Between the Covers

"Three Cups of Tea" author in Miami

I haven't had a chance to read Greg Mortenson's latest book Stones Into Schools yet, but a trustworthy source (thanks, Sue!) reports that it's even better than his bestselling Three Cups of Tea, about his work setting up schools is Pakistan.

Stones continues where Tea - which surprised me; I didn't expect to like it as much as I did - ended, with Mortenson's work to build schools and educate girls in Afghanistan.

You can see the author at 6 p.m. Sunday at Temple Judea, where he'll appear for Books & Books. Free tickets available at all Books & Books locations while supplies last. I can't imagine this won't be an evening to remember.

Sherman Alexie's "War Dances"

The men in Sherman Alexie's terrific collection of stories and poems are frequently flummoxed -- by life, women, history.

The father in The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless can't understand why his daughters are appalled by the music he generously loads into their new iPods (``But all these songs are your songs. . . . They're not mine''). The screenwriter in Fearful Symmetry doesn't know why his words desert him after the studio butchers his script. A spoiled gay basher unwittingly beats up an old friend in The Senator's Son. The young intern in Salt who writes obituaries is shocked to learn there are realities worse than death.

Author of 13 books of poetry, three story collections, four novels and the award-winning screenplay for Smoke Signals, the wily Alexie places his characters at crossroads, then sits back to see which way they'll turn. Paul Nonetheless reaches an unhappy point of no return; the senator's son discovers that his father's high principles are bendable. But the screenwriter finds redemption in crossword puzzles, and the intern learns why no one should live forever. Sometimes things work out. Sometimes they don't.

Alexie, who won a National Book Award for his young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, excels at blending humor and tragedy. Why, he wonders in the poem Go, Ghost, Go, does a white professor want to be a martyr for slain Native Americans? ``Sherman, can't you see that immigration / Is the new and improved Ghost Dance?'' the professor asks. ``He's eager to get on that cross / and pay the ultimate cost / Because he's addicted to the indigenous,'' Alexie explains.

Alexie's works are piercing yet rueful. He writes odes to anguished pay-phone calls, to boys who would drive through blizzards to see a girl, to couples who need to sit together on airplane flights even though the computer thinks otherwise. ``Whenever I'm asked / to trade seats / For somebody else's love / I do, I always do.''

In the title story, a husband and father of two finds that a brush with mortality returns him to memories of his father. The old man -- really not so old at 67 but ravaged by decades of drinking -- had to have his feet removed, and now he can't get warm. His son scours the hospital, looking for other Native Americans, because he's sure they'll have blankets. He meets a likely possibility in the hospital corridor and explains the situation.

``Diabetes?'' the man asks.

``And vodka.''

``Vodka straight up or with a nostalgia chaser?''

``Both.''

``Natural causes for an Indian.''

It's a poignant yet funny scene, and later the stranger takes the narrator to task for stereotyping his own people. Yet, miraculously, he also hands over a blanket, blessed by his father. In such a small gift, such great compassion. Just like the gems in this marvelous collection.

Alexie appears at 11 a.m. Sunday at Miami Book Fair International.

Book fair Saturday: Great day, or greatest day ever?

On a perfect sunny day - clearly, the weather gods are readers, too - thousands packed the streets and classrooms of Miami Dade College for the 26th edition of Miami Book Fair International's street fair.

And it was good. Where else could you start your day with Al Gore and end it with Iggy Pop?

 Parents and kids packed the many activities at Children's Alley at the fair, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. There was so much to do. Comics fans debated whether Archie should have married Betty instead of Veronica. (Yes! shouts Team Betty.) The PEN International panel discussed the sobering topic of censorship while political insiders Gwen Ifill (above) and Taylor Branch explored how things work in Washington, D.C. Fiction fans gloried in the choices while struggling to make them, grinning at Jill McCorkle's delightful story Me and Big Foot or, perhaps, giggling at the personable Wally Lamb
cracking himself up while reading his Christmas novella Wishin' and Hopin'.

Even bigger laughs came courtesy of The Daily Show contributors John Hodgman and Larry Wilmore, who have never done a live appearance together before but handled the task like old comedy pros. Hard to say what was funnier: Hodgman using his audio book discs for coasters or Wilmore's deadly accurate Chris Rock impersonation. 

And readers weren't the only ones having a good time. In the fair's hospitality suite, Betsy Carter, author of the novel The Puzzle King, marveled at the audacity of Mary Karr's memoir Lit. And thriller writer Michael Lister, author of Double Exposure, had a close encounter of the author kind he won't forget.

