Isn’t every book a travel book? There you are in your sad little living room — the rug needs a vacuum, the dog’s barking at the neighbour, and dear God who the hell’s crying for a sandwich? You scrunch down deeper into the couch, and start to think about those absentees who briefly appear in the first chapter of a Coming of Age novel. Oh you know the ones: ‘My father went out one night for a pack of cigarettes and never returned.’

Now that may not be a good option for most of us, although I do keep both a lighter and a blackmarket passport in my laptop case because you just never know. Much easier and infinitely less likely to involve Interpol is to escape the drudgery by opening a book. People, even family members who sort of qualify as people, at least hesitate before interrupting reading. It’s rather like prayer: ‘Could you dry the dishes – oh! – I didn’t realize you were talking to God.’ Watching television is being a lazy lump – reading is improving your mind.

So if travel is a way of changing your dull physical environment, reading is traveling out of your even duller mental environment. I suspect this is why so many of the great authors have written formal travel books at some point or points in their careers. Graham Greene was a master of the form, as is the man who is in some ways his descendant Paul Theroux. Twain did it, Dickens did it, even James Bond’s Ian Fleming did it: Let’s do it! Let’s pack a bag!

In that spirit, I was instantly curious when I ran across a reference to A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York while I was looking up a quote or two from the great Dorothy Parker. I am a massive fan of hers; frankly she is both my favourite reviewer and humorist of all time. Each fed the other by the way. Because she was a theatre and book reviewer, she knew where to find the telling details that can create a word picture for readers. Because she was funny, she knew how to make those word pictures entertaining.

I could go on about Mrs. Parker forever yet I will restrain myself to one last paragraph, here in the form of two Did You Knows? Did You Know: That among various phrases whose invention are attributed to include – chocolate bar, face-life, what the hell, and daisy chain…the sexual kind. (A friend of mine didn’t know about the latter, looked it up on Google and made the entertaining error of clicking Images. You are forewarned.) And finally, Did You Know that Dorothy Parker left her entire estate when she passed away in 1967 at the age of 74 to Dr. Martin Luther King, whom she never met but greatly admired? When Dr. King was assassinated her estate, including all royalties, passed to the NAACP. In choosing literary heroes, you could make worse picks.

Hell, I would have.

My interest so peaked, I looked up the publisher of Kevin C. Patrick’s book — the cheerily named Roaring Forties Press — and found that they have an ArtPlace Series of these travel guides. They aren’t just based on authors: others include  A Journey into Matisse’s South of France, the Transcendentalist’s New England, and the just-released Elvis Presley’s Memphis. Having read two of them, I feel safe in vouching for the whole collection.

Packed into 150 pages and spread amongst maps, pictures, and off-set quotes is a surprisingly full textual biography. One actually learns things. For instance, in R. Todd Felton’s  A Journey into Ireland’s Literary Revival (the apostrophe in my last name is a dead giveaway as to why I chose that one), I realized that despite many years spent doodling in the margins of academia, I had never truly appreciated what a colossus William Butler Yeats was in terms of Ireland’s development of a culture beyond the stereotype of a drunken farmer stumbling about with a pig under his arm. Granted when James Joyce met Yeats, as Felton recounts, Joyce sniffed, ‘I have met you too late. You’re too old.’ yet that was the exception that proved the rule. Yeats was a man to be sought out and he didn’t mind the seeking, whether it was from Joyce, John Synge or Sean O’Casey. Yeats was in such national esteem that he was elected to the Republic’s first Senate. I defy any poet to stand for Senatorial election today in the English-speaking world without being laughed out of the room.

I dare say that these neat, square-shaped books have lit the lamp that draws the travel bug. They can supply the theme to a pleasing journey. For after all, what does a tourist actually do? Generally, we check into a hotel, venture out as far as a two-block circle, eat something unusual, drink the local wine, then pretend that we now know the whole thing. I now want to go to the Aran Islands and hear a story that might have ignited Synge or to sit in the Algonquin Hotel lobby, close me eyes and hear someone say something as sharply witty as Dorothy Parker.

