baldacci follows government and media leaders during a geopolitical crisis.
The House at Riverton: A Novel by Kate Morton follows the servant of a struggling English family during World War I.
Quicksand by Iris Johansen is the 12th novel featuring forensic sculptor Eve Duncan.
Santa Fe Dead by Stuart Woods is the third thriller with attorney Ed Eagle.
The Third Circle by Amanda Quick is the fourth entry in the Arcane Society series.
Willie Nelson: An Epic Life by Joe Nick Patoski chronicles the life and career of a cultural icon.
Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter by Sidney Poitier recounts the actor's influential life and career.
A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs explores one particularly bad father-son relationship.
Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman by Mary Tillman is the account by his mother of the former NFL player's controversial death by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet follows a lonely woman who is reunited with a childhood love.
The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel by Alison Weir chronicles the turbulent early life of Queen Elizabeth I.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith follows a former war hero who tries to find a serial killer in Stalinist Russia.
Hellboy Library Edition Volume 1: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola and John Byrne presents two complete stories in a hardcover version.
Days of Infamy by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen chronicles the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Secret to True Happiness: Enjoy Today, Embrace Tomorrow by Joyce Meyer gives spiritual advice on happiness.
America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation by Kenneth C. Davis examines lesser known incidents in American history.
Now out in paperback:
The Devil Who Tamed Her by Johanna Lindsey
The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver and Steven L. Hopp
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From Publishers Weekly -- Comics On-Sale Calendar for April 16, 2008:
Faker (DC/ Vertigo)
Nixon's Pals (Image)
Howard the Duck: Media Duckling (Marvel)
Hunter's Moon (BOOM! Entertainment)
All We Ever Do is Talk About Wood (Drawn & Quarterly)
In the Small (Hachette Book Group)
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career GuideYou'll Ever Need (Penguin Group)
Kaze no Hana (Yen Press)
Magical JRX Vol. 2 (UDON Entertainment)
Kieli Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
Speed Racer Vol. 1-2 Box Set (Digital Manga Publishing)
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Looking for an e-Book Reader but don't want to pay the $400 for an Amazon Kindle?
Sony has a discount offer going on for its digital book, and the James Patterson Special Edition Reader Digital Book offers the specially designed reader and a package of six titles of the Women's Murder Club series for $329.
Sony has partnered with New York Times bestselling author James Patterson to introduce the special edition James Patterson Reader Bundle, available just in time for Mother's Day.The unique Reader eBook bundle includes six downloadable titles from the incredibly popular "Women's Murder Club" series courtesy of Sony's eBook Store. Encased in a limited edition autographed James Patterson cover, the portable Reader Digital Book is a great gift for mom and allows her to access her favorite James Patterson titles anytime/anywhere.
The eBook Bundle also includes a customized "Women's Murder Club" protective skin from SkinIt to minimize any wear and tear to your Reader and a pre-loaded excerpt from James Patterson's upcoming romance novel "Sundays at Tiffany's."
The Sony Reader Digital Book holds about 160 eBooks or hundreds more with optional removable memory cards. Its compact and lightweight design makes it the perfect travel companion, allowing you to carry a library's worth of books wherever you go. With thousands of eBook titles available at The eBook Store from Sony, you can choose to download new releases, classics and popular book titles.
The New bundle is available starting today at SonyStyle stores nationwide and on
http://www.SonyStyle.com<>
for about $330.
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from Shelf Awareness -- Here's a cool book plug that ran on VH1 Radio:
"Queen guitarist Brian May will take part in a signing session in California next month, but it won't be records and pictures he'll be putting his John Hancock on; the rocker will be autographing copies of his latest book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe [Johns Hopkins University Press, $29.95, 9780801889851/0801889855]. Fresh off receiving his Ph.D. in astrophysics, May co-wrote the tome with legendary astronomer Patrick Moore and astrophysicist Chris Lintott. The book covers the history of the universe from the Big Bang to Heat Death and touches on evolution and how the world will end. It includes photographs, timelines and a glossary, and Brian will be signing copies of it on May 6th at Book Soup in L.A."
