Box Office

We Need to Talk about Kevin (U.S.)Opened July 28Drama. Directed by Lynne Ramsay. Eva (Tilda Swinton), who used to be a prominent travel writer, now works for a small travel agency. Her son, Kevin (Ezra Miller) is in prison after committing an ineffable crime at his high school. She looks back at her memories of the difficult relationship she had with her son, who never bonded with her throughout his life. The Thieves (Korea)Opened July 25Crime. Action. Directed by Choi Dong-hun. Anycall (Gianna

Aug. 3, 2012

‘All We Know’ about three women

“All We Know: Three Lives” By Lisa Cohen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)Three women who blazed with the passions of their generation but who are now forgotten. Three women who carved out what it means to be contemporary, independent, free. Three women who reached for success ― but didn’t always know, as the daughters of Victorians, what their ambitions even were or could be. In her triptych biography of Esther Murphy, Mercedes de Acosta and Madge Garland ― all born in the 1890s ― Lisa Cohen brings u

Aug. 3, 2012

Novel exposes human emotions

“A Cupboard Full of Coats” By Yvvette Edwards (Amistad)“A Cupboard Full of Coats,” Yvvette Edwards’ first novel, was good enough to crack the long list last summer for the Man Booker Prize. So why is it only now crashing ashore here? Beats me, but I’ll predict it makes waves now that it has.Maybe the subject matter explains the delay. Set among London’s Caribbean immigrants, “Coats” is the backward-looking story of a battered woman and three people who played a role in her death: the two men who

Aug. 3, 2012

Knicks captain Amar’e Stoudemire encourages youths to pick up books

NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire is so passionate about promoting literacy that he has a tattoo on his forearm that says “Read.” This week, the 29-year-old captain of the New York Knicks is translating that ink to the page with a new book series he’s written for middle-graders called “STAT: Standing Tall and Talented.”Titled after his nickname, “STAT” is based on Stoudemire’s life as a middle schooler. Published by Scholastic, the kickoff title, “Home Court,” is written from his perspective as a 6-f

Aug. 3, 2012

Author, playwright Gore Vidal dies

Gore Vidal, the author, playwright, politician and commentator whose novels, essays, plays and opinions were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom, died Tuesday, his nephew said Tuesday.Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills at about 6:45 p.m. of complications from pneumonia, said Burr Steers. Vidal had been living alone in the home and had been sick for “quite a while,’’ he said.Along with such contemporaries as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, Vidal was among the last ge

Aug. 1, 2012

Finding her place in a sitcom world

The Next Best ThingBy Jennifer Weiner (Atria)Ruth Saunders’ dreams are about to come true, and she’s due for good luck: “I was a woman who’d lost her parents, who’d survived a dozen surgeries and emerged with metal implants in my jaw, the right side of my face sunken and scarred, and an eye that drooped.”Ruth’s dream involves a sitcom based loosely on the story of herself and the grandmother who raised her from age 3, and in Jennifer Weiner’s capable hands, the novel is a knockout. Perfect comic

July 27, 2012

How humanity threatens itself

The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It, By Fred Guterl (Bloomsbury)Consider if you dare the case of bioengineers who’ve implanted a microchip into the brains of certain research beetles, a chip which connects to the beetle’s nervous system and sends tiny pulses of energy that make the beetle “behave,” to turn left or right, zig and zag, do loop-de-loops and otherwise respond to various commands. What’s the point? Imagine a million of these

July 27, 2012

‘The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy’

It can take years to bring a single film to screen. It took over eight years to bring the massively popular Batman trilogy into theaters.“The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy,” takes you through those eight ― and more ― years as you learn about the whole process, from concept to conclusion.A beautifully artistic photo book, it’s a worthy addition to any film student or Batman reader’s collection of “making of” books. Coming from a background in smaller films, director Christopher Nolan

July 27, 2012

Red and blue pair up to travel the country

The 2008 presidential campaign had many unexpected consequences: It spawned the tea party movement, the Palin family reality show dynasty and the career of Meghan McCain, daughter of the Republican nominee.During Arizona Sen. John McCain’s ill-fated White House run, Meghan spent a lot of time on the road on his famous “Straight Talk Express.” A newly minted Columbia University graduate, she was among the first political offspring to exploit the possibilities of a campaign blog.Pictures of her ju

July 27, 2012

Kim to launch foundation for Dokdo sovereignty projects

Singer Kim Jang-hoon, known for his activism to reinforce Korean sovereignty over Dokdo, announced on Thursday he plans to found a foundation for his future Dokdo-related projects. The projects consist of building a Dokdo-themed cultural space “Dokdo Land” and providing support for Dokdo research for academic scholars, he said. “I’ve been working on the Dokdo project for a while,” said Kim during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday.  “And I thought it was necessary to form a foundation to ke

