Author: rakemag

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In more than thirty books, Fisher, christened by John Updike as the “poet of the appetites,” changed the way Americans understood the art of eating. A self-made career woman and trail-blazing writer, Fisher served it up with style, whether the topic was her husbands, her lovers, or the fried-egg sandwiches she toted in her pockets as a child. In this bio, culinary historian Joan Reardon enjoyed extensive access to Fisher, her family, and friends. She appears, however, to be less charmed than most with the bon vivant. In fact, it might not be far off the mark to say that Reardon feels Fisher was a self-absorbed kook. In detailing Fisher’s irreverently lived life, Reardon aspires to demystify her sensualist image, using what amounts to a pinch of negativity and a dash of moral disapproval. Meow! Soup’s on. Available October 27

Don’t try to play the “my family are freaks card” with Burroughs. You ain’t gonna win, unless of course you too had monthlong family sleepovers on the front lawn or a physician-assisted faked suicide attempt to get excused from school forever. In his New York Times best-seller, Running with Scissors, Burroughs recounted a bizarre childhood that included being adopted by his mom’s shrink at age thirteen. In Dry: A Memoir, we get a wicked look at the author’s boozy life as a Manhattan advertising hotshot, followed by forced rehab. Good times. Burroughs’ oddball view of what would be an otherwise gloomy life does actually invite laughter. In other words, feel free to guffaw at someone else’s painful history if you attend this reading. Really, go ahead, he won’t mind. U of M Bookstore, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-625-6000; Bound To Be Read, 870 Grand Ave., St. Paul, 651-646-2665

Writers familiar with the slow burn caused by repeated rejection will be delighted with this new novel, centering on just that. Evan Ulmer, one of many writers whose creative efforts go unappreciated, reaches his breaking point and takes matters into his own hands. After kidnapping an accomplished book editor and setting him up in a basement cage equipped with a porta-john, Ulmer muses, “Was abduction a difficult and gutsy endeavor or, instead, the predictable last resort of the desperately stupid?” From there, a peculiar relationship develops between captive and captor, as both watch the media spin the situation for its own ends. Hayes, whose dark humor is drawn with taught, no-nonsense prose, has a sly way of riffing on multiple literary
genres. Available October 1

Williams takes her time turning out masterful fiction—these twelve short stories comprise her first collection in more than ten years. The title story concerns a teenage girl who is coming to terms with the imminent death of her mother, and who is reluctantly suicidal herself (but “suicide was so corny and you had to be careful in this milieu that was eleventh grade…”). The tenuous connections between life and death run as a theme through the other eleven stories; nevertheless, Williams’ characters hold on to hope, even as they fall victim to their own errant behaviors or the sudden tragedies that their creator visits upon them without warning. Williams is not a writer you turn to for comfort, but if you’re looking for odd, even absurd explorations of the human psyche, she’s just the ticket. Available October 5

SUSAN ORLEAN
My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere
Various Locations, October 14–16
Emphasis in the title should be on “stories,” not “travel.” Orlean has indeed been everywhere—some will recall a fictional version of her played by Meryl Streep in Adapation, in which she trails an orchid hunter through Florida swamps—but My Kind of Place is no ordinary travel writing. For one thing, these tales may range near and far, from Bhutan to Midland, Texas (hometown of Dubya), from a trailer park outside Portland, Oregon, to the African music scene in Paris—but they are not in the least prescriptive. Instead, the places Orlean writes about emerge as characters as vivid as any of the humans who inhabit them. One would expect nothing less, after all, from one of our foremost literary journalists (most of the pieces here were published in the New Yorker and Outside). October 14: Bound To Be Read, 870 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-646-2665; www.boundtoberead.com. October 15: Amazon Books, 4755 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-821-9630; www.amazonfembks.com. October 16: The Bookcase of Wayzata, 607 E. Lake St., Wayzata; 952-473-8341; www.bookcaseofwayzata.com

ALSO NOTED
• Thomas Frank,
U of M Bookstore
October 13

• John Updike,
Villages
Available October 19

• Jessica Hagedorn,
U of M Bookstore
October 14

• Jon Lee Anderson,
Barnes & Noble Edina
October 15

• Stanley Crouch,
The Artificial
White Man: Essays
on Authenticity
Available October 30

