June 2, 2002
Books by everyone from Peter Benchley to Belva Plain due

Books by everyone from Peter Benchley to Belva Plain due

Bio portrays both sides of Chet Baker

Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker by James Gavin, 416 pp. $26.95.

Trixie treat: Protagonist grows on you in Boulder writer's debut novel

Trixie treat: Protagonist grows on you in Boulder writer's debut novel

Box's Wyoming sings, but plot in latest thriller leaves something to be desired

Box's Wyoming sings, but plot in latest thriller leaves something to be desired

May 26, 2002
A brutally honest account of a father-son sea voyage

Don't Give Up the Ship: Finding My Father While Lost at Sea by Neil Steinberg, 228 pp. $22.95.

Hillerman is back

Not too long ago, fans of Tony Hillerman's excellent mystery series featuring Navajo sleuths Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn were preparing for the worst.

Boulder bestsellers

10 The Bondwoman's Narrative — Hannah Crafts (edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)

Opening lines

From "Writing to Heal the Soul" by Susan Zimmerman, who will speak and sign her work at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. (303) 447-2074:

May 19, 2002
The American Girls Club

Back in the olden days, before Nintendo and Sony PlayStations and candy-colored computers, my dream present was a doll.

Boulder backdrop contrasts with Bosnian brutality in Kerr's mystery

Boulder backdrop contrasts with Bosnian brutality in Kerr's mystery

Action falls flat in 'Clones' novelization

The movie novelization tends to occupy the ghettos of literature. Little more than reformatted movie scripts, books that are "based on the hit movie" usually are brain junk.

Betrayal and tragedy in the depths of a Vermont winter

Betrayal and tragedy in the depths of a Vermont winter

McMurtry's new ride into Western frontier is comical and perilous

McMurtry's new ride into Western frontier is comical and perilous

Book Signings

MONDAY: Pascale Le Draoulec and Kristin Loudis (American Pie) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek; Frank Clifford (The Backbone of the World) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

May 12, 2002
White's examination of school 'sluts' both fascinating, incomplete

White's examination of school 'sluts' both fascinating, incomplete

Decades later, true author gets his name on 'commandments'

Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments by Kent M. Keith. Putnam, 117 pp. $19.95.

Black and white, betrayal and tragedy in the depths of a Vermont winter

Black and white, betrayal and tragedy in the depths of a Vermont winter

Signings

MONDAY: Linda Hill (Climbing Free) 7:30 p.m. Boulder Book Store; Al Franken (Oh, the Things I Know!) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek.

Family's good, bad and ugly on display in McGuane's Montana

Family's good, bad and ugly on display in McGuane's Montana

The Beauty of the Beast: Boulder ethologist Bekoff argues against human superiority over other animals

The Beauty of the Beast: Boulder ethologist Bekoff argues against human superiority over other animals

May 5, 2002
Few bright spots in new 'Cave Bear' novel

Jean Auel wrote the popular series featuring the life and times of cavewoman Ayla as she ventures among the various first peoples of Europe. "The Clan of the Cave Bear" (1980), "The Valley of Horses" (1982), "The Mammoth Hunters" (1986) and "The Plains of Passage" (1990) all are part of the "Earth's Children" series.

Writer's memoir feels false

Rolling Stone contributing editor Rich Cohen grew up in Glencoe, Ill., one of those small, Midwestern towns that molds writers who then run off to New York to fulfill their dreams.

The pugnacious Gore Vidal turns to Sept. 11

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated by Gore Vidal. Avalon, 144 pp. $10.

Sugar and spice and everything ... vicious: Denied open anger, girls turn to subtler cruelties, book finds

Sugar and spice and everything ... vicious: Denied open anger, girls turn to subtler cruelties, book finds

'Courage to Heal' author sets out to mend severed human connections

'Courage to Heal' author sets out to mend severed human connections

May 1, 2002
Civil War books follow in generals' footsteps

RALEIGH, N.C. — Stonewall Jackson died almost 139 years ago. And no matter how much he is studied, students of the Civil War will never fully know the Confederate general.

