Life is easy for no one at a decrepit orphanage in hardscrabble south Georgia during the Depression. For a dreamy, strange child like Pip Tattnal, who suffers migraine headaches, can’t stand the smell of gardenias, tells tales of the English Civil War and is possibly autistic (“Had he been born some seventy years later, even an orphan boy with oddities of memory and behavior might have been diagnosed and his syndrome named.”), life at the rundown cotton farm that passes for a charitable institution is nearly unbearable. Continue reading →

To many Americans, Lyndon Johnson was an unctuous, slow-talking president from Texas who saddled the country with the Great Society’s welfare programs and the Vietnam War. In any survey about great presidents, Johnson finishes out of the top 10 — and perhaps he should. His disastrous Vietnam record alone earns him a spot in the presidential hall of shame alongside Richard Nixon, Warren G. Harding and James Buchanan. Continue reading →

Ania married Kasimierz in their native Poland, and migrated to Hartford, Conn., before the Second World War. Kasimierz became “Charlie” as he Americanized, and held two jobs. Ania worked cleaning houses and gave birth to Teddy. The young family scraped by, and then, the year after Pearl Harbor, Charlie enlisted and went off to Europe. Continue reading →

The annual East Baton Rouge Parish Library Summer Reading Programs kick off Wednesday, May 23. This summer is sure to be packed with great books, programs and prizes. With a program for every age group, the entire family can participate. All locations of the Library will have reading logs for each age group (children, teens and adults). Continue reading →

To put it in sports jargon, this novel is a hanging curve ball over the middle of the plate. Famed for his stories about lawyers and courtrooms, Grisham branches into a different world — baseball, a sport he obviously loves. The story is told through the eyes of Paul Tracey, the pre-teen son of a New York Mets pitcher when, in 1973, rookie “Calico Joe” Castle bursts on the major league scene with a record-shattering batting performance for the Chicago Cubs. Continue reading →

13 RUE THÉRÈSE By Elena Mauli Shapiro Back Bay Books, $14.99; 275 pp. In Elena Mauli Shapiro’s intriguing novel, an American scholar, Trevor Stratton, comes to Paris for research and happens upon a box of memories: … Continue reading →

AMERICAN TRIUMVIRATE By James Dodson Knopf, $28.95 In the 20th Century, excellence in the highest levels of golf often came in threes. In the early years — and especially the Roaring ’20s — it was Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones … Continue reading →

THE NOT YET By Moira Crone UNO Press, $15.95 It’s more than 100 years in the future from today. The United States is a thing of the past, but its cities mostly remain populated. New Orleans has been inundated by rising sea levels so that … Continue reading →

New Orleans author Ben Sandmel will read from his new book, Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans, from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at Casa Azul Gifts, 232 Martin Luther King Drive in Grand Coteau. The evening includes a book signing. A musical performance by Yvette Landry will follow. The evening concludes with an open mic … Continue reading →

GRAND VIEW-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — The Hudson River extends like the sun from the back of Toni Morrison’s house, illuminated and infinite, undimmed by an unseasonably drab spring afternoon. “It’s interesting and soothing, and it changes constantly,” she says from the comfort of a white armchair in her living room. “And at night, with the stars and … Continue reading →

CHOMP By Carl Hiaasen Knopf, $16.99; 293 pp. Finishing Carl Hiaasen’s Chomp, a book Hiaasen’s publisher says is for readers 10 years of age and up, I needed a grammar school kid who knows books. “Here, … Continue reading →

• Carl Hiaasen says the Florida setting ‘isn’t an option’ in his books

Carl Hiaasen has written some non-fiction, but fiction is his weapon of choice when he combats bad people in his beloved Florida Everglades. “You get closer to the truth with a good novel,” said Hiaasen, author of Chomp, his fourth book for children. Hiaasen has written a string of bestsellers for adults that … Continue reading →

• You don’t have to guess who the bad guys are in Chomp

IF WALLS COULD TALK: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF THE HOME By Lucy Worsley Walker & Co., $27 If a man’s home is his castle, then Lucy Worsley is a mouse. Hiding behind the curtains in the bedroom, sneaking through the vanity … Continue reading →

SHATTERED DREAMS By Ellie James St. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99 paperback It started innocently enough. A bunch of teenagers, a deserted house on Prytania Street in New Orleans. A game of Truth or Dare. Then, a prank is played on the new … Continue reading →

Casa Azul Gifts, 232 Martin Luther King Drive in Grand Coteau, will host an oral history session with Etha Simien Amling and a poetry performance by Latasha Weatherspoon at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 10. An open mic will follow. Amling is the vice president of the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical & Historical Society. She is … Continue reading →

