Texas Pages

Why is it that books on the top of the bestseller lists don't always live up to my expectations?

The latest example is The Memory-Keeper's Daughter, which has been atop the lists for a long time. So I had to see what the buzz was about.

It took weeks to struggle through the book. It just didn't click with me.

If you ever read The New York Review of Books, which Gore Vidal used to call The New York Review of Each Other's Books, you know one of its main values: The reviews are so long that you have no need to read the actual book.

But I just came across an exception in the April 26 issue. It's novelist Charles Taylor's review of Jonathan Lear's Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. Most of the review focuses on Lear's treatment of the Crow tribe of the western United States. For the Crow, hunting and war were "the crucial activities around which excellence and honor revolved." In fact, hunting and war were the only activities that gave meaning to the Crow, and when the tribe was forced onto reservations, their lives literally ceased to have meaning and to make sense.

Taylor contrasts the one-dimensional identity of the Crow with the infinite flexibility and mobility encouraged by modern Western societies, where everyone is encouraged to reinvent themselves at will.

Have a long read here if you like.

For those who missed it, an interesting debate is shaping up on the subject of the new Poet Laureate of Texas.

I had wondered whether people thought he was the right person for the job. And a few people are not shy about saying what they think. Just read the comments ...

I was pruning the Rose of Sharon in my back yard yesterday and found myself thinking about "Grapes of Wrath." Am I the only non-Oklahoman who calls it a "Rosasharn" just because of that book?

Maybe it was the heat.

But I also got to thinking about how much literature you could grow in your yard. My yard contains said Rosasharn; a cluster of irises (named for the Greek goddess of the rainbow); and a rose that may or may not have been named for Shakespeare (I only vaguely recall the tag.) The grass is St. Augustine ... although that may be stretching things.

I know that I'm just scratching the surface here, and some people plant entire gardens in literary themes. Are you one of them? Post a note here and let us hear about it.

For your Monday morning reading pleasure, columnist Alan Peppard has details from the book-signing party David McCullough co-hosted for his daughter, Dorie McCullough Lawson.

In it, you'll hear him defend his use of a typewriter to crank out his award-winning histories:

"I bought my Royal Standard typewriter in 1965," Mr. McCullough says. "It was second hand. I have written everything I've ever had published on it, and there is nothing wrong with it."

Mohsin Hamid, whom we wrote about earlier this week when he was in Dallas, has written an essay on powells.com about "The Reluctant Fundamentalist."

He writes:

"People often ask me if I am the book's Pakistani protagonist. I wonder why they never ask if I am his American listener. After all, a novel can often be a divided man's conversation with himself. "

I finished reading The Pursuit of Happyness today. As usual, the book is better than the movie. Not that the movie was bad; it's just that the book covers so much more of Chris Gardner's life. It starts with his volatile childhood and of course ends on the up and up. The movie couldn't possibly have adequately covered so much ground. Also, as is Hollywood's style, some of the facts got changed for "dramatic effect." His life was dramatic enough without the changes. If you liked the movie, or even if you didn't, read the book.

St. Martin's Minotaur and the Mystery Writers of America are teaming up on a contest for first-time mystery writers.

There is a local connection to this: Danial J. Hale, executive vice president of the writers group, is from Dallas, where the local chapter is putting on a mystery writers conference June 15 and 16. Featured speakers include David Morrell, author of "First Blood," the novel in which Rambo was created , and Jerrilyn Farmer, the author of seven award-winning Madeline Bean novels.

Author D T Pollard plans to sign his book "Rooftop Diva - A Novel of Triumph After Katrina" 11 a.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 5301 Beltline Road.

Here's a look at what's on tap in Sunday's GuideLive:

“Body of Lies” by David Ignatius is a top-notch thriller. We'll have an excerpt for you.

“The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish,” by Elise Blackwell, is a fictional look at a real piece of history that resonates today: a catastropic Louisiana flood. Look for an online excerpt of that one as well.

“Raw Shark Texts,” is mind-warping fiction from Steven Hall. (Memory-devouring sharks, anyone?)

For Civil War buffs, we offer "What This Cruel War Was Over," by Chandra Manning, and "This Mighty Scourge," by James M. McPherson.

