McGuane, Clark and Winslow, oh my!

It's been awhile, but there's been a lot going on. Determined to post more often.

Yesterday, I got a terrific, unexpected surprise when I arrived home:

I'd heard for some time that Don Winslow was working on a sequel to -- or excuse me, a continuation of -- his great 2005 novel, The Power of the Dog.  For those unfamiliar with that book, it's a superb novel about the drug wars that consume so many lives and so much money in Mexico and the United States. When I interviewed Winslow ten years ago, I told him if that 10 percent of the novel was true, it was beyond frightening.
"Flip it," he said.
Meaning, 90 percent of the novel was based on a reality that we should all hope never visits our doorsteps. If you've not read The Power of the Dog, it's well worth your time.
Maybe this will persuade you:

 

 

 

If early reviews are any indication, The Cartel is going to be riveting. James Ellroy, author of The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential, is calling it the War and Peace of dope war books. Good enough for me.


Also on the bookshelf, awaiting my attention: Martin Clark's new novel, The Jezebel Remedy. Clark is responsible for my favorite book title: The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, his debut novel from 2000. I'd call Clark, a circuit court judge from Patrick County, Virginia, a Southern Gothic writer, but that doesn't seem to fit, although there are Gothic elements and his stories are set in the South. But Clark's wickedly clever humor sets him apart from Faulkner and McCullers impressionists. He writes as if he's channeling the Marx Brothers by way of Harper Lee.

Finally, Thomas McGuane's short-story collection, Crow Fair. I've been reading McGuane since an ex-girlfriend gave me copies of his novels Panama and Ninety-Two in the Shade thirty years ago. Those books started me on a path to where I am today as (hopefully) a more discerning and perceptive reader.
McGuane's stories are filled with cowboys and ranchers, con artists and laborers, all residents of Montana's Big Sky country. They are usually throwbacks to simpler times, often at odds with progress, but always drawn with dignity and compassion. McGuane's prose can be dazzling, but it's the humanity of his work that is makes him one of our best writers.

New and notable books for January

The stacks are getting higher every day. These books have caught my eye so far in 2015

 Schubert's Winter Journey: An Anatomy of an Obsession, by Ian Bostridge (Knopf)

Books about music often fail because they cannot replicate the act of hearing music. The best any writer can hope for is a close approximation of the musical experience, which is what Ian Bostridge achieves in this amazing book. An exploration of Schubert's Winter Journey, Bostridge, a noted tenor from England, writes about each of the 24 songs in the cycle with verve, often drawing from his own performances of Winter Journey. Even those not familiar with Schubert, or classical music, can appreciate Bostridge's passion for Schubert's most famous work.

 

There's Something I Want You to Do: Stories, by Charles Baxter (Pantheon)

When critics talk about contemporary short-story writers, Alice Munro and George Saunders are often cited as the genre's best practitioners. But any discussion of short-story masters should include Charles Baxter, the Minneapolis-based writer. Baxter's new collection is divided into two parts, with five stories about virtues -- Bravery, Loyalty, Chastity, Charity and Forbearance, and five informed by the vices of Lust, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony and Vanity. Many stories are culled from the mundane and ordinary  -- a barking dog, an airline passenger reading a bible -- but Baxter manages to dig beneath the surface and find the extraordinary detail or insight. When he does step away from  so-called normal experience  --  notably the drug dealer reading Othello as he waits for customers in Charity -- the experience is similarly transcendent.

 

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe by Roman Puertolas (Knopf)

f nothing else, this debut novel has a memorable title. Puertolas, who worked as a police inspector with the French border service, has devised an imaginative premise: A con artist and fakir from India thinks that going to an IKEA will be his ticket to success. But things go wrong when Ajatashatru Ogash gets trapped in one of the Swedish retailer's wardrobes, setting off a Marxian (as in Marx Brothers) chain of events.

 

Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search  For My Childhood Bully by Allen Kurzweil (HarperCollins)

Few of us care to revisit the indignities suffered during childhood, making Allen Kurzweil's attempt to track down his youthful tormentor seem like an exercise in masochism. But Whipping Boy is not the typical story about surviving an abuser. Kurzweil's bully -- they were roommates at a Swiss boarding school -- grew up to be an international criminal. The author's journey takes him from the slums of Manila to a law firm on Park Avenue to a federal prison camp in California.

West of Sunset ...

A little late on this ... My interview with Stewart O'Nan about his fantastic new book, West of Sunset.

Leslie Mcilory's new poetry collection, Slag.

Mistakes happen ...

The print version of my interview with poet Leslie Mcilroy called her knew book Skag, not Slag. Fortunately, online versions are easily correctible and a quick phone call remedied the error.

Sorry, Les.

I've known Les since the late 90s, and I think she's one of the most intensely personal poets working today.   Most poets tend to take cues from the world around them, at least to some degree. But Les insists her poems are hewed from personal experience. In a lesser talent, that would create a great big solipsistic warning sign: LARGE EGO AHEAD, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

But somehow -- and I can't figure out how she does it -- Les avoids this trap. Her poems are accessible, universal, even if they sometimes make you cringe because of their brutal honesty. Her poems that deal with sexual, physical and mental abuse are not easy to read. Nor should they be. But part of Les' genius is you are compelled to keep reading even as she makes you uncomfortable.


Here's the article:

Andrew Roberts' "Napoleon" ....

Andrew Roberts' "Napoleon" is a huge book that will change the way you think about one of history's most controversial figures. Roberts spent almost a decade researching the book, and it shows in the meticulous research, the attention to detail; Roberts seems to have been privy to Napoleon's strategy meetings such is the depth of his reporting on various battles.

Here's my interview with Roberts.

Indie presses

I had a really hard time putting this piece together on indie presses. Not because I can't write (although some former editors might say otherwise), but because I had such a wealth of material. Unfortunately some really good information and tales had to be cut -- I'm especially chagrined there wasn't more room for Nathan Kukulski of Six Gallery Press -- but sometimes sacrifices must be made.
Nathan, I owe you a beer, at least.
I am happy, however, to be able to shed some light on these wonderful folks who do this because they love books and writers and fiction and non-fiction and poetry. If you love books, these publishers deserve your support:
Braddock Avenue Books: Six Gallery Press; Low Ghost Press; Hyacinth Girl Press; and Creative Non-Fiction.
And my apologies to all the other small presses in the area that, for reasons of time and space, I could not fit in.
Of course, we all owe a debt of gratitude to Chuck Kinder and Diane Cecily for being hosts nonpareil.

Craig Bernier's "Your Life Idyllic"

Recently, Chuck Kinder told me about a new guy in town who was publishing a short-story collection. Actually, Craig Bernier's been here more than a decade, so he's not exactly "new". But I'd not heard of him until Mr. Kinder kindly introduced us via e-mail.

When I got my copy of "Your Life Idyllic" I set it aside. I'm not keen on most short-story collections -- Alice Munro's work being a notable exception -- because I like to immerse myself in stories. It disappoints me when a story starts to gain momentum and ends. I always want more, particularly if there are compelling characters.

Craig's collection, however, is more than satisfying. The stories are vivid and well told, and the characters are compelling and realistic.

And Craig's a great guy.

Here's my interview with Craig, published today in the Tribune Review.