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from The Guardian, Sarah Anderson's Top 10 books about wilderness:
Founder of the innovative Travel Bookshop that formed the setting for the movie Notting Hill, Sarah Anderson has written several travel books. At the age of 10, Anderson's arm was amputated as a result of a rare but virulent strain of cancer. Published this month, Halfway to Venus dwells upon the author's experience as a single-armed independent traveller, reflecting on other famous amputees and their prosthetic limbs in life and literature. Halfway to Venus: A One-Armed Journey by Sarah Anderson is published by Umbrella Books.
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The Great American Road Trip: immortalized by Jack Kerouac, it holds a special place in the American romantic imagination. Now Lexus magazine is adding to the literature of the road with the 2008 Lexus Original Fiction Series, "In the Belly of the Beast." The series, which will feature chapters written by leading American authors, premieres online at the newly redesigned Lexus Web site
and in the Spring 2008 issue of Lexus magazine. The follow-up to Lexus's lauded 2007 series, "The Black Sapphire Pearl," "In the Belly of the Beast" chronicles a young couple's cross-country journey from Brooklyn to the Bay Area in their Lexus IS F. Far from following the shortest coast-to-coast route, however, the couple's trip unfolds with all the twists and turns one would expect from a series written by nine different authors, each one contributing a chapter.
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The short list for the PEN/Ackerley prize has been announced:
So has the short list for the Carnegie Medal:
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HarperCollins Children's Bestsellers
1 Don't Bump the Glump! And Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein
2 Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy, illustrated by Steve Bjorkman
3 Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic
4 Warriors: Power of Three #2: Dark River by Erin Hunter
5 The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith
6 Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis
7 Why War Is Never a Good Idea by Alice Walker, illustrated by Stefano Vitale
8 Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Harry Bliss
9 It's Hard to Be Five by Jamie Lee Curtis, illustrated by Laura Cornell
10 Jinx by Meg Cabot
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Attention, aspiring writers: Indiana University Writers' Conference is now accepting applications
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Writers' Conference (IUWC), now in its 68th year, will welcome eight nationally known writers to the IU Bloomington campus June 8-13 for a week-long event of classes, workshops and readings. Donald Antrim (author of the recent memoir The Afterlife) and Karen Joy Fowler (author of The Jane Austen Book Club) will teach workshops in fiction. Poetry workshops will be taught by National Book Award winner Jean Valentine and Reginald Shepherd, a finalist for the 2004 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, winner of the 1993 AWP's poetry award, and author of Fata Morgama, Otherhood and Some Are Drowning.
There will be a range of classes -- poetry (Ross Gay, IU professor and author of Against Which); fiction (Tony Ardizzone, IU professor and author of seven books of fiction, including the novel In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu); creative nonfiction (Anne-Marie Oomen, instructor at Interlochen Arts Academy and author of Pulling Down the Bones and Looking Over My Shoulder), and a class called "Reading Like a Writer" (Alison Umminger, author of Flyover States, under the pseudonym Grace Grant).
In addition to the traditional curriculum of workshops and classes, days are filled with presentations on writing, publishing and editing, as well as informal presentations, discussions and question-answer sessions. IU faculty will give readings each night, and conference participants will have the opportunity to read their work during an open mic event. The evening readings will be held at the John Waldron Arts Center and are free and open to the public. The schedule will include the following authors:
Sunday, June 8: Alison Umminger and Reginald Shepherd
Monday, June 9: Ross Gay and Karen Joy Fowler
Tuesday, June 10: Tony Ardizzone and Anne-Marie Oomen
Wednesday, June 11: Conference participant reading
Thursday, June 12: Jean Valentine and Donald Antrim
Workshops are scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m., enabling workshop participants to attend morning classes in poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Workshop participants may earn up to two hours of undergraduate or graduate credit, and the conference classes may also be applied toward professional or teacher certification.
To apply for a workshop, submit up to 10 pages of poetry or 25 pages of fiction. A manuscript is not required to apply for classes only, but all applicants must send a $50 application fee (which is applied to the final bill). Tuition is $500 for a workshop (which includes all classes), and $250 to attend classes only.
Early application is highly recommended. Credit card payments are accepted online for application fees, registration and tuition. Call, e-mail or visit
for an application and complete guidelines.
530 E. Kirkwood Ave., Suite 203
Bloomington, IN 47408-4003
E-mail: iuinfo@indiana.edu
Phone: 812-855-1877 Robert Bledsoe
Web: http://newsinfo.iu.edu<>
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New books create alternate views of the past (Scripps Howard News Service)
By BOB HOOVER, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HBO's "John Adams," inspired by David McCullough's biography of the Founding Father, is built from the significant events in the life of the new nation. But, it's not really history in the truest sense.
Watching a scene where Adams, as vice president, casts the "tie-breaking" vote in the Senate ratifying the controversial Jay Treaty, I thought, "That's not right. Doesn't the vote have to be two-thirds of the majority?"
I grabbed my copy of "Adams," and sure enough, McCullough wrote that the Jay Treaty sailed through with a comfortable margin of more than the required two-thirds. No vote was needed from the VP.
There's no drama in those facts, though, so the filmmakers made it up and presented it as real.
History, then, is like clay to be formed into whatever shape fits the purpose of the writer. In fact, fiction based on real people and events has become mainstay of novelists from Gore Vidal to first-timer Nancy Horan, who found drama in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright.
For the nonfiction writer, history also comes in handy for twisting into just the proper shape to fit a conclusion or make a point.
Consider "The Road to Dallas," another stop on the endless journey in search of the answers to Nov. 22, 1963.
Says David Kaiser: "... this is the first book written by a professional historian who has researched the available archives."
A professor at the Naval War College, he dove into the millions of new documents released after passage of the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. Add those millions to the mountain of paper already released and the result is a fertile breeding ground for the conspiracy-minded.
While Kaiser is a dogged researcher, his conclusion that a cabal of mobsters and anti-Castro Cubans hired Lee Oswald to kill JFK, then Jack Ruby to plug Oswald, is not new nor proven substantially.
It's a sordid, twisted tale involving the president, his brother Robert, the CIA and its collection of "good fellas" and their mistresses, and a rag-tag assortment of Cuban exile groups aiming to topple Castro.
Then there's the curious Oswald, ex-Marine, former defector to the Soviet Union, husband of a Russian national, outspoken Marxist and Castro supporter who led a shiftless life in New Orleans and Dallas.
Assembling this well-worn jigsaw puzzle using newly released documents, Kaiser builds a comprehensive account of the countless plots and actors plotting to oust Castro in the early 1960s. The Kennedys encouraged these efforts, Kaiser shows.
He then argues that Oswald was recruited by these groups allied with gangsters to kill Castro, but then the target was shifted to JFK.
Despite Kaiser's carefully drawn lines connecting a cast of thousands to a conspiracy, he never addresses the one weakness of the theory:
Why would these professional killers hire a drifter armed with a $22 war surplus rifle and a well-documented suspect past to kill the president of the United States?
Kaiser believes Oswald was the only shooter, again another unlikely setup in light of who his employers allegedly were.
Logic, for me, trumps conjecture, despite the well-plotted schematic. Kaiser is forced to bend history to fit a conclusion that still depends on several connections that remain speculative.
Nicholson Baker is both a novelist and a pacifist. In "Human Smoke," he challenges the conventional assumption that World War II was "the good war," with its heroes -- the United States and Britain -- and villains -- Germany and Japan.
In 474 pages of letters, diaries and news accounts ending in December 1941, Baker assembles a blanket indictment of both sides in a war notable for its wholesale slaughter of civilians.
Baker targets Winston Churchill and, to a lesser degree, Franklin Roosevelt as warmongers in the same league as Hitler, leaders who avoided ways to stop the conflict.
His book is the molding of history in its most obvious form. The selection of excerpts is carefully built to make his case, including the spurious charges made by FDR's opponents that he encouraged Japan to attack, even knowing about Pearl Harbor, in order to get the United States into the war.
By suggesting through others that World War II was preventable, Baker skirts the obvious question: How could America justify neutrality in the face of the facts?
