Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 4/7/2008

-- Publishers Weekly, 4/7/2008

NONFICTION

Web Pick of the Week

Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag
Michael Tonello. Morrow, $25.95 (272p) ISBN 9780061473333
In a funny, whip-smart memoir sure to be a sensation among Vogue and W devotees, erstwhile hair and makeup artist Tonello (now a columnist for HuffingtonPost.com) chronicles a surprising (even to him!) trans-Atlantic move from Provincetown, R.I. to a city he’d fallen in love with on a short trip: Barcelona, where he knows no one and doesn’t speak the language. Tonello’s initial euphoria dissolves when his new job fails to materialize. To stay afloat, Tonello starts selling items on Ebay with startling results: his first, heart-racing success, a year-old $99 Polo scarf he sold for $430 to a Midwesterner (“I guess he really liked plaid”) makes Tonello an instant believer in the resale capabilities of high-end luxury items. Thus his new trade, and his quest for the Birkin, the “it bag” of all time, famous for its impenetrable waiting list (“What do you mean the waiting list is closed? It’s a waiting list. So I can’t wait?”). After many failed attempts, Tonello plans a weekend drive to Madrid in search of the haute couture holy grail; the result is a both a hilarious raid on fashion’s strongholds and a memoir that satisfies like a novel. Fashion die-hards, and many others, will be delighted from beginning to end. (Apr.)

NONFICTION

AK47: The Story of a Gun
Michael Hodges. MacAdam/Cage, $24 (225p) ISBN 9781596922860
Invented by Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1947, the AK47 assault rifle was adopted by the Soviet army, subsequently became “the icon of Third World revolution,” and now serves as “the brand leader for international terrorism.” In a lively but chilling investigative history, British journalist Hodges examines the legacy of the “most ubiquitous gun in the world.” With only eight moving parts, the semi-automatic is cheap, durable and simple to operate, providing 650 rounds-per-minute firepower with minimal training. Communist China supplied them to the North Vietnamese in 1963, where they were better suited for jungle fighting than the U.S. Army’s M16; that conflict cemented the AK47’s reputation as “the ‘anti-imperialist gun,’” a symbol now evoked by Osama bin Laden, who never appears on-camera without one. Today it arms Palestinian resistance fighters and child soldiers in Sudan, as well as schoolyard shooters in the U.S. and Rambo at the movies —a lot to cover, but Hodges knows how to keep his thorough, eye-opening narrative moving, even as he hopscotches to nearly every conflict zone of the past 60 years. Though not for the feint of heart, this pop-history page-turner should appeal to anyone interested in military history or international conflict. (Apr.)

Faithful to Fenway: Believing In Boston, Baseball, and America’s Most Beloved Ballpark
Michael Ian Borer. New York Univ., $18.95 paper (288p) ISBN 9780814799779
In this, his first book, Borer, an assistant professor of sociology and urban studies at Furman University, explores the sociological and urban cultural impact the Red Sox’s fabled Fenway Park has had on Boston. After explaining that an “important place can become a part of culture’s symbolic system and help foster collective memories,” Borer demonstrates how Fenway, by providing “a place where the narrative could be passed from [one] generation to the next,” became the specific site where the locals’ individual histories developed into the region’s collective history. Along with his astute social scientific insight, Borer also includes plenty of first-person accounts of the ballpark from Red Sox greats like Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Pesky and from regular Bostonians and out-of-town baseball fans. This ability to intermingle scholarly research with America’s beloved pastime has allowed Borer to write an astute academic treatise that has the appeal of a consumer sports pub. (Apr.)

Métro Stop Paris: An Underground History of the City of Light
Gregor Dallas. Walker, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 9780802716958
Historian Dallas’s conceit—a Métro tour of Paris in 12 episodes—offers a wonderful opportunity to examine key moments and characters in the city’s history, which he does with verve, style and originality. All 12 tableaux are subtly linked by the themes of birth and death, which in Dallas’s hands, permeate Paris’s history through the centuries. The first stop is Denfert-Rochereau, in the part of Paris once called “Hell,” where the catacombs are located and where the guillotine was moved in 1830. Indeed, there are several beheadings in Dallas’s tales, not to mention the death of King Henri II in a jousting match, unleashing a bloodbath that included the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. The author offers irreverent appraisals of other royals and noblemen whose folly invariably led to bloodshed. On the other hand, the last stop is, fittingly, the Pè Lachaise cemetery, whose visitors, despite the surrounding graves, “have a glimpse of hope in their eyes: one soul may be gone, but another is always born.” Dallas is equally adept at cultural, political and military history, presenting a close-up view of the now-demolished Les Halles through Zola’s novel The Belly of Paris and a rousing account of the weeks leading up to the French Revolution. Anyone who loves Paris will love this book. (May)