Yes you’re right, I may well doze off before the latter happens. But it will be such a lovely nap of dreams.

Be seeing you.

About Hubert O’Hearn

Hubert O’Hearn has been a newspaper columnist and arts reviewer for the past fifteen years. From their beginning in Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada, his book reviews have grown to include ten publications across North America. He is also available to perform his lively and humorous discussion of books – A Book and a Martini Live! – in support of charitable causes. Always appreciative of comments and book suggestions, he can be reached athlohearn@gmail.com . An archive of Hubert O’Hearn’s work is housed atbythebookreviews.blogspot.com.

Once upon a time, when someone asked me what I did, I would reply that I write. I am a writer and an editor by trade. Recently, however, I have begun to wonder if I need to define myself in a slightly different way, because, really, what do I do? I read. I read and read. At any given time, I have a towering stack of books by my bedside, a literary magazine in the john, debut fiction on my Kindle, non-fiction next to the couch, a number of blogs and micro-mags on my laptop, and cookbooks in the kitchen next to the phone. In fact, it has gotten a bit ridiculous. I haven’t written my own fiction in many months. I’ve completely given up television and radio. I haven’t been to the movies in a year!

The truth is, the whole doing exactly what I love to do and being able to call it work thing is addictive. Reviewing books is a professional activity for me, but also kind of like being perpetually in a college lit course, which, in the story of my life, is completely awesome. Depending on who I’m reading for, it’s either like a graduate course (I get to generate a 1200+ word critical and analytical review) or an undergraduate course (I need to keep my evaluation to 250 words that includes a quick summary). And the kicker is that I get to pick what I read; I never, ever, have to read another Victorian novel.

Because I am an editor by profession, I am trained to find what works in a piece and to pinpoint what isn’t working. Because I read a lot of memoir, urban fiction, and literary fiction, as an editor I try to get those same genres to review. In this way, I’m always familiar with the newest trends of both big and small publishing houses. My spouse and I also enjoy cooking and eating (mostly eating), and I’m not ready to move entirely on-line for my recipes; this, and the fact that I am a mom of a young reader who still enjoys being read to, are some other reasons for my picks.

So, my name’s Robin, and I’m a reader. What do you do?

About Robin Martin

Robin Martin is a freelance writer and editor, whose work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Rain Taxi, Word Riot, American River Review, and others. She is an assistant editor for Narrative Magazine, and an editor for the literary micromag Under the Gum Tree. Robin owns Two Songbirds Press, and offers publishing consultation and assistance to writers pursuing self-publishing. She performs evaluations and critiques of manuscripts and writing “master class” tutorials, as well as editorial services, including substantive and line edits for papers, e-books, traditional fiction and non-fiction. She specializes in general fiction, biography, memoir, rock-n-roll, urban, short story, and health and nutrition books.

Before you hit the send button along with your credit card number to one of the major self-publishers, let me go over the mistakes I have recently seen in self-published books:

One

Don’t bold, underline, capitalize, or use HUGE font to make your point. Writers must have faith in their word choices. A simple tiny statement of fact can change a life. Putting in large bold font in the middle of a chapter will appear unprofessional.

Two

Don’t indent the first line of a book or chapter or after any titled heading. If you don’t believed me—look at a professionally published book. Paragraph indentation starts after the writer has established a need for subsequent subjects and paragraphs.

Three

Don’t routinely skip lines between paragraphs—that is the purpose of the indent. While block formatting is used for business letters, e-mails, and certain textbooks, it will kill many trees if used for a paper version of a bestseller and it usually looks unprofessional. Do skip lines between scenes or to denote the passage of time if you can’t use a transitional sentence.

Four

Don’t use chapter numbers with chapter names. Unless you are W.E.B. Griffin, pick one or the other. Many authors effectively use dates, places or numerals for chapter changes.