War, as we have known since the Greeks and the Trojans, brings out the worst and the best in humanity. "Human Smoke" honors the best, yet insists that the worst triumphed in World War II, despite the necessity to defend the best.
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Former mill worker mines dark tales in debut
By MATT LEINGANG, Associated Press Writer
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) " The book signing lasted for hours, an indication that the locals hold no grudges against author Donald Ray Pollock for depicting life here as a grotesque blend of drug abusers, wife beaters and sex fiends.
Pollock is a former paper mill worker who drew on social problems that haunted friends and relatives for his first book, "Knockemstiff," a collection of dark stories set in rural southern Ohio. While it's fiction, the book is getting national acclaim for its imagery and sense of realism.
His characters are damaged souls. There's a mother who asks her son to creep into her bedroom with scissors and act out a serial killer fantasy. There's a drunken father who orders his 7-year-old son to clobber another boy in the restroom of a drive-in movie theater.
The book's title is a nod to Pollock's hometown of Knockemstiff, a hamlet of a few hundred people about 10 miles from Chillicothe that had gravel roads, rundown housing, a few general stores and a rough-and-tumble reputation when Pollock was growing up. The roads are paved now, and new homes have been built on 40-acre lots that used to be farmland, but it's still a crossroads.
"It's not nearly as wild as the stories in the book," says Pollock, 53, sipping coffee over breakfast at a local restaurant. "I took that hard-core reputation and sort of cranked it up a couple notches."
The result is a bleak, sometimes violent look at people on the fringes of Appalachian society who aren't typical fodder for publishing giants such Doubleday, which released the book in March and printed 27,000 copies. That's about five times the average for short story collections, said Gerald Howard, who edited the book.
Sales were at 3,000 as of mid-April, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of industry sales.
"American fiction by and large is written by people who have gone through, and come out of, our elite educational institutions, which is not to say that those people don't try to take a hard look at the conditions of American life, because they do," Howard said.
"But there's no substitute for experience, and Don is a witness to things that don't come across the radar of many American fiction writers."
Pollock said he's flattered, even a bit embarrassed, by the accolades. Publishers Weekly and The New York Times compared his book to "Winesburg, Ohio," Sherwood Anderson's 1919 masterpiece on small-town life. Amazon.com put the book on its list of top new releases for March.
"Knockemstiff" is filled with degenerates, but Pollock doesn't mean to portray his hometown as a gothic freak show.
"I probably pushed the envelope as far as you can go without stereotyping or going too far to the point where you're just making fun of these people. And making fun of these people was never my intention at all," says Pollock, a high school dropout who battled his own drug and alcohol addictions.
The book's characters are trapped in life or in situations that they don't want to be in, he says. Some are looking for a way out, while others are beyond redemption.
Pollock was lucky to find his own way out.
He got sober in 1986 after a fourth trip to rehab, then started taking night classes at Ohio University, where he graduated with an English degree in 1994.
"All my life, I thought writing would be a nice life but never had the discipline or determination to try," says Pollock, an avid reader who drove a dump truck at the paper mill. "When I was 45, I realized if I didn't give it a shot, it would be too late."
He began his eight-year quest to become a professional writer by typing out stories by Ernest Hemingway and others, studying their use of language and sentence structure. He also took a correspondence course in fiction writing at OU.
Some of his early stories were published in small literary journals. In 2005, with the support of his wife, Pollock quit the paper mill where he'd worked for 32 years to seek a master's degree in creative writing at Ohio State University.
To leave the factory " and the security of a weekly paycheck " was difficult, but so far no regrets, says Pollock, a trim man with light brown hair who speaks with a slow drawl.
"It's apparent to me how much he wants to be a writer," said Valerie Vogrin, an editor at Sou'wester, a literary journal at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Ill., that published some of Pollock's early work.
"There's no carelessness in his writing," she said. "Every word is there for a reason."
"Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk is among Pollock's fans. The two are to tour together in May for bookstore readings in Minneapolis, St. Louis and Ann Arbor, Mich.
