Complete books coverage for Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009
SPECIAL INAUGURATION ISSUE: POWER & ART
- 1
As Obama’s inaugural nears, several writers consider how he may affect culture.
- 2
The last eight years were sobering, as real-life plot lines outpaced fictional plot lines. Now, there is reason for (cautious) optimism.
- 3
The arrival of a literary, mixed-race president could help end the persistent segregation in our nation’s creative storytelling.
- 4
Suddenly, being of mixed race isn’t so ‘marginal.’ Pop culture, which supposedly reflects society, never saw it coming.
- 5
So Obama wants to help the arts? Maybe start by revisiting this whole ‘freedom of expression’ thing, which is so old school.
- 6
New president, same world. The work of pushing the cultural imagination ahead goes on.
- 7
With a couple of possible exceptions -- JFK and Nixon, perhaps, in very different ways -- our commanders in chief have been largely missing in action.
- 8
With his Obama portrait, an outsider artist has found greater recognition from the mainstream -- but is that a good thing?
- 9
What happened in FDR’s hectic first Hundred Days is presented in a nuanced, nimble fashion by the author.
- 10
The 200th anniversary of his birth arrives with many cities waging ‘the Poe Wars’ and the publication of tributes, stories in his honor and new editions of his work.
- 11
Also: ‘The Daily Coyote,’ by Shreve Stockton, and ‘Experimental Geography,’ by Nato Thompson and Independent Curators International
- 12
Fiction weeks on list1.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality.23 2.Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. 26 3.The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (Ecco: $25.95) A mute dog breeder is banished by his uncle à la “Hamlet.”25 4.A Mercy by Toni Morrison (Knopf: $23.95) A slave girl is sold by her mother in late-1600s America to give her a better life.85.The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K.
- 13
Fiction 1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer ($10.99) 2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer ($10.99) 3.
