Texas Pages

Travel editor and regular Texas Pages contributor Mary Ellen Botter says, "Put these paperbacks at the top of your summer reading list:"

Killing Rommel by Steven Pressfield (Broadway, $16) recounts the real activities of the Long Range Desert Group, British commandos trying to derail the rout of Allied troops in North Africa by German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The narrator, a member of a fictional LRDG unit, puts the reader in the crosshairs of the conflict. The book isn't gratuitously bloody, but its taut writing makes real the terrible heat, the chaos and the courage. Pressfield provides a fast read that's deep and thought-provoking, not just action.

Pet lovers will have no trouble embracing a dog as the storyteller in the wonderfully touching The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (Harper, $14.99). Enzo's master is Denny, a professional race-car driver. The dog dreams of opposable thumbs and a voice so that he can coach and comfort Denny, his wife Eve and their daughter Zoe as life carries all in painful detours. Enzo's faithfulness and understanding are constants, as is his hope of being reincarnated as a human so he can tell Denny how proud he is of him. Rated five Milk-Bones out of five. (And bring a hankie.)

Larry Bond's Cold Choices (Forge, $26.95 hardback) is a submarine thriller set in the frigid Barents Sea. A Russian nuclear submarine commanded by a hot-dog sub jock collides with an American sub in international waters, and the ensuing rescue ignites Cold War emotions and attitudes. It takes a bit of an engineer's mind to follow some of the hardware details, and a few story threads seem to fray (a mutiny afoot? an unstable captain -- of a nuclear vessel?). But the resolution isn't telegraphed, and the reader is engaged to the final pages.

Two books are now out that examine the lives of the violent gang known as the Mara Salvatrucha, or the MS-13. Both devote substantial space to the incredible and sad tale of Brenda Paz, a 15-year-old who lived in Carrollton for a short time and was recruited into the MS-13 during her Texas stay.

She was a witness to one of the most gruesome deaths in recent history--the slaying of Javier Calzada near Bluebonnet Lakes in Grand Prairie in December 2001.

Both writers deploy their considerable investigative skills to their mission.

Loyal blog readers will notice that things have been a bit slow around here of late. Thanks for sticking with us; your humble books editor has been unable to blog, as he has been driving a minivan across large, squarish states in the middle of the country.

It is the exact opposite of the type of driving you can read about in A.J. Baime's Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferarri, and their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, which I reviewed here. The book has fast cars, crazed titans of industry and a folksy Texas genius to the rescue -- so what's not to like?

Baime recently spoke about the book on the public radio program Marketplace. You can listen to it here.

Today on the books page, Joy Tipping chats with David Eagleman, author of Sum: Forty Views of the Afterlives, ahead of his appearance at the Dallas Museum of Art on Friday. (He's also scheduled to appear at Legacy Books on July 15.)

You can also read her review of Sum here.

And you can peruse the book here.

Keith Donohue wrote one of my favorite books in the last few years, 2006's The Stolen Child, in which he did a better job than any contemporary writer I've come across in conveying to adult readers the inner lives of children. Even for someone who has children and presumably knows a little about how they think, this book was a revelation, both joyous and terrifying.

He pulls off that neat trick again, even better, with Angels of Destruction, which came out in March. In this one, a lonely middle-aged woman is surprised one cold, windy evening to find a young girl on her doorstep, the enigmatic and beautiful Norah. Margaret Quinn is still missing her own daughter, who ran off as a teenager to join a radical student group. Margaret takes Norah in, and they concoct a story that she's Norah's grandmother. Norah makes a friend named Sean who begins to suspect that Norah's not really a child ... she's an angel. She performs wonderful feats that could be explained by simple trickery, but they somehow go beyond that. She enchants the other schoolchildren; they stop bickering in her presence. But Norah's persnickety, and she loses her temper sometimes. Sean wonders: "How could she be an angel? She had no wings, no halo. Angels do not bite." And there's a dark figure lurking in the shadows: Is it Lucifer, the original fallen angel, trying to recruit?

As the story progresses, moving from small-town Pennsylvania to small-town New Mexico, Donohue weaves a thoroughly believable, mystical and yet startlingly realistic portrait of the Quinn family and its small interloper. This is inventive, provocative fiction at its absolute best.

Check our books page on Sunday, and you'll find reviews of:

Far Bright Star, by Robert Olmstead

Quest for Justice: Louis A. Bedford Jr. and the Struggle for Equal Rights in Texas, by Darwin Payne.

An Inside Passage, by Kurt Caswell

In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build a Perfect Language, by Arika Okren.

Hello Goodbye, by Emily Chenoweth.

Chasing Icarus: The Seventeen Days in 1910 That Forever Changed American Aviation, by Gavin Mortimer

And don't forget to be watching for Chris Vognar's updates from Book Expo America.

Pick up a Sunday paper, or click on the new link to the books page at dallasnews.com, and you'll find reviews of:

Four great thrillers, evaluated by Alan Cheuse: Fragment, by Warren Fahy; The Genesis Secret, by Tom Knox; Martyr, by
Rory Clements; and Marine One, by James W. Huston.

For the history-inclined, there's American Heroes, by Edmund S. Morgan,
The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China, by Jay Taylor.

There's also a serious look at Bigfoot, The Life and Times of a Legend, by Joshua Blu Buhs.

And a novel, Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, by C.M. Mayo.

But wait! There's more on Monday, when Joy Tipping will offer a look at some of the more intriguing books coming out this summer.

Pop over to the books page of GuideLive.com to find reviews of:

How to Sell, by Clancy Martin

Into the Beautiful North, by Luis Alberto Urrea

Vicksburg, 1863, by Winston Groom

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T.J. Stiles

and

Winter Vault, by Anne Michaels

Also, Staff Writer Eric Aasen took a look at the ongoing fascination with Bonnie and Clyde. Along the way, he spoke with local writer Jeff Guinn, whose Go Down Together was reviewed earlier this year.

In case you missed out over the past few days, we've had a glut of books coverage, including:

Alan Peppard's interview with Allegra Huston about Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found.

Joy Tipping's interview with Tony Horwitz ahead of his appearance tonight at Arts & Letters Live.

Jane Sumner's obituary for Bud Shrake.

And book reviews of:

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears
Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn
Shadow and Light, by Jonathan Rabb
Puttin' on the Ritz, by Peter Levinson
The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship, by Jeffrey Zaslow

and Love Stories in This Town by Amanda Eyre Ward (pictured.)

(File photo/Cory Ryan)

For those who missed it, you can still read Jane Sumner's interview with Nadine Eckhardt, author of the saucy memoir, Duchess of Palms. (Personal aside: I wish more of my Texas-bashing out-of-state friends were familiar with the likes of Nadine, someone who is all Texas, all woman and not at all like the stereotypes that certain coastal types cling to.)

We also reviewed:

Woods Burner, by Austin's John Pipkin

The Protest Singer, a brief look at Pete Seeger's life

The Mexican Wars for Independence, by Timothy J. Henderson, just in time for Cinco de Mayo.

And Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness , by SMU's Willard Spiegelman.

[UPDATE: The link on that last item has been repaired.]

New releases this month gave me an excuse to reunite with a couple of authors I enjoyed as a much younger person. One reunion was wonderful. The other, not so much.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Tom Robbins' B is for Beer (Ecco, $17.95, publishing April 21) is subtitled "A Children's Book for Grown-ups/ A Grown-up Book for Children.)

I was hopeful for this one. The mere idea of a kids' book about beer seemed frothy with potential. I braced myself for a sip of the subversive, counterculture fun that came with classics such as Another Roadside Attraction and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

It's not there. Well, maybe in a sentence or two. But B is for Beer amounts to little more than a paper-thin short story about a precocious girl named Gracie with a difficult home life and a zany, beer-loving philosopher uncle. That story is interwoven with lessons about the history and mystery of beer, told by a Beer Fairy -- yes, a Beer Fairy -- that might have been lifted out of a brewery-tour pamphlet.

