Web-Exclusive Reviews: Week of 7/16/2007

-- Publishers Weekly, 7/16/2007

NONFICTION

BOUND TOGETHER: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization
Nayan Chanda. Yale Univ., $27.50 (400p) ISBN 9780300112016

Globalization may seem like a relatively new term, but Chandra, a director for the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, argues intriguingly that its history ranges across centuries, beginning when the first humans left Africa, “following game herds… [or] shellfish beds around the Arabian Peninsula.” Chadra illuminates the stepping stones of mankind’s global conquest, such as early trading routes, the domestication of horses, the rise of the world’s great religions, the slave trade, the World Wide Web and the spread of diseases like SARS and Avian flu, looking from angles psychological, geographic, philosophical, theological, commercial and military. With the perspective of a historian and the savvy of a political scientist, Chanda skillfully argues that globalization was, is and will always be inevitable (a particularly revealing statistic: “migrants constitute 20 percent of the population in some 41 of the world’s largest countries”). Using ubiquitous examples like FedEx, McDonalds and Starbucks, Chanda uncovers common denominators and shared consequences, underpinning his analysis with anecdotes of commerce through the ages (the discovery of coffee by a goat herder, the Starbucks opened in the “five-hundred-year-old Forbidden City compound in Beijing”). Like a good mystery, Chanda’s chronology is rich with surprises and moments of revelation. (June)

CHECK THE TECHNIQUE: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies
Brian Coleman. Villard, $16.95 paper (512p) ISBN 9780812977752

In his introduction to Coleman’s new volume, recording artist Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson laments the lack of liner notes in hip-hop recordings, and it’s this void that Coleman seeks to fill in this significantly expanded and updated version of his 2005 title Rakim Told Me. Each of Coleman’s 36 “liner notes” cover one album by a particular artist, beginning with a thorough background essay from Coleman and continuing with comments on individual tracks by the artists, which range in length from a single line to page-spanning dialogue. Covering the period between 1986 (Schoolly D’s Saturday Night! The Album) and 1996 (Fugees’s The Score) sometimes described as the “golden age” of rap, Coleman’s introductory essays are easy to read and informative, but the artists’ comments are the more enlightening read. The artists focus largely on lyrics and their origins, but make many references to budgets, studio techniques, drum machines and sample sources (and the occasional lawsuit they engender). Though words like “genius,” “masterwork,” “legend” and “immortal” are tossed around too liberally, Coleman’s volume, covering 400 tracks and 75 artists all told, is a valuable, entertaining inside look at the creative processes behind some of the best-selling albums of their (or any) time. (52 b/w photos) (June)

CHOKING ON MARLON BRANDO: A Memoir
Antonia Quirke. Overlook, $25.95 (310p) ISBN 9781585679157

“It is a very, very straightforward concept indeed that life is not like a movie, but one I have amazing difficulty in grasping,” writes Quirke, a well-known UK movie critic, in this chronicle of her tumultuous love life with men on-screen and in-person. Clever and forthright, Quirke’s debut is a charmer; she knows herself well, and actors even better, regularly capturing the allure of any given leading man in a single phrase: George Clooney is a Cary Grant type who “has played and will play a man of the same age for three decades. That age being: no age at all. The Prime”; in Klaus Kinski, Quirke sees “handsomeness gone insane…as though every feature on his face is trying to out-handsome the others.” Just as precise and memorable when writing about real-life lovers (“That is what he wanted above all. The look on my face. That is all you’re allowed to give some men”), Quirke’s nimble story-telling is enough to forgive a less-than-dynamic tale—Quirke loves man, man loves Quirke, things go bad, repeat—but her reluctance to take action may frustrate an audience expecting personal growth or obstacles overcome; nevertheless, fans of snappy writing, movie actors and dead-end romance will find Quirke’s book a treat. (July)

DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA: How to Profit in the World’s Fastest Growing Market
Ted Plafker. Warner Business, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 9780446578967

