Read Street

In Sunday's Sun: spiritual readings

2008-07-19T09:00:22Z

In Sunday's Arts & Life section, check out a review of The Other, the latest from David Guterson, whose debut novel was the hit Snow Falling on Cedars. His provocative new novel is about the transitory nature of choice and identity: how we become who we are destined to be, and what gets us to that place and keeps us there.

You can also get some recommended reading that will allow you to recharge your spiritual side. Among them:

Reflections of a Peacemaker: A Portrait Through Heartsongs by Mattie J.T. Stepanek. Stepanek, a Maryland boy who died of a neuromuscular disease before he reached age 14, produced books of extremely insightful poetry. This is a child's amazingly mature faith-based perception of what is important in life.

Forgiveness: A Legacy of the West Nickel Mines Amish School by John L. Ruth.
Many people were surprised by the response of an Amish community to the shooting deaths and wounding of their schoolchildren in 2006. Forgiveness is basic to their Christian tradition and is described and clearly discussed by a Mennonite writer who relates it to other religions as well.

My Life With the Saints by the Rev. James Martin. The saints can be our friends and role models as we go about our daily lives.

Ukazoo for you

2008-07-18T19:30:06Z

Towson's Ukazoo Books has something for everyone: a wide (and cheap) selection of children's books; a large mystery section, complete with taped body outlines, a couple of comfortable reading rooms for flipping through books or holding a meeting, and local artwork throughout.

But what impressed me most about this used (and new) bookstore was that, in talking to store manager Olivia Tejeda, they are eager to expand their offerings, both in books and events, for the Towson community. And the community is responding, making Ukazoo a part of their lives.

"One of our customers proposed to another last night," Tejeda told me last week. "It's just amazing."

A little background

Ukazoo began a little more than a year ago, when two local brothers, Jack and Seth Revelle, decided to take their online book business offline. The brothers got their start in the book world selling textbooks in college. The business got serious, and after seven years, they had three warehouses' worth of books stockpiled, the beginnings of Ukazoo's inventory.

Clientele

You can find just about everyone in the store, "depending on what time of day it is," Tejeda says.

During the day, moms come in with their children to take advantage of their low prices -- all books are $2.98, unless otherwise marked, and many are actually less than that -- and seniors roll in around mid-day. "We have more than 100,000 used titled, and none of them are more than $10," Tejeda says. "I think that's attractive to seniors on a budget."

And, of course, after 6 p.m., the town's college students start to appear.

Popular sections

Tejeda reports that their general fiction section is a big crowd pleaser, as well as their mystery and kids sections. And with free coffee, tea and wifi throughout the day, customers find a lot to stick around for.

Events

Ukazoo has an amazing number and variety of events, many recurring monthly. The first Saturday of every month, the store hosts a brunch for its customers, with coffee, bagels and the like, from 9 a.m. to noon.

There are also creative writing events, which for now are pretty generalized. "But we're seeing what it morphs into," Tejeda says, hinting that there may be more specialized writing exercises for science fiction, poetry, mystery and other genres. And you can't forget (because I won't let you) the haiku review held on the third Thursday of every month.

In addition, Ukazoo holds an open-mic night on the first Thursday of every month, inviting local poets, playwrights, authors and musicians to share their creations with the Ukazoo crew. You can visit their MySpace page for more information each month.

(Photo courtesy of ukazoo.com)

Jessica Seinfeld marches on

2008-07-18T16:32:12Z

Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook Deceptively Delicious is back atop the best-seller lists (#1 nonfiction in the Wall Street Journal, #2 in Publishers Weekly), which must just frost Missy Chase Lapine's cookies. You recall that cookbook author Lapine says Seinfeld stole her idea of pureeing veggies and sneaking them into the foods that finicky kids eat. The dispute is still being fought in court.

Meanwhile, Lapine has published a cookbook that seems aimed at me: The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (in the Kitchen!): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals any Guy Will Love. Now that my daughter's home from college for the summer, she and my wife have teamed up to make me an experiment in attitude adjustment. They have paraded obscure foods such as quinoa, swiss chard and even sweet potato ice cream before me, in a not-so-subtle campaign to get me to lose weight and eat healthier.