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barnes & Noble Edina
October 7

• Joyce Carol Oates, Fitzgerald Theater
October 4

• Philip Roth,
The Plot Against America
October 7

• Edward Gorey,
Amphigorey Again Available October 31

• Neil Labute,
Seconds of Pleasure
Available October 10

• Imre Kertesz,
Liquidiation
Available October 19

Various Locations, October 14–16
Emphasis in the title should be on “stories,” not “travel.” Orlean has indeed been everywhere—some will recall a fictional version of her played by Meryl Streep in Adapation, in which she trails an orchid hunter through Florida swamps—but My Kind of Place is no ordinary travel writing. For one thing, these tales may range near and far, from Bhutan to Midland, Texas (hometown of Dubya), from a trailer park outside Portland, Oregon, to the African music scene in Paris—but they are not in the least prescriptive. Instead, the places Orlean writes about emerge as characters as vivid as any of the humans who inhabit them. One would expect nothing less, after all, from one of our foremost literary journalists (most of the pieces here were published in the New Yorker and Outside). October 14: Bound To Be Read, 870 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-646-2665; www.boundtoberead.com. October 15: Amazon Books, 4755 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-821-9630; www.amazonfembks.com. October 16: The Bookcase of Wayzata, 607 E. Lake St., Wayzata; 952-473-8341; www.bookcaseofwayzata.com

David O. Russell has a knack for sending the characters in his films to hellish, but often somehow hilarious places. In the shamefully overlooked Three Kings, a group of soldiers journey into an Iraqi village on a dangerous mission to pillage gold. Flirting With Disaster sends Ben Stiller to find his birth parents, who turn out to be hippy acid dealers; and Spanking the Monkey involves a boy’s realization that he’s attracted to his mother. Always dark, always smart and funny, and always addressing big emotional truths, Russell looks to have topped himself here. Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), an environmentalist battling a Wal-Mart-like discount store, hires a team of “Existential Detectives” (Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman) to get to the bottom of some puzzling coincidences. A deadpan Tomlin asks: “Have you ever transcended space and time?” Responds Schwartzman, only slightly puzzled: “Uh, time, not space.” Jude Law, Naomi Watts, and Mark Wahlberg round out the cast.

South Park geniuses Trey Parker and Matt Stone offer up a timely political satire that takes aim at sanctimonious right-wing bloo-blobs and smug Hollywood liberals alike. (In other words, the duo hates the war in Iraq, but they also hate George Bush, Michael Moore, and John Kerry.) The fact that their film takes the form of a boffo, Bruckheimeresque blockbuster filmed entirely with wooden puppets (but not Melanie Griffith and Ben Affleck) is just icing on the cake. Think of this surreal cinematic offering as an attempt by the kings of potty humor to knock piety off its moral high ground. Or you could take them at their word when they call their finished project “A dumb [blankin’] puppet movie.”

Joanne Woodward made a fine career out of split-personality material (see Sybil), and this historic, Academy Award-winning performance started it all. Woodward’s Eve White was based on the true story of a dreary Southern housewife suffering from “spells” of memory loss (we dare you to call in sick on Monday with a “spell”). Unable to explain or recall having bought sexy expensive dresses, she’s shipped off to see a shrink by her threatened husband. Through hypnosis two more personalities emerge, including the racy playgirl Eve Black, whom hubby, naturally, cannot abide.

Now it its fifth year, the Sound Unseen film festival hasn’t wavered from its original mission to bring rare films about music to the Twin Cities. Hello?! End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones? ABBA: The Movie? Yes, please! In addition to a stellar lineup of new films, the year sees the return of audience favorites like M80, Hop-Fu: Superninjas, and the Wesley Willis documentary. In particular, the celebration of Minneapolis music films this year promises a rich mélange, from the much-deserved retrospective of Chuck Statler’s pioneering music videos to LikeHell: The Movie; Paul Westerberg’s Prozac-fueled tour documentary Come Feel Me Tremble; new work from Phil Harder paired with a live orchestra; and the local premiere of The Last Word, starring Rake columnist Mary Lucia, and John Munson and Matt Wilson from the Flops. We recommend the most-bang-for-your-bucks $60 pass to all films and concerts. www.soundunseen.com