The Korea Herald

C.J. Box puts the pedal to the metal

The HighwayBy C.J. Box (Minotaur)“The Highway” is the summer’s most terrifying novel.With three-dimensional characters and a gripping plot, “The Highway” is even more frightening because of its back story. C.J. Box bases his story on the real hunt for a murderer working as a long-haul trucker ― the FBI’s Highway Serial Killer Task Force. For his 17th novel, Box puts aside his best-known character, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, to return to Cody Holt, a Montana sheriff’s department investigato

Aug. 1, 2013

Rowling accepts donation for identity revelation

LONDON (AP) ― Author J.K. Rowling accepted an apology and a charitable donation Wednesday from a law firm which revealed she wrote a crime novel under a pseudonym.The “Harry Potter” author was exposed by a newspaper earlier this month as the author of “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” a thriller ostensibly written by former soldier and first-time novelist Robert Galbraith.The book was published in April to good reviews but modest sales, and there was speculation that Rowling or her publisher had leaked th

Aug. 1, 2013

Rowling accepts donation for identity revelation

Yoko Ono’s ‘Acorn’ delivers its messages concisely

For a small book, Yoko Ono’s new collection of instructions, “Acorn” (O/R Books), has been in the works for a long time: almost half a century.“It’s been nearly 50 years since my book of conceptual instructions, ‘Grapefruit,’ was first published,” the 80-year-old avant-garde icon writes in a brief introduction to the project. “Some years ago, I picked up from where I left off, and wrote ‘Acorn’ for a website event. Now it’s being published in book form. I’m riding a time machine that’s going bac

Aug. 1, 2013

Death of letters spells tough time for biographers, says royal writer

HONG KONG (AFP) ― The slow death of handwriting might be a boon for email-reading intelligence agencies but not for biographers, says the man entrusted by Queen Elizabeth II to write the biography of her mother.Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer, journalist and broadcaster William Shawcross has written provocatively on an array of subjects including Cambodia, the fall of the Shah of Iran, Rupert Murdoch, the Iraq war and justice in the post 9/11 world.Most recently Shawcross, 67, wrote the official

July 25, 2013

‘Dogtripping’ will make you laugh

Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country AdventureBy David Rosenfelt (St. Martin’s Press)When was the last time you laughed out loud? When is the last time you cried tears of genuine sadness? When was the last time you did both while reading a 260-page memoir?David Rosenfelt, who is best known for a series of mystery novels, has written a book-length love letter to his canine companions through the years. “Dogtripping” is a delightful romp through his adventu

July 25, 2013

A delightful and disturbing debut novel

Mario Alberto Zambrano has had a soaring career as a contemporary ballet dancer, refining moves with some of the most innovative dance troupes in Germany, Israel and the Netherlands. Now Zambrano choreographs words.His debut novel, “Loteria,” is out. It’s a polished tome of prose unreeling the tale of plucky little Luz Maria Castillo in the game of chance called life.Memories stir and storm for the 11-year-old narrator, Luz, as she flips over cards from the Mexican bingo-like game called loteria

July 25, 2013

Bard gets modern-day rewrite

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Anne Tyler has never liked “The Taming of the Shrew.”“I have no favorite moments in this play,” Tyler said. “I first read it in college and disliked it intensely, and I can’t say my attitude toward it softened any when I read it again just recently.”Very soon, Tyler is going to get a chance to reimagine and make sense of “The Taming of the Shrew.” She’s writing a novel based on the play as part of a project by the publishing house Hogarth to commission novels base

July 25, 2013

Fathers and sons struggle to connect

& SonsBy David Gilbert (Random House)The ghost of J.D. Salinger hovers over David Gilbert’s new novel, “& Sons.” Set amid the wealth and privilege of Manhattan’s toniest neighborhood, the novel centers on A.N. Dyer, a reclusive author best known for his coming-of-age story set in a boys’ prep school.When the novel begins, Dyer is preparing to deliver a eulogy for his lifelong friend Charles Henry Topping at a church in the heart of the blue-blood district that Gilbert knows and writes about so w

July 25, 2013

Amis, Rushdie and McEwan appear together in New York

NEW YORK (AP) ― Put Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and Ian McEwan on a stage and expect a night of high art and school boy humor, of reading, writing and Christopher Hitchens.And hysterical sex.The three literary stars, all in their 60s and friends for more than half their lives, appeared together Monday night at the 92nd Street Y on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Amis and McEwan were there to read from their latest novels, both now out in paperback. Rushdie handled the introductions and the question

July 24, 2013

Amis, Rushdie and McEwan appear together in New York

U.S. to return stolen royal books to Sweden

NEW YORK (AFP) ― Two rare books that once belonged to the Swedish royal family and were stolen from the country’s National Library are to be handed back here on Wednesday.New York District Attorney Preet Bharara will present the two books, one of which is 330 years old, over to the library’s CEO Gunilla Herdenberg in a ceremony in Manhattan, officials said.The books, which have an estimated combined value of $100,000, were among at least 56 stolen from the library between 1995 and 2004 by the fo