"It's such a cool experience,'' he said. "I'm in the author's lounge this morning getting some orange juice, and Joyce Carol Oates sits down next to me. Where else does that happen? . . . . I love it. It's my favorite book fair.''

Yes, there were some snafus: The air conditioning units in the Auditorium Pavilions were a bit too loud, rendering the writers inaudible on occasion (the Auditorium is undergoing renovations so tents acted as a substitute). As always, random knuckleheads forgot to turn off their cell phones. But the ticketing process worked smoothly in the Chapman Conference Center, indicating patience on the part of book fair volunteers and readers, who have grown accustomed to what used to be a confusing process.

On a day like this one, optimism reigned. Susan Bishop and her fourth-grade daughter Julia from Coral Springs got to the fair early to see former Vice President Gore speak. Julia attends Heron Heights Elementary, which her mom says is the first "green'' elementary in Florida.

Ask Julia what she thinks of the climate situation, and she doesn't hesitate.

"I think we're going to help everybody and save the planet,'' she says.

In telling the audience about Lit, memoirist Karr told her audience that "when we read we sort of take communion together.'' Her story, she said, is "îabout how reading saved my life.''

Ours, too, Mary. Ours too.

Orhan Pamuk draws huge crowd at Miami book fair

Miami is a town all too frequently - some might say stupidly - obsessed with celebrity, and yet, on a breezy Friday night at Miami Dade College, a Turkish novelist drew a bigger audience than a movie star who appeared the evening before him.

And not merely a bigger audience. An overflow audience. An audience that left no seat empty and stranded about 100 hopefuls outside.

So went the Miami Book Fair International's final Evenings With . . . '' event with Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk reading from his latest novel The Museum of Innocence and telling the crowd, "I am happy to be with the book lovers of Miami.''

Pamuk is hardly an obscure writer - his novel Snow won wide acclaim, and his work has been published in 50 languages - but one might assume fairgoers would be more familiar with Isabella Rossellini, who appeared Thursday to talk about her amusing short film series Green Porno. Even the title, you might think, would be more likely to lure the curious than Pamuk's Innocence.

But no. Miami book lovers, congratulate yourselves. You keep your fair alive when other cities - bigger, cockier cities - have failed.

"The support this week has been remarkable,'' fair cofounder Mitchell Kaplan told the audience as the event began, going on to say that almost 1,000 people turned out for Friday's event.

 Pamuk, at 57 one of the younger Nobel laureates, was introduced by novelist Alan Cheuse, who beamed at the sizable crowd of book lovers.

"Let's turn this into a great wave that washes over America,'' he said.

Pamuk, often considered a political novelist, called The Museum of Innocence "a novel about love,'' but cautioned that the course of romance does not flow smoothly in these pages. Museum, he said, "is what happens to us when we fall in love.''

Among the crowd were Pamuk fans Cameron and Donald Schram from Toronto, who spend the winter in Naples but drive east across the state every year to spend the weekend at the fair. They collect first editions and say they lug about 50 books to Florida every season in hopes of getting them signed. This year they plan to see Tracy Kidder, Dennis Lehane and Jayne Anne Phillips.

Donald Schram had a complaint about the online ticketing process - without a U.S. zip code, he said, he couldn't purchase tickets ahead of time with a credit card - but they prevailed by just showing up and buying tickets Friday night.

Despite the frustration, they were happy to be at the fair (and with a seat while others waited outside). "We're loyal,'' he said.

"We wouldn't miss it,'' added Cameron Schram.

Harrowing childhood memoirs at the book fair

Jeannette Walls isn't the only author at Miami Book Fair International to be talking about a harrowing memoir of childhood. David Small and Jane Alison will both be there Saturday to talk about their own literary works involving eccentric families.

Small's graphic novel Stitches - nominated for the National Book Award - recalls how his radiologist father treated a minor respiratory ailment with X-rays - which caused a cancerous lump in the boy's neck.

Alison's The Sisters Antipodes is less chilling but no less grim: When the UM professor and her sister were kids, her parents and another couple became close friends - and then switched partners.

Click here to read Richard Pachter's interview with Small, who appears at 1 p.m. Saturday in Batten.

Click here to read Ellen Kanner's interview with Alison. who appears at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Promoteo.

