L.A. Times - Books & Talks

'The Second Plane' by Martin Amis
Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700
September 11: Terror and Boredom IT would be too easy to read Martin Amis' slim book on Sept. 11 in a day and to dismiss it with a politically correct glare. The dozen essays, columns and reviews and two short stories in "The Second Plane: September 11, Terror and Boredom" are more illuminating than that, though deeply, sometimes self-indulgently flawed.
'The House of Widows' by Askold Melnyczuk
Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Family secrets lie at the end of a dark and twisted path FROM its puzzling opening line ("The most common grammatical error is the lie"), there's an ominous vibe to Askold Melnyczuk's third novel, "The House of Widows," and the sense of unease lingers until the final sentence. It's a mysterious, masterfully taut story in which dread plays a prominent role.
'Marco Polo' by Laurence Bergreen
Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700
An account of the adventures of the celebrated 13th century world traveler. MARCO POLO was only 17 when he departed for China in 1271 with his father, Niccolò, and his uncle, Maffeo. Those two merchants of Venice were known to the boy primarily as storytellers of their fabulous exploits, writes award-winning biographer and historian Laurence Bergreen, for they had been absent more than 16 years, Marco's entire childhood. The pair had followed trade routes east, encountered exotic countries and customs and survived many perils; they had even lived for a time at the court of Kublai Khan, the leader of the Mongol Empire. Eventually they agreed to accompany his emissary west to the pope, vowing to return to Cambulac (Beijing) with several items the Great Khan had requested.

NYT > Books

African Idyll
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:50:47 -0000
The Times’s Helene Cooper fled a warring Liberia as a child. In this memoir, she returns to confront the ghosts of her past -- and to find a lost sister.
Books of The Times: A Leader Beyond Denial, as War Plans Flounder
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:52:34 -0000
Bob Woodward paints a picture of an administration shrugging off bad news and postponing decisions as the crisis in Iraq deepened.
True Grit
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:40:44 -0000
In a new story collection, Annie Proulx returns to disrupt the mythology of the Old West.

Fiction & Poetry

Yusef Komunyakaa: The Clay Army
Yusef Komunyakaa Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0000
When the roof of the First Emperor of Qin’s tomb caved in, six thousand life-size terra-cotta soldiers knelt beneath its crumbling weight in the first pit, alongside horses & chariots. Centuries before, when the clay figures stood in perfect formation, the rebel general Xiang Yu looted this sanctuary of . . .
Mary Jo Bang: Beast Brutality
Mary Jo Bang Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0000
The caption read, “He and she standing quietly next to a dog.” The prompt queen sat with her crown on, The insets between each Gothic arch providing a measure Of what can be Done with architecture. She said, “We built it long ago. And then we knocked it down.” And . . .
Alice Munro: Face
Alice Munro Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0000
I am convinced that my father looked at me, really saw me, only once. After that, he knew what was there. In those days, they didn’t let fathers into the glare of the theatre where babies were born, or into the room where the women about to give birth were . . .

London Review of Books

Kemalism · Perry Anderson: After the Ottomans
'The greatest single truth to declare itself in the wake of 1989,' J.G.A. Pocock wrote two years afterwards,is that the frontiers of 'Europe' towards the east are everywhere open and indeterminate. 'Europe', it can now be seen, is not a continent - as in the ancient geographers' dream - but a subcontinent: a peninsula of the Eurasian landmass, like India in being inhabited by a highly distinctive chain of interacting cultures, but unlike it in lacking a clearly marked geophysical frontier. Instead of Afghanistan and the Himalayas, there are vast level areas through which conventional 'Europe' shades into conventional 'Asia', and few would recognise the Ural mountains if they ever reached them.But, he went on, empires - of which in its fashion the European Union must be accounted one - had always needed to determine the space in which they exercised their power, fixing the borders of fear or attraction around them.
What Works Doesn't Work · Ross McKibbin: Politics without Ideas
In 1964, Harold Wilson described the record of the (outgoing) Conservative government as '13 wasted years'. If the present Parliament lasts its full term - as seems likely - the electorate will be asked to pass judgment on 13 years of Labour rule. Voters today seem to have the same view of Labour as Wilson had of the Tories all those years ago. Many who once wished Labour well are now wondering whether they can vote Labour at all, or whether they should stop voting tactically. This is an important decision: the Labour majorities in the last three elections have been much enlarged by people choosing to vote for the candidate thought most likely to defeat the Tory - a spontaneous alternative vote. Since the country's politicians have refused to reform the country's medieval system of voting, the electorate has reformed it for itself. But it is a reform without any statutory basis: people can choose to practise it or not. Labour thus faces a double threat. Not merely that people will no longer vote Labour, but that they will vote as they really want to - Lib Dem, for example - whatever the consequences. And they will do so because they no longer believe keeping the Tories out is the main object of politics. Labour's position, though not irrecoverable, is therefore serious, approaching desperate.
What Condoleezza Said · Tony Wood: Why Did Saakashvili Do It?
The conflict in South Ossetia has produced a cloud of rhetoric that seems to have grown in inverse proportion to the intensity of fighting on the ground. Once the outcome became clear - a crushing Russian military victory - Cold War imagery flooded the Western press. Far more than the status of a tiny mountainous enclave in the South Caucasus was said to be at stake: not only was Georgia's territorial integrity imperilled by Russian tyranny, but the future of democracy was under threat. In the Washington Post of 11 August, Robert Kagan asserted that the conflict will be seen as 'a turning point no less significant' than the fall of the Berlin Wall. Given this 'much bigger drama', 'the details of who did what to precipitate Russia's war against Georgia are not very important.'

