Dennis Maloney of White Pine Press speaks on Korean literature, advises on ways to promote it betterIt’s been 19 years since American publisher White Pine Press released its first book of Korean literature, “The Snowy Road and Other Stories,” in 1993. After publishing 16 books of Korean lit, mostly collections of poems, White Pine Press’ founding editor and poet Dennis Maloney says he is now interested in writers and translators from Korea’s younger generation.“We have done several books of Kor

The World Without You By Joshua Henkin(Pantheon)A family assembles at its country house for a memorial to a lost son. In the course of the long weekend, old and new tensions ― between husbands and wives, between parents and children, and among siblings ― bubble to the surface.It could be the plot of a Chekhov play or a Woody Allen movie. But on this classic narrative scaffolding, Joshua Henkin develops a painfully contemporary situation. The youngest child and only son of the Frankel family, Leo

The ChaperoneBy Laura Moriarty(Riverhead Books)There’s a picture of 1920s movie star Louise Brooks on the cover of “The Chaperone” ― her hair bobbed, her painted lips in the slightest of pouts ― but hers is not the story the book tells. Rather, the novel imagines the life of the woman from Wichita, Kan., who accompanied Brooks to New York City as her chaperone in the summer of 1922.Cora Carlisle is the wife of a prominent lawyer, the mother of two college-age sons, involved in Wichita society ―

Escape from Camp 14By Blaine Harden(Viking)A number of rallies and hunger strikes have been taking place in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul since February, after it was revealed that the Chinese authorities planned to repatriate about 30 North Korean refugees to the North -- where they face harsh punishment and possibly execution.Amid the public criticism of Beijing in Seoul, former New York Times and the Washington Post writer Blaine Harden in March published “Escape from Camp 14,” a book

Abnormal men become presidents of the United States.The overweening self-confidence required to reach for the office, the preternatural discipline and effort of will needed to grasp it ― in another setting, these traits might be called pathological. Tracing the roots of abnormality becomes a recurring motif in presidential biographies: polio’s impact on Franklin D. Roosevelt, the death of John F. Kennedy’s eldest brother, the absent or dysfunctional fathers of Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton.

Gone GirlBy Gillian Flynn (Crown)I picked up “Gone Girl” because the novel is set along the Mississippi River in Missouri and the plot sounded intriguing. I put it down two days later, bleary-eyed and oh-so-satisfied after reading a story that left me surprised, disgusted, and riveted by its twists and turns.When you start Gillian Flynn’s latest book, it seems to be a story we’ve all heard before ― a woman disappears and her husband doesn’t seem to be as distraught as he should be. But Flynn tur

Unholy NightBy Seth Grahame-Smith (Grand Central)Imagine the story of the Nativity recast as a Hollywood blockbuster ― a sword-and-sandals epic loaded with expensive computer-generated effects, a disfigured, lecherous villain and enough hacked-off limbs, severed heads and stomach-turning disembowlings to give even Quentin Tarantino pause ― and you’ll have a solid idea of what to expect in “Unholy Night,” the new novel from mash-up king Seth Grahame-Smith.With his novels “Pride and Prejudice and

By Yim Seok-jaeTranslated by Lee Jean-young (Ewha Womans University Press)It is easy to be mesmerized by the beauty of hanok, especially its tiled roof and “daecheong,” the wooden floor. What a lot of people don’t notice, however, is the charm of its humble-looking windows and doors, which are in fact strictly designed and built based on Confucian philosophy and values. Scholar Yim Seok-jae’s English-language book, “Windows and Doors: A Study of Korean Architecture,” offers an interesting overvi

Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son, Emilio Estevez, was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as Ramon Antonio Gerardo Estevez instead of his stage name, was more accustomed to having siblings than being a father. He felt more like a brother to Emilio, and that dynamic has defined their relationship to this day.In their new memoir, “Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son,” which was written with Hope Edelman, the two examine t

The ScarBy Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, translated by Elinor Huntington(Tor)Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, husband-and-wife authors, have written numerous science-fiction and fantasy novels in Russian ― and have racked up a mantel-ful of awards in doing so ― but they’ve only now made a foray into U.S. bookshelves with “The Scar.”“The Scar” tells the story of Egert Soll, a handsome and skilled warrior from a noble family, a leader of men, arrogant and self-centered. Always the center of attention,

Tokyo Heist By Diana Renn(Viking)When Japanese culture is fused with teen fiction, the result is usually shojo manga ― black-and-white graphic novels with a girlish romantic twist. In “Tokyo Heist,” Japanese comics aren’t the format but serve as an undercurrent in a globe-trotting, art-themed mystery novel involving missing Van Goghs, Japanese gangsters and a 16-year-old girl on the outs with her father.Violet had no idea how important her interest in all things Japanese would become when she we

Festive Occasions: The Customs in KoreaBy Yoon Seo-seokTranslated by Cho Yoon-jung (Ewha Womans University Press)One can expect plenty of food, music and dance at Korea’s traditional “Janchi.” Janchi would be held for a variety of festive occasions in life, including weddings, milestone birthdays and anniversaries.The Korean term “Janchi” literally means a feast, or a joyous get-together where people share food and exchange best wishes. For those who are interested in Korea’s traditional form of

“I was a Scientologist for 12 years, which is a lot more embarrassing than saying Hi, I’m a transsexual SM dyke living with borderline personality disorder,” Kate Bornstein tells on the release of her memoir, “A Queer and Pleasant Danger.” Embodying not just gender ― but the range of gender ― is just a fraction of Bornstein’s complex, complete, utterly compelling persona; she is also the embodiment of a mind steeped in pop culture, past and present.1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?O