News from this week's Communiqué
PEN USA has announced their 2008 literary award winners. This year’s poetry winner: 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border by Juan Felipe Herrera.
187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971–2007
Juan Felipe Herrera | City Lights Publishers | 9780872864627 | $16.95 | Trade Paper
Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman was number six on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s Bestseller’s List for October. Thank you mystery booksellers!
Small Crimes
Dave Zeltserman | Serpent’s Tail | 9781852429713 | $14.95 | Trade Paper
Winner of Best Documentary at the Brooklyn International Film Festival, Carny will premiere on the Sundance Channel on November 17 and November 27. “Inspired by the imagery in Virginia Lee Hunter’s award-winning pop art and photography book, Carny: Americana on the Midway (available through Brooklyn-based publisher Umbrage Editions), the documentary is full of life.”
Carny: Americana on the Midway
Virginia Lee Hunter| Umbrage Editions | 9781884167669 | $35.00 | Trade Cloth
Author Aaron Glantz was featured on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! on Veterans Day, November 11.
“Aaron Glantz and Iraq Veterans Against the War have produced an essential book on the United States’ occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan—so much so that writing a review almost seems superfluous. My first inclination is to simply tell people to just go and get the book—it’s that important.”—MediaMouse.org, November 9, 2008
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation
Iraq Veterans Against the War and Aaron Glantz; Foreword by Anthony Swofford | Haymarket Books | 9781931859653 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
On Saturday, November 9, John Michael Greer, author of The Long Decent: A User’s Guide to the End of the Industrial Age, was on the nationally syndicated Coast to Coast radio show, talking about his book, published by New Society Publishers.
The Long Descent: A User’s Guide to the End of the Industrial Age
John Michael Greer | New Society Publishers | 9780865716094 | $18.95 | Trade Paper
Seven Stories Press author Derrick Jensen and The Disinformation Company’s Russ Kick, editor of the You Are Being Lied To series, were both named on Utne’s list of 50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.
http://www.utne.com/2008-11-13/50-Visionaries-Who-Are-Changing-Your-World.aspx
Derrick Jensen title list: http://www.cbsd.com/search.aspx?author=derrick%20jensen&
What We Leave Behind
Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay | Seven Stories Press | 9781583228678 | $26.95 | Trade Paper
Russ Kick title list: http://www.cbsd.com/search.aspx?author=russ%20kick&
You Are STILL Being Lied To: The NEW Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths
Russ Kick | The Disinformation Company | 9781934708071 | $24.95 | Trade Paper
The great article “Feminist Author Compiles Complete History of Women” covers From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World volumes I through IV, basically stating that the series is a feminist must-have.
“In short, French does an incredible job of relating the history of the sex and the varied roles women have played—willingly or unwillingly—around the globe. . . . French explains the current theories very well.”—ForeWord This Week, November 12, 2008
Marilyn French title list: http://www.cbsd.com/search.aspx?author=marilyn%20french&
The 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award shortlist will be announced April 2, 2009; the winner on June 11, 2009.
Castorp
Pawel Huelle; Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones | Serpent’s Tail | 9781852429454 | $14.95 | Trade Paper
The Dinner Club
Saskia Noort; Translated by Paul Vincent| Bitter Lemon Press | 9781904738206 | $14.95 | Trade Paper
Soucouyant
David Chariandy | Arsenal Pulp Press | 9781551522265 | $18.95 | Trade Paper
Entertainment Weekly, November 14, 2008
The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange | Mark Barrowcliffe | Soho Press | 9781569475225 | $25.00 | Trade Cloth
“Mark Barrowcliffe, author of the uncomfortably confessional memoir The Elfish Gene, lived the geek life back in the ’70s, when it was a plague on your house. See, he fell into the world of Dungeons & Dragons . . . during that precarious period between boy and man. Thanks to his immersion in D&D, Barrowcliffe was an emotional and social wreck. Luckily, he emerged a funny one, and his gently knowing style makes the pain of identification a pleasure.” (Grade: B+)
Salon.com, November 8, 2008
The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories | Joan Aiken | Small Beer Press | 9781931520577 | $20.00 | Trade Cloth
“Buy it to read to your kids, and you’ll find yourself sneaking tastes on the sly; a little Aiken is a fine thing to have in your system at any age.”
