Nonfiction Reviews

Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds Olivia Gentile . Bloomsbury , $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59691-169-7 In this biography of bird enthusiast Phoebe Snetsinger, former journalist Gentile wonders whether there is a “line between dedication and obsession, and when does obsession cross the line into pathology?” Married, with four children, Phoebe was...

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books Hush Little Polar Bear Jeff Mack . Roaring Brook , $16.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-59643-368-7 In his first solo outing, Mack (illustrator of the Bunnicula series) sends an eager-looking polar bear on a series of dreamtime adventures: “Swim through a waterfall./ Splash in a stream./ Paddle past rainbows/ that glisten and gleam.

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/10/2008

This week's Web: some final thoughts from Studs Terkel, this history of sex in video games, Poland's most famous foreign correspondent, and a two-for-one plan for the ecology and the economy. Plus: Chagall, Nugent, New York's No. 1 escort, and Lincoln! Lincoln! Lincoln!

Fiction Reviews

Thanks for the Memories Cecelia Ahern . Harper , $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-170623-3 Contrivance and a multitude of sitcom mixups drive Ahern’s fifth novel. When Joyce Conway gets a blood transfusion after a tragic accident that caused her to miscarry, she strangely picks up the memories of her donor.

Persian Nights

Things I've Been Silent About: Memories Azar Nafisi . Random , $26 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6361-1 Nafisi follows up the internationally acclaimed Reading Lolita in Tehran with another memoir, concentrating this time on her unhappy family life. Her mother was vocally nostalgic for her first marriage to a man who died two years after their wedding day, while her father sought the company of oth...

There's a New Gang in Town: Austin's Delacorte Dames and Dudes

DDD—no, it’s not a heavy-duty new battery. It’s the acronym for an informal group of Austin, Tex., writers all published by Delacorte Press.

On the Scene with Darren Shan

It’s the right time of year for books about demons, vampires and other creatures of the night, making the recent U.S. tour for Cirque du Freak and Demonata series author Darren Shan particularly well-timed.

November Rain and Ergot at APE

The final stop on the 2008 comics convention circuit, the Alternative Press Expo was held at the Concourse in San Francisco on November 1 and 2—a big change for a show that's usually taken place in April. APE is always a laid-back sort of show, with spacious corridors and, thanks to its Bay Area location, connections to the old school of underground comix. (First-wave veteran Spain Rodriguez even came by the Last Gasp booth to sign copies of Che: A Graphic Biography.)

Yen Press in Orbit: Manga and the Hachette Reorg

In the wake of the Hachette ororganization, Yen Press publishing director Kurt Hassler chatted with PWCW about the future of Yen Press, the future of manga in the U.S. and the importance of strong properties to any publishing category.

A Visit to Paul Pope's World

The iconoclastic creator of such acclaimed original comics works as 100%, Heavy Liquid and Batman: Year 100, is at work on multiple book projects—including a new series aimed at kids and even turns his attention to the world of fashion.

Life in Comics: Publishers on the Prowl - We Want Your Comics!

At SLG, it seems that fewer submissions arrive every week, and what we do get is not appropriate for us, either because the style or content is just not what we publish, or the work is of beginners who aren't quite ready for publication.

November Comics Bestsellers

Jeff Kinney's Rodrick Rules takes the #1 slot followed by Naruto vol. 31. Jim Butcher's Welcome to the Jungle is #3, Stephen King's The Long Road Home is at #5 and Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets: Dirty (#9) also make this list this month.

A Small MangaNext Con Grows in Somerset, N.J.

MangaNext is a small con in it's third year and draws a young crowd to the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Somerset, New Jersey.

Comics Briefly

Panelmania: Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation

A young girl named Antimony attends a boarding school where magic and

science collide in this 13-page preview of Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation.

Marvel Publishing Sales Slip

Trade paperback sales were off in Marvel's third quarter, leading to a 3% decline in revenue in the period while profits fell 15%.

Nonfiction Reviews

Summer World: A Season of Bounty Bernd Heinrich . Ecco , $26.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-074217-1 In his pursuit of actively observing his camp in the forests of western Maine and the woods, beaver bog and gardens around his Vermont home, Heinrich (The Trees in My Forest) delights with the surprising activities of local flora and fauna—and his own scientific antics: with a pet grackle name...

Fiction Reviews

Waveland Frederick Barthelme . Doubleday , $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-385-52729-3 In his first novel since PEN/Faulkner finalist Elroy Nights, Barthelme offers a strangely detached exploration of the post-Katrina Mississippi Gulf Coast. One year after the hurricane and a divorce, Vaughn Williams has more or less recovered from the shock of both.

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books Do You Love Me? Joost Elffers and Curious Pictures . HarperCollins/Bowen , $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-166799-2 Elffers (Food Play) teams up with Curious Pictures, producer of such TV shows as Little Einsteins, to introduce Snuzzles. Amorphous and solid-colored, the Snuzzles look a lot like rubber squeak toys, with their heads defined only by protrusions for noses and ears and ...

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/03/2008

On the Web this week: mountain-scaling management techniques, writing like a Russian realist, analyzing the Zionists, the origins of French cuisine, another fine regional barbecue bible, and financial advice for a world in (literal) tribulation. Plus: the life of Fred Astaire, the early work of fashion photog Edward Steichen, and the self-defense of Eminem's mom.