Archive: April 2010 (1-10 of 26)

Apr 29 2010 11:25 AM ET

Nancy Drew: She's just turned 80

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Categories: Children's Books, Mysteries, Nancy Drew

Nancy-DrewI have Nancy Drew to thank for a lot of my childhood quirks. It’s because of her I grew up tapping on walls, hoping to find a hidden passageway; was convinced that all attics had secrets stored inside; and eyed any suspicious-looking character who came my way.

Oh, who am I kidding? I still do all that.

It was 80 years ago yesterday that the world was first introduced to the intrepid, titian-haired girl detective. On April 28, 1930, the first three Nancy Drew books – The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery — were released, opening up a world where girls could — and did — do anything. Nancy wasn’t relegated to the sidelines; she was the one leading the charge, usually in her cool roadster.

She wasn’t alone, though. By her side during most cases were her best chums, cousins Bess Marvin and George Fayne. She also had a caring father, lawyer Carson Drew, and doting housekeeper Hannah Gruen. Last but certainly not least was her “special friend,” the dreamy Ned Nickerson. Any man who isn’t afraid to let his girlfriend take the reins gets an A+ in my book. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 29 2010 10:02 AM ET

Baba Booey of Howard Stern fame gets a book deal

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Categories: Funny Business, Memoirs

Gary-DellAbateImage Credit: Joseph Marzullo / Retna Ltd.This is one book signing you can bet will be crashed. Howard Stern cohort and prank-phone-call icon Gary Dell’Abate (a.k.a. Baba Booey) has signed a deal with Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau for an autobiography.

The book, They Call Me Baba Booey, is set for a November release, and is going to be an epistemological investigation into the unreliability of perception combined with a social critique of the depersonalizing effects of modern technology. All right, probably not. But I’m sure Stern fans will flock to it anyway, as they did to books by Robin Quivers, Artie Lange, and the self-assigned King of All Media himself. Would you buy a copy, Shelf-Lifers? Feel free to answer that question in the comments by typing “BABA BOOEY! BABA BOOEY! HOWARD STERN RULES!!”

Apr 28 2010 01:28 PM ET

Laura Bush discusses car crash in upcoming memoir

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Categories: George W. Bush, Memoirs

laura-bushImage Credit: Duffy-Marie Arnoult/WireImageThe New York Times managed to get its hands on a copy of Laura Bush’s upcoming memoir, Spoken From the Heart, and has spilled a lot of its newsiest content. I’m guessing a certain bookstore employee somewhere is going to be receiving a midnight visit from the publishing equivalent of Dick Cheney with a baseball bat.

In the book, the Times reports, Bush goes into detail about the fatal car accident she caused as a teenager on a country road in Midland, Tex., in November 1963. The former First Lady had long been silent on the accident, which claimed the life of a high school classmate, Mike Douglas. But here she recounts the events of that night — she ran a red light while rushing with a girlfriend to a drive-in in her father’s Chevy Impala and crashed into Douglas’ car — and the guilt that haunted her for years afterward. “I was praying that the person in the other car was alive. In my mind, I was calling ‘Please, God. Please, God. Please, God,’ over and over and over again,” she writes. She also uses the book to defend her husband against his political detractors, including Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, whose public comments about her husband (“loser” and “liar”) she calls “graceless.”

Mrs. Bush’s book, due in bookstores this Tuesday, precedes the former president’s own memoir, Decision Points, by six months. His book is set to his bookstores on Nov. 19.

Apr 27 2010 12:30 PM ET

Collection of Marilyn Monroe's writing to be released

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Categories: Celebrity, Posthumous Publishing

Marilyn-MonroeImage Credit: Everett CollectionThe candle in the wind just keeps burning. Farrar, Straus and Giroux has announced that they plan to release a collection of Marilyn Monroe’s own writings. Fragments will include poems, correspondence, rare photos, as well as reproductions of documents handwritten by the blond bombshell herself. It is set to hit bookstores this fall.

The book will purportedly show the seldom seen facets of the breathy pneumatic icon, who was in actuality a whole lot smarter than her coquettish image suggested. What do you think, Shelf-Lifers? Are you interested in getting a glimpse of the Norma Jean behind the Marilyn Monroe?

Apr 26 2010 06:57 PM ET

'Admission' and 'It's Not You, It's Me: The Poetry of Break-Up': Two terrific books from Jerry Williams

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Categories: Anthologies, Misc., Poetry, Review

As we arrive at the final week of National Poetry Month, I recommend that you immediately grab a copy of Jerry Williams’ Admission, as funny and tough and thrilling a collection of poems as I’ve read in some time. In this volume, Williams specializes in poems that dare you to believe they’re autobiographical or confessional, and which can quickly become both intricate and artfully exaggerated. The opening poem, “Unadorned,” is a vehement list of the things he’s done “for you,” whoever “you” is. Here’s a chunk of it:

I let a dog in the park lick my face for you.