The Brooklyn Rail, December 1, 2008
Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun | Wafaa Bilal | City Lights Publishers | 9780872864917 | $16.95 | Trade Paper
“What is most remarkable about Shoot an Iraqi isn’t, however, the chronicle of the project that brought him worldwide attention, but the back story. Weaved amid a narrative of the 31-day experiment is a memoir of his life in Iraq and eventual flight to Kuwait and then Saudi Arabia, followed by his attempt to make a new life in the United States.”
San Francisco Chronicle, November 12, 2008
Arak and Mezze: The Taste of Lebanon | Michael Karam; Photographs by Norbert Schiller | Saqi Books | 9780863564765 | $35.00 | Trade Cloth
“Lebanon is known to have some of the best—if not the best—food among Arab nations, yet decades of war have kept specialties like olive oil and wine mostly out of reach in the West. This book by Lebanese food and wine expert Michael Karam focuses on the history and production of arak, the anise-flavored spirit found throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The second half of the book is devoted to traditional recipes for small plates, or mezze, to serve with it. The recipes . . . are refreshingly straightforward.”
A Capital Tonight (Time Warner Cable), November 11, 2008
Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine | Tyler E. Boudreau | Feral House | 9781932595321 | $16.95 | Trade Paper
Conversation with the author:
“Today, the book Packing Inferno made its debut. The author, Tyler Boudreau, gives a vivid account of his experience in Iraq, and perhaps more importantly, how he realized once home that it had changed him forever. The twelve-year marine joins us on this Veterans Day to talk about the thoughts he decided to put on paper.”
Seattle Times, November 9, 2008
The Lemoine Affair | Marcel Proust | Melville House | 9781933633411 | $10.00 | Trade Paper
“Here’s a delicious little bonbon for those who like sophisticated humor. The deeper your knowledge of French literature and history, the more fully you’ll be able to appreciate the delicate weaponry Marcel Proust uses to skewer his fellow writers in this series of nine brief pastiches—getting in a few good jabs at himself along the way. It’s hilarious.”
Bloomburg.com, October 28, 2008
The Lemoine Affair | Marcel Proust | Melville House | 9781933633411 | $10.00 | Trade Paper
“The Lemoine Affair contains a series of newspaper pieces Proust wrote about a diamond scandal that rocked Paris. Hardly straight news articles, each parodies a major French writer, such as Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert . . . that’s the true alchemy here. . . . The parodies showcased Proust’s wit and mastery of diverse styles. . . . Proust’s shifting perspective on the scandal and stylistic virtuosity remain entertaining.”
Publishers Weekly, October 27, 2008
Berlin | Michael Mirolla | Leapfrog Press | 9780981514819 | $14.95 | Trade Paper
“When ex-stationary engineer Giulio Chiavetta disappears from a Montreal psychiatric clinic, his doctor, Wilhelm Ryle, looks for clues in this offbeat novel from Mirolla (The Boarder). Fans of the films of David Lynch will enjoy this curious book.”
The Newark Star-Ledger, November 1, 2008
Blood Dazzler | Patricia Smith | Coffee House Press | 9781566892186 | $16.00 | Trade Paper
“Patricia Smith brings an incantatory brilliance to the horror of that hurricane and our national’s shameful response to it. . . . A work of awful beauty.”
VegNews Magazine, December 2008
Get It Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living | Jae Steele | Arsenal Pulp Press | 9781551522340 | $23.95 | Trade Paper
“With sections on everything from the warming properties of food to how the body actually processes ingredients, this book is less a cookbook than an all-in-one guide to healthy vegan living, for which Steele’s holistic-nutritionist training is put to good use.”