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	August 2005 :: issue 22
	This Month 1. Short Stories 2. Travel 3. Page-turners 4. Classics 5. Guilty Pleasures 6. Magazines 7. Art Books   Book News Credits/About Us The Late-Summer Issue Whether you're jetting off to a beach or staying put, the lazy month of August is the time to catch up on your reading. This month we bring you a larger array of options — 35 books and magazines to get you through the sweltering days of late summer. If you're not feeling Oprah's Faulkner kick, we've pulled together some offbeat, classic tomes to tackle for bragging rights. Escape the mundane with a few good travel yarns and a short stack of criminally minded page-turners. If outdoor fun keeps stealing you away from more in-depth reading, cop some fresh new magazines, curl up with stellar short stories, or flip through eye-candy art books. And if what you need right about now are some low-brow, guilty pleasures, we got that too (just don't tell anyone we sent you).

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SHORT STORIES FOR SHORT ATTENTION SPANS For when the Ritalin isn't handy FICTION Civilwarland in Bad Decline by George Saunders 1996   This debut collection of biting and hilarious stories earned accolades from the likes of Thomas Pynchon. Now on its way to becoming a feature film with Ben Stiller, Civilwarland conjures up a violent, salacious, and off-kilter world, thinly veiled with sweet innocence. (MR) FICTION Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, illustrated by Shelley Jackson 2005   Don't mistake this self-published second collection by Kelly Link — the author whom Jonathan Lethem calls the "best short-story writer you've never heard of" — for dime-store fantasy fare. While these stories do involve haunted houses, talking cats, and the undead, Link's powerful prose places this collection into a class of its own. (LND) FICTION Anthropology: 101 True Love Stories by Dan Rhodes 2000   Only recently reissued, Dan Rhodes' Anthropology analyzes bygone relationship moments in witty, single-paragraph bites. Goofy, clever, and unexpectedly authentic, these vignettes are perfect for those times when you're emotionally unavailable for longer fare. (JKG) FICTION Dear Mr. President by Gabe Hudson 2002   The best book to come out of the first Gulf War, Dear Mr. President obeys the first lesson of Heller and Vonnegut: it doesn't forget to be funny. Humor makes the darkness and ferocity of these stories all the more powerful — and all too relevant as we muddle through the absurdities of Gulf War II. (OZ) FICTION Nice Big American Baby by Judy Budnitz 2005   These are dispatches from a twisted, familiar world. Funny and dark, this collection focuses on the disconnect at the heart of family life with a series of modern parables. (TW) back to top

GETAWAYS For daytripping or daydreaming ESSAYS Seek: Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond by Denis Johnson 2001   From encounters with Christian militia members in the rural US to surreal, hilarious, and life-threatening episodes in the war-torn Third World, Johnson recounts his travels in a uniquely American voice. (BB) NONFICTION Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air by Gregory Dicum 2004   Ever wonder about those weird patterns you're flying over — the geometric patchwork of the Midwest, the ragged topography of mountain ranges, the weird zigzags of suburban sprawl? It's all explained in this book of aerial photos, maps, and densely informative guides to what you're seeing. (MR) NONFICTION After the Dance: A Walk Through Carnival in Jacmel, Haiti by Edwidge Danticat 2002   A homecoming memoir by the author of The Dew Breaker, this book chronicles Danticat's return to her native Haiti to take part in her first Carnival. Forbidden to her as a child, these wild festivities offer her creative clarity, historical perspective, and the bittersweetness of an exile's return. (TW) ESSAYS Sun After Dark: Flights Into the Foreign by Pico Iyer 2004   If you like a little philosophy with your travel writing, pack a copy of Iyer's latest collection of essays, which circumnavigates the globe through encounters with fascinating characters and undiscovered places. (LCD) NONFICTION Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings by Jonathan Raban 1999   Jonathan Raban's voyage from Seattle to Alaska includes nosy Canadians, surly loggers, and the story of the fatally misunderstood Captain Vancouver. Raban perfectly captures the anxieties — and cultural epiphanies — of innocents abroad everywhere. (SE) back to top

BETTER THAN TV Page-turners for when it's too hot out to move SUSPENSE Don't Point that Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli 1972   Finally republished, this '70s whodunit tails art dealer-turned-detective Charlie Mortdecai, a fabulous, louche guide to a rogues' gallery of debauched criminal aesthetes. Long a cult favorite, this one keeps you turning pages until every secret is revealed — except for that niggling forged epigraph. (AD) MYSTERY The Mike Hammer Collection by Mickey Spillane 1947-50   Mickey Spillane is synonymous with pulp noir, and his hard-drinking, heartbreaking, and wise-talking, private eye Mike Hammer is the sine qua non of hard-boiled heroes. Just peruse the titles of these books: I, the Jury; My Gun is Quick; Vengeance is Mine! Powerful, violent, vulgar, and awesome. (OZ) CRIME FICTION The Chill by Ross MacDonald 1964   Ross MacDonald is the noir laureate of the SoCal '60s and '70s, and the unfairly neglected heir to Raymond Chandler. With its tender character development, dark plotting, sharp-witted patter, The Chill is his greatest work. (OZ) TRUE CRIME The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy 1987   Ellroy hones in on the most infamous murder case of '40s Los Angeles to evoke a city shrouded in corruption, racial tension, and unrepentant violence. You will swear the publication date is wrong. (BB) MYSTERY Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett 2005   Royal Thai police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep balances Buddhism, ambition, and the demands of "justice" as he guides you through the underworld of Bangkok. He encounters hard-working prostitutes, corrupt cops, violent drug-dealers, and loathsome tourists as he solves a case that juggles the CIA, Al Qaeda, and more than a few severed penises. (MR) back to top

