Nature of Words is keeping busy amid changes

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

The Nature of Words (NOW), the nonprofit literary education center and festival based in Bend, recently made several announcements. In late April, Stephen Archer resigned after two years as president of the NOW board. Kristin Kovalik, previously the ....MORE

‘Autistic brain’ a trudge to the roots of autism

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

“The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum" by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 256 pgs. $28)Much of autism’s mystery and fascination lies in a paradox: On one hand, autism seems to create a profound disconnect between inner and outer lives; on the other, it generates what the neuroscientist Oliver Sacks calls an essential and “most intricate....MORE

An artist transformed

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

“Bad Boy: My Life Onand Off the Canvas" by Eric Fischl and Michael Stone(Crown, 368 pgs., $26)A few words of warning to the ....MORE

‘Girls of Atomic City’ goes behind Manhattan Project

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

“The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II" by Denise Kiernan (Touchstone Books, $27)Now in their 80s and 90s, the girls of Atomic City are no longer in the dark about the jobs they took during the....MORE

The magic of ‘Midnight’s Children’

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

“Midnight’s Children" by Salman Rushdie (Random House, 536 pgs., $16)“Midnight’s Children" is Salman Rushdie’s sweeping, multigenerational story of the birth of independent India and the life of the big-nosed, big-hearted protagonist, Saleem Sinai. Like India, Sinai reflects multitudes and his pathway is strewn with hardship. As a baby, he is stolen from his real....MORE

‘Third Coast’: a time when things started in Chicago

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

“The Third Coast:When Chicago Builtthe American Dream" by Thomas Dyja (Penguin Press, 508 pgs., $29.95)“The Third Coast" is an odd title for Thomas Dyja’s engrossing, wide-angled cultural history of Chicago in the middle of the....MORE

Best-sellers

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

Publishers Weekly ranks the best-sellers for the week ending May 12Hardcover fiction1. “Dead Ever After" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)2. “12th of Never" by Patterson / Paetro (Little, Brown)3. “Silken Prey" by John Sandford (Putnam)4.....MORE

Martin Short set to write memoir

May 19, 2013 4:00 am

“Although I’ve never read a book all the way through, I’m sure excited to write one."This is how Martin Short, in a statement from his publisher, announced that he had struck a deal to write his first book, a memoir of his life and ....MORE

Story Times and library youth events

May 17, 2013 4:00 am

n For the week of May 17-23. Story times are free unless otherwise noted. Barnes & Noble Booksellers2690 N. E. U. S. Highway 20, Bend; 541-318-7242n ONCE UPON A STORY TIME: All ages; 11 a. m. Friday. C. E. Lovejoy’s Brookswood Market19530 Amber....MORE

Experiencing Oregon from the PCT

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

In the summer of 2011, Bob Welch and his brother-in-law, Glenn Petersen, set off to hike the 452-mile Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail. Welch, a columnist at The Eugene Register Guard and long-ago Bulletin employee, chronicled their journey in the new book “Cascade Summer: My Adventure on Oregon's Pacific Crest Trail." Later this week, he'll be in Central Oregon giving readings and....MORE

Author discusses the power of controlling information

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

In his provocative new book, “Masters of the Word: How Media Shaped History From the Alphabet to the Internet" (Grove Press, $27.50), William J. Bernstein argues that the control of communications technology is a fundamental pillar of political power. Throughout history, he writes, authoritarian states maintain a monopoly on disseminating information, whether via the written word in ancient ....MORE

Best-sellers

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

Publishers Weekly ranks the best-sellers for week ending May 5. Hardcover fiction1. “12th of Never" by Patterson / Paetro (Little, Brown)2. “The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central)3. “Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam)4.....MORE

‘Cavanaugh on Duty’ isn’t perfect

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

“Cavanaugh on Duty" by Marie Ferrarella (Harlequin, 288 pgs., $5.50)Cavanaugh fans know a couple of things:1. There is an endless supply of Cavanaugh family members and as soon as one branch has everyone married, another branch is somehow....MORE

