Fiction Reviews

The Possession of Mr. Cave Matt Haig . Viking , $24.95 (244p) ISBN 978-0-670-02056-0 “Could it have been that the desire to protect is the desire to possess?” wonders antiques dealer Terence Cave in Haig’s overwrought study of a father creepily bent on protecting his beautiful 15-year-old daughter, Byrony.

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/17/2008

On the Web this week: a stunning index of Indian wildlife, the man who gave birth, country music's Southern roots, a cookbook celebration of Paris's ethnic diversity, and a Booker Prize finalist. Plus: Lana Turner's daughter, a third McCourt brother, and more.

Q & A with Anita Silvey

Bookshelf spoke with Anita Silvey about her new book, I’ll Pass for Your Comrade (Clarion).

Meet the Joie de Tel Aviv: Graphic Novelist Rutu Modan

At age 42, writer-illustrator Rutu Modan has been creating comics for over a decade now, amassing a hipster following in her native Israel. But it wasn't until she released her graphic-novel debut, last year's coolly complicated familial drama Exit Wounds, that she finally earned international praise from both the comics cognoscenti and the ever-discriminating literati.

Abrams To Publish Hereville Web comic in Print

Barry Deutsch has signed a book deal with Harry N. Abrams to publish his much lauded webcomic, Hereville, as a graphic novel

AX: Top Shelf To Publish Gekiga Anthology

In August 2009 Top Shelf, will publish AX, a much-anticipated Japanese alternative comics anthology.

Gaiman’s Sandman At 20

On Sunday November 9, the twentieth anniversary of DC Comics’ Sandman series was marked at one of Manhattan’s leading cultural centers, the 92nd Street Y, when creator Neil Gaiman was interviewed onstage by acclaimed graphic designer (and comics enthusiast) Chip Kidd.

Books About Comics: Encyclopedic Wonders

Comics Briefly

Miami Book Fair Embraces Comics; 2009 Eisner Judges ; Steve Geppi Speaks; NYCC Sign-up, Casting Call; Death Note II Canadian Screening ; Abel on NPR; Fan Questions on MyCup o' Joe; Spotlight on Comics; and This Week In The Beat

Nonfiction Reviews

Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds Olivia Gentile . Bloomsbury , $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59691-169-7 In this biography of bird enthusiast Phoebe Snetsinger, former journalist Gentile wonders whether there is a “line between dedication and obsession, and when does obsession cross the line into pathology?” Married, with four children, Phoebe was...

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books Hush Little Polar Bear Jeff Mack . Roaring Brook , $16.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-59643-368-7 In his first solo outing, Mack (illustrator of the Bunnicula series) sends an eager-looking polar bear on a series of dreamtime adventures: “Swim through a waterfall./ Splash in a stream./ Paddle past rainbows/ that glisten and gleam.

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/10/2008

This week's Web: some final thoughts from Studs Terkel, this history of sex in video games, Poland's most famous foreign correspondent, and a two-for-one plan for the ecology and the economy. Plus: Chagall, Nugent, New York's No. 1 escort, and Lincoln! Lincoln! Lincoln!

Fiction Reviews

Thanks for the Memories Cecelia Ahern . Harper , $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-170623-3 Contrivance and a multitude of sitcom mixups drive Ahern’s fifth novel. When Joyce Conway gets a blood transfusion after a tragic accident that caused her to miscarry, she strangely picks up the memories of her donor.

Persian Nights

Things I've Been Silent About: Memories Azar Nafisi . Random , $26 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6361-1 Nafisi follows up the internationally acclaimed Reading Lolita in Tehran with another memoir, concentrating this time on her unhappy family life. Her mother was vocally nostalgic for her first marriage to a man who died two years after their wedding day, while her father sought the company of oth...

There's a New Gang in Town: Austin's Delacorte Dames and Dudes

DDD—no, it’s not a heavy-duty new battery. It’s the acronym for an informal group of Austin, Tex., writers all published by Delacorte Press.

On the Scene with Darren Shan

It’s the right time of year for books about demons, vampires and other creatures of the night, making the recent U.S. tour for Cirque du Freak and Demonata series author Darren Shan particularly well-timed.

November Rain and Ergot at APE

The final stop on the 2008 comics convention circuit, the Alternative Press Expo was held at the Concourse in San Francisco on November 1 and 2—a big change for a show that's usually taken place in April. APE is always a laid-back sort of show, with spacious corridors and, thanks to its Bay Area location, connections to the old school of underground comix. (First-wave veteran Spain Rodriguez even came by the Last Gasp booth to sign copies of Che: A Graphic Biography.)

Yen Press in Orbit: Manga and the Hachette Reorg

In the wake of the Hachette ororganization, Yen Press publishing director Kurt Hassler chatted with PWCW about the future of Yen Press, the future of manga in the U.S. and the importance of strong properties to any publishing category.

A Visit to Paul Pope's World

The iconoclastic creator of such acclaimed original comics works as 100%, Heavy Liquid and Batman: Year 100, is at work on multiple book projects—including a new series aimed at kids and even turns his attention to the world of fashion.

Life in Comics: Publishers on the Prowl - We Want Your Comics!

At SLG, it seems that fewer submissions arrive every week, and what we do get is not appropriate for us, either because the style or content is just not what we publish, or the work is of beginners who aren't quite ready for publication.