Books

Books Nancy Sundstrom At first blush, Mariane Pearl and Elizabeth Smart may not seem to have much in common, but they actually do, including the fact that they are the subjects of eagerly awaited and hot-off-the-presses books.

Books Nancy Sundstrom It’s Halloween week and movie-goers have been flocking to the likes of the remake of the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Kill Bill,” but readers, especially fans of the horror genre, have plenty of new options, as well.

Books Nancy Sundstrom John Piazza‘s non-fiction writing (“Blues and Trouble“) has made unabashed fans out of the likes of Bob Dylan, so his debut novel of fiction has been eagerly awaited for some time now. It has finally arrived in the form of “My Cold War,“ a fine first effort that parallels the socio and cultural backdrop of the Cold War years with a coming of age and beyond story of battles fought on the inner fronts of the heart and home.

Books Nancy Sundstrom If you have not witnessed one in person or seen images that capture the power, fury and devastation of a natural disaster, it might be hard to imagine that words could be the most effective means to do so.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Among even the most highly regarded of his peers, it’s known that Calvin Trillin is the kind of writer other writers aspire to be. He also happens to be equally adept as an actor, critic and raconteur in general, all of which makes him constantly in demand for everything from appearances on David Letterman’s show to speaking gigs such as the one he’ll be doing in Traverse City this weekend.

Books Nancy Sundstrom In recent years, she’s become a Trivial Pursuit question and fodder for the “I Love the ‘70s“ program on VH1, along with making guest appearances on talk shows and films by John Waters, and speaking out on the recent, highly publicized abduction and rescue of Elizabeth Smart.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Sue Monk Kidd‘s “The Secret Life of Bees“ is one of many that has been on my reading stand for awhile, and now that I’ve finished it, I’m kicking myself for not having gotten to it sooner.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Is all fair in love and publishing?
Few would probably know better than veteran authors Garrison Keillor and Martha Grimes, who use the industry that has served them so well as the backdrops for their latest works of fiction. “Love Me“ is the latest from storyteller extraordinaire Keillor, who has penned nearly a dozen books, along with being a radio host and regular contributor to Time magazine and the online Salon.com. “Foul Matters“ is a change of pace for Grimes, a top-selling mystery writer who has cranked out 18 acclaimed novels featuring Scotland Yard detective Richard Jury.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Two years ago, the unthinkable happened, and our world, as we knew it, has never been the same.
The “unthinkable,“ of course, is the devastation that took place on September 11, 2001. Much has actually been written and documented about that day’s horrific events and its aftermath, and the latest comes on the two-year anniversary in the form of “Middletown, America: One Town’s Passage from Grief to Recovery“ by Gail Sheehy.

Books Nancy Sundstrom It’s this simple: if you love Lucy, then you will love Stefan Kanfer’s “Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball.“
Kanfer is a respected author well-suited for the task of dissecting the life of the complex, multi-faceted, sublimely gifted Ball to life. A writer and editor at Time for more than 20 years, he has written eloquently on the subject on comedy and some of its most noted practitioners before, especially in the books “Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx“ and “The Essential Groucho: Writings by, for, and about Groucho Marx.“

Books Nancy Sundstrom English writer Rosemary Kingsland and former porn star Traci Lords couldn’t be more dissimilar. Ironically, though, what they have in common is greater, especially that both proved to become objects of male fantasy, something they document with eloquence and effectiveness in memoirs about their lives.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Chuck Klosterman is a pop culture junkie, which is a darn good thing for the rest of us pop culture junkies. Even horror-meister Stephen King, no slouch himself when it comes to the genre, has lauded Klosterman by saying, “Writing about American pop culture doesn‘t get any better than this, or any funnier, or any more readable.“

Books Nancy Sundstrom Very few people in the literary world knew that an extraordinary sort of memoir had been in the works since 1983 about Katherine Hepburn by the fine biographer A. Scott Berg, the writer who had previously tackled Max Perkins, Samuel Goldwyn and Charles Lindbergh as subjects, and with resounding success.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Jon Krakauer is the respected author of such outdoor-based books as “Eiger Dreams,“ “Into the Wild,“ and “Into Thin Air,“ insightful stories about people who lives are pushed to the fringe of extremes. In his latest book, he moves into new literary territory in the extremes of religious belief primarily within American borders and based on the Mormon faith. The result has made for fascinating storytelling and more than a bit of controversy.

Books Nancy Sundstrom If the title alone isn’t enough to intrigue you, scan through the first few paragraphs of “Getting Mother’s Body“ by Suzan-Lori Parks. Parks is a wonderful writer whose has accomplished something quite special with this, her fiction debut, and the reader knows it almost immediately by the way her musical prose comes swinging out of the corner.