"The Daily Show" contributors arrive at book fair seeking laughs

If you watch The Daily Show, then you know John Hodgman (famous, or rather infamous, for the "You're Welcome" segments, in which he solves all the world's problems) and Larry Wilmore ("senior black correspondent" or some similar title). On Saturday, they'll team up at Miami Book Fair International to talk about their new books.

Hodgman's More Information Than You Require is a book of fake trivia (did you know Teddy Roosevelt had a hook for a hand?). Wilmore's I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts is a collection of humorous essays.

Click here to read my interview Hodgman.

Click here to read my interview with Wilmore.

And see them together at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Chapman Conference Center; free tickets required. Get 'em by clicking here.

"How to Leave Hialeah" author returns home for book fair

Hialeah, author Jennine Capó Crucet has learned, is something of a mystery to people living outside South Florida.

``Most of the time people assume it's a woman who has scorned someone,'' she says. ``Usually the reaction is: `Who's Hialeah that you need to leave her?' ''

Readers of Crucet's debut story collection, which won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop, know better. How to Leave Hialeah (Iowa, $16 in paper) brings the place and its people alive with what a Miami Herald reviewer praised as ``a fresh voice.''

Crucet, who appears Saturday at Miami Book Fair International, was exposed to the event early: Her dad was an electrician who worked on the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus to get the wires underground back in the early 1990s.

``I remember him coming home late at night,'' she says. ``He worked so hard to make this event happen. He's not a reader, not a book guy, but he did care a lot about that campus. I keep thinking, `I'll be walking over the wires he put in.' ''

Q: What's it like for a Miami kid to be reading her first book at the fair?

A: I know it sounds corny, but it is a dream come true. It is something I hoped I'd be able to do for a long time but thought wouldn't be a reality when I saw how hard it is to get a book published or recognized. It's a huge thrill for my family, too. Everybody is going to be coming out.

Q: Do you remember your first fair?

A: I went in middle school, I think. Or maybe earlier? I went with my parents. I got to sit in on some cool things for young writers because I wrote an essay in class. It was during the school day, so my mom had to take a day off work. I remember not knowing what to wear, and I dressed way too fancy, thinking: This is my big break!

Q: You've lived in Los Angeles for eight months. Do you miss Miami?

A: I miss it a lot! I used to think the traffic in Miami was horrible, but now I live in L.A., and it doesn't seem bad. What I miss is family. Everyone lives there except me! I miss my parents. I miss the idea that I'd see my grandma every day and my uncle every other day, because we all live so close together. That's an important part of Miami and Hialeah: extended families, though they don't see themselves that way. Everyone's a cousin, even if you're a third cousin. Maybe everybody wanted to stay together near Cuba in case something happened. . . . I spent a lot of time in Hialeah hospital visiting family, and it's like, `Hospital visiting hours? Yeah, sure whatever. I'll do what I want. That's my aunt's sister's kid's best friend, and I have to be there!' I love the audacity of the whole place.

Q: Do you miss the food?

A: I miss knowing where the best cafe con leche is. I miss recognizing the food. I haven't found the great Cuban place here yet.

Q: Can anyone ever really leave Hialeah?

A: Why would you ever want to?

Jennine Capó Crucet appears at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Prometeo.

Isabella Rossellini and animal sex at the Miami book fair

The lesson to take from Isabella Rossellini's amusing presentation Thursday night at Miami Book Fair International is simple: You really should be happy you're not a male bee.

Drones, you see, live to mate, which doesn't sound so bad until you find out what happens afterward, one of the many subjects of Green Porno, Rossellini's entertaining series of short films for The Sundance Channel. (What happens to calamari if they're caught isn't all that much fun, either.)

On an evening when LeBron and Shaq faced off against D-Wade across the street at the AmericanAirlines Arena, and fair-goers got to haul out their light jackets, Rossellini talked about Green Porno's companion book, how the series got started and showed six of her short films (including the one about the unfortunate boy bees, which was the favorite, judging by the applause).

Rossellini, ever glamorous in a red velvet jacket, said the idea originated with Robert Redford, who was interested in making short online films that could be easily viewed on cellphones or iPods.

"If you see Apocalypse Now‚ on your iPod, you really don't see the film,'' said Rossellini, who was introduced by Miami filmmaker David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me). "But with animation, you could make a really colorful film.''

Rossellini had long been fascinated by insects - "It was incredible, what was happening in my backyard!'' - and decided to focus on insect and animal sex.

"We're not all interested in animals, but we're all‚ interested in sex,'' she joked.

