I’m doing a Reading and Green Recipe Seminar at the Thoreau Society this Saturday, November 12th, 2011.
I’m doing a Re…
November 11, 2011The Lion’s Eye is picked for shelfawareness.com’s Top Ten List
May 6, 2010Our Top Ten Lists 2009, Part Two
We asked Shelf Awareness people for their 10 (or so) favorite books of the past year. Most of these titles were published in 2009, but not all, since we wanted to know what gave them reading pleasure no matter the pub date.
John Mutter
Stardust by Joe Kanon (Atria). Set in 1945 in Los Angeles, this book is all about the movie business, the beginnings of the Red Scare, German emigres (Bertolt Brecht has a few lines, Thomas Mann keeps his distance), a murder mystery, the dreamworld of Hollywood and the dreamworld of real life. Great book, great ending, can’t wait for the movie.
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland (Knopf). Who’d have thought the second volume of this Swedish mystery would be even better than the first book in the series?!
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest by Stieg Larsson (Quercus). Who’d have thought the author could top volume two?! We were lucky enough to get a copy of the third volume in the series in Frankfurt since it’s been out in the U.K. for many months; Knopf won’t release it here until May. While finishing it, we mourned the author’s death all the more.
Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr (Penguin, 1989, 1990 and 1991). These three titles collected in one volume feature detective Bernie Gunther, who must have been a cousin of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. March Violets and The Pale Criminal are set in 1930s Berlin, where Gunther, who loathes the Third Reich, gets involves in cases that lead him to bump up against powerful Nazi figures–and wind up with him involuntarily rejoining the criminal police. A German Requiem is set in the postwar period, and despite the name, most of the action takes place in Vienna. Amusing, sharp, intriguing and so very sad all at once.
Bikeman: An Epic Poem by Thomas F. Flynn (Andrews McMeel, 2008). A tender, appropriate way to remember September 11 by the CBS reporter who rode his bicycle to the Twin Towers and nearly died when he was trapped in the cloud of debris in a parking garage whose one exit was blocked.
Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoir by Laurie Lico Albanese (Harper Perennial, 2004). Another epic autobiographical poem, one that tells the author’s story, which by turns is heartbreaking and delightful. Coincidentally Blue Suburbia was included this past weekend in USA Today’s “5 Unique Finds for Book Lovers.”
The Best Game Ever: Pirates vs. Yankees, October 13, 1960 by Jim Reisler (Da Capo). Arguably it’s good background to have been a child living in Pittsburgh that day and remember the spontaneous block party that broke out after Bill Mazeroski’s legendary home run. Still anyone with some interest in baseball can appreciate this artfully done book that intersperses inning-by-inning action with a history of the teams and their colorful players, the season to that point and the contrasts between the Big Apple and Iron City.
China: Empire of Living Symbols by Cecilia Lindqvist, translated by Joan Tate (Da Capo, 2008). For those of us fascinated by Chinese, this offers detailed histories of many basic characters, showing their earliest forms, which often were representational, and their stylized modern versions. The author also traces how characters grew out of daily life and reflect old norms–the difference in the meaning of compound characters involving the characters for man and for women, for example!
Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man’s Search for Anything Across Ireland, Vegas, and Thailand by Andrew Gottlieb (Black Cat/Grove/Atlantic). This gives amusing balance to Eat, Pray, Love–the title alone is worth the price of admission.
Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener (1946). The classic first work by Michener, the basis for the musical, holds up nicely.
Shannon McKenna Schmidt
American Fuji by Sara Backer (Berkley). I was intrigued to read this novel, the story of two Americans whose lives intersect in Japan, after writing about it for Shelf Awareness [September 14] and talking with bookseller Marilyn Lustig. Word of mouth works!
The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser (Smithsonian). A fascinating foray into the art underworld as journalist Ulrich Boser cracks a cold case–the $50 million robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1989.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson (Vintage). A riveting (addictive!) thriller. I’m looking forward to following along with quirky, unpredictable Lisbeth Salander in The Girl Who Played with Fire.
The Lion’s Eye: Seeing in the Wild by Joanna Greenfield (Little, Brown). Greenfield offers a lyrical and vivid account of her time spent observing chimpanzees in the rain forests of Uganda and the personal obstacles she overcame to get there.
Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Gyles Brandreth (Touchstone). Flamboyant playwright Wilde taps into his powers of deduction to solve crimes in Victorian London. His latest adventure is Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man’s Smile.
Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz (Voice). After the sudden death of her husband, Julie Metz discovered that he had been cheating on her for years. In this remarkably honest and inspiring memoir, she shares the story of how she put her life back together.
The Sound of Water by Sanjay Bahadur (Atria). A harrowing, thought-provoking, beautifully written novel based on a real-life incident, a mining disaster in a remote region of India and told from three perspectives: the trapped men, their family members and company officials.
Swan Dive by Michael Burke (Caravel). Set in a New England factory town, this gritty, witty and risque crime novel stars a down-on-his-luck detective and is loosely based on the myth of Leda and the Swan.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Delacorte Press). At her family’s ramshackle estate in the English countryside, 11-year-old Flavia de Luce spars with her older sisters, concocts poisons and solves a murder. Atmospheric and fun.