Palahniuk said he loves the fatalistic characters in "Knockemstiff."
"They work enormously hard to stay stuck in their misery, and that seems more realistic and touching than any standard transformation and happy ending," Palahniuk said.
Pollock's former colleagues at the paper mill have enjoyed watching his emergence as a writer. What's shocking about the grim stories in "Knockemstiff" isn't the subject matter but where it comes from, said mill worker Curtis Hurley.
"Don is kind of a quiet guy. That's why when you read the book, you think, 'Hey, I didn't know he had these thoughts in his head,"' he said.
People in Knockemstiff and Chillicothe, where a few of the stories in Pollock's book take place, aren't upset by the crude portrayal. Everyone gets that it's fiction, Hurley, 51, said.
Ohio State awarded Pollock with a one-year fellowship in January, which he is using to finish a novel about a serial killer in Knockemstiff whose crime spree is intertwined with the story of a teenager yearning to escape life in the hills.
Doubleday has an exclusive first option to publish the novel.
He works on the manuscript up to five hours a day, typing on a computer in the attic of his Victorian-era home that serves as his office. It's also the only place in the house that his wife will let him smoke. Black-and-white photos of authors such as James Jones and poet John Berryman are framed on the walls for inspiration, and a window to his left overlooks the top of a magnolia tree in his backyard, a serene view when contemplating plot lines.
The writing can be mentally exhausting, but Pollock said he's confident that he's got a good story.
Pollock is scheduled to graduate with his master's degree at the end of the year, and then he'd like to get a job teaching fiction writing to college students.
"I got lucky," he says, still a bit surprised at his success. "I've gotten a lot of nice compliments, and don't get me wrong, I like to hear them, but I don't want to get arrogant enough that I believe that stuff. I just wouldn't be the same writer."
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"The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein will be the new Starbucks book selection, according to USA Today.
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PW RELIGION BESTSELLERS: April
Hardcover
1 Become a Better You -- Joel Osteen.
2 The Third Jesus -- Deepak Chopra
3 What the Gospels Meant -- Garry Wills
4 God's Problem -- Bart D. Ehrman
5 The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism -- Timothy Keller
6 Fasting -- Jentezen Franklin
7 3:16: The Numbers of Hope -- Max Lucado
8 One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life -- Kerry Shook and Chris Shook.
9 Intelligence for Your Life: Powerful Lessons for Personal Growth -- John Tesh
10 The Lost Ark of the Covenant -- Tudor Parfitt
Paperback
1 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life -- Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
2 The Shack -- William P. Young.
3 The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins
4 The Five Love Languages -- Gary Chapman
5 Someday (Sunrise Series, Baxter 3) -- Karen Kingsbury
6 The Purpose-Driven Life -- Rick Warren
7 Battlefield of the Mind -- Joyce Meyer
8 Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith -- Anne Lamott
9 Mere Christianity -- C.S. Lewis
10 Your Best Life Now -- Joel Osteen
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According to Shelf Awareness, Frank McCourt is receiving the Literature to Life Award from the American Place Theatre next Tuesday at the organization's 2008 Gala in New York City. Literature for Life is a program that presents adaptations of literature in schools around the country. The performances are verbatim book adaptations in which actors often play more than 10 characters at a time. More than 500 schools have participated in the program, reaching more than 100,000 young people and educators annually. In addition to performances in the schools, the program also offers residencies to assist teachers in the classroom.
