http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2009 MiamiHerald.com Books 60 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:16:16 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1339081.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1339081.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00 EST There will be no Thanksgiving turkey at Jonathan Safran Foer's house. The author of the acclaimed novels Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close gave up eating animals in favor of writing Eating Animals (Little Brown, $25.99), a personal and philosophical exploration of food choices he discussed Tuesday in Miami Beach. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336812.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336812.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00 EST In Paula Froelich's winning debut novel, her overworked newspaper reporter heroine accidentally starts a fire in the newsroom after leaving a cigarette smoldering in the photo studio-slash-smoking hideout. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336805.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336805.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Looking forward to your turkey dinner? Think twice. It's time, argues Jonathan Safran Foer, to stop lying to ourselves. With all the studies on animal agriculture, pollution, toxic chemicals in factory-farmed animals and exposés of the appalling cruelty to animals in that industry, he writes in Eating Animals, ''We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, 'What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?' '' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336803.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336803.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00 EST In Paul Auster's world, everybody writes. And those who don't write want to. Not surprising, then, that his latest novel is riddled with word-workers. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336814.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336814.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00 EST ''I love rereading, because it inserts you so deeply under a book's skin, and I've just reread two marvelous books. One is Famous Fathers, a story collection by Pia Z. Ehrhardt. She's masterful at stopping time at disturbing moments and then making us sit still with this ticking discomfort. . . . And I reread a debut poetry collection called What the Right Hand Knows by Tom Healy. It's alarming and beautiful and offers just enough framework for your imagination to race in and construct entire, sometimes devastating, narratives.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336808.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1336808.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00 EST TUESDAY Susie Essman and ``What Would Susie Say?'' 6:30 p.m. The Bookstore in the Grove, 3399 Virginia St., #620, Coconut Grove. $25 includes a signed book, reserved seating, free parking and wine and cheese. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1334444.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1334444.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:00 EST On a perfect sunny day -- clearly, the weather gods are readers, too -- thousands packed the streets and classrooms of Miami Dade College for the 26th edition of Miami Book Fair International's street fair. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1332924.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1332924.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Miami is a town all too frequently -- some might say stupidly -- obsessed with celebrity. And yet, on a breezy Friday night at Miami Dade College, a Turkish novelist drew a bigger audience than a movie star who appeared the evening before him. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331163.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331163.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Though he had a meager memory of his own father, Armando Lucas Correa dreamed of becoming one at an early age. Even as a boy he knew that home and hearth, the comfort of family, was what he most enjoyed. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331164.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331164.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Mary Karr begins her new memoir, Lit, with an open letter to her son. She remembers how he had to visit her in a mental hospital when he was 4. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331834.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331834.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST People who live in glass houses shouldn't get stoned. Not if they expect to keep paranoia at bay. And they sure shouldn't get so stoned that they start to see things. Because with all that glass, things just might start looking back. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331166.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331166.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Jo Maeder has described her family ties as ''wisps of a cotton puff that couldn't hold a single thing together.'' So when she left a glamorous life as a radio DJ in New York to help care for a mother she didn't particularly like in North Carolina, her friends thought she was crazy. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331171.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331171.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Derek McGinnis proudly points to a display of running bibs hung on the wall of his garage. There's one from the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon, one from the 2006 Army 10-Miler, one from the 2007 Alcatraz Challenge. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331833.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331833.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST The men in Sherman Alexie's terrific collection of stories and poems are frequently flummoxed -- by life, women, history. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331839.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331839.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST More than three years have passed since the Cuban exile community prematurely erupted in joy at the news that Fidel Castro had initiated the process of ceding power to his elderly baby brother. While Raúl has made gestures toward reform, hardliners remain entrenched at the top levels of government. Last week's thuggish assault on heroic blogger Yoani Sanchez is merely a noteworthy example of the regime's continuing intolerance of dissent. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331835.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1331835.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Nobody e-mails or tweets in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, where old-fashioned letters (delivered by owl, of course) remain the preferred means of communication. But the awful Muggle truth is that letters have joined newspapers and books on the endangered-species list. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329243.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329243.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Here's what you need to know to survive -- and even enjoy -- the weekend at the fair, held at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1330859.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1330859.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST The lesson to take from Isabella Rossellini's amusing presentation Thursday night at Miami Book Fair International is simple: You really should be happy you're not a male bee. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329230.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329230.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Hialeah, author Jennine Capó Crucet has learned, is something of a mystery to people living outside South Florida. ''Most of the time people assume it's a woman who has scorned someone,'' she says. ''Usually the reaction is: 'Who's Hialeah that you need to leave her?' '' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329229.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329229.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST You've heard the phrase ''Stranger than fiction''? Jane Alison has lived it: ''In 1965, when I was four, my parents met another couple, got along well, and within a few months traded partners.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329235.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329235.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST David Small's story is almost unimaginable. A young boy grows up in suburban Detroit during the 1950s in a home full of anger, secrets and silence. Mother is a cold, angry, bitter woman with congenital medical problems and a deep secret. Older brother torments his sibling. Father is a distant, smug and aloof radiologist who treats his young son's minor respiratory difficulties with massive doses of X-rays, resulting in a long-neglected lump on the boy's neck. