Look on any electoral map, and you’ll see Texas colored in bright Republican Red. Mention Texas politics, and most people will think of W and Delay and the conservative far right. But it hasn’t always been that way. In Barn Burning, Barn Burning, former Lieutenant Governor and political prodigy Ben Barnes discusses Texas’ Democratic past, the Democrats’ fall from power in Texas and nationally, and his own political career at a crucial time of... [continue]

Just weeks after giving birth to her first child, Adrienne Martini stood red-eyed and rain-soaked at a gas station in an unsavory part of town: I am enough of a sight that I unnerve even those who spend their nights dealing with drug-induced shootings and drive-by vomitings. . . . I look like a freak who scares all of the other freaks. Martini was on her way to check herself into the hospital's psychiatric ward.... [continue]

Think crafts are for Girl Scouts and grandmothers? Leah Kramer wants you to think again. Leah combined her computer programming skills with her love of off-beat crafts to create Craftster, an online community for those who like to dress their irony in glitter. Think crocheted pirates and pot-holder couture. Leah will share her crafty goodness tonight at the Work*Shop, where she’ll discuss her new book, The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts. She...... [continue]

Tonight at BookPeople, the UTTER Reading Series presents local writers Elisabeth Sharp McKetta and Gary Cooke. McKetta is one of the founders of Farfelu, a literary magazine dedicated to writing and art from Austin. She’s contributed short stories and poetry to a variety of publications. Gary Cooke’s work has appeared in Farfelu and his chapbook, Butterfish & Other Poems, was published by The Heyeck Press. And while you’re at BookPeople, pick up the latest... [continue]

Peter Carey’s latest novel, Theft: A Love Story, is occasionally clever, often pretentious, and ultimately unsatisfying. A mish-mash of genres---Hitchcockian how-done-it, art-world satire, high-brow drama---the novel never lives up to its potential. Michael “Butcher” Boone seems pulled from a Vanity Fair profile: A once-great artist undone by the collapse of his marriage and the scandal that followed, he emerges from obscurity only to find himself in the middle of a new controversy. He even has... [continue]

In her more than 60 years as Washington reporter---covering every president since JFK---Helen Thomas has earned respect, admiration, and a front-row seat in the press room. She’s also earned a reputation for her no-holds-barred questions---a reputation that got her booted to the back of the room and virtually ignored by the current administration. Now Thomas is directing her questions---and her barbs---at her fellow journalists. In her latest book, Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press...... [continue]

Yes, you really can have too much sun and too many hotdogs. Take a break and indulge your inner nerd at the Book Arts Fair, being held Sunday, July 2, at the Austin Museum of Art–Laguna Gloria. Sponsored by Austin Book Workers, the fair features local artisans demonstrating their craft, including paper marbling, pop-up books, fine press printing, calligraphy, leather work, and paper making. Then try your hand at making miniature books or decorating... [continue]

Tired of “reality” reruns and box-office bombs? BookPeople offers an eclectic selection of alternatives. Thursday, June 22: Austin memoirist Spike Gillespie reads from her latest, Pissed Off: On Women and Anger. Publisher’s Weekly describes Pissed Off as an engaging and honest account that “transcends self-pity . . . as Gillespie progresses to talking about the nature of forgiveness and her increasingly calmer approach to life.” 7:00 p.m. (details) Friday, June 23: Amy Simmons of Amy’s...... [continue]

We’re suckers for a good book and for a good cause. The Dewey Donation System lets us indulge in both. Started by mega-achievers Pamela Ribon and David T. Cole, the site connects needy libraries with shameless book addicts donors. Their 2006 book drive focuses on the Harrison County Library in Mississippi. Several of the library’s branches were devastated by Hurricane Katrina and lost many or all of their books and materials; others fared better in...... [continue]