As much as I would like to say otherwise, this is not a book you would want to slip a child, even to annoy his or her parents. You also won't want to offer it to anyone but the most voracious Robbins fans. If classic Robbins is your favorite homebrew, this is Bud Light -- a pale imitation of the real thing that will leave you unsatisfied, and possibly with a mild headache.

If you are looking for a book you can proudly offer to the young children in your life, or their parents, or anyone else for that matter, rush to pick up a copy of The Annotated Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, edited by Annie Gauger (Norton, $39.95).

I had retained only vaguely pleasant childhood memories of Wind in the Willows when I brought this one home to read to my second-grader. I feared that most of it would go over her head. But she was engaged, helped along by the lavish illustrations and timely annotations that helped Dad explain some of the most archaic bits.

This is a classic for a reason, so I won't bother adding my praise to it. OK, I will -- my daughter liked the humor and the adventure; I was enthralled by the beauty of the writing. And the annotations go well beyond mere definitions. They constitute a book in themselves.

Some of the research was done at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin. So we could even consider it a Texas book. Sort of. Wherever you are, if you've ever loved Toad, Badger, Mole and Rat -- or wondered what the fuss is about -- you need this book.

Y'all come on back on Sunday, either in the print edition or on the books page at GuideLive.com, and we'll offer you reviews of:

The Color of Lightning, by Paulette Jiles. (We'll also have an excerpt from this novel, which is set in frontier North Texas.)

We Agreed to Meet Just Here, by Scott Blackwood. (He's one of the authors headed to SMU's Literary Festival.)

The Collector of Worlds, by Iliya Troyanov

Cheever: A Life, by Blake Bailey

Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America -- And Found Unexpected Peace, by William Lobdell

and Wonderful World, by Javier Calvo.

Tune in Sunday, in print or on GuideLive.com, and we'll offer you looks at:

Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud, edited by Robert Pinsky

But Wait ... There's More: Tighten Your Abs, Make Millions, and Learn How the $100 Billion Infomercial Industry Sold Us Everything But the Kitchen Sink, by Remy Stern

Castle, by J. Robert Lennon

and Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession With Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science, by Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano.

Plus -- Si Dunn's roundup of Texas and Southwest books.

Check back on Sunday, either in your newspaper or on GuideLive.com, and we'll offer you reviews of:

Allen Barra offers us a roundup of baseball books, including As They See 'Em: A Fan's Travels in the Land of Umpires, by Bruce Weber; Under the March Sun:The Story of Spring Training, by Charles Fountain; The Corporal Was a Pitcher: The Courage of Lou Brissie, by Ira Berkow (watch for an excerpt from that as well); and Baseball Prospectus 2009.

It Will Come to Me, by Emily Fox Gordon

Plain, Honest Men, by Richard Beeman

and Sanctified and Chicken-Fried by Joe R. Lansdale.

Your comments will be welcome on anything you read.

Check your weekend papers or visit GuideLive.com, and we'll offer you the following:

On Saturday, Joy Tipping chats with Lisa Lutz, author of Revenge of the Spellmans, who will be appearing at Borders, Preston Road at Royal Lane, on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the books pages will look at:

Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season, by Peter Dunne.

Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, by Dallas resident Donovan Campbell. He'll also be speaking at Borders, on Thursday.

A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx, by Elaine Showalter (pictured). You can view some samples at the Random House site.

And, just in time for baseball season: Yogi Berra, The Eternal Yankee, by Allen Barra.

Pick up a copy of The Dallas Morning News, or visit us at GuideLive.com, on Sunday, and you'll find reviews of:

Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, by Jeff Guinn

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann.

The Siege, by Ismail Kadare

Life Sentences, by Laura Lippman.

A Saint on Death Row, by Thomas Cahill.

Today on GuideLive.com, you''ll find a review of The Believers, by Zoë Heller. You can read samples from the book at the publisher's Web site.

We also have a review of Ruins, by Achy Obejas. Here's a YouTube video of the author reading from that work.

Here's a look at books coverage headed your way in Sunday's Dallas Morning News and on GuideLive.com. We'll offer reviews of:

The Believers, by Zoë Heller.
Triangular Road:A Memoir, by Paule Marshall (pictured)
Ruins, by Achy Obejas
The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War, by
James Mann and
Pictures at an Exhibition, by Sara Houghteling

(Photo credit: Daniela Zedda)

In Sunday's paper, and on GuideLive.com, you'll find:

Alan Peppard's extensive look at The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes, by Bryan Burrough.

And we'll add reviews of

One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love, edited by Rebecca Walker;

American Rust, by Philipp Meyer;

Drood, by Dan Simmons;

A Comrade Lost and Found, by Jan Wong;

and An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor.

I've been meaning to read Charles Baxter's latest book, The Soul Thief, since it came out on Feb. 12 ... of 2008. That should tell you how tall my "to be read" stack is; it's actually threatening to topple over and kill several potted plants even as we speak. Or possibly the schnauzer.

Anyway, the book came out Feb. 10 this year in paperback, and that reminded me to go read my hardcover that's been sitting around for a year. Too bad I waited; it's a doozy, one of those books that you better start reading early in the evening or it'll keep you up all night.

It starts out in 1970s Buffalo, where a grad student becomes enthralled with an outsider named Coolberg. Nathaniel's affection ... well, cools, when he finds out that Coolberg is literally trying to become Nathaniel, stealing clothes and other items and claiming that incidents in Nathaniel's life actually happened to him. Something nasty happens, and Coolberg exits, only to reappear decades later. Creepy stuff -- not the least of which is that we don't know who's actually narrating the first-person novel.

Perhaps because I just finished re-reading Joan Didion's remarkable The Year of Magical Thinking, this memoir by writer Susan Sontag's son had to work doubly hard to keep my attention. I got through it, but only because it's a mere 179 pages. Reiff is not talking about grief, as Didion was, but the lengthy, horrific approach to grief, as his mother battled terminal cancer. Still, many of the topics touched on are the same. Reiff has the same spare writing style as Didion, but none of her piercing self-awareness or wit, and I was left feeling sad but unenlightened and unchanged.

OK, you caught me. I've been lazy the last couple of weeks, mostly catching up on magazine reading. But I finished a batch of books over the weekend, so you're about to get a few new entries in Joy's List for the year.

Carol O'Connell's Bone by Bone (hardcover, 2008) is one of the best mystery/thrillers I've read lately. I'm not a big fan of her Mallory novels, but this stand-alone is gripping and intriguing. Former Army investigator Oren Hobbs returns to his hometown of Coventry, Calif., to find a mystery on his own doorstep -- literally. It's the skull belonging to his little brother, who disappeared years ago at 15 while on a hiking trip in the woods with Oren. Someone, it seems, is returning Josh to his father's home a little bit at a time.

Coventry has its ... well, let's call them "eccentricities." As one character remarks about the town's ongoing seances, which everyone in town has been to at least once, "Any other town in America would have formed a bowling league."

The only thing missing from this book is more information on Oren, who's an intriguing character that we never really learn much about, past his woman-chasing past. I'm hoping O'Connell writes a sequel and puts him truly at center stage.

Visit GuideLive.com on Sunday, or pick up your paper the old-fashioned way, and you'll find reviews of:

Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans, by Dan Baum.

Doghead, by Morten Ramsland, translated from the Danish by Tiina Nunnally.

The Women, by T.C. Boyle.

Plus a Judy Alter column on retired Will Howard, creator of Will's Texana Monthly.

Staff Writer Dianne Solis attended the Robert Olen Butler event at The Writers Studio on Wednesday. Here's her report:

The Writer's Garret coyly billed it as an author chat "for mature audiences." After all, Robert Olen Butler's latest work of fiction is called Intercourse.
But think of it as much about the supremacy of tickling the heart.
Intercourse is about the imagined interludes among the mighty and the mythical, the fallen and heroic of history.
It includes meditations on loneliness and isolation and character. A case in point was Butler's dramatic reading of the imagined interaction of a celebrity political couple with the surnames of Nixon.
And the romp through the heart is what makes literature art.

This weekend in Guide Sunday and on GuideLive.com, we'll be taking a look at :

The Painter's Chair: George Washington and the Making of American Art, by Hugh Howard.