The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict
Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes. Norton, $22.95 (192p) ISBN 9780393067019
Readers may be surprised to learn just how difficult it was for Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz and Kennedy School of Government professor Bilmes to dig up the actual and projected costs of the Iraq War for this thorough piece of accounting. Using “emergency” funds to pay for most of the war, the authors show that the White House has kept even Congress and the Comptroller General from getting a clear idea on the war’s true costs. Other expenses are simply overlooked, one of the largest of which is the $600 billion going toward current and future health care for veterans. These numbers reveal stark truths: improvements in battlefield medicine have prevented many deaths, but seven soldiers are injured for every one that dies (in WWII, this ratio was 1.6 to one). Figuring in macroeconomic costs and interest—the war has been funded with much borrowed money—the cost rises to $4.5 trillion; add Afghanistan, and the bill tops $7 trillion. This shocking expose, capped with 18 proposals for reform, is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the war was financed, as well as what it means for troops on the ground and the nation’s future. (Mar.)

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
Joe Nick Patoski. Little Brown, $27.99 (576p) ISBN 9780316017787
This impressive, entertaining chronicle of Willie Nelson’s life is replete with exactly what you’d expect—honky-tonk, long nights on the open road, whiskey, womanizing and weed—but Texas writer Patoski (Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire, Texas Mountains) looks beyond country music trappings to find the funny, talented, determined man who became an unlikely icon. Raised in Abbott, Texas, by impoverished grandparents, Nelson was writing songs about “love, betrayal and cheating” by the age of seven, but was told throughout his life that he couldn’t sing, play or keep a beat. As an adult, Nelson worked odd jobs—encyclopedia salesman among them—while selling songs in Nashville; he had an early hit in 1961 with Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” and soon began recording for RCA. Fourteen albums later, “with not much to show,” Nelson fled to Austin, Texas, a move many viewed as career suicide; instead, it was a launching pad to stardom, propelled by the up-and-coming hippie movement and the strength of his groundbreaking album Red Headed Stranger. Patoski conducted over a hundred interviews for this thorough, well-noted “epic,” peopling it with “pickers, gypsies, pirates, vagabonds, wanderers and carneys,” including fellow performers like Kris Kristofferson, Kinky Friedman and Leona Williams. Writing with an affectionate country twang, Patoski gives his subject the consideration he deserves in a fine, fluid piece of storytelling that any Nelson fan will appreciate. 8 pages b&w photos. (Apr.)

In Art: Something Old, Something New, Something Blue (State)

Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights
Bill Ivey. Univ. of Calif., $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9780520241121
Chairman of the National Endowment of Arts from 1998 to 2001, Ivey brings an informed perspective to a growing chorus of alarm over “big media, abetted by government, running roughshod over public interest.” An enthusiast for mainstream American culture and the vernacular performing arts (he directed the Country Music Foundation from 1971 to 1998), Ivey demonstrates how the promise of early 20th century mass media—when film, radio and TV produced an unprecedented mass audience and “enabled America to discover its cultural mainstream”—is being stifled in the era of digital technology. A major mechanism for this is copyright law, which has become less a tool to protect creative enterprise than “to protect certain industries against competition”; as corporations snap up the rights to works of art, ordinary citizens are losing easy access to their national heritage. Ivey’s answer is an official U.S. Department of Cultural Affairs (as well as a “Cultural Bill of Rights”) committed to the idea that the arts are “key to a high quality of life for all Americans.” With cogent consideration of the stakes for all involved, and some interesting glimpses behind the scenes at the NEA, Ivey has produced a comprehensive treatment of an important subject. (Mar.)

