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Many, many years ago, when I was in high school, I went on an interview to be an exchange student and the committee members couldn’t stop exclaiming about how I looked like “a young Sally Field.” 

I no longer look like a young or old Sally Field (that woman’s got good bones), or even a young Bethanne — but I still have a lot in common with Ms. Fields. Remember when she exclaimed during her 1985K Oscar acceptance “You like me! You really like me!”? Everyone razzed her for that overeager and vulnerable outburst.

Not I. I understand! Sometimes you are so unsure of whether or not anyone’s paying attention that you can’t help breaking open and letting your tattered self-esteem slip show. You’re never supposed to let anyone see you sweat, right? Well, that may work for business meetings, but when you’re in a creative line of work, it’s not the same.

So yesterday when I received a book and a handwritten note from a publicist saying “I thought your Amy Dickinson video interview was FABULOUS, and wondered if you’d like to do the same kind of thing for Author X,” I was thrilled. I don’t get many comments on the author interviews that I post (and really, why would you leave lots of them? The interviews speak for themselves most of the time). To know that someone had watched, had liked it (really liked it!), and wanted a repeat performance for another author? That’s my measure of success, Web metrics be damned. 

So thank you, really thank you, to everyone out there who is watching. I’ll be doing more Flip video interviews with authors once my fractured leg has healed, and if any publicists out there have candidates for those, please let us know. You can always email me: thebookmaven at gmail dot com. 

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Our dear old friend the British Brigadier has come to stay for just one night before he’s off to some conference of spies somewhere. The Brigadier does funny stuff, so for many years whenever I spoke to his lovely wife and asked after his whereabouts, I knew if she replied “He’s upstairs” that that meant I simply didn’t want to know.

I’ll be whisking our friend off to his embassy shortly, but as we sat around the breakfast table with our coffee and toast, he mentioned he’d like to send the younger Mini Maven a copy of Conn Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys as a gift. I told him that she does already have The Daring Book for Girls, in case he would like to save his Euros. 

“Oh, nooooo,” he said (it was more like “Och nauw,” since he’s Scottish, but I’ve promised not to make too much sport of his foreign tongue). “The book for boys is much, much better. Did you know that they’ve got a guide to recognizing freshwater fish and also a list of the kings and queens of England?”

Uh, no, we didn’t. And, um, how exciting?

“Ahhhhh,” said the Brigadier. “But hidden between those pages is a spread of information about how to build a detonator. In a book for children! When I am explaining about the basics (Ed. note: “The basics” !!!!), as I’m handing round different explosives, I bring out a copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys and open it up to show them the directions. Iggulden gives such clear instructions on booby traps that it’s better than any military manual.”

HarperCollins, what hath thou wrought? 

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You can probably guess what I’m going to say: Now read the book!!!

We all know that “Slumdog Millionaire” swept the Oscars, and Slumdog Fever seems to be sweeping America, too: The strains of the film’s final song, “Jai Ho,” are all over the airwaves right now. (By the way, did you know that “Jai Ho” means “May you be victorious?” Yeah, me neither, until I read it here.)

When I was interviewing Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni the other night, we touched on “Slumdog,” since Divakaruni sits on the board of Pratham, a charity that brings books, teachers, and literacy materials to India’s worst slums, including the one that the adorable little child actors run through in the movie. Divakaruni said “Remember when those children were fighting over The Three Musketeers? It’s so hard to have your own books and your own stories in a place like that.”

That’s why I believe if you loved “Slumdog Millionaire,” you owe it to yourself and to Jamal to read the book on which it’s based: Q&A by Vikas Swarup. But I’ll warn you: You won’t find some of your favorite scenes, there. 

But you may find that some of the book’s scenes become your favorites. 

Has anyone else read Q&A? Did you prefer it, or the movie? I’d love to hear from you.

