Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 5/12/2008

-- Publishers Weekly, 5/12/2008

nonfiction

Web Pick of the Week

Keep Watching the Skies!: The Story of Operation Moonwatch and the Dawn of the Space Age
W. Patrick McCray. Princeton Univ., $29.95 (324p) ISBN 9780691128542
McCray, professor of history at the Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, has previously written about “big science” in Giant Telescopes: Astronomical Ambition & the Promise of Technology. Here, he examines “small science” at the dawn of the space age: Project Moonwatch, in which groups of non-scientist volunteers dutifully observed the passage of artificial satellites in the sky. The project’s mastermind, astronomer Fred Whipple, intended to provide a manual backup for the automated camera system that was meant to track satellites, a huge, multi-national science effort. At a time when very little was known about the ionosphere and upper atmosphere, armchair astronomers of all backgrounds turned out in the thousands to aid the scientific pursuit of knowledge (and, to a lesser extent, fight the Commies); when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, it was the Moonwatchers who provided the first observations to astronomers at the Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory. McCray’s history is full of fascinating individuals—not only Whipple, a legend among scientists for his energy and creative engineering, but “citizen heroes” as well. McCray has included a useful bibliography, and a helpful list of acronyms and people, but his text is jargon-free. This pop science takes a fascinating look at a fundamental, and almost-forgotten, moment in Space Age history. (May)

NONFICTION

Being Armani: A Biography
Renata Molho. Baldini Castoldi Dalai (IPG, dist.), $26.95 (242p) ISBN 9788860732965
Before he became an icon, fashion designer Georgio Armani grew up in a middle-class family and studied medicine, falling into fashion largely by chance: “In my beginnings, there was no fire in the belly for fashion. I really didn’t want to do fashion at all,” he says. In this honest, insightful biography, Italian fashion critic (and former contributor to Italian GQ and Vogue) Molho follows Armani from his childhood in Piacenza, Italy during WWII, through his induction into the industry, the challenges of establishing Emperio Armani S.p.A. in 1975, to ultimate success and fame. Although Armani’s accomplishments bring him a luxury lifestyle, his early years are wrenching, as is the 1985 death of his beloved partner, Sergio Galeotti, a loss that nearly took him back to square one. Throughout, Molho poignantly illustrates the balance between Armani’s obsession with work (where he’s a self-described “tyrant”) and his private life as a kind, introverted man who wishes he were less shy. Molho may leave readers wanting more personal details, but the glimpses he digs up are telling, as in Armani’s open exchange with Eric Clapton from a 1995 GQ interview. 64 pages color photos. (Apr.)

The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom
Robert A. Levy and William Mellor. Sentinel, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 9781595230508
Cato Institute senior fellow Levy and lawyer Mellor, in this excellent examination of twelve far-reaching Supreme Court cases and their consequences, force readers to question the direction in which the judiciary has led our country over the past century—and possibly their own attitudes toward the federal government. The authors deftly navigate the complicated proceedings without slipping into lawyer-speak, while unapologetically leaning on their libertarian sentiments to color their commentary and analysis. Though the writers defend well their claim that the dozen cases under discussion—with a number of “dishonorable mentions” and an appendix each for Roe v. Wade and Bush v. Gore—have expanded the federal government and eroded civil liberties, one can’t help but feel a creeping sense of arrogance when Levy and Mellor assert repeatedly that they know how the Constitution’s authors would view the document were they alive today. Still, the authors’ canny investigation into the Supreme Court should call into doubt some of the staid political viewpoints readers may have taken too long for granted. (May)

(Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents: The Decline of the Professional Middle Class
Nan Mooney. Beacon, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 9780807011386
Young people who were raised to believe that a college education guarantees them a spot in the middle class are instead grappling with rising levels of debt, stagnant wages and ballooning basic expenses, argues Mooney (I Can’t Believe She Did That) in this affecting but thinly researched jeremiad. Mooney suggests that college graduates who choose creative or service professions, such as journalism, teaching and social work, generally find themselves in low-paying jobs that, paradoxically, require high-priced educations and even graduate degrees. The struggle to pay off student loans sets off a spiral of financial insecurity, as these educated professionals face escalating costs for housing, health insurance and child care. It’s an interesting observation, but Mooney often doesn’t delve deeply enough to create a true thesis; she does not fully examine the expectations that motivate graduates’ decisions to choose to teach—their desire for meaningful work even at the expense of upward mobility—or their reluctance to leave expensive urban areas. Where Mooney backs up her points with solid research, she makes persuasive arguments, but she occasionally offers unsubstantiated generalizations and relies on research culled from interviews rather than hard data. For a more comprehensive treatment of this sobering trend, readers should turn to Warren and Tyagi’s The Two-Income Trap or Up to Our Eyeballs, by analysts from liberal think tank Demos. (May)