They do not buy my argument that dark chocolate is as healthy as any vegetable. If they discover Lapine's book, there's no telling what havoc will ensue. Spinach-and-broccoli infused chocolate chip cookies, anyone?

Photo by Rob Loud/Getty Images

The latest from 'Passager' and 'jmww'

2008-07-18T09:00:56Z

The local literary scene just got a bit richer, with new editions of Passager and jmww, two Baltimore-based journals.

The latest issue of Passager showcases winners of its annual poetry contest for writers older than 50. The journal, which was founded by Kendra Kopelke and is published at the University of Baltimore, was created "to explore the imagination during the later years and to hear the passion that is so often attributed to the young."

The summer issue of jmww, edited by Jen Michalski, offers poetry, nonfiction, fiction and reviews by writers in the Baltimore area and elsewhere. Contributors include Jéanpaul Ferro, Merle Drown and Michael Downs.

Here's a poem from Passager...

Barbara Young, 77, is a frequent visitor to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center near her home. In the fall, thousands of geese land at the center during their migration.

The Wheeling of Geese

That wheeling, that wheeling, may cause tears
If you stop to stare at a sky clouded
With Canada geese who have flown up
From a field and now wheel round and round
As one until the Great Mystery
Tells them all is right for the journey;
Then oh how like tiny gymnasts they tuck
Their legs against their bodies and
Push their necks forward, straining, straining
To be elsewhere.

Reisterstown Readers book club

2008-07-17T19:00:20Z

This vibrant club, more than five years old, has a varied membership (including a nurse, postal worker, teacher and accountant) and reading list. "We read pretty much everything," says Judith Anora, who organizes the book list in coordination with the local library. New members are embraced: They receive a welcoming brochure, bookmark and list of past books. Members also stay close by traveling together, to places such as Cape May.

Now reading: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

Liked a lot: The Known World by Edward P. Jones, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Not so much: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Check It Out: The return of the haiku

2008-07-17T16:00:19Z

Think you're a haiku master? Try taking your skills to Ukazoo Books in Towson tonight, and let the audience decide. Or just take a bunch of friends and have a little fun. If you're a crowd-pleaser, you'll even walk away with a few prizes. The sign-up begins at 6:45 p.m.

If you want to share the book love with the younger members of your household, TJ Perkins, author of the Kim and Kelly Mystery Series, will be at Greetings & Readings at noon Saturday.

That night, check out the 510 Reading Series as they present Savannah Schroll Guz, author of "The Famous and the Anonymous"; Rupert Wondolowski, author of "The Whispering of Ice Cubes"; and Sean Carman, satirist and contributor to Huffington Post.

And for a special treat, join Sun reporter Julie Scharper on Sunday at Clayton Fine Books as she shares of bit of her work that you won't see in The Baltimore Sun. The event starts at 3 p.m.

For more information, and more bookish activities, visit the Read Street calendar.

Book It: Children's books

2008-07-16T17:00:11Z

I'm assuming if you're reading this blog, you either love books, or Dave and I have personally twisted your arm. Many of you have provided some great suggestions of books that you love.

But here's a question: What do you give to the child who hates to read?

It's kind of a foreign concept to a bookworm like me, but I know there are lots of teachers and parents out there looking for a little help. So I visited the Parents' Choice Web site for a little help. Sure enough, they have a list, aptly titled "What-Kids-Who-Don't-Like-To-Read-Like-To-Read: The Reading List. While their suggestions only range from 4-11, it's definitely a good start.

So happy reading! And keep your own suggestions coming!

Great Gatsby: the perfect novel?

2008-07-16T13:56:10Z

Over on the New York Times book blog, there's a spirited debate about the perfect novel. Suggestions have ranged from the well-read -- The Great Gatsby is an early favorite -- to the obscure (Herb ‘n’ Lorna).

I don't get the excitement over Gatsby, but maybe it's just because I can't get the white-clad Robert Redford and Mia Farrow out of my head. If pressed over a couple of glasses of wine (that seems to how the Times debate started) I might pick All the King's Men.

But let's start at the beginning: Can there be a "perfect" novel, and if so, what is it?

I'll throw in another question: Is there a perfect book club novel? My pick here (and maybe overall): Cold Mountain.

