Los Angeles Times: Books

Ever read a crazy book standing up, yelping in horror, transfixed by the way it's both insane and all too real? Mark Doten’s new novel, “Trump Sky Alpha,” might give you this feeling, imagining as it does one logical but dark conclusion to the current administration: our former reality star governing...

Behold the brick. The red, six-sided rectangle that changed the world. Its ubiquity renders it almost invisible, a hidden-in-plain-sight part of our built environment, whose fascinating history and radical architectural applications are often overlooked.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

It’s easy to look down on self-help books, but believe it or not the genre is as old as Athens. The word “therapy” comes from therapeia, the ancient Greek word for “healing.” It treated both the body and the soul, meaning therapy was a job not only for physicians, but also for philosophers.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Two authors will be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature this year to make up for the cancellation of last year's award, NPR reported Tuesday. The Nobel Foundation made the announcement Tuesday, following months of speculation over the fate of the annual prestigious literary prize.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Counterpoint Press, Berkeley’s independent publishing company entering its 25th anniversary, has appointed one of its own into a new editorial position. Dan Smetanka, who was most recently the company’s vice president executive editor, is the company’s new vice president, editor in chief.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Claremont Graduate University named Dawn Lundy Martin and Diana Khoi Nguyen the winners of its annual Tufts awards, considered a highly regarded prize in the world of poetry. Martin won the 2019 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for her collection"Good Stock Strange Blood," published by Minnesota-based...

The nonprofit organization PEN America announced the winners of its annual literary awards Tuesday night, with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah taking home the prestigious PEN/Jean Stein Award for book of the year for his debut short story collection, "Friday Black." Adjei-Brenyah’s competition for the...

The heroes of the old American West lived by a simple moral code, at least in the movies. They were loyal to their friends and courageous in the face of danger.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Will Smith is bringing his most iconic character back, but with a significant makeover. Smith announced that he's launching a children's book series featuring a character called the "Fresh Princess," a re-imagining of his character from the television series "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Entertainment...

Science fiction has a way of focusing our attention on issues that have otherwise been overlooked or not given the exposure they might otherwise deserve. Done well, a book of the genre can act as a virtual soapbox, broadcasting sometimes dangerous topics in a safer environment to our own reality....