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Good morning, everyone, and Wednesday greetings. This was supposed to be posted on Monday, but there wasn’t enough coffee, or cold medicine, in the world…

There’s not enough chicken soup in the world, either: At least not for my family today. We’re all down with colds/respiratory infections, and while Mr. Bethanne and I have to work regardless, both Mini Mavens are home from school. Fortunately, when I went out to interview Amy Dickinson at Politics & Prose over the weekend (that interview, with text and video, coming this week!), I bought the younger MM some reading material, so she’s happy. The older MM is curled up with a novel, and Mr. Bethanne is reading The New Yorker. I’ll be reading again, too, as soon as I manage to get this post live.

Today’s question: What do you read when you’re sick?

Again, this is a random giveaway. The first 30 respondents will be entered into a random generator and we’ll pull out 10 who will receive 2 new hardcover books each. Have fun, and thank you — I hope I’ll be back to a normal posting schedule tomorrow.

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It’s another one of those “Why didn’t I think of this?” moments, and this one goes out to all of our “Masterpiece Classic” fans here at WETA/PBS. Every woman I know loves Jane Austen. Every man I know loves zombies. Seth Grahame-Smith evidently understands this at a deep level, since he has become Jane Austen’s co-author on the stunning new novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Have you ever seen a cover that makes you want to run out and buy the book like this one does? How could you resists the Regency maiden’s visage scraped down to the bone at jawline? This is intrigue that goes way beyond the lucite platform heels and Sharpie eyebrows of celebrity sites; this is the kind of narrative that cannot be created by a single author. 

In other words, it takes a mashup to create the silliest literary juxtaposition ever — and I can’t wait to read it! The author credits? “JANE AUSTEN is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and other masterpieces of English literature. SETH GRAHAME-SMITH is the author of How to Survive a Horror Movie and The Big Book of Porn. He lives in Los Angeles.” (With Seth’s credits, he might want to take a look at my husband’s latest brainstorm…)

Tell me, would you read a novel that is billed as “The Classic Regency Romance, Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem?” All I can think of is what will come next: War and Peace and Fava Beans with Chianti? The Canterbury Tales Serial-Killer Pilgrims? Wuthering Heights of Psychotic Madness?

Oh, wait; that last one is a tautology. 

Although I’m recommending this as the most romantic book possible for both sexes, it is sadly not available for purchase until May 13, from Quirk Books. Three months to wait! 

But not for everyone: I’m going to wheedle a copy for myself from Quirk today, and I’ll award that copy (lightly pre-owned!) to the commenter who leaves me the most creative literary mashup in these comments. Heck, if I get a lot of creative entries, I’ll find a way to get more copies of this soon-to-be-masterpiece. Because I love you all on this Valentine’s Day weekend.

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This week Stephen Hess, Senior Fellow Emeritus in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and Distinguished Research Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University (whew!) took some time to talk with me about his nineteenth book – which is, it is fair to say, quite a departure from Organizing the Presidency. This one is lighter in tone and topic: What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect (Brookings Institution Press, January 2009).

But while Hess’s new book may be lighter in tone and topic, it’s quite serious in its intent. Stephen Hess has been employed by, involved with, and an observer of presidential administrations since the Eisenhower administration (he began there as a speechwriter while still a twentysomething). He knows what happens during good presidential transitions and bad, and he’s got the stories to prove it. 

I asked Hess first why he chose to call this a “workbook” and not a “handbook.” He said “I started with a handbook in mind, but then it became kind of a literary conceit in my own mind. I thought, if I call this a ‘workbook’ I can throw in all of these exercises.” The exercises range from the straightforward (“What promises did you make?”) to the fun (“Pick a Presidential Portrait”).

The inauguration is just days away when I speak to Hess, so I asked him if he thought the “PEOTUS” (President-Elect of the United States) is ready. “There’s a lot of loose ends,” said Hess. “Suddenly he still has one cabinet appointment to make. However, this president has really found remarkable people and made very creative choices for his cabinet.”

Hess told me that the book had its beginnings last year when he thought about the upcoming election: “I realized that I had been involved, in one way or another, in every election/inaugration/transition since the late 1950s, and I started to draft my first chapter, ‘My Life in Transition’ so that readers could understand why I was writing the book. “

Of course, says Hess, “Coming in is more fun than going out, I can assure you!” His “Checklist for the President-Elect” reads like the elaborate timetable for the greatest event-planning situation ever – and that might not be too far off the mark. Obama has “beat my markers,” says Hess. “Clinton, for example, had one of the truly awful transitions – that may be good for Obama, since John Podesta has had 16 years of experience  to realize and analyze what went wrong and what to do differently this time.”