Plafker, a Beijing correspondent for The Economist, maintains the same restrained, reasonable tone as his employer magazine in this refreshingly informed guide to navigating the business landscape of the world’s most populous nation. Behind the gleaming new airports, Gucci boutiques and teeming modern cities, Plafker argues, lie a host of (sometimes expected, sometimes not) pitfalls: frequent power outages, endemic corruption, lawless roads and severe pollution. Plafker also helpfully debunks common myths about China (spoken Chinese isn’t all that difficult to learn; businesswomen may find gender is less of an issue than the fact that they’re foreign), drops plenty of statistics and figures (in 2005, China imported goods worth $101 billion more than it exported) and rounds out each chapter with a bulleted list of key points. Written in accessible prose, Plafker’s book is a great starting point for those thinking about setting up shop in China. (July)

GONE TO THE CRAZIES
Alison Weaver. HarperCollins, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 9780061189586

To be fair, Weaver’s entry into the family dysfunction/drug abuse/road to recovery memoir pool is engaging on a voyeuristic level; unfortunately, insanity and addiction have been staples of the genre since The Bell Jar, and Weaver’s doesn’t contribute much to the tradition. Beginning with her privileged New York-Connecticut upbringing, Weaver gives her girlhood self a hard-to-swallow existentialist streak, as in her description of a Fifth Avenue Christmas party: “The nothingness of it all hit me as I stood alone in the corner… [like] a painting covered in too much varnish, the top layer began to peel away, and in a flash I saw the dark and frightening emptiness that lay below the color.” Faced with all that emptiness, wealth and domestic instability (alcoholic mother, distant father), Weaver drinks, smokes pot and gets kicked out of prestigious Spence School. Eventually she ends up at $100,000-a-year rehab boarding school Cascade, which turns out to be more cult than cure. After graduation, Weaver resorts to old tricks, drugging and slumming through New York’s Lower East Side, discovering Ketamine and getting arrested on the road to redemption. Though there’s plenty of honesty here, and an interesting look inside the bizarre world of high-end juvenile rehab, too much of the action and self-reflection are both familiar and overwrought. (July)

HEART FULL OF SOUL: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way
Taylor Hicks. Crown, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9780307382436

With a Bible belt twang and a shock of gray hair, American Idol winner Hicks resembles nothing less than the other tweeny pop stars churned out by the television megahit. In this inspirational autobiography, Hicks reveals that, before capturing televised glory (and more votes than George Bush in 2004), he spent years playing to nearly-nonexistent road house audiences. Though his passion is for soul music, Hicks’s life reads more like a discordant country ballad: formative years were spent shoplifting Otis Redding music, fabricating report cards and distinguishing between the “teddy-bear drunks and mean drunks” in his family; later, he turned to blind ambition and dime-store mantras like “embrace my oddness” to keep himself singing to empty venues. Behind-the-scenes Idol dirt is spare; Hicks discusses feelings of isolation while taping, the infamous purple jacket and the songs he chose to sing, but says little about relationships among other contestants, fans or judges. Still baffled by his sudden fame, Hicks has a charmingly humble, if not particularly dynamic, voice best summed up in his standard reply to people who stop to tell him he looks an awful lot like Taylor Hicks: “Yeah, you know, it’s funny, I get that all the time.” 24 color photos. (July)

THE IAMBICS OF NEWFOUNDLAND: Notes from an Unknown Shore
Robert Finch. Counterpoint, $26 (270p) ISBN 9781582431543

Well-known nature writer Finch (The Cape Itself)presents his impressions of Canada’s most remote island, drawing a detailed portrait of a harsh but beautiful world and the hardscrabble people who populate it. And a quirky world it is: Newfoundlanders have a language all their own, wherein everyone is addressed as “boy” and towns have names like “Squid Tickle”; visitors are “almost invariably treated with hospitality, though still referred to as a stranger,” and even “if a stranger takes up residence in a village, he is a CFA, or come from away”; one Newfoundland town is still a departement of France, and its residents use the language, food and money of the home country while driving about on John Deere tractors rescued from a 1950s ship wreck; Fifty-five lighthouses line the shores of Newfoundland, more than any other North American province or state, fitting for a people whose lives and dreams are driven by fishing. While Finch’s skill at capturing the flora, fauna and landscape of a given area is unparalleled, his writerly skill is at its sharpest capturing Newfoundland’s children, parents, fishermen and “strangers,” and his blossoming friendships with them, that sets his book apart from other fish-out-of-water travelogues. Though far from a traditional guide, anyone curious about “the unknown shore” will find this an exacting, delightful tour. (July)

