Books

Fall Books Preview: Reading list

Smartening up the seasonal transition

By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 15, 2010

Even if you’re not back in the classroom, autumn inspires a desire to learn, to restore the intellectualism that was fried by too many beers and barbecues and sunburns. Fortunately, Portland is full this fall with opportunities to spark your smarts. Here are some of our favorites.

Margaret Atwood | September 21
How better to bid farewell to a utopian summer (and to commemorate the birthday of Stephen King and HG Wells) than to dissect dystopian fiction — and the realities that foster it — with Canadian visionary (and feminist hero) Margaret Atwood? Her most recent novel, THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD (Anchor), which came out in 2009, is now out in paperback; it’s a scary satire that deals with climate change, eco-evangelists, materialism, and human nature. She’ll talk about that and more at the Writers on a New England Stage series co-sponsored by RiverRun Bookstore in New Hampshire.
7:30 pm at The Music Hall | 28 Chestnut St, Portsmouth, NH | $11-13 | 603.436.2400 | themusichall.org

Adam Golaski | September 24
Sixty-three short shorts based on impressionist paintings by Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. “A museum of stories,” the publisher (Rose Metal Press) says of Adam Golaski’s COLOR PLATES. Golaski is a champion of experimental and genre-bending fiction; hear about his latest contribution to that catalog at a Longfellow Books reading and signing.
7 pm at Longfellow Books | One Monument Way, Portland | Free | 207.772.4045 | longfellowbooks.com

Lizz Winstead | September 25
This isn’t technically a reading, but funny lady Lizz Winstead (a co-creator and former head writer of The Daily Show and a co-founder of Air America Radio, where she used to co-host with Rachel Maddow) has a way with words. These days, she’s working on WAKE UP WORLD with the Shoot the Messenger troupe, a sketch-comedy skewering of bland morning “news” shows. She’ll be a one-woman show when she stops in Portland, but the jabs will be just as sharp.
8 pm at One Longfellow Square | 181 State St, Portland | $20 | 207.761.1757 | onelongfellowsquare.com

Lily King | September 29
Maine author Lily King’s third book, FATHER OF THE RAIN, garnered high praise in a July 22 New York Times book review: “King is a beautiful writer, with equally strong gifts for dialogue and internal monologue,” Liesl Schillinger wrote. “Silently or aloud, her characters betray the inner tumult they conceal as they try to keep themselves together, wanting others to see them as whole.” Find out how King honed her craft over lunch at the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture series.
Noon at the Rines Auditorium in the Portland Public Library | 5 Monument Square, Portland | Free | 207.871.1700 | portlandlibrary.org

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Related: Finding her voice, Now playing — RISD: The Musical!, Moral surgery, More

Finding her voice
"There is a balm in Gilead," an old African-American spiritual has it, and sure enough, Percy Talbott (Kelly Caufield) finds that balm.
Now playing — RISD: The Musical!
We all know RISD students like to paint and draw, but can they hoof it? Or belt out a show tune and carry a giant pencil at the same time? Well, yes, it turns out.
Moral surgery
You know upon meeting Becky Shaw that you're in the presence of a smart, snappy writer. But you picture playwright Gina Gionfriddo as someone more akin to Theresa Rebeck than William Makepeace Thackeray.
Endgame
As Billie Holiday fell apart, so did her fragile if expressive voice.
After images
Karen Finley won’t be naked, or covered in chocolate. Candied yams will not be involved. If there are neighborhood morality-watch squads in Salem, they’ll have the night off.
Strange trips
If you want this summer’s eerie subject matter to hit a bit closer to home, or a bit closer to reality, check out Strange Maine: True Tales from the Pine Tree State , by Michelle Souliere (The History Press; $17.99).
Gloucester Stage's 'Tender' is more mean than funny
"When am I going to stop feeling like such an asshole," asks Amanda, one of the three characters in Tender , which is getting its world premiere from Gloucester Stage (through July 25).
Review: Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance
Common Nonsense effectively and in detail confirms what thinking folks already knew but may have had difficulty explaining: Beck, equal parts Mormon and moron, is a towering ignoramus and a shameless bigot.
Review: Per Petterson plumbs The River of Time
Why would Per Petterson — the bestselling Scandinavian writer whose books don't feature an invincible crimefighting heroine — curse the river of time when he is so adept at navigating it?
Review: Gamm Theatre stages Glengarry Glen Ross
As a playwright, David Mamet is tritely, inaccurately, and frequently accused of being a misogynist. But the evidence of his 1982 Glengarry Glen Ross indicates quite the opposite.
Review: Mixed Magic's Art of Attack
Both the first and the last line we hear in Art of Attack , by Asa Merritt, is: "You must take your opponent into a deep, dark forest where two and two are five and the way out is only wide enough for one."
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Topics: Books , Entertainment, Bill Cosby, The Year of the Flood, More

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[ 05/28 ] Bela Fleck + Marcus Roberts Trio @ Stone Mountain Arts Center

[ 05/28 ] Downeast Singers: "Peace Music" @ Camden Opera House

ARTICLES BY DEIRDRE FULTON

A NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES IMMIGRANT YOUTH AND THEIR PLACE IN MAINE AND AMERICA | May 23, 2012
"Back in the Congo, we heard rumors that America is paradise — where everything is perfect, money flows like water, you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want, you can get anything," says Emmanuel Muya, one of 15 immigrant high school students featured in a new documentary, The Whole World Waiting , which will premiere at SPACE Gallery on Thursday.

THE POTENTIAL OF TEDXDIRIGO | May 23, 2012
There were several impressive, stick-in-your-mind talks at the TEDxDirigo: Engage conference, held last Saturday at the University of Southern Maine.

THE SECRET WORLD OF USM’S BLADE SOCIETY | May 16, 2012
It's a Tuesday night at the University of Southern Maine gym and Rob Tupper is leading a small group of fencing students through an exercise that looks like a cross between a line dance and an army drill.

REVIVING THE ELECTRIC CAR | May 16, 2012
Electric cars — ones that are completely rechargeable and use no gasoline — are now available in Maine, in addition to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and traditional hybrids, both of which boast higher fuel-efficiency than conventional cars.

SHIPPING NEWS | May 09, 2012
The loss of the nascent container-ship line in Portland's harbor last week was not just a blow to the city's desired reputation as a shipping hub — but also to the environment.