Daesan Literary awards winners announced

Poet Jin Eun-young, author Kim Soom, playwright Koh Yeon-ok and translator Choi Yang-hee were chosen as the winners of the 21st Daesan Literary Awards. Kim Soom, 39, won the prize for her sixth novel “Women and their Evolving Enemies,” which deals with a woman and her conflicting relationship with her mother-in-law. Jin, 43, received the prize for her poem titled “A Stealing Song,” while playwright Koh Yeon-ok, 42, won the honor for her play “Father in a Scabbard,” a tale about a son who plots r

Nov. 7, 2013

A filmmaker’s inner world of fantasy, horror

Over the last two decades, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has become known as one of popular culture’s great visionaries. He’s channeled his wild, restless imagination to create dark worlds of fantasy and horror, crafting beautifully rendered stories that function as modern fairy tales. Del Toro is interested in innocence and evil, and his tales are populated with winged, multi-limbed creatures and human monsters.His new book, “Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsession

Nov. 7, 2013

Books focus on J.F. Kennedy’s conservatism

When we think of John F. Kennedy, we can’t help but bring to mind images of his assassination, but if there’s anything surprising about the 50th anniversary of his killing, it is the books that look back at his life.That may be because there’s no new ground to be broken on the assassination, although Life magazine’s magnificent “The Day Kennedy Died” (Life Books: 192 pp.) does offer a lavish retrospective that takes us through the tragedy, ending with the president’s funeral. There is perspectiv

Nov. 7, 2013

History of PBS’ ‘Masterpiece Theatre’

Making Masterpiece: 25 Years Behind the Scenes at ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ and ‘Mystery!’ On PBSBy Rebecca Eaton (Penguin, NY) Do you remember Alistair Cooke? Besides being a renowned journalist, he also was the first host of PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre” when it started in 1971.Now you can find out all about that history of that long-running program in Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton’s amusing biography “Making Masterpiece.”She took over in 1985 when “Masterpiece Theatre” was 15 years old. It was kn

Nov. 7, 2013

Dan Simmons’ new novel disappointing

The AbominableBy Dan Simmons(Little, Brown and Company)Since Dan Simmons’ new novel of mountaineering, lengthy technical explanations, Nazis and the occasional yeti is titled “The Abominable,” you should know at the outset that it is not a horror story. Indeed, defining the book at all seems to have eluded the publisher, who billed it as a “thrilling tale of high-altitude death and survival set on the snowy summits of Everest” ― but be advised that the characters aren’t even kitted out and in th

Nov. 7, 2013

Seoul book festival to feature popular authors

The annual Seoul Book Festival kicks off its sixth edition on Thursday, offering special book-themed programs including talking sessions with cartoonist Rhie Won-bok and author Kim Jin-myeong.Hosted annually by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the three-day event will be attended by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and authors Seong Seok-je and Han Soo-san, among others.Among the featured authors, cartoonist Rhie Won-bok will talk about his latest book, the last installment of his popular series, “Fa

Nov. 6, 2013

‘Lost Generation’ novel wins top French literary prize

PARIS (AFP) ― France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt, was awarded on Monday to Pierre Lemaitre for a fast-moving adventure-tragedy about the lost generation after World War I.“Au Revoir la-Haut” (Goodbye Up There) tells the story of two trench-weary veterans, Albert and Edouard, who struggle to reintegrate into French society after the horrors of war.Lemaitre, 62, was one of the favorites to take the prize, which can boost sales by 300,000 to 400,000 copies. Jury members hailed Lemaitre for c

Nov. 5, 2013

Paretsky’s ‘Critical Mass’ is packed with action

Critical MassBy Sara Paretsky (Putnam)There must be something inspiring about dating a classical musician: Since private investigator V.I. Warshawski took up with double bassist Jake Thibaut in 2009’s “Hardball,” her creator, author Sara Paretsky, seems to have renewed creative energy, evident in pages that almost seem to turn themselves.The considerable action of “Critical Mass” (the title refers to nuclear physics, not getting together a crowd of reviewers) is set off when Warshawski is asked

Oct. 31, 2013

Marilyn Monroe look-alike is ‘Lowcountry Bombshell’

Lowcountry BombshellBy Susan M. Boyer (Henery Press) Eccentric characters go together in Southern mysteries like, well, shrimp and grits. But Susan M. Boyer deftly shapes characters with just enough idiosyncrasies without succumbing to cliches in her engaging second novel.“Lowcountry Bombshell” surprises at every twist as Boyer infuses her lighthearted plot with a look at obsession with celebrity, unadulterated greed and an affectionate look at South Carolina.Private detective Liz Talbot pretty

Oct. 31, 2013

Richard Kadrey takes on teen horror in ‘Dead Set’