More recent history is addressed by Robert Dallek in "Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power."

Plus, we'll have a roundup of Texas & Southwest Books, and you can find out what Texas Pages blogger Shin Yu Pai has been reading.

See you Sunday.

The promotion of George Tenet's new book is under way, with carefully timed leaks to the New York Times. Here's the story.

The Fort Worth Youth Poetry Slam has a new deadline -- May 5 -- and is now open to youths from outside Tarrant County.

You'll only have to wait until June 19 to get the dish on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, from none other than Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame.

The 650-page "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," has an announced first printing of 350,000 copies. The new book will arrive two months before another scheduled biography, "Her Way," by New York Times reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr.

Full story below.

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan is writing a book, which PublicAffairs will publish next spring. Financial terms were not disclosed, the Associated Press says. Mr. McClellan served as President Bush’s chief spokesman from 2003 to 2006, and was also an aide to Bush when he was governor.

“The book will take readers behind-the-scenes of the Bush presidency, covering both strengths and weaknesses, successes and shortcomings with refreshing candor,” PublicAffairs says.

His Texas roots run deep: His grandfather, Page Keeton, was dean of the University of Texas Law School. His mother, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, ran for governor last year.

Michael Granberry (see below) shares this additional anecdote:

Last fall, I called David for reaction to the Terrell Owens overdose story, which, as you know, was initially reported as a suicide attempt. And once again, David surprised me.
He said T.O.'s act had grown as "tired" as anybody's all of in professional sports. He said the Cowboys wide receiver should "shut up and play football."

David had grown disgusted by the wave of me-first athletes who now populate the sports world (I think he also believed a similar cancer had invaded business and politics and indeed our entire culture). He deplored and despised narcissists and could spot them a mile away. When it came to sports, he reveled in the quintessential team players, the Larry Birds, Magic Johnsons, Michael Jordans and Bill Waltons, who sought, always, to improve the play of those around them.

I find it interesting that, at the time he died, David was headed to an interview with 1960s-era quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who was precisely the kind of athlete David placed on a pedestal. David was writing a book on the 1958 championship game between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts, won by the Colts and Johnny Unitas in "sudden death." It's a pity we won't get to read David's take on one of sports' greatest moments.

The First Line, a Plano-based quarterly literary journal, is looking for entries for their summer issue.

They're also looking for material for the fourth issue of "Workers Write! Tales from the
Clinic."

Editor David LaBounty explained their work to me in an e-mail:

"' Workers Write!' started out as a collection of stories
(fiction) from a specific work place. (We accept new and previously
published stories.) 'Tales from the Cubicle' was the first, and last
year's book was Tales from the Classroom. 'Cubicle' was just an
experiment, but it was popular enough that we tried it again, and now
we've made it an annual event (released the week of April 15th). " The
third issue, "Tales from the Cash Register " just came out.

" 'The First Line' is the flagship of this ragtag armada.
TFL is a quarterly lit journal where each story begins with the same
first line. We print roughly ten (original) stories an issue (we
receive an average of 200 submissions a month from around the world,
not including the people who don't start their stories with our first
line) and a nonfiction essay about a favorite first line in
literature. This is our ninth year."

“I want to apologize to his family because I feel so bad,” said Kevin Jones, 26, who is in his first year of a two-year program at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. “I just wanted to help him.”

Mr. Jones had been hired to drive the author around in exchange for $20 an hour and a one-on-one journalism lesson.

The full story is below.

Staff writer Michael Granberry has a heartfelt appreciation of him today.

The following is a real title, news of which just reached the books editor's desk:

"The Plants of Middle-earth: Botany and Sub-creation," by Dinah Hazell

From the description:

"Tolkien’s use of flowers, herbs, trees, and other flora creates verisimilitude in Middle-earth, with the flora serving important narrative functions. This botanical tour through Middle-earth increases appreciation of Tolkien’s contribution as preserver and transmitter of English cultural expression, provides a refreshing and enlivening perspective for approaching and experiencing Tolkien’s text, and allows readers to observe his artistry as sub-creator and his imaginative life as medievalist, philologist, scholar, and gardener."

