BOOKS NEWS AND REVIEWS

The latest literary updates from around New Orleans

This week in The Reading Life, we celebrate the art of reading -- the photographs of Andre Kertesz, which appear in a new edition of his classic "On Reading," and depictions of women reading in art, collected in "Women Who Read Are Dangerous," by Stefan Bollman. Marigny Dupuy picks the best of Thanksgiving and autumn titles in picture books that are perfect for the family celebration.

Kathy Anderson / The Times-PicayuneTourists Joe Abernathy and Sonny Ryan enjoy their books while their wives shop on Decatur Street.

I love to see people reading, and they are everywhere -- on planes, in coffee shops, settled on porches or in parks, waiting at bus stops or sitting on benches.

I try to be subtle and suss out the titles of books, waiting for the reader to hold up a volume or turn a page. I can barely contain my curiosity sometimes, and just have to ask the title outright. I was charmed this past Election Day, seeing how many people, prepared to wait in long lines to vote, had brought along books and newspapers.

HARDCOVER

The Private Patient
By P.D. James
Alfred A. Knopf, $25.95
Police commander Adam Dalgliesh returns in his 14th mystery.

By Marigny Dupuy
Children's book columnist

We all know the traditional story of the first Thanksgiving because it has been passed down for many, many generations, honed and polished to its essentials: Hardworking immigrants from England seeking religious freedom survive a brutal winter in their new land and celebrate with the local Indian people by sharing a bountiful first harvest feast.

SPOTLIGHT ON: FRANK DURHAM
What: The retired Tulane University physics professor reads from and signs his first novel, 'Cain's Version.'
When and where: Today at 6 p.m. at Octavia Books.

By Susan Larson
Book editor

CAIN'S VERSION
By Frank Durham
Iroquois Press, $14

Bible stories have such a hold on our imaginations and have provided such rich inspiration for writers throughout history. In "Cain's Version," his first novel, retired Tulane University physics professor Frank Durham provides a contemporary Southern gothic version of that Old Testament tale of two brothers.

Chris Granger / The Times-Picayune
William Ryan, left, of Ryan Companies, and Lewis Stirling III, of Stirling Properties, sit in the main foyer area of the historic Bultman Funeral Home on St. Charles Avenue. The building is being converted into a Border's book store.

You never know what might happen when you decide to turn a storied New Orleans funeral home into a bookstore.

Developer Lewis Stirling and his partners found out in the process of converting the Bultman Funeral Home on St. Charles Avenue into a Borders bookstore -- opening the weekend of Dec. 5 -- that it could get pretty strange.

About four months ago, Project Manager Mark Salvetti was on site when he was approached by a man who introduced himself and gave Salvetti his business card. It read: "Dr. Roderick Pyatt, Ph.D., Paranormal Psychologist. Public/Private Paranormal Investigations."

AP File PhotoMalcolm Gladwell

Why are Asians good at math? Why are there so many Jewish doctors and lawyers? How did Bill Gates become Bill Gates? And why did Avianca Flight 052 crash on Long Island on Jan. 25, 1990?

Malcolm Gladwell, the New Yorker writer who won acclaim with "The Tipping Point" and "Blink," ponders these questions in his new book, "Outliers: The Story of Success," which has 640,000 copies in print and has been in Amazon.com's top 10 since it came out Nov. 18.

Words cannot begin to express how excited I am to see a major chain bookstore return to New Orleans. Friday, November 21, 2008, Borders Books on St. Charles Avenue will open its doors in what they're calling a "soft-opening." The official grand opening won't be until next week.

Accompanying Borders will be a local franchise of Seattle's Best Coffee which (and I can speak first hand on this subject having just returned from Seattle last week) serves a mean Gingerbread Latte.

The Times-PicayuneBorders Books converted the old Bultman Funeral Home on St. Charles Avenue.

Cookbook review: "New Orleans Delicious Dishes: Creole Cooking for Children," by Berthe Amoss and Dulaney Montgomery ($14, Cocodrie Press).

"Here's our little baby," write Debbie Lindsey and Philipe LaMancuso of Kitchen Witch, the quaint French Quarter shop that specializes in cookbooks. And so it is, charming as a baby, small and cute, with several illustrations by noted local children's writer and artist Amoss.

John Bazemore / AP Photo
Ted Turner laughs as he speaks during the CNN World Report Contributors banquet in Atlanta, Thursday, May 4, 1995. Turner said he will expand CNN's coverage of medical news.

Just before CNN's first telecast in 1980, Ted Turner asked the military band present at a sign-on ceremony that day in Atlanta to perform "Nearer, My God, to Thee."

Turner had read somewhere that it was the last song played on the Titanic before it went under.

"We taped the performance so that in case the Cold War ever got hot and nuclear weapons were being launched, CNN could sign off its final broadcast with the Armed Forces Band and this recording, " writes Turner in his new autobiography, "Call Me Ted, " co-written with Bill Burke, a former executive in Turner's TV company.

Be sure to catch Ted Turner at the Words and Music: A Literary Fest being held at the Hotel Monteleone.

This week in The Reading Life, it's time to get ready for Words and Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans, which runs through Sunday at the Hotel Monteleone. TV columnist Dave Walker interviews special guest Ted Turner, whose "Call Me Ted" is rapidly ascending bestseller lists.

We also look at John Scott's new biography of his great-aunt, "Natalie Scott: A Magnificent Life," mystery maven Diana Pinckley reviews the latest from Laura Joh Rowland and C.S. Harris, Marigny Dupuy reviews the new children's book, "Marshall," from Whitney Stewart, and Mary McCay reviews Stewart O'Nan's Songs for the Missing."

Also, read about Joseph Boyden, writer-in-residence at the University of New Orleans, receiving the 15th annual Scotiabank Giller Prize!

Susan Larson, Book editor

More in books . . .

• Hot reads: New in bookstores
• Shelf Life: Adventurers in Reading
• This week: Literary events around New Orleans

The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, is a nationally recognized non-profit arts organization sponsoring the renowned Words & Music arts festival; the Faulkner-Wisdom writing competition; the Double Dealer literary journal; outreach programs for high school and college students; continuing education; and a year-round calendar of Meet the Author and other events that honor and assist writers. Here's a look at their schedule for Words & Music Festival: