|
2009
Gift Guide
Literature
and Nonfiction
If
Amazon.com had its way this Christmas, there’d be a shiny
new Kindle ($259) under every tenenbaum. For the savvy
traveler or voracious reader on your list, the e-book reader—or
its competitors the Barnes and Noble Nook ($259), the
Cybook Opus ($249) and the BeBook ($249)—might
be the catch-all gift you’ve been looking for, but beware:
A media sinkhole like the iPod, it runs the risk of turning
books, like CDs before them, into disposable entities that
lose their giftiness when devoid of physical wrappability.
If the thought of opening a coupon for a free Amazon download
sounds festive, then disregard this warning, but for those
who enjoy the heft, scent, and papercut-hazzard of a new hardcover
book, then here are a few suggestions.
On
the fictional end of things, Jonathan Lethem’s latest novel
Chronic City (Doubleday, $27.95) has
been stirring up enough contradictory reviews to make it worth
investigating. The author of Motherless Brooklyn and
The Fortress of Solitude, Lethem harnasses his inner
Philip K. Dick and Thomas Pynchon for a fractal tale of Manhattan’s
Upper East Side. Chase Insteadman is a lovelorn former child
star, whose astronaut fiance is marooned on the International
Space Station due to Chinese space mines. Things get weirder
when Insteadman meets Perkus Tooth, a conspiratorial pop critic,
who leads Insteadman on a quest for meaning among East Village
anarchists, radical turncoats and high-society types.
For the full-bore sci-fi fan, there are two anthologies that
strive to collect contemporary iterations of the genre. Rewired:
The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (Tachyon, $14.95)
collects 16 short stories from authors such as Greg
Egan, Charles Stross, and Cory Doctorow, updating the sort
of techno-geek futurism popularized by Dick and William Gibson.
The book also includes critical essays to further contextualize
the work. Delving further into geekdom, Steampunk (Tachyon,
$14.95) collects the best of that peculiar genre
of Victorian space travel. Look for Michael Chabon’s foray
into the subgenre alongside steampunk godfather Michael Moorcock.
But if you’re looking for something novel-length in a hybrid
genre, Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters (Quirk,
$12.95) by Ben H. Winters and, well, Jane Austen is the way
to go. The title pretty much says it all, but if you’re wondering,
it’s the follow-up to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
In
The Anthologist (Simon and Schuster, $25), Nicholson
Baker returns to the brand of simple, witty, observational
philosophy that put him on the map in The Mezzanine.
Paul Chowder is a sad-sack literature professor whose girlfriend
just left him, and who can’t manage to write the introduction
to an anthology of poetry. The narrative wends its way through
episodes of frustration and imagined dialogue with deceased
literary figures. Baker allegedly situated cameras around
his own home and performed Chowder’s character spontaneously
before translating it to the page. A Gate at the Stairs
(Knopf, $25.95) is Lorrie Moore’s first novel in 15
years. A master prose stylist, Moore tackles the story of
Tassie Keltjin, a Midwestern girl coming of age in the shadow
of 9/11, dealing with her brother’s decision to head to war,
and the trials of class and race filtered through her job
as nanny for a restaurant proprietor. Sounds like heavy stuff,
but the whole thing is cut with Moore’s wry wit.
Finally, R. Crumb has released what some are calling his masterwork
in the form of, yes, The Book of Genesis Illustrated
(Norton, $24.95). Far from the irreverant send-up
of religion one would expect from the legendary cartoonist,
Crumb’s take is a literal rendering of one of the strangest,
most emotionally charged stories of all time. Not surprisingly,
conservative groups are up in arms, not over some blasphemous
deviation, but because Crumb didn’t censor a single word of
the original text.
On the “truthy” side of the dime, look for Farhad Manjoo’s
True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society
(Wiley, $25.95), which addresses the ease at which a sense
of truth can be established without regard for facts. Lost
Lore: A Celebration of Traditional Wisdom (Chambers,
$24.95) might be a way to get some of that truth back. A DIY
handbook, it offers a collection of suggestions culled from
tradition and superstition on how to do everyday things like
find water, predict the sex of a baby, cure drunkenness and
forecast the weather.