MAKERS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry
Martin Filler. New York Review of Books, $27.95 (352p) ISBN 9781590172278

Made up of essays that originally appeared in The New York Review of Books, this work is a wonderful introduction to 20th-century architecture. Filler focuses each chapter on a single architect or firm, discussing their place in the history of architecture as well as some of their most important works. For some architects, particularly those who have become synonymous with high-profile projects—such as Frank Gehry or Richard Meier—Filler uses a single signature building to shed light on the architect by reading its structure and features as representative of their style. For others—such as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright—design philosophy is his focus: Filler demonstrates how their aesthetic vision shaped everything they created, from furniture and fixtures to residences and office buildings. The result is magnificent from start to finish. Filler writes elegant prose that captures the feeling of these buildings in a way that makes the illustrations almost unnecessary. He also discusses architecture in a way that will be both satisfying to specialists or practitioners and accessible to non-specialists. No matter the level of previous experience with architecture, anyone with an interest in the subject will find Filler’s work rewarding. (July)

OF SNAKES AND SEX AND PLAYING IN THE RAIN: Random Thoughts on Harmful Things
Clay Reynolds. Stone River Press (stoneriverpress.com), $16.95 paper (196p) ISBN 9780972877555

Best known for The Sandhill Chronicles, a series of novels set in the dusty Texas town of Agatite, Reynolds here checks in with a wonderful, contrary miscellany. Of the 13 pieces here, there’s a paean to the joys of coffee (“I’ve accepted free coffee from the thermoses of strangers, and I’ve shared half a cup with a friend when I knew that’s all there was going to be”), a very funny parody of Richard Scarry’s childrens books, thoughts on the gendered nature of golf and the democratizing force of baseball, the complex imbrications of the title piece, and “Literary Worth: A Practical Approach to Arbitration,” among much else. Reynolds writes in his preface that “perhaps a chuckle might arise here, a sober thought there,” in perusing this volume, but he achieves much more than that. (May)

PEACE, JUSTICE AND JEWS: Reclaiming Our Tradition
Edited by Murray Polner and Stefan Merken. Bunim & Bannigan, $25 (372p) ISBN 9781933480152

Unabashedly left-leaning, but by no means homogenous, this literate, thought-provoking collection examines from all angles, in some four dozen essays, the idea that editors Polner and Merken believe “reflects the most basic attitude in our Jewish heritage”: Shalom, “much more than the absence of war… [it encompasses] wholeness, grace, and truth.” Covering everything from scriptural imperative to Israel to Arab-Jewish relations to animal rights, this is an excellent addition for libraries and classrooms. Standouts include Kenny Freeman’s Middle East dispatches, in which friendships with Arabs illustrate how “Jews and Arabs could live together… if their primary allegiance was to a unified Holy Land, rather than to their own nationalist needs.” Claudia Freeman contributes a remarkable elegy, recalling trips to Germany on which she pieced together the story of 14 family members killed by the Nazis. Helen Fein’s vital essay addresses the false “Articles of Faith” that form part of the Holocaust’s legacy, such as the lingering myths that “our existence is always in peril,” and that Jewish victims “went dumbly… to their deaths, ‘like sheep to the slaughter.’ ” Calls to action include Richard Schwartz admonishing readers “not to wait for the right opportunity to come along... [but] to actively seek opportunities to practice justice.” Though some essays feel slight—especially in the opening section, “What We Believe”—there is much to learn here for anyone, Jew or Gentile, interested in global issues of peace and justice. (July)

THE PERSISTENCE OF POVERTY: Why the Economics of the Well-Off Can’t Help the Poor
Charles Karelis. Yale Univ., $30 (208p). ISBN 9780300120905