Five

Don’t use a trail of periods between chapters and page numbers on the contents page unless you are typing on a 1953 Remington typewriter for the purpose of nostalgia.

Six

Don’t use hyphens in place of an em dash. An em dash is longer and usually has no spaces on either side—think of it as a slide. Using Microsoft Word: an em dash is two hypens followed by a word and then a space. When you space after the second word—the two hyphens fuse into one longer em dash.

Seven

Don’t get on your personal soapbox unless your book is about your personal soapbox. Someplace about two thirds of the way through your book, you or one of your characters, are going to feel a compelling urge to express an opinion about religion, politics, or the consumption of meat. Unless you are writing about religion, politics, or the American diet, suppress this urge. I have seen many books ruined by author intrusion. Even in your characters, these themes can be polarizing enough for a reader to put the book down. Know who your audience is before you profile these aspects of your characters.

Eight

Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. If an author uses facts or figures outside of his/her area of expertise, he/she needs to cite a source. If it is your area of expertise, you might want to use a source anyway. Why else did you go to college? Many times, this can be done in the text without footnotes or endnotes.

Nine

Don’t select a font or format that is difficult to read. You don’t have to go with Times New Roman, but many fonts become difficult as the reader’s eyes tire or if the lighting is poor. Once again, keep your audience in mind; make it easy to read. You may or may not need justified margins. Not every book or every font is easily read with a justified margin. Anything with dialog may actually look better and be easier to read with a ragged edge.

Ten

Don’t copy directly from the internet. When you copy something from an internet source, several problems can occur. Number one, the color of font is usually gray. It might look black on your screen, but when you try to print it on paper, it might be gray. Number two, you can end up with a virus, which you can unknowingly pass on to editors, etc.

About Sheli Ellsworth

Sheli Ellsworth holds a Master’s Degree in psychology used mainly to annoy family and friends. You can find her tongue-in-cheek advice column, “Dear Miss Betty-Advice for those who need to be slapped” in the Ventura Breezenewspaper. Humor.com, Auto Week, BackHome, Zone 4, and the Conejo Valley Guide have also published her humor columns. Her more serious writing has appeared in the Ventura County Star, Pacific Daily News and Spotlight on Recovery magazine. Her fictional work is published in Quintessence (2008) andWindows (2010). She also writes medical and veterinary articles for the web-based company purchaseremedies.com.

It isn’t often that we pry ourselves our from under the mounds of books we process in our office each day to take a field trip. Last week, when I received an email from Publicity Coordinator Alyson Pullman with Chronicle Books, saying that they were having a grand opening of their newest book store in the Metreon, it was a no-brainer that I was going to load up The Team and take them all on a field trip. Not only is it always fabulous to meet a publicist in person (because we email back and forth all the time), but c’mon …. this is Chronicle Books …. my all-time favorite book publisher!

We arrived about 30 minutes early, and the crowd was already starting to gather.

And, boy, does Chronicle put on a good party!

The nibbles of cheese, artisan breads, and fruits, were delicious (I was glad I didn’t miss the truffle popcorn). The wine and beer was flowing … and the Kara’s Cupcakes were oh-so yummy (but, of course!).

Read our review of the Cake Pops DIY Kit

Here’s what else is going on at Chronicle Books this weekend for their grand opening. I guarantee you’ll not be disappointed — or walk away empty-handed — if you swing on by.

By Heidi Komlofske

As a child, there were often times that the three of us siblings would come home from school to find pasta noodles piled on top of sheets draped across our couches and our beds. Mom had been making homemade pasta for chicken noodle soup again. Occasionally we’d be tasked with gently turning the pasta over, so the underside would dry. I grew up cranking the handle of the pasta machine that my father’s mother, Adeline Komlofske, had given to my parents in the 70s.

My grandmother, an immigrant from Germany, used to actually hand-cut her noodles. I’ve been told that you couldn’t tell the difference between her thin, hand-cut noodles from what she’s eventually get from her machine.

