Hole in My Life
by Jack Gantos
"Count me in," says young, bored Jack Gantos, when offered a chance to help sail a boat filled with drugs from the Virgin Islands to New York. This isn't the start of a new thriller, it's the real-life story of writer Gantos' youthful mistake -- and the price he paid. Gantos isn't looking for sympathy; instead, he's writing with a mission: to help prevent other people from doing the same stupid things he did. He doesn't pretty up his story -- not that he could by much, because he got caught and did prison time. His first night in prison is enough to make anyone walk the straight and narrow. Gantos is hard on himself, and sometimes this book is difficult reading, but it's never less than compelling.

Rhythm and Business: The Political Economy of Black Music
Edited by Norman Kelley
While there's an abundance of music books that examine the content of songs and the cultural impact of artists, the shelf of books dedicated to investigating the economics of the music business is relatively sparse. And when it comes to studying the economic exploitation of black music, even less has been written. With that in mind, it's no wonder that Rhythm and Business is a refreshing read, full of intellectual vigor and insight into the modern-day realities of the industry. From breaking down the current state of record label ownership -- in which the "big five" conglomerates control 90 percent of the market -- to analyzing the history of black musical styles to looking at the present-day politics of hip-hop and the foreseeable effects of digital technology, this essay collection covers a great deal of ground and incorporates a number of noteworthy voices, including Charles C. Mann, Chuck D., Richard B. Woodward, Reebee Garofalo, David Sanjek, and Courtney Love. It all adds up to a thought-provoking look at what's on the mind of just about every music industry insider: the bottom line.

Labyrinth of Desire: Women, Passion, and Romantic Obsession
by Rosemary Sullivan
"Why are people, women in particular, addicted to romantic, obsessive love?"

That's what Sullivan wants to know, and in order to find out, she constructs a fake love story, a doomed affair in a foreign town, and then peels apart all of its layers, breaking down all the components of obsession. While Sullivan is an academic -- she's an English professor at University of Toronto as well as a poet and a biographer -- Labyrinth of Desire is accessible enough to have been a bestseller in Canada, and yet still manages to reference everything from Frida Kahlo to Sylvia Plath to Simone de Beauvoir to Sleepless in Seattle. All the while, Sullivan sidesteps the pitfalls of self-help lit in favor of keen insight and personal reflection. A provocative work that's destined to resonate with your inner inamorato.

The Exact Location of the Soul
by Richard Selzer
You might want to read Richard Selzer for his tremendous knowledge of the workings of the human body. Or, you might want to read him for sentences like the following one in his essay entitled "The Liver":

"Let us celebrate that great maroon snail, whose smooth back nestles in the dome of the diaphragm, beneath the lattice of the rib cage, like some blind wise slave, crouching above its colleague viscera, secret, resourceful, instinctive."

Selzer goes on to exalt the liver, objecting to the fact that such a divine organ has been overlooked by poets and painters, who prefer to immortalize the "purest theater" of the heart and the "mystery and memory and electricity" of the brain. He then explains the liver's myriad functions (handy information for pub crawlers!). Of course, that's just one of the essays in this excellent collection from the surgeon/writer who combines science with literary references, a sharp wit, a passion for exploring the messy truths of life, and some gloriously dandified prose … and hey, where else are you going to learn about "phantom vision" and "braindeath?"

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
by Chris Fuhrman
A Book Sense 76 pick! Here's what Linda Cohen, an independent bookseller at Little Professor Book Co. in Temecula, CA, has to say abou this poignant and hilarious look at Catholic school rule-breakers:

"A touching and surprising coming of age story, originally published in 1994. It's too bad it was published after the author's death; who knows what we've lost?"

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What We Won't Do: Stories
by Brock Clarke
"I'm with my wife, Mary Kay, and her ex-husband, Scoot, and we're crouched behind a row of evergreen bushes waiting for my father to take out his trash naked."

