http://www.kentucky.com/113/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Books 60 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:16:18 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462987.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462987.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:09 EDT
This is not your normal and beloved nice-boy-meets-nice-girl-and-overcomes-obstacles-to-savor-their-love-happily-ever-after sort of book.

Oh, the hero and heroine overcome obstacles all right. The biggest two being their own immorality.

Yes, Linda Howard has definitely given readers a very different sort of romance, and some won't really appreciate it.

Others will be shocked that they like it.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462985.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462985.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:09 EDT
Ethan Canin's riveting and thought-provoking political novel arrives at the perfect time - the summer before a pivotal presidential election - and reflects wisely on the ongoing clash of public idealism and ruthless ambition. It's a marvelously ambitious book, a pointed history lesson and a timeless meditation on fate and self-determination. Canin, who is on the faculty at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and author of the novels "For Kings and Planets,"" Blue River" and "Carry Me Across the Water" and two stellar short-story collections, has unleashed all his considerable skills here, and it's our reward that "America America" turns out to be his best and most affecting work.

The Nixon-era backdrop is at once familiar and strange, a time in which innocence lingers, and what we are fond of calling "the ingenuity of the American working man" still matters, at least in the small towns where Mom and Pop man the counter of the hardware store, and the bakery smells of bread fresh from the oven instead of the cool, corporate scent of espresso.

"America America" is a moving elegy for a faded way of life, then, but it's neither sentimental nor scolding in its exploration of past and present. The good old days may have been lucrative for the robber barons who profited in the new world, but they were clearly less kind to those who suffered and labored in their employ. Modern times bring the convenience of Crate & Barrel and Ikea but herald an end to small-town individuality. Some things, of course, transcend time: human weakness, vanity, venality, ambition.

The novel's introspective narrator is Corey Sifter, publisher of a small newspaper in upstate New York ("We're the last of the local dailies not to have sold to McClatchy or Gannett or Murdoch"). A funeral has inspired Corey to recall his adolescence in Saline (rhymes with malign), "a town that was almost entirely built and owned by a single family, the Metareys." The only child of working-class parents - his father, a plumber and pipefitter, grew up in a household of miners - Corey went to work for the Metareys as a teenager, doing odd jobs, developing odd friendships with the two Metarey daughters and learning the ancient art of kingmaking from the well-intentioned patriarch, Liam.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462988.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462988.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:09 EDT
The question makes unattached women of a certain age cringe: Why are you still single? The answer is simple in this captivating debut novel - because men are married, stupid, selfish or all three - and Liz Tuccillo turns the unwelcome query into an international examination of love, heartbreak and singledom.

Narrator Julie Jensen, a 38-year-old book publicist, hasn't been in a serious relationship for six years, and her New York City friends are in various stages of unattachment when the novel begins. Georgia has been dumped by her husband for a "twenty-seven-year-old whore gutter trash samba teacher." Serena is a vegetarian chef and student of Hinduism who has been celibate for four years. Alice has quit her job as a legal-aid attorney to date fulltime, and Ruby is mourning her recently deceased cat and long-dead relationships.

Left to contemplate the great mystery of dating life - why it is that any man, "poor, boring, bald, fat, arrogant" can get a girlfriend at any time, while the "smart, funny, gorgeous, sane, financially stable, professionally fulfilled, fascinating, fit women" in their mid-30s to mid-40s stay single - Julie strikes out on a book project to discover if there's any place on Earth where women are better at being alone.

The journey takes her into familiar territory for readers of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir "Eat, Pray, Love." Like Gilbert, Julie makes stops in Italy, India and Indonesia (and adds such other far-flung locales as Iceland, China and Australia).]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462986.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/462986.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:09 EDT
On that acreage among the Utah canyons lies Dogtown. Run by the Best Friends Animal Society, it's the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the nation. Many of the Michael Vick pit bulls ended up there. So did pooches from Hurricane Katrina, but Dogtown isn't just dogs - it's home to many species of abandoned or abused animals, including cats, goats, sheep, rabbits and horses.

