tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:11:58 +0000Book reviews, book-related news and author interviewshttp://januarymagazine.com/noreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)Blogger1465125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-1698644129943564993Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:10:00 +00002009-11-20T12:11:58.317-08:00electronic booksBook BusinessRight in the middle of the excitement about the opening of the latest movie based on Stephanie Meyer’s phenomenally selling Twilight series, it’s interesting to think about what all of this hoopla says about books and where we are with them now.When the film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, opens later today, it is expected to break ticket records. The first film, Twilight, grossed more than $190 http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/twilight-of-book-industry-maybe-not.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-2705922305027947864Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +00002009-11-19T05:41:04.817-08:00art and cultureTony BuchsbaumIt was bound to happen sooner than later. Someone just had to write FLOW: The Cultural Story of Menstruation (St. Martin’s Griffin). I only wonder why no one did it sooner. But I'm glad it was written on my watch.FLOW isn’t just a book; it's a movement. It’s sparking debate all over the Internet, from the editors at Redbook, who unceremoniously and unfairly dismissed it (is Redbook still a http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/art-culture-flow-cultural-story-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tony Buchsbaum)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-329880423092526839Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:33:00 +00002009-11-18T08:33:00.399-08:00tweetworthyIt’s not actually meant to replicate all of January Magazine’s activity on Twitter over the last week. Rather, since we manage to cover so much over there that we just don’t have time to get to properly here, it makes sense to hit some of the highlights. After all, a lot of what Twitter is about are the links. Here are a few of the ones we’ve recently thought were noteworthy.Hard to believe it http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/week-in-tweets.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-1569477797225383791Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:05:00 +00002009-11-17T00:05:00.920-08:00CookbooksI used to know a guy who brought a cheese sandwich to work every day. Processed cheese slice. White bread. A single leaf of iceberg lettuce. Every day. I didn’t know him well. Maybe I didn’t know him at all. I’d wonder about him, though. I’d wonder about what kind of guy would do that -- perhaps even find comfort in it. The same sandwich. The same processed cheese. Every day.I avoided getting to http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/cookbooks-vegan-lunch-box-around-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-2198230020504530939Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +00002009-11-16T09:00:03.596-08:00David MIddletonart and cultureEvery city needs a book like Public Art in Vancouver (TouchWood Editions) a kind of walking tour through the public art -- all the public art -- in the city of Vancouver, Canada.“The character of a city is revealed by its public art,” the authors point out in their introduction, “what it collectively places on its streets and walls and in its public spaces.”Most of the book, however, is given http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/art-culture-public-art-in-vancouver.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (David Middleton)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-9190590326375015174Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:05:00 +00002009-11-14T11:36:53.555-08:00Stephen MillerI have long been fascinated by the homes and haunts of writers -- where they grew up, where they lived as adults, and especially where they wrote. This particular strain of the “gentle madness” has taken me to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, Mark Twain’s home, in Hartford, Connecticut, James Thurber’s boyhood home, in Columbus and one of my favorite places on earth, Thomas http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/cabin-of-ones-own.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Stephen Miller)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-1702496107014230503Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:05:00 +00002009-11-14T01:05:00.383-08:00Sienna Powerschildren's booksThere’s a lot to love about award-winning children’s author Charis Cotter’s Born to Write: The Remarkable Life of Six Authors (Annick Press). Here Cotter delivers very good mini-biographies of half a dozen children’s authors: Lucy Maud Montgomery, C.S. Lewis, E.B. White, Madeleine L’Engle, Philip Pullman and Christopher Paul Curtis. Each of these, perhaps with more support material, would have http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/childrens-books-born-to-write-by-charis.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sienna Powers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-908192279276389171Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +00002009-11-13T20:58:42.828-08:00Sue BursztynskiSF/FI first discovered Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy when I was studying librarianship, many years ago. We used to throw quotes at each other over coffee, between classes. “Forty-two!” we would cry. “The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything!” We needed the humor; librarianship was a heavy, exhausting course which gave us very little time to http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/sff-and-another-thing-by-eoin-colfer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sue Bursztynski)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-7900006755648973595Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +00002009-11-13T15:37:40.132-08:00art and culture“Writing is always and forever a social practice. The varying discourses in a society either shore it up or challenge it. And discourse isn’t something we walk away from when we set down our pen.”My Beloved Wager: Essays from a Writing Practice (NeWest Press) is like an intellectual dance through Erin Moure’s three decade (thus far) career as a writer and translator. It’s not always an easy dancehttp://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/art-culture-my-beloved-wager-essays.