The big checks started coming in about nine months after “Wild” hit bookshelves and started its climb to the top of The New York Times best-seller’s list. To Oprah’s Book Club. And, as of this coming week, to movie theaters nationwide.The first thing author Cheryl Strayed bought was a $2,000 piano for her two children. It was something she never had in her powdered-milk and government-cheese childhood, but always dreamed of. Piano lessons, especially.“The piano was delivered, and the guys left a

Shake PuppiesBy Carli Davidson (Harper Design)This much cuteness should be a crime.Photographer Carli Davidson ― also an animal rights activist, pet foster parent and trainer who lives in Portland, Oregon ― has a follow-up to her bestseller, “Shake,” her picture book of dogs shaking themselves silly.It’s “Shake Puppies” (Harper Design), which takes her original idea and scales it down to puppies. Davidson gives readers more than 130 amazing shots of pups shaking, capturing all the ear-flapping a

UsBy David Nicholls (Harper)David Nicholls’ engaging new novel is not the sort of serious, weighty fiction that often wins the Man Booker Prize, though it made the longlist for 2014. This year, that honor went to Richard Flanagan’s “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” about a prisoner of war in Burma in World War II.“Us” is about prisoners of a war in a more intimate skirmish: the domestic battleground. Like he did in his last novel, “One Day” ― I have not yet forgiven him for the weeping that e

“Rooms”By Lauren Oliver (Ecco)Lauren Oliver, author of the young adult best-selling Delirium trilogy, turns triumphantly to adult fiction with her latest, “Rooms,” a haunted house story of fine merit.Oliver’s confident, clever prose effortlessly convinces the reader ― whether already a believer in the supernatural or one with a willing suspension of disbelief ― that not only are the dead all around us, they’re listening in, commenting and making often-trenchant judgments about the still living.“

Kim Seok-hee shares his respect for the French novelist through translation

BARBERTON, Ohio ― Tom Stiles’ heart ached when his son and best buddy, Joshua, left for the U.S. Navy just before Christmas last year. While he was a proud papa, he knew he would miss him terribly. So Tom found therapy in writing cards to our servicemen and women ― thousands of them.Sitting in the lobby of Summa Barberton Hospital, where Tom is a surgical assistant, is a small table with a selection of Christmas cards, pens and a sign that reads “Stiles Salutes Our Military Troops.”The table is

WINTER GARDEN, Florida ― Valencia College student Thomas Dillen held a solar panel as high as he could, trying to catch the waning sunlight.Two dozen fourth- and fifth-grade students at Tildenville Elementary School clustered around him, hoping the panel would power the portable generators they’ve been building to send to an orphanage in Africa. “Yay!” the students cheered when an LED light bulb attached to one of the generators lit up.The students are working on a project that’s one part scienc

Sometimes the most wonderful time of the year arrives at the worst time of your life.Divorce, death, layoffs ― grief-inducing losses don’t take a holiday, and they can wreak havoc on yours, particularly if you’ve got children looking for you to uphold the annual traditions that bring them so much joy.A familiar face no longer at the dinner table, fewer gifts, even a new, unfamiliar home ― all can feel like an affront to the senses at a time of year when rituals are sacred.We contacted a handful

Award recognizes celebrities, companies, designers whose achievements help shape others’ lifestyles

Ulsan-based arts magazine Angle has teamed up with musicians from across the South of the peninsula to create a Christmas album in aid of Habitat for Humanity.Titled “Home for the Holidays,” the album has eight tracks, all by different artists, and will be available online Wednesday, with a very limited run of CDs to be released later.Angle magazine cofounder Philip Brett said he chose Habitat for Humanity because it was the cause that resonated most with him at this time of year.“Many people as

Two concert fund-raisers will take place Thursday and Friday to help expat charity group Helping Others Prosper through English run its Christmas programs for underprivileged children.HOPE plans to run events at the children’s cancer ward at Severance Hospital in Sinchon, Seoul, and at the Mulmangcho Adolescent Shelter, an adjustment center for North Korean defectors who have recently arrived in South Korea.The concerts will feature Angry Bear, Colin Phils, Magna Fall and Mineri on Friday and Be

How do people react to the waves of change in society? Theater director Choi Won-seok pondered this question before writing “Metamorphosis” in 2009. Some people ride the tides, while others swim against the current or just evade the turmoil. There is no right or wrong answer. It is only a matter of choice, says the director. “Byeontae,” a homonym for a pervert, is the play’s title in Korean. The poster, showing half-naked body of an actress, gives an impression that the play is R-rated or contai