Touch Me, I’m Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs You’ve Ever Heard
Tom Reynolds. Chicago Review, $12.95 paper (272p) ISBN 9781556527531
In a follow-up to I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You’ve Ever Heard, L.A. writer and TV producer Reynolds (thanks owed for Elimidate) assesses the queasy subgenre of pop songs in which love turns to obsession, ranging from The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” to Fergie’s “Fergilicious” to Michael Jackson’s “Ben.” In 52 admittedly subjective profiles, he talks breezily about the history of the song and performer before a guided tour through the song and an analysis of why, exactly, it’s such a creepout. His sarcastic one-liners are hit or miss (MySpace jokes?), but his analysis is often thoughtful and vivid; “Every Breath” is “a ballad of utter loneliness. The lyrics ingeniously mimic the elliptical thoughts that fly around an obsessive’s brain in mad loops.” He’s in no way above trashing a song he doesn’t like or dishing dirt on those he does, but his brief, loud profiles can be unfulfilling. Other tracks include George Michael’s “Father Figure,” Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All,” Alanis Morssette’s “You Oughta Know,” Divynly’s “I Touch Myself,” and more contemporary chart-toppers like Clay Aiken’s “Invisible.” Like his last book, this should start many debates among pop music die-hards. (May)

Twisted Triangle: A Famous Crime Writer, a Lesbian Love Affair, and the FBI Husband’s Violent Revenge
Caitlin Rother with John Hess. Jossey-Bass, $26.95 (304p) ISBN 9780787995850
Though readers might pick up this title hoping to find out more about the private life of bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell, the real protagonist is FBI agent Margo Bennett, who struck up a brief affair with Cornwell in 1992 after the author visited the training center where Bennett worked. When Margo’s husband, also a Bureau agent, finds out about his wife’s liaisons, he exacts a horrifying, meticulously plotted revenge, covering his tracks with lies and working the system against her. Though covered in the press, journalist and author Rother (Naked Addiction) presents the full story from Bennett’s perspective for the first time. The narrative is engaging if a little slow to start (covering the early years of her marriage), and Rother is a fine interviewer, able to penetrate some of Bennett’s most traumatic memories. Rother’s prose is not the most graceful, and recreated dialogue can feel forced, but Bennett’s tale is gripping, and should appeal to those who want to see a different, darker and more personal side of the lives of FBI agents. (May)

LIFESTYLE

Foodies On Vacation

Hamburger America: One Man’s Cross-Country Odyssey to Find the Best Burgers in the Nation
George Motz. Running, $19.95 paper (312p) ISBN 9780762431021
In the 2005 documentary of the same name (included with the book), Motz documented eight classic hamburger joints across the country. In the ensuing years he’s broadened his horizons but not his tastes; here he presents a hundred hamburger spots in 39 states, each profiled with love and accompanied by mouthwatering full-color portraits. From Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Conn.—allegedly the oldest continuously operating hamburger establishment in the U.S.—to Olympia, Wash.’s Eastside Big Tom, Motz talks with the owners, employees and customers who keep the cuisine alive and eclectic. In addition to the traditional, Motz introduces readers to regional spins like Iowa’s Maid Rite sandwich, a kind of sauceless Sloppy Joe; the green chili-topped burgers of Santa Fe’s Bobcat Bite; and Sedalia, Missouri’s “Guberburger,” dressed with melted peanut butter. Motz limits his selections to independently owned operations that use fresh, not frozen, meat, the most shining example of which is Oklahoma’s Joe Maranto, who raises longhorn cattle for eating at his nearby restaurant. Those with a soft spot for Americana, diner cuisine or delicious burgers will delight in this bright, quirky love letter to the American everyman staple, complete with contact information and recipes. (Apr.)

Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants
Alexander Lobrano. Random House, $16 paper (464p) ISBN 9780812976830
A Paris vacation in book form, this volume travels from the glittering restaurants of the Boulevard St.-Germain to the grittier haunts of Belleville and Clichy, offering insights into classic bistros, new favorites and even a smattering of ethnic cheapies (the sorts of dining establishments that Parisians themselves have only just started getting used to). Lobrano, European correspondent for Gourmet magazine, is an observant and dedicated restaurant-hound, noting the peculiarities of a certain proprietor at one brasserie, recording the exact temperature at which oysters are served at another. No entry is longer than two or three pages, but rest assured they’re fully stocked with strong opinions and recommendations; happily, Lobrano is unafraid to challenge culinary convention, calling L’Ami Louis, long a brutally expensive stop on the “when in Paris” tour, “a pretty egregious example of conspicuous consumption… especially when you can find better roast chicken and foie gras anywhere.” Not since Patricia Wells’s classic Food Lover’s Guide to Paris has a guidebook given readers such a mouthwatering tour of the City of Lights. (Apr.)

Italy, the Romagnoli Way: A Culinary Journey
G. Franco Romagnoli and Gwen Romagnoli. Lyons, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 9781599212449
Like a modern-day Virgil and Beatrice, the Romagnolis, cohosts of the PBS series The Romagnolis’ Table, conduct a breathless journey through the paradisiacal food and wine regions of Italy. Beginning at the northern Alpine border of Italy, the two move slowly south, savoring food and wine as well as people and places. Their love of the country shines through their adoring descriptions of locales. Chiavari, in the northwestern region of Liguria, is an elegantly simple, relaxed and pleasant city, facing a sheltered sea and untouched by winter. In Emilia-Romagno, the Romagnolis set off on a quest to find the perfect prosciutto ham and Parmigiano cheese for which the region is famous. They discover not only a prosciutto that ideally combines creamy marbled fat and salty crispness, they also stumble across a violin museum where they listen raptly to the lush strains of a 1715 Stradivarius that transports them to the baroque period. In Calabria, a young boy brings the Romagnolis a meal of super-fresh braided mozzarella, just-picked garden tomatoes, a warm loaf of country bread and a carafe of cool, dry and sharp as a blade white wine, which they declare is the best meal they have ever had. Recipes accompany every chapter, and the Romagnolis’ intimate storytelling and love of Italian food and culture carry readers on an unforgettable journey. (May)

POETRY

The Alphabet Game: a bpNichol Reader
Edited by Darren Wershler-Henry and Lori Emerson. Coach House, $18.95 paper (250p) ISBN 9781552451878
This beautifully produced volume fills a large gap in 20th century North American poetry, selecting from the great long works of a master of profound whimsy, and also including arresting examples from his nearly impossible to find early works in concrete poetry. In addition to completing the six volume Martyrology before his untimely death, Nichol (1944-1988), who was born in Vancouver, wrote for the muppet-based children’s show Fraggle Rock, and was a part of the seminal poetry performance troupe The Four Horsemen, which also included Steve McCaffrey. Editors Wershler-Henry and Emerson admittedly offer only a “fraction” of Nichol’s output, much of which consists of linked long poems in unconventional forms. But their selection is unfailingly intelligent and engaging, with an emphasis on Nichol’s ingenious visual play with words and images, making this the single best introduction to an essential writer. (May)

Field-Russia
Gennady Aygi, trans from the Russian by Peter France. New Directions, $15.95 paper (144p) ISBN 9780811217217
Aygi (1934-2006) was born in the Soviet Chuvash Repuplic, now Chuvashia, a part of the Russian federation. According to the warm and informative afterword by translator France, Aygi composed in chapbook-length series of poems; following Child-and-Rose, this fourth Aygi release in English collects two of those lyric series: the three-part title piece, “Field-Russia,” written between 1979-1982, and a shorter series titled “Time of Ravines,” written between 1982-1984. Those two pieces are magisterial in their haunted longing to connect with the past, and with nature: “as if to breathe-and-pass-through/ in flight — with gratitude to earth.” Those poems are bookended by the extended interview with Aygi (conducted in writing in 1985) that opens the collection, and by a short poetic series and short prose piece that are dedicated to Raoul Wallenberg and Paul Celan, respectively. While readers wait for a collected edition of Aygi’s work in English, this look at one of his major modes of the 1980s broadens our understanding of a major 20th century writer. (May)

