Kurt Vonnegut: LettersEdited by Dan Wakefield (Delacorte Press)True story: I once made Kurt Vonnegut laugh by telling him a joke. It wasn’t an original or especially noteworthy joke. It was a riddle prompted by what, in 2001, was one of the New York Mets’ more-error-ridden-than-usual losing streaks.“What,” I asked him (and, to repeat, this was some time ago), “do Michael Jackson and this year’s Mets have in common?” Beat, beat, then the answer: “They all wear one glove for no explicable reason.”

Nov. 15, 2012

Does this Church Make Me Look FatBy Rhoda Janzen (Grand Central)The transformation of Rhoda Janzen ― the Mennonite-turned-worldly-academic whose book about returning home made the bestseller list ― continues. Which is a delight for fans of her warm, wisecracking style.In “Mennonite in a Little Black Dress,” Janzen wrote of a series of devastating forces that sent her to heal in the peace-loving, hardworking community of her youth: complications from surgery, divorce due to husband meeting a man

Nov. 15, 2012

Among the more startling revelations in William J. Mann’s engrossing chronicle of Barbra Streisand’s ascent to superstardom emerges in one of the book’s photos. It’s a childhood picture showing Streisand, as its caption notes, “with friends outside their Brooklyn tenements.” It doesn’t say how old she is, but it doesn’t matter. She’s already carrying the face that millions would soon recognize as belonging to no one but her. And her expression, as she leans on a bicycle, is a mesmerizing blend o

Nov. 15, 2012

Pvt. John Bartle, the narrator of Kevin Powers’ sorrowful war novel “The Yellow Birds,” is a man of reason caught between the uncontrolled emotions of two men.The first is his sergeant, a severe gunslinger and molder of warriors named Sterling. Sgt. Sterling’s discipline and his rage against the enemy are keeping his squad of men alive as they patrol an eerie, death-filled Iraqi landscape. Pvt. Bartle loves and hates him for this.“I hated the way he excelled in death and brutality and domination

Nov. 15, 2012

AstrayBy Emma Donoghue(Little, Brown and Co)In her novel “Room,” Emma Donoghue let us see the world from the vantage point of a little boy in an 11-by-11-foot room. In the stories gathered in “Astray,” Donoghue busts loose, returning to her roots in historical fiction by going forth into the wider world.Donoghue’s fellow travelers are voyagers who, between 1639 and 1968, left the world they knew for undiscovered countries from which they never returned. Each of their stories is introduced by a d

Nov. 8, 2012

PhantomBy Jo Nesbo(Knopf) Jo Nesbo, whose crime thrillers have sold more than 10 million copies in Europe and the United States, has been anointed as the latest king of Scandinavian noir, the heir to the addictive-page-turning throne left vacant by the death of Stieg Larsson.But reading his books in Los Angeles brings to mind a different archetypal noir figure: Michael Connelly’s tortured LAPD detective Harry Bosch.Nesbo’s detective, who is featured in nine of his 16 books, including his latest,

Nov. 8, 2012

Two years ago the run-up to America’s Iraq invasion was driving Tony Kushner crazy, so he started writing a play in response. In early 2003, The Nation magazine published the first scene of this work in progress, “Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy.” In the scene, a frankly audacious and compelling polemic, First Lady Laura Bush reads “The Brothers Karamazov” to the ghosts of dead Iraqi children.In recent months this scene, along with part of a second one, has been presented at dozen

Nov. 8, 2012

Medical examiners were not sexy, crime-solving heroes when Patricia Cornwell wrote her first Kay Scarpetta mystery 22 years ago.Today, with the publication of the 20th book featuring the pasta-cooking, sharp-dressing forensic scientist, there is an entire industry of sexy medical examiners on television, and Cornwell accepts the responsibility.“I think you can blame Scarpetta. She opened the gate that made it accessible,” Cornwell said. The Scarpetta books, with their grisly autopsies and violen

Nov. 8, 2012

Following is part of a series exploring unique museums, collections and the passionate collectors behind them. ― Ed.Though many writers now use computers when they create their works, there’s always something emotionally gripping about looking at their handwriting.Late author Park Wan-suh, for example, would leave handwritten notes to her children whenever she left the house unattended. She told them to not to fight over cakes, how to cook a meal in detail, and what not to do when taking care of

Nov. 6, 2012

South Korea can easily fly under the radar of even an astute observer of international affairs in the West.Many Korea watchers get tricked into focusing their attention on that black box that is North Korea, perhaps because precious little can be gleaned about the hyper-secretive state.Daniel Tudor, Korea correspondent for The Economist, avoids that trap, focusing instead on South Korea which, surprisingly, is almost as difficult a nut to crack as evidenced by the dearth of resources out there a

Nov. 1, 2012

The Lighthouse RoadBy Peter Geye (Unbridled) “The Lighthouse Road,” a novel about orphans and immigrants making lives for themselves in northern Minnesota from the 1890s through the 1920s, will extend Peter Geye’s reputation as a chronicler of life along Lake Superior and as a master craftsman of man vs. nature tales. (His first novel, “Safe From the Sea,” featuring a gripping account of a Lake Superior shipwreck, a la the Edmund Fitzgerald.)But the pleasures of “The Lighthouse Road” go far beyo

Nov. 1, 2012

The TwelveBy Justin Cronin (Ballantine Books)In Justin Cronin’s bestseller “The Passage,” plagues of vampires swarmed the earth, forming the “Twelve Viral Tribes” who laid “waste to every living thing,” except for pockets of survivors, and Amy, “a child to stand against them.”In my review last year of “The Passage” I suggested the novel was a creation story ― a poetic post-apocalyptic tale, part supernatural thriller and part philosophical meditation on the nature of humanity. If “The Passage” i

Nov. 1, 2012

It's been more than 20 years since author Han Mal-sook's novel “Hymn of the Spirit” was published, but the book continues to get reviews from foreign countries, this time from Sweden.The 1981 novel is Han's exploration of spirituality, dreams, death and local shamanism, told through the story of a Korean housewife and her relationship with others ― including her ex-boyfriend and his current wife. The book was translated into English in 1983 and is said to have been considered by the Nobel Commit

Nov. 1, 2012

Making new friends is always exciting, especially if they share your interests and understand the hurdles of what you do.Two writers, one from Korea and the other from Thailand, meet for the first time during a literary event in Korea and shared their thoughts about each others’ work. Thai writer Uthis Haemamool and Korean writer Yun I-hyeong are among the 20 writers participating in this year’s Seoul International Writers’ Festival. The literary bash, which also serves as a networking event amo

Oct. 31, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― Like a prize-winning reporter, fame follows Tom Wolfe, even when he swaps the white suit for a blue blazer, even when he visits some strip club in Miami as research ― yes, research ― for his new novel.“I was the only man with a necktie,’’ he says with a chuckle, back in his trademark white during a recent interview at his Manhattan apartment. “They seat you in these little couches, and it was like a furniture show room ― all these pieces of furniture would stretch long for maybe

Oct. 28, 2012