http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/index.xml News, sports and entertainment from Kansas City Star en-us Copyright 2008 Kansas City Star Books 60 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:18:51 CDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys feedback@kansascity.com http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689628.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689628.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:51 CDT At 82, Gore Vidal is America’s most formidable man of letters. The page of previously published work included in the front matter of this latest volume, The Selected Essays of Gore Vidal, lists 24 novels, a nonfiction book, two collections of short stories, six plays, 11 volumes of essays and two memoirs. It’s a formal list that leaves out the screenplays and collaborations done as work for hire, much of it of some distinction. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689629.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689629.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:51 CDT MURDER IN THE AFTERNOON BOOK GROUP: Patriot Hearts, by Barbara Hambly. 1 p.m. July 8, I Love a Mystery Bookstore, 6114 Johnson Drive, Mission. (913-432-2583) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689632.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689632.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:51 CDT Under the Boardwalk is an anthology headlined by Linda Howard, and it’s a great book to read on or beyond the boardwalk. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689480.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689480.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:44 CDT The book: In Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel, Charles Ryder looks back on college days with the Flyte family in their palatial Brideshead Castle. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689700.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689700.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:05 CDT The book: Stephenie Meyer launched a phenomenon with this romance between a regular girl and a gorgeous teen vampire. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/676678.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/676678.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:05 CDT SISTERS IN CRIME: Meeting. 11 a.m. July 5, I Love A Mystery Bookstore, 6114 Johnson Drive, Mission. www.iloveamystery.com (913-432-2583) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681025.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681025.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:10 CDT Willie Nelson’s first name really is Willie. Not William. Just Willie. That’s about the simplest fact about this complex American musical icon, which means it’s a Herculean task to put the singer/songwriter into context. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681031.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681031.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:10 CDT Curious kittens, secretive zoo animals, baseball, mysteries and mythology are some of the wide-ranging topics for summer books this year. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681034.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681034.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:11 CDT Bundled in a red coat on the book’s cover, she appears as brilliant as a cardinal in snowy winter woods. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681037.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681037.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:11 CDT So how many books have you read so far this summer? What? So few? You’d better start reading — and fast! This summer’s crop of mysteries is huge, with something for everyone. Here’s a smattering of what’s new. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681045.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681045.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:11 CDT Top books at Barnes & Noble’s Plaza store, week ending June 21: 1. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681047.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681047.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:11 CDT “The wild-west era of bandits on horseback was not so distant from the gangster age of the motorized, big-city mobster.” http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681048.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/681048.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:11 CDT SISTERS IN CRIME: Meeting. 11 a.m. July 5, I Love a Mystery Bookstore, 6114 Johnson Drive, Mission. www. iloveamystery.com (913-432-2583) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/682166.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/682166.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:55 CDT I am a broken man — spirit crushed, confidence destroyed, self-worth shattered. And it’s all because of Google. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671479.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671479.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:32 CDT Apples & Oranges is Marie Brenner’s ode to her dead brother. Before you start thinking it’s some maudlin tale about the World’s Greatest Guy, know this: She could barely stand him. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671481.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671481.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:32 CDT My interview with him was over, but Tim Russert and I were still talking — he was asking me questions. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671482.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671482.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:32 CDT GET PUBLISHED! WALKING THE WALK: One of six writing workshops. 10 a.m.-noon June 24, the Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania. www.writersplace.org (816-753-1090) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671486.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671486.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:32 CDT A first-glance look at this week’s literary calendar reveals only a few events, but glances can be deceiving. Quite a few Kansas City poets, actually, will be stepping up to the podium in the next few days. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671319.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671319.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:27 CDT I don’t often write about best-sellers. For most critics it’s just superfluous: If you like the best-seller in question, you’re piling on. If you dislike it, so what? People are buying it anyway. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671344.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671344.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:32 CDT The slug never left Jesse’s skull. Hole in the wall: Creative license. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671349.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/671349.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:32 CDT A revisionist look at Dwight D. Eisenhower, a picture book about evil kitties and page-turning novels set in the Sunflower State are among the 15 titles that were chosen as Kansas Notable Books for 2008. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/665883.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/665883.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:37 CDT GET PUBLISHED! WALKING THE WALK: One of six writing workshops. 10 a.m.-noon June 24, The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania. www.writersplace.org (816-753-1090) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/656366.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/656366.html Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:31 CDT POETRY READING SERIES: Listen to local and nationally known poets present their work. Co-sponsored by the Writer’s Place. 7 p.m. June 17, Johnson County Library--Central Resource, 9875 W. 87th, Overland Park. www.jocolibrary.org (913-495-9107) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661496.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661496.html Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:35 CDT Colt 45. M-16. Glock 13. My brother and I watch The History of Guns. Diagrams and battle scenes, explain the ways of war. I learn http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661634.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661634.html Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:10 CDT The road.” There are other two-word phrases as evocative, I suppose, but this one will do for today. “The road” conjures so many things, especially for Americans: freedom, restlessness, loss, discovery. And on and on — and on. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661637.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661637.html Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:10 CDT On Jan. 22, 2002, celebrity Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz caused an uproar when he published an essay in the San Francisco Chronicle in which he suggested that torturing suspected terrorists might be acceptable. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661647.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661647.html Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:10 CDT It’s easy to say there is something Dickensian about The Court of the Air (581 pages; Tor; $25.95) by Stephen Hunt. But this British steampunk novel does have its evocative elements. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661642.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/661642.html Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:10 CDT VESPER BOOK CLUB: Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. 10:30 a.m. June 19, Vesper Hall, 400 N.W. Vesper, Blue Springs. $1. Books available for pick up at Vesper Hall. (816-228-0181) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/653076.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/653076.html Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:16 CDT I think of it as efficient living. For all the potential reading time I’ve wasted during the day by working and that other stuff, I make it up late at night. Whether it’s insomnia, habit or incessant monkey brain, as a friend puts it, I often find myself turning the light on at 3 a.m. and taking a book out of the stack. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/651538.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/651538.html Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:20 CDT On Jan. 11, 1918, Capt. Lewis Whisler entered the U.S. Army Bank at Camp Funston (the future Fort Riley) in Junction City, Kan., where he proceeded to bind and gag five fellow soldiers. He butchered them with an ax, looted the safe of $65,000 and quietly returned to his room in the barracks of the Second Battalion, 364th Infantry. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/686714.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/686714.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:05 CDT MURDER IN THE AFTERNOON BOOK GROUP: Patriot Hearts, by Barbara Hambly. 1 p.m. July 8, I Love A Mystery Bookstore, 6114 Johnson Drive, Mission. (913-432-2583) http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689399.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689399.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:04 CDT Marya Hornbacher remembers her “endless nights” as a child as young as 4, when she says she first began to show symptoms of bipolar disorder. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689405.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689405.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:04 CDT LOS ANGELES | Richard Engel talks like an assault rifle: His words come at you rapid-fire, the verbal equivalent of 600 rounds a minute. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689634.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689634.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:51 CDT So they tried it last year and it worked out really well. That’s a good reason for the Reading Reptile bookstore to do it all again. http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689624.html http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/books/story/689624.html Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:51 CDT Craig Glazer and his dad, Stan, should probably give up on running for office. Craig’s seamy but very readable memoir provides all the ammunition a political rival could need.