Scanning the Bookshelf from Creators Syndicate

Tom Waits for No One: Bio is Heavy on the Music and Thin on the Man for 07/10/2009

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Writing songs, Tom Waits told me in a 2004 interview, is "kind of like catching a rabbit ... like photographing ghosts." Not nearly as tricky, though, as capturing Waits himself in "Lowside of the Road," the exhaustive new biography by Barney Hoskyns.

A labor of love and frustration, provocative details and maddening dead ends, the book chronicles the life and work of ...

Updated: Fri Jul 10, 2009

Kevin Starr Looks Back at a Golden Age in the Golden State for 07/17/2009

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

If you want to know how California used to do it, read Kevin Starr's latest entry in his long-running California Dream history series. In the 1950s, the Golden State imagined big things — sprawling suburbs, wide freeways, affordable college education and dams and aqueducts to move water from the wet north to the parched south.

"It was a time of growth and abundance, and this, ...

Updated: Fri Jul 17, 2009

Fine 'Age of Wonder' Chronicles an Era of Scientific Discovery for 07/24/2009

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

One of the most popular (or at least most downloaded) articles in a recent issue of the journal Science was a paper entitled "Leading-edge vortices elevate lift of autorotating plant seeds." Though kind of dorky-sounding, it also sounded kind of interesting.

The paper, though, was fraught with phrases like "dynamically scaled models," "three-dimensional flow" ...

Updated: Fri Jul 24, 2009

So Many Books ... And So Little Time for 07/31/2009

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I can't think of a better way to launch a Comic-Con-centric column than with "Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics Into Comix" by James Danky and Denis Kitchen (Harry N. Abrams, 143 pages, $29.95). This large-format treat — launched to accompany an exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where Danky is on the faculty (Kitche ...

Updated: Fri Jul 31, 2009

Keep Kids Busy with These Fun Summer Reads for 08/07/2009

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Before the onslaught of "reading, writing and 'rithmetic" heats up once again, treat your kids to some fun, lighthearted read-aloud tales. These new picture books are full of laughs and thrills.

"Pingo" by Brandon Mull; illustrated by Brandon Dorman; Shadow Mountain Publishing; 32 pages; $17.95.

It's not often when a picture book is both tear-inducing and funny ...

Updated: Fri Aug 07, 2009

Prepare for School with These Entertaining Educational Stories for 08/14/2009

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Back-to-school time means introducing young students to books that offer entertainment along with a bit of education. These new books bring these topics to the table: historical figures, the ageless ideas of da Vinci, author Louisa May Alcott and even some dinosaur-ready math.

"Famous Figures of Ancient Times" by Cathy Diez-Luckie; Figures in Motion; 96 pages; $19.95.

Ki ...

Updated: Fri Aug 14, 2009

Grab a Child's Attention with These Instructive Stories for 08/21/2009

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Need a great child's gift that teaches a skill but is still entertaining? These new books and kits teach cooking, introduce buried treasure and hieroglyphs, and present a pair of popular characters from children's literature.

"The Playful Chef Cookbook" from Playful Life Inc.; 147 pages; $18.95.

The "Playful Chef Cookbook" is a welcome addition to the array of ...

Updated: Fri Aug 21, 2009

So Many Books ... And So Little Time for 08/28/2009

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

As Rich Cohen puts it in "Israel Is Real: An Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and Its History" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 383 pages, $26), Jews had survived after the destruction of the Second Temple in A.D. 70 because the "rabbis turned a real city into a city in the mind ... they turned the Temple into a book. Which is why Jerusalem survived. ... You can burn a ...

Updated: Fri Aug 28, 2009

Teddy Roosevelt is Simply Bully in 'Wilderness' for 09/04/2009

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Of the four figures carved into Mount Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt has the slipperiest claim on greatness. Washington and Jefferson were indispensable actors in the creation of this nation, of course, while Lincoln preserved the Union. Roosevelt, for all his trust-busting, canal-building, big-stick-wielding, Progressive-era accomplishments, never had to surmount a national crisis of life-or-dea ...

Updated: Fri Sep 04, 2009

Tales of Crows, Harvest Festivals, Apples Help Youngsters Segue into Autumn for 09/11/2009

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

There comes a time in early autumn when children's focuses and interests start to shift from swimming pools and backyard barbecues to school and fall leaves. These crisp new tales help make that transition a pleasant one.

"Crow Call" by Lois Lowry; illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline; Scholastic; 32 pages; $16.99.

Two-time Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry enters the picture-boo ...