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — More than eight months after upending its universe of classic heroes and ongoing titles, DC Entertainment is bringing six more titles to readers, including a contemporary take on its vintage war comic, “G.I. Combat.” The book, one of six new titles in comic shops on Wednesday, features a pair of stories that focus on modern-day U.S. soldiers in situations both fantastic, chaotic and, in some cases, out of time, too. Continue reading →

Why are most tech billionaires liberals, and most industrial leaders conservatives? University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt has what he considers verifiable answers to such questions. Haidt is a longtime student of what is known as “moral psychology.” He tries to understand what motivates people to cooperate, and how they perceive the nature of authority and the meaning of justice. He is now using this discipline to translate politics. Continue reading →

Come celebrate our state’s bicentennial at the Zachary branch of East Baton Rouge Parish Library, 1900 Church St. The library will have live Cajun music and light refreshments at 6 p.m. Monday, April 30. The Pride-Chaneyville branch, 13600 Pride-Port Hudson Road, will also have activities and refreshments for the whole family, 3-6 p.m. Monday, April 30. A … Continue reading →

REBELS ON THE BORDER: CIVIL WAR, EMANCIPATION, AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF KENTUCKY AND MISSOURI By Aaron Astor LSU Press, $47.50; 332 pp. Rarely does any Civil War historian claim that his book actually changes our perception of the Civil War much less a young … Continue reading →

NEW YORK (AP) — They’re young and old, doctors and churchgoers, gay and straight — and those are just the MEN who have devoured oh-so-naughty “Fifty Shades of Grey,” an erotic trilogy that has earned millions of women fans in a matter of weeks. Reading on iPads and Kindles or hurriedly picking up the books in stores, … Continue reading →

One day Aaron Woolcott looked down the sidewalk in his hometown of Baltimore and saw his wife, Dorothy, standing on the sidewalk. This was odd, he felt, since she had died some months before. But Aaron doesn’t run up and ask Dorothy where she has been, is it really her, what is she doing back? No. Continue reading →

The State Library’s Louisiana Center for the Book has announced the state winners of the Letters About Literature competition, a national reading-writing contest, sponsored by Library of Congress Center for the Book and Target, that asks students to write a personal letter to an author or poet, living or dead, explaining how that writer’s work impacted the … Continue reading →

Lisa Lutz cheerfully admits, “sincerity isn’t really my thing.” But she does sincerely hope that you will buy her series of books about a wacky, twisted family of private investigators in San Francisco. “Documents #1-4” (The Spellman Files, Curse of the Spellmans, Revenge of the Spellmans, and The Spellmans Strike Again) are all available in paperback, and the latest, “Document #5” Trail of the Spellmans, has made the best-seller list. Start with any of them: their combination of wit and (barely) controlled lunacy will charm away the hours. Continue reading →

THE COVE By Ron Rash Ecco, $26.99 When Laurel Shelton hears a flute playing beautiful music while she is doing laundry, she mistakes the sound for a bird, maybe a rare Carolina parakeet. She lives in a remote cove in the North Carolina mountains and … Continue reading →

World Book Night U.S. is an ambitious campaign to give away half a million free, specially printed paperback books across America. Volunteer book lovers will help promote reading by going into their communities and handing out free copies of a book they enjoy to new or light readers, reaching them especially in underserved places — and even some … Continue reading →

From the introduction of “Heroes for My Daughter,” where Meltzer delivers a personal message to his young daughter, the reader immediately understands how deeply personal this book is for the author. He wants his daughter to understand that anything is possible. What better way to demonstrate that belief than by using stories of people who have defied the odds or spoken up when they were told to be quiet? Continue reading →

Ben Sandmel, author of “Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans,” a biography about the colorful singer and recording artist, will talk about the new book and sign copies from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, at the Historic New Orleans Collection, 533 Royal St., New Orleans. K-Doe is best known as the singer … Continue reading →

SOMETHING IN THE WATER, 20 LOUISIANA SHORT STORIES Compiled by John P. Travis Portals Press, $20 softcover GUILT, STORIES By Ferdinand von Schirach, translated by Carol Brown Janeway Knopf, $24 Continue reading →

Communities nationwide will celebrate the contributions of libraries and library workers during National Library Week April 8-14. This year’s theme is “You belong @ your library.” The demand for library services has increased significantly as more and more people are relying on public libraries for technology use, particularly those looking for continuing education resources homework help, e-government services … Continue reading →

STAY AWAKE By Dan Chaon Ballantine Books, $25; 254 pp. Dan Chaon (pronounced “Shawn”) is acquainted with triumph: his short-story collection Among the Missing was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001, and his second novel, Await Your Reply, won … Continue reading →

DEFENDING JACOB By William Landay Delacorte Books, $26; 421 pp. What would you do if you thought your teenage son was a murderer? In William Landay’s best-selling novel, Andy Barber is the First Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County in Newton, Mass. … Continue reading →