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (eho is headed to Arts & Letters Live) .

Spade & Archer, by Joe Gores.

A quick peek at the current offerings from the ShelfLife@Texas blog from the University of Texas at Austin reveals a pre-Valentine's Day look at varieties of human love in all its glory.

Topics discussed include:

About Love: Reinventing Romance for Our Times, by the late philosopher Robert Solomon.

Literary Marriages From Hell, a course taught by Betsy Berry.

Books on passion, jealousy and murder by David Buss.

And Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, by Robert Jensen.

You know, maybe I should have stopped at the post about Jane Austen.

Travel editor Mary Ellen Botter weighs in on a pair of recent releases aimed at Austenites:

Another take on Jane Austen's "Pride": Austenites are always eager for embroideries on Jane's novels, in particular that romantic home run Pride and Prejudice. A new thread comes from an unexpected source: best-selling author Colleen McCullough (Thornbirds, Masters of Rome series).

Disappointingly, the author crashes through expectations into improbability in The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett (Simon & Schuster, $26). Behavior ingrained (more likely required) in gentlefolk of the Regency era is set aside for more modern themes: feminism, homophobia and religious zealotry.

Mr. Darcy is a loutish lover and a disappointment to Elizabeth. Mary, her younger sister, is a crusader for the downtrodden. A mad monk imprisons Mary in a cave, no less. So un-Jane-like and far-fetched are these themes that it seems that only the characters' names link McCullough's book to Austen's literary legacy. For Austenites, it's a snack, not a feast.

A novel close to Jane's heart: Surely Jane would have approved the plot of Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo (Guideposts, $14.99). The romantic novel follows Austen's well-plumbed story line of love found, love lost and love rediscovered.

Was Jane speaking of her own life, or one she wished for -- or lost?

Emma Grant, a discredited professor and Austen expert, hunts the answer as she chases purported lost letters by the famed novelist. Leading her in the chase is a mysterious group, The Formidables, said to have been created by Jane's beloved sister Cassandra to keep the writer's secrets of the heart, expressed in the 200-years-hidden missives. Faced with the revelation that would salvage her career yet possibly ruin Austen's reputation, Emma wrestles with her own shattered love.

Although a quick read, Ruined isn't shallow. Austen fans will delight in descriptions of real Austen sites in England, honest emotions and the thought that actual discoveries may someday reveal more about the beloved novelist.

Loved Sophie Kinsella's latest book, Remember Me, which is a frothy delight reminiscent of her Shopaholic books (the movie version of the original, Confessions of a Shopaholic, hits theaters on Friday). Remember Me, which came out in paperback last fall, is the tale of a young woman who gets hit on the head and wakes up with amnesia covering the last three years -- during which time she's gotten rid of her "snaggly" teeth, acquired a killer body and hairstyle, and ruthlessly climbed over her former friends to attain her career aspirations. What's more, she's married to a gorgeous guy and lives in a mansion (OK, Mr. Wonderful has some bad points, like obsessive neatness to the point that he freaks if a DVD cover is left on the carpet). Lexi soon find she wasn't all that happy in this fairy-tale existence, though, and the book hilariously follows her as she investigates a very interesting topic: herself. It's froth, but it's well-written froth and you'll drink it up like a latte on a cold day.

I just finished The Host, Stephenie Meyer's first "adult" novel (although you could certainly make a case for the Twilight series going far beyond its originally intended young-adult audience). I have to disagree with Stephen King on this -- I didn't love the Twilight series with as much rabid enthusiasm as some, but I do think Meyer can write. And The Host grabbed me and wouldn't let go -- much like its protagonist, a benign, silvery little creature who, unfortunately for both species, must implant herself in a human to survive.

It reads a little like an updated Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but that's not a bad thing. Meyer has a lot to say about the nature of love, dependence and cooperation, and she says it well.

In case you were so busy watching the Pro Bowl and the Grammy Awards that you forgot to log on, you can still go to the books page of GuideLive.com and find reviews of:

Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme, by Tracy Daugherty

Germania, by Dallas novelist Brendan McNally

Sum by Houston neuroscientist David Eagleman

Fool, a King Lear retelling by Christopher Moore.

Also of interest from the weekend: Regular books page contributor Walton Muyumba discusses the need for an intellectual stimulus package. (On a rainy Monday morning, I would call that "coffee.")

Here's what I've read in the last couple of weeks:

* Curse of the Spellmans (2008), by Lisa Lutz. The second in Lutz's trilogy (the third comes out this spring) about Isabel Spellman and her wacky family of private detectives. These remind me of Sue Grafton's alphabet series of mysteries starring Kinsey Millhone, only funnier. We're planning a review of the third book, Revenge of the Spellmans, and also an interview with Lisa Lutz, so stay tuned.
* The Year of Magical Thinking (2005), by Joan Didion. I read this when it first came out, and re-read it recently for my book club. Having gone through multiple health crises with my husband since first having read it, it resonated even more with me this time. Didion's spare, not-an-ounce-of-sentimentality writing has never been better, and this is the one of the best books on grief and marriage that I've ever come across. I recommend it to everyone.
* The Romanov Prophecy (2004), by Steve Berry. Pure guilty pleasure. I interviewed Berry recently, and it made me want to read his books that I hadn't already gotten to. This one takes on that Russian equivalent of "Did Oswald act alone" -- were all the Russian royals really executed in July 1918, or did one, maybe even two, of the children escape? A highly entertaining romp that, at least while you're reading it, seems entirely plausible.
* Poe's Children (2008), edited by Peter Straub. I've had this on my nightstand forever, and finally finished it this week. Some great stories by Stephen King, Dan Chaon, Ramsey Campbell and others. Highly recommended for fans of horror, or fans of just plain kick-you-know-what writing in general.
* The Devil's Feather (2006), by Minette Walters. Extremely good thriller that goes back and forth between war reporting from Baghdad (the heroine's a war correspondent) to something that reads a little like an English "cozy" mystery (cottage in a small town, gossipy neighbors, Gothic influence). An odd combination, but it works brilliantly.
* Sum (2009), by David Eagleman. The author, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, posits 40 different explanations of the afterlife. Fascinating, and strangely comforting. Look for a full review of this one in the next couple of weeks on Guidelive.com and in the paper.

Here's a sneak peek at what you'll find in Sunday's paper and on GuideLive.com.

OK, the economy may be crumbling, but it's a good week to be someone who builds things, at least in this publication. We'll have a look at three architecture-related books:
I.M. Pei: Complete Works, by Philip Jodidio and Janet Adams Strong; David M. Schwarz Architects 2002-2007, by Robert L. Miller; and On Architecture: Collected Reflections on a Century of Change, by Ada Louise Huxtable.

(As you may know, Pei and Schwarz both are extensively represented in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Staff critic Scott Cantrell puts their achievements in context.)

Also on the books pages:

Bordeaux: A Novel in Four Vintages, by Paul Torday;
Lark and Termite, by Jayne Anne Phillips (fans will appreciate this interview with her.);
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed;
The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

To reiterate what Ann Pinson said, Wally Lamb was just marvelous last night at First Presbyterian Church. He was there as part of the Dallas Museum of Art's fabulous 2009 lineup for its Arts & Letters Live Series. What a boon for book lovers in this town -- if you haven't seen this year's schedule -- Ian McEwan! Elizabeth Gilbert! David Sedaris! -- you owe it to yourself to check it out, and reserve your tix early. More than 450 fans turned out to see Lamb.

I was so impresed with Lamb's humility, warmth and intelligence -- a combination that is all too rarely seen among authors with his kind of numbers (he is, after all, one of the few authors to make the Oprah book club twice). Last night, he read from an autobiographical essay and then read a very moving piece from his new book, The Hour I First Believed. I was fascinated with how he "hears" his characters; he said the first line that Caelum, the new book's protagonist, spoke to him was: "My mother was a convicted felon, a manic-depressive, and Miss Rheingold Beer of 1950." From that, the book was born.

Also loved his stories about some of the reader mail he receives, like the letter where someone asked him if there was going to be an all-woman Mt. Rushmore, who would he put there? I think we all expected him to say Oprah. But no: "The only one I'm absolutely sure of is Aretha Franklin." On that, Wally, we're totally with you.

