‘Obama,’ the long birth of a man’s ambition

Abnormal men become presidents of the United States.The overweening self-confidence required to reach for the office, the preternatural discipline and effort of will needed to grasp it ― in another setting, these traits might be called pathological. Tracing the roots of abnormality becomes a recurring motif in presidential biographies: polio’s impact on Franklin D. Roosevelt, the death of John F. Kennedy’s eldest brother, the absent or dysfunctional fathers of Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton.

June 22, 2012

Ordinary plot takes surprising directions

Gone GirlBy Gillian Flynn (Crown)I picked up “Gone Girl” because the novel is set along the Mississippi River in Missouri and the plot sounded intriguing. I put it down two days later, bleary-eyed and oh-so-satisfied after reading a story that left me surprised, disgusted, and riveted by its twists and turns.When you start Gillian Flynn’s latest book, it seems to be a story we’ve all heard before ― a woman disappears and her husband doesn’t seem to be as distraught as he should be. But Flynn tur

June 15, 2012

Baby Jesus’ violent bodyguard

Unholy NightBy Seth Grahame-Smith (Grand Central)Imagine the story of the Nativity recast as a Hollywood blockbuster ― a sword-and-sandals epic loaded with expensive computer-generated effects, a disfigured, lecherous villain and enough hacked-off limbs, severed heads and stomach-turning disembowlings to give even Quentin Tarantino pause ― and you’ll have a solid idea of what to expect in “Unholy Night,” the new novel from mash-up king Seth Grahame-Smith.With his novels “Pride and Prejudice and

June 15, 2012

Windows and Doors: A Study of Korean Architecture

By Yim Seok-jaeTranslated by Lee Jean-young (Ewha Womans University Press)It is easy to be mesmerized by the beauty of hanok, especially its tiled roof and “daecheong,” the wooden floor. What a lot of people don’t notice, however, is the charm of its humble-looking windows and doors, which are in fact strictly designed and built based on Confucian philosophy and values. Scholar Yim Seok-jae’s English-language book, “Windows and Doors: A Study of Korean Architecture,” offers an interesting overvi

June 15, 2012

Sheen and Estevez explore father-son dynamics in memoir

Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son, Emilio Estevez, was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as Ramon Antonio Gerardo Estevez instead of his stage name, was more accustomed to having siblings than being a father. He felt more like a brother to Emilio, and that dynamic has defined their relationship to this day.In their new memoir, “Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son,” which was written with Hope Edelman, the two examine t

June 15, 2012

Swords and sorcery ― and psychology

The ScarBy Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, translated by Elinor Huntington(Tor)Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, husband-and-wife authors, have written numerous science-fiction and fantasy novels in Russian ― and have racked up a mantel-ful of awards in doing so ― but they’ve only now made a foray into U.S. bookshelves with “The Scar.”“The Scar” tells the story of Egert Soll, a handsome and skilled warrior from a noble family, a leader of men, arrogant and self-centered. Always the center of attention,

June 8, 2012

Teen sleuth tracks stolen art in Japan

Tokyo Heist By Diana Renn(Viking)When Japanese culture is fused with teen fiction, the result is usually shojo manga ― black-and-white graphic novels with a girlish romantic twist. In “Tokyo Heist,” Japanese comics aren’t the format but serve as an undercurrent in a globe-trotting, art-themed mystery novel involving missing Van Goghs, Japanese gangsters and a 16-year-old girl on the outs with her father.Violet had no idea how important her interest in all things Japanese would become when she we

June 8, 2012

Scholar introduces Korean feasts

Festive Occasions: The Customs in KoreaBy Yoon Seo-seokTranslated by Cho Yoon-jung (Ewha Womans University Press)One can expect plenty of food, music and dance at Korea’s traditional “Janchi.” Janchi would be held for a variety of festive occasions in life, including weddings, milestone birthdays and anniversaries.The Korean term “Janchi” literally means a feast, or a joyous get-together where people share food and exchange best wishes. For those who are interested in Korea’s traditional form of

June 8, 2012

Questions for author Kate Bornstein

“I was a Scientologist for 12 years, which is a lot more embarrassing than saying Hi, I’m a transsexual SM dyke living with borderline personality disorder,” Kate Bornstein tells on the release of her memoir, “A Queer and Pleasant Danger.” Embodying not just gender ― but the range of gender ― is just a fraction of Bornstein’s complex, complete, utterly compelling persona; she is also the embodiment of a mind steeped in pop culture, past and present.1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?O