July 26, 2012

An irreverent guide to things Korean for expats

Why do Koreans ask me whether I have eaten when saying hello? What happened to my personal space on the subway? Why do people take their shoes off when entering a home? How Confucian is Korea? Why the dull car colors? When Kim Hyung-geun started the advice column “Ask a Korean Dude” in SEOUL Magazine he never anticipated the scope and size of questions that streamed in from expatriates around the country. Many foreigners were confused by the quirks and customs of Korean culture and were hungry f

July 26, 2012

Korean lit published in bilingual edition

A 15-volume series of modern Korean literature has been published in a Korean-English bilingual edition, its publisher Asia Publishers said.It took five years for the publishing company to release the series, which includes Oh Jung-hee’s “Chinatown,” Choe Yun’s “The Last of Hanako” and Jo Jung-rae’s “The Land of the Vanished.” Titled “Bi-lingual Edition Modern Korean Literature,” the series is divided into three different sections: “Division,” “Industrialization” and “Women.” While the series’ “

July 26, 2012

New Zealand author Margaret Mahy dies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ― Beloved New Zealand children’s author Margaret Mahy, who wrote more than 120 books and earned acclaim at home and abroad, has died at the age of 76.She died Monday after being diagnosed with cancer, her cousin Ron Mahy said.Mahy’s best-known books include “A Lion in the Meadow,’’ “The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate’’ and “Bubble Trouble.’’She won the Carnegie Medal for outstanding children’s writing twice and in 2006 won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for her lif

July 24, 2012

Relationships of three hapless souls

TumbleweedsBy Leila Meacham (Grand Central Publishing) I love it when a book starts like this: “The call he’d been expecting for twenty-two years came at midnight when he was working late at his desk. … The name of the caller appeared in the identification screen, and his heart did a flip-flop.”Middle-of-the-night phone calls from people you haven’t heard from in nearly a quarter of a century almost always bode well, at least if you’re in the hands of a talented author.In this case, you certainl

July 20, 2012

Stranger’s arrival sets tragedy in motion

Heading Out to WonderfulBy Robert Goolrick (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)“Brownsburg, Virginia, 1948, the kind of town that existed in the years right after the war, where the terrible American wanting hadn’t touched yet, where most people lived a simple life without yearning for things they couldn’t have…” Into this small town one day arrives Charlie Beale, a stranger from parts unknown. He has a suitcase full of his things ― which include a set of high-quality butcher knives ― and a suitcase

July 20, 2012

Chris Colfer of ‘Glee’ mines childhood fascination to write ‘The Land of Stories’

When Chris Colfer was just 20, he‘d already been named one of GQ magazine’s men of the year, having sung and acted his way into the hearts of America as Kurt, the high-pitched, openly gay brunet who is unabashedly himself on the hit TV show “Glee.” Colfer‘s star had risen so fast in the year he’d starred on the Fox comedy that a literary agent asked him to pen his autobiography -- an endeavor Colfer had the good sense to decline because it was so premature.Instead, Colfer offered “The Land of St

July 20, 2012

Q&A with U.S. Rep. John Lewis about new book, ‘Across That Bridge’

There’s a photograph of President John F. Kennedy sailing on his beloved Victura on the wall of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ 19th-floor office that bares this quote: “One man can make a difference and every man should try.” It is one of many pearls of wisdom scattered about the elder statesman’s Atlanta office, but it is this single sentiment that beats throughout “Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change” (Hyperion, $22.99), Lewis’ latest book on his life and the civil rights movement

July 20, 2012

Thrill of competition, agony of life

GoldBy Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster)TV producers who create those biographical segments on Olympic athletes could only wish that Chris Cleave wrote their scripts.In “Gold,” Cleave fashions a life-and-death story of two female cyclists, long entwined athletically and personally, competing for a single spot on Great Britain’s Olympic team.Cleave’s earlier novels include the bestseller “Little Bee.”“Gold” feels like a marriage of “Wide World of Sports” with Lifetime television; that’s meant as a

July 13, 2012

Another winner from bestseller author

Shadow of NightBy Deborah Harkness (Viking Books)The ingredients for an enthralling historical fantasy can be deceptively simple: All you need are Elizabethan England, magic and witches. Add to this heady draught a liberal infusion of vampires and daemons, spice with a bit of romance and a dash of time travel ― just to kick up the action a notch ― and one’s imagination reels with the possibilities. Or at least it should, because Deborah Harkness’ “Shadow of Night” can show you just how potent su

July 13, 2012