guardian.co.uk Books

Review: American current affairs roundup
James Robinson Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:09:02 -0000
Review: American current affairs roundupBush-bashing is big business, in London and Washington as well as Cairo and Karachi, where bookshelves groan under the weight of titles like Why Do We Hate America? says James Robinson
Review: The Believers by Adam Mars-Jones
Adam Mars-Jones Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:09:02 -0000
Review: The Believers by Adam Mars-JonesClashing ideologies and repressed anger are among the subjects of Zoe Heller's fitfully brilliant history of a complex, dysfunctional New York Jewish family says Adam Mars-Jones
Review: Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
Jenny Diski Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:09:00 -0000
Review: Man in the Dark by Paul AusterPaul Auster follows Pirandello and Philip K Dick with decidedly mixed results says Jenny Diski

NPR Topics: Books

New Book Collects Copp Children Stories
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:06:00 -0400
Scott Simon speaks with Weekend Edition's Daniel Pinkwater, about a new book called Jim Copp, Will You Tell Me A Story?" The book is a collection of three of Copp and Ed Brown's stories for children, put in book form for the first time.
Palin Autobiography Reissued
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:59:00 -0400
Scott Simon takes a moment to note that a biography of Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate, has been quickly reissued. The book reveals Palin's favorite meal: moose stew.
Novel's Young Narrator Tells Family's Story
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:54:00 -0400
Author Matthew Kneale discusses his new book When We Were Romans, the story of a mother and her two young children who flee London to stay with friends in Rome. Kneale wrote the book from the point of view of a nine-year-old.

Slashdot: Book Reviews

Blown to Bits
samzenpus Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:19:00 -0000
Ray Lodato writes "Few people would deny that the world has changed significantly since the explosion of the Internet. Our access to immense volumes of data has made our lives both easier and less secure. Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis have written an intriguing analysis of many of the issues that have erupted due to the ubiquity of digital data, not only on the Internet but elsewhere. Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion, published by Addison-Wesley, digs into many of the ramifications of making so much information available to the world at large. As I read through the book, I was alternately fascinated and horrified at what information is available, and how it is being used and abused." Keep reading for the rest of Ray's review.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Bottom of the Barrel Book Reviews — Special Operations Team Raptor
samzenpus Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:12:00 -0000
If you like stories about maverick billionaires, cliche mercenaries, government sponsored super hero teams, leading edge technology and the ultimate evil of an alien human resources dept. then Special Operations Team Raptor The African Incident, by Daniel A. Dawson, just might be for you. Weighing in at a mere 103 pages, SOTR will only waste a few hours of your life. While it may be as fresh and creative as a crafts class at summer camp, it's not a complete waste of your time. Keep reading below to see if your mom would like it as much as your macaroni art.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Zero Day Threat
samzenpus Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:10:00 -0000
Ben Rothke writes "Zero Day Threat: the Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity is an interesting and eye-opening look at how banks and credit card companies make ID theft and fraud rather elementary. But with all that, this book must be read in the larger context of how today's society deals with, and is often oblivious to, risk. When is comes to risk, American society tolerates tens of thousands of drunk-driving deaths, gives millions in federal tobacco subsidies, and is oblivious about near-epidemics such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. With all that, it is doubtful that the myriad horror stories Zero Day Threat details will persuade Congress or the other players to do anything to curtail the problem with identity theft and internet fraud." Keep reading for the rest of Ben's review.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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