A GOOD GIFT One of the foremost choreographers of our time distills 35 years of creative work into a practical, inspiring look at discipline, skill, and time management that demystifies the process. Tharp...by taking an overdose of placebos; and so on. Quick laughs for a fast-paced world. FICTOIDS . . . SHORT FICTION . . . VERY SHORT, by Bill Dutcher; illustrated by Jack Ziegler (Dutcher & Company, 2006)
Oct. 14: 10/14/2003: In the sixth game of the NLCS at Wrigley Field and only five outs from their first pennant since 1945, cruel and almost comical fate derails the snake-bitten Chicago Cubs. An impetuous...a positive spin on his dismissal: "I'm graduating with my seniors." Birthdays: Lionel Hollins b. 1953 Tim Belcher b. 1961 Evander Holyfield b. 1962 Brad Daugherty b. 1965 Keith Foulke b. 197
10/13/2001: Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter adds to his considerable legend with a one-of-a-kind play late in the game to preserve a 1-0 victory in the ALDS against the Oakland A's. Jeter ranges into foul...the Piers Paul Read’s 1974 bestseller about the incident, Alive . MIRACLE IN THE ANDES: 72 DAYS ON THE MOUNTAIN AND MY LONG TREK HOME, by Nando Parrado with Vince Rause (Crown, 2006)
Architect of two national championship teams (1935 and '38) and head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs football team for nearly two decades, Dutch Meyer espoused unyielding dedication from his teams as he...circling and working off each other to dazzling effect, told as only an insider could. SOUND AND FURY: TWO POWERFUL LIVES, ONE FATEFUL FRIENDSHIP, by Dave Kindred (Free Press, 2006)
THE SONG IS YOU Shakespeare called it “the food of love”; John Cage described it as “a means of rapid transportation”; cognitive neuroscientist (and former record producer) Levitin implies that it is...who are trying to thwart his investigation. Isolation Ward is absolutely everything you want a medical thriller to be—a genuine page-turner. ISOLATION WARD, by Joshua Spanogle (Delacorte Press, 2006)
WORKING LATE E dward Said, best known for his study of the West’s perception of the Middle East, was also a music critic and professor of literature. In a class at Columbia University, “Late Works/Late...to lead an investigation to find out the identity of the man whom we know to be Stroud himself. THE BIG CLOCK, by Kenneth Fearing (1948; New York Review of Books Classics, 2006)
COMIC ANTIHERO T his is not your father’s comic book. The protagonist is a pathetic antihero, yet Ware’s haunting, evocative art so enlivens the story that we must continue turning the pages. The... his homosexual brother. What results is a sweet, beautiful love story, elegantly written and a pleasure to read. THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION, by Peter Cameron (Plume, 2003)
Not wishing to entertain a litany of excuses such as injuries, bad bounces or unkind fate, straight-shooting NFL head coach Bill Parcells maintains: "You are what your record says you are." ... multifaceted gem of personal history. The black-and-white drawings are simple and deceptively childlike. PERSEPOLIS: THE STORY OF A CHILDHOOD, by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon, 2003)
9/12/2000: Los Angeles Dodgers pinch hitter extraordinaire Dave Hansen sets a major league record with his seventh pinch homer of the season in a 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks . Hansen connects...isn’t easy being a know-it-all, but it can be pretty funny. THE KNOW-IT-ALL: ONE MAN’S HUMBLE QUEST TO BECOME THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE WORLD, by A. J. Jacobs (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
ON WRITING T he prolific writer Reynolds Price has kept a notebook throughout his career. This volume reproduces the facing-page method that Reynolds uses to comment on his own notes and excerpts from...timeless themes of loss and the quest for meaning by one of our most promising serious writers. EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)