I pretended not to know the murder rate in Denmark for you.

I’ve tried to stay ugly for you […]

I worked in a cardboard box factory for you.

I gave up skin for you.

Whenever love metastasized, I ran over it with my lawnmower for you.

I wrote “Stairway to Heaven” for you.

I did the whole Reverend Dimmesdale thing for you…

Williams writes poems about HBO and The Tonight Show; he has a poem called “Imaginary Family Vacation” that made me wince and wonder whether Williams had rooted around in the back of my skull for memories.

Williams is also the editor of a fine new anthology, It’s Not You, It’s Me: The Poetry of Break-Up. It’s a collection featuring terrific poets such as Mark Halliday, Tony Hoagland, and Ai (a fine poet who died just last month). It’s Not You, It’s Me is divided into three themed sections “One Foot Out The Door,” “In The Middle Of The Storm,” and “The Aftermath.” This may be an anthology for anyone who’s been broken-hearted, but it’s not an anthology for anyone who’s faint-hearted: Treacly, romantic, winsome little poems are entirely absent Williams’ from conception of the messiness of breaking up with someone.

In his superb introduction, Williams says bluntly, “I have endured four major break-ups in my life. Each one nearly killed me.”

You think he’s kidding… and then he goes on to describe each one. Williams is as good a prose writer as he is a poet. Get hold of this guy’s stuff and read it.

Apr 26 2010 11:45 AM ET

Kid Lit 101: Dog spelled backwards in Lucy Cousins' 'I'm the Best'

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Categories: Books, Children's Books, Fiction

From Othello to Ahab, great literary characters have wrestled with the classic mortal failing of hubris. Usually, it ends with a tragic downfall, but in I’m The Best, Lucy Cousins’ latest masterpiece (we’re also fans of the author’s shorter works, the tiny board books about Maisy the mouse), the plot takes a more forgiving twist.

The protagonist is a self-involved hound in checkered pants named “Dog.” He grows more arrogant with every turn of the page. “Hello, I’m Dog, and I’m the best,” he introduces himself to the reader, skipping through a meadow of water-colored flowers. “These are my friends—Ladybug, Mole, Goose, and Donkey. I love them. They’re great, but I’m the best.” For the first half of the story, Dog is brutishly solipsistic, constantly proving his supposed god-like superiority by running faster than Mole, digging holes deeper than Goose, or swimming better than Donkey. After each victory, Dog always insufferably pronounces, “I’m the best.”

But like Shakespeare’s jealous Moor and Melville’s loony fisherman, Dog gets his comeuppance. “Actually,” Mole informs him midway into the story, “I can dig holes much longer and much deeper than you, Dog. So I win. I’m the best.” Dog’s other friends turn on him, too: Goose proves that she can swim faster, and Ladybug demonstrates that she can fly higher. Dog is humiliated and reduced to tears. The world, as he knew it, has been destroyed. “I’m horrible at everything,” he cries. “I’m just a silly show-off.”

Had Shakespeare or Melville written this tale, they might have lowered the curtain here, ending with ironic pathos. But Cousins has a kinder heart. In the last few pages, Dog’s friends forgive him and they all embrace in a group hug. “Don’t worry, Dog,” they tell him. “You are the best at being our best friend. And you are the best at having beautiful fluffy ears. And we love you.” Dog is so relieved, he falls right back into character. “Oh phew!” he says. “Obviously having beautiful fluffy ears is the most important thing. So I AM the best.”

Like all great works of literature, it ends where it begins.

Apr 26 2010 11:42 AM ET

George W. Bush's book 'Decision Points' gets a cover and a release date

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Categories: Cover Peek, George W. Bush, Memoirs

Decision-PointsRandom House division Crown has announced a Nov. 9 release date for George W. Bush’s upcoming book, Decision Points — the week after midterm elections. The publisher also revealed its cover, an image of a determined-looking Bush strolling the exterior corridor near the White House’s Rose Garden. The book will touch on matters both political and personal, and will mark one of the few times the former president has commented publicly since leaving office. Considering his low popularity numbers, even now, it’s hard to imagine that at least part of this isn’t Bush’s desire to tell his side of the story and seek to recast his legacy. Though his father, George H.W. Bush never published a post-presidential memoir, many of his counterparts have: Bill Clinton released My Life in 2004, and Jimmy Carter has written a veritable library since the end of his term.

What do you think, Shelf-Lifers? Will you read Bush’s book? Vote in the poll below, and then sound off in the comments.