That's a little taste of What We Won't Do, a new short story collection from Brock Clarke, the winner of the 2000 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Actually, it's the opening sentence of his story, "The Right Questions." Would you believe us if we told you that the whole collection is filled with wonderful sentences like that one, some funny, some tragic, some both? Well, you should. They're fine stories, often concerning people getting mixed up in embarrassing, bizarre-yet-believable situations. For instance, there's the 33-year old who re-enrolls in the sixth grade, and the guy who decides to burn down Emily Dickinson's house, and then there's the group of fathers who starve themselves, all in protest of their sons' self-destructive behavior. In the end, it all amounts to a top-notch collection from a writer who's hopefully got a whole more where these came from. Oh, and it's published by Saranbande Books, a nonprofit literary press out of Kentucky, and a great organization to support during this March -- Small Press Month, of course!

Five Point Play: Duke's Journey to the 2001 National Championship
by Mike Krzyzewski
Just in time for March Madness, here's a book for all Duke fans -- and maybe for those coaches who want to see what's behind their amazing stats: 529-164, which seems pretty good to us. Coach K, as Mike Krzyzewski is known, is one of the better-known faces in college basketball. Here he uses the 2001 basketball season as the backdrop as he describes how he keeps his players graduating, winning, and happy -- a pretty fine balance, there! Interspersed throughout are write-ups of the games, with quotes from the Coach and the players, giving such a thorough record of games that fans will be rereading this book for years.

Palestine
by Joe Sacco, with an introduction by Edward Said
A Book Sense 76 pick! With troubles in the Middle East making news daily, now seems like a great time to read Palestine. Asher Brauner -- an independent bookseller at Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA --agrees with us wholeheartedly. "This may be the most creative and important work ever produced on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," she tells us. "Sacco is utterly unique, a courageous comics journalist who brings the reader closer to the real lives behind the headlines. The drawings are forceful and honest, the narrative is utterly compelling. An absolute must; on a par with Spiegelman's Maus."

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The Disappearing Body
by David Grand
Dirty cops, a gutsy girl reporters, a dying PI, gangsters, corruption, drugs, murder … welcome to the noir underworld of The Disappearing Body … and, oh yeah .… “Abandon all hope all ye who enter here.” Here, Grand yet again proves his chops. He’s a sly writer on the make, all right, a guy who can cop Hammet’s style and reinvent it at the same time...yet he still manages to plot out an intricate yet gripping Depression-era potboiler. It all begins when WWI vet Victor Ribe is let out of jail (after doing time for a murder he didn’t commit) and winds up getting framed for murder and being swept up in a conspiracy of epic proportions. With its labyrinthine story, The Disappearing Body may give you a nasty case of vertigo, but no matter how bad it gets, Grand will have you asking for more.

Looking for History: Dispatches from Latin America
by Alma Guillermoprieto
A work of old-fashioned, fearless journalism, Looking for History collects the essays of esteemed New Yorker writer Guillermoprieto, one of the foremost English-language experts on Latin American current events. Whether she's hacking her way through the Columbian wilderness to meet with guerilla leaders or being awakened for a middle-of-the-night interview with head Zapatista Subcommandante Marcos or simply braving one of Fidel Castro's six-hour press conferences, Guillermoprieto consistently displays both her reporter's stripes and her enormous insight into the region that often confuses those of us north of the Rio Grande. Equally striking are her portraits of Eva Peron, Che Guevarra, Vincente Fox, and Mario Vargas Llosa, all of which further illuminate the region's culture. If you're looking for an introduction to Latin America or even if you're already well versed in the recent events and figures that have shaped the region, Looking for History is well worth seeking out.

33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History
by Tonya Bolden
Not just for girls! Everyone can learn a thing or two from this intensely readable collection, which covers everything from fashion to "the most dangerous women in America." There are plenty of facts, photos, and timelines showing how the world has changed (mostly for the better!) for women. Not to be missed is a very creepily-designed reprint of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's famous story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." Also, there are profiles of women heroes (sheroes?), explanations of how laws have been changed to stop discriminating against women, and much more. None of it is as dry as that might sound: this is energetic writing to be read with friends, to inspire, and be argued over...History 101, with the good parts left in!