IF OPRAH CAN DO FAULKNER Classics you can shelve this fall like medals of honor FICTION The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz 1956-57   Nobel laureate Mahfouz' masterpiece is the most lively and entertaining classic you'll ever read. Thirteen hundred pages fly by as you fall in love with the complex, contradictory Al Sayidd family and Mahfouz' magnificent Cairo. (OZ) FICTION The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 1905   More than 100 years old, this Wharton classic is no old nelly. It's as fresh as Lily Bart, the novel's high-society protagonist — an unwitting feminist whose travails in love, marriage, and money teach us that all that's gilded isn't gold, while giving us prescient insight into the germ of our 21st-century rootlessness and materialism. (JKG) FICTION The Moviegoer by Walker Percy 1961   Binx Bolling is a brooding, aimless, and aristocratic New Orleans stockbroker on the eve of his 30th birthday. Percy's quietly mordant portrait depicts a man struggling to stand astride the rift between New South and Old. (CL) FICTION USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos 1930-33   Influenced equally by Ulysses and The Gilded Age, Dos Passos uses socialists, elites, and heaps of downtrodden workers to capture a turn-of-the-century America that is increasingly familiar today. (SE) FICTION Petersburg by Andrei Bely, translated by Robert A. Maguire and John E. Malmstad 1913   Perhaps Petersburg remains a neglected classic because it's just too impossible to summarize. A favorite of Nabokov's, the book brings the city to life with dazzling, Joycean literary inventions — and even a few assassins and revolutionaries. (OZ) back to top

GUILTY PLEASURES We wouldn't be caught reading these in public, but... NONFICTION The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne 2005   This voyeuristic read traces the history of adult film from its early days as a backroom business to its current perch as a billion-dollar industry with de-facto mainstream acceptance. (JR) FICTION Shibumi by Trevanian 1979   Nicholai Hel is the world's greatest assassin and the world's greatest lover. He lives in a castle with his Eurasian concubine and is locked in a death match with a very '70s, Dr. No-ish version of the Man. Understated? Not so much. Sublime, ridiculous, baroque perfection? Yes. (OZ) FICTION The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe 2004   Conceived over a bar bet, this hilarious pirate caper aims a broadside of silliness at the tittering child in all of us. A crew of blundering plunderers careens through an adventure that includes a dastardly bishop, talking chimps, a young Charles Darwin, and many, many hams. (TW) FICTION A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin 1996   Epic fantasy novels are supposed to be big, but the genre is writ extra-large in this ever-expanding saga. The 700 pages of this first installment are filled with enough dragons, battles, and kingdoms to warrant a glossary. Even if you don't think this is your thing, Martin will have you craving more. (OZ) FICTION Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann 1966   Written by a small-screen starlet (and four-time winner of the Best Dressed Woman in TV award!), this '60s trash classic is a bawdy, hammy, and totally addictive story of three girls who get caught up in drugs in the cutthroat New York City showbiz world. (LND) back to top

FRESH MAGAZINES New periodicals to stimulate your brain Bidoun Issue #6: Icons (Fall 2005)   Combining engaging content with almost painfully clever design, Bidoun is a sounding board for myriad views on the Middle East — from architectural and cultural criticism to personal essays, photography, and even recipes. After tackling futuristic Dubai in their summer issue, the current installment focuses on icons. (TW) Cabinet Issue #18: Fictional States (Summer 2005)   Smart, ambitious, and endlessly fascinating, Cabinet's themed quarterly issues take on a boundless array of high and low culture topics, from the world's foremost ski trail map artist to the sociology of traffic. The current edition addresses the quirky world of fictional states. (CL) Topic Issue #8: Sin (Summer 2005)   Neither literary journal nor straight-forward mag, Topic devotes its elegantly laid out pages to first-person narratives written by the sorts of curious characters we encounter on a daily basis (or wish we did). Constellating around the topic of "Sin," their new issue sees masturbators, necrophiliacs, homos, and gamblers 'fessing up. (AV) MOME Issue #1 (Summer 2005)   Not a magazine per se, MOME is a new quarterly review of comics published by graphic novel powerhouse Fantagraphics. This inaugural edition features angsty and avant-garde work from the likes of Paul Hornschemeier, Jeffrey Brown, and Sophie Crumb. The talent pool is deep here, so resist the temptation to dive in all at once. (TW) Esopus Issue #4 (Spring 2005)   In a world full of consumption-oriented magazines, Esopus takes a whimsical yet earnest approach to the zeitgeist that's absolutely refreshing. Its large format leaves are full of surprises — stories printed in invisible ink, quirky found objects and art projects, curated drawing and photography fold-outs, and a CD comp with every issue. (JKG)   What's the best magazine story you've read recently and why? Our four favorite answers each win a complete set of these magazines. back to top