This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Harper). Tough, smart and funny, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recalls how she came to lead once war-torn Liberia and details the centuries-old ties between her country and the U.S.
Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor (Viking). In this eloquent memoir, Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Ann, recall their travels together in Greece and France as well as their emotional and spiritual journeys. Along the way, Kidd shares how she came to write her debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees.
Robert Gray
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada (Melville House, translated by Michael Hofmann). Easily my favorite book of the year, this beautifully crafted novel of working class people trying to take a stand in Nazi Berlin was praised by the New York Times as a “signal literary event of 2009.”
In the First Circle: A Novel (The Restored Text) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (HarperCollins, translated by H.T. Willetts). It was a thrill to revisit this uncensored edition of what I’ve long considered one of the most important books published in my lifetime.
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. Sure he won the National Book Award and everybody’s reading him now, but I’ve been a fan of McCann’s work for more than a decade. The elegant, intelligent grittiness of this New York novel is precisely what I’ve come to expect from one of our best writers.
Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky (NYRB Classics, translated by Joanne Turnbull). Speculative fiction from Russia, this collection subtly twists perceived reality with intelligence and starting imagination. I loved “The Bookmark,” and lines like “the bookmark looked affronted and slightly grumpy.”
31 Hours by Masha Hamilton (Unbridled Books). An exploration of post-9/11 New York from multiple perspectives, this was a brilliant and irresistible, provocative and evocative literary thrill ride that probed the deeply human causes and consequences of terrorism.
Beauty Salon by Mario Bellatín (City Lights Books, translated by Kurt Hollander). Imagine a salon that becomes “the Terminal,” a surreal yet all too real refuge for strangers “who have nowhere else to die.” I’m still haunted by the narrative voice and the aquariums. (You’ll have to read it to find out about them.)
The Pig Comes to Dinner by Joseph Caldwell (HarperCollins). Yes, you can read Caldwell just for the fun of it. If you are a fan of smart, biting Irish humor, this second volume of Caldwell’s trilogy (after the delightful The Pig Did It) continues my favorite porcine misadventures.
Dread: How Fear & Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu by Philip Alcabes (PublicAffairs). One of the best explorations of our strange, instinctive need to overreact to often misperceived threats like epidemic scares. A clearheaded look at our instinctive human fondness for mass anxiety and panic.
The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution by Denis Dutton (Bloomsbury Press). Does my taste in art reflect evolutionary traits shaped by Darwinian selection? I thought so before reading Dutton’s book, and found that he makes an intriguing and enlightening case for the possibility that my instinct was correct.
Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk (HarperStudio). Anyone who wants to understand how the alchemy of passion and knowledge can produce gold (whatever your gold may be) in business and life should pay attention to Gary Vaynerchuk. His presentation at BEA was an impressive tasting; his book is insightful, inspiring and even a little intoxicating.
The Lion’s Eye: seeing in the Wild Wins Honorable Mention at the Green Book Festival!
May 5, 20102010 Green Book Festival Winners
SAN FRANCISCO (May 3, 2010) _ The 2010 Green Book Festival has named “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming” as the winner of its annual competition honoring books that contribute to greater understanding, respect for and positive action on the changing worldwide environment.
Written by James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore, the book probes a campaign of disinformation surrounding climate change created by those with a vested interest in the status quo.
Hoggan, who owns a Vancouver public relations firm, pinpoints specific efforts to deny the scientific consensus that humans are endangering the planet. The resulting pollution of the public conversation with partisan politics, disinformation, paid consultants disguised as experts and other tactics designed to create doubt is a frightening tale of spin doctoring disguised as truth.
Hoggan and Littlemore, along with other competition victors, will be honored at a private reception in San Francisco on May 15. More information on the festival is at www.greenbookfestival.com.
