Web Exclusive Reviews: 6/22/2009

-- Publishers Weekly, 6/22/2009

NONFICTION

 A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome
Alberto Angela, trans. from the Italian by Gregory Conti. Europa Editions, $16 paper (392p) ISBN 9781933372716
Many books, documentaries and movies claim to chronicle daily life in ancient Rome, but it’s rare to find a narrative so encrusted in detail as this lively offering from an Italian author and television host. Adopting a first person plural voice, Angela takes us on an eagle-eyed tour of the ancient city on an “ordinary day” in the year A.D. 115. Serving as a Virgil-like guide, Angela begins in a Domus, an upper-class home, exploring its meticulous inner workings, from the aqueduct hook-up to the slave labor. Out in the streets, Angela provides a fascinating, nail-by-nail description of Roman construction before schooling readers in the particulars of buying slaves. Next up is a bloody scene at the Coliseum (featuring hungry lions and their worthy meal), and a steamy sunset tour of bedrooms, salons, and sexual mores; Romans viewed sex as “a gift of the gods,” something to enjoy, and would “judge our sexuality as excessively complicated… [by] mental complexes and roles.” Angela’s rigorous research and populist style, aided by Conti’s seamless translation, should fascinate casual readers as well as dedicated Italophiles. (June)

 China Safari: On the Trail of China’s Expansion in Africa
Serge Michel and Michel Beuret, photos by Paolo Woods. Nation, $27.50 (336p) ISBN 9781568584263
With trade between Africa and China estimated to reach $100 billion by 2010, China recently over-took Great Britain as the continent’s third largest business partner. Journalists Michel and Beuret offer an intrepid and intelligent analysis of how Chinese economic investment is changing every-day African life—and the implications for China’s role in the international community. From a nation that historically discouraged emigration, China has made a radical volte face—president Hu Jintao actually encourages citizens to seek their fortune in Africa—and this shift has resulted in investment in such areas as hydroelectric dams, textiles and tourism. The authors bring back stories from the rain forests in Congo, the uranium mines of the Sahara and the oil fields of Nigeria—frisking every statistic and detailing the human and environmental impact of China and Africa’s relationship—and how it is perceived by the Western political, economic, and humanitarian institutions that have long dictated Africa’s parameters of economic growth. (July)

The Down and Dirty Dish on Revenge: Serving It Up Nice and Cold to That Lying, Cheating Bastard
Eva Nagorski. Thomas Dunne, $13.95 paper (256p) ISBN 9780312379575
Cautioning readers against getting arrested, Nagorski proceeds with “your recipe book” of revenge, a tongue-in-cheek guide to achieving vigilante justice for relationships gone bad. A writer, director and producer in New York, Nagorski handles all the angles, taking a historical-cultural look at methods for dealing with marital transgressions; the ancient Egyptians, for example, whipped a man “a thousand times with rods” for cheating, and sliced off a woman’s nose. Modern-day retribution pales in comparison, evidenced in tales of recent celebrity breakups, chapters devoted to payback songs (e.g. Hilary Duff’s “Dignity,” Kelly Clarkson's “Never Again”) and movies (e.g. Fatal Attraction, A Perfect Murder). Jilted women may find her barbed thesis on heartbreak—thinking about revenge can be as satisfying as exacting it—cathartic and a bit comforting, but might want to stay away if the wound is too fresh. (June)

 How Shall I Tell the Dog? And Other Final Musings
Miles Kington. Newmarket, $19.95 (208p) ISBN 9781557048417
Written as a series of fictional letters to his agent and friend, Gill, proposing the book he has more or less written, late British humorist Kington (1941-2008) offers a witty, bittersweet slice of meta-nonfiction about his struggle with pancreatic cancer—or, more precisely, his struggle to write a book about it: “phrases like 'cashing in on cancer' give quite the wrong impression. What I mean is, 'making cancer work for its living.'” One letter is devoted to a list of cancer IFAQs, or Infrequently Asked Questions—what you wouldn't know to ask and wouldn't like the answers to besides—in which Kington gets wrapped up in ideas of denial (more like “cold-shouldering?”) and astrology. Another responds to bestseller 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, which he calls “grimly prescient” and “nasty”; he proposes a more practical volume like A Hundred Things to Do Before You Die, with simpler goals like whistling loudly. And, inevitably, he considers the question of his healthy 10-year-old springer spaniel, who has at least five years on Kington. Throughout the goofy proceedings, Kington remains tuned to his condition but focuses on his relationships and life story, sparing much of the harsh physical reality; perhaps more stirring in omission, Kington writes around the pain to produce a touching, funny and life-affirming look at death. (July)