Click to see our review of the new book, and our recent interview with Lamb.

Here's a review for everyone in North Texas trapped at home today and keeping the little ones plugged into PBS.

For those of us who grew up watching Sesame Street, its success can be explained rather simply: If you endured some long, flat segments that were mildly educational, you'd be rewarded with radiant bursts of Muppet hilarity. And at the end, you'd have learned something.

Which sums up my experience reading Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. by Michael Davis (Viking, $27.95).

Davis has written a definitive history of the show. He also offers a pretty good summary of the history of the early years of children's educational television. But definitive here sometimes means long, wonkish segments about the inner workings of the Carnegie Foundation and such that are about as thrilling as a grant proposal.

The payoff arrives for devoted fans, though, who will learn, among other things:

• How Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan was a saint among early children's TV stars -- and despised by the writers who worked for him. (Some went on to Sesame Street, and he resented the show for it.)


• How Jim Henson could be both a shrewd businessman yet so vague in his personal dealings that Caroll Spinney didn't even realize it when Henson first invited him to audition for a job. (The misunderstanding would take seven years to rectify, but, as fans know, Spinney eventually worked out -- as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.)


• The happy accidents that led to the hiring of stars such as Sonia Manzano ("Maria"), and the sad decline and demise of Northern Calloway ("David").

Street Gang is a mostly entertaining look at one of the most important -- if not the best -- television programs ever created. I would have preferred to have more Cookie Monster-style hilarity. But even Cookie knows that sometimes, you have to eat your vegetables before you can enjoy dessert.

Pick up your Sunday paper, or drop by GuideLive.com, and you'll find an interview with David Macaulay, author of The Way We Work and speaker at the Dallas Museum of Art on Sunday.

You'll also get reviews of:

Why Evolution is True, by Jerry A. Coyne

Tinkers, by Paul Harding

Poe, a Life Cut Short, by Peter Ackroyd

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston

Plus Si Dunn's roundup of Texas and Southwest books, and more.

Here's a peek at what you'll find in Guide Sunday and on GuideLive.com.

Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement From the New Deal to Reagan, by Kim Phillips-Fein. (John Vachon photo of a Dubuque, Iowa billboard in 1940 courtesy W.W. Norton.)

Daemon, by Daniel Suarez. (Look for an excerpt to appear as well.)

The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y.K. Lee.

Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, by C.J. Box.

Herbert Hoover, by William E. Leuchtenburg.

OK, I've gone and done a crazy thing. I've committed to Mike Merschel, our Esteemed Books Editor, that I will blog about ... ahem ... every single book I read this year. My husband's reaction: "Are you insane? Isn't that another full-time job?" Well, let me clarify -- these will not be full-on reviews, more of an online diary by an extremely avid reader, mostly of contemporary fiction but I may surprise you now and then.

I hope to open up dialogue with others out there who have an overwhelming "to be read" stack, or as in my case, stacks. What book's been on your shelf for 10 years that you just got around to reading? What have you tried to read 18 times and can never finish? Stuff like that.

Since I'm starting mid-month, here's what I've read since Jan. 1:
* Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates. Read this in preparation for seeing the movie, and it's amazing. One of the best portraits of a marriage I've ever read, and oh-so-Mad Men.
* Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, by C.J. Box. Nifty thriller about a couple whose adopted daughter may be taken away by her biological father and grandfather. The grandpa is an evil judge. I'm reviewing this for the paper, so look a full review soon.
* The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, by Charlie Huston. Another thriller, this one about an employee of a company that cleans up after murders, suicides, etc. Didn't you always wonder who does that? I've never seen anyone use dialogue quite the way Huston does,and it gives the actual reading of the book a jittery edge that perfectly matches the subject matter. As with Three Weeks, a full review will be coming soon.
* Sing Them Home, by Stephanie Kallos. Oh my, oh my. You know when you get that rare, sublime "ahhhhhhhhhhh" feeling as a reader -- that you've just discovered someone utterly magical and unusual, and you're thrilled but kind of want to keep them all to yourself as your personal writer? I felt that way about this book, and I can't wait to see Kallos on Friday at the Dallas Museum of Arts' Arts & Letters Live shindig.
* The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery, with a pitch-perfect translation by Alison Anderson. Two female narrators -- one in her 50s, one a 12-year-old girl with suicidal tendencies -- tell this completely enthralling tale in which not much happens. If you count ongoing jokes about Anna Karenina and a lengthy discourse on the inelegance of a misplaced comma as high entertainment, this is is the book for you. And definitely for me -- I read it in one sitting.

OK, now: Discuss!

You'll find a review of Barry Unsworth's Land of Marvels on Guidelive.com today.

And you can find an excerpt from the book here.

Here's a look at reviews coming to Guide Sunday and on the books page of Guidelive.com:

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, by Tiffany Baker.

Sing Them Home, by Stephanie Kallos. The author is speaking 7 p.m. Friday at Arts & Letters Live.

With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain, by Michael Korda.

Land Of Marvels, by Barry Unsworth.

We'll also have a look at American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon, by Steven Rinella, and throw in an interview with Orson Scott Card, just for good measure.

Paul Guest's My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge is reviewed today on GuideLive. Here's a sample of his work, provided by HarperCollins.

My Arms
By Paul Guest

My arms are mostly cosmetic. When I say this
to a stranger, often he'll wince
like he wants to hide inside his eyes.
Vanish from the day. I shouldn't laugh,
should be tired twenty-one years
into the telling of a poor joke,
made of pain, nerves snuffed like wicks. Back
then, I was a boy. No secret
that I fell through that
summer like a star. And here I am
wanting spring and birdsong
after tedious winter. Once I prayed
my arms might serve me
again, roll toothpaste from the tube,
dump rice into boiling water,
swat dead the mosquito
drilling its derrick face
through my skin. That symmetry,
left and right, one and one--
it's not a math I know,
not anymore. There are days I want
to lament broken glass
or put my fist through the door
or throttle the blue sky's silent
throat. There are nights
full of ache, full of nothing nimble.
No music but smashed guitars
would be enough. How many clasps
and how many buttons
did I try with my teeth
until her hands did for me what I could not?
Untrue to say I lost count
of what I never hoped to keep.
A lie to say that when
she held my hands to her hips
and her body above mine,
I loved such need, I did not hate us both.

Here's what Santa will be leaving for all the good little readers of Guide Sunday and GuideLive.com:

The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution, by Denis Dutton.

A Great Idea at the Time: the Rise, Fall, and curious Afterlife of the Great Books, by Alex Beam.

Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History, by Karl Jacoby.

Jury Rigged, by Laurie Moore.

And Judy Alter finds a special Texas Christmas story.

On GuideLive today, Joy Tipping takes a look at books for the canine-oriented in your life.

Here are some additional titles to consider:

Nose Down, Eyes Up, by Merrill Markoe (Villard, $24). This one, a novel, comes out Jan. 6, so it'd have to be a Christmas I.O.U., but it's worth the wait. The Emmy-winning Ms. Markoe, whose prose is always laugh-out-loud caliber, tells the tale of a man who absolutely refuses to grow up (at 47, Gil is the world's oldest 22-year-old). The book rises above mere young-adult-confusion lit with the inclusion of Gil's four dogs, who talk. And offer advice, most of it pretty cogent.

Indognito: A Book of Canines in Costume, by Karen Ngo (Little, Brown, $19.99). Here's a whole book of pups in disguise, from a foxhound mix channeling Amelia Earhart (love the aviator glasses) to a Brittany spaniel festively attired as a lobster (and looking remarkably laid-back about the whole idea). Many of the photos are accompanied by pithy quotes, such as Mason Cooley's "Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story," paired with an oh-so-world-weary Chihuahua in full matador regalia.

Saved: Rescued Animals and the Lives They Transform, by Karin Winegar with photographs by Judy Olausen (DaCapo, 25.95). This one will make you cry, but in a good way, and it'll make you swear to never get a dog or puppy except from a shelter or rescue group ever again. You can tell the pedigree is pure by the other contributors -- the book boasts a foreword by Jane Goodall and a preface by Temple Grandin.

