Even if you're not a dog-lover, you'll pause and sigh over these pages, especially to look more closely as these expressive, trusting faces. And if you've been waffling about adopting that four-legged addition your two-legged offspring keep begging for, you just might be convinced ...
Room will leave you speechless. Listening to the audible version, pitch-perfectly performed by Michal Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, and Suzanne Toren, is a chillingly addictive experience; even after you've turned off your device, you won't be able to stop Jack from haunting you. In spite...
The idea is fascinating; so obviously simple yet undeniably clever. Six French graphic book artists were sent to Korea to be "completely immersed." Six Korean manwha artists were also asked to participate. All 12 were given "complete carte blanche" to convey their individual views of...
'Collateral damage' is such a detached, sanitized phrase for the innocent people who pay the highest price for the tragic folly of war; and surely the youngest and the eldest suffer the greatest. "I want people to know the truth about what happened," Nawuth Keat told...
Hatshepsut of Egypt Artemisia of Caria Sorghaghtani of Mongolia Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman Isabella of Castile Nur Jahan of India Happy birthday to the world's most famous queen (still!) who turns 85 today, making her son the oldest prince-waiting-to-be-king in British history. Next week, on April 29, Queen E2 will...
I picked up Gayle Tzemach Lemmon's already-bestselling debut title with a mission: after reading too many death-and-destruction books one after another, I needed some inspiration to reverse me out of a downward spiral. Our mutual involvement in a fabulous project which puts us on the same web...
International storyteller Ashley Ramsden retells a Norwegian tale about the rich rewards of patient tenacity. "One winter's evening, a lone traveler trudged down a winding forest road looking for a place to spend the night ...
If I hadn't had Luis Alberto Urrea himself read the majority of his novel to me via iPod, I would never have known the proper pronunciation of Parangarícutirimícuaro, not to mention a few choice insults! Good thing I also bought the book, because I wouldn't...
"More than anything, I wished that my mother and my daughter could have known and loved each other," Maya Soetoro-Ng writes in her "Author's Note," mourning her late mother (anthropologist S. Ann Dunham), who died a decade before her granddaughter Suhaila was born. Through the infinite...
Decades ago, I went to college with one of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie's grandsons. Beyond the seemingly ubiquitous images back then of Ethiopia's barren natural disasters and widespread starvation, that worldly, quiet, thoughtful young man was my first real encounter with Ethiopia ...
So phenomenally successful is the Death Note series, it's available in multiformats in the U.S. alone. Not even considering all the endless spin-off enterprises like anime, films, and games, Death Note on the page comes in single volumes (12 total), or a complete box set, or even...
Contrary as I am, I find I must start with this book backwards. The final entry in this important title by one of Palestine's literary icons is not only the collection's highlight, but it is undoubtedly one of those haunting 'what-if' situations that you'll find...
Sometimes, nothing satisfies like a sweeping family saga: convincing enough to believe the characters truly existed beyond the bound pages, long enough to feel like they've become a part of your lives, inspiring enough to mourn their company once the words are finished. Thus is Julie Orringer's...
Being madly appreciative of Natsume Ono's not simple, one of the most clever, time-bending manga I've ever been so lucky to read, I definitely felt a personal sense of pride when I heard this week that Ono's latest series-in-English-translation, House of Five Leaves (click here...
The literati around the world have surely got the memo that 2011 is Shaun Tan's year. Every few weeks, he seems to be back in the news with new accolades (all well-deserved, I must add ...
Been waiting to exhale? Here it comes ...
The greatest strength of this series debut is, without a doubt, the art: the first spread, for example, captures the eponymous Lee gliding along on her bike, then the shock of a narrowly-missed collision with an elderly woman, and the embarrassed apology as she picks...
First things first: do NOT read further if you haven't read Part 1 of Jenny Han's sigh-inducing Belly-trilogy, The Summer I Turned Pretty. Why spoil this delicious experience? Trust me ...
Balanced with deft reminders of impermanence –from vivid dreams and outdoor art to once-a-year cherry blossoms and death – Banana Yoshimoto’s latest is a love story with a higher-than-usual satisfying-sigh factor. Chihiro, an artist, and Nakajima, a graduate student in genetics, finally meet after watching and...
Warning: reading this whimsical globe-trotting picture book debut from Amy Gibson with your young 'uns will surely make them peripatetic adventurers sooner than later in life. Divided by continent, Gibson wanders the globe sharing giddy, often enlightening poems about animals familiar and hidden. In South America,...