This slim volume presents a radical analysis of poverty that turns conventional understandings of the subject upside-down. Karelis, a philosophy professor at The George Washington University and former president of Colgate, begins with a brief overview of the received wisdom on and conventional arguments regarding poverty, which he argues have been shaped in large part by middle- and upper-class sensibilities of thrift, discipline and long-term thinking; as a result, public policy initiatives have proven largely ineffective. With rigor and passion, Karelis offers a radical reconsideration of the problem, resting on twin premises: the importance of distinguishing between enjoyment and relief (e.g., eating ice cream vs. taking aspirin for a headache), and acknowledging that these motivators/rewards have a different effect on the poor than they do the well-off. Karelis argues that while the middle and upper classes seek an even distribution of “pleasers” to increase “positive satisfaction” over the long-run, those acting from a position of insufficiency work for “relievers… goods that reduce pain, unhappiness, or misery” in the moment. As such, what is rational or efficient behavior for the poor is not so for the well-off, and vice-versa. Though rich with insight on a subject with broad appeal, Karelis’s treatise is not an easy read, particularly for those unfamiliar with economic theory; readers unafraid of technical forays into the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility and the Epicurean Fallacy will find this important work quite rewarding. (July)

TOUCHÉ: A French Woman’s Take on the English
Agnès Catherine Poirier. Weidenfeld & Nicolson (IPG, dist.), $19.95 paper (192p) ISBN 9780297852346

In this series of sharply written, often funny essays tackling the English-French divide, a number of cultural sticking-points are examined with equal measures of affection, bewilderment, frustration and envy. Fascinated by politics and culture clashes from an early age, journalist Poirier (raised in France, currently living in the UK) dispenses with a brief nod to civility (“British friends, never doubt the admiration you inspire”) before lighting into her neighbors across the channel with honesty and verve: disappointment with nearly-nonexistent public demonstrations (a staple of French life), disbelief at the British penchant for apology (which “verges on hypocrisy”), and affront at the scant respect given artists (long revered in France). Class politics, the UK’s cool attitude toward a united Europe and British men (gentlemen or thugs?) also take a few licks, though she applauds England’s inroads to French-style Café society. Poirier’s commentary is thoughtful and good-natured even while delivering some wicked lumps: on Brits’ love of animals, she observes that the Royal Family, following the death of one of the Queen’s corgis, “hadn’t displayed public grief like [that] since the Blitz.” Also included are strong opinions on Americans, love, small talk and, of course, food: “My first step into the world of [British chocolatier] Cadbury felt like one of the best on-screen love scenes… played out in slow motion to the music of violins.” (July)

WHAT YOU MUST THINK OF ME: A Firsthand Account of One Teenager’s Experience With Social Anxiety Disorder
Emily Ford with Michael R. Liebowitz and Linda Wasmer Andrews. Oxford Univ., $9.95 paper (192p) ISBN 9780195313031

A professor of clinical psychiatry and a woman whose life has been adversely impacted by social anxiety disorder provide a unique view of the condition and its treatment in this slim volume. Leibowitz, who researched the disorder prior to its becoming officially recognized in the 1980s, lends scientific heft to co-author Ford’s personal experiences with social anxiety disorder (defined as “the extreme fear of social situations that involve unfamiliar people or the possibility of scrutiny by others”). Ford is honest if a bit simplistic in relating her struggles, which began in adolescence. Prior to her diagnosis, Ford struggled with drinking, severe eating disorders and pulling out clumps of her hair. “By hitting my lowest point, I had found the will to start fighting for life,” she writes. Ford found a psychotherapist who introduced her to cognitive-behavioral therapy, whose treatment pulled her from her slump. Readers will find helpful charts throughout the book and an appendix loaded with further reading and contact information for advocacy groups. Thanks to its informative guide to diagnosis, suggestions for treatment and tips on dealing with the health care system, this is a must read for anyone who suffers from the disorder. (July)

WRITERS WORKSHOP IN A BOOK: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction
Edited by Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez. Chronicle, $14.95 paper (220) ISBN 9780811858212

