James Patterson is on a mission to #saveourbooks

“There’s no evidence at this stage that the great books in our culture can be produced through the Internet right now,” says best-selling writer James Patterson. “If the equivalent of ‘Ulysses’ came along, out it would go on the Internet, it would get like about 12 Fs in a row ― ‘I couldn’t get through the first page,’ ‘Couldn’t get through the first chapter,’ F-F-F-F-F, and ‘Ulysses’ would disappear.”Patterson is not known for Joycean prose ― he’s known for propulsive Alex Cross thrillers ― but

Dec. 18, 2014

Author details harsh toll of Alzheimer’s on caregivers

Meryl Comer probably couldn’t tell you the most harrowing moment of her journey through Alzheimer’s. Maybe it happened before her husband Harvey’s diagnosis, when he brandished a carving knife at Thanksgiving.Or maybe it occurred when she watched the brilliant doctor of hematology and oncology at the National Institutes of Health, only in his late 50s, fumble his way through a lecture he once would have delivered with poise and efficiency. Or when he traveled overseas for a conference ― against

Dec. 18, 2014

‘Five’ by Ursula Archer is intriguing crime fiction

FiveBy Ursula Archer(Minotaur)Geocaching ― the contemporary treasure hunt in which a GPS is used to find hidden objects ― lends itself to an intriguing melding of a gripping police procedural and an exciting update of the puzzle mystery in Austrian children’s book author Ursula Archer’s crime fiction debut. Archer imbues “Five” with an inventive plot, tense suspense and fully realized characters that seem as if they have been around for years. Archer’s clever use of geocaching proves that the li

Dec. 18, 2014

‘Three-Body Problem’ a compelling sci-fi journey

The Three-Body ProblemBy Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu(Tor)If you delight in science fiction that delivers the shock and thrill of something strange, Cixin Liu’s “The Three-Body Problem” is your novel this year. It combines fascinating extrapolations from astronomy and physics with a compelling first-contact story and a remarkable gaming / virtual reality tale — and sets the whole thing in contemporary China, among characters profoundly shaped by the notorious Cultural Revolution.Cixin Liu ha

Dec. 18, 2014

‘Killer Heels’ looks at history of high heels

Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled ShoeEdited by Lisa Small(DelMonico Books-Prestel)Shakespeare mentions high heels in “Hamlet,” former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised them and fashion designers from Dior to Manolo Blahnik have bewitched women and men with their versions. “KillerHeels” is a luxurious, fun and sexy look at the history of high heels,and it manages to be eye candy and thoughtprovoking, too. It’s onshelves for the holiday shopping season.Based on an exhibit at the Bro

Dec. 18, 2014

‘Red Tent’ author tells of immigrant life in America

The Boston GirlBy Anita Diamant(Scribner)Best-selling author Anita Diamant is having a moment. Her first novel, 1997’s beloved “The Red Tent,” has been made into a two-night Lifetimeminiseries.Now, she’s back with her fifth novel, “The Boston Girl,” a coming-of-agestory narrated by Addie Baum.At age 85, Addie is telling the story of her life to her 22-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her: “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” Divided into years and presented in an oral-history st

Dec. 18, 2014

Booyoung chairman publishes history book

Lee Joong-keun, chairman of South Korea’s leading construction company Booyoung Group, has compiled a history book about Korea’s post-independence period.“Independence, 1,775 Days” chronologically documents historical facts and events that occurred on the Korean Peninsula in the 1,775 days from Aug. 15, 1945, when Korea gained independence from Japanese colonial rule, to June 24, 1950, the day before the Korean War broke out. The book details significant events such as Japan’s surrender, U.N.-su

Dec. 18, 2014

Autobiography shows writer’s world, growth

At least three different kinds of readers will find “Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography” a fascinating book: fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” stories, literary gossips, and writers and would-be writers who want to transform real-life experiences into fiction.Wilder (1867-1957) was more than 60 years old when she started writing “Pioneer Girl,” an autobiographical account of her early years. Wilder had been a columnist for the Missouri Ruralist newspaper; her daughter, Rose Wi

Dec. 11, 2014

Fascinating look at U.S. diplomacy

Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American DiplomacyBy Christopher R. Hill (Simon & Schuster)Chris Hill, in my opinion, was one of the two smartest American diplomats of his generation. The other, Bob Frasure, was killed in 1995 when the French armored car in which he was riding rolled down a mountainside in Bosnia-Herzegovina.Hill was U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Macedonia, Poland and South Korea, assistant secretary of state for East Asian Affairs and the U.S. envoy to the Six-Power Talks on Nort

Dec. 11, 2014

For Cheryl Strayed, writing ‘Wild’ was just the beginning

The big checks started coming in about nine months after “Wild” hit bookshelves and started its climb to the top of The New York Times best-seller’s list. To Oprah’s Book Club. And, as of this coming week, to movie theaters nationwide.The first thing author Cheryl Strayed bought was a $2,000 piano for her two children. It was something she never had in her powdered-milk and government-cheese childhood, but always dreamed of. Piano lessons, especially.“The piano was delivered, and the guys left a