April 28, 2002
Highly Corruptible: Kennedy resumes his Albany cycle with 'Roscoe'

Highly Corruptible: Kennedy resumes his Albany cycle with 'Roscoe'

Silly, thrilling and packed

Before beginning his first novel, writer Jasper Fforde must have jotted a bundle of unrelated ideas on slips of paper — time travel, vampires, detectives, action-adventure, government corruption, war, space-age inventions, science fiction and literature. Instead of tossing them in a hat and choosing a few topics as the focus of his story, Fforde grabbed the whole hat.

Two views of women and feminism

No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle B. Freedman. Ballantine, 400 pp. $26.

A reporter's candid look inside Bush's life and campaign

A reporter's candid look inside Bush's life and campaign

Fanatic's vision of conversion terrifies nearly-blind protagonist in Tem's new suspense novel

Fanatic's vision of conversion terrifies nearly-blind protagonist in Tem's new suspense novel

April 21, 2002
OH MY! Fukuyama's new future is fraught with peril for human nature

OH MY! Fukuyama's new future is fraught with peril for human nature

Canine heiress focus of O'Kane's new 'only in Boulder' mystery

Canine heiress focus of O'Kane's new 'only in Boulder' mystery

Book signings

SUNDAY: Steven Harrison (The Questions of Life's Answers: Spirituality Beyond Belief) 3 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

Love, death and hope during Great Depression

If you judge Anita Shreve's "Sea Glass" by its cover — a tranquil, misty painting of a woman in an old-fashioned bathing suit — it would seem a lightweight beach read, entertaining but easily forgotten.

Louisville author's YA novel centers on grief

Strike Three! Take Your Base by Frosty Wooldridge. Brookfield Reader, 160 pp. $16.95.

April 14, 2002
"Over the Edge": Mostly gripping true story ends a chapter in two young local climbers' lives

"Over the Edge": Mostly gripping true story ends a chapter in two young local climbers' lives

A 'speculative anthropologist'

The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. HarperCollins, 362 pp. $24.95.

Mountaineering disaster made fresh in new account

Fatal Mountaineer: The High Altitude Life and Death of Willi Unsoeld, American Himalayan Legend by Robert Roper. St. Martin's Press, 306 pp. $24.95.

A victory for reading privacy, and so long to the Divine Ms. O's book club

A victory for reading privacy, and so long to the Divine Ms. O's book club

Silly, thrilling and packed: Fforde's first novel an ironic futuristic literary crime drama

Silly, thrilling and packed: Fforde's first novel an ironic futuristic literary crime drama

Book signings

Kathleen Norris (The Virgin of Bennington) 7:30 p.m. Boulder Book Store; Jay Winik (April 1865: The Month That Saved America) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek; Samantha Power (A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

April 7, 2002
Sculling brought former Boulder resident out of the doldrums

Drawn to the Rhythm: A Passionate Life Reclaimed by Sara Hall. W.W. Norton, 285 pp. $24.95.

Disparate but worthy reads

This month's children's book selections are an impressive group. One is from a Caldecott medal winner, one is a sequel to the highly acclaimed "Henry Hikes to Fitchburg," one takes on a Norweigen folk tale and the last one pokes fun at the animal kingdom.

Ian McEwan's household of lies

On the hottest day of 1935, Briony Tallis witnesses a crime. And what the 13-year-old sets in motion with a lie wreaks havoc.

Festival celebrates books

Love books? Like to meet writers? Then don't miss the 9th Annual Rocky Mountain Book Festival from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 14 at the University of Denver's Ritchie Center.

O'Brien fictionalizes a brutal crime that shattered Ireland's soul

Until recently, Ireland was viewed by many as a carefree, bucolic retreat, economically underdeveloped but somehow free of contemporary problems.

Book signings

SUNDAY: Julia Butterfly Hill (One Makes a Difference: Inspiring Actions That Change Our World) 3 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

It's true: Ebert knows more than you about movies

The idea behind most reviews of Roger Ebert's new book, "The Great Movies," will be, of course, to explain why his choices were wrong and to list the movies he foolishly failed to include in compiling this list of 100 great movies.

25-year-old mountaineering disaster made fresh by book

25-year-old mountaineering disaster made fresh by book

Beyond war: Subtle landscapes, sharp portraits make up Steinhauer's Vietnam

Beyond war: Subtle landscapes, sharp portraits make up Steinhauer's Vietnam

March 31, 2002
'Painter of light' Kinkade turns out to be a writer of schlock

A Thomas Kinkade painting arrived in the mail recently. Imagine my surprise and interest.