Just Doing My Job: Stories of Service from World War II
Jonna Doolittle Hoppes. Santa Monica, $24.95 (312p) ISBN 978159800428
In this revealing oral history, author Hoppes (Calculated Risk) gathers personal accounts of ordinary citizens who contributed to the 1940s war effort. The granddaughter of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, who led America's first strike against Japan during World War II, she records the detailed stories of, among others, German Jew Rose Beal, who was 11 when Hitler came into power; Bonnie Gwaltney, a young woman who left North Carolina to work the assembly line at California's Douglas Aircraft; Carmelita Pope, a Chicago performer who traveled with the USO; and Navy corpsman Jack Hammett, who recalls the chaos and bloodshed of the attack on Pearl Harbor: “Everywhere I looked I saw broken bodies: the dead, the dying, some just barely hanging on, others merely stunned, all mixed together in a jumble.” Particularly fascinating is the account of Dick Hamada, a Japanese-American soldier from Hawaii who worked for the newly formed Office of Strategic Services, the first U.S. intelligence agency. Their significant sacrifices and vivid memory make for engrossing narratives of perseverance and faith. (June)


Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne
Carole C. Marks. Univ. of Illinois, $35 (256p) ISBN 9780252033940
In her first solo effort, sociology professor Marks (co-author, The Power of Pride) explores the overlapping lives of three radicals, Harriet Tubman, Patty Cannon, and Anna Ella Carroll, during the tumultuous early years of the 19th century. Marks presents an impressive array of information regarding these women, though a lack of historical records from the time period has forced Marks to make some educated guesses and incorporate some unsubstantiated tales, particularly regarding notorious criminal Cannon, linked to gangs that both murdered free slaves, and sold them back into slavery. She finds much more documentary evidence on two other history-changers, Underground Railroad hero Tubman (known as “Moses of her people”) and reformed Maryland slave owner Carroll. Marks's attention to detail is exhilarating, leaving few questions unanswered. Buttressed by cogent speculations, Marks's narrative is a fun and empowering history of true U.S. radicals. 12 b&w photos. (June)

Retail Anarchy: A Radical Shopper’s Adventures in Consumption
Sam Pocker. Running Press, $14.95 paper (224p) ISBN 9780762434398
From condescending ad campaigns to tricky math at the register, consumers may not realize everything they have to be upset about in the tanking economy. Self-trained economist Pocker, for one, is mad as hell, and thinks you should be too. In four wide-ranging “movements,” Pocker tackles everything from Dollar General, Target and late electronics retailer The Wiz to Red Lobster and Coca-Cola to women's fashion and brand loyalty. Much of Pocker's observations are highly insightful, such as his story of ordering a Sausage McMuffin without egg and being charged for the egg anyway: “McDonald's would make an extra $95,000 a day simply... [because] nobody wants to look like a maniac demanding a nineteen-cent refund.” Analysis of insulting marketing includes a Dominos Pizza-The Dark Knight promotion that gave pizza buyers online access to a movie trailer (“Apparently, no one at Dominos Pizza ever heard of YouTube”), and simple shopping tips (“complimentary alcoholic beverages... should present an enormous red flag”) push back against retailer efforts to quash consumer common sense. Pocker is driven by crystal-clear X-ray vision and no shortage of indignant fury; the anger may not appeal to everyone, but Pocker's canny insight will resonate with any American shopper. (May)

