Maureen Corrigan's Reviews of "Drood" and "Twilight"

The February 23 episode of Fresh Air on NPR offered reviews by book critic Maureen Corrigan of Dan Simmons' "Drood" as well as Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight." Click here to read and/or listen.

Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World - Niloufar Talebi

Host Pam Grange recalls the February 19th event with author Niloufar Talebi:

What a dynamic and fascinating woman! Born in London and raised in Iran, she now lives in New York, speaks English (with no accent), Persian, and French, and was a professional dancer until she damaged her knee. She has an MFA in writing and literature. She also studied theater with Jean Shelton and Cyril Clayton and has produced and performed nationally. Niloufar founded and serves as artistic director of a group called The Translation Project, whose vision is to increase the visibility of contemporary Iranian literature on the world stage, create a greater opportunity for Iranian literature to be part of the modern conversation, and she teaches translation.

During the four violent years she and her family lived in Iran following the 1979 revolution, they would often – very discreetly – host ‘literary salons’ in their home with some of the finest poets from the old Iran – that of the Shah.

In her book, Belonging, Niloufar has gathered and translated the poetry of the Iranian diaspora, and her ability to switch seamlessly between English and Persian as she read from the poems inspired depth and feeling in both languages. The book contains poems from three different age groups: the older generation who grew up with the Shah; the middle generation; and the ‘younger’ generation – those in their 30s and 40s today. The different groups of poems reflect the changing history and experiences of these celebrated Iranian poets.

One of our favorite local authors, Firoozeh Dumas, (also a dynamic and fascinating woman!) introduced Niloufar to the mostly, but not exclusively, Iranian audience. Poetry has never been at the top of my reading choices, but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening!

Jonathon Keats on "The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty Six"

Here's author Jonathon Keats at Kepler's giving you a private look into his newest book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh2I-PXdKyM

Dan Simmons talking live about "Drood"

Kepler's was pleased to host Dan Simmons on February 20th. He was kind enough to share some of his personal thoughts with us about his new book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VOAf6vrM9o

Martin's Links

As everyone gets ready for a couple of days off, I leave you with the latest dating idea that seems to be taking hold. None in the Bay Area so far….

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/mar/19/books.booksnews

And, just for fun, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2khDhfwsoE

Martin's Links

For those who want to read blog entries on life in London in 1666, Samuel Pepys diaries are being posted on the net 343 years later to the day. If you enjoy history, London, or great dish, this is a great site to check out

http://www.pepysdiary.com/

And, George Orwell’s diaries are being reprinted here as a blog exactly 70 years to the day of being written

http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

These are not diaries. They are only what can be called collaborative web art. It’s the Garfield comic strip without Garfield. To quote from the site:” Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.”

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

On the other side of the coin, William Gibson, who is almost always a few steps in the future keeps a great blog at http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/

Martin's Links

For fans of classic American Literature, it does not get better than this. Dick Cavett writes about having John Cheever and John Updike on his show at the same time. This also has some great video links to the show in question.

http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/writers-bloc-when-updike-and-cheever-came-to-visit/


I’m not sure I actually believe this, but it’s sufficiently odd enough to give one pause:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/17/pride-and-predator-to-give-jane-austen-extreme-makeover

And, it would appear that one of the best memoirs I’ve read recently is going to be more than a bit difficult to get on this side of the Atlantic:

Paperboy, Christopher Fowler

I’ve been a fan of Christopher Fowler’s for 15 years now, having first discovered him in an Edinburgh bookstore I entered to escape a downpour. There was a display table of books that could only be categorized as ‘Urban Unease’, and his book Disturbia had the pride of place. Since then, I have read all of his books, following him from genre to genre. He is best known here for his Bryant and May mystery novels. His wonderful short story collection, ‘Old Devil Moon’ is also available in the US; unfortunately all of his other books appear to be out of print over here.