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST-SELLERS
HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben (Dutton Adult)
2. "Where Are You Now?" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster)
3. "The Miracle at Speedy Motors" by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon)
4. "Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner (Atria)
5. "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf)
6. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Doubleday)
7. "Compulsion" by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine Books)
8. "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult (Atria)
9. "Belong to Me" by Marisa de los Santos (William Morrow)
10. "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher (Roc)
11. "Bulls Island" by Dorothea Benton Frank (Morrow)
12. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)
13. "Remember Me?" by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Press)
14. "Zapped" by Carol Higgins Clark (Scribner)
15. "Winter Study" by Nevada Barr (Putnam Adult)
NONFICTION/GENERAL
1. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion)
2. "Just Who Will You Be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within." by Maria Shriver (Hyperion)
3. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words)
4. "Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope" by Don and Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak (Howard Books)
5. "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff (Houghton Mifflin)
6. "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" by Julie Andrews (Hyperion)
7. "Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation" by Cokie Roberts (William Morrow)
8. "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop, Laura Palmer (Broadway Books)
9. "Bad Money" by Kevin Phillips (Viking Adult)
10. "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen" by Trisha Yearwood (Clarkson Potter)
11. "Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny" by Suze Orman (Spiegel & Grau)
12. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press)
13. "Girls Like Us" by Sheila Weller (Atria)
14. "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press)
15. "Armageddon in Retrospect" by Kurt Vonnegut (Putnam Adult)
MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "Simple Genius" by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)
2. "The Woods" by Harlan Coben (Signet)
3. "Bad Luck and Trouble" by Lee Child (Dell)
4. "I Heard That Song Before" by Mary Higgins Clark (Pocket)
5. "Creation In Death" by J.D. Robb (Berkley)
6. "The Uniquet: A Thriller" by John Connolly (Pocket Star)
7. "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW)
8. "The Atlantis Prophecy" by Thomas Greanias (Pocket Star)
9. "Back on Blossom Street" by Debbie Macomber (Mira)
10. "The River Knows" by Amanda Quick (Jove)
11. "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham (Dell)
12. "Obsession" by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine)
13. "A Lady's Secret" Jo Beverly (Signet)
14. "Hokus Pokus" by Fern Michaels (Zebra)
15. "The Ruins" by Scott Smith (Vintage)
TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle (Plume)
2. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin)
3. "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin)
4. "The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library)
5. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards (Penguin)
6. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen (Algonquin)
7. "Eat This Not That!" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale)
8. "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square Press)
9. "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins (Mariner)
10. "The Quickie" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Grand Central Publishing)
11. "The Shack" by William P. Young (Windblown Media)
12. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Berkley)
13. "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory (Pocket Star)
14. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
15. "The Audacity of Hope:Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press)
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WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERS
FICTION
1. "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben (Dutton Adult)
2. "Where Are You Now?" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster)
3. "The Miracle at Speedy Motors" by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon)
4. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers)
5. "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf)
6. "Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner (Aria)
7. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)
8. "Belong to Me" by Marisa de los Santos (William Morrow)
9. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Doubleday)
10. "Compulsion" by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine Books)
11. "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher (Roc)
12. "Bulls Island" by Dorothea Benton Frank (Morrow)
13. "The Final Warning: Maximum Ride" by James Patterson (Little, Brown)
14. "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult (Atria)
15. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)
NONFICTION
1. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion)
2. "Just Who Will You Be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within." by Maria Shriver (Hyperion)
3. "Go Put Your Strengths to Work" by Marcus Buckingham (Free Press)
4. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words)
5. "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff (Houghton Mifflin)
6. "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" by Julie Andrews (Hyperion)
7. "StrengthsFinder 2.0" by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
8. "Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation" by Cokie Roberts (William Morrow)
9. "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop, Laura Palmer (Broadway Books)
10. "Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope" by Don and Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak (Howard Books)
11. "Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines" by Nic Sheff (Ginee Seo Books)
12. "Bad Money" by Kevin Phillips (Viking Adult)
13. "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen" by Trisha Yearwood (Clarkson Potter)
14. "Girls Like Us" by Sheila Weller (Atria)
15. "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton (Free Press)
