New & Recommended New & Recommended (July 07, 2004)

This month's picks by Frank Sanchez, head book buyer at Kepler's, include a literary argument that Bob Dylan is more than a songwriter, two novels set south of the border, and a powerful memoir of a woman abandoned as a small girl by her mother, a Nazi, only to reunite with her as she was dying 57 years later.

"Dylan's Visions of Sins" by Christopher Ricks is another look at Bob Dylan's lyrics, this time by a professor of humanities at Boston University. The "sins" theme is from the seven deadly sins (pride, anger, lust, envy, sloth, greed and covetousness), the four virtues (justice, temperance, fortitude and prudence) and the three graces (faith, hope and love) as expressed in Dylan's lyrics. The author compares Dylan's work to that of other poets. The bard from Minnesota comes off very well in this analysis.

"The Dog Fighter" by Marc Bojanowski is a novel set in 1940s Mexico, centering on a young man who becomes absorbed by deadly dog fights, which he sees as a way to success and respect. The story of the young's man challenges and slow maturation has a Hemingway-like sparseness to the writing, with the same macho sensibility.

"Port Mungo" by Patrick McGrath is a novel of psychological suspense about an artist driven to inspiration and extremes. The story spans 40 years, starting when the young artist traveled from Greenwich Village in the 1950s to Honduras, and then back to New York in the 1990s. The painter, Jack Rathbone, sees himself as "a latter-day Gauguin," and experiences his own tragedies along the way.

"Let Me Go" by Helga Schneider is the author's memoir of being abandoned by her mother in Germany in 1941 when her mother joined the SS to work in concentration camps. Thirty years later the author has a reunion with her mother, who was then in poor health, and tried to reconcile with her. But her mother had no regrets about her past. Finally, there's a second and last reunion in a senior home in 1998. It's a painful, gripping story.

"Barcelona: The Great Enchantress" by Robert Hughes is the second book by Time magazine's long-time art critic about the magical Spanish city, which has captivated him for 40 years. Hughes writes of his experiences in the city over that time and also weaves in a history of the place.

"The Secret Life of Lobsters" by Trevor Corson is an explanation of the mysterious 15-year-decline of the lobster fishing industry off the coast of Maine. Corson is a journalist and one-time lobsterman. Lobstermen and marine biologists disagreed on the reason for the decline and how to stop it. The book is entertaining, with a little bit of science, and with stories of the fishermen and their families.

"Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson is a real-life adventure story about the unexpected discovery of a World War II U-boat found sunken off the New Jersey coast, and with no historical record of how it got there. It's also about the perils of deep-sea salvage diving, and the quest for discovery.

--Don Kazak

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