Happy Thanksgiving!

To all our readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers who make our job a pleasure ...

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... Read our latest issue here.

Brief Reviews: Fiction

Read all the Briefs at this link.

THE JOURNAL OF ANTONIO MONTOYA
By Rick Collignon
272 pp. Unbridled Books $12.95

Beginning in 1974 with The Milagro Beanfield Wars, John Nichols wrote three dazzling regional novels now known as the New Mexico Trilogy. Ever since, hundreds of authors such as Rick Collignon in The Journal of Antonio Montoya have tried to imitate the simple elegance of Nichol’s work.

THE CHILD THIEF
By Brom
496 pp. Eos $26.99

Artist and writer Brom has long been fascinated with the story of Peter Pan and his Neverland. Curious to go to the original, Brom read J.M. Barrie’s novel and his view of the adventure story was changed.

ABBEVILLE
By Jack Fuller
272 pp. Unbridled $14.95

What goes around, comes around. In Abbeville, Fuller’s sixth novel, based loosely on his grandfather’s life, it’s a depressed economy that cycles back.

You Want Briefs? We Have Them Right Here -- Nonfiction Style

Read the Briefs in their entirety at this link.

HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29
The Story of the Most Famous Football Game Ever Played in the Ivy League...as Told by the Players
By Kevin Rafferty
175 pp. The Overlook Press $35

The Iron Duke’s apocryphal words—”The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton”—apparently could be turned upside down and stretched to cover what happened at Harvard Stadium, November 23rd, 1968.


MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS
By Rhoda Janzen
241 pp. Henry Holt $22

I wasn’t as crazy about this book as I thought I’d be.


WATERCOOLER:
Behind the Scenes and Off the Record, the Untold Stories from Broadcasters
By Elizabeth Sanchez
124 pp. AuthorHouse $16.98

Watercooler is a collection of 16 essays which, taken together, carry the message that news casting requires paying dues—long hours spent reporting horrific stories.

Read the complete review

A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY
By Lauren Grodstein
304 pp. Algonquin $23.95
Reviewed by Julie McGuire

The need to imagine a glorious future for our progeny before they’re even born is a hazard of parenthood-to-be. What expectant parents, always with the best interest of their child at heart, haven’t imagined their offspring as a great musician, talented athlete, or Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist? Occasionally the dreams we create for our children are realized. Earl Woods wanted his child to be a great golfer. His son Tiger did not disappoint. More often, though, children forge their own paths, and we parents may feel just a twinge of disappointment. I’m saddened that neither of my sons is a big reader despite the countless hours I spent reading to them. And if my parents had their heart set on raising the next Einstein, they surely were devastated well before the end of my first-grade year when I first displayed signs of a lifelong ineptitude in math.

Years, Cats, Dogs, and Books

Read the complete review

A YEAR OF CATS AND DOGS
By Margaret Hawkins
176 pp. Permanent Press $28
Reviewed by Ann Hite

That long agonizing year after a major relationship split has finally been given a true airing in Margaret Hawkins’ first novel, A Year of Cats and Dogs. This book is not your typical woman comes out on the other side of breakup novel. The story of Maryanne, the main character, lends a mystical quality to the novel that allows the suspension of logic, and renders the myriad quirks in life perfectly reasonable.

Read the complete review

AMERICA’S PROPHET:
Moses and the American Story
By Bruce Feiler
335 pp. William Morrow $26.99
Reviewed by Mary P. Burke

In America’s Prophet, Bruce Feiler tells the story of the United States from an alternative perspective—that of those who see the story of Moses guiding Americans’ dreams. He introduces us to people whom we would rarely meet and weaves their tales into this history in a seamless way.

Beneath the Burka

Read the complete review here.

DREAMING OF BAGHDAD
By Haifa Zangana
160 pp. The Feminist Press $15.95

Reviewed by Alan Goodman

Haifa Zangana’s Dreaming of Baghdad is a slim volume, translated from the Arabic in collaboration with Paul Hammond. Within the space of 160 pages, Zangana manages the trick of expositing simultaneously her past, present, and future experience as an Iraqi dissident, imprisoned in the 1970s for her opposition to Saddam Hussein. The key here is the word, “experience,” as the presentation is not simply a narrative of chronological neatness, but a collage of emotive memory, feelings, angers, humiliations, and guilt.