Courbet
Segolene Le Men. Abbeville, $135 (400p) ISBN 9780789209771
French painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), an early master of Realism, is famous for his evocative portraits and landscapes, his profound understanding of shadow and light and his working-class sympathies, all well represented in this beautiful, comprehensive monograph. The text provided by Le Men, a specialist in 19th century French art, chronicles Courbet’s life in detail, beginning with his childhood in the provincial Ornans, a setting that would be highly influential in both his art and politics. By the time Courbet made it to Paris in the 1840s, the chaotic artist-bohemian scene that greeted him was a radical, populist and uneasy departure from the Romantic model, a reflection of “the confusion and the difficulties of a social group becoming aware of itself,” as well as the end of art patronage in a world where “money was [still] king.” Looking into his social motives as well as his aesthetic values, intelligence, talent and ambition, Le Men charts the progress of the man, and the movement, as he becomes a vigilant witness for the lower classes and those in the Provinces. Visually, one could not hope for a more impressive, complete collection of the artist’s work—beginning with his first painting, done at age ten. Le Men also offers a great deal of insight into Courbet’s materials and artistic process, including elaboration on the artist’s recurring metaphors. (Mar.)

Things I Have Learned in My Life so Far
Stefan Sagmeister, essays by Steven Heller, Daniel Nettle and Nancy Spector. Abrams, $40 (248p) ISBN 9780810995291
In 2000, Austrian born, New York-based graphic designer Sagmeister created this book’s eponymous list in his diary, including twenty statements such as: “Trying to Look Good Limits My Life,” “Assuming is Stifling” and “Worry Solves Nothing.” These “maxims,” which Sagmeister admits verge on the “banal” but which are also devoid of cynicism, were transformed into art projects: “Assuming is Stifling” graced the cover of a Japanese annual report; “Everybody [Always] Thinks They are Right” was represented by six 33-foot white inflatable monkeys, each one displaying a different word. This “design book for non-designers” is itself an experiment in form, comprised of 15 booklets in a box whose cover is a cut out of Sagmeister’s face; when inserted, each completes the portrait in a different way. One of the booklets includes essays on Sagmeister’s oeuvre, the most interesting by critic Heller, who states: “This is truly the nexus of art and design in the service of expression.” This book is bound to be of interest to followers of Sagmeister’s work, as well as to the general reader in search of an invigorating approach to graphic design and, one might argue, autobiography. (Mar.)

LIFESTYLE

The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Bain to Take Control of Your Tasks, Time, and Talents
Nancy A. Ratey, foreword by John J.Ratey. St. Martin’s, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 9780312355333
Ratey has produced a valuable resource for people addressing the daily challenges caused by the neurobiological condition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Symptoms of ADHD include difficulty with organization, focus, and time management. Ratey, a professional ADHD coach who was diagnosed with the disorder herself while in graduate school, provides a set of concrete tools that ADHD adults can use to help themselves traverse both personal and professional situations, though the author emphasizes that her book is not a substitute for diagnosis and treatment. Short sections explaining the biological reasons for the disorder’s more exasperating symptoms are contributed by Ratey’s husband John, a psychiatrist specializing in treatment of ADHD and co-author of Driven to Distraction, a seminal ADHD book. With a nod to her audience, Ratey divides her book into sections that can be absorbed in small increments, including her own struggles with the disorder, her six-step “A.N.S.W.E.R” system, case studies and tips from spouses and employers. For ADHD sufferers, Ratey’s book might not be a one-stop remedy but it’s an extremely helpful starting place. (May)

I [Heart] Felt: 33 Eye-Popping Projects for the Inspired Knitter
Kathleen Taylor. Taunton, $19.95 (176p) ISBN 9781561589524
In her follow-up to her first book, Knit One, Felt Too, Taylor offers new patterns and projects for veteran knitter/felters and those just starting out. Taylor starts with the basics: felting, for those who don’t know, is as simple as accidentally shrinking a sweater in the wash: wool yarn knit on oversize patterns and then shrunk, resulting in “thick, soft, and fuzzy fabric.” Anyone familiar with the basics of knitting and pearling—including some cabling—should be able to handle these projects, which range from hats and scarfs to slippers, bags and jackets for men, women and kids. An ideal gift for knitters at any stage, the book’s bold, full-color design and cheery photographs make it easy to get enthusiastic about the next project. (Mar.)