Hess believes that a key to a successful transition is “creating a plan to balance efficiency and creativity with work habits.” Does he think that Obama’s gym-rat habits will withstand the transition? He laughs, but admits that “Right now Obama has to be laser-like about the economy while there are lots of other things trying to force themselves onto his agenda. I think this is what happened to some extent with Bill Clinton. He was a very smart, very creative president who just kept moving around between all of the things that interested him and got truly sidetracked along the way. We shall see if that happens with Barack Obama. Our expectations are that it won’t.”

One of the reasons Hess wanted to set out all of these transition guidelines is that “It’s almost inconceivable, but conceive it: Presidents know so little about how government is really run, that after one of them has made a decision, he hardly knows what happens to it or why it doesn’t come out as he expected. The intereaction between the executive branch and the people who really run things – the high-level civil servatns – can be tainted with a lot of misunderstanding and suspicion, but it doesn’t have to be. I think President-Elect Obama is off on the right foot because he’s got a lot of people who are still relatively young coming back in, people who have great ideas, but experience, too.”

There are some goofs that can be made during presidential inaugurations (Hess says “Look at William Henry Harrison, who spoke for two hours in the freezing cold, got sick, and died a month into office – you can’t beat that in terms of idiocy”), but Hess doesn’t think that anything will upstage Barack Obama’s inaugural address. “Read Dreams from My Father. It’s a great book. It’s clear we are about to have a president who is our most literary stylist since Lincoln.”

Tomorrow: An Giveaway in Honor of the Inauguration

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Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had wonderful and safe celebrations…ours, at a friend’s house, featured a magnum of very good Champagne that lasted a mysteriously short period of time shared between six people. (Next year, we’ll have to invest in at least two, or perhaps a  jeroboam…)

I have a New Year’s Day tradition, begun ages ago, of watching “Blackadder” episodes while moving very little. Yesterday I continued this hallowed ritual, sharing it with my mother, who is laid up with a very bad back. I carted the Mini Mavens with me over to my sister’s house and while they read, slept, and played with their younger cousin, my mom was introduced to the glory of Rowan Atkinson’s rubberfaced antics and a very young Hugh Laurie’s foppish splendor as the Prince of Wales (nothing like the Laurie of “House” atall atall.)

Anysleepyafternoonhow, after yesterday’s videofest, today I’m jonesing for new reading material. I do have a few early 2009 releases to recommend to you, before I ask for your recommendations. Here they are:

Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (With Recipes) by Nancy Spiller (Counterpoint): Pay no attention to the Publishers Weekly review that says this is “a static character study of a whining foodie.” It’s a lot more than that, and if Spiller never quite reaches the heights of meaning, it’s because her reach exceeds her grasp — and that’s far better than most of the genre muck on bookstore shelves. Don’t read this one too quickly. It needs patience, so you’ll understand why many of the recipes are bizarre and “unexecutable,” according to PW. There are reasons for that. I look forward to Spiller’s next book.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Baumeister (Penguin): Baumeister is another debut novelist who also happens to be a slow-food aficionado, and she imbues this lovely, Maeve Binchy-esque book with slow-won wisdom. Each chapter is built around an individual’s story and a single ingredient, but all of the characters are attending a remarkable cooking class at a restaurant called Lillian’s (the chef/teacher is the eponymous owner). Think Binchy’s “Scarlet Feather” crossed with Kate Jacobsen’s “The Friday Night Knitting Club.” Perfect book for a cold January evening, preferably with some artisanal hot chocolate close by.

In the Shadow of the Master: Classic Tales by Edgar Allan Poe and Essays by Jeffery Deaver, Nelson DeMille, Tess Gerritsen, Sue Grafton, Stephen King, … Lisa Scottoline, and Thirteen Others edited by Michael Connelly (William Morrow): I know that one year’s end In/Out list said using periods for emphasis it “OUT,” but then, I’m never really in, so about this book let me say: Just. So. Good. Get it! Read it! Re-read “The Masque of the Red Death.” I defy anyone to find a modern story that’s as evocative and creepy all at once.