July 24, 2013

‘Wild Swans’ author Jung Chang speaks of China dream

HONG KONG (AFP) ― It may be unclear what exactly Beijing means by its aspirational “China Dream” slogan, but for banned “Wild Swans” author Jung Chang it’s a positive step. “It’s good to have a dream,” she says. “My dream is to have my books published in China.” The Sichuan-born writer now lives in London and is best known for her family autobiography “Wild Swans.” which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.But none of those sales were in China. “Wild Swans” is banned there along with

July 23, 2013

German publisher of surprise Rowling book eyes windfall

BERLIN (AFP) ― The publisher that bought the German rights to a novel for a song before learning that the author was Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling said Sunday it was eyeing a windfall.Munich-based Blanvalet Verlag snapped up the rights in February to “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” a purported debut novel by a certain Robert Galbraith about a private detective who investigates a model’s suicide, its editor Anja Franzen told news weekly Focus.That was five months before Rowling, the British author beh

July 22, 2013

Classic kids’ book ‘The Snowy Day’ is focus of U.S. exhibit

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― During the height of the civil rights movement, a gentle book about a black boy in a red snowsuit crunch-crunch-crunching through the snow broke down racial barriers and now is the subject of an upcoming exhibit.Ezra Jack Keats’ beloved 1962 book, “The Snowy Day,’’ is credited as the first mass-market children’s storybook to feature a black protagonist ― a preschooler named Peter joyfully exploring the snow-covered sidewalks in his New York City neighborhood.The National Muse

July 22, 2013

Bomber as rock star? Rolling Stone cover outrage

NEW YORK (AP) ― A Rolling Stone cover story on Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev isn’t on the stands yet but it’s already generating controversy, with at least two retailers announcing Wednesday that they will not carry the issueA close-up picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev scheduled to hit shelves Friday looks more like a young Bob Dylan or Jim Morrison than the 19-year-old who pleaded not guilty a little more than a week ago in the Boston Marathon bombing, his arm in a cast and his f

July 18, 2013

Literary thriller darkly comic, stylish

Mystery GirlBy David Gordon (Thomas & Mercer/New Harvest) The main character in David Gordon’s 2010 debut thriller, “The Serialist,” was a novelist hired to write a serial killer’s memoirs. Now, in “Mystery Girl,” he introduces a new protagonist, a failed experimental novelist named Sam Kornberg who finds work as an assistant to a private detective.Gordon writes about writers because one of the things his books are about is the nature of storytelling itself.“Does your life work like that?” Sam s

July 18, 2013

Wildlife crime in fiction

Massacre PondBy Paul Doiron (Minotaur)Elizabeth Morse, who made her fortune selling worthless herbal remedies to the gullible, is buying up huge parcels of timberland in Eastern Maine with the hope of persuading the federal government to turn it into a national park.The locals don’t like it one bit. She’s put land they’ve fished and hunted for generations off-limits. Worse, she’s killing forestry industry jobs.So trouble is sure to come to the backwater of lakes and forests patrolled by Maine ga

July 18, 2013

Why Kafka is still relevant

In the July-August issue of the Atlantic, Joseph Epstein uses the release of Saul Friedlander’s book “Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt” to pose the larger question of whether Kafka is still relevant.“Great writers are impressed by the mysteries of life; poor Franz Kafka was crushed by them,” he observes, noting that “Kafka’s small body of work, which includes three uncompleted novels, some two dozen substantial short stories, an assemblage of parables and fragment-like shorter works, dia

July 18, 2013

Urban landscapes of limitless possibility

Leo Hollis should have had me at the title. His book “Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis” seeks to articulate something I take as an article of faith: Cities are the only place to live.And yet, even the title highlights some of the problems with this uneven inquiry into urban life. It might have been radical to champion the city 30 years ago, when crime rates were high and the middle-class exodus to the suburbs remained in full swing. We live, however, in a different era, when

July 18, 2013

Urban landscapes of limitless possibility

Signed copy of Rowling book could mean big money

NEW YORK (AP) ― Not many people owned a copy of “The Cuckoo’s Calling’’ before word leaked out over the weekend that author Robert Galbraith was, in fact, J.K. Rowling. But among those who did, a handful managed to get a signed edition. And that could mean a lot of money.Rowling spokeswoman Nicky Stonehill told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Rowling, the “Harry Potter’’ author, signed “a few copies’’ of her detective novel as “Robert Galbraith.’’ Wishing to keep her identity secret, Rowlin

July 17, 2013

Michael Chabon to help judge Folio literary prize

LONDON (AP) ― A handful of writers from Britain, the United States, Australia and India will choose the first winner of the 40,000-pound ($60,000) Folio Prize for fiction, which hopes to rival the Booker as the English-speaking world’s most prestigious literary award.Organizers of the Folio Prize on Tuesday announced a high-profile judging panel made up of British poet Lavinia Greenlaw, U.S. novelist Michael Chabon, British writer Sarah Hall, Australian short story writer Nam Le and Indian novel

July 16, 2013