Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 3/24/2008

-- Publishers Weekly, 3/24/2008

NONFICTION

Around the World in 80 Dinners: The Ultimate Culinary Adventure
Cheryl Jamison and Bill Jamison. Morrow, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 9780060878955
After years of painstaking planning, veteran cookbook authors Cheryl and Bill Jamison (Smoke & Spice, American Home Cooking, The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining) used all their frequent flier miles on a three-month global culinary tour, chronicled in this charming travelogue. Beginning in Bali, the couple traveled to 10 different countries during the fall of 2005, sampling the local cuisine and taking in the sights. Narrating as “we,” the Jamisons bring readers along as they dig into succulent jumbo crab at a hole in the wall in Singapore, dine on a luxurious wood and rattan houseboat in India and tour wineries in Australia; unfortunately, the spell is occasionally broken by awkward lapses into third person. That aside, the Jamisons make for informative and inquisitive travel guides, seeking out lesser-known establishments that capture the feel of each country. Though they occasionally splurge on an upscale meal, the majority of their dining experiences are well within the budgets of most travelers. Those interested in replicating legs of their journey will find the book a welcome resource, including information on lodging, dining destinations and not-to-be-missed cultural experiences (like the Carmen Miranda Museum in Brazil). For the sedentary, the Jamisons have thoughtfully included a native recipe from each stop. (Mar.)

Change Up: An Oral History of 8 Key Events That Shaped Modern Baseball
Larry Burke and Peter Thomas Fornatale, with Jim Baker. Rodale, $24.95 (304p) 9781594861895
Since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, the league has grown from 16 professional teams in the Northeast to a truly international game, featuring players from around the globe. In their oral history, Sports Illustrated senior editor Burke and sports writer Fornatale (Winning Secrets of Poker: Interviews with the Game’s Best Players) get the story of eight major changes in the game since Robinson’s time. Some of their choices, such as the Latino talent explosion and the rise of the players’ union—the intricacies of which prove fascinating—make perfect sense. Others—notably the chapter on Cal Ripken, Jr.’s consecutive games played streak—are less convincing. And conspicuous by its absence is steroid abuse. Told by players, managers, executives and reporters, each chapter is only as interesting as its contributors; some ballplayers rise to the challenge with clever, well-spoken passages, while others maintain a locker-room level of articulation. While hardcore fans won’t learn much, they should enjoy the first-person perspectives. (Mar.)

Don’t Let My Mama Read This: A Southern-Fried Memoir
Hadjii. Broadway/Harlem Moon, $12.95 paper (240p) ISBN 9780767926478
Hadjii, whose first film, Somebodies, debuted at the 2006 Sundance Festival, opens this memoir with an irony-laden declaration: “God forbid, a black man who isn’t one-dimensional. Could it be that I’m a storyteller who’s just telling stories?” He’s drawing attention to the difficulties that some readers may have in trying to pigeon-hole him, a multi-dimensional entertainer whose pages are littered with unapologetically provocative language. His first sketch, concerning his experiences at a “white” college, ridicules white students writing about idyllic childhoods, followed by a black student’s equally clichéd story of oppression, followed by his own refusal to “sit around and reminisce about bad times.” He then launches into some very funny stories about growing up in a middle-class, church-going black family in a small Georgia town. The author has the ability to inject humor into utterly normal things, such as his mother’s campaign against his “crusty draws,” the way she painted his wounds with “Merthiolate…like alcohol on steroids,” and his parents’ annual “Battle of the Christmas Tree,” during which they fight over every aspect of selecting (real v. fake, skinny v. full) and decorating (white lights v. colored, etc.). Twenty and thirty-somethings will eat this up; older readers willing to brave Hadjii’s language may enjoy his stand-up sense of humor. (Apr.)