Santa vs. Wonka. Who takes that one?

I don't know. But I do know that when a friend posed that question in another forum, the debate was furious.

If you are lucky enough to have friends of this sort -- no, not immature, sleep-deprived fans of midcentury children's television, but intelligent people who aren't afraid to laugh at sophisticated nonsense -- then you should probably get them an anthology I have been picking through: Disquiet, Please! More Humor Writing From The New Yorker, edited by David Remnick and Henry FInder.

To be honest, the book is a slow read. But that's only because every third story or so has me laughing so hard that I have to set it aside.

Contributing authors range from James Thurber to Woody Allen to David Sedaris. It has frigid men, talking monkeys and babies who are too lazy to work. It has Coyote v. Acme, Jesus test-driving an SUV, and lots of bad relationships.

We can all use a laugh right about now. This book offers lots.

And, for the record: Santa takes Wonka in single-man combat, but if you expand it to include Oompa-Loompas against elves, I say all bets are off. Your thoughts?

(Hey, this clip even mentions books at the end!)

Fran Vick, editor of Literary Dallas, wrote in about our recent review. For space reasons, the version that appears in print was edited. Here is the full-length letter.

I would like to bring a few things to readers' attention about Literary Dallas. The book was put together chronologically, to be the story or history of Dallas as told by the writers. Perhaps that was not seen or shown as well as it should have been. Also, the great hazard of publishing an anthology is that it cannot, except in multi-volumes, include every writer that the editor might like to excerpt. Therefore, anthologies are especially fair game for critics, who might tend to focus on what's not there, rather than what is.

Contrary to the view in the review, we do manage to have fun in Dallas, maybe even as much as Fort Worth, but more importantly we have a multitude of published, prizewinning authors residing here, maybe even as many as Austin. Matter of fact, 22 of the authors in Literary Dallas have won Texas Institute of Letters Awards, many of them more than one. Many of the writers in the book have won prizes beyond those given by TIL, 27, matter of fact. You will find the awards in the head notes on the writers. Some of these 49 award-winning writers in Literary Dallas have been given national awards. I am sorry none of them were mentioned. They deserved better. The only writers mentioned in the review are journalists except for a couple, and although we are blessed with marvelous award-winning writing by journalists -- much of it in Literary Dallas -- we are also blessed with outstanding poets, novelists, and short story writers. For me to start listing them here would be too much as there are 70 writers in Literary Dallas.

Also contrary to reports, readers can read about the 1936 Texas Centennial, the Cotton Bowl, the State Fair of Texas, First Baptist Church in the writings of the writers included in Literary Dallas. I do not remember anything about the Dallas Cowboys because the piece I wanted to put in there was denied me, as were several pieces. For others, the authors could not be found or did not respond to queries. I must admit, however, J.R. Ewing never crossed my mind as being literary.

It was rather surprising to read the work of J. Mason Brewer called "corn pone," the work of an elegant, educated man, who spoke four languages, recognized nationally as a scholar and folklorist, and encouraged by J. Frank Dobie to pursue work that would be lost without him. I wish the work of Spencer Williams by G. Wm. Jones had not been overlooked, as well. At least Deep Ellum is in the review.

My deepest thanks for reviewing Literary Dallas at all, Michael. I have heard that any kind of review is better than no review at all. I hope that is true for the sake of the writers in the anthology and the publisher.

All best,
Fran Vick

In Guide Sunday (and on GuideLive) this weekend, you'll find:

A big roundup of big books for those with large stockings to fill. Among those mentioned:

Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings, by Judith Dupré

Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, by Alan Govenar

The Elvis Encyclopedia, by Adam Victor

The Encyclopedia of Punk, by Brian Cogan

The Princeton Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, by Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson

Monasteries and Monastic Orders: 2000 Years of Christian Art and Culture, by Kristina Kruger

The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe, by Daniel Wallace, Phil Jimenez, Scott Beatty and Robert Greenberger

Marvel Chronicle: A Year by Year History, by Tom DeFalco, Peter Sanderson, Tom Brevoort and Matthew K. Manning

(Notice that we have something for DC and Marvel fans: We are nothing if not balanced here at Texas Pages.)

For those with smaller stockings, or smaller coffee tables, we will also look at:

The Jazz Ear, by Ben Ratliff

The Journey, by H.G. Adler

As Big as the West: The Pioneer Life of Granville Stuart, by Clyde A. Milner II and Carol O' Connor

The Best American Magazine Writing 2008, compiled by the American Society of Magazine Editors

and

Graham Greene: A Life in Letters, edited by Richard Greene

Here's what's on tap in Guide Sunday, or online at GuideLive.

A pair of biographies about Samuel Johnson: Samuel Johnson: A Biography, by Peter Martin, and Samuel Johnson: The Struggle, by Jeffrey Meyers.

The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia, by Laura Miller.

Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America, by Jay Parini.

Aurora Crossing: A Novel of the Nez Percés, by Karl Schlesier.

Sashenka, by Simon Montefiore.

Some of us were too busy scraping the last few dollops of Cool Whip out of the plastic tub last Friday to post a preview of yesterday's reviews. For those who were similarly engaged, you can now read:

The aforementioned look at Dallas through the eyes of its writers, Literary Dallas.

Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945, by Carlo D'Este.

Fire to Fire, poetry by Mark Doty.

Where the Line Bleeds, by Jesmyn Ward, by Jesmyn Ward.

Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz and American Culture, by Krin Gabbard.

The online newsletter Publishers Lunch reports that Dallas resident Kathleen Kent, author of the best-selling The Heretic's Daughter, has sold her second book, again to Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown. It's called The Giant of Edgehill, and is a dramatic love story set during the English civil war and early colonial America.

When I interviewed Ms. Kent earlier this year, she talked a little about the new book, which is based on an ancestor of hers who was rumored to have been the executioner of England's Charles I before coming to America in the 1600s. PW doesn't give an ETA for Edgehill.

Here's our review and interview with Ms. Kent, if you want to catch up.

Here's what you'll find this week in Guide Sunday and on GuideLive.com:

Delta Blues, a musical history lesson from Plano's Ted Gioia.

A Mercy, Toni Morrison's latest novel.

Means of Transit, a memoir by Oklahoma's Teresa Miller.

Nov. 22, 1963, a novel about the darkest day in Dallas' history, by Adam Braver.

Traitor To His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, by H. W. Brands of the University of Texas at Austin.

Travel editor Mary Ellen Botter has been looking at travel books and sends along a roundup that's enough to make anyone want to set down the computer and go out into the world:

Sacred destinations worldwide showcased

Set aside any notion that only churches, cemeteries or battlefields can be sacred ground. A new book from National Geographic proves that the world has those and many more sites with the power to inspire.

Sacred Places of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Most Peaceful and Powerful Destinations (National Geographic, $40) includes religious rites, places of remembrance, pilgrimages, festivals, celebrations, shrines, works of art and more that provoke thought. Many religions and cultures are represented.

The photographs are splendid, the text crisp and the travel details empowering.

Love New Orleans food? Here's how-to

Don't let the title mislead you. Ralph Brennan's New Orleans Seafood Cookbook (Vissi d'Arte Books, $45) is a guide to fish and much more.

The New Orleans restaurateur doesn't stop at recipes for tempting seafood dishes (the photos alone are a feast). Also included are how-to details for sauces, desserts and other yummy reminders of how great a dining town Big Easy is. (Sweet-potato hashbrowns, anyone?) Preparation tips, including do-ahead steps, are a boon.

New Mexico guide fuels exploration

Sharon Niederman slices the Land of Enchantment into six regions plus the Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas in her New Mexico: An Explorer's Guide (Countryman Press, $19.95). In addition to outlining what to see and do, even in small communities, the author in brief essays provides insight into the state's culture and lifestyle. The 351-page book is more a list with contact details than it is a selective guide to the state's best. The user is left to decide for himself what is fascinating. And that might not be a bad thing.