Smallpox: The Death of a Disease: The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer
D.A. Henderson, foreword by Richard Preston. Prometheus, $27.98 (288p) ISBN 9781591027225
In his introduction, The Hot Zone author Preston points to the fact that “in [smallpox’s] last hundred years,” 1879-1979, it killed more people than “all the wars on the planet during that time.” For more than 50 years, doctor and public health expert Henderson combated the disease, first as director of the Center for Disease Control’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, then (from 1965 on) as director of the World Health Organization initiative which would later be known as The Eradication. Henderson provides an overview of the painful disease, “a monster” that killed roughly a third of the unimmunized it infected. Chillingly, “variolation,” the direct subcutaneous injection of a patient’s pus into a healthy person, was used to spur immunity from before the 10th century. The much safer cowpox vaccination was discovered in 1796 (mandated by Washington for the Continental army); meanwhile, smallpox had decimated the Native American population. Henderson’s “surveillance and containment strategy” would indeed eradicate smallpox globally; India, the last holdout, was rid of it in 1974 by 115,000 health workers, dispatched to villages throughout the country to identify, quarantine, and vaccinate. This inspiring achievement makes a stirring read for medical history fans, though readers used to Preston’s nonfiction style may find it a bit dry. (June)

LIFESTYLE

College Vegetarian Cooking
Megan Carle and Jill Carle. Ten Speed. $19.95 paper (160p) ISBN 9781580089821
Grad students, cookbook authors and sisters, the Carles (Teens Cook Dessert, College Cooking) present another approachable but uneven collection aimed at peers who are going vegetarian. Emphasizing familiar favorites like cheese enchiladas bolstered with green chiles and corn, Asian lettuce wraps, falafel and pasta primavera, the dishes come together without fuss or the need for arcane ingredients, ensuring the book gets plenty of use. Time-saving steps, like employing already-made wontons for mushroom ravioli and puff pastry for cherry turnovers or tomato tarts will help budding cooks build confidence quickly. That said, novices may find instructions frustratingly brief—those unfamiliar with caramelizing may well end up with a scorched mess instead of a caramelized onion tart, and there’s little help in crafting one’s own pizza dough. Greater light is shined, however, on procedures for making potato gnocchi and maki rolls. Pesto pasta may be a little light on the basil, and the reliance on cream of mushroom soup in Tofu Tetrazzini may give one pause, but the sisters’ hits outnumber their misses. (July)

Liking the Child You Love: Build a Better Relationship with Your Kids—Even When They’re Driving You Crazy
Jeffrey Bernstein. Da Capo, $14.95 paper (272p) ISBN 9780738212616
Author/psychologist Bernstein (10 Days to a Less Defiant Child), aka “Dr. Jeff,” delves into “the dark thoughts of anxious parents” who love their kids, but can’t figure out how to like them. Bernstein claims millions of parents suffer from an affliction he calls Parent Frustration Syndrome (PFS), characterized by negativity, resentment and frustration regarding one’s own child. According to Bernstein, PFS is caused by toxic thinking; to combat this habit, he provides parents with the tools to identify and transform their damaging thoughts. Such toxic thinking patterns as using labels or sarcasm, blaming, emotional “overheating,” or employing the words “always,” “never” or “should” are among the ways parents contribute to problems with their kids, the author argues. Bernstein guides parents down a more “mindful” path, helping them to reduce stress and alter negative emotions by changing their thoughts. He also suggests ways to use “collaborative logical consequences” instead of empty or damaging threats. Frazzled adults may too often be tempted to blame their discontent on their child’s behavior, but Bernstein places responsibility for the relationship squarely in the hands of parents, while simultaneously offering support and practical strategies for reducing parental stress. In a conversational style, he also shares his clients’ stories, along with his own challenges as the father of three. (July)