Richard Kadrey’s new novel, “Dead Set,” gave me nightmares. And I can’t stop myself from telling him ― even though the bestselling horror author dresses in black, has intimidating tattoos and the watchful bearing of an assassin. He’s reluctant to take off his dark glasses.“Cool,” he says, stirring his coffee in the dim daytime light of a Los Angeles bar. “It’s an experiment.” “Dead Set” (Harper Voyager) is far less violent than the bestselling Sandman Slim series he’s known for: “There’s fewer b

Oct. 31, 2013

Bill Bryson takes you back in time with ‘One Summer: America, 1927’

When readers follow Bill Bryson on a literary amble, they never know exactly where they might end up ― just that they’ll probably be happy to have tagged along.His past journeys, along the Appalachian Trail (1998’s “A Walk in the Woods”), into the life of Shakespeare (2007’s “Shakespeare: The World as Stage”) and the rest of the universe (2003’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”), to name a few, put him in rarified territory. He’s popular enough to automatically appear on best-seller lists,

Oct. 31, 2013

Bridget Jones author shares insights on latest book

It’s been 17 years since “Bridget Jones’s Diary” first hit the scene, turning freelance journalist Helen Fielding into a best-selling author and screenwriter. Her latest installment, “Mad About the Boy,” follows Bridget, now 51, as she copes with the loss of her beloved Mark Darcy while trying to raise their children. We talked with Fielding over the phone about how it feels to bring Bridget back into the public eye (while taking lots of heat from those Colin Firth fans!).The following is an edi

Oct. 24, 2013

Poet laureate: ‘The pen … an instrument of discovery’

You may think writing poetry is all about gazing at the stars in the sky and the bluebells in the fields, then being struck by divine inspiration. But if you ask Billy Collins, he’ll tell you the process is more like a Wallace and Gromit cartoon.“There’s a great one where the dog is on top of a locomotive,” says the two-term U.S. poet laureate. “He’s got a box full of track, and he’s frenetically laying down track in front of the train. That’s a good metaphor for writing a poem.”Collins, 72, has

Oct. 24, 2013

Bed writing haunts ‘The Daylight Gate’

The Daylight GateBy Jeanette Winterson(Grove) Jeanette Winterson’s new novel is a strange and spare piece of horror writing about witch trials that arrives on these shores just in time for Halloween.“The Daylight Gate” is based on a real-life story of the Pendle Witches, men and women charged in 1612 with using their alleged craft to murder innocents in Lancashire in northwest England. Winterson re-creates the turbulent times that fed the anti-witch hysteria. King James, obsessed with the idea o

Oct. 24, 2013

Malcolm Gladwell battles giants in ‘David and Goliath’

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling GiantsBy Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Co.)The dose makes the poison, as Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, is supposed to have said. A glass of water is good for you; an ocean’s worth can be fatal.That’s the underlying message of Malcolm Gladwell’s new exercise in raconteurship, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.” The book is ostensibly about how underdogs can win, but for great stretche

Oct. 24, 2013

English translations of Korean literature published in the U.S.

The first 10 volumes of Dalkey Archive Press and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea’s Korean literature series will be hitting U.S. bookstores on Nov. 16, the Korea-based translation institute announced Tuesday.  The series, titled “Library of Korean Literature,” consists of 25 works by Korea’s contemporary authors and those who lived through Korea’s colonial and postcolonial periods. The remaining 15 volumes in the series will be released next year.The 10 volumes to be published next

Oct. 17, 2013

Remembering Marie Colvin’s bravery, journalism

Why was Marie Colvin, who became one of Britain’s most celebrated war correspondents, in Homs, Syria, in February 2012? One thing’s for sure: She had not been invited. After the Syrian government closed its borders to journalists, intrepid reporters like Colvin and her colleague from Britain’s Sunday Times, photographer Paul Conroy, were forced to take extreme measures to cover the nation’s civil war.Colvin and Conroy’s epic journey from Beirut, involved minivans, pickup trucks, motorbikes, hear

Oct. 17, 2013

A survivor who refuses to stay a victim

The Edge of NormalBy Carla Norton(Minotaur)Carla Norton’s enthralling “The Edge of Normal,” about a young woman rebuilding her life after being held by a kidnapper for years, offers more than a ripped-from-the- headlines pastiche.This fiction debut delivers an emotional story of a woman fighting to regain her sense of self, to reach, at least, an edge of normal without falling. Reeve LeClaire, who was kidnaped when she was 12 and held for four years, doesn‘t want people to see her only as a vict

Oct. 17, 2013

Jayne Anne Phillips revisits a murder in ‘Quiet Dell’

Quiet DellBy Jayne Anne Phillips (Scribner)Jayne Anne Phillips grew up in West Virginia hearing about the infamous Quiet Dell murders of 1931, real-life killings of a widow and her three children at the hands of a con man she met through a lonely hearts club.Phillips learned about the grisly case from an unlikely source: her mother, who remembered as a child walking past the “murder garage” where Asta Eicher and her children ― 14, 12 and 9 ― died, the road nearby lined with cars of souvenir-seek

Oct. 17, 2013