The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close
Kim “Howard” Johnson. Chicago Review, $24.95 (416p) ISBN 9781556527128
In his account of the life of conceptual humorist, teacher, actor and improvisational comedy maestro Del Close, Johnson (Close’s long time friend and a co-author, with him, of Truth in Comedy) affectionately recounts the successes and demons of a man largely unknown outside of comedy circles. As a teen, Close left his Kansas hometown for a traveling carnival, a formative performing experience, and eventually, he joined a small comedy troupe which lead to stand-up in New York, an appearance on Broadway, comedy recordings and “prodigious drug use.” In 1967, Close helped create a long-form of comedy improv called the Harold, a significant performing breakthrough. During a ten-year stint providing directorial guidance to the famous Second City comedy theater in Chicago his reputation grew and he saw more than a few of his students join the cast of Saturday Night Live. When he died in 1999, his will made news: “I give my skull to the Goodman Theatre for a production of Hamlet.” Johnson interviewed more than 80 friends and associates for this book, and his apotheosis of Close as the funny fireball and grand guru of American improvisational comedy is a delight to read. 50 b/w photos. (Apr.)

The Green Bubble: Waste Into Wealth: The New Energy Revolution
Robert Bell. Abbeville, $35 paper (304p) ISBN 9780789209559
In this exhaustive (and exhausting) look at the future of energy, Bell, a professor of management and chairman of the economics department at Brooklyn College, CUNY, maps a complicated future for investors and laymen with clear-eyed examination of failed U.S. environmental policy and worldwide efforts to break away from oil. Under discussion are a wide range of topics: the stampede away from oil; wind energy and turbines; photovoltaic opportunities; what carmakers are saying and what they’re actually doing (including a careful look at the popular Toyota Prius); the extremely lengthy timetables for new energy-saving technologies to get off the ground; and the processes, research and expectations tied up in them all. Drawing an analogy to the dotcom debacle, Bell predicts investment in the hot properties of energy tech will lead to a bubble effect, eventually draining the financial resources of investors who linger too long. Frequently fascinating anecdotes—as in the story of Sweden’s green welfare state and bicycles of Lyon—buoy what otherwise can read like a university course. Bell’s latest (following 2003’s The Stock Market Sting) is an educated, opinionated tour through the future of energy economics that should shore up the will and wisdom of investors, as well as open the eyes of average Americans. (Apr.)

Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table
Sara Roahen. Norton, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9780393061673
In this gratifying love letter to her adopted home, food writer Roahen takes the French idea of terroir—the effect of a region’s climate and geography on its wine grapes—as a jumping-off point, locating New Orlean’s “emotional terroir” in its food. Though it’s a nebulous concept, this culinary tour succeeds repeatedly in defining the indefinable with grace, wit and passion—especially in regards to the city’s alluring, complex flavors and aromas. Beginning with gumbo, Roahen examines the Crescent City’s signature dishes, offering a history of the cuisine, the people who shaped it and those who keep it alive. Readers will meet Ernest and Mary Hansen, crafters of “artisan” shaved-ice sno-balls; take a seat at Luizza’s by the Track for transcendental BBQ shrimp po-boys; sample Miss Lovie’s phenomenal Big Mama’s Seafood Gumbo; and marvel at the ravenous characters populating Hawk’s crawfish boil. An accomplished cook herself, Roahan periodically ushers readers into her kitchen for experiments like the daunting, superindulgent Turducken: a chicken stuffed inside a duck that is then stuffed inside a turkey. Hurricane Katrina is treated as a kind of recurring character, dogging the city and its inhabitants, and Roahen honors their struggle and loss. Those familiar with the city will smile and nod along; readers who’ve never had the pleasure may find themselves making travel arrangements long before the last page. (Feb.)

The Killing of an Author: Jackie Kennedy, Sonny Pfizer, Seven Little Ayatollahs and a Suicide Pact
Richard Crasta. Invisible Man (www.richardcrasta.com), $15.95 paper (218p) ISBN 9781887681032
Crasta’s 1993 comic novel The Revised Kama Sutra eventually received favorable reviews and was sold around the world, but its birth was a tortuous process that took a severe toll on its author. Crasta now runs his own press, Invisible Man, and in this memoir-cum exposé, he rails against both a perceived Indian elite and a seemingly politically correct but ultimately racist white Western publishing clique. Crasta recounts that after agent Lynn Nesbit and Knopf honcho Sonny Mehta ignored his absurdly offensive entreaties hawking his novel, he was finally published by Penguin India. However, his editor, pressured by his good friend Mehta, insisted he excise references to Jackie Kennedy. When Crasta refused, the publisher lost interest in publicizing or reprinting the book. Crasta also has other claims: that literary agent Scott Meredith scammed wannabe authors by charging them for evaluations; that Columbia MFA writing workshops attacked his self-esteem by degrading his subject matter; and that his psychiatrist ex-wife addicted him to Librium and Valium. Although similarly disgruntled writers may find validation, Crasta’s unfocused, bitter, and ultimately self-indulgent rant tries for wit and parody but misses its mark, merely serving to prove that the author is his own worst enemy. (Mar.)