LSU Readers and Writers invites the public to an “Evening of Fairy Tales” at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at Turner Gallery of the LSU Museum of Art, 3rd floor of the Shaw Center, 100 Lafayette St. Two writers of contemporary fairy tales, Ava Leavell Haymon and Kate Bernheimer, will read at this free event. The readings … Continue reading →

Film director and comic-book geek extraordinaire Kevin Smith dispenses wisdom in his new book, a touching reflection on his life and career. Smith, director of “Clerks,” “Mallrats” and “Jersey Girl,” reflects on why he decided film was his future, and brings his humor and potty mouth along for the ride in “Tough Sh-t: Life Advice From a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good.” Fans who listen to his various podcasts probably will have heard these stories, but they are still fresh and insightful. Continue reading →

When a trio of dead bodies turns up in a swank, hilltop mansion overlooking the Andaman Sea in Phuket, Thailand, detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is sent from Bangkok to investigate. It’s clear there has been a triple homicide — the victims have all been shot in the back of the head. Other things have been done to the victims, however, things that test the detective’s Buddhist detachment. Continue reading →

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO MEDICINAL HERBS: THE WORLD’S MOST EFFECTIVE HEALING PLANTS By Rebecca L. Johnson, Steven Foster, Dr. Tieraona Low Dog and Dr. David Kiefer; foreword by Dr. Andrew Weil National Geographic Books, $40 The authors of this book are extremely well known … Continue reading →

WATERGATE By Thomas Mallon Pantheon Books; $26.95; 429 pp. If you believe Thomas Mallon, on Aug. 9, 1974, during that long flight from Washington to San Clemente, those 2,700 miles of humiliation, the former President of the United States confessed to the former first … Continue reading →

LSU literary journal New Delta Review will hold a fundraiser featuring readings by LSU creative writing faculty and a performance by local Americana band Flatbed Honeymoon. The event begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at Red Dragon Listening Room, 2401 Florida Blvd. Run by the LSU English Department’s creative writing graduate … Continue reading →

There's more to Voodoo than just sticking dolls with needles as readers will learn in "Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child." This new comic book series is written by Selwyn Sefu Hinds, former editor-in-chief of "The Source" magazine, and illustrated by Denys Cowan, a veteran comic book artist and co-founder of Milestone Comics. Continue reading →

Kristen Johnston is best known as the brash, tough-talking alien in “3rd Rock From the Sun,” which aired on NBC from 1996 to 2001. But that character’s toughness has nothing on Johnston, who discusses her lonely childhood, rise as an actress and battles with addiction in a candid new memoir. In “Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster,” Johnston reveals that she grew up mortified by her height. Continue reading →

“Heavy Metal” has managed to stick around for 35 years now, probably due to the timeless appeal of warrior women wielding more weapons than clothing. Unsurprisingly, these salacious assets made for the dry storytelling of two terrible films. The good news for “Heavy Metal” fans, and bad news for everyone else, is that the new three-part graphic novel series by veteran comic artist Simon Bisley and writer Michael Mendheim proves that the franchise isn’t planning to pollute their breast and beast-filled world with three-dimensional characters anytime soon. Continue reading →

Why isn’t there a Thurgood Marshall day? As well as days for those other brave warriors who battled the evil of segregation in the days when speaking up, let alone striking back, could get you killed? After reading Gilbert King’s excellent book on a little known and horrifying incident in which four young black men were rounded up and accused of raping a white woman, readers cannot help but be awed by the bravery of those who took a stand in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Continue reading →

The 14th Annual Women’s History Poetry Reading will be held on Sunday, March 18, at the Baton Rouge Gallery, 1515 Dalrymple Drive. The event is a part of the gallery’s “Sundays@4” series. Original poems lasting 3 to 4 minutes about women, history or both will be read by a wide range of Louisiana women. Coordinator Les Ann … Continue reading →

THOMAS JEFFERSON’S GRANDDAUGHTER IN QUEEN VICTORIA’S ENGLAND Ann Lucas Birle and Lisa A. Francavilla, editors University of Virginia Press, $45 She was Thomas Jefferson’s favorite granddaughter, and spent her teenage … Continue reading →

Briton Rebecca West, novelist and journalist, and American Dorothy Thompson, journalist, were among the most celebrated writers of their times, and not just among women, although they were indeed new women. But their often-dangerous ambition and search for love and power were pursued in the shadow of men who were even more celebrated — H.G. Wells and Sinclair Lewis. Continue reading →

As web-enabled tools such as Facebook, texting and smartphone apps become a staple of teen culture, school and public libraries from coast to coast will throw open their physical and virtual doors to teens and showcase technological resources available @ your library during Teen Tech Week, March 4-10. Thousands of teens will improve their digital literacy as they … Continue reading →