Is It Real ... ?

Read the complete review here.

PROVENANCE:
How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo
306 pp. Penguin $26.95

Reviewed by Marty Carlock

In 1986 painter John Myatt was close to the end of his rope. He had a knack for copying the masters, but the precious skills he honed in art school never produced the kind of aesthetic vision the art world wants. For a time he gave up painting and had some small success as a song writer. Salisbury and Sujo have made the rest of his life into an absorbing detective story.

You Cannot Eat Meat and Support the Environment

At least so says author James E. McWilliams in Just Food. Read the review here.

But then IRB editor-in-chief Carter Jefferson who points to this article as "worth a look on the subject of green eating."

The reviewer's take?

The focus of his book is quite narrow. I was struck by the clear and fundamental logic that agricultural is anti-environmental. To me, that insight was almost like realizing the sky is blue at age forty.


I stick on this because so many ultra-greens are nature worshipers, but even they must eat. Hunt? Not if they possess Singer ideals. Forage? But that's anti-environmental in a way.


The other questions you raise are well-addressed, except for personalized issues like celiac disease. For example, the protein equivalent noted between aquaculture and cattle/sheep/goat grazing. The pounds of protein produced by aquaculture is more by a factor of hundreds when compared to beef. Then too there is the idea that most "meat" protein in places other than the west is either fish, foul, or swine.


It's not a polemic, as such. It is instead a well-argued theory of eating/feeding.


The other thing that struck me is the influence of unintended consequences -- that is, the Borlaug revolution saved millions from famine, but it was the impetus for so many of the negative influences that agriculture inflicts on the environment.


The book is one of those ideas that make perfect sense, but it would require a fundamental ideological shift. Imagine making (as the book suggests) beef the gastronomic equivalent of caviar. Any politician making such a proposal would grilled at the stake in a conflagration of McDonald's, Wendy's, and KFC wrappers.

But the editor-in-chief should get the last word, which is "I seriously worry about our progeny. That darling little baby at your house will have to be part of the solution. My great-grands haven't been born yet, but probably will in the next five years or so.

"The sad thing is that nobody realized that when the first seed-planter picked up a hoe the trouble started. Be fruitful and multiply! We did. Be careful what you wish for."

Just Food Author Writes for The Washington Post

Just Food author James McWilliams has an opinion piece in today's Washington Post.

Read his opinion piece at this link.

Read the IRB's review of Just Food at this link.

Volume 3 Number 2 Published!

Click here to read the IRB's new issue.

We're Still Take Books-as-Gifts Recommendations!

Illustration courtesy of Sue Ellis, a contributing IRB reviewer.

It's never to soon to plan for the holidays!

The IRB is preparing a second annual gift issue and invite you to be part of it. We’ll be collecting your recommendations of books you’d love to give or receive and why from now until mid-November.


See last year’s issue for an idea of what we're planning.

You don't have to be a reviewer to send an idea.

Send your gift book recommendations to Ruth Douillette, associate editor.

We Don't Have Mussolini but We Have Mr. Buffet

IRB Editor-in-Chief Carter Jefferson notes that "Two weeks ago Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the United States, paid $34 billion to buy BNSF—Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the second largest railroad company in the country."

Watch for the the upcoming review of ...

Waiting on a Train
By James McCommons

Veterans Day

Try these reviews to remember those who served ...

• Bill Mauldin By Todd DePastino, reviewed by Carter Jefferson
• Co-Ed Combat by Kingsley Browne, reviewed by Diane Diekman
• Drillmaster of Valley Forge, The by Paul Lockhart, reviewed by Roger Poppen
• Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton, reviewed by Carter Jefferson
• In a Time of War by Bill Murphy, reviewed by Jack Shakely
• Something about a Soldier by Charles Willeford, reviewed by Carter Jefferson
• The Ascent of George Washington by John Ferling, reviewed by Matt McGuire

Find more in the Archives of The Internet Review of Books.

What's on Tap for November?

A little bemusement, perhaps. Or in the words of long-time reviewer Jack Shakely, "There is probably a rule against saying this so early in a review, but Dracula Is Dead is the damnedest book of its kind I have ever read."

Watch for the review of ...

Dracula Is Dead
By Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe

What Book Would Make a Perfect Gift?