I'll stick to "The Hobbit," thanks. But if you've always hoped to grow Ents in your flower garden, you can order this one from Kent State University Press.

Looking for a fun mother/daughter event? Author Meg Cabot, writer of several popular teen series, most notably The Princess Diaries, will be at William Scott Theater in Fort Worth on Tuesday, May 15. Cabot also writes chick-lit novels geared toward adults as well, including Queen of Babble and Size 12 is Not Fat. For information, call Barnes & Noble in Fort Worth at (817) 346-2368

If you haven't seen the ad campaign for ABEBooks.com, check it out. Under the slogan, "If You Can't Find it Here, It Doesn't Exist," they've got imaginary books like

Nineteen-Eighty-Five: Things Are Looking Up by George Orwell, and

Everything You Wanted to Know About North Korea But Were Afraid to Ask by Kim Jong Il.

Have a laugh here.

A couple of events should appeal to those who like their poetry slammed.

The Fort Worth Youth Poetry Slam, open to students ages 11 to 18, is coming up on May 8th at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, 1300 Gendy Street. The deadline for entries is May 5. For entries or information, e-mail Michael Guinn at jordanmichaelg@yahoo.com (Put YOUTH SLAM in the Subject Line) or call him at 817-412-3964.

Over on this side of town, poets will be competing for a spot on the Dallas Poetry Slam team during the annual Grand Slam, 8 p.m. Friday, at the Soda Gallery, 408 N. Bishop Ave., Suite 101 in Dallas. Donation: $5. For more information call 214-293-3865 or visit www.myspace.com/dallaspoetryslam or www.thesodagallery.com.

[Updated April 27th with new deadline for the youth slam event.]

The legendary journalist has been killed in a car crash.

He was an inspiration to many, and we'll have more in days ahead.

You can leave thoughts about him by hitting the "comments" button.

For those of who looking for rhyme and reason in your tax forms, here's a reminder:

The 2nd Tuesday Poetry Series at The Fort Worth Community Arts Center presents "Tax Time Blues ... in which Poets Respond to the Sorrows and Aggravations of Income Tax Preparation" 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the center, 1300 Gendy St.

Coordinator Susan Vogel Taylor forwarded some additional samples. which are posted below. (We ran some earlier work here when the contest was announced.)

(Ed Kahsi)

We have an interview with Mohsin Hamid in today's paper. And the review from yesterday is attached below.

He signs "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" at Barnes & Noble tonight at 7 at Barnes & Noble, 7700 W. Northwest Highway.

If you're headed to see Gregory Maguire at Arts & Letters Live tonight, be aware that we had incorrect ticket prices in the Sunday newspaper.

Tickets are actually $36/31/26/16 (discounts given to seniors, students and overflow seating).

That said, given the popularity of "Wicked," fans should find him worth whatever price.

The press release, with details on his career, is posted below.

Clay R. Reynolds reviews "Savage Kingdom" today. Just for the blog, he has some additional history of the Jamestown colony.

Passing this along from the Friends of the Kurth Memorial Library in Lufkin. They've got a book sale commencing Thursday. Here's the line that caught my eye:

"We are proud to announce that books from the private collection of Lowery Stokes Sims will be offered at this sale. Dr. Sims is past President and Executive Director of the The Studio Museum in Harlem and Curator of Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She was curator or co-curator of over 30 exhibitions at art institutions internationally and has published extensively on modern and contemporary artists with a focus on African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American artists. From 2004 – 2006 she chaired the Cultural Institutions Group, a coalition of 34 museums, historical societies, botanical gardens and zoos in New York City. Currently she is adjunct curator for the permanent collection at The Studio Museum and Visiting Professor at Hunter College and Queens College."

Bookhounds, start your engines. Full press release is posted below.

Is the pen mighter than the light saber? You decide. The folks at FenCon, “A Fan-Operated Science Fiction and Fantasy Literary and Filk Convention” slated for September in Addison, are having a short story contest. It’s free for members, $10 for outsiders. The winner gets $50, is published in the convention program and will be the envy of everyone at the next Dungeons & Dragons club meeting. (They might even impress the fest’s guests, who in the past have included genre luminaries such as Larry Niven and Alan DeanFoster.) Beam over to www.fencon.org for details.