Bookmarks back issues from November 2007:
Letter from the Editor.(Editorial)
Nov 01, 2007 ... For those of you whose journey with Harry Potter is now complete, I offer my sympathies. I remember as a child finishing the Lord of the Rings and being reluctant to pick up another book. I enjoyed the trilogy so much that I thought, "What's the use? What I really want to read is more Lord ...
History available now.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
Nov 01, 2007 ... I am a historical fiction buff, and I must have started my subscription after the January/February 2006 issue with its cover story on historical fiction. Please make that story available online! I will never let my subscription lapse; I love ...
The power of poetry.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
Nov 01, 2007; ... I, too, love poetry, as reader Michael J. Burke from Winchester, MA, wrote in the September/October 2007 issue. If you included just one page and one book or one poet, I would appreciate it. As Melanie Drane wrote in Fore- Word (May/June 2007), "Poetry functions as the canary ...
From Our Online Forums.(letters)
Nov 01, 2007 ... I was in the library the other day when two sophomore high school girls were looking for a book to fit the following assignment: The book had to be from the adult section of the library, at least 350 pages long, and never been made into a movie. It was fun to look through the online ...
Awards.
Nov 01, 2007 ... MAN BOOKER PRIZE For FICTION 2007 NOW IN ITS 37TH YEAR, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction is one of the world's most prestigious literary prizes. It is awarded to the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland. Last year's ...
Now in paperback: previously reviewed, available for less.(Bibliography)(Brief article)
Nov 01, 2007 ... NOVEMBER 2007 FAREWELL SUMMER By Ray Bradbury EXCELLENT LITERARY-In the sequel to Dandelion Wine, adolescents fight the end of summer. (Jan/Feb 2007) THE GHOST AT THE TABLE By Suzanne Berne EXCELLENT ...
Copper river readers.(book group A unique profile of readers together.)
Nov 01, 2007; ... How did the group get started? I figured the long winters in Alaska would be an ideal time to recruit folks that were looking for some activity and a chance to socialize. Since I work for the National Park Service, I move around a lot, and most of the places I live in are ...
Have you read?: readers recommend their favorite books.(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE PLAYER'S THE THING Dan Kussart lives in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. To me, it's all about the characters. All of these books have wonderful players, beautifully crafted to the point that they come alive on the pages. ...
Beyond Harry Potter: Part II: mysteries for younger readers.(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007 ... Harry Potter's story may have concluded in last summer's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, but that's no reason to stop reading. We recommended alternatives to the popular wizard-boy epic in our July/August 2003 issue. Here, we've selected some compelling mysteries, both new and ...
Year in review: a look back at our favorite books.(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT Each issue of Bookmarks features our Selections--staff favorites from among the books reviewed. Below is a round-up of our Selections from earlier in 2007. Literary THE AENEID By Virgil; Translated by Robert Fagles A tale ...
What one book: Expert recommendations on a selected topic.(World War II)(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007 ... Between 1939 and 1945, the world witnessed the largest armed conflict in history. The following scholars offer book recommendations on World War II, ranging in scope from the Holocaust to the storming of Omaha Beach on D-Day. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bookmarks Staff ...
Isabel Allende: book by book.(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007; ... On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, backed by the CIA, overthrew the controversial popular unity government led by Socialist President Salvador Allende. Allende, Isabel Allende's uncle, reportedly committed suicide during this coup d'etat, and General Augusto Pinochet established ...
Edwidge Danticat: the Haitian novelist turns from fiction to memoir.
Nov 01, 2007 ... BELOVED HAITI, there is no place like you. I had to leave you before I could understand you." This popular Haitian song, which Haitian refugees sing in the first story of Edwidge Danticat's collection Krik? Krak! (1995) and which plays on the radio in the last, captures the author's own ...
Graham Swift: his latest novel, tomorrow, is a stumble, but the author has a stellar body of work.
Nov 01, 2007 ... We keep secrets to protect the ones we love, thinking those secrets can be kept forever. Tomorrow, Paula Hook and her husband must reveal the truth to their 16-year-old twins. Hours before dawn on a midsummer's night in 1995, Paula lies awake and addresses her children: "You're asleep, my ...
Literary.(New books guide)(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007 ... FICTION EXCELLENT Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures Stories By Vincent Lam Group portrait of the medical profession. Bloodletting, which won Canada's Giller Prize, strips away the romance from the medical profession as it ...
Away.(BOOKMARKS SELECTION)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... CLASSIC An epic Journey homeward. At 22, Lillian Leyb is "an orphan, a widow, and the mother of a dead child, for which there's not even a special word, it's such a terrible thing." Though haunted by the pogrom that claimed the lives of her family and drove her from ...
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.(BOOKMARKS SELECTION)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT Drowning in sorrow. Oscar Wao--a nerdy and overweight Dominican American living in New Jersey--fantasizes about finding love and becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien. His sister, Lola, a punk chick, urges him to lose weight and venture out more. Their ...
Run.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT By Ann Patchett Finding family? When Bernadette Doyle dies, she leaves behind her ambitious husband, Bernard, a former Irish Catholic mayor of Boston; a ne'er-do-well son, Sullivan; two adopted African American boys, Teddy and Tip--and a holy ...