Life as It Is: Biology for the Public Sphere
William F. Loomis. Univ. of Calif, $24.95 (248p) ISBN 9780520253575
Courting controversy, Univ. of Calif. biology professor (and former president of the Society for Developmental Biology) Loomis tackles the “biologically generated societal problems of our day” in this highly provocative book. He does not claim to be unbiased, but his treatment of hot-button issues like reproductive rights, genetic modification and the origins of human consciousness evades liberal and conservative labels. For instance, Loomis straddles the middle ground on human stem-cell research and cloning, distinguishing between benign therapeutic uses and reproductive cloning, which he considers dangerous, unwarranted “tinkering” with the species that could cause “unforeseen effects” through generations. In his last chapters, dealing with evolution, Loomis illustrates how Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory can encompass cooperation as well as competition, and he even sees a positive role for religion. The book’s final chapter, “Sustainable Life,” is bound to be its most controversial, suggesting that the only viable solution to problems of global warming, pollution and world-wide drought is to “quickly reduce the birthrate” by means of a global consensus to extend and enforce China’s one-child policy. For all his strong opinions, Loomis is a careful and clear guide to the historical, social and political aspects of biology, making this overview both thorough and daring. (Mar.)

Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian
Scott Douglas. Da Capo, $25 (352p) ISBN 9780786720910
McSweeny’s contributor Douglas was a college student who liked books and needed a job, so he became a page in a “run-down” Anaheim public library. He soon discovered the “dark truth about librarians”—that they don’t actually read much. Still, lacking better career plans, he accepted a state grant to get a degree in library science. The more he got to know his local branch, the more it felt like “watching a soap”; the staff was “like a family.” When he’s not repeating petty tales of staff infighting, Douglas focuses on four types of library users: teens, homeless people, crazy people and the elderly. According to him, most of them smell, all but the elderly make too much noise, and they all, in defiance of library rules, try to access pornography on the internet. After retelling a story of someone masturbating at the computer, or of nefarious activities in the public restroom, the author is quick to follow up with proud words about being a non-discriminatory public servant; his pieties wear thin after awhile. Early on, when Douglas realizes he’s a librarian because he loves helping people he’s quite likeable, but when his stories become prurient, it’s a turn-off. (Mar.)

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy
Michael T. Klare. Metropolitan, $26 (336p) ISBN 9780805080643
Looking at the “new international energy order,” author and journalist Klare (Resource Wars) finds America’s “sole superpower” status falling to the increasing influence of “petro-superpowers” like Russia and “Chindia.” Klare identifies and analyzes the major players as well as the playing field, positing armed conflict and environmental disaster in the balance. Currently in the lead is emerging energy superpower Russia, which has gained “immense geopolitical influence” selling oil and natural gas to Europe and Asia; the rapidly-developing economies of China and India follow. Klare also warns of the danger of a new cold-war environment that would suck up resources that should go toward “environmentally sensitive energy alternatives.” To avert catastrophe, he urges a U.S. diplomatic initiative to build collaboration with China (rapidly moving to second place in carbon emissions) to develop alternative energy resources, such as biodiesel fuels; ultra-light, ultra-efficient vehicles; and an innovative plan to use new coal plants, currently in-development, to strip carbon waste which can then be buried underground. Well-researched and incisive throughout, Klare provides a comprehensive but approachable overview of a complex problem, and offers promising policy alternatives to disaster. (Apr.)

