Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett
“It’s historical fiction about medieval England. I like history. It’s written with a lot of solid character development and detail so you get more of a sense of how things were, and the characters are real, three dimensional.”
HUMORIST, CONDUCTOR, ACTOR MICHAEL NEGAL
Captains and the Kings
By Taylor Caldwell
“They say the book is based on the Kennedy family. Their coming here from Ireland and then John Kennedy becoming the first Catholic president of the United States. It’s a marvelous book. I like reading this kind of thing. It’s like seeing some of the great or famous people of the world, up close.”
CRITIC’S CHOICE
— TRIBES. By Alexander Stuart. Doubleday. $20. 177 pp. One of Britain’s hottest young novelists, Alexander Stuart explores the redemption of a shallow filmmaker by the love of a pretty woman and her daughter. It’s all set against background of soccer hooliganism — part of a new movie he’s trying to get made. The whole thing is a rollicking fast ride from violent beginning to sweet ending. A worthy successor to Stuart’s controversial and much-praised first novel, The War Zone.
— NAKED AT GENDER GAP. By Asa Baber. Birch Lane. $18.95. 224 pp. From the longtime writer of the “Men” column for Playboy magazine, this collection of short pieces shows that some members of the masculine gender, at least, can voice concerns about men’s rights and issues without necessarily tromping on those of women. Neither apologetic nor truculent, Baber attempts a new definition of masculinity while attacking the excesses of feminism, admitting that men are “sexual simpletons” and underscoring the fascism of gay- bashing.
— CHAUNCEY MABE
FOOTNOTES
— Stanley Siegel will read from his book The Patient Who Cured His Therapist 7:30 p.m. Sunday, book signing 8:30 p.m. at Liberties Fine Books & Music, Mizner Park, 309 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. 1-407-368-1300.
Cherokee Paul McDonald and Allen E. Smith authors of Under Contract, The True Account of a Cop Hired to Kill will autograph their book 7:30-8:30 p.m. Friday at Liberties Fine Books & Music, 309 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. 1-407-368-1300.
–Marilyn Hoder-Salmon, director of the Women’s Studies Center and author of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Screenplay as Interpretation 8 p.m. Wednesday at Books and Books, 296 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables. Free. For information, call 1-305-442-4408.
— Willa Shallit, author and artist, signing her new book Life Cast: Behind the Mask 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10. At Liberties Fine Books & Music, Mizner Park, 309 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. 1-407-368-1300.