"Dogtown" is also a TV show on the National Geographic Channel (the 2-hour season premier, "Saving the Michael Vick Dogs" is scheduled to air Sept. 5). And "Dogtown" is an 80-page book now, too, with text by Bob Somerville. Mountain wrote the introduction and is playing a key role in promoting the book, which explains his presence at the recent BookExpo America in L.A.

Asked what he hopes the book will accomplish, Mountain, president and one of the founders of Best Friends, gives a simple answer:

"We would like people to think about adopting a dog or cat or whatever - to think about adopting from shelters rather than buying from a store. They're great animals, and they become really loving pets. When you adopt from a shelter or rescue group, they know you have saved them, and there is that bond, and it is something very special."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/458012.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/458012.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:54 EDT "STAND THE STORM" BY BREENA CLARKE
Sewing Annie Coats rises to retrieve her 'talking' quilt from underneath the floorboards. She folds the quilt precisely and sets it on the sill of the window so that the Log Cabin pattern with black in the middle faces out back.

Daniel Joshua, a compassionate bondperson, cautiously approaches Ridley & Ridley Fine Tailoring at Bridge and High streets in Washington, D.C. The stale atmosphere is buzzing with slave trading and abolitionist activity.

Quilts are one of the most prized possessions owned by even the poorest of families. Its mosaic creation begins with a spool of thread, a pattern, precise measurements, a fine needle and sharp shears. Gabriel Coats, like his grandmother Knitting Annie and his mother Sewing Annie, is an expert tailor. His needle produces perfect stitching in decorative handkerchiefs, petticoats, quilts and fine garments.

Breena Clarke is author of the international bestseller, "River, Cross My Heart." Her latest novel, "Stand the Storm," spins an engaging, 1850s tale of a strong bond, despite slavery, between mother and son.

Clarke captures the heartache of separation, both fleeting and endless. Her prose is intelligent, direct and a voice of the times. Sewing Annie recalls her past with both longing and regret through the author's clever literary flashbacks found within this rich, historical fiction.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/456448.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/456448.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:25 EDT
Warning: Do not begin this book late in the day - unless you plan to pull an all-nighter. Because once you start "Tribute," you won't want to put it down.

Which, of course, makes it no different from any other Nora Roberts' book.

"Tribute" is precisely what readers have come to expect from Roberts' annual hardcover books: A good idea spun into a captivating story with engaging characters that will quickly become a favorite.

Cilla is the granddaughter of a bigger-than-life movie star, who famously committed suicide at her farm house retreat in Virginia. Cilla earned her own fame and fortune as a child TV star and heroine of a few horror movies.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/456562.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/456562.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:03 EDT
It can be a season to rest the body. It also can be a time to renew the mind and refresh the spirit - through reading.

But where to start? To help you, we asked people from various faith backgrounds to suggest spiritual, inspirational or religious books they think would be good summer reading. Their answers are paraphrased below.

Our suggestion is to broaden your scope. Try something you wouldn't ordinarily read. Perhaps you'll find a new favorite.

From the Rev. Thom Belote of Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/456861.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/456861.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:38 EDT
Economics may be the dismal science, but the extent of its politicization makes it even more dismal. Business is what moves the world, and the vitality of commercial enterprise ensures our well-being, but Americans like to think that we're different. We value the individual, extol hard work and believe that the middle class runs the show. But tax cuts are given to offset minimum-wage increases, and arms manufacturing programs are maintained for economic and political reasons contrary to actual defense exigencies or strategic requirements. And health care? Why is it the fastest growing portion of personal - and the federal government's - budgets?

Economist Jared Bernstein takes a clear-eyed look at the politics propelling the economic policies that directly affect our lives and livelihoods. If you suspected the deck was stacked against the middle class and that government policies in general seem to favor the monied few over the working masses, Bernstein reinforces this notion.

But this is not a partisan screed nor socialist manifesto. In fact, Bernstein is pretty fair-minded, and though he may be mortified by the hypocrisy and purposeful obfuscation, he keeps his outrage on a slow simmer and applies his sense of humor to most every situation and observation. But it's not a yuk-fest that Bernstein presides over; rather, he attempts to break down the ways we're all being crunched and why, but in a lighthearted and nonthreatening way.