This week, Guide Sunday (and GuideLive) will offer reviews of:

Songs for the Missing, by Stewart O'Nan. (With an excerpt appearing here Sunday.)

The End of the Straight and Narrow, by David McGlynn. (Watch for an excerpt on that as well.)

American Rifle: A Biography, by Alexander Rose

Belo: From Newspapers to New Media, by Judith Garrett Segura

Our review of Alphabet Juice appears in today's Guide Sunday and on GuideLive.

If you're interested in catching Roy Blount Jr. in Austin, he'll be with NPR's Peter Sagal 3:30 Saturday in the Senate Chamber. Details are posted here.

You can find the full schedule of authors here.

Youtube has this amusing clip of him recording the audiobook version:

And if you're really a fan, and have somehow missed my half-dozen other mentions of this, you can go into our archives for my 2007 interview with Mr. Blount.

Here's a look at what's coming Sunday, in print and on GuideLive:

Roy Blount Jr.'s Alphabet Juice.

The Ghost In Love, by Jonathan Carroll.

The Fire, by Katherine Neville.

From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776, by George C. Herring.

A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir, by John Worster.

Here's a look at what's being reviewed in Guide Sunday and on GuideLive.com:

The New Annotated Dracula, by Bram Stoker (of course), edited with a foreword and notes by Leslie S. Klinger.

True Crime: An American Anthology, Harold Schechter, editor.

The Numerati, by Stephen Baker

To Catch the Lightning: A Novel of American Dreaming, by Alan Cheuse

Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry, by Donald Hall

And finally, we'll have an interview with Booker finalist Amitav Ghosh, author of Sea of Poppies.

Here's an excerpt from The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews. The review appears in GuideSunday and on GuideLive.

Yeah, so things have fallen apart. A few weeks ago I got a collect call from my niece, Thebes, in the middle of the night, asking me to please come back to help with Min. She told me she'd been trying to take care of things but it wasn't working any more. Min was stranded in her bed, hooked on blue torpedoes and convinced that a million silver cars were closing in on her (I didn't know what Thebes meant either), Logan was in trouble at school, something about the disturbing stories he was writing, Thebes was pretending to be Min on the phone with his principal, the house was crumbling around them, the back screen door had blown off in the wind, a family of aggressive mice was living behind the piano, the neighbours were [...] off because of hatchets being thrown into their yard at all hours (again, confusing, something to do with Logan) ... basically, things were out of control. And Thebes is only eleven.

And we're back! After a day of technical troubles prevented what I'm sure was a raging torrent of insightful posts and comments.

But here's our weekly look at what's ahead for the weekend. I'll also encourage anybody with thoughts about the changes in the print edition to post comments here, particularly anything related to the book reviews.

Those reviews this week (they'll appear on GuideLive Sunday):

Next year is the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Amid the torrent of titles about the most-written-about American of all time, we'll take a look at four of them: Fred Kaplan's Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer; James McPherson's Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief; Lincoln and His Admirals, by Craig L. Symonds; and Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World, a collection of essays by noted scholars.

We'll also look at:

To Siberia, Per Petterson's new novel.

Some of it was Fun: Working With RFK and LBJ, by Nicholas deB. Katzenbach.

And The Flying Troutmans, a novel by Miriam Toews. (Watch for an excerpt with that one Sunday as well.)

It's a busy weekend -- here's what's in store:

First, print readers will find a new name atop their section: Guide Sunday. (Online readers, you'll still find all our book reviews here on GuideLive. )

On the cover, look for an interview with Anne Rice, as she discusses her new memoir Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession. The Interview With a Vampire author talks about her faith, the rediscovery of her faith and the significant portion of her life she spent in North Texas.

Inside, on the books pages, look for reviews of:

I See You Everywhere, by Julia Glass
Liberty, by Garrison Keillor (and check back on Tuesday for an interview with him ahead of his appearance in Dallas.)
Supreme Courtship, by Christopher Buckley
Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, by Michael Kimmel
Happy Families, by Carlos Fuentes

Here's what you'll find on the books pages of Sunday's GuideLive:

A Texas giant gets the Library of America treatment in Katherine Anne Porter: Collected Stories and Other Writings, edited by .Darlene Harbour Unrue

Something mysterious is happening in Sweden in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by
Stieg Larsson.

Birds, love, possible lies and mother-daughter relations mix in In Hovering Flight, by
Joyce Hinnefeld. We'll post an excerpt from that one on the blog.

And a real-life World War II celebrity/literary/politico spy story unfolds in The Irregulars:
Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington, by Jennet Conant.

Here's a sneak peek at what we'll offer on the books pages of GuideLive on Sunday:

A violent piece of history sets up a real-life detective hunt in American Lightning:Terror, Mystery, Movie-Making & the Crime of the Century, by Howard Blum.

Arab-American life gets a fresh voice in A Map of Home, by Randa Jarrar (watch for an excerpt of that on this blog.)

Philip Roth returns this year with Indignation.

A war correspondent explains his Iraq experiences in The Forever War by Dexter Filkins.

Bitterly Divided: The South's Inner Civil War, by David Williams, explores dissent in the Confederacy.

Plus -- Judy Alter looks at the work habits of some Texas writers.

The North Texas weather forecast says this will be a good weekend to hunker down with some reading material. (We send out good thoughts to Texans south of us who are getting the brunt of Ike.)

If you're not in a crisis mode, we've got plenty of reading material to offer -- grab a wind-whipped copy of the paper as it flies down your street, or fire up the generator and go to GuideLive.com.

On Saturday, we've got an interview with Junot Diaz, ahead of his appearance Sunday at the Writers Studio. (Click for info; tickets will be available at the door, I am told.)

On Sunday, another literary giant, Philip Roth, sits down for an interview about permissiveness and his new novel, Indignation. (Which we'll review next week.)

On the review pages, we'll have:

Home by Marilynne Robinson: A powerful story about a prodigal son
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld: A fictionalized first lady is modeled on Laura Bush
Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt, by Joyce Tyldesley: Biography on one of history's most intriguing women.
The World in Six Songs, by Daniel J. Levitin: A neuroscientist explains how songs shape human nature.

Plus, a Texas and Southwest roundup from Si Dunn.

John Darnton's Black and White and Dead All Over has drawn many positive reviews, including ours (from Steve Weinberg.)

Although it's only so-so as a mystery, it's delicious as an insider's look at a modern newspaper. Literate colleagues of mine have marveled over the accuracy of the book's portrayal of newspaper types -- the cynicism, the arrogance, the incompetence, the love of the chase, the way reporters see themselves as answering a calling, not just doing a job.

But is that enough to make a book interesting for those who don't have ink in their veins? I'm not sure. I'd give this one as a gift to my newspaper friends, the ones who can suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the ride. I'm not sure I'd pass it along to anyone else.

Except maybe for New York Times junkies who want a fictionalized view at the paper's inner dealings. And for them, the New York Post provides a helpful guide to the alleged real-life counterparts. Although if you couldn't figure out on your own that Johnny Pomegranate -- "A man of Falstaffian appetites and the self regard of Orson Welles." -- is a reference to R.W. "Johnny" Apple, you probably don't need to bother with this one.

Anyone out there disagree?

(The old gray lady generously has posted an excerpt on its own site.)

Harvey J. Graff's The Dallas Myth, reviewed in today's GuideLive, gives the Big D a big drubbing, according to Clay Reynolds' review.

Dallas is an easy city to take potshots at; you, dear readers, can probably manage a more intelligent critique.

To help you out, here's a roundup of what others have said about Mr. Graff's book:

Char Miller at the San Antonio Express-News:

"Please don't judge this book by its cover. Maybe someday a non-Texas publisher will have the imagination not to brand a book about the Lone Star State with a Longhorn. This restraint would have been especially welcome for Harvey J. Graff's complex, theoretically rich study, The Dallas Myth -- that city never rustled up the cattle business like its archrival Fort Worth, and has reveled in the fact that its origins are anything but Cowtown Moderne. ... Then again, maybe the jacket design is but a foil against which to read Graff's delightfully icon-busting text. Fair warning to Dallasites of a certain age and status: you may well be discomfited by his skewering of received wisdom about yours being a place without limits, a 'city with no history.' "

Jerome "bookdaddy Weeks: "Graff is dogged. Such thoroughness is admirable in a historian. In a writer, it can read like overkill. As he demonstrates our city's lack of real identity by going through songs about Dallas, novels about Dallas, every major Dallas building, it feels more like he's settling a grudge."