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron Blanton)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-4640110851351997848Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:16:00 +00002009-11-13T13:32:06.837-08:00If you checked in on January Magazine late yesterday or earlier today, you might have encountered an out of service message. An unexpected surge in traffic over the last few months caught us -- and our servers -- unaware. We’re now bolstered for our increased popularity so will be able to withstand even future surges. Meanwhile, our face is red to have been caught so unprepared. After all these http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/do-not-adjust-your-set.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-5364281107144021033Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +00002009-11-11T13:01:10.546-08:00awardsI don’t understand why everyone keeps talking about Linden MacIntyre’s “surprise upset” in winning the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize for The Bishop’s Man (Random House Canada). OK, actually: I do understand. I’m just not in the mood to dance the CanLit dance of literary vs. commercial novels. It’s a song that’s been playing through the Canadian media all autumn. It’s all been said -- more or less http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/broadcast-journalist-wins-canadas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-5068760929006177572Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +00002009-11-11T09:00:01.349-08:00fictionSF/F2009 has been an incredible year -- a breakthrough year, perhaps -- for fiction that pushes the boundaries of storytelling and, certainly, of genre. Perhaps the most visible of these was China Miéville’s incredible The City and the City. If you liked that one and have been hungering for something that approaches the tone and originality of Miéville’s most recent creation, it seems quite possible http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/fiction-ray-of-star-by-laird-hunt.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lincoln Cho)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-8191614080325806514Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:15:00 +00002009-11-10T06:15:00.605-08:00Sue BursztynskiSF/FYoung scribe Caitrin, fleeing an unwanted marriage with a violent cousin, finds herself on Whistling Tor, whose chieftain, Anluan, needs a scribe to do a summer’s work, translating Latin documents. Anluan’s family has been cursed for a century, since an ancestor conjured up a ghostly horde from the Otherworld and then couldn’t either control them or send them back. Anluan can handle them as long http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/new-today-hearts-blood-by-juliet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sue Bursztynski)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-552906746192007468Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:05:00 +00002009-11-10T11:23:17.646-08:00Monica StarkCookbooksThere are cookbooks that make you instantly want to rush to the kitchen and prepare your tools and there are those that make you want to curl into a comfy chair and peruse. Gordon Ramsay’s Maze (Key Porter Books) is of the latter type. To be honest, I can’t imagine anyone being inspired to actually cook from reading this book. But there’s plenty to look at and to be inspired by and perhaps even http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/cookbooks-gordon-ramsays-maze-by-gordon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Monica Stark)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-4396164944235525087Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:23:00 +00002009-11-09T13:46:39.980-08:00awardsYou’ll have to forgive us if we don’t reproduce the entire longlist for the IMPAC Dublin, the award that calls itself the “world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.” It’s a very long list.Nominations have come from 163 libraries in 123 cities and 43 countries worldwide. The authors of the longlisted books, announced by the Lord Mayor of Dublin http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/richest-literary-prize.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-7613806055752983410Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:00:00 +00002009-11-07T06:00:00.337-08:00CookbooksI feel as though, until now, I’ve been shuffling along in the dark. Having now experienced the flaky, buttery goodness of BetterBaking.Com, how did I ever attempt a flan or pie crust without it? This is the good stuff. So good, it’s better than anything mother ever made.Author Marcy Goldman is a Montreal-based pastry chef who’s written for Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The New York Times and many http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/cookbooks-new-best-of-betterbakingcom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Monica Stark)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-8565239900765443600Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:05:00 +00002009-11-07T00:58:16.557-08:00Book BusinessLet’s face it: bookstores have had a pretty rough ride this year. Between the (cheerfully monikered) economic meltdown (cue scary music now), the rising tide of electronic books and the hardcover price wars of earlier this autumn, there must have been at least a few days in 2009 when some booksellers just didn’t even want to get out of bed.All of this leads us to the Publishers Weekly-sponsored http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/national-bookstore-day-today-lets-shop.