King's new collection shows he still can thrill

Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King. Scribner, 464 pp. $28.

As independent booksellers near retirement, they wonder who will replace them

As independent booksellers near retirement, they wonder who will replace them

Showcasing Colorado authors, 'books' as victuals, and one writer's 'told you so'

Showcasing Colorado authors, 'books' as victuals, and one writer's 'told you so'

Macro, micro, dark and light: Two views of women and feminism

No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle B. Freedman. Ballantine, 400 pp. $26.

March 24, 2002
Newberry, Caldecott awards about quality, not glitz

Tonight is the biggest night of the year for the movie industry — the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars.

A century of women in sports

Game Face: What Does a Female Athlete Look Like? created and developed by Jane Gottesman, Foreword by Penny Marshall. Random House, 224 pp. (182 color and black-and-white photographs). $35.

Tale of human smuggling Deaver's best yet

Jeffery Deaver is best known for the Byzantine twists and turns of his plots, and his 17th mystery-thriller does not disappoint. There are at least a dozen stunners in this book, which revolves around the illegal smuggling of Chinese to the United States.

Terrorism has never triumphed, says military historian Carr

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians, Why It Has Always Failed and Why It Will Fail Again by Caleb Carr. Random House, 144 pp. $19.95.

Climbing to the sun: Niwot couple's new book offers a grand tour of Yucatan pyramids

Climbing to the sun: Niwot couple's new book offers a grand tour of Yucatan pyramids

The runners-up for the Newbery and Caldecott Medals

Book signings

SUNDAY: Jiho Sargent (Asking About Zen: 108 Answers) 3 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

March 17, 2002
TV book problems to be fixed

TV book readers may have noticed over the past few weeks that the shading we use to indicate movies and to separate the channel listings has not been appearing on the TV grids. This is due to a calibration problem with Camera printing equipment — the problem should be fixed in the March 24 issue of the Sunday Camera.

When capitalism, journalism clash, the American public suffers

When capitalism, journalism clash, the American public suffers

New story collection is a bit rocky; has writer Richard Ford lost his spring?

Lust, adultery and betrayal rank right up there on the old sin-o-meter, but they're almost taken for granted by most of the characters in Richard Ford's new collection of short stories. Instead, in "A Multitude of Sins," Ford focuses on what might seem lesser crimes of the heart — disappointment, joylessness, indifference, selfishness. Love isn't so much lost as forgotten.

Savvy white man

Stupid White Men by Mchael Moore. HarperCollins/ReganBooks, 304 pp. $24.95.

A former right-wing golden boy and, it turns out, gay man — recants

A former right-wing golden boy and, it turns out, gay man — recants

Beautiful injustice: Lovely land, hard work and lack of reward make for melancholy memoir of ranch life

Beautiful injustice: Lovely land, hard work and lack of reward make for melancholy memoir of ranch life

Signings

MONDAY: Da Chen (Sounds of the River) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek; Anne Perry (Southampton Row) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

March 10, 2002
New York culinary memoir flavored with a Jewish immigrant family's spicy side

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk. Knopf, 239 pp. $23.

A reporter's candid look inside the life and campaign of George W. Bush

A reporter's candid look inside the life and campaign of George W. Bush

More than half-full: Viewing Christianity's contributions to history with fairness

More than half-full: Viewing Christianity's contributions to history with fairness

A gentle Jesus and his frat-boy pal tour the world in Moore's overextended joke

A gentle Jesus and his frat-boy pal tour the world in Moore's overextended joke

Dead giveaway: Dust jacket copy gives away too much in Boulder native's spooky debut thriller

Dead giveaway: Dust jacket copy gives away too much in Boulder native's spooky debut thriller

March 3, 2002
Rock alert: Annual offers best music writing of 2001

Da Capo Best Music Writing 2001 , Nick Hornby guest editor, Ben Schafer, series editor. Da Capo Press, 337 pp. $14.

More rocks than gems; has Richard Ford lost his spring?

More rocks than gems; has Richard Ford lost his spring?

Two-dimensional characters diminish Barr's new mystery

Still mourning the death of husband Zack, a career in the National Park Service seemed to be just the ticket for ranger/sleuth Anna Pigeon, who in "Hunting Season" makes her tenth appearance in Nevada Barr's popular National Park mystery series.