Apr 25 2010 08:09 PM ET

British author Alan Sillitoe has died

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Categories: Alan Sillitoe, In Memoriam

Allan Sillitoe, the British writer who rose to postwar fame with the novels Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (made into a movie in 1962 by Tony Richardson) died today. He was 82. The fame of Runner often overshadowed his other novels, as well as his plays, short stories, and poetry. All of his work, regardless of genre, was essentially the story of British working poor, a story he felt uniquely qualified to write, having left school at 14 to work in a bicycle factory. “I’ve really only got one story,” he told the Guardian many years later, “and that’s mine…. About 20 years ago an American university asked me to fill out a 50-page questionnaire on the creative process. I didn’t know what to say and was tempted to write any old crap and sign it Virginia Woolf.”

Apr 22 2010 06:20 PM ET

Romance novels and what it means to be transported

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Categories: Fiction, Romance Novels

I like soap operas and I like romance novels. There, I’ve said it. Throughout the years, both those pastimes have been guilty pleasures that have gotten me teased an awful lot by my high-brow peers (and even some of my low-brow ones). But I no longer care; they have both given me hours of enjoyment and escapism and I accept your derision with a shrug. They are their own art forms, coming in varying degrees of quality and engagement. For the longest time I’d devour my books like candy, barely paying attention to authors, picking them by the cover art (no bodice rippers), settings/time periods (preferably English Regency or frontier American West), and of course the well-written jacket copy — sure, there’s a formula to them all but I just can’t have it be too obvious. Lately I’ve become more discerning, appreciating authors’ styles. Yet even though I’ve branched out to other subgenres, like paranormal books such as Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series, I was still certain I wouldn’t like time-travel books. They just seemed too out there for me. But when I’d gotten to the bottom of my latest romance novel care package (thank you, Tina Jordan), I found Flirting With Forever by Gwyn Cready, and I expanded my horizons again.

In it, modern-day art historian Campbell Stratford is accidentally transported back to 17th-century England, where she encounters playboy artist-to-the-king Peter Lely. Without spoiling too much, it turns out that Peter’s not all that he seems and he ends up following her back to present-day Pittsburgh. Roll your eyes if you must (I know I did), but between the chemistry Cready gives to Campbell and Peter and the witty lines, Flirting pulled me in. I save my guilty-pleasure reading for my train commute and one sure sign of a good read is that after my train has pulled into Grand Central, the last stop, I sit there trying to finish that paragraph, page, or chapter instead of popping up and marching off with the other determined New Yorkers. And Flirting passed the test. There are definitely some sluggish parts but Cready’s understanding of and flourish in writing about an artists’s aesthetic and mindset helps make up for that.

Follow me on Twitter @EWAbbyWest

Apr 22 2010 04:21 PM ET

'The Office' star Mindy Kaling gets a book deal

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Categories: Books, Celebrity, Essays, TV, Twitter

mindy-kalingImage Credit: Todd Williamson/WireImage.comThe Office fans have further reason to smile today. In addition to being a few hours away from the new episode “Secretary’s Day,” Random House’s Crown imprint has announced plans to release a book  by Mindy Kaling in fall 2011. Kaling plays the boy crazy yet lovable Kelly Kapoor, who often steals scenes with her ridiculously inappropriate office behavior (lying about being pregnant, performing as a member of the diva duo “Subtle Sexuality”). She is also co-executive producer of The Office and has written 18 episodes of the show over the course of its six seasons.

Titled The Contents of My Purse, Kaling’s collection of comic essays will detail moments from a woman’s life, including everything from relationships to fashion. Crown describes Kaling’s collection as a mix between Kaling’s own blog Things I Bought That I Love and Nora Ephron’s popular Broadway play Love,  Loss, and What I Wore. (Kaling appears to be a fan of Ephron’s, signing her blog posts “Mindy Ephron” and listing the writer-director’s You’ve Got Mail as her favorite film). Kaling took to her Twitter account earlier today to describe the book in her own words: “My book will be essays and personal anecdotes, pictures, fashion, and general opinionated bossiness about how women should live” and “My book will be about being over 30 and settling. ‘Find the Right in Mr. Wrong.’”

With a deal to write and star in a new NBC comedy, as well as being in the process of writing her first feature-length film, The Low Self-Esteem of Lizzie Gillespie, Kaling is poised to become a new version of Ephron for the ’10s. Her rabid fan base (which includes over 1 million Twitter followers) revels in her quirky thoughts and silly comments, as well as smart criticism on the portrayal of women in film and television (“NO MORE TYPE A PERSONALITY WOMEN IN ROMANTIC COMEDIES WHO HAVE TO LEARN TO PUT THEIR CAREER ASIDE TO FIND TRUE LOVE”).

The success of female comedic authors like Chelsea Handler, and the popularity of The Office and Kaling herself, leads me to believe that The Contents of My Purse will be a surefire hit, or at the very least an enjoyable read. I’m already planning on pre-ordering. What do you think, Shelf Lifers? Interested in reading Kaling’s book? Or are you holding out for Dwight Schrute’s Memoirs from a Beet Farm?

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