RELIGION

The Forbidden: The Courtship of Nellie Fisher #2
Beverly Lewis. Bethany House, $13.99 paper (352p) 9780764203114
Book two of Lewis’s series is exactly the kind of predictable Amish novel her readers have come to expect: multiple character plot lines, romantic entanglements, tension within the religious community, and at least one tragedy. Here, Lewis continues the saga of Nellie Mae Fisher, whose Amish family embraces a “New Order” personal faith that defies the “Old Order” beliefs they’ve always held dear. Nellie hopes to marry Caleb Yoder, but because of her family’s change of belief, Caleb’s father forbids him to marry Nellie on pain of losing his inheritance. Lewis capably portrays the struggle Nellie feels between the attraction of her family’s faith and the yearnings of her heart. Other plot threads continue: Nellie’s sister Rhoda is drawn into the modern world and its promise of convenience, excitement and automobiles, while a couple who have been given a set of twins to raise discover that their burgeoning interest in the New Order faith causes the birth mother to have second thoughts about their fitness as adoptive parents. Lewis’s readers seemingly can’t get enough of her tales about Amish life, and this latest installment won’t disappoint. (May)

The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully
Joan Chittister. BlueBridge, $19.95 (240p) ISBN 9781933346106
Well-known in Catholic circles for her willingness to take on anybody—even the pope—in defense of women’s rights, Chittister, now in her 70s, examines how it feels “to be facing that time of life for which there is no career plan.” Clearly, getting older has not diminished the controversial nun, activist, lecturer and author of nearly 40 books on feminism, nonviolence and Benedictine wisdom. This collection of inspirational reflections, “not meant to be read in one sitting, or even in order, [but] one topic at a time,” abounds in gentle insights and arresting aphorisms: “‘Act your age’ can be useful advice when you’re seventeen; it’s a mistake when you’re seventy-seven.” Beginning each short chapter with a trenchant quotation (“‘It takes a long time,’ Pablo Picasso wrote, ‘to become young’”), she ponders topics such as fear, mystery, forgiveness and legacy. Old age is rich for those who choose to thrive, not wither: “We can recreate ourselves in order to be creative in the world in a different way than the boundaries of our previous life allowed.” (May)

The Springfield Reformation: The Simpsons, Christianity, and American Culture
Jamey Heit. Continuum, $15.95 paper (208p) ISBN 9780826428967
Has any television show had a greater impact on American culture over the past two decades than The Simpsons? Heit, a doctoral student of religion and literature, deftly demonstrates how the program has transcended being solely a cartoon show to becoming one of the more incisive sources of commentary on culture in the United States. A substantial part of that culture is focused on religion, and The Simpsons allows Americans to view their wide array of attitudes about religion in a humorous light. The author comments on the show’s occasional negative critiques of the overwhelmingly Christian conservative religious culture in America, but his tone is always balanced. He describes how The Simpsons tackles thorny issues like religion and science and the interpretation of Scripture with humor—an ingredient often left out of these public debates. One of the key themes of the book is how the program helps viewers navigate the realities of organized religion in a post-modern world that often sloughs it off as silly superstition. Like Mark Pinsky in The Gospel According to the Simpsons, Heit offers a fun and insightful ride through one of the more enduing phenomena in American culture. (May)

Turtle Feet: The Making and Unmaking of a Buddhist Monk
Nikolai Grozni. Riverhead, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 9781594489846
This book about Tibetan monkhood certainly fits the description of the “extreme” memoir. Written by a Bulgarian novelist who was educated in the United States (Brown University) and India (down the street from the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala), this book takes a long time to get good, but it does get there. The most fascinating character is not the narrator, an archetypal youthful apprentice figure. That honor is reserved for a fallen, stateless monk from Bosnia who is a Zorba figure, enticing the narrator not to lusty appreciation of the world’s wonders but to what Buddhists call seeing things as they are—enlightenment that is ultimately no big deal. There are passages of beauty about the nature of the mind and existence that few books about Buddhism can rival, because few books about Buddhism are written by authors with creative training. But a good editor should have reined in the author’s disproportionate focus on the main character’s excesses; it would have helped pacing and made a shorter and more convincing read. (May)