What motivated him to publish this book? He writes: "Economics has been hijacked by the rich and powerful, and it has been forged into a tool that is being used against the rest of us. Far too often, economists justify things many of us know to be wrong while claiming the things we believe are critically important can't be done - I'm tired of being stuck in the studio engaging in rants with Darth Vaders with PhDs. Wouldn't it be more useful to have an open-ended, rant-free dialogue with real, everyday people about their economic questions?"]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/451868.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/451868.html Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:16 EDT 'JUST HOW STUPID ARE WE? FACING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AMERICAN VOTER' BY RICK SHENKMAN

"Americans cannot even name the leaders of their own government," writes Rick Shenkman, author of "Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter."

"We're pretty stupid," he continues. "The problem is a lack of smart voters or an abundance of ignorant ones. The five defining characteristics are sheer ignorance, negligence, wooden-headedness, shortsightedness and bone-headedness."

Shenkman, an Emmy Award-winning, investigative reporter, bestselling author and historian, dissects the pathetic voter. His debate is opinionated, informative and thorough, but harsh. He believes that we're all in this together. I disagree.

All voters aren't dumb. All people who don't vote aren't dumb. Does it really matter?]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/450073.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/450073.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:40 EDT
Here was a posh gambling scene not glimpsed outside James Bond flicks, with hot dance music, seductive showgirls, fast cars, naughty pleasures and, if you cared to look, serious culture, all set in a beautiful city some called "the Paris of the Caribbean."

But, as we know, all was not well. Even as revelers rumbaed in the nightclubs an escalating syndrome of rebellion and repression bloodied the streets, triggered by an illegitimate government's corrupt relationship with ruthless gangsters from "el norte." A firebrand politico put on fatigues, set himself and his guerrilla fighters in the mountains at the opposite end of Havana, and that unnameable feast headed for a hangover that would last at least half a century.

T. J. English's engaging book "Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba ... And Then Lost It to the Revolution" about the era covers the same ground as such novels as Mayra Montero's masterful "Dancing to Almendra" and Ace Atkins' intriguing "White Shadow," as well as films by Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Pollack and Andy Garcia. A scene that bad was just too good to pass up. But English's brand of narrative is history, and he aims to set the record straight, even pointing out artistic liberties taken in "Godfather II."

Meyer Lansky, for example, was not the venerable old man of the underworld portrayed in the movie but frisky enough to carry a serious and atypical romance with a Cuban woman (an important aspect of Montero's novel). Still, Coppola was on point: gangsters from the United States set up business in Havana in cahoots with Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/113/story/388436.html http://www.kentucky.com/113/story/388436.html Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:29 EDT
Garry Barker's . Kentucky Waltz won the 2008 Kentucky Literary Award for Fiction. The $1,000 award is given by Western Kentucky University and Southern Kentucky Book Fest.

Kentucky Waltz is a collection of short stories published by Nicholasville-based Wind Publications.

Other winners in the competition were East Carolina University .professor Robert Morgan in non-fiction for Boone: A Biography, and University of Arkansas writer Davis McCombs in poetry for Dismal Rock.

]]> http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/464282.html http://www.kentucky.com/481/story/464282.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:42 EDT "NO CHOIRBOY: MURDER, VIOLENCE, AND TEENAGERS ON DEATH ROW" BY SUSAN KUKLIN
In April, 1994, Napoleon Beazley, then 17, borrowed his mother's car and drove with two other youths to Tyler, Texas. Beazley's friend, Cedric Coleman, drove, and Cedric's younger brother, Donald, went with them ...

As the group approached Tyler for the second time, Beazley spotted a 1987 Mercedes Benz. Beazley followed the car until it pulled into the garage of a house. He then got out of his car and ran to the driver's side of the Mercedes. He fired one round from his .45, hitting John E. Luttig, 63, in the head ...

Beazley returned to Mr. Luttig, saw that he was still alive in the driver's seat, and fired again at his head at close range. Luttig died at the scene.

They were arrested more than 45 days later.

Beazley is one of many teen perpetrators portrayed in "No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row" by Susan Kuklin. But his story ends differently from the others ... 25-five-year-old Beazley is executed by lethal injection on May 28, 2002, in Huntsville, Texas.]]>