This collection from the Squaw Valley writing workshop, one of the oldest in the U.S., boasts an impressive list of alumni among its contributors, including Amy Tan, Michael Chabon, Richard Ford, Anne Lamott and Mark Childress. Rather than exercises and suggestions, however, this “workshop” is populated with literate, thoughtful essays on different aspects of crafting fiction. Ford’s foreward begins with some blunt advice: one “should treat the decision to write like a decision to get married: try to talk yourself out of it if you can.” Standouts include James D. Houston’s essay on the role of setting, which shapes not just “grounding [and] location,” but “the dreams you dream… your view of history, sometimes your sense of self.” Janet Fitch advises a deep plunge into sensual details: “Take a bite of a tangerine… and try to work your way into the place it came from, to a time and a place and a season.” A new or struggling writer will get the most out of Lamott’s “The Clinic,” in which she advises, “write what [you] want to come upon,” what makes “something inside of you… [go] ‘oooh.’ ” Aside from a few clunkers—Robert Stone’s hodge-podge of flourishes among them–—writers will find much of these new and previously published essays worthwhile and motivating, perhaps none more so than Tan’s essay on “Angst and the Second Book,” which first appeared in the pages of PW. (Aug.)

LIFESTYLE

MUSTARD SEED MARKET & CAFÉ NATURAL FOODS COOKBOOK
Bev Shaffer. Pelican, $25 (336p) ISBN 9781589804654

Few cookbooks can be all things to all people, but Shaffer (Brownies to Die For!) comes close in her latest. Shaffer, the director of the Mustard Seed Cooking School, offers 250 healthy recipes designed to satisfy carnivores and vegans alike without requiring too many hard-to-find ingredients. Shaffer has a dish for every occasion and season, with entire chapters devoted to grains, beans, salads and soups. Yes, there’s the requisite granola recipes (Coconut-Almond among them) and a Brown-Rice Crust Pizza, but Shaffer also includes a to-die-for Crème Brulée French Toast as well as innovative takes on the familiar, such as Salmon with a Spiced Pinot Noir Sauce. Vegans and those monitoring their diet will appreciate indexes of gluten-free and vegan dishes, while omnivores will have a field day with recipes like Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto, Rib-Eye Roast with Espresso Crust and Maple Pecan Cheesecake. Occasional missteps include a unnecessarily complicated Chicken Quesadilla that requires mashing cooked black beans with spices and making chicken salad before finally assembling and cooking. Most dishes aren’t nearly that involved, and manage to pack a lot of flavor without unnecessary steps or calories. A rich and varied compilation of recipes sure to become staples in many homes, Shaffer has managed to craft a Joy of Cooking for the Whole Foods generation. (Sept.)

ILLUSTRATED

ARCTIC TALE
Donnali Fifield.National Geographic, $30 (160p) ISBN 9781426200656

A companion to the National Geographic movie of the same name, this nature title has the same lovingly detailed photography (and producers) as 2005’s surprise box office behemoth March of the Penguins; this time out, they’re on the opposite end of the planet for a look at Arctic mammals, focusing on the three formative years a polar bear cub and a walrus calf spend under the care of their dedicated mothers, preparing for independent life in the unforgiving environment. The “characters” are essentially composites of many mamas and babies whom the photographers followed while gathering 800 hours of film, but the rest of the environment is hardly neglected; also included are stunning photos of harp seals and their pups, foxes, whales, birds, caribou and others. Even more stunning are the landscape photos, which capture the grand, overwhelming terrain of rock, ice, snow and water. Laudably, these photos communicate well the singular power of the polar landscape, something difficult to put into words for those who haven’t been. One photo of lone bear looking out over an expanse of open water and floating icebergs conveys a sharp sense of the region’s solitude, alienation and delicacy, while drifting towers of ice backed by immobile mountains of rock evoke the spectre of a future in which these landscapes have melted away. Truly eye-opening, this beautiful book serves as an inspiring prod to save what’s left of the icescape while there is still time. (Aug.)

FICTION

DICE
T.N. Baker. St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.95 paper (256p) ISBN 97803123555746

Baker (Sheisty; Still Sheisty) delivers a tale about the dangers of gambling and hustling and of the redemptive powers of love and faith. Cocky hustler and second-generation dice-shooter Wasuan Wells and his girlfriend Enychi Carter get in deep when Wasuan takes on a challenge from neighborhood heavyweight Pretty Tone, who unlike Wasuan, has the money to back up his trash-talk. Caught up in the heat of the game, Wasuan loses $80,000, but can only pay back half the debt. Tone offers to forgive part of the debt (and not to kill Wasuan) if he can sleep with Enychi. Enychi reluctantly agrees. From then on, there’s the requisite pregnancy (but who is the baby daddy?), loads of sex, betrayals, emotional discoveries, murder and redemption. Although Baker captures how her characters would speak, think and act, the plot unwinds in familiar fashion. Consider the novel entertaining if you care for the “Oh no, he/she didn’t” factor. (July)

