Negotiation with North Korea inevitable, writes policy expert Clemens

“North Korea and the World”By Walter C. Clemens Jr.University Press of Kentucky (443 pages, $39.95)North Korea and its succession of unfathomable, belligerent totalitarian dictators have long presented some of the most difficult challenges to world diplomacy. In his book “North Korea and the World,” published July 22, international policy expert Walter C. Clemens Jr. poses the question, “Can, should, and must we negotiate with a regime we regard as evil?”Clemens, an associate at the Harvard Uni

Aug. 3, 2016

Panty lines and prom-posals: 'Inside Amy Schumer' writer Jessi Klein on invented problems

There’s a great scene in Jessi Klein’s new book, in which she is backstage at the Emmy Awards last year with her just-won statue -- and her breast pump.“On a professional level, it felt really good,” she said of the win for her work as head writer on the Comedy Central sketch series, “Inside Amy Schumer.”“But for a variety of reasons, last year was one of the hardest years of my life,” she said, alluding to marital strife. “I spent a lot of time suffering and the Emmy did absolutely zero.“There’

Aug. 3, 2016

Renowned Korean poet’s works translated to English for first time

A collection of works by renowned poet Jeong Ho-seung, often referred to as “Koreans’ favorite poet,” has been translated into English for the first time.Brother Anthony, professor emeritus at Sogang University and a naturalized Korean originally from Britain, and Susan Hwang, who studies Korean literature at the University of Michigan, cotranslated the collection titled “A Letter Not Sent.” The book is published by Seoul Selection."A Letter Not Sent," the collected poems of Jeong Ho-seung, tran

Aug. 3, 2016

Duty and dreams in ‘Light of Paris’

“The Light of Paris” By Eleanor BrownG.P. Putnam’s Sons (320 pages, $26)Macalester alumna Eleanor Brown’s second novel (her first was the delightful best-seller “The Weird Sisters”) recapitulates an old and sometimes hackneyed plot -- the transformation of an American woman in Paris -- in a fresh, endearing way. It is two stories in one -- the first set in 1999, when Madeleine, a thirty-something, drifting, unhappily married Chicago woman, visits her aging, crotchety mother in their small Southe

July 27, 2016

‘The Invoice,’ refreshingly original satire

“The Invoice” By Jonas Karlsson, translated from Swedish by Neil SmithHogarth Press (204 pages, $24)The narrator of Jonas Karlsson’s “The Invoice” is a nice, mild guy. He works part-time in a video store, rides his bike everywhere, enjoys watching movies, gets along fine. He’s not very ambitious, but he’s pretty happy -- which is his downfall. Because one day he gets a bill in the mail that says that he owes nearly 6 million kroner (about $750,000), although it’s not immediately clear why, or to

July 27, 2016

Contradictory rules that rule China

“5 Keys to Understanding China”By Ryu Jae-yunSeoul Selection (268 pages, 14,800 won, $13)Author Ryu Jae-yun says when managing business agreements in China, you might encounter instances when your partners start talking “blithely about something else altogether” rather than the issue at hand. “You find yourself wondering with frustration if they are even aware of what is really important and when, if ever, they will get around to addressing it,” writes the veteran businessman, who for two decade

July 27, 2016

‘Sarong Party Girls’ takes an exciting plunge into the lives of modern Singaporean women

Pineapple tarts. The thought of those flaky butter cookies topped with pineapple jam made Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s stomach churn. She craved the taste of them. And she had a hunger for home.It was early 2009, a few weeks before New York Fashion Week. Tan, a fashion writer for The Wall Street Journal at the time, had plenty on her plate, except for her grandmother’s cookies.She didn’t know how to make any of her favorite food from her homeland. So she took a break, traveling to the kitchens of her gr

July 27, 2016

Tim LaHaye, author of “Left Behind” end-times novels, dies

The Rev. Tim LaHaye, coauthor of the “Left Behind” series, a multimillion-selling literary juggernaut that brought end-times prophecy into mainstream bookstores, died Monday. He was 90.LaHaye died in a San Diego, California, hospital, days after having suffered a stroke, according to his publicist Johnnie Moore. Coauthored with Jerry B. Jenkins, the 16-volume “Left Behind” series of novels published by Tyndale House Publishers sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, Moore said, and populariz

July 27, 2016

Heroine packs a comic punch

“Someone Please Have Sex With Me” By Gina Wynbrandt2dcloud Comics & Graphic Novels (140 pages, $17.95)A girl and her Justin Bieber crush don’t exactly sound like the sort of material that darkly funny comics are made of. But Gina Wynbrandt’s first book takes seemingly innocuous girl culture and transforms it into something humorously abject.“Someone Please Have Sex With Me,” as her slim book is titled (2dcloud Comics & Graphic Novels; 140 pages, $17.95), gathers five stories about a hapless char

