Grafton has another choice letterV Is for VengeanceBy Sue Grafton(Marian Wood Book/G.P. Putnam’s Sons)“V Is for Vengeance,” and it’s also for very, very good.With just a few letters remaining in Sue Grafton’s alphabet series of mysteries, the author has hit a high mark with her latest offering, a complex tale of love, betrayal, ambition and, of course, murder.“V Is for Vengeance” begins with Kinsey Millhone nursing a broken nose (and two black eyes) that she got from poking it into other people’

Harmonia Koreana ― A short History of 20th-ceuntry Korean music By Kim Choon-mee(Hollym)For anyone interested in the history behind present-day K-pop and Hallyu, Kim Choon-mee’s English-language book “Harmonia Koreana” offers an interesting overview of how different forms of music took form in Korea throughout the 20th century. Kim begins the book by examining how Western classical music, largely introduced by Christian missionaries, influenced Korea’s leading musicians from the late 19th to the

Growing up in New Orleans, writer Michael Lewis learned three lessons that stuck with him for life:―Success and happiness are very different things.―Never become a lawyer.―You don’t need to come from a bookish environment to know how to spin a helluva story.Maybe the storytelling part, Lewis speculates, stems from another thing New Orleans taught him. With its Creole-Cajun culture and hedonistic ethos, the Crescent City schooled him to view his native country like a skeptical foreigner trying to

The minute I tasted this terrific Pouilly Fume from Regis Minet, I wanted oysters. Not just a half dozen but at least a couple dozen, chilled, naked and preferably Kumamotos. Minet’s old-vine Sauvignon Blanc picks up a stony minerality and bracing acidity that would be perfect with most things from the raw bar. You can taste lime and grapefruit too in this intense, nervous white.It’s also a fine value for a wine of this quality.● Region: Loire Valley● Price: From $18 to $23● Style: Lively● What

LOS ANGELES ― Each year I keep a running log to track restaurants slated to open each month. When this January rolled around and I started my new list, I fully expected the pace of openings to slow to a trickle.That hasn’t happened. Instead, despite the curdled economy, L.A.’s restaurant scene this year has busted out with new energy and invention. And it continues to inspire the entire country. I can’t tell you how many New Yorkers and even, gasp, San Franciscans have told me that Los Angeles i

Janggukjuk is a thin rice porridge, made with pounded non-glutinous rice, beef and brown oak mushrooms. Janggukjuk is seasoned with soy sauce, and it literally means “soy sauce porridge.” It is high in protein and therefore good for recovering patients and the elderly.Ingredients ● 1 cup non-glutinous rice, 7 cups water ● 50 g beef (eye round), 2 sheets brown oak mushrooms ● seasoning sauce: 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp minced green onion, 1/4 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp sesame salt, 0.1 g ground

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A medical museum in Philadelphia has some pieces of Albert Einstein's brain on display.Lucy Rorke-Adams donated 46 slides of Einstein's gray matter Thursday to the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.The 82-year-old doctor neuropatho

Lee heads presidential panel aimed at lifting nation’s international standing and prestigeThere’s more to South Korea than K-pop and Kim Yu-na, and Lee Bae-yong’s mission in life is to stress that point worldwide.The former academic heads a unique body trying to burnish the image of a country which frets that its economic “hard power” far outweighs its “soft power” in the eyes of the global community.She chairs the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, established in January 2009 and dedicate

Steve Miller, an American video blogger, has been introducing Korean heritage sites and travel attractions for four years. His YouTube clips have attracted over 200,000 views and his travel story-telling segment airing twice a month on TBS efm is highly popular. He even started his own podcast at the request of his audience.Currently teaching English at Sungkyul University, Miller is better known for his blog The Qirange Adventures (www.qiranger.com). The site mainly features videos Miller filme

Samsung Group’s communications chief Rhee In-yong was picked as the “public relations person of the year” by the Korea PR Association this week.As the executive vice president of Samsung’s communications team, Rhee has enhanced the group’s image through transparent communication efforts, said the association. He is also noted for strengthening the role of social media within the group, offering various communication channels, according to the association.The association has been awarding the “Ko

Seo Kyoung-duk, best known for running advertisements about Dokdo in major U.S. newspapers, said he plans to collaborate with Korean installation artist Kang Ik-joong to promote Hangeul, the Korean alphabet.“I’ve been doing Hangeul projects with Kang for 10 years. When I visit him, we will discuss donating his Hangeul artwork to the Korea Cultural Office in Sydney,” Seo told The Korea Herald in an interview last week, prior to his one-week trip to New York.“We will also do Hangeul projects for K

Heritage is not the past, but a resource of the future, and so maintaining continuity between the past and the present is important when it comes to urban development, a visiting UNESCO official said Thursday. “Continuity, here, means understanding the past,” Assistance Director-General for Culture of UNESCO Francesco Bandarin told The Korea Herald. “Changes are forced by history … but it is important not to forget that nonphysical values do not change even if the physical appearance changes.” B