The series drew millions of viewers at sundancechannel.com, and landed Rossellini on David Letterman, who "made fun of me, because I did Blue Velvet, and this is how I evolved.''

Michelle Sas of Sunny Isles Beach came to the appearance because she's a Blue Velvet fan. She read about the concept of Green Porno, and couldn't resist.

"It seems so bizarre, I just have to see that,'' she said before Rossellini took the stage.

Three-fifths of the Five Forks Book Club of Albuquerque, N.M. - so named because when they meet monthly for dinner to discuss a book, they order one dessert and five forks - were also happy to be there. They wore matching sweat shirts; bless the cooler weather!

Carol Hoffman, Barbara Pierce and Lea Wilson arrived in Miami on Thursday for the fair and plan to binge on books all weekend.

"We're going to be here every hour on the hour,'' said Pierce, indicating the Chapman Conference Center.

Richard Powers at Miami book fair

If, as a character in Richard Powers' provocative new novel suggests, happiness is a virus, then can we say the crowd was infected at Wednesday's "Evenings With‚.‚.‚.'' event at Miami Book Fair International?

Yes, we can.

Powers, author of Generosity: An Enhancement - about the scientific, cultural and emotional repercussions when a researcher announces he has isolated a gene for happiness - drew a smaller crowd than previous nights, but a wise person at Miami Dade College decided to section off the cavernous Chapman Conference Center, allowing the several hundred people who showed up an intimate atmosphere.

The book fair faithful - retirees toting their yellow "Friends of the Fair'' bags and college kids in ripped jeans and baseball caps and all sorts of people in between - listened intently as the bespectacled Powers read a dazzling scene from Generosity‚ in which dissenting factions square off on an Oprah-esque talk show. He didn't grab the microphone like a rock star (or like Barbara Kingsolver did a few nights ago), but his
quietly sturdy reading brought the passage to life, and even drew laughs.

He also talked about having his own genome mapped as part of an assignment for GQ. The actual mapping, he said drily, "was outsourced to China.''

"The last I heard it cost $350,000,'' he said. "I don't know what the magazine paid. I hope they didn't pay full sticker.''

In a different twist, Powers didn't sign his book after the reading, as most authors do. Instead he signed cards with Generosity's jacket image on it. 

Powers may not be a household name, though avid fiction readers know his most famous novel, The Gold Bug Variations, and the National Book Award-winning The Echo Maker, also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. But unfamiliarity with an author does not deter the devoted.

Masami Yamamoto of Miami, who has been attending the fair for more than 20 years, says that every year she tries to discover new writers. Attending the "Evenings With...'' programs is a good way to do so, she said.

Why take the chance on someone who might not appeal to you?

"You learn something new,'' she said. "I'd tell people, 'Come. You never know what you'll find here.' ''

Discovering something new? That's happiness, indeed.

Richard Powers and the crossroads of science and fiction

Novelist Richard Powers thrives at the intersection of science and wonder, raising questions that illuminate the human condition. In his provocative ninth novel, he poses an intriguing query guaranteed to spark the imagination: What would happen if we discovered a gene for happiness?

Powers, who appears Wednesday at Miami Book Fair International, returns to a favorite subject -- genomics -- in Generosity: An Enhancement (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25). He had explored the topic in his third and best-known book, The Gold Bug Variations, in 1991, in which he built a story about genetics, computer science and music.

``Genomics raises very old questions,'' he explains. ``You look at literature going all the way back to the invention of writing, these questions of fate and destiny. How much of us is scripted? How much of us can we rewrite? Is our fate in ourselves? . . . Fiction is a great place to explore these things. . . . The novel can have facts, characters, places, historical events, purely imaginary relationships, multiple focal centers, lots of ideas and passions colliding with each other in this rich soup that wonderfully recreates the turbulent soup of the genome.''

Generosity examines the idea of how we become who we are through the experiences of Russell Stone, a writer teaching a course in creative nonfiction at a Chicago university. The first evening of class he is startled by his improbably upbeat student Thassadit Amzwar, an Algerian immigrant with every reason to feel beaten down by the world. Astonishingly, she literally glows with good will. Her bliss is so remarkable, however, that it brings her to the attention of a famous -- some might say infamous -- geneticist, who hopes to map her genes, unleash the secret of happiness and market it to the world, or at least to the parts that can afford it.

Click here to read the rest of the story. And see Powers at 7:30 Wednesday at Miami Book Fair International; tickets $10 and available for download at the website.