FICTION

The Belly Dancer
Deanna Cameron. Berkley, $14 paper (320p) ISBN 9780425227787
While Cameron depicts with accuracy and sympathy the very real plight of women in 19th century America, uneven pacing and character development weaken this debut. When the World’s Fair arrives in Chicago in 1893, women are sexually repressed and strictly ruled by their husbands. Newlywed Dora Chambers goes to great lengths to keep her banker husband, Charles, happy, even ingratiating herself with a dreadful group of snotty socialites who oversee the decorum of the fair’s more exotic exhibits, like the popular Egyptian belly dancing attraction. Dora is given the task of toning down the Egyptian dancers’ act, strikes up a friendship with the troupe, and together they appease the outraged female population by modifying their dance and adding scarves to disguise their curves. Dora’s husband, impatient with her virginal fear of the marriage bed, quickly resumes relations with his powerful and rich mistress, a widow who despises Dora and knows the secrets that can ruin Dora’s social standing. Despite the intriguing subject and historical period, Dora’s startling transformation under the tutelage of the dance troupe feels unreal, even though the story is based on fact. (July)

Concord, Virginia: A Southern Town in Eleven Stories
Peter Neofotis. St. Martin’s, $19.95 (160p) ISBN 9780312537371
This colorful debut collection consists of 11 interlinked stories set in a fictitious Shenandoah Valley town between the early 1950s and late ’70s. The stories exhibit an Appalachian Gothic vibe, and their outlandish, often violent plots draw on the antics of the local eccentrics. The book kicks off with “The Vultures,” in which George MacJenkins returns from vacation to find dozens of vultures have turned his home into their grotesque roost. Local reporter Rachel Stetson features in a couple stories, interviewing a religious snake handler in one, reporting on “the town fool” in the next. In “The Builders,” Tom Dorian, an African-American carpenter married to a woman from a white trash family, is chained to a bridge by bigoted locals and has a very strange encounter with Mary Anne Randolph, “a haunted albino.” Elsewhere, the 1968 trial of two gay men for sodomy in “The Botanist” offers a few humorous moments. Neofotis smartly captures a sometimes creepy, sometimes beautiful corner of Americana. (July)

Easy on the Eyes
Jane Porter. Grand Central/5-Spot, $13.99 paper (332p) ISBN 9780446509404
Chick-lit’s foremost apologist for the older-than-30-and-still-sexy (Flirting With Forty) targets the ageist banality of TV news and entertainment programs, chronicling the fall of 38-year-old anchor Tiana Tomlinson. “I’ve achieved far more than I ever expected, but it feels like so much less than I wanted,” Tiana realizes as her network begins to nudge her aside for a fresher face. Reading the writing on the wall—and the lines in her face—the feisty journo delves deeper into work and turns to the lifelong friends who protect her even as her romantic and professional lives implode. In a last-ditch attempt to prove her professional chops, Tiana heads to Zambia to film the humanitarian work of hunky plastic surgeon to the stars Dr. Michael O’Sullivan. There’s nothing to separate this from the herd of chick lit titles being released this summer: it’s as breezy and formulaic as most. (July)

Gone to the Dogs
Mary Guterson. St. Martin’s Griffin, $13.99 paper (288p) ISBN 9780312541798
After being dumped by her fiancé over the phone, dissatisfied waitress Rena retaliates by stealing her ex’s dog in Guterson’s amusing but forgettable second novel. If the break-up with Brian wasn’t bad enough, Rena’s mother is getting serious with a new guy Rena is unsure about, her sister’s seemingly happy Orthodox Jewish marriage is in trouble, and her family is on a mission to fix her up with a new man. The someone they settle on is affable Chuck, who encourages her to return the dog, settle her issues with Brian, and find a job that really makes her happy. But when Rena makes a big mistake, she wonders if she’s screwed up her chances to move on with her life for good. Guterson (We Are All Fine Here) is familiar with the chick lit formula, so the neurotic and insecure Rena immediately garners her sympathy. While Rena’s family functions as a surprisingly rich comic buffer, fans won’t find many memorable moments in this breezy read. (July)