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-1418791954775678785Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:35:00 +00002009-11-06T12:35:39.023-08:00Sienna Powerschildren's booksIn Death on the River (Orca Books), veteran children’s author John Wilson weaves a compelling tale with his first person, present tense account of the final days of the American Civil War.We see the horrors of war through the eyes of Jake Clay, a young soldier who enlisted after his brother was killed in battle. Young Jake is wounded and taken prisoner in his very first battle:I come to with a http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/childrens-books-death-on-river-by-john.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sienna Powers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-3974751866317292438Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:06:00 +00002009-11-06T10:17:08.704-08:00Aaron Blantonnon-fictionIt would be inaccurate and possibly even ridiculous to suggest that Harvard Business School Confidential (Wiley & Sons) distills four difficult years into one very lucid book. And yet, when you read it, that’s more or less how it makes you feel.We get right down to business from the very beginning: there’s just no messing around:Most parents and teachers would tell you: Study hard in school, get http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/non-fiction-harvard-business-school.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron Blanton)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-1990573569960757762Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:05:00 +00002009-11-03T22:59:47.349-08:00fictionI had the rare delight of traveling to the city of Victoria on the southernmost tip of Vancouver Island twice during the time I was reading The Chief Factor’s Daughter (Touchwood Editions). It’s not that I’m a super-slow reader, either. Rather, my life aligned in such a way that, not only was I in the city on which the action in Vanessa Winn’s debut novel centers, I even had cause to sit near http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/fiction-chief-factors-daughter-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-8221557535559655822Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:30:00 +00002009-11-16T12:22:21.312-08:00art and cultureLincoln ChobiographyThe debut work of writer, musician and political cartoonist Jeffrey Koterba is published today. Inklings (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) tells the author’s own story with the aid of strong graphic elements, without the maudlin self-pity often associated with works of that genesis.In his bio, Koterba tells us that “during the summer of 1978 [I] was struck by lightning and lived to tell about it.” He http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/new-today-inklings-by-jeffrey-koterba.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lincoln Cho)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-674430606441953838Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:00:00 +00002009-11-03T12:37:40.970-08:00Monica Starkart and cultureCookbooksThe very first paragraph of The Foodie Handbook (Chronicle Books) describes the journey on which you’re about to embark:Relationships that matter most in our lives are often complicated. Think of the one with your mother or your current love, and perhaps the most perplexing, food. These liaisons can be fraught with love, hate, joy, fear, trust, suspicion, and a whole lot of other emotions. http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/cookbooks-foodie-handbook-by-pim.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Monica Stark)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-2111512153988467821Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +00002009-11-03T09:00:05.870-08:00art and culturenon-fictionThe is a brand new and greatly improved edition of a modern classic: the National Book Award-winning The Great War and Modern Memory (Sterling). Originally published in 1975, it was named one of the most important non-fiction books of the 20th century by the Modern Library. In his preface, author Paul Fussell explains his book succinctly:This book is about the British experience on the Western http://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/new-today-great-war-and-modern-memory.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L. Richards)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-5076325315506428093Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +00002009-11-02T05:03:03.194-08:00non-fictionbiographyIt’s not that Warren Buffett gave Alice Schroeder permission to write his biography, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (Bantam). He hand-picked her, a move typical of the man many consider to be one of the most successful business people in the world. And typical of Buffett’s style, he chose right.Former Morgan Stanley analyst Schroeder’s in-depth portrait of Buffett is betterhttp://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/new-in-paperback-snowball-warren.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Aaron Blanton)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36428823.post-4879095056490120512Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:05:00 +00002009-11-02T00:05:00.939-08:00art and cultureLincoln Cho2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the Best Music Writing anthologies edited by music journalist and scholar Daphne Carr and published by Da Capo. As befits an anniversary edition, this anthology is stunning with contributions from some of the very top names in music writing, and letters, as well.As guest editor Greil Marcus points out, Best Music Writing 2009 is not meant to be an almanac:It ishttp://januarymagazine.com/2009/11/art-culture-best-music-writing-2009.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Lincoln Cho)0