Harry Potter author Rowling writes crime novel under pseudonym

LONDON (AFP) ― J.K. Rowling, the British author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, was forced to reveal on Sunday that she had published a critically acclaimed crime novel under a pseudonym.The mother of three was unveiled by the Sunday Times newspaper as the writer of “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” a debut novel about a private detective who investigates a model’s suicide.It is purportedly by Robert Galbraith, described by the publisher as a former member of the Royal Military Police who has sinc

July 15, 2013

Two-volume book series features Korean culture, landscapes

A two-volume photo book series featuring Korean culture and scenery has been published by local publishing house Design SOOMOKWON and the Korea Tourism Organization.A total of 31 photographers participated in the project. The series has four different categories: tradition, nature, city and countryside. The first volume of the series, titled “View of Korea,” features photographs of Korea’s palaces, including Changdeokgug and Deoksugung palaces in Seoul, as well as famous Buddhist temples such as

July 11, 2013

‘My Education’ a scorching hot read

My EducationBy Susan Choi (Viking)Susan Choi’s “My Education” is a chaise-longue literary page-turner par excellence: sexy, smart, well-plotted, jammed with observations witty and profound, and so well-written it occasionally leaves you gasping. I guess I’m in love. And so is the protagonist of “My Education,” Regina Gottlieb. In 1992, Regina arrives on the campus of a Cornell-like university as a graduate student in writing. The first week she catches sight of the notorious professor Nicholas B

July 11, 2013

A smart tale howls at the moon

Red MoonBy Benjamin Percy(Grand Central)The setting of Benjamin Percy’s “Red Moon” ― an alternative universe in which humans and lycans coexist ― may seem unhappily familiar to anyone familiar with the words “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.”Readers will also encounter teen angst, thuggery, interspecies love, domestic terrorism, torture and, upon occasion, tenderness and yearning. The movie rights have been sold and the novel’s conclusion can signal only one thing: sequel.But banish all thoughts of

July 11, 2013

Two views of a revolution in television

The unexpected death of James Gandolfini, who was best known for his work on the series “The Sopranos,” recently reignited the conversation over How Much Television Has Changed, which has become so intense and widespread in the last few years that books are now being written about it.Last year, critic Alan Sepinwall self-published “The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever” to such attention it has just been reissued by Simon & Schuster’s

July 11, 2013

Book pinpoints trends in jobs

Professor and author Kim Ran-do enjoyed much success with his two previous books, the self-help essays “Youth, Painful Splendor” and “You Become an Adult after a Thousand Struggles.”Both were written to give advice to 20-somethings in the country who were having a hard time with the high unemployment rate and fierce competition. The two bestsellers, however, also received criticism ― that they only included comforting words but no real discussion about the systemic problems faced by young people

July 11, 2013

Sheryl Sandberg: ‘Gender equality benefits all of us’

Facebook’s powerhouse woman Sheryl Sandberg wants Hillary Clinton to be the first U.S. female president. “I would like the United States to have a female president,” Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, said during a press conference in Seoul last week. “I would like Hillary Clinton to be the female president. I think she is the best hope in the United States for someone to be a female president in the next foreseeable future. And I think she is also really uniquely qualified for t

July 7, 2013

Actress Ava Gardner’s bawdy banter powers new book

“I’m tired of remembering,” actress Ava Gardner laments during one of many sessions with the ghostwriter working on her memoir. “I’m sick of trying to explain myself all the time.”Her spirit may have been unwilling, but Gardner’s motivation was powerful: She needed the money. At 66, with her acting career over and her body suffering from the effects of a debilitating stroke, one of film’s most beautiful women was nearly broke. The star of “The Barefoot Contessa’’ (1954) and dozens of other movie

July 4, 2013

Questlove’s inner nerd unleashed

Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to QuestloveBy Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Ben Greenman (Central Publishing)Countless rappers and NBA stars have adopted a self-consciously nerdy fashion acumen, everything from Izod shirts to conspicuous eyeglasses.Then there’s the real deal, Ahmir “Questlove“ Thompson: driving force behind the Roots, Twitter giant, compulsive compiler of music lists and now author, with Ben Greenman, of the new quasi-memoir “Mo’ Meta Blues.”The guy who emerges from these

July 4, 2013

A midsummer night’s ‘Star Wars’

William Shakespeare’s ‘Star Wars’ By Ian Doescher (Quirk Books)If you are scared of a summer reading slump for your media-obsessed student ― or game-obsessed adult ― there’s a solution: Shakespeare a la George Lucas.In other words, take “William Shakespeare’s ‘Star Wars’” by Ian Doescher for a spin. He has adapted “Star Wars” (otherwise known as “Episode IV, A New Hope”) in the style of the great Bard of Avon.This can lead to some hilarious reading.In the movie, for example, when the pirate aka

July 4, 2013

Murakami’s latest novel tops bestseller lists on day of its Korean release

The Korean edition of famed Japanese writer Haruki Murakami’s latest novel “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” topped the local bestseller lists on the day of its release Monday. The novel tells the story of a 30-something man named Tsukuru Tazaki, who was suddenly cut off by his close friends during high school. After being terminally depressed for many years, he now makes a living designing train stations at a railway company in Tokyo. He one day decides to visit his once be

July 1, 2013

Korean literature has distant outpost in Poland

Before Polish publisher Marzena Stefanska founded her own publishing company, Kwiaty Orientu, in 2007, there were only 15 Polish-language books about Korea available in her home country.Stefanska, who studied Korean literature at the University of Warsaw, initially wanted to work as a full-time Korean-Polish translator. She decided to found a publishing company after finding it difficult to find publishers to release her translated works. Since 2007, Stefanska has introduced some 20 works of Kor

June 27, 2013

In Stephen King’s new horror house, it’s the everyday eeriness that grips

When it comes to Stephen King, I’m partial to the smaller efforts: novellas, short novels, experiments, the quieter, more interior stuff. It’s not that I don’t like his big books ― especially “The Shining,” which remains the scariest thing I’ve ever read, and the 1996 novel “Desperation,” an overarching consideration of sin and sacrifice and redemption, set in a Nevada mining town. Still, what makes King resonate for me is the detail work, the way he can get inside the most mundane situation and

June 20, 2013

Park stresses on humanities at Seoul Intl. Book Fair

The 19th Seoul International Book Fair kicked off on Wednesday with President Park Geun-hye attending the opening ceremony in a bid to promote reading books on humanities. “I have always relied on wisdom from the teachings of the sages found in these classics,” said Park in her congratulatory speech at the opening. She also mentioned how the books have “helped her endure hard times in the past.”Park stopped by one of the 771 booths from 25 countries and bought five different humanities-related b

June 20, 2013

Peter Hessler details rapid change in China

Between 2001 and 2010, Peace Corps volunteer-turned-New Yorker writer Peter Hessler delivered three entertaining, richly detailed books on China told through his interactions with everyday people.Hessler left China several years ago, moved to Colorado and now lives in Cairo, but his new book, “Strange Stones: Dispatches From East and West,” is a compilation of ground-level short stories mostly about the Middle Kingdom. Fans of his New Yorker work will find most of these dispatches familiar, tho

June 13, 2013