All of this is prelude to discussing his latest book, ‘Paperboy’, which unfortunately has not been picked up by an American publisher, and is only available in Britain. Paperboy is his first non fiction book, about growing up in early sixties England as a book loving boy whose flights of imagination are actively discouraged by his parents.

Any memoir is going to face difficulties with an audience unfamiliar with the times and events discussed unless they lived it themselves. However, the lack of familiarity with foods such as Weetabix, British films from the 50s and 60s and early Dr Who episodes should not dissuade anyone from reading this wonderful book. At a little over two score and ten, Christopher Fowler has taken a long and loving look back at his juvenile years. He does not sugarcoat the times, nor does he look at them through rose colored glasses. And some of the most poignant scenes are when the adult Fowler goes back to his old neighborhood, (a great deal of which has been paved over,) to compare his memories to what is there now. The similarities in experiences between the author and the reader far outweigh the differences.

This is more than likely going to be one of my favorite pieces of non fiction I read this year, and unfortunately, it does not look like it will be available in the U.S.. So, for the first time I can remember, I am going to refer any interested customers to another bookstore. If you are intrigued by this book, and want to know more, and perhaps purchase it, check out Waterstones.com (http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=6305347)

Excerpts from the book have been posted on his website here:
http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/?page_id=37

and by the Daily mail here:
http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/?page_id=37 ,
here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1133664/Christopher-Fowlers-memoirs-I-love-usherette-I-barely-breathe.html
and here:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1134316/Christopher-Fowlers-memoirs--The-wet-weekend-Herne-Bay-taught-tortured-dad-meaning-love.html

First-time author Veronica Chater braved the winter weather to read from her book, Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family. Event host Pam Grange reports:


Very small audience on a cold and rainy evening, but those that attended were definitely raised Catholic. Veronica (Ronnie) lived quite a bizarre childhood, but as she tells her stories, they often come across as laugh-out-loud funny – as well as sort of horrifying!

Her parents believed that Vatican II, with its total corruption of Catholic traditions, would lead to communist world domination and trigger an apocalyptic scenario called the Holy Chastisement. Her state trooper father fantasized about moving the family to the miracle capital of Lourdes, France; when that plan fizzled, they settled for rural Portugal. Initially hopeful ("even the dogs were Catholic"), they discovered that Portugal was just as "Vatican II" as California. They returned to northern California in poverty, and her father became even more fanatical. The 11 children (!) counted on their mother for common sense and practicality.

This was only the author’s second event, and she was a little nervous and stiff in the beginning, but loosened up quickly and let the humor of it all shine through. She told me that with all she went through, resulting in her defection from the Church, she felt Portugal was one of the best times of her life, and she looks upon her entire childhood experience as adding much richness to her life. Her mother died several years ago, but she and her siblings are still close to their father – they just don’t discuss religion. Her father actually liked her book – felt it was really truthful.

Our Norton rep, Dan Christiaens, attended. He had never met Ronnie before, and they spoke for a long time afterwards. I think the book is going to do well. I found it fascinating, and I certainly learned a lot about Vatican II! Ronnie’s interview on NPR (Forum) two days later was wonderful.


The following, for anyone who wants to know a little more about Vatican II, is taken from an article by John Thavis in the Catholic News Service
“… its 16 landmark documents modernized the liturgy, renewed the priesthood and religious life, enhanced the role of lay Catholics, opened dialogue with other churches and non-Christians, and identified the church as the "people of God" attuned to the problems and hopes of the world. Although the council defined no new dogma, Catholics who lived through the Vatican II era will never forget the changes -- some of them abrupt -- that visited their church communities in the mid-1960s. Altars were turned around so that priests faced the people. The Mass in Latin gave way to Mass in the vernacular. Other sacraments were updated and simplified. Men and women religious adopted a more modern form of dress. Not all the changes were immediate, however. Church leaders began a long and sometimes contentious process of revising nearly every area of pastoral life, from the teaching of religion to lay ministries. …”

Martin's Links

A video from Christopher Moore discussing his new book ‘Fool”, a comic, more than somewhat bawdy retelling of King Lear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc7iZWnLwIw


Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the bestselling Eat Pray Love

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

This is a long (20 minutes) but worthwhile video on creativity


Kepler’s is honored to be hosting T C Boyle Saturday , February 21st at 2pm. His latest novel, ‘The Women’ is a look at the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, seen through the eyes of the women in his life. It’s a great book, and I’m looking forward to hearing Mr Boyle discuss it. Here is a clip of him being interviewed about ‘The Women’.


http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/10/books/1231547592420/a-conversation-with-t-c-boyle.html?scp=1&sq=t%20c%20boyle&st=cse

New feature: Martin's Links

Online Store Manager Martin Sorensen is an avid reader and always on the lookout for stories and articles he thinks are of interest to our customers. Our new feature - "Martin's Links" - will highlight some of the great sites he has found. Here's his first edition:

The Guardian has done a wonderful service for those who are looking for a good book to read (fiction) by publishing their 1000 novels everyone must read. I like the way they break it down into genres, and they are extremely liberal in their classification system. I have already purchased about 20-30 of these titles for future reading.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/1000novels


Christopher Fowler, author of the best selling (at least at Kepler’s) Bryant and May series keeps a wonderful blog. He has a great article on his blog called ‘How to write a Murder Mystery’, that not only has the greatest Shakespeare anecdote of all time, but is-as is everything he writes- a great piece of writing.

http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/?page_id=522


Also, the Suspicions of Mr Whicher, coming out in March in paperback, won the Samuel Johnson prize.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1035608/THE-SUSPICIONS-OF-MR-WHICHER-scoops-Samuel-Johnson-Prize.html

Jonathan Carroll is one of my favorite authors writing today. The link below connects to a wonderful short story of his about grief and recovery. Whether you are familiar with his writing or not, it is well worth checking out.

http://www.jonathancarroll.com/shortstories/vedran.html

Mario Livio - Is God a Mathematician?

Kepler's was pleased to have scientist Mario Livio enlighten a large audience on February 3, 2009.
Host Bobbi Emel reports:

Dr. Mario Livio, a senior astrophysicist and Head of the Office of Public Outreach at the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, came to Kepler’s to discuss the ongoing question: is mathematics something that has always existed and humans are just discovering little by little or is it a series of logical connections created by humans?

To answer this question, Dr. Livio brought a PowerPoint presentation and briefly outlined some of the points in his book. Part history, part theory, and part a history of theory, Is God a Mathematician? reviews the historical explorations of such mathematics pioneers as Pythagoras, Galileo, and Gödel along with many others. The conclusion drawn by Dr. Livio is that math has in part always existed and is in part created by humans.

A good speaker, and surprisingly funny, Dr. Livio kept the audience’s attention through examples and stories. As usual, the 80 members of the audience were largely mathematicians, scientists, and general fans of the sciences. Dr. Livio took questions ranging from “How is math applied to a science like biology?” to “How do you overcome the conundrum of using percentages as a comparison?” (Example: If I have 12 apples in one box and 10 apples in another box, it can be said that the larger box has 20% more apples than the smaller box. However, it can also be said that the smaller box has 18% fewer apples than the big box…)

One questioner stepped out of the realm of math for a minute and asked about future plans for the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Livio replied that the Hubble is scheduled for another repair mission by the space shuttle in May of this year and it is hoped that the Hubble will then last up to 5 more years. Around 2013 or 2014 another space telescope will be launched. The new telescope, much bigger than the Hubble, will “see” in infrared and will be located much farther out into space than the relatively close orbiting of the earth by the Hubble.

Dr. Keith Devlin, Consulting Professor at Stanford, author of his most recent book, The Unfinished Game, and NPR’s “Math Guy,” introduced Dr. Livio at the event. The two scientists, although aware and admiring of each other’s work, had never met in person and they enjoyed spending a few minutes in discussion before the event started. Although I wasn’t able to overhear, could it be they were debating the question: Is God a mathematician?