Shedding light on U.S. shadow wars

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

“The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth" by Mark Mazzetti (Penguin Press, 400 pgs., $29.95)In October 2002, Barack Obama, then an obscure state senator in Illinois, stood in Federal Plaza in Chicago and gave a speech about Iraq that launched his career toward the White House.“I don’t oppose all wars," Obama told the crowd. “What I....MORE

‘The Bird’ chronicles rookie pitcher’s life

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

“The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych" by Doug Wilson (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Press, 320 pgs., $26.99)Doug Wilson’s “The Bird," a new biography of the late Mark Fidrych, is over 200 pages on a flash-in-the-pan....MORE

Seeing Mississippi From New York

Debut novel surprises with its Southern style

May 12, 2013 4:00 am

From its opening pages, “Southern Cross the Dog" has all the markers of a novel written in the finest Southern gothic tradition. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 sweeps in, taking a few unlucky characters with it. There are references aplenty to race, poverty, the blues, voodoo and an ill-fated brothel. It is no wonder the Southern literati have raised an eyebrow at its author: Bill Cheng,....MORE

Story Times and library youth events

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

n For the week of May 10-16. Story times are free unless otherwise noted. Barnes & Noble Booksellers2690 N. E. U. S. Highway 20, Bend; 541-318-7242n ONCE UPON A STORY TIME: All ages; 11 a. m. Friday. C. E. Lovejoy’s Brookswood Market19530 Amber....MORE

Kid Culture

Fun books on dirt that kids will dig

May 10, 2013 4:00 am

Kid Culture features fun and educational books and toys for kids. What do you think of when you hear the word dirt? Maybe this summer you will think of the Deschutes Public Library system. Why? Because the theme for the summer reading program for children is “Dig Into Reading," and features programs about archaeology, dirt diggers, burrowing animals, dinosaurs and more. Here are three....MORE

A novel red in tooth and claw

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

Imagine a world in which a prion disease has over centuries leapt from the wolf population to humans. Spread by bites and other bloody entry points, the disease causes an infection in humans known as lycanism. It makes people transform temporarily into hairy-faced, sharp-toothed, raging and dangerous beasts. Werewolves, in other words. In author Benjamin Percy's new novel, “Red Moon," these....MORE

A Florida vacation without leaving home

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

“Board Stiff" by Elaine Viets (Obsidian, $23.95)With few exceptions, characters in mysteries change and grow throughout the series. Not only does that reflect real life — are any of us the same person we were last year? — but it....MORE

‘Woman’ on the outside, looking in

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

“The Woman Upstairs" by Claire Messud (253 pgs., Alfred A. Knopf, $25.95)Claire Messud’s latest novel, “The Woman Upstairs," is an incongruous mashup of a very self-consciously literary novel (invoking the likes of Chekhov) and one of those psychological horror films like “Single White Female" or “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," in which someone, ominously, is not....MORE

Former acting CDC chief gives insider health tips

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

“Tell Me the Truth, Doctor" by Dr. Richard Besser (Hyperion, $24.99)ATLANTA — In 2009, Dr. Richard Besser faced a public health crisis just months after being named the interim chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With a calm voice and ability to communicate vital public health information in a way that the average citizen could understand, Besser informed and....MORE

In ‘City of Bikes,’ an American pays tribute to Amsterdam

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

“In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist" by Pete Jordan (Harper Perennial, $15.99)In bike-unfriendly cities such as Los Angeles, people who love cycling speak in wistful tones about a faraway place where the bike reigns supreme. Go to Amsterdam, they say. In that mecca of the bike, you will find special roads set apart for cyclists, protected from the dangerous automobile....MORE

Best-sellers

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

Publishers Weekly ranks the best-sellers for the week ending April 28Hardcover fiction1. “The Hit" by David Baldacci (Grand Central)2. “Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam)3. “Fly Away" by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s)4.....MORE

Jill McCorkle’s ‘Life After Life’ well worth the 17-year wait

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

“Life After Life" by Jill McCorkle (Algonquin Books, $24.95)Pick the least likely place to start life over, and that’s where a Jill McCorkle story begins. She has always had an eye for those moments when to go forward means to take a leap into the unknown, and in books like “Ferris Beach," “Creatures of Habit" and “Carolina Moon," she’s proved that the darker....MORE