I asked my father for the machine, that I was certain he still had, about 2 years ago. It’s a bit daunting to know that you have such a reputation to uphold from generations of Komlofske noodle makers. So the machine sat in my closet ever since.

In November, we purchased a 1940 bungalow that is so rich in history that you can feel it in every corner of the house — from its built-in ironing board that still has the original 1940 fabric on the small cuff board to the black and white original tiling in the bathroom. Ever since we bought the house, I’ve immersed myself in getting back to my roots. The roots from two generations ago.

Today, I decided it was time to dust off the pasta machine and give it a whirl.

Should be like riding a bike, huh?

I quickly looked over the instructions inside the box — making careful note not to ever wash the machine.

I told my 12-year-old daughter that I was going to teach her how to make pasta from scratch today. Seeing the machine on the counter, she said “YES! We’re finally going to use the machine!”

Now to find a recipe. Being that we review hundreds of cookbooks throughout the year, we tend to collect ones that look good. Our kitchen bookshelves overflow with cookbooks. I selected a ravioli recipe from Poor Girl Gourmet by Amy McCoy.

I hauled out my 1970s-era Kitchen Aid mixer that I inherited from my mother and attached the dough hook. I don’t even know the last time I used the dough hook on that thing.

After getting everything mixed together, it was time for my 10-minute workout as I kneaded the dough. Every time I thought “Oh, this is enough,” I’d go back to the recipe and read that Amy says “You’ll be disappointed if you knead the dough less than 10 minutes.”

Now, I get a little break. Time to do the dishes, as our little bungalow has no dishwasher. After the dough rested for 30 minutes, I divided the dough into four equal sections.

Being that our counters don’t have enough of a lip on them to attach the pasta machine, we opted to make good use of the built-in ironing board. It worked perfectly!

It was at this point that I had no idea how my mother did this all by herself. It was taking three of us to get the dough through.

Like my past generations of pasta-makers, I draped the sheets of dough across my bed. After making the filling, I was ready to cut the strips of dough into squares. Not having a ravioli cutter meant that my squares were more like rectangles.

I was in uncharted territory now. I’d only made soup noodles up until today. Dabbing a little bit of the filling in the center, I then wetted each edge and sealed it with a top layer of dough.

And I did this about 500 more times. My daughter abandoned me after the fun of cranking the machine handle was over.

While the ravioli boiled, I made way on the cream sauce, which had fresh thyme and crumbled bacon.

I served it to my family — my feet killing me from standing and cooking ALL DAY — and waited eagerly for the first comment.

“It needs something,” was what my boyfriend said.

Oh no.

All of this for short of “Wow, this is the best meal I’ve ever had!”

You’ve got to be kidding me!

I took my first bite and realized he was right. The sauce needed something.

But, even though the recipe wasn’t as stellar as I’d imagined it would be, I came away from my pasta-making adventure with a newfound respect for my ancestors, who used to have to hand-make everything. My grandmother had seven children and worked on their farm, yet made every meal from scratch — killed the chickens and plucked their feathers.

All three of us bonded over dough today. It was a family project on a lovely Sunday. It didn’t really matter that the recipe wasn’t the best (well, it mattered a little to me). What mattered were the stories I told my daughter throughout the day about her grandmother and great-grandmother.

By Phil Semler

By Joseph Arellano

The late writer Norman Mailer was known to be a tough guy, and he was also quite a writer having won both of literature’s highest prizes – the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award – for his account of the domestic protests against the war in Vietnam, The Armies of the Night.  He was once asked by an interviewer to divulge the “secrets” of writing, and Mailer immediately invoked his First Rule, “Always trust your editor.”

I’ve thought about this more and more as I come across works by newer and debut authors; whose works often show promise (“There’s no heavier burden than a great potential,” to quote the wise philosopher Snoopy) but lack a unified and firm voice.  All too often I see the debut novel that starts off like a house afire but then dwindles away from the halfway point until the ending.  Perhaps it’s because the writer’s energy and confidence faded out; more likely, some type of scheduling conflict meant that the editor involved did not have the time to devote to smoothing out the rough spots in the second half that was devoted to the first.