But, of course, there are plenty of titles from nonfiction
heavyweights to choose from as well. Where Men Win Glory:
The Odyssey of Pat Tillman (Doubleday, $27.95) is
John Krakauer’s latest piece of immersive journalism. Like
Into the Wild, it’s an attempt to make sense of the
premature death of a rugged American individualist, this time
Pat Tillman, the pro football player killed in Afghanistan
by friendly fire and celebrated by the Bush administration
as an operation-justifying war hero. What the Dog Saw
(Little Brown, $27.95) is a collection of New Yorker
essays by Malcolm Gladwell exploring topics such as hair
dye in the 20th century, why there are varieties of mustard
but only one ketchup, and the secrets of Cesar Milan, the
dog whisperer. But, if those topics don’t appeal, the reasons
why we inevitably root for superstars to fail and hate our
favorite band’s newest album are addressed in Chuck Klosterman’s
Eating the Dinosaur (Scribner, $25).
—Josh
Potter
 Children
and Young Adult
It’s
been a great year, at least in terms of literature for the
younger set. And I’m not talking Twilight, although
if it gets kids to read, who am I to judge? I was particularly
impressed with some young adult titles that my older sons
brought home, and not just because they weren’t by J.K. Rowling.
There are some fantastic series out there, encouraging flights
of fancy and inspiring laughter. Here are some of those choices
which would make wonderful gifts for the holiday season.
Of
course you can never go wrong with an Eric Carle book, and
while there isn’t a new or just-discovered title out there,
there is a brand new twist on a beloved classic. The
Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-Up Book (Philomel, $29.99)
literally brings another dimension to an already rich and
magical tale. The cocoon looks downright cozy, and the caterpillar’s
ultimate transformation is captured in stunning detail.
Another classic series has received a shot in the arm, courtesy
of David Benedictus and illustrator Mark Burgess, whose Return
to the Hundred Acre Wood (Dutton, $19.99) picks up
where A.A. Milne and Ernest H. Shepard left off. For the first
time since 1928, a new, Trustees-authorized addition to the
Pooh canon is here. Benedictus’s tale, which introduces Lottie
the Otter, emphasizes Winnie-the-Pooh’s values of friendship
and adventure, and is sure to delight countless readers who
have enjoyed Pooh for so long.
How
Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen and Mark
Teague. (Blue Sky Press, $16.99) is yet another in a beloved
series that includes How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?
and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? This title emphasizes
a parent’s unconditional love for his child by depicting dinosaurs
in various acts of utter naughtiness. Of course, Mom or Dad
don’t say things like “I love my little dinosaur” until the,
er, tyke has picked up his mess, a fact I sort of liked.
I have already recommended to three people Goldilicious
by Victoria Kann (Harper Collins $17.99). The protagonist
in this little charmer is Pinkalicious, who spends her days
in the happy coexistence of her pet unicorn, Goldilicious.
Goldie is a roller-skating, kite-flying, high-jumping unicorn
who will protect Pinkalicious from the evil wizardry of her
little brother, Peter. This follow-up to Pinkalicious and
Purplicious brings to life a new and magical character
that is every bit as captivating as her pinkeriffic owner.
With heaps of creativity and a touch of sparkle, Goldilicious
glows—from horn to toe.
For visual splendor and emotional power, consider 14
Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated
by Thomas Gonzalez (Peachtree, $17.95). Master storyteller
Deedy hits all the right notes in this elegant story of generosity
that crosses boundaries, nations, and cultures. In June 2002,
a Massai tribe bestows a precious gift of 14 cows to the people
of America, in a show of shared grief over the devastation
that was 9/11. An afterword by Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah—the
Maasai warrior at the center of the story—provides additional
information about his tribe and their generous actions. Thomas
Gonzalez’s stunning paintings, which are saturated with rich
oranges and browns, and blues and greens, capture the modest
nobility of the Maasai people and the distinctive landscape
of the African plain.
