Rama Tiru, a local artist, has self-published a photo essay book called Austin - East of I-35. Tiru calls herself a "people and place person." She roamed the neighborhoods, visiting, taking pictures and listening to stories. The people photographs - expressive and at ease - are clearly her strength. Bright colors dominate the places. The personal stories read like a casual conversation - engaging, informal, yet not quite as satisfying as a crafted narrative. She also included some personal observations along the way. more ›

A good story rests on tension: get a sympathetic character in trouble, then up the stakes. Lou Berney does that in Gutshot Straight. Shake, a deliveryman for stuff that can’t go FedEx, gets out of prison and back behind the wheel on a Lincoln Town Car the next day. Of course, that is a bad move. More follow. Mix in a Vegas stripper, money and a trip to Panama and good writing can take you a long way. Berney has a great ear for dialog. This first novel is not psychologically complicated, but the narrative feels like a cross-country trip. It is a journey over mapped, and occasionally unmapped, territory. more ›

In Eating Animals, Jonathan Foer, begins with his grandmother’s chicken soup and memories of their family holiday gatherings. He welcomes the reader to the table. He shares his journey from lapsed to committed vegetarian. Then, in a moderate, but eyes-open style, he examines the uncomfortable-to-think-about side of meat: the raising and killing of animals. Though Foer might be viewed as Moses by the vegan and PETA crowd, leading the way to a meatless promised land, he seems more comfortable forming a circle than a column. more ›

Last Sunday during the Texas Book Festival, I sat down for lunch with Jonathan Foer, author of Eating Animals. I wanted to talk about his new book and at the same time introduce him to one of Austin’s treasures: the vegetarian food at Casa de Luz. As we walked into the less-than-full restaurant, he said, "Nice. Wow, if this were Brooklyn, the place would be packed. What's going on?" "New York City prices," I replied. Your book will be released next week. Have you had any reaction so far? more ›

In Cheever, A Life, Blake Bailey combines a biography with some literary criticism. Weighing in at 679 pages, it is an even-handed and meticulously researched picture of this fiction writer best known for short stories. Bailey’s authority comes from his knowledge of John Cheever’s writing and access to his unpublished journals. Although it pains me to say this, in general writers make boring nonfiction characters.They are of deep interest only to biographers and close family. In this case, however, the troubled man-boy who never finished high school made both a mess and magic out of his personal life, creating enough controversy to carry a story. more ›

When one writer critically examines another respected author, readers should be skeptical. In Notes on Sontag, Phillip Lopate reflects on Susan Sontag’s essays, book-length nonfiction and fiction. He works from his strength as a personal essayist: intimate, balanced, and a generalist. Lopate’s appreciation of literature keeps the focus on her writing and not her personality. In fact, he cautions this is not, “Thank God,” a biography. He does, however, interweave some personal encounters with this fellow New Yorker. More significantly, he digs deeply into her writing. He quotes widely and at length from her body of work. And he chooses wisely. Look at this Sontag gem from an essay on Nazi symbols: “The color is black, the material is leather, the seduction is beauty, the justification is honesty, the aim is ecstasy, the fantasy is death.” Throughout, Lopate writes honestly, as readers should expect from an essayist, on her strengths and weaknesses as a writer. more ›

When the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) Director, Sara Hensley, addressed a concerned crowd on April 20th, she said: “We are not going to cut down any tree until we have fully vetted this out.” Since then, the community, Save Our Springs, the city arborist, and PARD have collected additional data. Don Gardener, an independent arborist, performed a tree assessment and published his report. PARD conducted tree tours for the public. And, on June 2nd, the Parks Department, issued an update, writing that: “Root analysis is being conducted utilizing different methodology on selected trees in order to have a thorough data set on which to base recommendations for tree care.” Now, according to the Austin American Statesman, Hensley “thinks only six to eight trees need to be cut down.” more ›

