Sophisticated Dorkiness — A bookworm journalist blogs on literature and life

Review: ‘India Becoming’ by Akash Kapur

April 11, 2012 Book Review

When Akash Kapur was a child growing up in India, the East Coast Road — the main artery through the countryside of southern India — was a potholed tar road with views of the ocean. When Kapur returned to his native India in 2003 after more than 10 years living in the United States, the East Coast Road had been transformed into a modern, paved highway that Indian politicians look to as an example of what modern India can be. But instead of ocean views the East Coast Road is now flanked by tourist developments and, closer to the city, urban crowding and a growing technology corridor.

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Review: ‘Devil in the Grove’ by Gilbert King

April 9, 2012 Book Review

In 1951, just before he should have been preparing to argue arguably the most important civil rights case of the decade, Brown v. Board of Education, NAACP laywer Thurgood Marshall found himself in a perilous situation — riding a train into the deep South to defend one of four young African American citrus pickers that had been accused of raping a white girl in Groveland, Florida.

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The Sunday Salon: Currently, April 8 Edition

April 8, 2012 Sunday Salon

Time // 3:20 p.m.

Place // At my desk in my home office/library/cat playroom.

Eating // Nothing yet. I’m getting ready to start cooking Easter dinner for the boyfriend and I — ham, baked potatoes, fresh green beans and breadsticks.

Drinking // Bigelow Tea’s Lemon Lift.

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Review: ‘Methland’ by Nick Reding

April 6, 2012 Book Review

Methland is an almost perfect example of the kind of narrative nonfiction that I love to read. In fact, if I ever have someone come up and ask me, “What is narrative nonfiction?” I’m probably just going to shove Methland into their hands and refuse to discuss the topic further until they take the time to read the book. Watch out, people.

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March Wrap-Up and a Look to April

April 4, 2012 News and Notes

When I first looked ahead to March, I wrote that one of my goals was to get caught up with books I’ve accepted for review consideration. Looking back on the month, I think I was half successful with that goal — I’ve read all but one of the books I had on my plate for March, but I am woefully behind on writing reviews for them.

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Interview: Mitchell Zuckoff, ‘Lost in Shangri-La’

April 2, 2012 News and Notes

While I don’t do a ton of author interviews here on the blog (I do plenty of interviews as part of my day job!), I always get a thrill when I have the chance to ask more experienced writers and journalists to talk a little bit about their craft.

Mitchell Zukoff, the author of this year’s winner of the Indie Lit Award for Nonfiction, Lost in Shangri-La, was gracious enough to answer questions put together by the nonfiction panel including how he found the topic the story, what it was like to travel to New Guinea during research, and one piece of writing advice he offers his students.

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Review: ‘Raised Right’ by Alisa Harris

March 28, 2012 Book Review

I have to admit, part of the reason I wanted to Raised Right by Alisa Harris this book was a sort of voyeurism. As a person not raised going to church or even ascribing to a particular religious philosophy (other than my mom’s constant advice to “Do unto others and you would have them do unto you”), I have a really hard time understanding where religious, right-wing politicians are coming from when they so deeply connect religion and politics. In fact, it rubs me the wrong way so much that it’s almost impossible for me to take a candidate from the Religious Right seriously.

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Indie Lit Awards: Reflections and Discussions

March 27, 2012 News and Notes

Last week, the winners of this year’s Indie Lit Awards (book awards given out by literary bloggers) were announced, and I posted reviews of all five shortlisted books here on the blog. But in the frenzy of posting all those reviews (and getting to write about a Hunger Games-related book in time for the movie premier), I didn’t get to spend much time reflecting on the awards more generally. Hence, the topic of today’s post.

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The Sunday Salon: Feeling Grateful for Great Books

March 25, 2012 Sunday Salon

I’ve been on an amazing reading streak this month. Of the eight books I’ve finished so far, I’ve given five of them an initial rating of five stars on the big Google Docs spreadsheet I track my books on. Sometimes that number changes when I sit down to write my review, but I doubt these will change by much. They’re all pretty awesome.

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Re-Review: ‘The Girl Who Was on Fire’ edited by Leah Wilson

March 23, 2012 Book Review

Last May, the publicity team at BenBella Books offered me a copy of a collection of critical essays about Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, The Girl Who Was on Fire. In celebration of The Hunger Games movie, BenBella Books has released an updated, movie tie-in edition of the book with three new essays and, if you buy the ebook edition, bonus movie content a week after the film is released. According to a press release they sent out with the book,

On March 23, 2012, the film The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence, hits theaters—and one week later, Smart Pop will provide e-book buyers with those YA authors’ thoughts about the film.

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