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by Dolin, Eric Jay
“Call me Ishmael.” So begins Moby Dick a tale of adventure, obsession and madness. But what of the industry that serves as the backdrop to the story? Melville drew extensively from his time on the whaleship Acushnet for his depiction of whaling life. The whaling industry was a major presence in early 19th century America. Tall white winged ships roamed the globe in search of great whales. Fortunes were made and lost. However as Eric Jay Dolin relates the romance of the whaler’s life was an illusion. Long periods of boredom and crushing hard work were interrupted by moments of incredible danger. Whales would strike at their tormenters, killing many, smashing their boats and even (the Essex and the Ann Alexander) taking out an entire ship.
- reviewed by Camenga, Main Library, PLCMC

by Crawford, Craig
Crawford successfully and entertainingly updates Machiavelli’s classic The Prince in this rule book for moderns looking to manipulate or avoid being manipulated by others. Straightforward rules like “Popular Lies Beat Unpopular Truth,” “Arrogance Makes an Easy Target,” and “Those Who Are Dependent on You Will Be the Most Faithful” are followed by well-reasoned and very readable chapters giving examples that range from ordinary interpersonal relations to workplace power-plays to national politics. Crawford’s rules occasionally sound like the titles of AM radio political commentaries, but this fact makes his point elegantly: the rules Machiavelli put on paper some 400 years ago are still vibrant and applicable today.
- reviewed by Robert, Matthews Branch, PLCMC

Justice Clarence Thomas says Anita Hill was a mediocre employee who was used by political opponents to make claims that she had been sexually harassed.

Fourth Realm Trilogy #02: The Dark River by John Twelve Hawks, a review from Rain Taxi by Rod Smith.

Francis Ford Coppola is devastated over a robbery in which he lost fifteen years of his work.

Speaking with Argentine broadcaster Todo Noticias, Coppola appealed to the bandits to return the small computer backup device, which was taken along with computers in the raid Wednesday night. "They stole our computers; they got all our data, many years of work," said Coppola, who apparently was not in the studio at the time of the robbery.

The director of "The Godfather" said the backup that rested on the floor in his offices at the Zoetrope Argentina studio was just "a little thing ... but the information is (worth) much time." "If I could get the backup back, it would save me years - all the photographs of my family, all my writing." Coppola said the robbery would not prompt him to leave Argentina, where he plans to shoot a feature film: "Argentine people are very nice." Nonetheless, he said he was thinking of relocating his studio from the chic Palermo neighborhood to a Buenos Aires district where he felt safer.

Four robbers, at least one brandishing a knife, broke through a front door, tied up four employees and took four computers, cell phones and other valuables, apparently picking the studio at random, the newspaper Clarin reported, citing unnamed police sources.

The computer also contained the script and production notes for his new film, Tetro, which stars Matt Dillon. What a nightmare for him: all that work, lost forever. Unless the thieves decide to return the backup drive out of the goodness of their hearts, the work is gone. What a terrible thing for a writer to lose.

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The Loser (Vintage International) by Thomas Bernhard, a review from Powells.com by Jill Owens.

Jenna Bush’s first book, “Ana’s Story,” will get a first run of 500,000 copies and a cross-country publicity swing.

An entry on the hardcover nonfiction best-seller list last Sunday for “Blonde Ambition” misstated the surname of the author. She is Rita Cosby, not Crosby.

A review on Sept. 9 about “No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945,” by Norman Davies, misstated the name of the military organization for which Theodore Schurch, an informant for the Nazis, drove a truck. It was the British Army; there was no Royal Army.

An essay on Sept. 16 about literature curriculums in American universities referred incorrectly to “Things Fall Apart,” a 1958 novel about Nigeria by Chinua Achebe. It is set around the turn of the 20th century, during the early period of British colonization, not in “postcolonial” times.

A novel of tuberculosis and passion in the Adirondacks, circa 1916.

A collection of nonfiction (and one story) from the Turkish writer and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.

A scholar traces a proud history of insubordination as committed by notable women.

Naomi Klein essentially accuses Milton Friedman of being the godfather of a Mafia-like gang who have exploited the public disorientation associated with catastrophes and political crises to impose an unwanted free-market ideology on much of the world.

A laid-off advertising executive wakes up to reality.

In this first novel, a nerdy Dominican-American yearns to write fiction and fall in love.

Paul Theroux, who wrote this week’s cover review, says he regards writing criticism “as a duty, but also a pleasure, to honor the joy of reading.”

This magnificent biography of Henry Morton Stanley is a superb adventure story as well as a feat of advocacy.

Banned Books Week starts tomorrow, Saturday, September 29th. Here are the American Library Association's suggestions for how to celebrate:

Don't wait for September. Start reading celebrating your freedom to read now! Read one or all the top 10 most frequently challenged books of 2006. Number one on this list, challenged for promoting homosexuality, is Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's award-winning And Tango Makes Three, about two male penguins parenting an egg from a mixed-sex penguin couple. Also on the list are The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler; two books by Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye and Beloved; Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher; and The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier.