Book signings

SUNDAY: Brent Coleman (Wounded in the Name of God: A Journey From Religious Wounding Toward Personal Discovery) 3 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

Simmons equally at home with ghost stories or the far-flung future

Simmons equally at home with ghost stories or the far-flung future

Book suggestions by age group:

From a Publisher's Weekly article by Carol Chittenden at Eight Cousins Children's Books in Falmouth, Mass.

February 24, 2002
New worlds: Two giant new 'alternative histories' vividly explore Islam ascendant

New worlds: Two giant new 'alternative histories' vividly explore Islam ascendant

Pop-lit author Rice sets sail with familiar themes

In the summer, everyone talks about "beach books," enjoyable, undemanding (and usually rather lengthy) volumes to read in the sun or under the big umbrella. Although the season is wrong, "Safe Harbor" by Luanne Rice belongs in this category of easy, mildly entertaining reads (and at 337 pages, it isn't actually that long).

Revenge and denial in White's new Alan Gregory thriller

Revenge and denial in White's new Alan Gregory thriller

New Faulks novel addresses big questions: love, morality, kindness

On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks. Random House, 351 pp. $24.95.

Christian exodus overshadowed by tragic Muslim-Jewish bloodshed

The Body and the Blood: The Holy Land's Christians at the Turn of a New Millennium by Charles M. Sennot. Public Affairs, 479 pp. $30.

Rabbi Kushner's prescription for meaningful life: cooperation, humility and love

Rabbi Kushner's prescription for meaningful life: cooperation, humility and love

Brief

Beginning Friday, the Boulder Public Library will host "Go Figure!", a national traveling exhibit that focuses on math for young children.

Book signings

BOOK SIGNINGS for week of Feb. 24 to March 2. Please boldface all author names.

February 17, 2002
Sisters to the right, sisters to the left

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell. Norton, 611 pp. $29.95.

A worldly moderate's view of Palestinians from the inside, out

Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine by Raja Shehadeh. Steerforth Press, 238 pp. $25.

New York immersion therapy, courtesy of pundit's new novel

Tepper Isn't Going Out by Calvin Trillin. Random House, 224 pp. $22.95.

Signings

MONDAY: Jasper Fforde (The Eyre Affair) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek; Thomas Cahill (Pope John XXIII) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

Don't hit the panic button: Post-Sept. 11, the worst thing Americans have to fear is media overkill

Don't hit the panic button: Post-Sept. 11, the worst thing Americans have to fear is media overkill

Shades of gray: For local author, respectful hunting is a portal to spiritual renewal

Shades of gray: For local author, respectful hunting is a portal to spiritual renewal

February 10, 2002
Don't hit the panic button: Post-Sept. 11, the worst thing Americans have to fear is media overkill

Don't hit the panic button: Post-Sept. 11, the worst thing Americans have to fear is media overkill

Noonan stays out of Dutch with conservatives in her affectionate Reagan portrait

When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan. Viking, 338 pp. $24.95.

Likable urchin at the center of dense, Dickensian novel

Likable urchin at the center of dense, Dickensian novel

Bad writing steals limelight in Gen X wonderboy Coupland's new novel

Bad writing steals limelight in Gen X wonderboy Coupland's new novel

Wonder who wrote the book(s) of love?

Which gifts say "I'm interested, how about you?" to the object of one's affection?

Admirable, flawed novel about sexual differences between men and women

What to make of Susan Minot's latest novel? Poorly conceived but well executed, "Rapture" is a frequently dazzling "he thought, she thought" psychodrama of sex and romance ultimately constricted by the arbitrary narrowness of its framing device.

Book signings

SUNDAY: John Katzenbach (The Analyst) 4 p.m. High Crimes; Michael Hoeye (Time Stops for No Mouse) 4 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek (children's section).

February 3, 2002
More than zero: Local writer's debut novel has both dry wit and wry observation

More than zero: Local writer's debut novel has both dry wit and wry observation

Can evolved spirits talk to us through our appliances?

Can evolved spirits talk to us through our appliances?