Boston Bombing

First book planned on Tsarnaev brothers

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

The first major book on the Tsarnaev brothers, the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, has been acquired by Riverhead Books, the publisher said last week. It will be written by the Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, the author of “The Man Without a Face," a biography of President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Gessen would seem well qualified to write the book: She is fluent in....MORE

Scenes from the life of David Sedaris

May 5, 2013 4:00 am

“Let’s Explore DiabetesWith Owls" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown and Co., $27)Being funny has made David Sedaris a well-off man. It can be gauche, sometimes unethical, to mention this sort of thing. Review the book, critics are told, not the author or the sales figures. But Sedaris’ success has become an unavoidably integral part of his work. Each bestseller lands him a new....MORE

Pop-up parks

'Looking around for something to do,' and it just popped into his head

May 4, 2013 4:00 am

Don Compton, 77, of Bend, had a few things going for him when he decided to create the pop-up book “America's National....MORE

Story Times and library youth events

May 3, 2013 4:00 am

n For the week of May 3-9. Story times are free unless otherwise noted. Barnes & Noble Booksellers2690 N. E. U. S. Highway 20, Bend; 541-318-7242n ONCE UPON A STORY TIME: All ages; 11 a. m. Friday. C. E. Lovejoy’s Brookswood Market19530 Amber....MORE

Bedtime book club memories

May 3, 2013 4:00 am

The wine boxes and masking tape are out, because I’ve begun to pack up the last, best books in my children’s picture....MORE

Best-sellers

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

Publishers Weekly ranks the best-sellers for the week ending April 21. Hardcover fiction1. “Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts (Putnam)2. “Daddy’s Gone a Hunting" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster)3. “Taking Eve" by....MORE

Isabel Allende’s latest novel still satisfying for fans of magical realism

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

“Maya’s Notebook" by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins, 400 pgs., $28.99)From the start, Isabel Allende’s new novel feels like a break from the past, a deliberate distancing from the deep historical context and magical realism that have marked her work and charmed her readers across generations and national borders. “Maya’s Notebook" is a gritty, violent, cautionary ....MORE

Author Ben Greenman makes wry observations

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

“The Slippage" by Ben Greenman (Harper Collins, 288 pgs., $14.99)Have you ever seen a juggler on a moving sidewalk? Ben Greenman, whose latest novel, “The Slippage," was published Tuesday, ponders this and other wonders of life. A novelist, short-story writer, humorist and magazine editor, Greenman has observed, proverbially speaking, all sorts of jugglers in all sorts of....MORE

Kentucky poet laureate hears voices in sounds of silence

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

“Turn Me Loose: TheUnghosting of Medgar Evers" by Frank X Walker (University of Georgia Press, $16.95)LEXINGTON, Ky.....MORE

New book sheds little new light on Chicago’s former mayor

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

“First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley" by Keith Koeneman; (University of Chicago Press, 376 pgs., $30)Readers who don’t know much about Chicago’s longest-serving mayor will learn a lot from Keith Koeneman’s new book, “First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley."But readers already familiar with the Daley years may be disappointed if they expect new....MORE

Berlin cop Gunther is back on the beat

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

“A Man Without Breath" by Philip Kerr (Putnam, 480 pgs., $26.95)Most historical thrillers set against the background of World War II focus on the Allied side. But Scottish author Philip Kerr’s novels about Berlin cop Bernie Gunther go....MORE

Elegant writing, narrative twists mark Rash’s stories

April 28, 2013 4:00 am

“Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Ron Rash (Ecco, 239 pgs., $24.99)When a prisoner on a chain gang is sent to the nearest farmhouse to fetch water in the backwoods of North Carolina, author Ron Rash sets the scene for a sterling collection of short....MORE

A flashy new ‘Gatsby’ book cover sparks controversy

April 26, 2013 4:00 am

“The Great Gatsby" has united generations of American readers with its crash-and-burn tale of empty elegance and impossible love on Long Island in the 1920s. Now the novel is dividing the nation’s booksellers with dueling paperback....MORE