In James Joyce’s famously impenetrable (and arguably overrated) Ulysses, Leopold Bloom spends a day roaming the streets of Dublin, Ireland. That day---June 16---is now celebrated worldwide as Bloomsday, a day on which Joyce fans, Irishphiles, and general drunkards celebrate what makes Ireland great: dark, rambling prose and beer. Join in the lit revelry with the Balcones Center for Creative Writing at AAC at the Bloomsday Celebration at Austin Java. The evening’s events include music,... [continue]

On October 20, 1993, Gilbert Tuhabonye was on the verge of a bright future. A student leader and a top-ranked high school runner in his home country of Burundi, Tuhabonye looked forward to coming to the United States to attend university on a running scholarship, and it seemed that the only thing standing in the way of his dream was a particularly tough chemistry teacher. Twenty-four hours later, his world was turned upside down and those dreams seemed to have gone up in the flames that killed his classmates and scarred his own skin. ... [continue]

Summer doesn’t officially start for a couple more weeks, but the lazy, hazy days are already upon us. Time to unfurl the beach blankets and unpack the frisbees. But what about the (rare) rainy days? Or the days when even a dip at Barton Springs can’t beat the heat and you don’t dare leave the comfy confines of your air-conditioned home? Those are the days to stay inside and revisit your summer-camp youth with some... [continue]

We’ve all wondered what’s really in our fast-food hamburger or whether the snack cake we got out of the office machine has any ingredients found in nature. But Michael Pollan really, really wanted to know. So he traced the origin of four meals back to their source: a corn field, a grassy pasture, an industrial organic farm, and a forest. Along the way he made some surprising discoveries about what we eat and how... [continue]

Some not-so-fun facts: Texas has the highest state prison population rate in the country. Nearly a quarter of people released from prison will return. Instead of locking people up and throwing away the key, some folks have the radical idea that we help the prisoners rehabilitate themselves and break the cycle of recidivism. Some of those folks will be gathering tonight for a night of music benefiting the Inside Books Project. The Inside Books...... [continue]

The only thing we enjoy more than giving our own opinion is picking the nits in others’ opinions. So imagine our delight when The New York Times published the results of its survey of “prominent writers, critics, editors, and other literary sages” to select the best work of American fiction from the past 25 years. Oh, so many plump, juicy nits to pick! From what constitutes a “work” to how to define “best.” The... [continue]

With its wide loops of stream-of-conscious narrative and its disturbing string of events—including physical and emotional abuse, poverty, madness, and death—In Night’s City by Dorothy Nelson isn’t an easy read. The mother and daughter team of Esther and Sara share narrating duties, their stories prompted by the death of their abuser, Joe, a not-so-devoted husband and father. Despite the nonlinear narrative and nonstandard prose, the story moves quickly, and we were drawn in by the... [continue]

Canada is the source of many of the things that make our lives worth living: hockey, beer, cheap pharmaceuticals, and good writing about unbalanced people. Indeed, for such a sparsely populated country, Canada is home to an inordinate number of our favorite writers: Atwood, Munro, Shields, Martel. So we had high expectations for one of its most recent literary exports, A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart. Urquhart’s latest novel centers on three unbalanced people:... [continue]

Kaavya Viswanathan better steer clear of Oprah. Allegations that Viswanathan plagiarized parts of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life have led to a recall of her debut novel. Little, Brown has asked retailers to stop selling the book and return their unsold copies. No word yet on whether Viswanathan will have to give back any of the half million dollars she received as an advance on a 2-book deal. Those... [continue]

Since 2003, an estimated 300,000 people in the Darfur region of Sudan have been killed, and millions more have been forced from their homes, through a government-sponsored genocide. For most of us, the horror is unimaginable. For Brian Steidle, it’s all too real. Steidle is a former Marine captain who served as the U.S. representative to the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur from September 2004 to February 2005. Part of his mission was...... [continue]

More than 300,000 people have died as victims of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, and millions more have been displaced from their homes and forced to live as refugees. The genocide began nearly three years ago, but only recently has the international community begun to make noises about intervening. And many people still know little or nothing about one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. Brian Steidle knows a lot... [continue]