Here's what's scheduled for Sunday's books pages in GuideLive:

Three recent books offer fresh perspectives on Vietnam. We offer a look at the three books: The Vietnam War: A Concise International History, by Mark Atwood Lawrence; On Their Own: Women Journalists and the American Experience in Vietnam, by Joyce Hoffmann; and We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway.

A fictional look at another difficult piece of American history is offered by Kathleen Kent in The Heretic's Daughter. (If you missed it, here's Joy Tipping's interview with the Dallas writer.)

Speaking of Dallas, Harvey Graff paints an unflattering portrait in The Dallas Myth: The Making and Unmaking of an American City.

And an addict fact-checks his own addiction in The Night of the Gun, by David Carr.

OK, I have to share -- I've had this book sitting on my desk for a couple of months and finally got around to reading it, and if you're at all concerned about the state of the language now that the "Internets" are with us, you'll want to read it.

Mignon Fogarty stunned the newly buzzy "podcasting" world in 2006 when she started her weekly Grammar Girl podcasts and they eventually rose to No. 2 on iTunes. Suddenly, knowing where the apostrophe goes, or whether to use a colon or semicolon, became hip (and word geeks everywhere wept with glee). Now she's come out with a book, Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips For Better Writing (Holt, $14); reading it was WAY more fun (and more informative, in some cases) than those college English classes ever were. Ms. Fogarty's not starchy, but she's a stickler for correctness in every form of written communication -- e-mails, text messaging, blogging, etc. She'll have none of that lazy "Well, it's only for a blog, so who cares if it's grammatically correct?" attitude.

The playful title of the first chapter -- "Dirty Words" -- gives a hint at her sense of humor. She doesn't scold; she tries to gently help, although she does note that, despite what certain bloggers or e-mailers might suspect, "writing badly is like dressing in lime skorts and an orange plaid sweater -- people notice." She also gets into issues you've probably never thought about, such as the difference (a big one, it turns out) between a "Dear John" letter and a "Hi, John" letter. The book is sparely, but delightfully illustrated by the grammatical adventures of Aardvark (species obvious) and Squiggly (a snail.)

Sure, it's time to head to the lake, or the pool, or, if you live near a Texas beach, to stockpile emergency goods.

But during your long and, I hope, disaster-free weekend, save some time this weekend to check out these book stories in GuideLive:

On Saturday, we'll have an interview with Cuban author Leonardo Padura, whose writing celebrates and criticizes his nation.

On Sunday, Dallas author Kathleen Kent discusses her upcoming debut novel, The Heretic's Daughter.

And on the review pages, we'll have an unfortunately timely look at The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous: Fighting to Save a Way of Life in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, by Ken Wells.

We'll also have:

A Tale Out of Luck, a Western from Willie Nelson and Mike Blakely:

The 19th Wife, fiction by David Ebershoff. (Watch for an excerpt of that.)

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami's memoir.

Alive in Necropolis, by Texas-based Doug Dorst. (We'll have an excerpt of that novel as well.)

The Little Book, a novel decades in the making by Selden Edwards

Have a good weekend.

NewWest.net has a look at The Fairy and the Chupacabra and Those Marfa Lights, a children's book set (obviously) in West Texas.

For those of you in far-flung locales who might be unfamiliar with the chupacabra, well, don't go out alone tonight, bwah hah hah hah.

(Sorry. It's Monday.)

Here's a peek at what you'll find in Sunday's GuideLive:

We'll look at a pair of books that offer perspective on modern Arabic and Islamic culture: Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam, by Mark LeVine, and How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi.

Closer to home, there's Rose Bowl Dreams: A Memoir of Faith, Family and Football by Texas Longhorns fan Adam Jones. (Come back Sunday for an excerpt of that.)

We'll look at the novel Stand the Storm by Breena Clarke. (And provide another excerpt.)

And finally, we'll study How Fiction Works with James Wood.

[Updated at 1:45 p.m. Friday.]

In today's GuideLive, we had a review of Stephanie Elizondo Griest's latest novel, Mexican Enough.

Read a bit more about the 34-year-old author, who grew up in South Texas and attended the University of Texas, in this interview with Quick's Lesley Tellez.

Here's a peek at what you'll find in Sunday's GuideLive.

A duet of books about our neighbor to the South:
First Stop in the New World, by David Lida
Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, by Stephanie Elizondo Griest

Plus:
Smoke Screen, by Sandra Brown
The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry (look for an online excerpt, as well)
Leather Maiden, by Joe R. Lansdale

Here's a peek at what you'll find in Sunday's GuideLive.

The White Mary, by Kira Salak. (There'll be an excerpt online, as well.)
Black and White and Dead All Over, by John Darnton
The Gargoyle, by Andrew Davidson. (Look for an excerpt of this one, too.)
What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life, by Avery Gilbert
How Far Is the Ocean From Here, by Amy Shearn

Plus ... authors appearing locally next week.

From our features editor, Cathy Barber:

Christy Rost was motivated by a kitchen redo of a house in Colorado. She survived the renovation in fine culinary style -- so fine, in fact, that she rounded up her tips and recipes and wrote Where's My Spatula? Fast, Healthy Meals for When Your Kitchen or Your Life Is a Mess.

Longtime local cooking teacher Karel Anne Tieszen of Duncanville also has a new book, this one compiling student favorites from her classes. Check out In Your Own Kitchen.

I was going to add a few thoughts about Why I Came West, t by Rick Bass. But Bryan Woolley's review says it all for me.

I remember tearing through one of Mr. Bass' earlier Yaak Valley books at a friend's house a decade or so ago; I stayed up until 2 a.m. savoring his descriptions of the Montana winter. And recently, I relished stories from The Lives of Rocks as well. (We still have a marvelous story-length excerpt posted from that.)

When you are capable of writing so well, the expectations are high. And he didn't meet them with Why I Came West.

In his defense, I think it's hard for us in the Dallas area, where "wilderness" means "I can't see a Neiman's from here," to grasp the ferocity of the battle he has been fighting. Take a look at this review from Newwest.net, then see the comments readers have posted. I would hate to walk into in that Montana bar without a canister of bear spray handy. .

Here's a look at the reviews you'll find Sunday in GuideLive:

We'll lift a glass to Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, by Iain Gately

Walk the Blue Fields is a memorable collection from Irish writer Claire Keegan.

Texas-raised Rick Bass explores writes about his environmental work in Why I Came West.

The James Boys: A Novel Account of Four Desperate Brothers, by Richard Liebmann-Smith, mixes the James boys in a unique way.

Empires Of The Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, by Roger Crowley, takes a look at a pivitol moment in European history.

Chris Vognar has a thoughtful interview today with Glenda Carpio, author of Laughing Fit to Kill. You can read it in GuideLive.

The story makes mention of the ongoing Kara Walker exhibit at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. You can read our previous story about that here.

Your humble books editor is fond of saying that anyone who suspects a vast, organized media consipiracy to do ... anything should really just stop in a newsroom and take a look at the people working here. This will disavow any notions of organization, period.

Apparently, the book industry is another story. Shelf Awareness today reports that City of Thieves, by David Benioff, is getting quite a push from everyone who has touched it.

Booksellers, book reviewers, the publisher's reps -- all seem energized, the article says. Rona Brinlee of the Bookmark, in Atlantic Beach, Fla. explains: "I think City of Thieves is the next Water for Elephants. It's historical fiction with a happy ending. It's great storytelling, gives details about the time and place. It shows all the extremes of war, when humanity can be so terrible and wonderful. It has funny, happy, sad, poignant parts. And some parts may be relevant to today."

Our own review, by Charles Matthews, called it "an immensely readable novel that celebrates humanity while at the same time exposing the depths of cruelty to which human beings can sink." Read his whole review here.