Display your support for the freedom to read with ALA's Banned Books Week materials.

Take the time to reflect that the First Amendment, intellectual freedom, and the freedom to read should not be taken for granted.

Join the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, and the Newberry Library in Pioneer Plaza, at Michigan Ave. and the Chicago River, on Saturday, September 29, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., for the Banned Books Week Read-Out! Local Chicago celebrities join several acclaimed authors to read passages from their favorite banned and "challenged" books. Authors scheduled to appear include Chris Crutcher, Robie Harris, Carolyn Mackler, Peter Parnell, and Justin Richardson.

Organize your own Banned Books Read-Out! at your school, public library, or favorite bookstore.

Mount these Web badges on your blogs and home pages to help spread the word about BBW.

Join IFAN, the Intellectual Freedom Action Network, a grassroots, ad hoc group of volunteers who have identified themselves as willing to come forward in support of the freedom to read in censorship controversies in their communities.

Dedicate one day's programming on your National Public Radio (NPR) station to Banned Books Week. For example, "Today's programming on [the name of the radio station] is made possible in part by [your name], who is celebrating this Banned Books Week by re-reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings [or another favorite banned or challenged book] or by accomplishing some other activity related to the week.

Reread one of your favorite books. Chances are, it's on the list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

Write or call your representatives and let them know you want them to protect your freedom to read and your privacy.

Join or support an intellectual freedom advocate, such as the Freedom to Read Foundation, the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund, or the Intellectual Freedom Round Table.

BBW is a celebration of our freedom to read, to seek, hold, receive, and disseminate ideas, even if they are unorthodox or unpopular. Help spread the word! Encourage your friends and colleagues to celebrate their freedom to read. It's one of our most important democratic freedoms!

Oh, go ahead. Live dangerously. Read a banned book and feel extra naughty this weekend. We will.

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Japan's fiction market has been totally reinvigorated by a new art form: cellphone novels. The generation that spends all its time text messaging friends is now writing stories that people can read on their cellphones. The stories are rough, without editing, but their popularity is soaring.

When Satomi Nakamura uses her cellphone, she has to be extra careful to take frequent breaks. That's because she isn't just chatting. The 22-year-old homemaker has recently finished writing a 200-page novel titled "To Love You Again" entirely on her tiny cellphone screen, using her right thumb to tap the keys and her pinkie to hold the phone steady. She got so carried away last month that she broke a blood vessel on her right little finger.

"PCs might be easier to type on, but I've had a cellphone since I was in sixth grade, so it's easier for me to use," says Ms. Nakamura, who has written eight novels on her little phone. More than 2,000 readers followed her latest story, about childhood sweethearts who reunite in high school, as she updated it every day on an Internet site.

In Japan, the cellphone is stirring the nation's staid fiction market. Young amateur writers in their teens and 20s who long ago mastered the art of zapping off emails and blogs on their cellphones, find it a convenient medium in which to loose their creative energies and get their stuff onto the Internet. For readers, mostly teenage girls who use their phones for an increasingly wide range of activities, from writing group diaries to listening to music, the mobile novel, as the genre is called, is the latest form of entertainment on the go.

Most of these novels, with their simple language and skimpy scene-setting, are rather unpolished. They are almost always on familiar themes about love and friendship. But they are hugely popular, and publishers are delighted with them. Book sales in Japan fell 15% between 1996 and 2006, according to the Research Institute for Publications. Several cellphone novels have been turned into real books, selling millions of copies and topping the best-seller lists. "Love Sky," one of the biggest successes so far, is about a boy with cancer who breaks up with his girlfriend to spare her the pain of his death. It has sold more than 1.3 million copies and is being made into a movie due out in November.

We absolutely despise typing on our cellphone, requiring a QWERTY keyboard to properly get our (at times voluminous) thoughts across. Writing a novel using a cellphone? Ok, maybe a Blackberry -- at least it has a keyboard you can thumb. What's wrong with a notebook or laptop? We're starting to feel the generational shift here in a big way -- and it's kind of freaking us out.

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Visit ShoppersShop.com's Halloween Shopping Website to find costumes, coupons and resources.

by Phillips, Guy
Has Dancing with the Stars become one of your guilty pleasures? If you are one of the millions of viewers tuning in each week, then this book is for you. Guy Phillips will take you behind the scenes with the show, including a brief history and a look at how the hair, makeup, costumes, and hard work of each celebrity couple comes together to create such an entertaining show. The author provides a look at all of the dance styles presented on the show, and includes a workout that you can follow to create your own dancer’s body. All of your favorite celebrity couples are included in this entertaining look at a show that has millions of viewers tapping their toes each week.
- reviewed by Christine, South County Regional, PLCMC