I think that the work of a literary editor can be fairly likened to the work of a recording engineer.  Bands make all kinds of sounds in the recording studio – some too loud, some too harsh, some too tame and quiet, some jarring, some pleasant – and it’s up to the recording engineer (for a brilliant account read Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Beatles by Geoff Emerick) to mold the sounds into something uniform.  Even more than uniform, they must be pleasing to the ear.  The human ear loves mid-range sounds, so the very best sound engineers minimize the highs and lows to produce a product that sounds unnaturally “natural.”

Buy a very expensive car today and you’ll be offered an equally  expensive add-on option, a top-of-the line audio system (think an extra $5,000 to $7,000) that produces comforting mid-range sounds from any  genre of material, rock to jazz to classical or country music.  This stereo reproduction system will have a built-in mid-range limiter, a single-function computer program that mimics and sometimes even improves the sounds produced by a top-flight recording engineer blessed with perfect hearing and “golden ears.”

Similarly, the writer’s editor must take out what’s jarring, what’s unexpected or simply not registered in the author’s best, pleasing voice…  It’s the editor who must decide, whether or not the author concurs, the answers to the questions, “What is it about this writer’s tone that is pleasing to the reader’s inner ear?  Which part of the writer’s voice is pleasingly mid-range?”

In order to complete his/her task, the skilled editor must edit and sometimes brutally cut out that which does not seem to fit.  And this is where Mailer’s advice is so important to the new writer, the prospective writer.  I will restate his advice this way, in my own words:  Don’t argue, don’t take it personally.  The very best, the most talented, of writers have found that they must trust their editors.

The skilled editor can take multiple, disparate voices and make them harmonize like the fine instruments in an orchestra.  As an example, take the short story collection about true love, Love Is a Four-Letter Word.  This compilation contained 23 stories written by just as many writers.  Yet in the hands of editor Michael Taeckens, the collection never seemed choppy or disjointed.  I found that it had a singular mid-range tone – not too loud, nor too soft – that made it seem quite enjoyable.  And it wasn’t just me.  One reader noted at Amazon that, “…this collection was pretty good…  not just in theme but also in tone.”   Said another, “…the stories flowed quite seamlessly from one to the other.  We have Mr. Taeckens, the editor, to thank for that.”  Exactly!

When a highly-skilled editor can take 23 voices and make them sound like one melodious voice, just think of what he/she can do to assist the previously fledgling, isolated writer in finding his or her natural voice.

One other quite key function is left up to the editor.  Carolyn Parkhurst wrote, “…the ending of a novel should feel inevitable.  You, the reader, shouldn’t be able to see what’s coming… you should (feel ) satisfied that there’s no other way it could have gone.”  If the draft ending of the book does not feel natural and inevitable, it’s up to the editor to tell the writer so.

In the end, it does come down to that one word: trust.  Mr. Mailer was so right.

About Joseph Arellano

Joseph Arellano is a contributing editor and book reviewer for San Francisco Book Review and Sacramento Book Review and is a column coordinator for Portland Book Review.  He received a degree in Communication Arts from the University of Pacific (where he wrote music and entertainment reviews for the school newspaper), and a law degree from the University of Southern California.

(Note: Thank you to author and former professional editor Ilie Ruby for serving as one of my editors on this piece.)

By David Marshall

For decades, authors have been playing the branding game. Knowing their next peanut butter sandwich depends on enough readers buying their next book, they’ve carefully put their names “out there” as “top authors.” Today, this means working at all the social networking sites, writing blog entries on a regular basis, and turning up at conventions and other events, say organized by local bookstores. They need to keep the fan base loyal.

Now ask whether those same loyal fans know who publishes their heroes’ books. Consumer surveys consistently find only about 10% of readers can name the publishers and the imprint. The other 90% buy based on their authors’ names. Amazon has realized this and is now working to cut the publisher out of the equation.

