Nancy Sundstrom

Books Nancy Sundstrom The good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright laughable about the business of life as it applies to relationships and family all get a fresh perspective in two new books from writers who obviously know the terrain well.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Been stocking up on duct tape Viscleen, bottled water, and gas masks? Thought about it?
It is not a coincidence that a crop of new and re-released books have hit bookshelves that deal with tips for surviving a staggering array of emergencies, be they biological, chemical, nuclear, or worse. Not surprisingly, these somber tomes are selling well, causing publishers to have a growing belief that there’s a market for advice of this sort, especially as talk of a potential war in Iraq looms closer every day.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Louise Erdrich‘s mixed German-American, French, and Ojibwe Indian heritage has played an important role in the eight other novels she has written, but never before has it come as sharply into focus as it has in her latest effort, an unforgettable epic entitled “The Master Butchers Singing Club.“

Books Nancy Sundstrom “No doubt there will always be skeptics, and critics tainted by self-interest who will refuse to accept that [Walter] Sickert was a serial killer, a damaged diabolical man driven by megalomania and hate. There will be those who will argue that it’s all coincidence. As FBI profiler Ed Sulzbach says, ‘There really aren’t many coincidences in life. And to call coincidence after coincidence after coincidence a coincidence is just plain stupid.“
—Patricia Cornwell, Portrait of a Killer

Books Nancy Sundstrom One of the great joys of reading iin the recent years has been settling in with the latest effort from Annie Proulx, the author of wonderful tales of hardworking scrappers constantly down on their look, such as “The Shipping News, “Close Range,““Postcards,“ and “Accordion Crimes.“

Books Nancy Sundstrom This past fall, two acclaimed books on sports arrived on the literary scene - one a biography about one of the legendary figures of baseball written by a respected female sports journalist, the other a memoir set against the backdrop of basketball penned by a best-selling author.

Books Nancy Sundstrom hip••ster - \hip-stur (s)\ n. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term “cool“; a Hipster would instead say “deck.“) The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat.

Books Nancy Sundstrom The film “Chicago“ is burning up movie screens all over the country, and in the publishing industry, a Windy City tome entitled “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America“ is not just hot-off-the-presses, but hot period.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Curling up with a hot tell-all about Hollywood isn‘t a bad way to pass a cold winter‘s night, and there are a few new ones out there that fit the bill quite nicely.

“Hollywood Animal: A Memoir“ by Joe Eszterhas
Hands down, this is the most entertaining of the bunch, and certainly the most outrageous. If his name doesn‘t ring a bell, then some of his credits should. Eszterhas has a reputation as a highly overpaid and moderately talented scribe who has made an indelible contribution to world culture with screenplays like “Basic Instinct,“ “Jade,“ “Jagged Edge,“ “Flashdance“ and, most notably, “Showgirls.“ As a result, he‘s become both the most famous - and infamous - scribe in Hollywood.

Books Nancy Sundstrom It has been four years since Richard Price wrote his last book, the vastly underrated “Freedomland,“ which was a follow-up to the brilliant “Clockers.“ For those, like this reviewer, who had to tough out the wait, the promise of good things to come began with the fact that Price had returned to the muse he has found in the fictional setting of Dempsey, New Jersey. Dempsey is the blighted, gritty city that has served as the backdrop for his past three novels, and just like those tour-de-force works of urban drama and despair, his newest, “Samaritan,“ builds its moral complexity from the streets on up to create a modern parable.

Books Nancy Sundstrom “There‘s just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we‘ve ever imagined.... Still, we cherish the city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more.“ – Virginia Woolf, “Mrs. Dalloway“

With the recent Golden Globe wins and predicted Oscar nominations for Stephen Daldry’s “The Hours,“ media and literary attention allover the world has made a cause celebre out of Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 1998 novel of the same name, and Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,’ the 1925 book on which “The Hours“ is based.

Books Nancy Sundstrom If you read this column, you‘ve probably assumed, and I believe correctly so, that I love books and for the most part, am not a snob about them.
But a title like “Final Justice“ makes me nervous for some reason, perhaps because it evokes slightly coherent memories of cheezy movies starring the likes of Joe Don Baker and most of the ensemble cast of the first “Billy Jack“ opus that I went with high school buddies to see at drive-ins during the big, bad, beloved early 1970‘s, when the point was always (if unspoken) that little watching of the “film“ would occur.

Books Nancy Sundstrom It’s January, which means that in an act of penance for holiday season indulgence, many of us have made resolutions for the new year about weight control, exercise, healthy living habits, and the like.
Most likely, you’re one of those who have, and if that’s the case, you may be seeking guidance from any one of a number of bestsellers devoted to diet and fitness. Currently, there are around two dozen books on those topics that are selling briskly and have garnered positive reviews. The following are summaries of a few that have risen to the top of that list, and may be worth your consideration.

Books Nancy Sundstrom Marrying a Malaysian prince after a whirlwind romance and settling on his royal family’s island, Patricia Sutherland thought she had discovered paradise. The truth was that she found herself in hell instead.
Sutherland’s story is an incredible one in every regard, especially because it is true. The idyllic island, royal life, and Muslim faith that the Suttons Bay resident found herself surrounded by each became a prison of their own, and a major obstacle to attempting to free her two children from her tyrannical husband and the powerful extremists who surrounded him.

Books Nancy Sundstrom It’s something of a given that any new book from journalist Bob Woodward will shoot to the top of the bestseller list. And history has repeated itself with his latest effort, even though some would argue that the history on which it is based is still being written.