Other winners in the competition:
NON-FICTION
WINNER: “Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade To Deny Global Warming,” James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore
RUNNER-UP:
“Hope For Animals and Their World,” Jane Goodall, Thane Maynard and Gail Hudson
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“Just Food,” James E. McWilliams
“Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth,” Larry J. Schweiger
“Cold,” Bill Streever
“The Hiker’s Way,” John McKinney
“Green Living: Architecture and Planning,” The Prince’s Foundation
“Green Metropolis,” David Owen
“Beyond Light Bulbs,” Susan Meredith
“Green Barbarians,” Ellen Sandbeck
HOW-TO
WINNER: “Building Green,” Clarke Snell & Tim Callahan
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“Canning Preserving,” Ashley English
“Sparkling Green,” Tracy C. Jonsson
“The Green Body Cleanse,” Dr. Edward F. Group III
“The Sweater Chop Shop,” Crispina Ffrench
“I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas,” Anna Getty
“Talking Dirt,” Annie Spiegelman
“Look Great, Live Green,” Deborah Burnes
“Guerilla Marketing Goes Green,” Jay Conrad Levinson and Shel Horowitz
YOUNG ADULT
WINNER: “The Carbon Diaries 2017,” Saci Lloyd
HONORABLE MENTION: “The Crow’s Nest,” Charles Parker
WILD CARD
WINNER: “Socially Responsible Investing for Dummies,” Ann C. Logue
FICTION
WINNER: “The Year of the Flood,” Margaret Atwood
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse,” Dale Pendell
Hot House Flower and the 9 Plants of Desire,” Margot Berwin
SPIRITUAL
WINNER: “Green Like God,” Jonathan Merritt
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“The Gospel According To The Earth,” Matthew Sleeth
“An Altar in the World,” Barbara Brown Taylor
“How Big Is Your But?” James Robinson
GARDENING
WINNER: “The Backyard Homestead,” edited by Carleen Madigan
RUNNER-UP: “Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening,” Pat Welsh
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible,” Edward C. Smith
“Dogscaping,” by Tom Barthel
COOKBOOKS
WINNER: “Sustainably Delicious,” Michel Nischan with Mary Goodbody
RUNNER-UP: “Easy Green Organic,” Anna Getty
HONORABLE MENTIONS
“The Big Green Cookbook,” Jackie Newgent
“Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide To Eating,” Terry Walters
“Simply in Season,” Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert
CHILDREN’S
WINNER: “This Tree Counts,” Alison Formento, illustrated by Sarah Snow
RUNNER-UP: “Mama Miti,” Donna Jo Napoli, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“Scat,” Carl Hiaasen
“We Planted A Tree,” Diane Muldrow, illustrated by Bob Staake
The Forever Forest,” Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini with Rachel Crandell
“101 Ways You Can Help Save The Planet Before You’re 12!” Joanne O’Sullivan
“My Bent Tree,” Kathy Brodsky/illustrations by Cameron Bennett
“The Inside Story,” Kathy Brodsky
“Seriously Sassy,” Maggi Gibson
“Not Your Typical Book About The Environment,” Elin Kelsey
“Going Home,” Marianne Berkes
ANIMALS
WINNER: “The Bedside Book of Beasts,” Graeme Gibson
RUNNER-UP: “Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness,” Lyanda Lynn Haupt
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“Eating Animals,” Jonathan Safran Foer
“Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us About Humanity,” G.A. Bradshaw
“Peterson Field Guide To Birds of North America,” Roger Tory Peterson
“The Young Birder’s Guide to Bird of Eastern North America,” Bill Thompson III
BUSINESS
WINNER: “Green Careers for Dummies,” Carol McClelland
HONORABLE MENTION:The Green Museum,” Sara S. Brophy and Elizabeth Wylie
COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS
WINNER: “Bothered by My Green Conscience,” Franke James
HONORABLE MENTION: “Green Pieces,” Drew Aquilina
SCIENTIFIC
WINNER: “Insectopedia,” Hugh Raffles
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“World Ocean Census,” Darlene Trew Crist, Gail Scowcroft, James Mr. Harding Jr.
“Green Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human Health,” John Wargo
SCIENCE FICTION
WINNER: “The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse,” Dale Pendell
POETRY
WINNER: “From Spit and Clay,” Eileen Casey
PHOTOGRAPHY/ART
WINNER: “Our Wilderness: America’s Common Ground,” Doug Scott
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
WINNER: “Sleeping Naked is Green,” Vanessa Farquharson
HONORABLE MENTION:
“Food and Forgiveness,” Greg Christian
“Earth Heroes: Champions of the Oceans,” Fran Hodgkins, illustrated by Cris Arbo
“The Lion’s Eye,” Joanna Greenfield
E-BOOKS
WINNER: “Apocalypse Near,” Eric Haase
The Sierra Club recommends The Lion’s Eye
March 21, 2010The Sierra Club Book recommendation:
can also be found here
March 17, 2010 »
Book Roundup Wednesday: Animals in Nature
Every Wednesday, we review a selection of new and upcoming books addressing a specific aspect of environmentalism. This week we’re recommending books that take you to the homes of wild animals around the world.
The Lion’s Eye: Seeing in the Wild (by Joanna Greenfield, $19, Little, Brown and Company, 2009): In her twenties, Joanna Greenfield was offered the opportunity to travel to East Africa to follow one of the world’s last-known populations of wild chimpanzees. The Lions Eye is the result of that trip, and the book is a rare and intimate lens into East African wildlife. Greenfield and a team of Ugandan explorers begin as timid observers and ended up as members of the untamed tribe, and documented every detail.
I found an interview with Faith Middleton at WNPR on The Lion’s Eye
February 8, 2010
A review of The Lion’s Eye in the Globe and Mail!
January 28, 2010A review of The Lion’s Eye by Charles Wilkins at the Globe and Mail got picked up by USA Today online. You can see it at here.
Here On Earth podcast, Wisconsin Public Radio
November 19, 2009Yesterday I appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio station’s program Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders with Jean Feraca. We discussed my book and took some live telephone calls from listeners. Jean was delightful to speak with and I got some new ideas for one of my next books. We even talked a little bit about my love of Cavaliers and green living. Listen for yourself at YouTube.com by typing ‘thelionseye’ into the search box.