Like The Miraculous Adventure of Edward Tulane, The
Magician’s Elephant, by Kate diCamillo and illustrated
by Yoko Tanaka (Candlewick Press, $16.99), takes us on a fantastical
journey. In a dark, cold city at the end of the century before
last, a boy named Peter seeks a sister who might never have
lived, a magician nearing the end of his career longs to deal
in real magic, and an elephant who doesn’t know where she
is finds a way home. DiCamillo’s luminous new novel conjures
a world that is both completely magical and totally true.
My 7- and 12-year-olds can’t agree on much, but they do both
conclude that the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney,
rocks. The latest installment: Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Dog Days (Amulet Books, $13.95), follows its eponymous
hero, Gregg Heffley, as he suffers through his mother’s vision
of what makes a perfect summer vacation—namely, outdoor activities
and family togetherness. Only problem is, Gregg much prefers
to stay in the air-conditioned house, playing video games.
Poor Gregg has to contend with unappealing visuals provided
by the “shower guys” at the local pool, and pine longingly
for the lovely lifeguard Heather Hills. It’s a lot of fun,
and you’ll find yourself reading it long after the kids are
in bed.
For the older set, there’s more in the fantastical realm made
famous by authors and series referenced far above, but one
that stood out to me was Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
(Scholastic Press, $17.99). This is very lyrical, blending
equal parts adventure and fantasy, a natural since it deals
with a wolf who keeps the silent company of the girl he loves,
except for the one time a year when he becomes human. “And
then I opend by my eyes and it was just Grace and me—nothing
anywhere but Grace and me—she pressing her lips together as
though she were keeping my kiss inside her, and me holding
this moment that was as fragile as a bird in my hands.” Shiver
is riveting in a way that is bound to appeal to emerging Goths
and other sensitive souls.
Another option is Catching Fire (Scholastic
Press, $17.99), the second in a trilogy being written by Suzanne
Collins. The first in this trilogy, The Hunger Games,
really mesmerized readers and reviewers alike, and while this
sequel spends a lot of time rehashing what went on before
(which, for me, was a godsend), it still provides high level
excitement as Katniss Everwood contends with force fields,
diabolical powers and a host of challenges that would have
made Luke Skywalker pale.
The
Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma
by Trenton Lee Stewart (Little, Brown, $16.99) is the latest
installment to this utterly engaging series about four children,
who are sent to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened,
where they engage in a series of mysterious adventures. The
kids are exceedingly bright—one has the gift of photographic
memory, another is extremely agile, and the leader of the
group, Reynie, has the unique ability of looking between the
lines and asking probing questions. None of them become werewolves
or sparkle in the daylight.
This is a good thing.
—Laura
Leon
Music
Stepping
to the fore in this year’s roundup of giftworthy music books
is Louis Armstrong with a pair of complimentary titles. There’s
Terry Teachout’s exceptional bio, Pops (Houghton
Mifflin, $30), and Satchmo: The Wonderful World and
Art of Louis Armstrong (Abrams, $35) by Steven Brower,
which is a complete joy, filled with the collages Armstrong
created on his recording tape boxes.
Thelonious
Monk: The Life and Times of An American Original by
Robin D.G. Kelley (Free Press, $30) is everything anyone could
ever hope in a biography of the man. Kelley understands the
man’s music, his emotional and mental issues, as well as the
history and sociology of the decades he lived through. All
Hopped Up and Ready to Go (Norton, $18.95) by Tony
Fletcher is subtitled “Music from the Streets of New York,
1927-77.” Fletcher is a transplanted Brit who loves both the
city and the range of music it fostered over 50 years, from
Mario Bauza to Biggie Smalls.
This season’s Beatle books include Peter Ames Carlin’s Paul
McCartney: A Life (Touchstone, $26), which follows
Sir Paul right up through his recent Electric Arguments.
John & Yoko’s Bed-Ins are the focus of a pair of books,
Give Peace a Chance (Wiley, $24.95), which offers
the photography of Gerry Deiter, and I Met the Walrus
(Collins, $24.99) by Jerry Levitan, who, as a 14-year-old,
snuck into Lennon and Ono’s Toronto hotel room and conducted
an interview with them.
