Books - latimes.com

Khaled Hosseini sets 'And the Mountains Echoed' against Afghan history

By Wendy Smith, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:30:00 PDT

A father's decision to give his 3-year-old daughter to a wealthy family in Kabul begins an almost 60-year Afghan history lesson as recounted by the characters in Khaled Hosseini's newest novel.

Although Khaled Hosseini has lived in the United States since he was 15, he remains engaged in the struggles of his native Afghanistan, which he has made palpable for Western readers in two bestselling novels, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." His beautifully written, masterfully crafted new book, "And the Mountains Echoed," spans nearly 60 years of Afghan history as it investigates the consequences of a desperate act that scars two young lives and resonates through many others.

Judge rules gifts cards from belly-up Borders bookstores worthless

By Jenny Hendrix — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:45:00 PDT

Those clinging hopefully to the old Borders books gift cards stashed in their drawers or wallets are out of luck, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Those clinging hopefully to the old Borders books gift cards stashed in their drawers or wallets are out of luck, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Wednesday. According to Reuters, there are about $210.5 million worth of such cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain went out of business in September 2011. All of which are now "equitably moot."

Paperless public library to open in Texas

By Jenny Hendrix — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:02:00 PDT

A groundbreaking paperless public library system will open in Texas this year, the BBC reports.

A groundbreaking paperless public library system will open in Texas this year, the BBC reports. Bexar County's $1.5-million BiblioTech project will open its first library branch without a single print book.

Qantas to fly the literary skies

By Jenny Hendrix — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:31:00 PDT

Australia's Qantas Airlines is promoting the announcement of its extended flight routes by commissioning a series of books that last exactly as long as each flight.

Australia's Qantas Airlines is promoting the announcement of its extended flight routes by commissioning a series of books that last exactly as long as each flight.

No e-book for Stephen King's new novel, 'Joyland'

By Jenny Hendrix — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:25:00 PDT

In a move to bump up physical book sales, Stephen King will not release an e-book version of his new novel, "Joyland," the Wall Street Journal reports.

In a move to bump up physical book sales, Stephen King will not release an e-book version of his new novel, "Joyland," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Jaron Lanier takes a hard look at the wired world

By Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:15:00 PDT

The Writer's Life: The smart, accessible 'Who Owns the Future?' peers critically at the online state of affairs and finds it out of balance.

Jaron Lanier has a research job with Microsoft. He won't go into specfics, but it has something to do with imagining the future and asking questions.

Mo Hayder's 'Poppet' takes nuanced, compelling look at evil

By Paula L. Woods, Special to the Los Angeles Times — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:00 PDT

Detective Inspector Jack Caffery and Sgt. Flea Marley investigate strange occurrences at a psychiatric hospital and the disappearance of a footballer's wife.

Since introducing Detective Inspector Jack Caffery 14 years ago in "Birdman," Mo Hayder has written some of the grisliest crime fiction in recent memory. Caffery's cases in London and, later, in Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Team, have included the murder and bizarre postmortem autopsies of women by a surgically trained serial killer, abducted children and sadistic African rituals. That's enough evil to keep readers awake long after the cases are solved.

'Stuck in the Middle' offers a singular perspective on parenting

By Stephen Burt — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:00 PDT

Author and transgender advocate Jennifer Finney Boylan looks at motherhood, fatherhood and the putative difference in this new memoir.

Jennifer Finney Boylan was the father of two young boys, a devoted husband, a keyboard player in bar bands, the author of three published novels, and an English professor in Maine when she began the process that would make her outwardly — anatomically and socially — the woman she felt she had always been on the inside. Her book about life before, during and after that transition, "She's Not There" (2003), made her a guiding star for many transgender readers: Here was somebody who made all the changes she needed and, despite all the growing pains, got to keep most of her life.

'The Roberts Court' captures an important transformation

By Jim Newton, Los Angeles Times — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 PDT

Marcia Coyle skillfully reports on the aggressive turn the Supreme Court has taken under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

At his confirmation hearings for the position of chief justice of the United States, John G. Roberts Jr. parried skeptics with a reassuring metaphor: "Judges are like umpires," he memorably testified. "Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical to make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role."

John le Carre's 'A Delicate Truth' isn't gentle with war on terror

By Richard Rayner — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:00 PDT

The novelist takes on the idea that sins committed in pursuing national goals will be forgiven and forgotten.

John le Carré's novels have responded brilliantly to the absence of the Cold War, which was, from 1963's classic "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" to "The Secret Pilgrim" in 1990, their traditional domain.