Mama Rock’s Rules: Ten Lessons for Raising a Houseful of Successful Children
Rose Rock with Valerie Graham, foreword by Chris Rock. Collins, $22.95 (256p) ISBN 9780061536120
Much more than Chris Rock’s mom, first-time author and radio show host (The Mom Show) Rock has been a special needs school teacher, a preschool administrator, a mother of 10 and a foster mother of 17. Rock begins simply, and significantly, with her own mother’s advice: “[B]eing a parent is not about being right, it’s about doing right.” Rock believes in the absolute authority of parents (“Some parents tell me… their [kids’] bedrooms are off limits. Are you kidding me?”) but also in the need for those parents to be “steadfast role models.” Divided into chapters like “I Am Your Mama, Not Your Friend,” “No Child Really Wants to be Left Alone,” and “Feed Them and They Will Tell You Everything,” Rose’s rules are sensible and well illustrated, embracing traditional values like discipline, everyday spirituality and togetherness. With the help of editor and columnist Graham (who works with Rock on The Mom Show), Rock weaves practical advice and reminiscence without a hitch. Asides from her children buttress the text, providing perspective on their mom’s parenting methods and their own, but fans of comedian Chris Rock (who provides a foreword) won’t find an inside scoop here. Instead, they’ll find a smart, relatable and empowering approach to parenting that’s been proven effective many times over. (Apr.)

We Can’t Stay Together for the Dogs: Doing What’s Best for Your Dog When Your Relationship Breaks Up
Jennifer Keene. TFH, $22.95 (240p) ISBN 9780793806249
As with kids, keeping the pets safe during a breakup should be paramount, and professional dog trainer Keene offers sound advice—as pertains to dog and owner—for before, during and after the split. Indeed, many suggestions could also apply to the children—adults should not treat their dogs like bargaining chips, for example—and Keene spends plenty of time addressing the practical (human) issues of moving on: finding a new place to live, laying ground rules with the ex, staying positive and facing new financial challenges. As for the dogs, Keene covers a huge range of topics, from fundamentals like “a day in the life of a part-time pet parent” and the relative merits of full- and joint-custody, to monitoring canine stress, splitting up a pack and leaving an abusive relationship with your pet. The book’s lengthy third part, suitable for anyone living alone with a dog, deals thoroughly and helpfully with life after the breakup. Drawing from her own experience with divorce, Keene’s well-designed manual offers a wise perspective and solid, practical advice based in basic courtesy, common sense, calm and cooperation; though it’s hardly innovative, her council will definitely help ground dogged readers during the tumultuous, hair-pulling end of a relationship. (Apr.)

RELIGION

We the Purple: Faith, Politics and the Independent Voter
Marcia Ford. Tyndale, $17.99 (240p) ISBN 9781414317175
In the same what-you-see-is-what-you-get voice that fans of Diary of a Misfit got to know and love, Ford gives a personal overview of the misunderstood, ill-defined estimated 42 percent of American voters known as Independents. In her informal, conversational way, she not only offers a peek at the trajectory she followed to independent political thinking, but provides a map through the maze of organizations, blogs, movements and philosophies of her fellow Purples. The insights of an eclectic representation of such folk, ranging in age from 23 to 87, illustrate the diversity of voters unwilling to toe a party line. A woman of faith, Ford dislikes any pigeonholing of her politics based solely on her religious beliefs. If anything disappoints about this highly accessible must-read for anyone feeling lost in the current political process, it’s the lack of a formal conclusion, which feels a bit like Ford went to refill her cup and forgot to come back to the table. Still, elected officials should make this required reading, as should political independents. (Apr.)

FICTION

By Reason of Insanity
Randy Singer. Tyndale, $22.99 (400p) ISBN 9781414316338
Inspirational suspense novelist Singer (Directed Verdict) hooks readers from the opening courtroom scene of this tasty thriller, then spurs them through a fast trot across a storyline that just keeps delivering. Catherine O’Rourke is a seasoned reporter who covers trials for Norfolk, Virginia’s The Tidewater Times. The latest sexual abuse case she covers hits a little too close to home, and she has a series of disturbing “visions” that suggest first-hand details of the crimes. Soon she finds herself on trial as the “Avenger,” a Bible-quoting serial killer. Are her visions spiritual? Or does she have a split personality? She’s unsure of her innocence or guilt—and so are her lawyers, including the likeable high-rolling Vegas attorney, Quinn Newberg, who is famous for his insanity defenses. Singer tosses out plot twists with abandon, shattering readers’ assumptions but rarely straining their credulity. The characters’ lives unpeel like onions, with layers of interesting revelations. Christian faith plays a role in the “visions” but never feels forced. Smooth point of view changes, snappy dialogue, interesting details and unexpected humor enrich the storyline. Like the best suspense novels, the character development is sophisticated enough that readers won’t know the villain’s identity until the final pages. (May)

Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige
Kathleen Gilles Seidel. St. Martin’s, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 9780312367749
Being the mother of the groom isn’t quite a snap for divorced nurse Darcy Van Aiken in this gently humorous look at how an upcoming wedding upsets the delicate balance of family relationships. Darcy, a busy mother of three, gets along with ex-husband Mike, likes her oldest son Jeremy’s bride-to-be and discovers an unexpected affinity for the bride’s wealthy but down-to-earth mother. There’s just one flaw in the ointment: Mike’s new girlfriend, clothing designer Claudia Postlewaite, is determined use the wedding as a means to boost her professional and social standing. From the moment Claudia begins her campaign and cold-shoulders Darcy, there’s trouble afoot, but instead of letting the book turn into a comic tug-of-war, Seidel (A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity) reveals the traps people—and especially parents—set for themselves in their marriages and lives. The good (Darcy) vs. evil (Claudia) battle here is light, digestible and full of chuckle-inducing moments. (May)

Once Upon a Fastball
Bob Mitchell. Kensington, $20 (288p) ISBN 9780758226877
Seth Stein is a Harvard history professor whose grandfather, Papa Sol, disappeared two years earlier at Yankee Stadium, during Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship series. Left behind were a cryptic poem and a baseball, but Seth cannot figure out the meaning of either until he grips the ball. He is catapulted back in time, where he silently witnesses his grandfather at the New York Giants’ Shot Heard ‘Round the World game of 1951. The ball takes Seth on further trips to historic games as he tries to learn Papa Sol’s present whereabouts. Sports novelist and nonfiction writer Mitchell (Match Made in Heaven) keeps the baseball action exciting and loaded with lore, but the two-hanky denouement is unconvincing. (May)

AUDIO

Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media
Eric Klinenberg, read by Tom Weiner. Blackstone Audio, unabridged, nine CDs, 11.5 hrs., $90 ISBN 9781433213328
Klinenberg doesn’t write the sort of prose that lends itself to vocal hijinks, but there is much irony and anger in this important exposé and Tom Weiner, in a deep, resonant voice, expresses those sentiments well. The difficulty with the audio is keeping the players straight: the executives at mega-media corporations; the call letters and personnel at radio stations; and activists at the FCC (an “instrument of corporate greed”). What can be skimmed by the reader can become confusing to the listener. Klinenberg’s theme is the homogenization of national news and the threat that poses to democracy as media conglomerates acquire hundreds of stations, eliminate local talent and create multiple stations in one location. They develop standardized programming with fake local inserts and build a series of “local” TV sets. Employees won’t speak out against the war or the president for fear of being fired, while artists are afraid of being blacklisted. Klinenberg’s efforts are well researched and convincing, but the book is easier to digest than the audio. Simultaneous release with the Metropolitan Books hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 20, 2007). (Jan.)

Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson
Alan Pell Crawford, read by James Boles. Tantor Audio, unabridged, nine CDs, 11 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 9781400106189
It’s unusual for people to have been so active in their golden years that they should merit a full-length biography focused solely on their achievements during retirement. Such is the case with Thomas Jefferson, who spent his post-presidential years managing (often badly) the affairs of his grand estate, corresponding with dignitaries and dealing with wayward relatives. Crawford is a careful, even micromanagerial, historian, prone to tangents about details that are often more interesting than the main narrative. On audio, such digressions can be confusing, and in the hands of narrator James Boles, they are sometimes tedious. Boles has an elegant but almost mournful style, with sluggish diction and delivery. His voice is a good match for Jefferson, who was erudite but deliberate and soft-spoken, but the tone changes little for the other players, including Jefferson’s hotheaded in-laws. This makes for a monochromatic reading that does not do full justice to the complexities of the text. Simultaneous release with the Random House hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 22, 2007). (Jan.)

Why Mars & Venus Collide
John Gray, read by the author. HarperAudio, unabridged, six CDs, 7 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9780061285486
Gray reads his take on why men and women are growing incapable of managing their relationships because of our work-oriented society. While not exactly as groundbreaking as it labels itself, Gray’s insights are truthful and easy to understand. His reading is straightforward and slightly bland, but the lessons he preaches are the real stars. Gray offers simple insights for both sexes, useful even if you aren’t involved in a relationship. However, this book lacks profound lessons or discoveries, and listeners searching for that tidbit of information that will save their relationship may be disappointed. Gray’s reading also is somewhat disengaged from the material, which makes listening to him a chore at times. Simultaneous release with the Harper hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 13, 2007). (Feb.)