Updated: Fri Sep 11, 2009

E.L. Doctorow's 'Homer and Langley' Reimagines the Lives of a Pair of Recluses for 09/18/2009

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Among contemporary novelists, E.L. Doctorow has no monopoly on the blending of American history with fiction. But the whittling away of boundaries between them is something he's done with such intelligence and narrative flair, in "Ragtime" (1975), "Billy Bathgate" (1989) and other works, that this territory seems his more than anyone else's.

Doctorow is fascinated wit ...

Updated: Fri Sep 18, 2009

Halloween Books to Make Little Ones Howl for 09/25/2009

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

There's nothing like reading an autumn-themed picture book to get youngsters in the mood for Halloween. Starting with an ethereal scarecrow romp from the prolific Jane Yolen, this harvest full of tales puts everyone in the fall mood.

"The Scarecrow's Dance" by Jane Yolen; illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline; Simon & Schuster; 32 pages; $16.99.

One magical evening, a sc ...

Updated: Fri Sep 25, 2009

So Many Books ... And So Little Time for 10/02/2009

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It's a national obsession. No, that's not strong enough: It's a national addiction. And Ellen Ruppel Shell believes it is killing us.

The "it"? Our fixation on low price. As Ruppel Shell argues in "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture" (Penguin Press, 296 pages, $25.95), our lust for the bargain has distorted the economy, sucked us into ever-deepening debt and, ul ...

Updated: Fri Oct 02, 2009

Fitzgerald, Hemingway Fascinate After All These Years for 10/09/2009

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It might be F. Scott Fitzgerald's most repeated line: "There are no second acts in American life." Happily, he was wrong, at least when it came to his books. His books were obscure at the time of his death and perennially popular now.

"The Fitzgerald revival makes a remarkable chapter in the history of literary reputation," writes Scott Donaldson.

He should kno ...

Updated: Fri Oct 09, 2009

Spooky and Fun Reads for the Young Trick-or-Treaters to Enjoy for 10/16/2009

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Halloween and children's books go hand in hand. Halloween is all about mystery, imagination, fun and humor. These are some of the traits found in the best of children's literature.

"Only a Witch Can Fly" by Alison McGhee; illustrated by Taeeun Yoo; Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan Publishing; 32 pages; $16.99.

Imagine being a young witch and being unable to fly. McGhee's sop ...

Updated: Fri Oct 16, 2009

Adventurous Books Captivate Tweens for 10/23/2009

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Kids, too, are tired of hearing of economic woes and downer-themed news. Help them sink their teeth into absorbing young-adult novels. These are five fantastic new books for older children and teens.

"The Lost Island of Tamarind" by Nadia Aguiar; Feiwel and Friends/Holtzbrinck Publishers; 448 pages; $17.95.

Part "Peter Pan," part "A Wrinkle in Time," ...

Updated: Fri Oct 23, 2009

So Many Books ... And So Little Time for 10/30/2009

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It's been many years since Neil Sheehan's ambitious, haunting rendering of the Vietnam War, "A Bright Shining Lie," won a Pulitzer and a National Book Award, yet he's Johnny on the spot with his timing on "A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon" (Random House, 534 pages, $32). That "ultimate weapon" is the intercontinental ballistic ...

Updated: Fri Oct 30, 2009

'Wimpy Kid' Gains Fans as Sales Gain Steam for 11/06/2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

In the world of books for young readers just now, it's a "wimpy kid" versus adolescent vampires. Actually, there is a kind of separate peace for the two blockbuster series, since Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" books have a mass teen following, while Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books are enthralling, well, kids. Both writers have their avid adult readers, too ...

Updated: Fri Nov 06, 2009

Library of Congress Smacks a Four-Bagger for 11/13/2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

You might have guessed that the Library of Congress has the largest collection of baseball artifacts and memorabilia. But it's not as if you are simply going to stroll in and sift through these holdings, unless you have a serious reason for doing so.

Others, you may be pleased to know, have done the sifting for you — putting together one of the most seductively designed books about ...

Updated: Fri Nov 13, 2009

Exploring Anne Frank, Author for 11/20/2009

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

In 2005, prolific writer Francine Prose was starting her 15th work of fiction. This novel was to have a 13-year-old girl as its main character and narrator. So Prose decided to reread "Diary of a Young Girl," which she hadn't picked up since her youth. Prose's reason was simple: "The greatest book ever written about a 13-year-old girl was Anne Frank's diary."

The new ...

Updated: Fri Nov 20, 2009