The Several Lives Of Joseph Conrad
John Stape. Pantheon, $30 (400p) ISBN 9781400044498
Joseph Conrad’s lasting reputation has been built on his acclaimed books, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and The Secret Agent, but Stape, drawing on an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, shows how Conrad’s life can be sharply divided into three parts: his youth, dominated by the concerns of disenfranchised Polish relatives; his travels as a working seaman; and finally, his long career as a writer and family man. And while Stape, editor of The Oxford Companion to Joseph Conrad, admits to the difficulty of painting a portrait of a man who was inclined to bend the truth about his own life, he has done an exacting job tracking down the people and places Conrad encountered in his life. Unfortunately, this biography values detail over insight. We read about lunches with people who will never reappear in Conrad’s life, but are left wanting over questions of literary import. For example, Conrad began writing about unhappy romantic affiliations long before he embarked on his uneventful if not impassioned marriage to Jessie George, but Stape barely touches upon previous romantic involvements that may have influenced Conrad’s thinking. Readers are left with a great deal about Conrad’s life, but little insight into how it shaped his work. (Mar.)

The Thought that Counts: A Firsthand Account of One Teenager’s Experience with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Jared Kant, Martin Franklin and Linda Wasmer Andrews. Oxford Univ., $30 (192p) ISBN 9780195316889; $9.95 paper 9780195316896
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects an estimated 2.2 million Americans, and in this introduction to the illness, written for older teenagers and young adults, Kant provides a personal account of his OCD experience. He relates how even the most mundane activities may be permeated by depression and terror, recalling for instance how changing for gym class in school was fraught with anxiety. Kant shows how patience, perseverance, empathetic parents and friends, and, especially, good treatment—medication and a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy known as Exposure and Response Prevention—helped him flourish as a college student. He is aided, particularly in providing more in-depth clinical information, by Franklin (clinical director, Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety) and freelance health and psychology writer Andrews (co-author, If Your Adolescent Has an Anxiety Disorder). The authors address a host of practical questions, including educating others about OCD, how those experiencing OCD can divert themselves from the disorder (through regular exercise, among other strategies), and adjusting to life in college. In the sometimes jargon-ridden mental health world, it’s refreshing to see a book that is so succinct, straightforward, reasonably priced and helpful. (Mar.)

LIFESTYLE

Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You
Simon Doonan. Simon & Schuster, $24 (288p) ISBN 9781416535430
Entertaining and bitingly witty, Doonan (Confessions of a Window Dresser) calls upon the women of America to embrace their inner potential for dressing idiosyncratically, conventions be damned. But in making clear his fondness for vulgarity and bits of bad taste, he is clear about the downright hideous: fannypacks, for instance, are close to blasphemy. Doonan is uninhibited in revealing certain truths many outside the fashion industry tend to throw in its face: yes, there is more to life than clothing, and yes, the world of high style is often “depressing.” Before one praises him for single-handedly unveiling the dirty underbelly of Fashion Week, it’s worth noting his reliance on heavyweight figures such as Iman, Isabel Toledo, Lucy Liu and Hamish Bowels to provide their own insights via mini-surveys. Entertaining anecdotes from Doonan’s life pepper the text, though his own style can at times be flippant or offensive (as when musing on how he would dress were he a butch lesbian). (Apr.)

  The Grieving Garden: Living With the Death of a Child
Suzanne Redfern and Susan K. Gilbert. Hampton Roads, $16.95 paper (304p) ISBN 9781571745811
Grieving parents Redfern and Gilbert, along with 20 others, fill a void in the literature of child loss that both discovered after the death of a daughter; having “devoured every grief-related bit of writing,” they found no relief for their escalating isolation: “what I needed wasn’t information, but company.” Unadorned by “expert” commentary, Redfern and Gilbert address directly the personal experience of living out “a parent’s worst fear” with the voices of those who have. Organized by issue (24, in six sections) rather than contributor, it’s easy to find a wide variety of perspectives on specific challenges (“Surviving the First Few Days,” “Pursuing Counseling,” “Encountering the Void” and “Continuing the Connection”). Parents take turns weighing in on each issue in conversational first-person contributions (most solicited in written interviews), occasionally including journal entries, verse and straightforward guidance (especially helpful is the long view provided by Martin Katz, whose son died in 1981). A “More About Us” section provides photos and brief profiles. A variety of backgrounds and circumstances, along with a shared dedication to speak out on a notoriously unspeakable loss, make this brave volume cathartic and comforting; grieving parents may well find it invaluable. (Apr.)