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329259.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329259.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Larry Wilmore has been a staple of TV comedy for more than 30 years. A producer, actor, comedian and writer, he wrote for In Living Color, The Office, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The Bernie Mac Show (for which he won an Emmy and a Peabody). http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329239.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1329239.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00 EST You may think you don't know John Hodgman, but you do. He's PC to Justin Long's Mac in the ubiquitous Apple computer commercials. You probably see him more than you see your kids. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1326913.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1326913.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Crowned the Queen of Italian Cuisine, Lidia Bastianich presides over six restaurants in three cities, multiple public television shows, a close-knit brood of children and grandchildren and a growing series of cookbooks based on travels throughout her homeland. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1328949.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1328949.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00 EST If, as a character in Richard Powers' provocative new novel suggests, happiness is a virus, then can we say the crowd was infected at Wednesday's ``Evenings With . . .'' event at Miami Book Fair International? http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327191.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327191.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00 EST When Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini steps onto the Miami Book Fair International stage Thursday night to read from her new book, Green Porno, her audience may be captivated less by her writing skills than her star power. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1325890.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1325890.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Novelist Richard Powers thrives at the intersection of science and wonder, raising questions that illuminate the human condition. In his provocative ninth novel, he poses an intriguing query guaranteed to spark the imagination: What would happen if we discovered a gene for happiness? http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327153.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327153.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Jeannette Walls has a message for us: As times get harder, as they all too often do, we should all get back in touch with our tough-old-broad (or tough-old-coot) roots. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327065.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327065.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Follow Lisa Black around on her workday and you might uncover the plot behind her next mystery novel. It might even be in the little notebook she pulls out to jot notes and ideas for characters or sequences. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327309.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1327309.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Wild Thing from the popular book-turned-movie Where the Wild Things Are will be among the characters inhabiting Children's Alley, the magical world within the Miami Book Fair International that was created for kids. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324945.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324945.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST There was a time when no one was allowed to laugh about breast cancer -- much less wax sarcastic or cynical, ironic or arch about it -- because breast cancer usually meant disfigurement and often meant death. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1325319.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1325319.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Barbara Kingsolver would like to thank you, Miami. As part of what she calls ''evangelizing for literature,'' the author of the beloved novels The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible told a full house Monday night at Miami Book Fair International that ''the real beating heart of democracy is the place people love books. I salute you for your love of reading.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324940.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324940.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST ``It's sort of like being the absent-minded professor times five,'' says Tim Page. After a lifetime of struggling to relate to fellow human beings, he received a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome at age 45. Seven years later, Page, then the music critic for The Washington Post, revealed his condition in an essay in the New Yorker, which he has expanded into a new memoir, Parallel Play: Growing Up With Undiagnosed Asperger's (Doubleday, $26). http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324962.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324962.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST These days, when literature springs from mere experience and memoirs are justified by a change in eating habits, it seems fitting to remark on the heritage of Lydia Davis. Her father, Robert Gorham Davis, was a literary critic and author. He taught literature at Harvard (where he urged Norman Mailer to submit his first short story to Story magazine), Smith (where he taught Sylvia Plath) and Columbia. He died in 1998. Davis' mother was also a writer, an active feminist and communist. She died in 2004. Davis was married to Paul Auster. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324937.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324937.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST After reading Madison Smartt Bell's new novel, one can see why Mrs. Gump named her slow-witted boy after Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Like the Haitian liberator Toussaint L'ouverture, another historical figure Bell has written about, Forrest was a self-taught military genius. Irregular tactics and hellish courage made him one of the most successful and colorful leaders of the Civil War. His casus belli was not only the noble-sounding notion of states' rights. A millionaire slave trader, he had literal skin in the game. Still, readers may have trouble disliking him. Bell has imbued this controversial hero with qualities that offset his sins. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324963.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324963.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST ''I have just read Francine Prose's Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. This is an amazing book. It pulls together into one volume with great order and clarity much of what has been written about both Anne Frank and the publication of her diary over the years, but also (and most importantly, I think) focuses on Anne Frank as an accomplished writer who with great skill and talent edited herself in a way that makes clear her aspirations as someone who wanted her work to be published and read. As one of the many thousands upon millions of girls who was fixated on and obsessed with Anne Frank early in life -- finding in her work great inspiration as a writer and as a human, I was thrilled to find Prose's book. This is thorough, thoughtful, beautifully written.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324942.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1324942.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:00 EST WEDNESDAY Abdella Taïa and ''Salvation Army.'' 6:30 p.m. Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1323762.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1323762.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Miami Book Fair International kicked off Sunday night at Miami Dade College with novelist Margaret Atwood, poet Elizabeth Alexander and a fingers-crossed hope that troublesome Topical Storm Ida keeps heading north. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1323763.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1323763.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Here are Monday's events at Miami Book Fair International at Miami Dade College, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami. Tickets for ``Evenings With . . .'' events can be downloaded at www.miamibookfair.com http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1320493.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/arts/books/story/1320493.html Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:00 EST ''God gave unto the Animals / A wisdom past our power to see,'' goes a hymn sung by God's Gardeners, the ecologically minded, deeply spiritual but eminently practical religious cult in Margaret Atwood's fire-breathing new novel, The Year of the Flood.