LONDON (AP) ― The genre that brought us “The Matrix” has roots reaching back nearly two millennia. The literary tradition often associated with “Star Trek”-loving fanboys has a militant feminist streak. Oh, and science fiction also invented cyberspace.The British Library’s new exhibit, “Out of this World,” wants visitors to know that there’s more to sci-fi than “The War of the Worlds” or “20,000 L

May 22, 2011

Bangalore the new IndiaMiss New IndiaBy Bharati Mukherjee(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)Anjali Bose has a dazzling smile, near-fluency in American-accented English, and a gnawing hunger for life outside her rural Indian town of Gauripur, where the dilapidated Pinky Mahal bears witness to stalled progress and her stolidly middle-class parents are forcing her into an arranged marriage.Anjali, who prefer

May 20, 2011

Healing and transcendence in warThe Rainy SpellBy Yun Heung-gil(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)First published in 1978, Yun Heung-gil’s “The Rainy Spell” is still regarded as one of the finest short stories dealing with the Korean War (1950-1953) experience. The novel tells a story of a Korean family that has two of its members placed in the opposing camps during the war. It is told from the perspective of

May 20, 2011

Jennifer Egan was not built for the spotlight. “When I was a teenager, one of my sources of angst was that I felt like I was not an actor, I was always a spectator,” she said by phone from New York. “Later, I realized that that’s just who I am. That’s actually my job.”Lately, Egan has been much more than a spectator in her own life. Her novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” a fractured narrative ab

May 20, 2011

Describing Steve Earle’s “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive” as a story about a skid row junkie abortionist haunted by the ghost of Hank Williams may work as a dust jacket blurb. But it doesn’t begin to reveal the depth of the singer-songwriter’s debut novel.Earle, 56, is a political activist, actor and Grammy-winning musician who helped revitalize country music in the mid-’80s and is a leade

May 20, 2011

What a lovely expression of Pinot Noir from New Zealand’s Mountford estate. Elegant and smooth, this New World Pinot carries the taste of Santa Rosa plums and sweet Asian spices. The scent jumps right out of the glass ― sandalwood, and something leafy and delicate. The 2007 Mountford “Liaison” Pinot Noir offers a smooth taste of Santa Rosa plums and sweet Asian spices. (Gary Friedman/Los Angeles T

May 20, 2011

SYDNEY (AP) ― Philip Roth’s latest prize was not a unanimous choice.The author of “Portnoy’s Complaint,” “American Pastoral” and many other novels on Wednesday was named as the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for fiction, a $100,000 honor given every two years. But one of the judges, publisher Carmen Callil, resigned in protest from the commission, telling the Guardian in London that

May 19, 2011

Cutrone speaks to young womenNormal Gets You Nowhere By Kelly Cutrone, with Meredith Bryan, (HarperOne, $23.99)Kelly Cutrone stands out in the fashion world. She always dresses in black, does not wear makeup or do her hair.Yet she founded People’s Revolution, a successful fashion PR company, and has appeared on Bravo’s “Kell on Earth” and MTV’s “The Hills” and “The City.”In her words, this is beca

May 13, 2011

Globalized Korea and Localized GlobeBy Park Sang-seek, (Jimoondang, 23,000 won)This collection of essays covers a wide range of events and contentious issues ― at local, regional and global levels ― that have occurred in the past 10 years. The book, which is a selection of Professor Park Sang-seek’s contributions to The Korea Herald, with the exception of one essay, deals primarily with issues con

May 13, 2011

Even before the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, pirates were romantic.Now, in “The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook” Jason Heller brings you a guide to all things (Disney) pirate.Piracy has been with us from the beginning of time. Julius Caesar was taken prisoner, ransomed and later crucified his capturers. The infamous Blackbeard looted ships in the eighteenth century. There was little attra

May 13, 2011

Not even changing the cockroach into a kitten can help the latest literary mash-up ― “The Meowmorphosis”Coleridge Cook takes a well-written stab at Franz Kafka’s depressing novella “The Metamorphosis” and turns it into ... well, a slightly less gloomy tale. Where Kafka turned his lead character, Gregor Samsa, into a beetle, Cook transforms him into an adorable fluffy kitten.Kafka was an early twen

May 13, 2011

SEATTLE ― The weeks leading up to a book’s publication can be hard on an author. Will the books get to the booksellers? Will the cover come out right-side-up? Will people buy it? Will they read it? Will they like it?Erik Larson is as well-known and well-read as any Seattle author ― his 2003 book, “The Devil in the White City,” the story of a serial murderer who preyed on the margins of the 1893 Ch

May 13, 2011

Michelin Guide, an internationally renowned travel guide, will release its Green Guide Korea edition in French on May 17, the Korea Tourism Organization said Monday.The KTO reached an agreement with Michelin Guide in April last year to publish the Korea edition. A group of reporters collected information on major tourist sites, cultural and historical sites, accommodation and restaurants in Korea

May 9, 2011

WILLOW GROVE, Pennsylvania (AP) ― Fans of comic books basked in a bounty of free issues as retailers from Los Angeles to London handed out thousands upon thousands of free copies Saturday for the 10th annual Free Comic Book Day.Some stores opened early while others arranged for artists and writers, including top names like DC Comics’ chief creative officer, Geoff Johns, Marvel writer Jonathan Hick

May 8, 2011

Review: Under the spell of ‘The Sandalwood Tree’“The Sandalwood Tree”  (Atria Books),  by Elle NewmarkIf you like your love stories sweeping and wrapped in history, “The Sandalwood Tree” by Elle Newmark has it all.The narrative switches between India in two generations, the mid-19th century and post-World War II. The 1947 narrator is Evie, an American whose marriage is on the rocks after her husba

May 6, 2011

I’ve outgrown J.D. Salinger, and I don’t know where that leaves me.I was 10 when my father handed me “The Catcher in the Rye,” and I found not just a voice for all the wild despair and sudden inexplicable elation of adolescence but an acknowledgement that these feelings did not occur in a vacuum. Salinger reached into the “vale of tears” catechism of my Irish Catholic upbringing and lifted me out

May 6, 2011

LOS ANGELES ― Shortly before Daniel Hernandez moved from Los Angeles to Mexico to write a book about its roiling capital, a friend gave him an order. “I don’t want to see you back from Mexico City until it’s physically altered you, until you are different,” Hernandez was told.The Western Hemisphere’s largest metropolitan area, with about 22 million people, has its existential challenges: toxic air

May 6, 2011

Book looks at Rivera and rest of Yankees bullpenBullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends, and the Future of the New York Yankees by Charley Rosen(Harper, $25.99)Forgive New York Yankees fans if they get nervous when one of the team’s relievers takes the mound. The 41-year-old lights-out closer, Mariano Rivera, appears to defy time with every cutter he throws for a strike. F

April 29, 2011