July 21, 2016

'The Big Book of Science Fiction' a portal to endless reading pleasure

"The Big Book of Science Fiction" Edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer; Vintage (1,216 pages, $25)Surprisingly, the literary spirit that haunts Ann and Jeff Vandermeer's massive new anthology, "The Big Book of Science Fiction," isn't Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov or even H.G. Wells.It's Jorge Luis Borges, the creator of miniature fables of humans grappling with their double-edged longing for and terror of infinity and omniscience. He's represented by a signature story, name-checked in another on

July 21, 2016

Nick Offerman finds the voice of Tom Sawyer

If you imagine Nick Offerman is a real-life version of Ron Swanson, the mustachioed, macho character on “Parks and Recreation,” think again. Sure, he likes the outdoors, and yes, he has a wood shop in Los Angeles. But those things are connected to growing up in Illinois, not so far, really, from the American heartland portrayed by Mark Twain. And Offerman knows Twain; he’s a big reader.It makes sense, then, that Offerman has just recorded “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” for Audible, the audiobook

July 20, 2016

Gay Ecuadorian author overcomes barriers and publishes novel

NEW YORK (AP) -- As a deaf and gay student in Ecuador, Cesar Baquerizo was bullied and a victim of societal prejudice.Now, after five years of writing, Pen Name Publishing has released his first novel in English, “A Safe Place With You.”The book talks about homosexuality in Ecuador in the ’80s, when it was illegal.“I want to move readers through my words, so they can put themselves in LGBT people’s shoes and feel like they are there, in the novel, with my characters,” Baquerizo, 30, told the AP

July 20, 2016

Crime is stranger than fiction

“Murder at the 42nd Street Library”By Con Lehane; Minotaur (320 pages, $25.99)The beautiful and iconic New York Public Library on 42nd Street in Manhattan -- with its stone lions in front, multiple levels and history -- makes a stimulating setting for the launch of what should be a lively series about librarian Raymond “Ray” Ambler. The series is certainly off to a good start as “Murder at the 42nd Library” is fueled by an energetic plot, an evocative setting one can literally get lost in and re

July 13, 2016

The good, the bad, the difficult

“Dinner With Edward” By Isabel VincentAlgonquin Books of Chapel Hill (213 pages, $23.95)Isabel Vincent's marriage was on the verge of ending when a friend introduced her to Edward, a man whose wife had just died. The attraction was immediate. What followed was not a romance -- Isabel was in her 40s, Edward in his 90s -- but a close relationship that can only be called love.In her memoir, “Dinner With Edward,” Isabel -- a hard-nosed, hard-boiled investigative reporter and former war correspondent

July 13, 2016

Honest observations on farming life

“Dear County Agent Guy” By Jerry NelsonWorkman (207 pages, $14.95)I should have seen this coming, seen that Jerry Nelson's essays about farming weren’t quite what they seemed. I' a farmer’s daughter, and familiar with the irresistible corniness that comes with telling stories about rural life -- the “don‘tcha knows” and the punchlines about winter temps rivaling Siberia -- “and that was just in my bedroom.”Many of the essays in “Dear County Agent Guy” have been published in various farm magazine

July 13, 2016

‘Hamilton: The Revolution’: How a hip-hop Broadway musical became an American obsession

“Hamilton: The Revolution” By Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarterGrand Central Publishing (288 pages, $40)The revolution started with the idea that a hip-hop-Broadway marriage was the perfect vehicle for the story of Alexander Hamilton, the $10 Founding Father who created America’s monetary system. The genius who came up with the idea and executed it to groundbreaking, earth-shaking, money-making success is Lin-Manuel Miranda, so it should come as no surprise that he gets “Hamilton” in book

July 13, 2016

Philip Onho Lee captures daily grind of immigrant life in U.S.

“Olympic Boulevard” Philip Onho Lee (Translated by John Cha)Seoul Selection (12,000 won, $10)Philip Onho Lee’s “Olympic Boulevard,” published last month, details the daily joys and sorrows of immigrant life in the U.S. in the ’80s and ’90s.It features a series of vignettes about the life of a first-generation immigrant navigating through the ups and downs of adjusting to a new life in a new country.The story is told from the perspective of Myung Tay, who opens up a dry cleaning store in Los Ange

July 6, 2016