CHILDREN’S

Blue Mountain Trouble
Martin Mordecai. Scholastic/Levine, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 9780545041560
First-time author Mordecai, a native Jamaican, brings the Blue Mountain region of his homeland to life in a unique coming-of-age story tinged with mystery. Next year, twins Pollyread and Jackson Gilmore will be moving to town to live with their aunt and attend secondary school. But for the time being, they are focusing on strange occurrences in their mountain village of Top Valley. Periodic sightings of a phantom goat that seems to act as their protector are unnerving, but more disturbing is the return of Jammy, a villager who has spent time in prison and has now taken root on the Gilmore’s land. Through colorful narrative punctuated with regional colloquialisms and poetic language (“When you sleep your whole life under open windows in a place so quiet you can feel the night sky move, then rain when it wakes you is like God telling you stories”), the author captures the rhythm of the children’s daily life and effectively conveys their hopes, fears and family love as they look toward the future and learn secrets about the past. Ages 9–12. (May)

The Magic Thief: Lost
Sarah Prineas, illus. by Antonio Javier Caparo. HarperCollins, $16 (400p) ISBN 9780061375897
In this thrilling sequel to The Magic Thief, Conn, “a gutterboy from the streets of Twilight,” continues to seek solutions and instead finds trouble. Still the unconventional apprentice of Nevery Flinglas, Magister of Wellmet, Conn, having lost his “locus magicalicus” (the stone that allows him to commune with the magic), is forced to improvise when his hometown is threatened by the sorcerer-king Aspeling. To further complicate matters, Conn gets exiled from Wellmet for using pyrotechnics, the Dutchess’s daughter is in danger and Conn’s “embero” spell turns him into bird instead of a cat. Conn has a heart of gold, but struggles with his past reputation as a thief, and his reluctance to work with a partner holds him back (“I wasn’t sure, exactly, what diplomacy was”). Like its predecessor, this story is interspersed with letters and journal entries, as well as skillful etchings, giving readers an intimacy with the characters. Eloquent and suspenseful, this follow-up doesn’t disappoint. Ages 10–up. (May)

Breathing
Cheryl Renée Herbsman. Viking, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 9780670011230
In Herbsman’s debut novel, 15-year-old Savannah Brown is contending with a strict but loving mother as well as frequent, serious asthma attacks, something she inherited from her long-absent father, Trip (“he tripped right on out of our lives when I was barely out of diapers”). Savannah, who needs constant medical care and attention, begins a relationship with an older boy from out of town, and her mother is more than a little protective. Only after Jackson proves that he is a responsible and caring boyfriend does Savannah’s mother begin to let go. Told in the first person and thick with Southern vernacular, the novel offers a snapshot of Savannah’s quickly-changing life. Displaying maturity and independence, as well as faith in the strength of her new relationship with Jackson, Savannah decides to attend a prestigious college program for promising high school seniors. While some of the story remains underdeveloped, such as the clairvoyance that Savannah occasionally alludes to possessing, the cast of characters holds the story together, and the people in Savannah’s life are warm and real. Ages 12–up. (May)

A Kiss in Time
Alex Flinn. HarperTeen, $16.99 (384p) ISBN 9780060874193
In the same vein as Flinn’s Beastly, this clever and humorous retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” follows an aimless American boy who awakens a princess who has been slumbering for 300 years. Jack is on a European tour mandated by his parents (“What they don’t tell you about Europe is how completely lame it is”) when he breaks an ancient curse by kissing the slumbering Princess Talia. Instead of rejoicing, she and other awakened members of their magical kingdom are confused and perturbed to find themselves in the 21st century. In order to escape the wrath of her father, who blames her for causing the curse, Talia flees with Jack to his home in Florida. While acclimating to the modern world—cell phones, television, Jell-o shots—the princess manages to charm everyone she meets and help Jack sort out his life. Alternating between the teenagers’ distinctive points of view, Flinn skillfully delineates how their upbringings set them apart while drawing parallels between their family conflicts. Fans of happily-ever-after endings will delight in the upbeat resolution, which confirms the notion that “love conquers all.” Ages 12–up. (May)