A boy’s reservations from the ‘rez’

If I Ever Get Out of HereBy Eric Gansworth (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)“If I Ever Get Out of Here,” Eric Gansworth’s first novel for young people, rings true with a sophisticated look at what it’s like to be an outsider and what it takes to be a true friend.Lewis Blake has precious little going for him in school; he’s smart, sure. But he’s super skinny, essentially friendless, his family is dirt poor, and he’s from the “rez” in an area that routinely treats his Tuscarora Reservation community w

Aug. 22, 2013

Debut novel chronicles expats in Prague

“Prague doesn‘t let go,” Franz Kafka once wrote of his hometown. “This little mother has claws.”That line neatly summarizes the tension in Caleb Crain’s elegant and intellectually robust debut novel, “Necessary Errors.” Its hero, Jacob, is a 20-something American navigating familiar 20-something crises: love versus lust, accomplishment versus slackerdom. Tales of such post-collegiate expats are usually thin studies in privileged narcissism. But Crain complicates the story, using the Prague setti

Aug. 22, 2013

A man, a mike, a karaoke machine

Rob Sheffield is the kind of true-blue music nerd who’ll pause his latest memoir ― one with a subtitle promising a book about “the rituals of love & karaoke” ― to address the topic of Rod Stewart.Not how much he loves Rod Stewart, exactly, nor which of Stewart’s songs is the most fun to sing at karaoke. (Duh: “Love Touch.”) Rather, Sheffield’s chapter on the singer, called “Hot Legs,” examines in great detail Stewart’s merry progression from “a rambling rock & roll rogue” to “an L.A. roue trappe

Aug. 22, 2013

Secrecy is priority for Salinger movie, book

NEW YORK (AP) ― For much of the nine years that Shane Salerno worked on his J.D. Salinger documentary and book, the project was a mystery worthy of the author himself.Code names. Hidden identities. Surveillance cameras. Until 2010, when “The Catcher In the Rye” novelist died at age 91, only a handful of people were fully aware of what he was up to. Even now, with the release date of the film “Salinger” less than three weeks away, little is known about a production that draws upon more than 100 i

Aug. 20, 2013

Minds of ‘Snowpiercer’ see ‘miracle’ on film

BUCHEON, Gyeonggi Province ― What is it like to see one’s graphic novel being turned into a movie nearly 30 years after it was published?According to French comic book creators Jean-Marc Rochette and Benjamin Legrand, whose 1984 work “Le Transperceneige” (Snowpiercer) was recently released as a film, it is “very much like a miracle.”  Following the enormous box office success of the star-studded “Snowpiercer,” the story’s original authors visited Korea to watch the movie for the first time at th

Aug. 15, 2013

‘Babayaga’ works magic to make ‘the impossible possible’

Before “Babayaga,” I thought Disney had captured all the world’s folk tales and remade them as child-friendly blockbusters. But author Toby Barlow got to Baba Yaga ― fearsome witches plucked from old Russian legend ― first, and he brings them to life in 1950s Paris.At the center of the novel is Will, a young American ad man who is not a witch. He’s enjoying the pleasures of the city, although he’ll probably soon be heading home to Detroit. He’s a likable, drifting twentysomething, the kind of gu

Aug. 15, 2013

Martin Luther King III writes children’s book about his father

There have been numerous books written about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.Some have detailed his work as one of the world’s best-known civil rights leaders.Others have examined his writings, philosophy and sermons.But one of his sons wants people to know another side of him ― dad.Martin Luther King III has written a children’s book, “My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” about his life growing up the son of a famous leader, who while on the go a lot, managed to still be Daddy to his four chil

Aug. 15, 2013

Author Erica Jong still flying high, 40 years on from debut

HONG KONG (AFP) ― In her own words, Erica Jong wanted to “slice open a woman’s head and show everything happening inside” when she wrote her debut novel “Fear of Flying,” first published 40 years ago.The book, which is set for an anniversary re-release this year, became a sensation in 1973 and went on to shift more than 20 million copies in 40 different languages. But reaction to it also illustrated that the inside of a woman’s head ― at least as Jong saw it ― could be a polarizing place.“You ca

Aug. 12, 2013

‘Learning to be bilingual can be fun’

English teacher and author Bella Chung remembers a memorable encounter with one of her young students. The middle school student walked into Chung’s English class at Korea Herald English Institutes in central Seoul, looking rather miserable and uninterested. The girl attended an English immersion kindergarten in Korea as a kid, and apparently lost her interest in the language as she enrolled in elementary school. “She was very pretty but her face was stiff,” Chung said during an interview with T

Aug. 8, 2013

Leotta returns with new legal thriller

Speak of the DevilBy Allison Leotta (Touchstone)Allison Leotta’s latest novel, “Speak of the Devil,” pits prosecutor Anna Curtis against Diablo, a villain believed to be the devil himself.Diablo and his gang attack a brothel, and a doorman ends up missing his head. Curtis soon discovers evidence of a human trafficking ring, with Diablo’s gang at its heart. Witnesses are too terrified to testify, and people who own businesses in the area controlled by the gang refuse to talk.Although Curtis has h

Aug. 8, 2013

Book explores the lives of paramedics

Paramedico: Around the World by AmbulanceBy Benjamin Gilmour (The Friday Project, an imprint of HarperCollins)Benjamin Gilmour’s book “Paramedico” explores the lives of emergency responders in a variety of countries, an intriguing, blood-soaked concept with plenty of drama and a dash of wait-and-see boredom.Gilmour, an author and filmmaker from Australia who also is a trained paramedic, hopped from South Africa to the Philippines, to Thailand, Mexico and several other nations, where he spent tim

Aug. 8, 2013

Travel guidebooks ride digital wave

The world of travel guidebooks keeps spinning, although it must weather changes in format and distribution in order to spread the word about vacation destinations.A trend toward electronic books and the demise of bookstores ― including retail giant Borders ― have been part of a sea change for travel books, said Julie Neal, who produces “The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World” with her husband, Mike, from their home in Celebration, Florida. They published their first print edition in 2007.“We ha

Aug. 8, 2013

Murder as poetry, metaphor

Choreographer Hong Sung-yup’s recent piece “The Dog and the Shadow” was, in many ways, a dance about memories and how they shape us into who we are. Hong used feathers and tiny pieces of cotton and paper to symbolize one’s distant and fading memories ― light, insignificant, floating easily through the air.Hong said he fears developing Alzheimer’s disease much more than any other life-threatening illness ― “You completely lose sense of who you are (with the disease) and it’s just extremely fright

Aug. 1, 2013

Recounting history of slavery

The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long IslandBy Mac Griswold (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)When the line of cars waiting for the Shelter Island ferry stretches halfway to Sag Harbor, it is hard to imagine that this popular Long Island vacation spot was once considered the very edge of European civilization. But in 1653, when Nathaniel Sylvester purchased Shelter Island from the Manhansett tribe, his goal was not to build a summer home but to establish a plantation much like those

Aug. 1, 2013