Grateful
Dead Scrapbook (Chronicle, $40) by Ben Fong-Torres
is a lavish package in a slip case full of pockets with reprinted
memorabilia (such as a letter from Hugh Hefner thanking the
band individually for their appearance on his Playboy After
Dark TV show. Also included is a CD of interviews with
the band. Relix: the Book (Backbeat, $29.99),
compiled by Toni Brown, celebrates 30 years of the magazine,
reprinting pages in full, with their interviews and articles
(“Top Ten Versions of Dark Star”).
White
Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day
(Jawbone, $29.95) by Richie Unterberger lets you find out
what they were doing on your birthdays. (At least, that’s
what I always look for—it turns out ten Nico songs were registered
with Elektra’s publishing company on the day I turned 14.)
Clinton Heylin’s Revolution in the Air: The Songs of
Bob Dylan, 1957-1973 (Chicago Review Press, $29.95)
is the first of two volumes. Three-hundred-plus songs by the
erstwhile Minnesotan are included, starting with “Song to
Brigit,” written as a teenager, and including such late-‘50s
rock & roll numbers as “Hey Little Richard” and “I Got
a Girl” (aka “Teenage Love Serenade”). And then he reinvented
himself.
Moving into the ’70s, there’s I Slept With Joey Ramone:
A Family Memoir (Touchstone, $26) by Mickey Leigh
with Legs McNeil. The former was the brother of Jeffry, aka
Joey. Arthur “Killer” Kane” had been working on his memoir
when he died suddenly in 2004. I, Doll: Life and Death
with the New York Dolls (Chicago Review Press, $24.95)
covers the band’s formation and first 18 months of existence,
rife with the drama of drugs, fights, high expectations, and
dashed hopes.
A
Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter
Tears (Nation, $26.95) by Antonino D’Ambrosio delivers
just what the title promises. One of Cash’s favorite albums,
Bitter Tears was made four years before Folsom Prison
catapulted him back to the top. Johnny Cash: I See a
Darkness (Abrams, $17.95) is a graphic novel by Reinhard
Kleist. A German comic artist, he’s given the Cash legend
a human scaled resonance. Cash biographer Michael Streissguth
has written Always Been There: Rosanne Cash, The List
and the Spirit of Southern Music (DaCapo, $24). This
is a look at Rosanne’s recent album, The List, which
was based on an actual list that her father gave her in 1973
of 100 songs he felt a young musician should know.
Meeting
Jimmy Rodgers: How America’s Original Roots Music Hero Changed
the Pop Sounds of a Century by Barry Mazor (Oxford,
$27.95) takes a look as the innovations in Rodgers’ country
blues. He casts a shadow over musicians who don’t even know
he’s standing over them. Man of Constant Sorrow
(Gotham Books, $27.50) by Ralph Stanley with Eddie Dean. Now
in his 80s, the reining elder statesman of bluegrass wears
his post-Brother Where Art Thou fame with grace. He
called his Grammy win at age 75 “the icing on the cake.”
I
Hear a Voice Calling (University of Illinois Press,
$19.95) is photographer Gene Lowinger’s memoir of a life in
and around the world of bluegrass, His photos of Bill Monroe,
on- and off-stage, during the final years of his life form
the heart of this book. Paul Oliver’s Barrelhouse Blues
(Basic Books, $24.95) is subtitled “Location Recording and
the Early Traditions on the Blues” and examines how marketplace
successes for larger companies like Okeh and Columbia sent
scouts scampering around the South, where they’d set up and
record in hotel rooms, furniture stores, farmhouses and anywhere
they could. Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary
(University of Illinois Press, $26.95) by Stephen Calt defines
the wide range of words and phrases found within the blues
idiom, many of which were slang and have fallen from usage
long ago. Roll and tumble, headache stick, dough roller and
hogmeat—it’s all here.