DAY-PACK ART BOOKS Slip some eye candy into the luggage PHOTOGRAPHY Bizarro Postcards Jim Heimann (ed.) 2002   Postcards that illustrate kitschy motels, surreal restaurants, and wacko shops can be almost as much fun as the vacation itself. Here, you travel back in time to when vintage was new and neon turned heads. (PL) ARCHITECTURE Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary Architecture: Travel Edition by the Editors of Phaidon Press 2005   The travel edition of Phaidon's massive 824-page tome is picture-perfect and user-friendly. It's the ultimate, pocket-size guide to the best contemporary architecture around the world. (PL) DESIGN Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia by Sergei Vasiliev, Alexei Plutser-Sarno, and illustrated by Danzig Baldaev 2003   Back in the USSR, sexual and political satire was once a private affair. Now, thanks to the passion of a camera-happy prison attendant, this little pink book bares the tattooed facts. (PL) PHOTOGRAPHY Official Portraits: The Executive Heads of State of the 191 Member States of the United Nations Organization by Klaus Zwangsleitner 2004   Take me to your leader! This nifty handbook is chock-full of beady-eyed presidents, grinning emirs, and uniformed dictators — a sort of political yearbook that provides a sly look at the high-and-mighty. (PL) PHOTOGRAPHY Mrs. Ballard's Parrots By Arne Svenson 2005   Sock Monkey photographer Arne Svenson exposes the tale of Mrs. Ballard, a '60s housewife who dolled up her pet parrots to resemble Sonny and Cher, Liberace, and other kitschy celebrities. A holy grail of found photography, it winds through fanmail to Elizabeth Taylor and Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose. (PL) back to top

BOOK NEWS A few notable bits of recent book news. The word of God (Guardian) Douglas Kennedy explains how Christian-themed fiction is one of the fastest growing sectors in the American publishing industry. Investigating Sherlock Holmes (Independent) A team of literary sleuths are exhuming a body in a Devonshire graveyard to find out if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a murderer. Selling out (BBC) The sixth installment in the Harry Potter series breaks all sales records, selling almost nine million copies in the first 24 hours. Debating the MFA (MobyLives) Steve Almond and Elizabeth Clementson go head-to-head on the virtues of the MFA. Where's the motive? (Harper's, via Maud Newton) Jonathan Dee sounds off on lazy shock-tactics in the contemporary novel. back to top

	CREDITS Editors Toby Warner Mark Mangan Paul Laster Jocelyn K. Glei Jamend Riley Editors-at-Large Larry Weissman Sean McDonald Contributors Brian Blessinger Adam Davids Lucy C. Davies Larissa N. Dooley Scott Esposito Sarah Gonzales Chris Lamb Megan Lynch Dayo Olopade Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts Marisa Robot Lisa Rosman Peter D. Stepek Hrag Vartanian Anastasia Vye Peter J. Wolfgang Orlando Zepeda Production & Design Anjuli Ayer Morgan Croney Jessica Bauer-Greene William "Keats" Pierce Sascha Lewis Cover Image Jeff Koons, "Candle" (detail), 2001 Oil on canvas 120 x 168 inches Jeff Koons   ABOUT US Boldtype is a monthly, email-based review of books published by Flavorpill Productions. Our mission is to cover five to seven books worth reading, from current titles to past gems. No money is accepted from any publishers, writers, reviewers, or marketing/PR companies. FEEDBACK We welcome any and all feedback — comments, criticism, and even effusive praise. To reach the staff at Boldtype, please email us at editor. SUBMISSIONS If you have a book that you would like us to consider for review, please send an email to books or mail a copy here: Boldtype (ATTN: Reviews) c/o Flavorpill Productions 594 Broadway, Suite 1212 New York, NY 10012 MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS Boldtype offers exclusive monthly media partnerships — an opportunity for like-minded brands to integrate their creative into the mailer. For more information, please email us at media-partner. Our other email magazines: A twice-monthly email magazine highlighting the latest in electronic music — including news, reviews, and original features An email magazine covering a handpicked selection of music, art, and cultural events — delivered each Tuesday afternoon A twice-monthly fashion report providing an insider's view on trends emerging from Paris, London, New York, and around the world A twice-monthly email magazine covering art, design, and architecture with profiles, news, and reviews of inter-national shows
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