June 8, 2012

Graphic novel about the Beatles

Baby’s in BlackBy Arne Bellstorf (First Second Books)Arne Bellstorf’s sad, magically charming graphic novel about the Beatles in Hamburg ― when the band’s then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe fell in love with German photographer Astrid Kirchherr ― evokes the innocence and romantic hunger of youth with quiet, heart-tugging grace.The period is 1960-62, when the Beatles were playing nightly in a rathole on the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s tough red-light district, the crucible in which the band’s world-shatteri

June 1, 2012

America’s unusual innovator

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious ManBy Mark Kurlasnky (Doubleday)With “Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man,” Mark Kurlansky takes a detour from his food biographies (“Cod,” “Salt,” “The Big Oyster”) to profile Clarence Birdseye, the man credited with launching America’s frozen-food industry. As the subtitle suggests, Birdseye had a wide-ranging curiosity about nature. This led him into many activities, including hunting, taxidermy, research into tick-borne disease, fur farming, whale

June 1, 2012

Novelist James Patterson preaches the power of kids’ books

James Patterson has written so many books, he’s lost track of the exact number. Ask him how many novels he’s penned for 2012 alone and he shrugs, then guesses: “Twelve or 13?”Often derided as a “factory” for being so prolific, Patterson has written more than 70 novels and sold more than 260 million copies ― far more than any living writer. And at 65, he shows no sign of easing up. If anything, his pace seems to be quickening, especially with children’s books, which he began writing in 2007 after

June 1, 2012

Korean-American author’s riveting tale of family secrets

Forgotten Country: A NovelBy Catherine Chung (Riverhead Books)Following the international success of local writer Shin Kyung-sook’s novel “Please Look after Mom,” another powerful work of fiction about a Korean family is drawing attention. Korean-American author Catherine Chung’s engrossing debut novel, “Forgotten Country,” tells the story of two sisters born in South Korea. They move to Michigan in the U.S. as young girls, following their parents who try to escape Korea’s turbulent political si

June 1, 2012

Parents steal their twins’ childhood

Canada, By Richard Ford (Ecco)Some parents screw their kids up incrementally. Bev and Neeva Parsons manage to cram a life’s worth of trauma into a matter of days during the summer of 1960.The couple’s misadventures are told by their son Dell in “Canada,” Richard Ford’s 10th book.The hapless father, Bev (“He never conceded that Beverly was a woman’s name in most people’s minds”), and the bright but empathy-bereft Neeva dominate the first half of a riveting tale of lost innocence.The saga begins w

May 25, 2012

Hitting for average

Calico Joe, By John Grisham (Doubleday)John Grisham is to literature what Cheerios are to a rushed breakfast, something you buy in bulk and consume without too much thought. Honestly, I’m relieved when a new Grisham book doesn’t weigh more than I do.Yet his newest work, “Calico Joe,” is as slender as a Dodgers shortstop. Coming in at under 200 pages, it is a breezy little baseball novel that will probably appeal to many men the way Nicholas Sparks’ stories appeal to that other sex.Strangely, con

May 25, 2012

Asia journal dedicated to Korean literature

(Asia Literary Review) By Michael Breen et alAsia Literary Review, an English-language quarterly journal distributed globally, has dedicated its Spring 2012 issue to Korean literature.“Koreans are rightly proud of their unique culture and their literary heritage; they respect and appreciate their writers and poets,” wrote Ilyas Khan, the journal’s publisher.“And if any place could be described as a country of readers, it would be South Korea. Their writers, however, have yet to be discovered by

May 25, 2012

New book reveals the fatherly side of Buzz Bissinger

Buzz Bissinger has already called someone a moron on Twitter this day, but really, the virtuosic vitriol that has characterized his Twitter feed has been somewhat subdued lately.Instead, Bissinger is sitting on a chair in a family room off the kitchen of his house in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood and talking about stuff so personal, so self-flagellating, that it would make you gasp if it weren’t comically shot through with F-bombs.Next to him is his son, Zach Bissinger, 28, well know

May 25, 2012

Krys Lee talks about her literary obsession

 Having overcome a troubled childhood, ‘Drifting House’ writer is fascinated by survivorsAuthor Krys Lee found out what her “obsessions” are after writing her first collection of stories. They are “survivors of different forms,” or “people who don’t quite belong.” And the Korean-American writer’s obsessions are evident in her powerful debut collection, “Drifting House” (Viking/Penguin Press). The stories take place in Korea, the U.S. and even North Korea, but all of her characters are struggling

May 22, 2012