Angry Young Spaceman
by Jim Munroe
Today we've picked another great small press title, this one published by New York's Four Walls Eight Windows, after originally being published in Canada by the author's own imprint, No Media Kings. Straight out of college with a loan the size of Pluto and an urge to get himself a new pair of wheels, ah, wings, Sam Breen realizes that a job at the local fast food joint just ain't gonna cut it, so he splits from his home town and heads off to teach English as a foreign language...on the planet Octavia. Everything is fair game for Munroe's humor, from imperialistic cultures to the dead-end jobs college grads often find themselves stuck in. All that and a (literally) star-crossed love story...who could ask for more?

Breaking Clean
by Judy Blunt
A Book Sense 76 pick (and a great read for March, National Women's History Month!)! This one was chosen by Marcia Rider, an independent bookselller at the Capitola Book Café in Capitola, CA. Here's what she has to say about Breaking Clean:

"A rancher on the Montana highline, Blunt fought bitter cold and isolation, as well as fighting for herself, knowing that as a rancher's daughter and a rancher's wife, she would never really inherit the ranch. This is a beautifully written memoir, as good as anything I've ever read on the rural West. "

• Take a gander at the latest Book Sense 76!

Swallows and Amazons
by Arthur Ransome
This is a perfect book for any time of year, but even better now, because March is Small Press Month. David R. Godine has done readers a favor by keeping this book in print for years. Originally published in the 1930s, Swallows and Amazons is the first in a series of books telling the stories of Wild Cat Island and its inhabitants, Roger, John, Nancy and Peggy. To make sure you have the properly bucolic view of events, two maps and 23 illustrations by the author are included. It's hard to say how influential these books have been over the years -- suffice to say that more than one sailor got their start messing around in boats because of them; and many, many readers have been found wandering around the kitchen, Arthur Ransome book in hand, looking for a snack of squashed-fly biscuits and ginger beer.

The Cat Inside
by William Burroughs
William Burroughs has a soft and cuddly side? Who knew? Apparently, over the years -- when the guy's taken a break from playing William Tell, shooting up, starring in Nike commercials, and virtually reinventing modern fiction as we know it -- he's been playing with kitties! He's even written up this little paean to his feline "psychic companions." Much more than just a mere oddity, The Cat Inside actually manages to be a moving, dream-filled meditation on the connection between cats and their human hosts. Heck, sometimes it's even heartwarming. Now, that isn't to say it's not suffused with plenty of whacked-out Burroughs-style charm -- especially when he starts going off about how cats are the enemies of the State. Yet, surprisingly, The Cat Inside will even appeal to all those who have previously declined membership to the Burroughs cult...and, of course, it's a must-read for all real cool cats! (Sorry.)

Goats
by Mark Jude Poirier
As far as father figures go, Goat Man is certainly an unlikely one. An ever-stoned, pot-growing, goat-raising, desert-hiking former hippie (a modern-day renaissance man?), Goat Man looks after the fatherless Ellis -- whose mother always seems off in her own world -- and lives in his poolhouse. It's all mellow good times until Ellis is shipped off to boarding school, and is thrust into a world completely unlike the one he's known. When Ellis comes home for Spring Break, however, it's time for one last desert trek with Goat Man that finds both characters questioning the changes that have beset their relationship. An unlikely coming-of-age charmer, Goats manages to be original without being over-the-top, and tender without being cloying. Throughout, Poirer's writing is reassuringly smooth and controlled, and Goats -- the author's debut novel -- is a sure sign of his tremendous talent.