Bouchercon -- the latest

2008-07-15T19:30:09Z

I wrote recently about a local union's push to disrupt the mystery writers convention in Baltimore, by asking attendess to boycott the convention hotel. At risk is an October event that could draw as many as 2,000 attendees, including Lawrence Block and Laura Lippman.

This week, I talked about the issue with Jon Jordan, who with his wife Ruth (they also run Crime Spree magazine) organized Bouchercon 2008. He said the contract for the hotel was signed in early 2005. After the hotel changed hands and became the Sheraton City Center, the union dispute broke out, and the convention was caught in the middle.

Reneging on the contract would be disastrous, he said. "This has nothing to do with us being unsympathetic to the union. We can't afford to breach this contract. ... It would bankrupt us."

The Jordans, who live in Milwaukee, are not some deep-pocketed corporation. Ruth is a pharmacy technician; Jon is a machinist. But they love mysteries; in fact, they met at the 1999 Bouchercon.

They also attended the 2004 Bouchercon in Toronto, and when few people came forward to organize future conventions, they stepped in. "It's such a big part of our lives, we wanted to make sure there would be one," Jon said. A few months later, they were in Baltimore scouting locations, and settled on the hotel that then was a Wyndham.

The Jordans don't get paid for organizing, and any money left over goes to the next Bouchercon. That's why the union pressure, which has included phones calls and emails to attendees, is so maddening. Jon said, "It's unfair to put us in the position of having to takes sides. We just want to have our convention."

Fewer fairy tales?

2008-07-15T16:30:38Z

I was browsing through a bookstore recently, when I discovered what looked like a neat little picture book. Titled Grimm's Grimmest, I picked it up, thinking it would be useful for any discussion on children's books. Inside, I found this little gem:

Once upon a time there was a child who was willful, and would not do what her mother wished. For this reason God had no pleasure in her, and let her become ill, and no doctor could do her any good, and in a short time she lay on her death-bed.
When she had been lowered into her grave, and the earth was spread over her, all at once her arm came out again, and stretched upwards, and when they had put it in and spread fresh earth over it, it was all to no purpose, for the arm always came out again.
Then the mother herself was obliged to go to the grave, and strike the arm with a rod, and when she had done that, it was drawn in, and then at last the child had rest beneath the ground.

OK, so I already knew that the fairy tales I had read as a child were a little cleaned up. But THIS? It's horrifying.

Fairy tale scholar (I'm not making this up) Maria Tatar, who edited the book and provides a little historical insight, explains that the stories are better understood as urban myths than actual bedtime stories for children, sort of a medieval version of the Hook Man, I guess.

So if you have a more macabre friend whose childhood you want to bend totally, I'd say get 'em this book. It is fascinating, even if Tracy Arah Dockray's illustrations are a little off-putting. And for those of my generation, think Alvin Schwartz' Scary Stories, but with some historical appeal.

And does anyone even read fairy tales to their kids anymore? With Dr.Seuss, Harry Potter et al., I'm worried that no one under the age of 10 knows who Rumpelstiltskin is anymore.

Best audiobooks, old school style

2008-07-15T09:00:12Z

Susan Reimer's away, so I'm subbing on the topic of audiobooks -- sort of. I confess that I've only listened to one: Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard. And though it did make the utterly boring drive between Baltimore and Pittsburgh go faster, I found it hard to follow the thriller's action and plot. Since then, I've stuck to paper.

But eager to please in Susan's absence, I found a captivating article about an early, albeit non-mobile, version of the audiobook. Cigar Aficionado (I don't smoke, I just read the magazine for the articles) described the Cuban tradition of bringing readers into cigar factories. For more than a century, they have read newspapers and books to workers rolling cigars at long tables.

Apparently the workers are a responsive audience. They would tap their chaveta (a semi-circular blade) on the worktable as a sign of thanks to the reader, or throw it to the floor as a sign of disapproval, according to the article.

The tradition continues across the island, the article says, with readers usually starting each day on newspaper headlines and progressing to a book. Most readers are women.

Yoandra Rodríguez, 24, who has been reading in the Partagas factory for four years, was quoted: "My passion is reading. I begin at 9 a.m., and I read the newspapers until 10:30 or 11. Afterwards, we listen to a play on the radio for an hour. Today, we listened to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The rest of the day I read novels."