Straight-shooting bio reveals the godfather of monkeywrenching

Straight-shooting bio reveals the godfather of monkeywrenching

Hope, a faithful dog and love helped author escape abuser

When Katie Wakes: A Memoir by Connie May Fowler. Doubleday, 271 pp. $23.95.

Bad writing steals limelight in Gen X wonderboy Coupland's new novel

Bad writing steals limelight in Gen X wonderboy Coupland's new novel

One man's encounter with America's nuclear paranoia

A Convenient Spy: Wen Ho Lee and the Politics of Nuclear Espionage by Ian Hoffman and Dan Stober. Simon & Schuster, 384 pp. $26.

January 27, 2002
New etymology demonstrates controversy of the 'N-word'

New etymology demonstrates controversy of the 'N-word'

Author teaches people how to look for the gift in every negative event

Consider the stories you tell about yourself. Don't have any? Think again. Perhaps it's something as simple as "I hate cats," or as tragic as "I never get what I want."

Hiaasen takes aim at pop star widows and newspaper chains

Hiaasen takes aim at pop star widows and newspaper chains

Haunted by Henry James: Dan Simmons tightens the screws of tension in literary ghost story

Haunted by Henry James: Dan Simmons tightens the screws of tension in literary ghost story

Book signings

SUNDAY: James Redfield and Michael Murphy (God and the Evolving Universe) 3 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

January 20, 2002
Bear makes scant use of his true talents

Thriller writers often stray into science fiction, whether it's Tom Clancy's hi-tech military hardware, Michael Crichton's unabashed (and unacknowledged) use of sf tropes or Ira Levin's, offering us a nightmare of cloning Hitler.

Re-examining Dickinson's extraordinary poetry

My Wars Are Laid Away in Books by Alfred Habegger. Random House, 896 pp. $35.

Three real families behind the statistics of welfare

Hands to Work: The Stories of Three Families Racing the Welfare Clock by LynNell Hancock. Morrow, 308 pp. $25.95.

St. Nader explains it all, gears up for

Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President by Ralph Nader. Dunne/St. Martin's, 352 pp. $24.95.

Public broadcasting ain't what it ought to be

The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting by David Barsamian. South End Press, 99 pp. $8.

Book signings

MONDAY: Greg Bear (Vitals) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek; Ellis Jones, Ross Haenfler and Brett Johnson (The Better World Handbook) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

Viva la musica! Boulder author roams the lively world of Cuban popular music

Viva la musica! Boulder author roams the lively world of Cuban popular music

January 13, 2002
Ancient footsteps: Boulder writer reissues classic travelogue of Spain's Camino de Santiago

Ancient footsteps: Boulder writer reissues classic travelogue of Spain's Camino de Santiago

Bowles is gone, but his stories still shock

"For most Europeans and Americans," an elderly American writes from Morocco in the mid-1980s, "the word terrorist is unqualifiedly pejorative; while to the people here, it suggests a patriot. Thus, actions some consider criminal and contemptible are to others heroic. How can the two ever see eye to eye?"

Post-Sept. 11, books can help us see things anew

There is a charmingly old-fashioned lag time in the book publishing industry.

Pat Buchanan wants YOU to produce more babies

The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization by Patrick J. Buchanan. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 320 pp. $25.95.

Ex-pol Weld's protagonist no Huckleberry Finn

First we note that William Weld served as governor of Massachusetts before turning to writing fiction. This makes him an interesting curiosity, and anyway, he asked for it when his first novel, "Mackerel by Moonlight," was about — what else? — a clever political operative, Terry Mullally, who got himself elected senator from Massachusetts while covering up a few major blemishes on his past and falling in love as well. In a less popular sequel, he struggled with his first few months in Washington. In both novels, if politics was purgatory and losing was hell, paradise was hunting and fishing — a hint of things to come.

January 6, 2002
Pepys-ing Plumtree

"Uncatalogued," the sixth in a series of "booklover's mysteries" by Boulder County author Julie Kaewert, once again finds Alex Plumtree, an independent British publisher-cum-sleuth, entangled in a biblio-adventure.

Koontz braids an exciting, three-stranded tale

Mega-bestselling author Dean Koontz' new thriller "One Door Away from Heaven" is at once a lighthearted mystery novel and an exploration of deep prejudices — with neither being too heavy-handed to obscure or insult the other.