Illustration courtesy of Sue Ellis, a contributing IRB reviewer.

It's never to soon to plan for the holidays!

The IRB is preparing a second annual gift issue and invite you to be part of it. We’ll be collecting your recommendations of books you’d love to give or receive and why from now until mid-November.


See last year’s issue for an idea of what we're planning.

You don't have to be a reviewer to send an idea.

Send your gift book recommendations to Ruth Douillette, associate editor.

A Brief Review by Julie McGuire

BREAKING THE BANK
By Yona Zeldis McDonough
368 pp. Downtown Press $15

Mia Saul has been dumped by her husband, and left to deal with her daughter, Eden, who isn’t exactly coping with the divorce. On the outs with her brother, at odds with her newly remarried mother, and walking a financial tightrope as a freelance children’s book editor, Mia is barely holding on to her sanity.


When the ATM that she frequents starts spitting out thousands of dollars, she thinks she’s finally lost it. Along with the money, the ATM is sending her messages instructing her to “use it well.” And that phrase, “use it well” seems to be appearing in the strangest places—the inscription in the locket she purchases at an antique store, for one.


There are many wonderful things about this book. It is a highly intelligent and engaging dark comedy. The characters are interesting—Fred the bartender who is in love with Mia, Manny the drug addict who lives in Mia’s apartment building, Patrick the irresistible Irish boy she meets in jail (this is definitely not your typical chick lit)-all come to life on the page. And waiting to find out just how Mia uses the cash as she begins to realize what money can and can’t buy may be one of the book’s greatest pleasures.


McDonough has been added to my list of “must-read” authors.

Read all October's Briefs here.

A Brief Review by Ruth Douillette

MR. JEFFERSON AND THE GIANT MOOSE:
Natural History in Early America
By Lee Alan Dugatkin
184 pp. University of Chicago Press $26.00

Size matters. That’s why Thomas Jefferson sent a moose to French naturalist Count Buffon. Skinned, ready to be stuffed and mounted, the specimen was shipped to Paris—sans antlers, because of a snafu. Antlers followed, although not the antlers originally attached to the head of said dead moose.


It was hoped that the gigantic animal would convince Buffon and other European naturalists to recant their belief in the “degeneracy theory” and admit that America was capable of producing large, healthy specimens—including humans. Buffon died before the moose arrived, still promulgating decidedly bad science, an affront to Americans.


European naturalists in the 1700s thought the cause of America’s “degeneracy” was that the New World emerged later than the superior Eastern continents, and its swampy, miasma-like environment “had not had the time to heat up or dry out.” This caused stunted, weak flora and fauna. That there wasn’t a lion or tiger to be found on the entire continent was offered as proof.


American species were smaller, feebler, more meager, and less juicy—in a word: degenerate. What survived best were reptiles and insects. Humans didn’t escape Buffon’s scrutiny; men had milk in their breasts, countrywomen were almost all ugly. Depravity—lack of intelligence, kindness, and love abounded.


Dugatin explains the background and the backlash, as Americans, from poets to politicians, attempt to disprove the degeneracy theory. It’s interesting to note that climate’s effects on the environment loomed as large then as today, although for different reasons. It’s a short, entertaining read.

Read all of the IRB's Brief Reviews for October here.

A Lasting Impression

Whisper to the Black Candle
By Jaclyn Weldon White
Reviewed by Ann Hite

My weakness has always been a good thriller—you know, the kind that keeps you awake after you turn out the lights—and for me, a well-told true crime story will send chills up my neck for years.

• Read Ann Hite's thoughts here.

Two Weeks and Counting!

Be ready to read! The November Issue of The Internet Review of Books will cover, among other tomes, reviews of ...

Just Food
By James E. McWilliams


Provenance
By Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo


That Bird Has My Wings
By Jarvis Jay Masters


Dreaming of Baghdad
By Haifa Zangana

America’s Prophet
By Bruce Feiler


Dracula Is Dead
By Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe

Gift Issue - One Month and Counting!

It's never to soon to plan for the holidays!

The IRB is preparing a second annual gift issue and invite you to be part of it. We’ll be collecting your recommendations of books you’d love to give or receive and why from now until mid-November.


See last year’s issue for an idea of what we're planning.

You don't have to be a reviewer to send an idea.

Send your gift book recommendations to Ruth Douillette, associate editor.