THE EDGE OF FOREVER
Nancy Kelley. Five Star, $26.95 (256p) ISBN 9781594145780

A pack of disinherited relatives plot revenge after a young, redheaded nurse is named guardian of the 6-year-old Wilson family scion in Kelley’s fast-moving, derivative fifth novel. Upon the death of the family matriarch, Jennifer Denton assumes control of the Wilsons family’s sumptuous home in the Washington D.C. suburbs, which comes with British-accented butler Roberts and young, resentful tyke Johnny Kendall. An undercover State Department agent pursued by operatives for a foreign drug cartel, Johnny’s presumed-dead father, widower Stuart Kendall, resurfaces in the Wilson kitchen after midnight, frightening Jennifer in her bedroom slippers. He inadvertently draws Jennifer and Johnny into the web of the cartel, where Jennifer soon shows her mettle. Jen and Stuart are pretty erotically-challenged, and the Wilson family shenanigans don’t add up to much. But Kelley, a former math teacher and computer systems consultant for the Department of Defense, keeps pages turning with the cartel doings. (July)

THE EX FILES: A Novel about Four Women and Faith
Victoria Christopher Murray. Touchstone, $14 paper (288p) ISBN 9781416535515

In Murray’s powerful testament to Christian fellowship and friendship (after 2006’s A Sin and a Shame), four members of an L.A. prayer group find spiritual growth and heartache as they struggle with broken dreams. Drawn together by Hope Chapel’s Pastor Beverly Ford, these African-American women stand at crossroads in their lives. For Sheridan Hart it’s trying to choose between marrying her lover or going back to the bisexual Ex who left her for a man. Kendall Stewart deals with her rage over her younger sister and Ex falling in love, but must make a life or death choice when her sister becomes seriously ill. Asia Ingram wants revenge on the father of her six-year-old daughter, a retiring, married LA Laker who’s decided to end their decade-long affair. Vanessa Martin copes badly in the aftermath of her husband Reed’s shocking suicide, grappling with a growing depression that threatens her ability to go on. The engrossing transitions the women go through make compelling reading, but some readers might find some of Pastor Ford’s wisdom a little off as she assures Sheridan that Quentin, her bi-sexual Ex, “wasn’t born that way.” Still, Murray’s vivid portrait of how faith can move mountains and heal relationships should inspire her growing conservative fan base. (July)

THE FAITHFUL LOVER
Massimo Bontempelli, trans. from the Italian by Estelle Gilson. Host, $30 (218p) ISBN 9780924047350; $15 paper ISBN 9780924047367

Winner of Italy’s 1957 Strega Prize, this collection of a dozen short stories and a novella from Bontempelli (1878-1960) originally appeared in Italian in 1953. The first seven short stories reveal a playful inventiveness and supple prose: “Empress” finds Cecilia’s mother committing her to a mental asylum but ending up captivated by Cecilia’s delusions of grandeur. Luca the cat burglar in “Second-Story Man” is faced with the dilemma of whether to aid his cop pursuer suffering an accident or flee the scene, while in “Pilgrims,” the narrator leaves his room to travel with darkly robed figures through light and dark in a bizarre morality tale. “Octogenarian” and “The Faithful Lover” are more grounded more in realism, and are less successful: the former is long-winded and strident while the latter reads like a milder Eyes Wide Shut. The energetic rambling novella “Water,” however, is a standout: it centers on Madina, a 15-year-old rural girl who is sent to work in the city for a well-to-do family, and who has several fumbling encounters with men. This well-meaning rescue mission is best suited to scholars and 20th-century literature completists. (July)

FIVE THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT 
Holly Shumas. Warner/5 Spot, $12.99 paper (288p) ISBN 9780446699068