We interrupt our coverage of the Harry Potter conference to give you a sneak peek at this weekend's books coverage in GuideLive.

Dennis Lehane was one of the most talked-about authors at the recent Book Expo America. Chris Vognar spoke with him about his forthcoming novel, The Given Day, as well as his earlier film-friendly titles, such as Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone.

Our review pages will feature:

Dallas-reared author Carol Cassella's Oxygen. Watch for an excerpt from that, and if you like what you read, prepare to meet her 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders, Preston Road at Royal Lane.

Slumberland, by Paul Beatty.

A trio of Texas mini-books: State Fare: An Irreverent Guide to Texas Movies by Don Graham; Extraordinary Texas Women, by Judy Alter; and Texas Country Singers, by Phil Fry and Jim Lee.

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine, by Benjamin Wallace.

Posthumous Keats, by Stanley Plumly

And now, back to more Harry Potter news ...

Here's a look at the weekend's books coverage in GuideLive.

First, we'll have an interview with Christian Lander. He's the blogger-turned-author of "Stuff White People Like."

If you're looking for reviews, we'll offer:

If you're still looking for great beach reads (or just great "curled up in a chair, in front of a fan, clutching a lemonade" reads), consider Anne Cushman's Enlightenment for Idiots and/or Megan Chance's The Spiritualist.

Ms. Cushman's beautifully written, remarkably assured debut novel Enlightenment for Idiots (Shaye Areheart Books, $24) follows Amanda, a young wanna-be yoga teacher who gets sent to India to write a guide book to finding the titular "enlightenment." But at every "peace center" -- ashram, Buddhist temple, yoga/spa -- she visits, things go horribly, hilariously awry, from ripped knee cartilage to verboten guru love. Amanda's biggest hurdle, literally and physically, comes when she discovers she's pregnant and must choose: enlightenment? motherhood? are both possible?

Here's what your weekend books coverage in GuideLive will look like.

On Saturday, look for a story on authors and their favorite beach reads -- then come back to the blog and suggest your own.

On Sunday, we'll serve up reviews of:

Made in the USA, by Billie Letts. (We'll have an excerpt, too.)

What Was Lost, by Catherine O'Flynn

Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door, by David Kaufman.

Say You're One Of Them, by Uwem Akpan. (With an excerpt, as well.)

Plus -- Si Dunn's Texas and Southwest roundup.

See you Sunday.

Here's a look at what we'll have for you in Sunday's GuideLive.

A Patent Lie, by Paul Goldstein. Pay attention to this one, John Grisham fans. We'll have an excerpt to whet your appetite.

The Garden of Last Days, the new novel by Andre Dubus III

The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession, by Adam Leith Gollner. Come back Sunday to snack on an excerpt from this one, too.

The Monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi. A serial killer stalks in Italy.

Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de Medici, by Miles J. Unger. A memorable Italian of a slightly different nature.

With summer officially here, it's time to get serious about summer reading lists.

To get yours started, here are a few professional thoughts:

Jennifer Reese of the National Book Critics Circle has When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson atop her vacation list, and several other interesting suggestions. [The link is now repaired; apologies to those who tried it earlier.]

Bookrerporter.com is featuring a different title each week in its Beach Bag of Books.

John Marshall of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has something for everyone on his summer reads list.

You can read our interview with Sarah Bird here.

And find our review of her latest, How Perfect Is That, here.

Author Jessica Brody is scheduled to discuss The Fidelity Files 7 p.m. Monday at Barnes & Noble, Stonebriar Centre, Frisco. Here's a review of her novel:

Sunday's books pages (also online) will bring you reviews of:

Check back Sunday in GuideLive and you'll find reviews of:

As we prepare for a relatively quiet final day of the Book Expo, be sure to stop by GuideLive.com for our regular Sunday roundup.

In addition to our daily story about the Expo (blog readers should consider that story sort of an extended remix of what you have read here), you'll find reviews of:

Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin "Bud" Shrake Reader, a collection of the Texas legend's work, edited by Steven L. Davis.

A pair of Kennedy-related works: The Last Campaign Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America, by Thurston Clarke, and Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by JFK adviser Ted Sorensen.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway -- we've included an excerpt.

Judy Alter's always-enlightening roundup of happenings in Texas publishing.

Plus some quick looks at new material from Ian Frazier and Gordon S. Wood and The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage
by Daniel Mark Epstein, who will be in Dallas later this week.

Happy reading!

Here's a sneak peek at what you'll be reading about poolside with your copy of GuideLive (or your laptop, if you prefer to stay inside):

So Brave, Young, and Handsome, by Leif Enger: A Western that mixes classic and unexpected elements. Watch for an excerpt here on Sunday.

City of Thieves, by David Benioff: Drama amid the siege of Leningrad.

The Pixar Touch, by David A. Price: The story behind the creators of Toy Story and other modern classics of animation.

Napoleon: The Path to Power by Philip Dwyer: Separating truth from myth in the story of Napoleon's ascent.

Plus -- Si Dunn's roundup of Texas and Southwest Books.

I wrote about American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent on Sunday. It's serious and fun book for those of us who grew up with that label. (Put a reporter's notebook and a baritone in the hands of one of the guys in this photo, and you've got a good idea of my high school experience.)

Since the review ran, I've received a few e-mails debating the nature of "nerd." In the review, I tended to latch onto the traits I most related to. But others have questioned me -- what exactly is a nerd? Is there a difference between a nerd and a geek? And how did the very English Elvis Costello end up in a review about American Nerds, anyway? (Well, Mr. Nugent handled that more deftly than this reviewer did, and it has been corrected thanks to an alert reader.)

Anyhow, here is an excerpt where Mr, Nugent explains what he was attempting. And I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to weigh in on the difference between geeks, nerds and people who read books blogs, if there is any.

(Dallas Morning News file photo)

Joy Tipping spoke with Brock Clarke ahead of his appearance with "Late Nights at the Dallas Museum of Art" tomorrow. We'll have that story in tomorrow's GuideLive.

For those of you planning ahead, here's the review of The Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England.

And here's a complete list of the evening's activities, provided by our friends at The Dallas Museum of Art:

Maybe it depends on the coast.

At The New York Times, Janet Maslin raved (while mimicking his style:)

"He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. No more lying, no more melodrama, still run-on sentences still funny punctuation but so what. He became a furiously good storyteller this time."

At the Los Angeles Times, David L. Ulin ripped it:

" Bright Shiny Morning is a terrible book. One of the worst I've ever read. But you have to give James Frey credit for one thing: He's got chutzpah. "

Here's part of the first chapter from "Child 44," by Tom Rob Smith. It's reviewed today in GuideLive.

And let me offer the personal seal of approval on this one: Call it a literary thriller or a thrilling, literate novel, it works on many levels. Watch for a movie and multiple sequels in years to come, I predict.

The excerpt is provided courtesy of Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group USA.

Here's what's coming this weekend in GuideLive. It's a busy one for book lovers.

On Saturday, author Stephenie Meyer is coming to a sold-out event in Frisco. If you're a newcomer to her world, we'll tell you all about the writer some have dubbed "the next J.K. Rowling." And if you're a fan -- we'll have comments from her, plus video of the local tribute band, "The Bella Cullen Project."

On Sunday, we speak to Louise Erdrich, award-winning author of The Plague of Doves. She's coming to Richardson on Monday to record an installment of The Writers Studio. We'll have an excerpt from her book on the blog as well.

As for reviews, you'll be able to read about:

The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008, by Sean Wilentz.

Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith. (And watch for an exceprt with that one as well.)

Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson, a memoir by Tricia Tunstall.

God of War, fiction by Marisa Silver.

And Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time -- the Building of the Panama Canal, by Matthew Parker.

Enjoy! And, as always -- come back and offer your own opinions.

Lisa See makes an appearance 4 p.m. Tuesday (May 13) at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, 2821 Turtle Creek Blvd. Your $25 ticket includes cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Call 214-443-4747.

I saw Lisa speak in New York last year at Book Expo America. It was an interesting presentation. We have an excerpt from her book here. You can also read our review of her book below.