What are YOU reading that’s new for 2009? Or looking forward to reading in 2009, new or not?

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Full disclosure: I have absolutely no objectivity about this book, because Louis Bayard is a friend. So unfortunately, if I tell you that he’s a brilliant writer, you’ll have to dismiss my opinions as sentiment-raddled ramblings.

That’s why I’m happy to say that there are plenty of other critics out there who can tell you that Louis Bayard is a brilliant writer, and that his latest novel The Black Tower is a terrific read. Don’t believe me? Listen to them!

Sarah Weinman: “To neglect history is to ignore it and suffer the consequences. But to write about it, to take salient points about a particular time and place and character and create both an engaging mystery that provokes the reader, is to ensure a positive feedback loop of remembering that solves the problem posed at the beginning of this review. The make-believe world of The Black Tower succeeds by broadcasting larger truths that might otherwise elude us.”

Marilyn Stasio: “Bayard makes brilliant application of Vidocq in this fanciful adventure…No snatch-and-run researcher, Bayard takes care to capture Vidocq’s roguish voice and grandiose affectations, as well as the melodramatic substance of his published memoirs.”

Ross King: “The Black Tower weaves history and fiction together in the trademark style—linguistic brio, a slickly unfolding plot, a raft of colorful characters—that has propelled Bayard’s work into the upper reaches of the historical-thriller league…In Bayard’s hands, Vidocq becomes an arrogant, bullying, wine-swilling, foul-smelling underworld spy and master of disguise—and an utterly compelling character.”

We’ve got ten copies of The Black Tower to give away to the first ten readers who respond to this post (following our giveaway guidelines, please) and tell me which historical character you think would make a great fictional detective.

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This week WETA begins airing “The Jewish People: A Story of Survival“  tonight at 8:00 p.m. Since the Jews are often referred to as “People of the Book,” I can’t think of a more fitting tribute in this blog than to provide a reading list of some excellent titles that can help viewers expand their knowledge of the race that is fundamental to our civilization.

Of course, my aim in providing this list is twofold: to help viewers of the program expand their knowledge, but also to spark visitors to this blog and to the WETA.org site to add their own reading suggestions. The more titles we have, the better — just as with the Ultimate Julia Child Bookshelf, we can make a list that can be disseminated in many places.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive, nor is it in any particular order. Later today I’ll add my own blurbs (no time right now!). The links I’ve selected are the ones I believe give the most information about each book, including excerpts, bibliographic information, and author biographies. There are so many more titles that can and should be on here! But these are the ones I’ve read and/or know well…I look forward to your contributions.

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

Night by Elie Wiesel

To Life! by Harold S. Kushner

Enemies, A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer

A History of God by Karen Armstrong

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Tevye the Dairyman by Sholom Aleichem

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

 A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People by Eli Barnavi

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I’ve long held the opinion that the most interesting use of social-networking sites for books (Shelfari, LibraryThing, GoodReads) is to help people come up with excellent lists (because, honestly, how many people really care about what I’m reading just for the sake of what I’m reading?).

So I’d like to challenge the Author, Author audience to help me build a complete Julia Child “bookshelf.” Who better to do so than a public-broadcasting-focused audience? We may not have an application here to build a visual shelf… but why not see what we come up with? I’ll get us all started with a few titles, but I want to first say: the books we choose do not have to simply be books by or about Julia Child herself, although those of course should all be on there. I think the “ultimate” Julia Child Bookshelf will include titles about food, chefs, and other things that influenced Child’s remarkable life.

Join me! I think we have the chance to make a list that will live on this site for quite a while — and provide all of us with some wonderful new reading choices about the woman who changed American kitchens forever.

My five Julia Child picks:

Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume I – by Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle

Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume II – by Julia Child and Simone Beck

My LIfe in France – by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme

Simca’s Cuisine – by Simone Beck

The Way to Cook — by Julia Child

What are your choices/additions?

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