The Septembers of Shiraz.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT By Dalia Sofer Trapped in a crumbling world. In 1981, two years after the religious revolution in Iran, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested in Tehran for dual crimes: he is wealthy, and he is Jewish. While Isaac is tortured in prison, his ...
Tree of Smoke.(BOOKMARKS SELECTION)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT By Denis Johnson A new Vietnam War classic. In the early 1960s, naive CIA recruit Skip Sands is eager to prove himself to his uncle and hero, Colonel Francis Sands. Initially excited about joining his uncle's unit in the Philippine jungle, Skip ...
Forgive Me.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT By Amanda Eyre Ward Postapartheid ambiguity. When 35-year-old journalist Nadine Morgan (named after South African novelist Nadine Gordimer) is attacked in Mexico City, she wakes up to find herself in the care of her father in Cape Cod. As she ...
Crime.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... Power play. EXCELLENT By Joseph Finder The business of suspense. As a last-minute replacement for his boss, Jake Landry, a junior executive at Hammond Aerospace, is sent along with the company's senior executives to a team-building retreat at a ...
The Tin Roof Blowdown.(BOOKMARKS SELECTION)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT A moving eulogy for a beloved city. Hurricane Katrina has just decimated New Orleans, and deputy Dave Robicheaux of New Iberia Parish--last seen in Pegasus Descending (2006)--has been dispatched to the flooded city to maintain order and help with relief ...
Silence.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT Private eye vs. tango-dancing killers. Private eye Jack Till helped restaurateur Wendy Harper "disappear" six years earlier when assassins were hot on her trail. Now, someone's trying to flush her out of hiding by framing her former business partner (and ...
Sf.(short fiction)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT The Queen of Candesce Book Two of Virga By Karl Schroeder The sequel to Sun of Suns. At the conclusion of Sun of Suns, Venera Fanning is falling through space in Virga, a selfcontained balloon that holds people living in ...
The Name of the Wind.(BOOKMARKS SELECTION)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT By Patrick Rothfuss A trilogy's fantastic opening volume. Patrick Rothfuss's debut, The Name of the Wind, recounts the life of Kvothe, a mysterious figure highly skilled in the useful arts--acting, wizardry, music, thievery, and killing, among ...
Crime/sf crossovers.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT Bad Monkeys By Matt Ruff Killing for the common good? Jane Charlotte sits in the crazy person's interrogation room in the Las Vegas County Jail, accused of murder and confessing to her association with The Department for the Final ...
The Intruders.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007; ... EXCELLENT Genre-bending murder mystery When Seattle resident Bill Anderson's wife and son are found brutally murdered and Bill is nowhere to be found, attorney Gary Fisher approaches an old high school chum, former LAPD cop Jack Whalen. Fisher tells a wild story ...
General.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... Nonfiction EXCELLENT F5 Devastation, Survival and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century By Mark Levine The storm of the century. The night of April 3, 1974 was unlike any other night in recorded history ....
Down the Nile.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007; ... Alone in a fisherman's skiff Not just a river in Egypt. EXCELLENT Down the Nile recounts Rosemary Mahoney's 120-mile journey in a rowboat from Aswan northward to Qena, two Egyptian cities steeped in the region's long history. Recounting the travels of ...
Biography.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... NONFICTION EXCELLENT Eden's Outcasts The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father By John Matteson A tale of paradise lost (and found). Though Louisa May Alcott gets top billing in the title of this dual biography, her ...
Circling my mother.(BOOKMARKS SELECTION)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007; ... A Memoir And now on to Mother. EXCELLENT Novelist and memoirist Mary Gordon limned a frightening picture of her father's deceptions in The Shadow Man: A Daughter's Search for Her Father (1996). In order to truly understand her mother, she "had to walk ...
History.(history books)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... NONFICTION EXCELLENT The Coldest Winter America and the Korean War By David Halberstam The forgotten war, remembered. The Korean War (1950-1953) ended in stalemate, yet it still claimed the lives of more than 30,000 ...
India after Gandhi; The history of the world's largest democracy.(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT India, complex and inscrutable. "Why is there an India at all?" That's the most pressing question in India After Gandhi, and the author responds with a comprehensive examination of "the world's largest democracy." From its rocky inception when it became ...
Science.(The World Without Us)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... GOOD The World Without Us By Alan Weisman Earth, dehumanized. It is a simple, provocative question: What will become of human works if we suddenly disappeared from the planet? For answers, Alan Weisman journeys around the globe--from the ...
An ocean of air: why the wind blows and other mysteries of the atmosphere.(Bookmarks Selection)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT By Gabrielle Walker A popular-science primer. Air, the saying goes, is one of those things you don't really miss until it's gone. Gabrielle Walker uses the ocean metaphor--a notion first put forth by 17th-century Italian scientist Evangelista ...
Arts.(The House That George Built: With a Little help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty)(Book review)
Nov 01, 2007 ... EXCELLENT The House That George Built With a Little help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty By Wilfrid Sheed A fan's look at all that jazz. Writer and critic Wilfrid Sheed has spent the better part of a lifetime (he's 76) ...
Year in books 1997: A look back at books that captured our attention.(Bibliography)
Nov 01, 2007 ... THE AWARDS National Book Award (NONFic) American Sphinx The Character of Thomas Jefferson By Joseph J. Ellis In chipping away at the ironic facade of Thomas Jefferson, the author reveals a complex portrait of a Founding Father beset by particular ideals, ...