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Founders and tea partiers
Books to be thankful for
by Rebecca Rupp, Candlewick Press, 2010, 185 pages.
By Lisa Parsons
lparsons@hippopress.com
If Thanksgiving with all its talk of pilgrims and Mayflowers and turkeys has you thoughtful about early America, you’re in luck.
Diary of a Whimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth,
by Jeff Kinney, 2010, Amulet Books, 217 pages.
Another book I’m only partially qualified to judge is this fifth book in the Wimpy Kid series, which, in the time since I read the first one and gave it a “B,” has gone bestseller and Hollywood. Although I was and remain a wimpy kid, I am not, as previously mentioned, a 9- to 12-year-old boy; thus my view is different from the target audience’s.
Guys Read: Funny Business,
edited by Jon Scieszka, 2010, Walden Pond Press.
I have no business judging this book; it is specifically “packed with the kind of writing guys will enjoy, the kind of writing that gives guys a reason to want to be readers.” Eight- to 12-year-old guys, in particular.
Octavia Boone's Big Questions About Life, the Univers, and Everything
by Rebecca Rupp, Candlewick Press, 2010, 185 pages.
In 20 brief chapters, fictional seventh-grader Octavia Boone questions not only life, the universe, and everything but her mother’s decision to leave the family and join a fundamentalist religious community and her father’s decision to not fight it.
Bink & Gollie,
By Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile, Candlewick Press, 2010, 81 pages.
Fans of Kate DiCamillo — for her shadowy novels like The Tale of Despereaux or her playful Mercy Watson stories — will need to read Bink & Gollie, co-written with Pulitzer nominee Alison McGhee (Shadow Baby).
Decade, pictures edited by Eamonn McCabe,
text by Terence McNamee with Anna Rader and Adrian Johnson (2010, Phaidon, 503 pages)
At some point in the next few months, you will likely need one of those gifts for someone who has everything. Or, perhaps more accurately, for someone whose stuff you aren’t acquainted with. Holiday gift, housewarming, belated graduation gift, that sort of thing. Decade, a lovely coffee table book, is that perfect gift.
Lupica crosses home plate
Sportswriter and superhero novelist scores big
Adam Coughlin
acoughlin@hippopress.com
Best-selling author and New York Daily News sports columnist Mike Lupica may be George Costanza’s favorite writer, but he honed his literary skills while growing up in New Hampshire.
Zero History, by William Gibson (2010, Viking, 416 pages)
Gibson caps his latest trilogy succinctly with Zero History, a richly steamed froth of light espionage, marketing nerdisms, and an insightful awe for the role of technology in the shape of modern life.
Don't Vote, It Just Encourages the Bastards
By P.J. O'Rourke (2010, Atlantic Monthly Press, 275 pages)
For those of us who consider next Tuesday, Nov. 2, a geeky poli-sci holiday, Don’t Vote is the perfect book to stir up the holiday spirit. Particularly if your spirit is grumpy this year.
Fixing our mistakes
Please, God, don't let me misspell anything in this article
By Lisa Parsons
lparsons@hippopress.com
Correcting people’s grammar and spelling can be dicey. You don’t want to offend, but you don’t want to leave them standing there with spinach between their teeth. That spinach might even cause cavities. On the other hand, who asked you?
Archie still going strong
Creator Bob Montana was a Central High Grad
By Lisa Parsons lparsons@hippopress.com
Archie comics have seen a resurgence lately, what with Archie getting married last year, a new Archie magazine in production (look for a “Guide to Glee” in the November issue), and new character Kevin Keller introduced this fall.
Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work, by Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun (2010, Gallery Books, 258 pages)
There is something inherently comforting about Tim Gunn.
Sure, the man is always dressed to the nines and seems unruffleable even when he is exclaiming over the horrors of someone’s lime green creation. But, just as you feel when you order a grilled cheese on rye or make a mug of hot chocolate with the little marshmallows, when Tim Gunn is around, you get the sense that things won’t go wrong.
Book learning
Science, math and more just in time for back-to-school
By Lisa Parsons lparsons@hippopress.com
In the Back to School spirit, here’s a backpack’s worth of current books meant to enlighten, educate, inform or inspire. Plus one about education itself, and one for recess.
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