The Wall Street Journal's list reflects nationwide sales of hardcover books during the week ended last Saturday at more than 2,500 Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Bookland, Books-a-Million, Books & Co., Bookstar, Bookstop, Borders, Brentano's, Coles, Coopersmith, Doubleday, Scribners and Waldenbooks stores, as well as sales from online retailers Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
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USA TODAY BEST-SELLERS
Key: F-Fiction; NF-Nonfiction; H-Hardcover; P-Paperback
1. "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) (NF-P)
2. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion) (NF-H)
3. "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben (Dutton Adult) (F-H)
4. "Just Who Will You Be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within." by Maria Shriver (Hyperion) (NF-H)
5. "Where Are You Now?" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster) (F-H)
6. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-P)
7. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) (NF-P)
8. "The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library) (NF-P)
9. "The Miracle at Speedy Motors" by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon) (F-H)
10. "Three Cups Of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) (NF-P)
11. "The Shack" by William P. Young (Windblown Media) (F-P)
12. "Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner (Aria) (F-H)
13. "The Clique Summer Collection no. 1: Massie" by Lisi Harrison (Poppy) (F-P)
14. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet) (F-H)
15. "Eat This Not That!" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale) (NF-H)
16. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers) (F-H)
17. "Simple Genius" by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)(F-P)
18. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards (Penguin) (F-P)
19. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words) (NF-H)
20. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-H)
21. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney (Amulet) (F-H)
22. "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins (Mariner) (NF-P)
23. "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf) (F-H)
24. "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone) (F-P)
25. "Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction" by David Sheff (Houghton Mifflin) (NF-H)
26. "The Quickie" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge(Grand Central Publishing) (F-P)
27. "The Woods" by Harlan Coben (Signet) (F-P)
28. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) (F-P)
29. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen (Algonquin) (F-P)
30. "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" by Julie Andrews (Hyperion) (NF-H)
31. "Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines" by Nic Sheff (Ginee Seo Books) (NF-H)
32. "Nineteen Minutes: A Novel" by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square Press) (NF-P)
33. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) (F-P)
34. "The Appeal" by John Grisham (Doubleday) (F-H)
35. "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer (Anchor) (NF-P)
36. "Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope" by Don and Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak (Howard Books) (NF-H)
37. "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press) (NF-P)
38. "Skinny B----" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Running Press) (NF-P)
39. "Compulsion" by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine Books)(F-H)
40. "John Adams" by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster) (NF-P)
41. "What to Expect When You're Expecting" by Heidi Murkoff, Sharon Mazel (Workman Publishing Group) (NF-P)
42. "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult (Atria) (F-H)
43. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor) (F-H)
44. "21: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions" by Ben Mezrich (Free Press) (NF-P)
45. "Belong to Me: A Novel" by Marisa de los Santos (William Morrow) (F-H)
46. "StrengthsFinder 2.0" by Tom Rath (Gallup Press) (NF-H)
47. "Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation" by Cokie Roberts (William Morrow) (NF-H)
48. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (NAL Trade) (F-P)
49. "Bad Luck and Trouble" by Lee Child (Dell) (F-P)
50. "Magic Treehouse no. 39: Dark Day in the Deep Sea" by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Random House) (F-H)
Reporting stores include Amazon.com, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble.com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Books-A-Million and Bookland, Booksamillion.com, Borders Books & Music, Bookstar, Bookstop, Brentano's, Davis Kidd Booksellers in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, Tenn., Doubleday Book Shops, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Cleveland), Powell's Books (Portland, Ore.), Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers (Madison, Conn.), Schuler.
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The following authors are making the media rounds, talking about their books:
--Mike Lupica, The Big Field
--Herschel Walker, Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder
--Herschel Walker, author of Breaking Free: My Life wtih Dissociative Identity Disorder
--Farnoosh Torabi, author of You're So Money: Live Rich, Even When You're Not
--Cokie Roberts, author of Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation
--Chris Hedges, author of I Don't Believe in Atheists
--Bill Press, author of Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution
--Stephen Colbert, I Am America (And So Can You!)
--Lisa Williams, author of Life Among the Dead
--David Gibson, author of The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World
--Marilu Henner, author of Wear Your Life Well: Use What You Have to Get What You Want
--Nancy Carlsson-Paig, author of Taking Back Childhood: Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World
--Jim Lehrer, author of Mack to the Rescue
--Harlan Coben, author of Hold Tight
--Jack Goldsmith, author of The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration
--Luca Turin, author of Perfumes: The Guide
--Michael K. Steinberg, author of Stalking the Ghost Bird: The Elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in Louisiana
--Danny Heitman, author of A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House
--Noah Feldman, author of The Rise and Fall of the Islamic State
--Maria Shriver, author of Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within.