Dry treatment of Catholic Church, sex

The Unhealed Wound: The Church and Human Sexuality by Eugene Kennedy. St. Martin's, 214 pp. $19.95.

'Best of' gleans top fiction from magazines

The Best American Short Stories: 2001 edited by Barbara Kingsolver; series editor Katrina Kenison. Houghton Mifflin, 378 pp. $27.50

Events of Sept. 11 quickened sales of religious books

Events of Sept. 11 quickened sales of religious books

Eavesdropping on LBJ

Reaching for Glory by Michael Beschloss. Simon & Schuster, 475 pp. $30.

Author of Nancy Drew books still writing

TOLEDO, Ohio — Millie Benson's desk doesn't stand out from any others in the newsroom. Tucked away in a corner, it is cluttered with papers and books.

Signings

TUESDAY: Brad Thor (The Lions of Lucerne) 7:30 p.m. Tattered Cover, Cherry Creek.

December 30, 2001
Refreshing artwork brings two new editions of Lewis Carroll classics to life

Refreshing artwork brings two new editions of Lewis Carroll classics to life

The bell tolls for e-books, at least for now

Well not quite, but its first generation is certainly on life support and threatening flatline.

Book signings

QUOTE: "Of all the needs that a book has, the chief need is that it be readable."
— Anthony Trollope

December 23, 2001
Mosley's futuristic tales examine oppression

Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World by Walter Mosley. Warner Aspect, 368 pp. $24.95.

Munro is a virtuoso of the short story form

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro. Knopf, 323 pp. $24.

'Restored novels' akin to a 'director's cut' for authors but should public see them?

'Restored novels' akin to a 'director's cut' for authors but should public see them?

Winning a Nobel literature prize no promise of posterity

Winning a Nobel literature prize no promise of posterity

Winging it: Minnesota naturalist's user-friendly guide to Colorado's birds

Winging it: Minnesota naturalist's user-friendly guide to Colorado's birds

Book signings

QUOTE: "Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writers turns fact into truth; a bad writer, will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite."
— Edward F. Albee

Boulder author's message of self-love lives on

When I Loved Myself Enough by Kim McMillen with Alison McMillen. St. Martin's, 89 pp. $14.95.

In Upczak's spiritual universe, nothing happens without reason

In Upczak's spiritual universe, nothing happens without reason

December 16, 2001
One film to find them all ... and bring them all to Tolkien?

One film to find them all ... and bring them all to Tolkien?

Still stumped?

Robert Penn Warren won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for "All the King's Men," the great American political novel. None other matches the vividness and power of Warren's tale of the rise, corruption, and fall of populist demagogue Willie Stark, a story inspired by the career of Louisiana Gov. Huey Long.

Book signings

QUOTE: "My books are water; those of great geniuses are wine. Everybody drinks water."
— Mark Twain

Buffs' stampede to cross-country championship was years in the making

Buffs' stampede to cross-country championship was years in the making

December 9, 2001
Not a great year for big names in fiction, but try these novels

It was a messy, obvious, almost vulgar year in fiction. The heavy hitters released tiny, self-indulgent books (Don DeLillo, "The Body Artist") and sprawling, self-indulgent ones (Salman Rushdie, "Fury"). V.S. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize in literature, which didn't surprise him at all, which he didn't try to hide at all.

'Portrait in Sepia' only for true Allende fans

Isabel Allende is unquestionably a born storyteller. In "The House of the Spirits," her dazzling 1982 debut, she unveiled what would become her trademarks — vivid characters, settings rich in history and sense of place, and exotic, yet believable, plot twists that keep readers turning pages.

How will one of the 20th century's most popular books translate to film?

It could be magic. Or it could simply be the power of Hollywood. J.R.R Tolkien's extraordinary saga of wizardry and magic, "The Lord of the Rings," has long been regarded as a 20th-century classic. Voted the people's favorite in poll after poll, for decades its publishers have been able to bank on annual sales of half a million.

For the bibliophile in your life, there is nothing better for a holiday gift than a book

For the bibliophile in your life, there is nothing better for a holiday gift than a book

Signings

SUNDAY: Holiday Open House, 1 p.m. Left Hand Book Store; Susan Schwartz (The Medicine Path) 3 p.m. Tattered Cover, LoDo.

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