This ever-lovable online store is seducing “top authors” away from their publishers, packaging many of the services provided by agents, reviewers, and marketing departments. Amazon gives their chosen books high visibility. When you use the site, the search engine displays the results of key word searches, there are recommendations, there are emails and newsletters, people post reviews on the site, and so on. Naturally, Amazon charges publishers for giving their authors this exposure. Because the rates rise fast, this makes authors less profitable to the publishers.

So now, Amazon Publishing is offering full contracts. It started with the self-published authors and now spreads to established authors. With the launch of 47North, Amazon lays down the gauntlet in publishing science fiction, fantasy and horror titles from both new and established writers. Because it’s undercutting the established bookstores, more people will turn to Amazon to buy. With greater volume comes the power to offer more competitive royalty rates, particularly on e-books. The traditional publishing industry offers 25% for digital rights, which Amazon can easily beat. The publishers will have to rethink their royalty structure should Amazon extend the list of titles it publishes.

In all this, the most interesting questions are whether Amazon will go for full distribution of their titles, and will the brick-and-mortar bookstores display them on their shelves? Amazon can probably afford to not distribute. This will further undermine the traditional stores if they cannot sell desirable titles. In all this, Amazon is acting like a monopolist, trying to dominate the market in both publishing and book retailing. If it can cut out the publishers and drive the bookstores into bankruptcy, all it needs are authors.

About David Marshall

He’s one of these guys who’s always made a living from words, written and spoken. He started off conventional. Training as an attorney, he combined tenure as a professor with some private practice. Except, in moments when no one was watching, he was broadcasting, acting and writing, always under stage names and pseudonyms so his two worlds wouldn’t meet up. Later, he set up his own business consultancy and ran a small press. Now he’s retired, he can look back on a life misspent, always doing stuff that was interesting and never getting too caught up in the career development rut. Except he’s just as busy. He still picks up consultancy work when something interesting comes along, he’s paid for about a million words of fiction and nonfiction a year, and continues writing for his own amusement. Someone told him staying active keeps the brain going longer. So this is his plan for immortality. He’s very conscientious. If he plans enough work to last him into next year, he’ll be around to do it. His blog.

Here’s a smattering of books that our reviewers felt were among the best they read in 2011. We’d like to hear what YOUR favorite reads were this year.

The Big Juice: Epic Tales of Big Wave Surfing

By John Long and Sam George, editors
Falcon Guides, $18.95, 301 pages

Surfing is a combination of balance, strength, nerve, intuition, and hard-won knowledge of the sea. A sport to some, a religion to others, there is nothing quite like it on Earth. And for surf enthusiasts who need more adrenaline and challenge, the final frontier is big wave surfing. Whether paddling in or being towed, the potential of conquering a wave stories tall is where it’s at.

The Big Juice chronicles the highs and lows of big wave surfing, as told by the men and women who have come to define the sport. From wipeouts so brutal they’re life-threatening, to the discovery of secret surf spots a hundred miles offshore, from waves that have swallowed entire neighborhoods, to the friends and heroes lost to the unforgiving ocean, the stories in The Big Juice are exhilarating, heartrending, and fascinating.

Punctuated by absolutely stunning photography of these monstrous waves — and the intrepid souls who embrace the challenge of taming them — this is a glimpse into a totally alien world, and the incredible force nature brings to bear. It’s a celebration, a warning, a tribute, a memorial, and a historical document all at once.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

Men with Broken Faces

By James Ostby
Dog Ear Publishing, $14.99, 251 pages

In this engrossing novel, we meet Morgan Feeney, an epileptic, drunken, and out-of-work shepherd. He suddenly finds himself enlisting in the United States Army during World War I, and for the first time in his life, Morgan discovers his strength as a leader of men. Morgan’s camaraderie with his fellow soldiers gives him a sense of belonging, while also filling him with dread that he must risk losing them.  After witnessing the horrific deaths of his friends, Morgan’s epilepsy is now compounded by shell shock, which haunts him for years after surviving the war.

