Nancy Sundstrom

Features Nancy Sundstrom It’s unthinkable to many, but horror of horrors, goth culture seems to have gone mainstream.

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.

Books Nancy Sundstrom After surviving James Frey’s powerful and harrowing “A Million Little Pieces,“ I thought it might be a while before I delved into an addiction saga again, but the buzz (no pun intended) for “Dry: A Memoir“ by Augusten Burroughs has been so strong, that it looked like it shouldn’t be ignored.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code“ is so smart and sharp that you will raise your I.Q. by reading it. And you won’t be able to stop turning the pages in the process. I promise.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Many in the literary world wondered how Don DeLillo was going to top his last effort, the sprawling, muscular masterpiece named “Underworld.“ But we should have known to look for a surprise. In “Cosmopolis,“ his 13th novel, he spins a tale that is taught, intimate and tightly controlled. In may not be “Underworld,“ but then, what could be?

Books Nancy Sundstrom There are mountains of new books that look to be great summer beach reads, so as you start listing the reasons to look forward to summer or the plans you have for the season, sizzling summer books ought to at least make a decent showing.

Books Nancy Sundstrom You may not know the names John Carmack and John Romero, but chances are excellent that you’ve had some kind of encounter with what they did to mastermind a major industry and shape a generation.

Books Nancy Sundstrom “Tell me a story, even if it’s a lie,“ begins “Caramelo.“ To the great delight of the reader, what author Sandra Cisneros delivers is not the latter, because feels far too real for that, but the former, in spades.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Most readers of Eric Schlosser’s 2001 best seller “Fast Food Nation“ found themselves bewildered, outraged, horrified, and called to rise up in action, and appropriately so. Those who tackle his latest expose, “Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market“ can count on having the same sort of reaction.

Books Nancy Sundstrom In the summer of 1990, writer Joel Turnipseed was adrift and aimless. He was homeless, and had been unceremoniously kicked out of a college philosophy program and dumped by his girlfriend. Being AWOL from his Marine Corps Reserve unit for more than three months and spending day after day hanging out in coffee shops were also on his list of dubious achievements.

Books Nancy Sundstrom I don’t know whether to give this next statement a caveat, or simply make it. I have just now decided to opt for the latter.

Books Nancy Sundstrom This year‘s coveted Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction went to Samantha Power’s “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,“ a gripping, heartbreaking saga of the years she spent as a journalist covering the grisly events in Bosnia and Srebrenica, circa 1993-1996.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Singer-songwriter Greg Brown has a wonderful line about most baby boomers being a “cross between our parents and hippies in a tent,“ and if that sentiment rings at all true for you, you’ll find it beautifully reinforced in T. Coraghessan Boyle’s fabulous new novel, “Drop City.“