As we would expect from David Byrne, his Bicycle Diaries
(Viking, $29.95) is thoughtfully considered in every regard,
from the cover design to the moving bicycle flip movie that
runs across the bottom of the pages. It’s part musings on
the world, part travelogue; Byrne is a keen observer of the
comings and goings of people as they live, work, and play.
An avid bicyclist, he designed bike racks for New York City,
some of which are shown, with additional designs included
in an appendix.
The 40th anniversary of Woodstock has seen the publication
of By the Time We Got to Woodstock (Backbeat,
$19.99) by Bruce Pollock, Back to the Garden
(Touchstone, $24.99) by Pete Fornatale, and The Road
to Woodstock (Ecco, $29.99) by Michael Lang. The latter
is by the public face of the festival organizers. Lang was
the curly-haired entrepreneur who, in short order, went from
owning a Coconut Grove headshop to creating the Miami Pop
Festival, and then on to Yasgur’s farm. The book also includes
the set lists for the entire three day festival: 32 acts played
305 songs.
Picture books? There’s Grunge (Abrams, $24.95),
which is a showcase for Michael Lavine’s photos of fans and
bands (such as Harry Crews, Buffalo Tom, and Babes in Toyland),
with text by Thurston Moore.
The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Collins, $39.99) by Holly
George-Warren celebrates the institution’s first quarter-century.
Big and colorful, posters, ephemera, and lots of photos of
tuxedos on unlikely frames. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Me
and My Friends (Abrams, $24.95) offers what the subtitle
calls “A Rare Insight Through the Eyes of Band Photographer
Tony Wooliscroft.” Big, heavy, and colorful. Those three words
also describe The Stooges (Abrams, $35) by Robert
Matheu. Authorized by the band, it’s stuffed with familiar
and rare performance and studio shots, and a full discography
with all the sleeves.
Michael
Jackson Before He Was King (Chronicle, $29.95) is
a collection of the photos of Todd Gray, who became Jackson’s
personal photographer. He first photographed him in 1974 when
on assignment for Soul Newspaper.
A dozen years after his untimely death, Robert Palmer’s writing
is finally anthologized in Blues & Chaos,
edited by Anthony DeCurtis (Scribner, $30). The breadth of
the music he understood and, more importantly, was moved by,
is a testament to his own life: warm, curious, and respectful.
Finally, it’s reassuring to see the “33 1/3” series continuing
its march toward 100 pocket-sized volumes. Standouts in the
new batch include Geeta Dayal’s Brian Eno’s Another
Green World (Continuum, $10.95) and Bruce Eaton’s
Big Star’s Radio City (Continuum, $10.95).
—David
Greenberger
Cookbooks
The
best meals are both delicious on the palate and a treat for
the eyes, and the best cookbooks sport a similar duality.
Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home (Artisan) follows
the format of his three previous books in presenting a from-the-ground-up
approach to ingredients and their preparation, but this is
less rarefied than its predecessors, truly geared to the home
cook. The prose is dynamic and straightforward, and, as expected,
the photography is stunning. Many of your favorite preparations
will be found among the 200-plus recipes, but with interesting
variations. Pea soup, for example, gets a touch of mint; allspice
and smoked paprika go into the spareribs, and you’ll find
out the optimal moments to salt and dress a salad. It’s this
kind of elegant fussiness that makes for great meals.
Weighing in at nearly a thousand pages, and boasting some
1,400 recipes, Ginette Mathiot’s I Know How to Cook
(Phaidon Press) is a first-time-in-English version of a French
culinary bible, one that debuted in 1932 and has been renowned
ever since for its thoroughness and simplicity. It takes a
modular approach to recipes, introducing you first to such
fundamentals as stocks and sauces, then shows how they combine
in classic dishes. And there’s room here for everything, from
hors d’oeuvres to cookies, notes on dining etiquette and even
guest recipes by noted chefs.
The Italian equivalent is The Silver Spoon, published in English
four years ago. This year it’s joined by The Silver
Spoon Pasta (Phaidon). “There is no more natural and
simple food,” the book declares, celebrating at the outset
pasta’s starchiness and proteins. Fifty-seven pasta shapes
follow—dried and fresh, long and short, cut and filled—so
that by the time you reach ravioli (stuffed with sea bass,
in one instance!) you know exactly why each shape matters
and how to make best use of it.