About 100 Austin literary aficionados gathered Wednesday night at St. Edward’s University to sample wine, duck and brie quesadillas and the ambiance of Roy Blount stories. It was the Writers’ League of Texas spring fund raiser. As Blount set his wine glass on the podium, it started to slide. He deftly caught it and remarked, “I hate slanted podiums. They must think that a man can’t drink and lecture at the same time.” He, of course, can, though the evening felt more like a living room chat than a formal talk. He mostly told tales. Even the question and answer period was a dialog, with frequent comments and friendly interruptions from the audience. His journalist story about a trip to the Bellaire home of Wilt Chamberlain displayed the keen ear and comic mime ability of southern story tellers. He was funny, in a high humor sense. One of many writers who rose from the ranks of magazine journalists, he published his 21st book, Alphabet Juice, last year. more ›

In the face of weather that money can’t change, it pays to have good neighbors. Saturday around noon, with hopeful punsters standing in mud puddles under tents and the rain unrelenting, the Hilton came through with an offer that no one could sneeze at: the use of their ballroom. A bedraggled and grateful crowd shuffled from the backyard of the O. Henry Museum over to the big house. And the fancy digs could not dampen the low humor. While the streaming video webcast was washed out and the contestants were all wet, the word nerds still managed to shine. Their puns, thankfully, had spark. more ›

Wednesday afternoon, under a Barton Springs pecan tree wrapped in a pink ribbon, about 50 people gathered for a tree walk sponsored by Save Our Springs (SOS). They came to inspect some of the 28 trees selected for removal and listen to Don Gardner, an arborist retained by SOS to write an independent report. “Once you start looking at a whole bunch of trees,” Gardner told the crowd, “guess what folks, you’re going to find some that should just not be standing any longer.” Though he did not agree with all the recommendations, he praised Austin’s Urban Forestry Program Manager, Walter Passmore, for performing the first comprehensive inspection in one of the region’s most beloved areas. Gardner then delivered the good news/bad news: “My list says 4-6 trees pretty soon, right away, yesterday, and 5 or 6 others that may have to be taken down once we’ve done some more investigating. more ›

The title is intriguing. A quick read, however, reveals that while Baltimore’s Fell’s Point is definitely urban, working two jobs, traveling to Bosnia and taking a cross-country trip with friends to Montana, hardly qualifies as a hermit. Instead, it is good marketing. Sam Macdonald, a first-book author with a blurb from his MFA program director on the back cover and a tuna can on the front, delivers a conflicted narrative told with self-deprecating humor. more ›

Former President Bush had insisted that Iran first halt its nuclear program before talking. President Obama dropped any preconditions. When the two countries eventually sit down to talk, what might be on the agenda? On Thursday night, April 30th, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, a human rights lawyer from Iran and four U.S. Middle Eastern experts discussed President Obama’s prospects for reconciliation. Betty Sue Flowers, Director of the LBJ Library, moderated the panel. To protect Dr. Ebadi, and to encourage the “free exchange of ideas,” no video or audio recording was allowed. more ›

Have you seen that three-story, squat brick building at the north-west corner of 18th and Guadalupe with the broken windows? It is the color of a UT dorm. On Monday night, the Historic Landmark Commission will hold a hearing on a demolition request by the owners, Travis Hotel Group, LLC. The owners have proposed that it be torn down; city staff has recommended initiating a historic zoning request. How can a Texas building containing the name “Travis” ever be a candidate for the wrecking ball? Are they planning on using cannons? more ›

Outside the Mexican-American Center on Monday, Dan Crow, a Barton Springs regular with wiry white hair, handed out a one page flyer: “Leave Barton Springs Alone.” He had just come from his regular swim. “We don’t need to be taking down a bunch of trees ,” he said in a rising voice. Inside, Walter Passmore, Austin’s Urban Forestry (UF) Program Manager, had the job of explaining why to the 100 or so irate citizens and the Joint Subcommittee of the Parks and Recreation and Environmental Board. “I hate it that we’re dwelling on the removals only,” he said, “but that’s what we’ve been asked to do.” more ›