Nora, a non-committal 29-year-old suffering from ho-hum career and relationship angst, is the star of Shumas’s rocky debut. In short order, Nora impulsively quits her job at a San Francisco animal shelter, moves in—perhaps prematurely—with boyfriend Dan (she didn’t really like her roommate all that much, anyway) and ends up ghostwriting bios for Internet daters. She’s also deeply involved in her “meta-life,” in which she constantly (and, on many occasions, annoyingly) analyzes the way she feels about how she’s feeling about what she’s doing. Nora begins to learn from her clients, but her nagging uncertainty about figuring what she wants threatens to sabotage her relationship. It takes her a while, and the process isn’t always riveting reading, but Nora gets herself sorted out. To her credit, Shumas extracts from Nora’s self-involvement a handful of funny moments. (July)

IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS
Terry Barnes. Tyndale, $12.99 paper (350p) ISBN 9781414313016

This winner of the annual Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild is long on nostalgia but a bit creaky around the edges. It’s 1963, and 15-year-old Matthew Collins is grieving the loss of his father, who recently died in a drunk driving accident (a cliché that continues to plague Christian novels). Matt’s small town world of Bethel is further complicated when Wade Hampton Scott, a 17-year-old with cerebral palsy, moves in next door and declares Matt to be his best friend. Racial prejudice, suspected adultery, and small-town politics both in and out of church threaten the stability of the small town. Matt grapples with peer pressure, bitterness, loss of faith, and his own coming of age as he logs long distance mileage for the sheer joy of running. Preachiness creeps in, and Barnes sometimes tells instead of shows. Stiffness pops up in dialogue and descriptions (“a flowerbed surrounded the house and there were also many rosebushes…A large sugar maple dominated the front yard, and there were other trees too.”). The end is a foregone conclusion. Runners, however, will identify with Matt’s passion, and faith readers of a certain age will relish reliving the early 1960s, when soda pop was still a treat and everyone turned out for a small-town parade. (July)

LYING DOWN MOUNTAIN
Heyoka Merrifield. Atria/Beyond Words, $12 paper (128p) ISBN 9781582701530

In this preachy conclusion to Merrifield’s White Buffalo Woman Trilogy, a Hopi-inspired narrative and photos of the author’s artwork combine for a clichéd tale about the dangers hubris. Sacred twins and lovers Spotted Cat and White Bison Calf (now grown and renamed Jaguar and White Buffalo Woman) are welcomed by the Peaceful People into the Land of the Lying Down Mountain. Peace is briefly shattered when a tribe of violent nomads attempts to raid the Peaceful People’s land. Tranquility is restored when the tribe offers to share an extravagant feast. Time passes and White Buffalo gives birth to a daughter—Dream Catcher—who, true to her name, has prophetic dreams. The book ends on a note of hope and warning, with preciously prescient dreams about an unbalanced future in which humans are disconnected from and heedless of their impact on the Earth. (Also mentioned are air that burns human lungs and a deadly “gourd-shaped cloud” that spills hot ash across the landscape.) Merrifield offers a message of peace and reconnection with the Earth that is well-intentioned if overly simplistic. (July)

MANDARINS: Stories
Ryunosuke Akutagawa, trans. from the Japanese by Charles De Wolf. Archipelago, $16 paper (208p) ISBN 9780977857609

There’s a lot more to Akutagawa (1892-1927) than his short story “Rashomon,” made famous by the Kirosawa film, and not among these 13 tales, delicately balanced worlds in miniature. Newly translated, they evoke the lost splendor and conflicts of Rashomon’s Meiji Era. “The Garden” depicts a crumbling inn belonging to the once-great family Nakamura; presciently, the last surviving relative, Ren’ichi, has abandoned the land to attend art school in Tokyo. Titled after a line from Basho, “O’er a Withered Moor” re-creates, in an quiet Osaka residence, the mournful last moments of a great man’s life, surrounded by his grieving, anxious disciples. The exquisite “Kesa and Morito” is made up of soliloquies by two lovers who contemplate murdering Kesa’s husband in order to consummate their conflicted longing for each other. Modern tales include the vignette “Mandarins,” the account of a ennui-laden train traveler who looks on in delighted astonishment as his young peasant co-passenger throws oranges to her brothers, waving as they pass. Akutagawa’s stories are gorgeous and intimate. (July)