Dec. 11, 2014

Puppies shake for memorable photos

Shake PuppiesBy Carli Davidson (Harper Design)This much cuteness should be a crime.Photographer Carli Davidson ― also an animal rights activist, pet foster parent and trainer who lives in Portland, Oregon ― has a follow-up to her bestseller, “Shake,” her picture book of dogs shaking themselves silly.It’s “Shake Puppies” (Harper Design), which takes her original idea and scales it down to puppies. Davidson gives readers more than 130 amazing shots of pups shaking, capturing all the ear-flapping a

Dec. 11, 2014

‘Us’ tackles domestic battleground

UsBy David Nicholls (Harper)David Nicholls’ engaging new novel is not the sort of serious, weighty fiction that often wins the Man Booker Prize, though it made the longlist for 2014. This year, that honor went to Richard Flanagan’s “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” about a prisoner of war in Burma in World War II.“Us” is about prisoners of a war in a more intimate skirmish: the domestic battleground. Like he did in his last novel, “One Day” ― I have not yet forgiven him for the weeping that e

Dec. 11, 2014

The dead are all around us in ‘Rooms’

“Rooms”By Lauren Oliver (Ecco)Lauren Oliver, author of the young adult best-selling Delirium trilogy, turns triumphantly to adult fiction with her latest, “Rooms,” a haunted house story of fine merit.Oliver’s confident, clever prose effortlessly convinces the reader ― whether already a believer in the supernatural or one with a willing suspension of disbelief ― that not only are the dead all around us, they’re listening in, commenting and making often-trenchant judgments about the still living.“

Dec. 11, 2014

On translating the work of Jules Verne

He was neither an engineer nor a scientist. But he participated in the most groundbreaking science and technology establishments of this generation. He was a dreamer with inspirations and a prophet who wrote about the future long before it happened.So did translator Kim Seok-hee praise the French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905). “I have never paid this kind of respect to any other writer before,” said the 62-year-old, who has translated more than 100 books including Nanami Shiono’s 15-volume se

Dec. 10, 2014

‘There Was and There Was Not’ crosses Turkish-Armenian divide

At the Armenian-American camp Meline Toumani attended each summer in Massachusetts, she and her fellow campers knew exactly what bonded them as a people. And no, it wasn’t just their adult-sized noses, at least one of which elicited the nickname “Gonzo” back at school.It was the need for recognition ― from Turkey and the world ― that the Armenian genocide had indeed happened. Even by grade school, Toumani knew certain truths that others denied or were oblivious to: One and a half million Armenia

Dec. 4, 2014

Brother Anthony translates two poetry anthologies

Brother Anthony of Taize, a translator of Korean literature and emeritus professor of English at Sogang University, recently translated two poem anthologies: “Shadows of the Void” and “Patterns.”As one of the first non-Korean translators, Brother Anthony has published around 30 books of Korean poetry and works of fiction into English over more than 20 years, including noteworthy works by Ku Sang, Ko Un and Yi Mun-yol.  Brother Anthony of Taize at his office in Seoul in August. (Kim Myung-sub/The

Dec. 4, 2014

Pirie on the case in ‘The Skeleton’

The Skeleton RoadBy Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)Author Val McDermid melds the political thriller with the police procedural for an intense novel that gives equal attention to each genre. McDermid pulls together a complicated tale of war and its aftermath for a plot that feels both intensely personal and global. “The Skeleton Road” moves at a brisk pace, giving attention to each of its myriad characters as the action moves from Scotland to England to Croatia.Detective Chief Inspector Kar

Dec. 4, 2014

‘Big Finish’ keeps tension high

The Big FinishBy James W. Hall (Minotaur)Living in the “shadowy world” has always worked well for Thorn, the taciturn hero making his 14th appearance in James W. Hall’s series. Living in a “primitive cracker house” in Key Largo, scraping out a living by tying bonefish flies, Thorn’s mellow persona is only a veneer for the violence that can rear when he or his friends are threatened.Being “a hard-core loner” has suited him fine, but Thorn has recently discovered he has a grown son and that solita

Dec. 4, 2014

‘Ralph Peer’: Roots music mogul

Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music By Barry Mazor (Chicago Review Press)Do you love Bruce Springsteen? B.B. King? Garth Brooks? Ruben Blades?No doubt you answered yes to at least one of those, but it’s quite likely you do not know the name of the visionary record-industry mogul who set the stage for those artists to succeed ― and perhaps even to exist at all.That would be Ralph Peer, the Kansas City “A & R man” (artists and repertoire) who in the 1920s virtually invented country an

Dec. 4, 2014

‘Midnight in Siberia’ eyes Russia today

Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of RussiaBy David Greene (W.W. Norton)As the West nervously watches a newly aggressive Russia, many commentators are trying to figure out what Vladimir Putin is thinking. But “Midnight in Siberia” reminds us of another important question: What are the Russian people thinking?David Greene took a 6,000-mile train journey from Moscow to Vladivostok to find out, and the result is a mesmerizing, confounding, comforting and thought-provoking book. Gr

Dec. 4, 2014