Your Child’s Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them
Jenifer Fox, foreword by Marcus Buckingham. Viking, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 9780670018765
Fox, head of a girl’s boarding school in New Jersey, writes about a strengths-based curriculum she developed and implemented with great success. She not only presents a workbook that can be utilized by educators and parents, but also offers a convincing argument in favor of over-turning outdated curriculums and teaching methods. Instead of focusing on weaknesses, Fox submits that children do far better when the focus is on their strengths. Childhood is for “creative dreaming,” not preparation for standardized tests. Fox identifies three types of strengths: activity, learning and relationship strengths, and helps parents guide their children toward self-discovery, explaining that true strengths include not only what a child is good at, but what she enjoys and makes her feel strong. The book is written in a lively and engaging style, and sprinkled with anecdotes from Fox’s teaching life and her own experiences as a student who was frustrated and uncomfortable in a traditional school setting. Clearly, writing is one of Fox’s strengths, as is her inspiring passion for helping kids lead meaningful lives. (Mar.)

ILLUSTRATED

Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light
Martha Tedeschi with Kristi Dahm. Yale Univ., $45(228p) ISBN 9780300119459
Beginning as a lithographer’s apprentice, iconic American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910) learned the basics of drawing and etching without ever receiving a serious artistic education, developing his skill through practical experience and intense observation. As editor and Art Institute of Chicago curator Tedeschi relates, the artist was obsessed with the ability to depict light properly in its limitless incarnations. Though he was accomplished in a variety of mediums, Homer found watercolors to be the most efficient for what Tedeschi calls “his dedicated examination of the relationship between color, light, and water.” Besides reproducing a stunning array of Homer’s watercolor paintings, the text offers highly specific description of the artist’s process and materials, articulating the different uses of opaque and transparent watercolors and varying paper textures in a technical but reader-friendly manner. Though critics agree that Homer’s attention to light and color are entirely his own, the text is also thorough in examining Homer’s influences, from Impressionism to the English Aesthetic Movement, as well as his conceptual ties to his contemporary, Walt Whitman. The result is a superior read for those seeking an introduction to the medium of watercolors or an exploration of Homer’s work. 275 color illustrations. (Feb.)

POETRY

The Endarkenment
Jefferey McDaniel. Univ. of Pittsburgh, $14 (80p) ISBN 9780822959953
Known for his commanding stage presence as a reader, McDaniel trades hard in his fourth book on his rough-and-tumble persona—a recovering addict from the working class streets—while also showing softer sides. One poem brazenly describes “boner etiquette,” while another marvels at the birth of a daughter. These poems feel as if they are made for performance, paying less attention to the materiality of language than to speaking in a clear and strong voice, and some jokes fall flatter on the page than they would on stage, such as the tiny poem “Trent Lott Addresses the Log Cabin Republicans”: “We know what you’re doing,/ in them cabins,/ with all them logs.” At times, one may wish for a little less cliché and easy epiphany, but McDaniel’s sometimes awkward, if earnest searching might just be what allows him to find moments of great beauty, humor and stillness: “...the wind / picks up a plastic chair and decides not to sit in it.” (Apr.)

FICTION

Mary of Nazareth: A Novel
Marek Halter. Crown, $24 (320p) ISBN 9780307394835
Harek, author of biblically-inspired novels such as Zipporah, Wife of Moses and Sarah, imagines the childhood and tumultuous young adulthood of Miriam (Mary) of Nazareth, mother of Jesus. Her loving parents Joachim and Hannah want to protect their daughter, but violence surrounds them as Herod’s egregious taxation sparks Jewish insurrection. Miriam befriends a young revolutionary named Barabbas (yes, the same seditious Barabbas to be released more than three decades later instead of Jesus), and her world is upended by political uncertainty. In Halter’s hands, Miriam is equal parts brazen temerity and quiet holiness, her deep courage an example to those who would submit to injustice, her scholarship unusual among women and her skill at healing remarkable. The novel offers brisk pacing and a good deal of adventure. Along the way, readers will learn a great deal of the ascetic Essene sect and the traditions and practices of first-century Judaism. And the novel’s climax—the famous Annunciation—happens not out of the blue, but because a determined Miriam asks Yahweh to bring the Messiah and is blessed. In Halter’s hands, Mary is not a passive receptacle of divine grace, but an active agent in changing the world. (Apr.)