Story Times and library youth events

April 26, 2013 4:00 am

For the week of April 26 to May 2. Story times are free unless otherwise noted. Barnes & Noble Booksellers2690 N. E. U. S. Highway 20, Bend; 541-318-7242n ONCE UPON A STORY TIME: All ages; 11 a. m. Friday. C. E. Lovejoy’s Brookswood Market19530....MORE

Kid Culture

Great reads in teen fiction

April 26, 2013 4:00 am

Kid Culture features fun and educational books and toys for kids. Terrific books like Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games" trilogy, John Greene’s “The Fault in Our Stars" and Marcus Zusak’s “The Book Thief" have established teen fiction as great entertainment for adults. Likewise, two recent chapter books aimed at middle school students make moving and satisfying....MORE

Simon & Schuster lifts e-book embargo

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

NEW YORK — The publisher of Stephen King, Bob Woodward and other top-selling authors has changed its policy of withholding e-books from libraries. Simon & Schuster has announced a 1-year pilot program with three New York City library....MORE

Knox takes her case to public

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

“Waiting to Be Heard," by Amanda Knox (HarperCollins, 463 pages, $28)While imprisoned in Italy for four years in the murder ....MORE

Maturity, experience trump youth in mystery

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

“Rage Against the Dying" by Becky Masterman; Minotaur (320 pages, $24.99)Our youth-oriented society also applies to mystery fiction in which, with a few exceptions, the average age of most detectives barely reaches 40. Becky Masterman’s “Rage Against the Dying" would be an astounding debut based on the solid plot, the intriguing characters and the pulse-racing, pervasive sense of ....MORE

Tackling dark topic of child abduction

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

“Where You Can Find Me" by Sheri Joseph (Thomas Dunne Books, 336 pages, $24.99)Three years after his disappearance from his hometown of Atlanta at age 11, Caleb Vincent is found very much alive, attending school and living with a doctor who claims to have rescued the boy from a pedophile ring. Caleb, renamed Nicky, calls the man his father. Charles Lundy, aka “Jolly," may be a....MORE

Best-sellers

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

Publishers Weekly ranks the best-sellers for the week ending April 14. Hardcover fiction1. “Daddy’s Gone a Hunting" by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster)2. “Don’t Go" by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin’s)3.....MORE

California historian Starr has lived with his subject

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

LOS ANGELES — Asking Kevin Starr a question is like turning on a fire hose. First there’s a blast of erudition. Then, as his intellect gathers, information rushes out in a deluge. He’s talking, but it’s as if an invisible scholar inside his head is yanking books off shelves, throwing them open, checking the index, then racing off to find the next volume. On the outside,....MORE

Tracing Prince’s road to rock royalty

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

“I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon" by Toure (Atria 160 pages, $19.99)Here are things you may not have known about Prince: In high school, he was a decent basketball player. And “Amadeus" was at one point his favorite movie. These tidbits, and others, emerge in Toure’s new book about the enigmatic pop star, “I Would Die 4 U." But if the author (and MSNBC host)....MORE

Who should be blamed for World War I?

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

“July 1914: Countdown to War" by Sean McMeekin (Basic Books 480 pages, $29.99A Sarajevo chauffeur took a wrong turn, and Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip had his chance to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. In the resulting inferno of World War I, 9 million others died. The conventional wisdom of the last 100 years holds that Germany’s desire for empire and cultural....MORE

Memoir of Holocaust a gritty story of horrors

April 21, 2013 4:00 am

“Country of Ash: A Jewish Doctor in Poland, 1939-1945" by Edward Reicher; Bellevue Literary Press (256 pages, $16.95)At 5 a. m., physician Edward Reicher and his wife, Pola, both Jewish, awoke to the sound of German bombs falling on an airfield near their home in Poland. It was Sept. 1, 1939. The Reichers “watched the strange scene before us as if it were a film," because they....MORE

Story Times and library youth events

April 19, 2013 4:00 am

n For the week of April 19-25. Story times are free unless otherwise noted. Barnes & Noble Booksellers2690 N. E. U. S. Highway 20, Bend; 541-318-7242n ONCE UPON A STORY TIME: All ages; 11 a. m. Friday. C. E. Lovejoy’s Brookswood Market19530....MORE