Here are some titles recently gleaned from the NY Times book review:
The Red Convertible. Louise Erdrich, who I've mentioned as a spectacular Native American author of children's books, has released a new book of adult short stories.Readers of Erdrich may think of her as a chronicler of Native American ways, and this she certainly is, but her mine taps other veins as well. Many sorts of Americans appear among her characters: a reclusive New Hampshire sculptor; a small-minded German sister-in-law; a trapeze artist who saves her daughter from a burning house; a play-acting bank robber; a Eurasian doctor who lures a college girl by promising to cook her an omelet. (Read Liesl Schillinger's full review at The New York Times.)
Chicago For anyone looking for a novel in translation, Alaa Al Aswany's Chicago may be of interest. Aswany is an Egyptian Arab, but the novel takes place (as you might guess) in Chicago. Ligaya Mishan's review is mixed, but the references to Aswany's earlier book, The Yacoubian Building intrigue me.In “The Yacoubian Building,” Al Aswany traced the overlapping lives of the residents of a historic building in downtown Cairo. Through the bountiful accumulation of detail, a portrait of an entire society came into focus. He has attempted a similar collage in “Chicago,” but the American urban landscape, with inhabitants sealed off from one another in private lives, seems to have defeated him: there is none of Egypt’s noise, color and seethe of life in close quarters to be found here.
From my local newspaper:
Fifty Miles From Tomorrow, the memoir of Alaskan native activist William L. Iggiagruk Hensley. Publisher's Weekly says:
Although this fascinating memoir is set hundreds of miles from where most Americans have ever dared to travel, Hensley brings to life this 'little-known part of America' through myriad tales of toil, triumph and the Inupiat Ilitqusiat — the Inupiat spirit. Growing up in what he calls the 'twilight of the Stone Age,' Hensley grew up without what many would consider basic necessities; in his homeland on the Kotzebue Sound in rural Alaska, 'survival was the primary concern.' But even through the illness and hardships that plagued his and other families, the life lessons learned as a child stayed with him for decades. As such, despite attending high school and college in the Lower 48, he found himself always drawn back to his homeland, 'like a salmon heading for the waters where he was spawned.' Hensley became a crusader for the Inupiat people, starting as a fresh-out-of-college activist, then his tenure as a state representative, and later his work in the corporate sector.And here are a few nonfiction books that have been awaiting mention:
The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed (2008 National Book Award winner)
This epic work tells the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president had been systematically expunged from American history until very recently. Now, historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed traces the Hemings family from its origins in Virginia in the 1700s to the family's dispersal after Jefferson's death in 1826. It brings to life not only Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson but also their children and Hemings's siblings, who shared a father with Jefferson's wife, Martha. The Hemingses of Monticello sets the family's compelling saga against the backdrop of Revolutionary America, Paris on the eve of its own revolution, 1790s Philadelphia, and plantation life at Monticello. Much anticipated, this book promises to be the most important history of an American slave family ever written.
By Malcolm Gladwell (Jamaican-English Canadian):
Outliers: The Story of Success There is a logic behind why some people become successful, and it has more to do with legacy and opportunity than high IQ. In his latest book, New Yorker contributor Gladwell (Blink, 2005, etc.) casts his inquisitive eye on those who have risen meteorically to the top of their fields, analyzing developmental patterns and searching for a common thread.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking In this best-seller, a staff writer for The New Yorker weighs the factors that determine good decision-making.
Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own, By Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Gates follows his PBS documentaries on African American genealogy with a book detailing the search for the family tree of the documentaries' best-known subject, talk show host Oprah Winfrey. He chronicles the process of uncovering Oprah's family history, challenged by the same obstacles that all African Americans face in finding documentation during and after slavery. Gates advises readers to begin by gathering oral histories from living relatives, even as he recalls the process of talking to Oprah's relatives and the arduous task of finding a paper trail. (Booklist)
Hope on a Tightrope , Cornell West
The New York Times best-selling author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters offers open-hearted wisdom for our times in this courageous collection of quotations, speech excerpts, letters, philosophy, and photographs that reflect the profound humanity that fuels the passionate public intellectual.
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