While we’re on the subject of Italy, discover why certain
dishes are unique to certain parts of that country in Elena
Kostioukovitch’s Why Italians Love to Talk about Food
( Farrar, Straus and Giroux). It’s not a recipe book, but
you’ll be more than able to cook with easy spontaneity once
you finish this mouthwatering 400-page culinary tour of Italy.
Kostioukovitch is the Russian translator for Umberto Eco (who
wrote an introduction) and a 20-year resident of the country,
and gives a thorough cook’s tour with poetry and history in
the discursive discussion.
The Mediterranean diet is one such topic, which comes closer
to home in Laura Pensiero’s Hudson Valley Mediterranean
(William Morrow). Pensiero’s Rhinebeck restaurant, Gigi Trattoria,
is celebrated for its healthful approach to dining, drawing
inspiration from the Mediterranean by focusing on the ingredients
available in the Hudson Valley. And there are plenty, allowing
a seasonal approach that Pensiero, in easygoing prose, filters
through 100 recipes like potato gnocchi with Northwind Farm
chicken and pea ragu and grilled strawberries with vanilla
gelato.
Gourmet
Today (Houghton Mifflin) is the ironic title of Ruth
Reichl’s follow-up volume to the 2006 Gourmet Cookbook.
The magazine may have died, but the tradition lives on in
a thousand more recipes that takes a more wide-ranging path
than its predecessor, exploring a more international realm.
Thus we have southern India’s dosa, Thai shrimp and
spinach curry, Greek beef stew (walnuts and feta set it off)
and South American humitas in the mix.
Speaking of Greek: I enjoy the cookbook as a pretext for autobiography
(or vice versa, I suppose), and it’s an inspiring take told
by Michael Psilakis in How to Roast a Lamb (Little,
Brown) as the chef-owner of New York City’s Kefi and Anthos
restaurants takes us to his childhood, surrounded by a food-loving
family, and works the narrative through 150 recipes that go
way beyond just lamb.
David Chang is another NYC-based rising star, whose three
eateries include Momofuku Noodle Bar. Momofuku
(Clarkson Potter) is more than a recipe book: it’s a journey
through Chang’s imagination as he slams Asian and American
and any other culinary identity together in the service of
exciting cuisine. Not for the inexperienced, but a delight
for those who want their food to bark back at them. A highly
acclaimed book, and for good reason.
On a calmer note, The Elements of Life by Su-Mei
Yu (Wiley) comes from the chef-owner of San Diego’s Saffron,
a Thai restaurant aimed at refreshing the soul as much as
the palate. Using the handy guide wheel included with the
book, you’ll discover your birth element (earth, wind, air,
or fire) and develop a recipe regime to complement it—encouraging
better health along the way.
What makes Matt Lee and Ted Lee’s The Lee Bros. Simple
Fresh Southern (Clarkson Potter) unique is the way
they evolve their South Carolina background of fried everything
into a more healthful, vivacious set of recipes that are more
about flavor than Southern cliché suggests. Sure, you’ll find
sweet potato fritters here, but how about the shrimp-and-crab-based
Frogmore stew? Savor a peachtree julep as you enjoy the book.
Sweet endings include Dede Wilson’s Unforgettable Desserts
(Wiley), in which the PBS baker gives 150 recipes for cakes
and pies, cookies and candy, custards, bars, you name it.
Baking remains, to me, an intimidating realm, but Wilson’s
approach takes you from the simple to the sophisticated and
makes it all seem simple.
How to follow The Cake Bible Into the afterlife? Rose’s
Heavenly Cakes (Wiley) continues Rose Levy Beranbaum’s
journey through a riches of confection. She writes with the
voice of one who’s seen what works (and what doesn’t), and
guides you accordingly. Start with devil’s food cake with
midnight ganache, try a golden lemon almond cake, then go
on to work with spun sugar and other virtuoso techniques.
Then buy another copy for gift giving.
—B.A.
Nilsson
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