Photo from Cigar Aficionado

Tour de France longings

2008-07-14T16:30:24Z

Nancy's call brought back warm memories of reading to my children. We stuck mainly to standards such as Dr. Seuss' managerie, Miffy the bunny, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Madeline (with digressions into sharks and jets).

But recalling this Curious George book reminded me of a gaping hole in my library: books about bicycling. As a dedicated rider, I'm enthralled each summer by the Tour de France's grueling competition and gorgeous scenery. I'd love to end the day with a book about cycling, but...

There's an axiom about sports books: the smaller the ball, the better the writing. There are many great books about golf but few (none?) about basketball. So where does that leave cycling? Why can we produce a great biking movie, Breaking Away, but no book? It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong was inspiring, but not a biking book, really. If you have suggestions, help!

I love Owly

2008-07-14T13:00:13Z

I'm moving on from comics this week, I swear. But I just received my favorite birthday gift of 2008 (well, it's a tie between this and my new cymbals): Owly.

This black-and-white graphic novel follows the adventures of Owly as he befriends Wormy (not a creative name, but appropriate), conquers the scary woods at night and grows a garden that puts mine to shame.

It's possibly the sweetest book I've ever read, and while it's in graphic novel form, it also segues perfectly into this week's topic: children's books!

Now I'll admit, I've been a big wuss and I've avoided children's books, mostly because you don't mess with people's favorite childhood memories. And there are so many children's story times at libraries, bookstores and the like that we haven't even attempted to tackle the subject.

But this week, all bets are off.

Tell us about your kid's favorite bedtime story, the perfect place to go for storytime and how Shel Silverstein is a genius. Or maybe how much you hated Little House on the Prairie. Don't worry, I won't judge you -- much.

New releases: missing skiers and hookers

2008-07-13T09:00:26Z

This week's releases include thrillers for kids and adults. You'll find yourself looking for lemurs, skiers and prostitutes. All are due out Tuesday.

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, by Eoin Colfer (Disney-Hyperion, $17.99). Ages 9-12. In the sixth book of the series, Artemis' mother has contracted a deadly disease -- and the only cure lies in the brain fluid of African lemurs.

Say Goodbye, by Lisa Gardner (Bantam, $25). Prostitutes are disappearing, one by one, with no explanation, and no one but FBI agent Kimberly Quincy seems to care.

Just Too Good to Be True, by E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday, $23.95) This is a sweeping novel about mothers and sons, football and beauty shops, secrets and lies.

Killer View, by Ridley Pearson (Putnam, $24.95). When a skier goes missing at Sun Valley's Galena Summit, Sheriff Walt Fleming quickly assembles his crack search-and-rescue team and heads out into the snowy night. Within minutes, a shot rings out, and one of their team is dead.

Rules of Deception, by Christopher Reich (Doubleday, $24.95). The twisting story line revolves around Jonathan Ransom, a 37-year-old surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, whose wife is killed while mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps. As Ransom struggles to come to grips with this tragedy, he receives two mysterious baggage claim tickets addressed in her name.

From Publishers Weekly and amazon.com

In Sunday's Sun: Bush and books for kids

2008-07-12T09:00:01Z

In Sunday's Arts & Life section, get insights into George H.W. Bush's leadership style -- and a feud with Henry Kissinger -- revealed by Bush's time as a U.S. representative to China. The China Diary of George H.W. Bush: The Making of a Global President shows how some advice from mom led him to seek bonds of trust with the next generation of China's leaders. His year in China laid the foundations for the pragmatic, prudent, personal foreign policy as president.

Also, find capsule reviews of new children's books. Among them:

A Kitten Tale, by Eric Rohmann (ages 4-8). Three playful kittens are fearful about the impending snow, and one can't wait to play in it. A beautifully illustrated story about curiosity and overcoming fear.

Clementine's Letter, by Sara Pennypacker with illustrations by Marla Frazee (ages 6-9).
Clementine has made it to third grade, and likes her teacher because she understands his rules. When the teacher has the opportunity to go on a research trip to Egypt, Clementine can't stand the thought of his leaving and has to do something.

The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd (ages 9-12) Ted and Kat watch their cousin Salim go for a ride on the London Eye Ferris wheel, but he doesn't get off. Has he been kidnapped or run away, or is the young boy lying on a cold slab at the morgue? Preteen readers will enjoy this thriller with well-developed characters.