Morgan thinks, “If I could be a man in war, I can be a man always.” Unfortunately, he finds himself labeled a lunatic, rather than a hero. Only one person understands him, Genevieve, a nurse who also served in World War I.

Men with Broken Faces, with its gripping scenes of warfare and philosophical insight, is an excellently crafted novel. The reader finds in Morgan a sympathetic character, and we follow his transformation from a ne’er-do-well, to hero, to town crazy, and to hero again. Ostby’s visceral scenes and compassionate insight into Morgan’s mind reveal in Ostby not only a great writer but a humanitarian.

Reviewed by Kerry Lindgren

Scorpia Rising: An Alex Rider Misson (An Alex Rider Novel)

By Anthony Horowitz
Philomel, $17.99, 400 pages

In this final and epic conclusion to the Alex Rider series that has been eleven years coming, Scorpia Rising announces its debut. To those who approach the Alex Rider series for the very first time, they are young adult novels known for their breakthrough in spy literature. The combination of swerving plots and a wealthy, rather encyclopedic knowledge of espionage have kept readers on their toes for more than a decade. To those who have followed Rider through thick and thin (mostly thick), will know the worth and weight of this book. I am one of the latter, a follower of Alex since the very beginning, and I was partially dreading and greatly coveting Scorpia Rising.

In the waters of Venice, a founder of Scorpia is found dead with an encrypted phone, $350, and a severed spinal cord. Retrieved by MI6, the phone is interpreted to be a plot to corrupt the Cairo International College of Arts and Education. Alan Blunt, who has the creeping suspicion that he might be forced to “retire,” makes the move to incorporate Alex Rider into his plan for investigation. This is immediately shot down by several authorities, but is realized as a solution when a shooting, whose target is Alex, happens at his local high school. The book follows Alex into the desert lands of Cairo where, like a ticking time bomb, an old enemy, and a terrifying new one, await. More is at stake than Alex could possibly imagine as he unknowingly steps into his own trap.

So, does Scorpia Rising live up to its predecessors? A plot that must constantly ride along with a new generation of readers and with expectations that grow each day are hard not to be worn thin. And yet, Horowitz does the impossible. He constantly delivers and this book is no exception. It will be hard to say goodbye.

Reviewed by Alexandra Masri

Heads You Lose

By Lisa Lutz, David Hayward
Putnam, $24.95, 320 pages

Author Lisa Lutz can always be counted on to deliver a highly entertaining, laugh-out-loud tale, chock full of zany characters and unusual scenarios. I have to admit I was a little concerned to find a name penned under hers (albeit in much smaller font) on the front cover of her latest offering Heads You Lose. Further digging revealed a collaboration between Lutz and her ex-beau, prize-winning poet David Hayward.

But don’t think for an instant this is your typical collaboration. Instead the pair take turns, chapter by chapter crafting an unusual narrative about twenty-something pot-growing siblings Lacey and Paul Hansen. When someone dumps a headless corpse on the siblings’ Northern Californian property, the two have no choice but to get rid of the body. But the corpse just won’t stay gone–turning up time and time again. With an interesting mystery, a never-ending cast of off-beat characters and the even more offbeat notes between the two authors, readers will torn as to which is more entertaining- the bickering siblings or the bickering co-authors.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation

By David R. Goldfield
Bloomsbury, $35.00, 632 pages

From the onset, Goldfield asks his readers if there is anything that can be added to the enormous volume of literature about the Civil War that has not already been written.  Indeed to those students of American history, the procession of events is well known. However, Goldfield provides details about religious sentiment throughout the North and South, and how inept the elected politicians were at handling the real issues plaguing the nation — details seldom addressed in much of our post-modern texts.

The sheer volume of work Goldfield arranges constitutes a staggering undertaking, and yet this narration flows easily from the earliest religious and political conflicts to its bloody conclusion. “The Fugitive Slave Law, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the caning of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, the Dred Scott decision, and the Lecompton fraud convinced many Northerners that slavery society bred despotism.”

