The Poetic World of Classic Korean Women Writers, By Lee Hai-soon, Translated by Hur Won-jae (Ewha Womans University Press)They were prohibited from public education and had to work against a male-dominated world to leave their literary legacy.Scholar Lee Hai-soon’s English-language book, “The Poetic World of Classic Korean Women Writers,” features 13 female poets from Korea’s Joseon era ― the time period when Chinese was regarded as the common written language in East Asia. She dedicates a chap

Christopher Moore’s new novel blends diligently researched art history smoothly with his fevered, fiendish imagination. So smoothly, in fact, that you must never, ever give this book to a docent who gives museum tours.But do give “Sacre Bleu” to anyone who likes tales of the Impressionists ― especially comic, down-and-dirty ones.Moore starts from real points ― the prevalence of blue in the Impressionists’ paintings, and unexplained questions about the death of Vincent Van Gogh. He then spins a s

A translated version of the best-selling Korean children’s novel “Leafie, a Hen into the Wild” has won a literary honor in Poland, according to Korea Literature Translation Institute.The book, about the adventures of a mother hen who tries to escape the coop with her duckling son, has been named the “best book of spring 2012” (Najlepsza ksika na wiosne 2012) by Granice.pl, a renowned literary organization in Poland. According to Korea Literature Translation Institute, it is the first time a Kore

JERUSALEM (AP) ― Israel on Sunday declared Guenter Grass persona non grata, deepening a spat with the Nobel-winning author over a poem that deeply criticized the Jewish state and suggested it was as much a danger as Iran.The dispute with Grass, who only late in life admitted to a Nazi past, has drawn new attention to strains in Germany’s complicated relationship with the Jewish state ― and also focused unwelcome light on Israel’s own secretive nuclear program.In a poem called “What Must Be Said’

Half-Blood BluesBy Esi Edugyan (Picador) “Half-Blood Blues” takes its title from a jazz disc that doesn’t exist, but you wish you could hear anyway. It was, according to Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan’s version of 20th century European history, secretly recorded in Paris just before the Nazis triumphantly roared through the French capital in June 1940. Two black Baltimore expatriates, Charles “Chip” Jones and Sid Griffiths, played drums and bass, respectively. On lead trumpet was a gifted 20-year

There is a hierarchy of personal catastrophe, an informal but definitive ranking of all the terrible things that can happen, moving through categories that might be labeled “Worst Thing” to “Next-Worst Thing” to “Next-to-Next Worst Thing” and on down the line.At the upper end of that list, most people would probably agree, is losing a child. The world’s normal order ― parents predeceasing children ― is upended.But what happens if the child is indeed lost, but not gone? When the child, that is, t

Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture ExplorationEdited by Glenn D. Paige and Ahn Chung-siSeoul National University PressTo those used to studying the turbulent modern Korean history, which consists of war, division and an ongoing ideological dispute, the term “non-killing Korea” may not ring a bell at first.But the latest book published by the Seoul National University, “Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploration” is what the unfamiliar term is all about: It seeks to discover “nonkilling” or non-violent

Burn Down the GroundBy Kambri Crews (Villard)Kambri Crews’ debut memoir, “Burn Down the Ground,” places her firmly in the company of family-dysfunction specialists such as Augusten Burroughs, Jeannette Walls and, especially, Mary Karr, whose 1995 best-seller “The Liars’ Club” set the bar for tales of dirt-poor Southeast Texas upbringings.The biting humor of “Burn Down the Ground,” along with the author’s smooth, natural storytelling, reflect her adult years ― she’s been an actress, owns her own

Carry the OneBy Carol Anshaw (Simon & Schuster)A car, carrying revelers from a Wisconsin wedding reception who are stoned, drunk, sleepy and distracted by lust, strikes a 10-year-old girl on a country road and kills her. Carol Anshaw’s masterful novel, “Carry the One,” recounts both the horror of the accident and the way it reverberates in a cluster of lives, particularly sisters Carmen (the bride) and Alice and their brother Nick (both in the death car).Alice goes on to success as a painter, gr

The Stranger Within Sarah SteinBy Thane Rosenbaum (Texas Tech University Press)Young adult novelists are increasingly tackling darker subjects: kidnappings, drugs, rape. But few have delved into so many dark subjects as novelist Thane Rosenbaum, who ventures into YA territory with his latest, “The Stranger Within Sarah Stein,” a novel revolving around divorce, Sept. 11, homelessness and the Holocaust.What might be most odd about this combination of subjects is that the book isn’t glum at all. To

Most children want to be recognized as someone special. In “The False Prince,” Jennifer A. Nielsen takes that desire to an extreme with a romp of a medieval-themed, middle-grade novel. This kickoff to her new “Ascendance Trilogy” is a swashbuckling origin story about orphans forced to compete with one another for a chance to take the crown.The book opens with a boy running through the streets being chased by a cleaver-wielding butcher hoping to retrieve a stolen roast. The thief is Sage, a misch