Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress
by Robert Wexler (Author), David Fisher (Author)
Release Date: June 24, 2008

Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 6)
by J.R. Ward (Author)
Average Customer Review:
Release Date: June 3, 2008

The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
by Chet Holmes (Author), Michael Gerber (Foreword), Jay Conrad Levinson (Editor)
Average Customer Review:
Publication Date: May 27, 2008

Fatness to Fitness: Former Fat Kid Reveals His Most Powerful Personal Strategies and Techniques to Help You Quickly and Safely Achieve Permanent Fitness Success
by Joey Atlas (Author)
Average Customer Review:
Publication Date: May 22, 2008

Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis
by Kingsley Amis (Author), Christopher Hitchens (Introduction)
Average Customer Review:
Release Date: May 13, 2008

Over the past couple of years, Inside Higher Ed has had someone on the floor of whichever cavernous convention center is home to Book Expo America….The scale of this event is difficult take in, let alone describe. You stand in the aisles and hear an ocean of money roaring through the auditorium. Even the most prestigious and powerful university presses - the ones that dominate the exhibit halls at major scholarly conferences - tend to look rather modest at Book Expo. Theirs are the booths without stacks of free books or celebrity appearances. Nobody publishing with Harvard or Princeton will dress in an oversized novelty costume. If you propose the idea, they will tell you no.

BEA ‘08 was held in Los Angeles this year. Given the pace at which fuel prices keep increasing, it was difficult to be sure of affording a cab to the airport, let alone any longer trip - so the best we can do for coverage this time is to point you to a compilation of reports. In a few weeks, I plan to strap myself to the underside of an 18-wheel truck in order to attend the convention of the Association of American University Presses, in Montreal. But for now, here is a brief dispatch from a recent tour of the university press catalogs for the fall - a first look at the books that might break out to attract a nonspecialist audience.

One word that comes to mind to characterize the new lists is ‘recessionary’….

Awards finalist in criticism Lia Purpura’s pick for the NBCC Good Reads Spring 2008 list, recommendations by members, awards winners and finalists:

Can I send you a just-discovered great book title? “Strange as This Weather Has Been” by Ann Pancake. Just amazing. Kind of Steinbeck meets Agee, so moving and tight. Has this Most Recommended become monthly? Hope so! Thanks for the opportunity to pass along the good stuff.–Lia Purpura

Dylan Foley, book columnist for the Newark Star-Ledger, has two picks for the \Good Reads Spring 2008 list, recommendations by NBCC members, awards winners and finalists:

*OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout (Random House).

Strout’s third book is a “novel in stories,” 13 linked tales of the grouchy, wise Olive Kitteridge, a math teacher in a Maine town, a woman not afraid to speak her mind at the peril of others. Strout’s beautiful vignettes capture the claustrophobia of a small town and show a fiction writer in fine mid-career stride.

*THE CORPSE WALKER: REAL-LIFE STORIES, CHINA FROM THE BOTTOM UP by Liao Yiwu (Pantheon).

Liao, a former political prisoner and China’s most censored writer, has collected dozens of oral histories from the lowest rungs of society, including public toilet managers, professional mourners, ex-Red Guards, criminals and horribly abused Falun Gong practitioners. Liao shows that the brutally of the government is still alive and well in post-Mao China.–Dylan Foley

It’s a dreary February in post-World War I London when Mrs. Wilkins spots an advertisement in The Times for a small Italian castle for rent in April. She sees another member of her women’s club, Mrs. Arbuthnot, reading the same advertisement and manages to convince her that the two of them should rent it. Both are miserable and lonely in their marriages. They can’t afford the cost of the villa, San Salvatore, on their own and must advertise for two others, eventually recruiting an elderly widow named Mrs. Fisher, and Lady Caroline Dester, a beautiful young socialite desperate to escape from London and society. The four journey to Italy where San Salvatore works its magic separately on each of them, changing their lives in unexpected ways. (Summary by Diana Kiesners)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Elizabeth Von Arnim
• LibriVox’s The Enchanted April Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (289.5M)

Source: New Yorker Fiction Podcast
Length: 28 min
Reader: Mary Gaitskill

The story: My favorite high school English teacher often admonished her class to “revel in ambiguity.” By this, she meant that when the meaning of a story or poem was unclear, we shouldn’t despair, but instead enjoy the possibilities of holding a variety of interpretations. Reveling in ambiguity is a great approach not only to literature, but also to all of life’s mysteries (well, maybe not all - I’m not reveling in the ambiguity of where I misplaced my keys).

In this story, also published as “Signs and Symbols,” an old Russian immigrant couple go to visit their adult son in an insane asylum. The son has a mental delusion in which he sees symbolism in everything around him. As the elderly couple travel, Nabokov drops a number of details which might be considered symbolic, though of what is unclear. In this way, the story is similar to Pulp Fiction or The Crying of Lot 49; it’s a story that overtly hints of deeper meaning while denying there is any meaning to be found. As the extended discussion after the story suggests, Nabokov has created a playground for reveling in ambiguity.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Mary Gaitskill displays a wide range of emotions in her reading: sadness, anger, paranoia, resignation, and nostalgia. This is a difficult piece to read, as the interpertations are so wide open, but Gaitskill performs it well. This is also a difficult story for listening, as it demands rewinding to catch additional meanings in details not noticed the first time around. The discussion is magnificent. Host Deborah Treisman and Gaitskill open the story up with an engaging discussion about why its such an work of art.

Mommsen (1817-1903) erhielt für die Römische Geschichte 1902 den Nobelpreis für Literatur.

Erstes Buch: Bis zur Abschaffung des römischen Königtums

(Summary by redaer)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Theodor_Mommsen
• Wikipedia - Theodor_Mommsen (engl.)
• Wikipedia - History of Rome (engl.)
• LibriVox’s Römische Geschichte Buch 1 Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (439.3MB)

Natives of the distant planet of Kwannon believe that their world is about to end, and in preparing for the apocalypse, may be unnecessarily bringing about their own demise. The planetary government can’t overcome its own bureaucracy to help them, and the military is overwhelmed. Can a single newsman change the course of a whole people, and save their world?

My Review

What we have here is an absolutly classical bit of SciFi. Our heros are interacting with the native primatives of the planet and trying to help them out, yet the total lack of shared culture gets in the way.

This is not an exciting space adventure type story, but rather a more thoughtful and slower paced investigation of the issues. A few exciting things do happen and you might even find your self a little anxious about the outcome.

In short if your a SciFi fan, you’ll find this an amusing pasttime, but not a rip roaring yarn. If your a fan of Mark Nelson’s readings, then your’ll enjoy this quality reading.

Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3

Total Score 7/9

This is a clever web site created by the folks at the New Zealand Book Council. The site creates a replica of a PC desktop environment, and, within the folders, you’ll find texts that can be read on the sly.