A Robert E. Lee Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Goldfield arms his work with a plethora of minute details that time and distance have all but erased; for example, the exquisite ironies employed by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the effects of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on both Northerners and Southerners. All in all, this excellent book displays the irreconcilable differences that won us the distinction of being the only civilized country in the world to require a war to abolish slavery.

Reviewed by Casey Corthron

Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)

By Sue Macy
National Geographic Children’s, $18.95, 96 pages

Wheels of Change is a must-read for young women and anyone who loves bicycling. Author Sue Macy and publisher National Geographic Society did superlative work pulling together the early history of the bicycle and its impact on women.  When horses and wagons were the mode of transportation, bicycles became what automobiles are today. Bicycles brought women freedom of movement. They brought change in fashion, from uncomfortable, restrictive clothing, to bloomers. Women raced — and won! — against men. Women rode bicycles around the world. In 1896, Susan B Anthony believed, “bicycling … has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” This well-researched, lively narrated book is both inspiring and empowering for young women.

Wheels of Change cycles through interesting bicycle trivia, including: bicycling notably reduced the sale of cigars; and the November 1895 British Medical Journal reported morphine users “discovered that a long spin in the fresh air on a cycle induces sweet sleep better than their favorite drug.” Bicycling became the first exercise for women. Bicycles appeared in songs, literature, and advertising. Cyclists joined together with farmers to get better roads built to improve transportation. In their time, bicycles changed the world.  The book also includes how bicycles continue to change women’s freedom in third-world countries today.

Reviewed by Susan Roberts

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…But enough about what WE think. What was YOUR favorite book of 2011?

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By Hubert O’Hearn

Right at the moment, I’m actually curious to know why it is that curious has a U in it, whereas curiosity doesn’t. The word must have originated either with or without, so how did the U either get shoved inside like that extra pair of slacks you’re never going to need on vacation but get squished in the suitcase anyway, or snipped off like an unwanted wattle in plastic surgery? These are the questions that try men’s souls…

…and likely your patience. However, I do think it’s important to know what sort of mind you’re dealing with here, particularly if you’re going to follow my recommendations and start ordering in books by the crate. My theory on reviewers of any form – and in my career I’ve regularly reviewed for money the fields of television, theatre, music, ballet and books – is that you should find a reviewer whose tastes closely parallel your own and reasonably entertains you. When you find one, stick with him or her. Much the same definition applies to friendship. Right, so what time we meeting round the pub then?

The books below don’t have a lot in common with one another, but I couldn’t in good conscience stack them up against the contenders in either the Novel or Non-Fiction categories. As an example, would it really be fair to stack Oliver Jeffers’ wonderful book for small children, The Heart and the Bottle up against Dan Vyleta’s decadent Austrian Nazi collaborators in The Quiet Twin? I doubt if poor Dan would stand a fighting chance.

That wasn’t just a cheap and obvious joke by the way. The ability to tell a complete story in a thousand words (or many less in Jeffers’ book) that can teach a lesson while metaphorically cuddling the reader to sleep is a pure art form of writing unto itself. Dr. Seuss may not have written a modern-day Hamlet, but there’s no record of Shakespeare quilling out an Elizabethan Winnie-the-Pooh either. So there. Read The Heart and the Bottle to your youngest child, then loan it to your older child, then grab it back for yourself and keep it by the bedside for the lonely nights when you think No One Cares.

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Hubert O’Hearn has been a newspaper columnist and arts reviewer for the past fifteen years. From their beginning in Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada, his book reviews have grown to include ten publications across North America. He is also available to perform his lively and humorous discussion of books – A Book and a Martini Live! – in support of charitable causes. Always appreciative of comments and book suggestions, he can be reached athlohearn@gmail.com . An archive of Hubert O’Hearn’s work is housed atbythebookreviews.blogspot.com