FICTION

Crimini: The Bitter Lemon Book of Italian Crime Fiction
Edited by Giancarlo De Cataldo, trans. from the Italian by Andrew Brown. Bitter Lemon, $14.95 paper (356p) ISBN 9781904738268
As De Cataldo, an appellate judge, points out in his pithy preface, corruption is a theme shared by all nine stories in this first U.S. anthology of Italian noir. The dark farce, “You Are My Treasure Chest” by Niccolo Ammaniti and Antonio Manzini, recounts the misadventures of drug-addicted plastic surgeon Paolo Bocchi, who finds a creative solution to hiding a stache of cocaine when he must perform breast-enhancement surgery on one of Italy’s leading soap opera actresses. Carlo Lucarelli’s lean “The Third Shot,” the volume’s most impressive entry, centers on an officer-involved shooting in Bologna. Expectations are confounded when the threat from organized crime in Massimo Carlotto’s “Death of an Informer” stems not from the Mafia but from Chinese gangs who have taken over the protection rackets in small towns the Italian mobsters have abandoned. As Carlotto’s story suggests, the increasing role of immigrants in Italian society has become a major theme in Italian noir. The high quality and variety of these tales will leave many readers hoping for another such selection soon. (Apr.)

Yellow Medicine
Anthony Neil Smith. Bleak House (www.bleakhousebooks.com), $24.95 (280p) ISBN 9781932557701; $14.95 paper ISBN 9781932557718
Deputy Billy Lafitte’s ethically-flexible approach to law enforcement has led to his dismissal from the force in Gulfport, Miss., and the break-up of his marriage in this well-written if grim contemporary noir from Smith (The Drummer). Through the intercession of his brother-in-law, Lafitte has found a new job in remote Yellow Medicine County, Minn., but his continuing corrupt ways land him in all sorts of trouble, with a trail of bodies following in his wake. His involvement with some meth dealers leads him to cross paths with some Malaysian terrorists, who are plotting to strike at America’s heartland. The terrorists frame Lafitte for some gruesome murders, using the knife he’d gotten from his father to decapitate some of their victims. Smith deserves credit for taking a risk by creating a character like Lafitte, whose private code of honor—if any—is far more obscure than an antihero like Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. (Apr.)

AUDIO

The Soul Thief
Charles Baxter, read by Jefferson Mays. Recorded Books, unabridged, five CDs, 5.5 hrs., $29.99 ISBN 9781428177970
Baxter’s novel is an unusual comic work about a grad student whose life gets progressively stranger and stranger as he finds himself attracted to two women and discovers a fellow student is swiping bits and pieces of his life. Jefferson Mays reads with little hoopla or self-regard. He makes the book into a bedtime story, tucking us each into bed with his middle-register of a voice—no noticeable highs or lows. Baxter’s book is funny in a deeply low-key fashion; without careful attention, much of the humor can zip by unnoticed. In that regard, Mays treats Baxter properly, trusting the author enough to maintain his tone throughout. Simultaneous release with the Pantheon hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 5). (Mar.)

Then We Came to the End
Joshua Ferris, read by Deanna Hurst. Hachette Audio, abridged, four CDs, 4.5 hrs., $19.98 ISBN 9781600242823
Among many other reasons, Ferris’s debut novel was acclaimed for its unusual point of view: the collective “we.” The harried denizens of a Chicago advertising firm form a unified narrator, railing against the boredom of the American white-collar job and the dwindling of their opportunities at the company in the post-Internet bust. Reading a book with such tricky narration is a complex task, and Deanna Hurst, while game, is not quite up to the task. Hurst reads flatly, with little sense of the engaging rhythms of Ferris’s comic prose. This abridged version of Ferris’s novel often feels heavier, and longer, than the wonderfully light-footed original. Hurst just doesn’t quite get the joke. Simultaneous release with the Back Bay Books paperback (Reviews, Jan. 8, 2007). (Mar.)