Exploding
by Stan Cornyn, with Paul Scanlon
Remember the good old days of the music industry, back before Napster, constant sales slumps, and Mariah's $28 million kiss-off? Cornyn certainly does, and in this intriguing industry exposé he recalls his days as a top dog at The Warner Music Group -- where he spent 34 years on the payroll -- and collects the stories of dozens of other major players at WMG. While Cornyn laments how money has become more important than the music, the history he offers is much more than a rant about art losing out to commerce. Instead, Exploding lets the story of WMG speak for itself. Mixed in with the tales of takeovers, hush-hush deals, scandals, mergers, and boardroom scuffles are behind-the-scenes anecdotes about music stars that range from The Rolling Stones to Alice Cooper to James Taylor to Madonna. Throughout, Cornyn is thankfully generous in doling out his own opinions, making Exploding one of the most insightful peeks into the industry to hit the shelves in years.

The Sweetest Dream
by Doris Lessing
A Book Sense 76 pick! Here's what Laurie Greer, an independent bookseller at Olsson's Books and Records in Bethesda, MD, has to say about it:

"Through the members of an extended family in London, Lessing follows the dream of changing the world, from its idealistic youth in the 1960s through its sobering encounter with post-colonial AIDS-ridden Africa. No mere nostalgia trip, this powerful, complex novel has the feel of telling it like it was, and is. "

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The 25th Hour
by David Benioff
With a big-screen adaptation of The 25th Hour already in the works -- with Spike Lee directing and Edward Norton starring, no less -- Benioff’s captivating debut novel is sure to find its way to a lot more nightstands, and you know what that means … now’s the time to make your move. After all, if you read this one in the near future, you’ll be officially qualified to play the universally loved book vs. movie game. Of course, if for some reason you A.) aren’t a fan of taut, character-driven, neo-noir stunners, and B.) aren’t the least bit suckered by the catch-a-literary-rising-star factor, then, by all means, steer clear of this tale of drug-dealer Monty Brogan’s final night of freedom. Here’s the gist: Monty’s about to start a seven-year jail sentence, and he’s out for one last night one the town with his two buddies -- a hotshot Wall Street bond-trader and an idealistic high school English teacher. Before dawn hits, a lot of alcohol is consumed, hope is won and lost over and over again, and more than a few surprises happen. With fully wrought characters, dead-on dialogue, and a smart take on the gritty beauty of contemporary Gotham, the novel version of The 25th Hour is quite a success. In fact, it’s the kind that’ll be tough to beat … even for Spike.

Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent
by David Sterry
Ah, youthful indiscretions … cutting class, sneaking sips from the liquor cabinet, turning tricks on Hollywood Boulevard … okay, so maybe that last one doesn't make your own personal rap sheet. But not so for David Henry Sterry, former teenage gigolo and current actor and literary light. Voyeuristic thrill-seekers everywhere (you know who you are!) will revel in his new memoir, which recalls his days as a Hollywood "chicken" (that's slang for young male prostitute) in the '70s, servicing rich, bored housewives by night while leading a typical-college-student life by day. Although his hustler days only lasted a year, Sterry manages to meet a bizarre cast of characters that's worth the admission price alone, including an aging hippie who tutors him in the ways of tantric sex and the pair of women who have him polish their silver in a see-through apron. Honest, gripping, and quite funny, Chicken may be full of dirty little secrets, but, in the end, it adds up to much more than peeping-tom-foolery.

Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives
by Todd Gitlin
Media surrounds us every day. Try to wrap your head around that thought. It’s tough, isn’t it? Perhaps you want to make an analogy, like … it’s a tsunami. No wait … it’s your shadow. Or perhaps it’s a blizzard full of volcanos, or maybe it’s a speed-of-light express train running a million-billion directions at once. Okay, enough with the metaphors. After all, they really fail to determine what the enormity of all this media really means, and that’s where renowned cultural critic and NYU professor Todd Gitlin comes in. Thankfully sidestepping the silly analogies, Gitlin gets down to the business of contemplating the immensity of all of this stimuli and the information-is-bliss mindset that it precipitates. It’s heady stuff, all right, but in Gitlin’s hands, the discussion is readable, fascinating, and, dare I say, unputdownable. When you turn the last page, your eyes may hurt from staring at the big picture, but if you’re up for the challenge, you’ll be glad you turned off the TV, radio, and computer in order to do so.