“The Heavens May Fall”By Allen EskensSeventh Street Books (300 pages, $15.95)In Allen Eskens’ novels, Minnesota is a dark, violent place. His recurring characters routinely wrestle with loss, loneliness and loathing as they work their way through the carefully plotted mayhem imagined by the lawyer turned mystery writer.Eskens’ third book, “The Heavens May Fall,” is not exactly part of a trilogy, but it does follow a familiar pattern with familiar names. Minneapolis detective Max Rupert, who appe

“Champagne Baby” By Laure DugasBallantine (316 pages, $26)In many a light memoir or novel, an American moves to Europe and is transformed. “Champagne Baby” upends that theme - and lots of cultural assumptions. Laure Dugas, who comes from a French winemaking family, moves to New York for what’s supposed to be a six-month job and finds herself surprised and smitten by America -- “Blasphemous!” she says playfully.Despite its bubbly title, her story is mature, thoughtful and well written. It’s half

Culture Ministry says ‘not official promo video’

Just in time for the busiest season for culture and arts, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea has been organizing events across North America, Europe and Asia to promote Korean literature.Writer and poet Song Sok-ze will be launching “Das Dorf am Fluss,” the German edition of his novel “Wepungdangdang,” and will talk about modern Korean literature at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany on Thursday.The following day, he will participate in a panel discussion with German author Ju

Suppose you had a secret. A secret that would cost you your career, your friends and your place in a very stratified society. The list of things you shouldn’t do is pretty basic: don’t put anything on paper, don’t tell anyone and don’t continually plan a homicide in earshot of your colleagues.Yet all of those are exactly what Jeremy Thorpe, a charismatic and nattily dressed Liberal member of Parliament, did, and he ended up “in the dock,” as the English say, on charges of conspiracy to murder, i

TOKYO (AP) -- The eyes of a visiting archaeologist lit up when he was shown the 10 tiny, tarnished discs that had sat unnoticed in storage for 2 1/2 years at a dig on a southern Japan island.He had been to archaeological sites in Italy and Egypt, and recognized the “little round things” as old coins, including a few likely dating to the Roman Empire.“I was so excited I almost forgot what I was there for, and the coins were all we talked about,” said Toshio Tsukamoto of the Gangoji Institute for

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Known for her lacy white collars and fastidious vocabulary, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seems like a figure from a bygone era in the austere chambers of the US Supreme Court.Yet the “Notorious RBG” is a liberal trailblazer, championing progressive views that have made the 83-year-old a beloved pop culture icon.The doyenne of the venerable court has a new book out, “My Own Words,” a compilation of her writings and speeches that shine with finely crafted arguments.Its publicati

When Samsung Electronics launched a washing machine named “Addwash” in September last year, it immediately became a hit with consumers for its unprecedented design: The front-loading washing machine featured a smaller door, in addition to the main door, that could be used to put in additional laundry after the wash cycle had begun.While Samsung’s Addwash was designed to address a common laundry problem, Alberto Alessi, CEO of Italian houseware brand Alessi designed a spider-like citrus squeezer

Bringing all things together regardless of industries will be the dominating philosophy of future design, said a renowned British industrial designer. “The philosophy of the future is ‘convergence,’ which is the title of my show next year at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Converging one with the other, from environmental issues, material resources, new additive technology, digital design, to core human values of why something should or could exist will dominate the design industry in the future,”

Managing director of global homeware company says he works with architecture, industrial designers to create out-of-the-box products