|
JULIE JACOBSON
Trespass, by Valerie Martin ($25), is an intriguing novel with two intertwining stories. One tells of Toby (upper-class white student) and his sullen Serbian refugee girlfriend Salome and the reaction to their relationship by Toby’s parents and Salome’s father. The other is the story of Salome’s mother, who had been presumed dead in a massacre in Yugoslavia. Full of unexpected twists and turns, this novel will confound your assumptions.
Philip Roth fans will not be disappointed by the final Zuckerman book, Exit Ghost ($26). Returning to civilization to attend to medical needs after 11 years in seclusion, Nathan becomes embroiled in a controversy over whether a revelatory biography of a revered but obscure novelist should be produced. The book echoes many issues in Roth’s own life and seems to serve as a warning to those who might one day plan to write his biography.
Richard Russo fans will be delighted by his latest novel, Bridge of Sighs ($26.95). Returning to familiar territory in the industrial northeast, this is a multi-generational saga beginning with a milkman whose job becomes obsolete and ends up running a convenience store empire. The book is narrated by his son, Lou C. Lynch (known as “Lucy”), and reveals the often-disappointing lives of the Lynches and those around them, including Lou’s childhood friend Bobby and the woman who loved both men.
ELISE BARACK
Signed, Mata Hari ($23.99) is the newest attempt to shed light on a woman whose myth has far outstripped the reality of her life. In Yannick Murphy’s fictionalized memoir, a young woman called Margarethe Zelle MacLeod, known later in her life as the exotic dancer and spy Mata Hari, leaves Holland for Indonesia with her military officer husband. Losing her son to a devastating illness and ultimately abandoned by her abusive husband who takes their daughter with him, Margarethe is left to make her way in a world unsympathetic to the plight of a woman alone. While her career as a dancer and international celebrity lasts only seven years, her reputation as a spy and femme fatale continues to fascinate. In her poetically written novel, Murphy describes Mata Hari as a free spirit ultimately more sinned against than sinning.
Larry Watson, author the award-winning novel Montana 1948, has a new novel whose title, Sundown, Yellow Moon, ($25.95) is drawn from the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song. The subject of both is the elusive quality of the past. No matter how much we reflect on it, the truth of our experiences escapes us. At the center of Watson’s novel is a reminiscence of a murder/suicide in a quiet neighborhood in 1960s’ Bismarck, North Dakota—typical Watson territory. As an adolescent, the narrator witnessed the tragedy, which struck very close to home. The cause of the dire events remains a mystery, but it may be that love was at the heart of the matter, or so the narrator, who grows up to be a novelist, conjectures. His “fictional” recreation of the circumstances leading up to the tragedy alternates with an “actual” narrative of events and presents an intriguing portrait of the artist as both a young man and an adult seeker of truth.
Gioia Diliberto’s first novel, I Am Madame X, was a fascinating portrait of the socialite who became the subject of the scandalous painting by John Singer Sargent, called “Madame X.” In her new novel, The Collection ($25), the setting is the exciting world of haute couture during the years just after World War I. A young woman from the provinces travels to Paris to become a seamstress for the revolutionary designer Coco Chanel. Diliberto gives her reader real insight into the challenges of this highly competitive profession, intermingling historic figures with fictional characters to create a convincing portrait of the era. Isabelle Varlet is an appealing protagonist and an engaging witness to the birth of the Chanel style that has influenced women’s fashion for nearly a century.
JON GRAND
The World Without Us by Alan Weismann ($24.95). Assume that humans suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. How quickly would the forces of nature destroy all that we had built? And what would take its place? For Weisman, the ultimate power of nature is a vision of hope rather than apocalyptic despair. Citing examples like the DMZ between the two Koreas, he points the way towards balance between human societies and the Earth we inhabit. A highly readable, almost mesmerizing book.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb ($26.95). Until a black swan was found, it was assumed that all swans were, and would always be, white. Once found, however, we develop explanations to make the event seem less random. The question Taleb poses is why we don’t “acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until they occur?” More importantly, what is the impact of this tendency on business, politics, economics…indeed the whole range of social endeavor?
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre ($25.95). The best thrillers are ones that are true. In 1941, Eddie Chapman, a.k.a. Agent Zigzag, trained as a German spy. On his first mission to Britain, he contacted the British Secret Service and volunteered his services. For the next four years, he led an astonishing life as a double agent. When was the last time you read a nonfiction page-turner?
N
|
The Book Stall at the Chicago Humanities Festival
The Book Stall is proud to be the bookseller at numerous author appearances at this year’s Chicago Humanities Festival held at various venues from Saturday, October 27 – Sunday, November 11. The theme of the 2007 Festival is “The Climate of Concern.”
Highlights of author events where you’ll find us include:
- Presentation of the 2007 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize to E.L. DOCTOROW on Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Symphony Center, Armour Stage.
- DIANE ACKERMAN, author of A Natural History of the Senses and the new The Zookeeper’s Wife, on Saturday, Nov. 3, at the First United Methodiest Church at The Chicago Temple.
- GARRY WILLS, author of the new Head and Heart: American Christianities, on Saturday, Nov. 3, at the First United Methodist Church
- DAVE EGGERS, author of What Is the What and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, on Saturday, Nov. 10, at Northwestern University School of Law, Thorne Auditorium.
For more information about the Festival, or to order tickets ($5/event in advance), go to www.chfestival.org Free tickets are available to students and teachers with a valid ID.
Man Booker Prize Finalists
Two of The Book Stall’s bestsellers of the past year are included among the six books shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award. They are:
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan and
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
Others shortlisted (and available in the U.S.) are Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones and The Gathering by Anne Enright. Not currently available here are Darkmans by Nicola Barker and Animal’s People by Indra Sinha.
The winner will be announced on Oct. 16 in London.
Look for an announcement on Oct. 10 of the finalists for the 2007 National Book Award, the top U.S. prize for fiction and nonfiction. Winners will be announced Nov. 14.
|