--John W. Dean, author of Pure Goldwater
--Steve Coll, author of The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
--Mary Roach, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
--Helen Mirren, In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures
--Gayle Greene, author of Insomniac
--Keith Gessen, All the Sad Young Literary Men
--Herschel Walker, author of Breaking Free: My Life Wtih Dissociative Identity Disorder
--Cynthia Cooper, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower
--Chris Hedges, I Don't Believe in Atheists
--Paulina Porizkova, A Model Summer
--Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire whose memoir is In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God
--Richard Price, author of Lush Life
--Deirdre Imus, author of Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care
--Marcus Buckingham, author of Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
--Lily Koppel, author of The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal
--Colm Tibn, author of Mothers and Sons: Stories
--Kevin Phillips, author of Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism
--Michael T. Klare, author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy
--Misha Glenny, author of McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld
--Craig Kielburger, author of Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World
--Cokie Roberts, author of Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation
--Maria Shriver, whose brand new book is Just Who Will You Be? Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within.
--Julie Andrews, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years
--Former BBC World correspondent Misha Glenny, McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld
--Brian Hall, author of Fall of Frost
--Roger Mudd, The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News
--Lee Iacocca, Where Have All The Leaders Gone?
--Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, author of The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
--Arthur Schwartz, author of Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited
--Vikram Chandra, author of Sacred Games
--Jon Scieszka, author of Smash! Crash!
--Marcus Buckingham, author of Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
--Carl Anderson, author of A Civilization of Love: What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World
--David Rothkopf, author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making --Ed Gray, the son of L. Patrick Gray III, Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate
--Steve Coll, author of The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
--Aaron David Miller, author of The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace
--Lily Koppel, author of The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal
--Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't
--Howard Fineman, author of The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country
--Martha Sherrill, author of Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain
--Padma Lakshmi, author of Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every Day
--Chelsea Handler, author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
--A.G. Lafley, co-author of The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation
--Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, author of Lidia's Italy: 140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most
--Laura Bush and daughter Jenna, Read All About It!
--Scott Conant, author of Bold Italian
--Joanne Harris, author of The Girl with No Shadow
--David Treuer, author of The Translation of Dr Apelles: A Love Story
--Sophie Uliano, author of Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life
--Jennifer Weiner, Certain Girls
--Dr. Mark Hyman, author of Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss
--David Hajdu, author of The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America
--Alexandra Harney, The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage
--Robert Schlesinger, White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters
--Ed Begley Jr., author of Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life
--Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
--James Arthur Ray, author of Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want
--Maria Shriver, author of Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within.
--Bobby Cole, author of The Dummy Line
--Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, author of Suck Your Stomach In and Put Some Color On!: What Southern Mamas Tell Their Daughters that the Rest of Y'all Should Know Too
--Tom Anderson, MySpace/OurPlanet: Change Is Possible
--Devin Alexander, author of The Most Decadent Diet Ever
--Ariana Reines, author of Coeur de Lion
--Michael Kinsley, author of Please Don't Remain Calm: Provocations and Commentaries
--the Roloff family, Little Family, Big Values: Lessons in Love, Respect, and Understanding for Families of Any Size
--Marilu Henner, author of Wear Your Life Well: Use What You Have to Get What You Want
--Jesse Ventura, Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!
--Fay Vincent, author of We Would Have Played for Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk About the Game They Loved
--chef Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food
--Scott Weidensaul, Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding
--James Gustave Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability
--Fiona Maazel, Last Last Chance
--chef Renee Loux, Easy Green Living: The Ultimate Guide to Simple, Eco-Friendly Choices for You and Your Home
--Jose Canseco, Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball
--Charles Barber, author of Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation (Pantheon, $26, 9780375423994/0375423990).
--Sarah Burningham, author of How to Raise Your Parents: A Teen Girl's Survival Guide
--Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag
--Mario Batali, author of Italian Grill
--Arianna Huffington, author of Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe
--Doug Fine, author of Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living
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