Book Review: ‘American Gun’ is haunting look at AR-15’s role in our violent era
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A decade before the school shooting at Columbine and more than two decades before the massacre at Uvalde, a man armed with an AK-47 fired his rifle at a crowded elementary playground in California, killing five children and injuring 31 others. The 1989 Stockton shooting, recounted...
‘Game of Thrones’ creator and other authors sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for copyright infringement
NEW YORK — John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin are among 17 authors suing OpenAI for “systematic theft on a mass scale,” the latest in a wave of legal action by writers concerned that artificial intelligence programs are using their copyrighted works without permission. In papers filed Tuesday...
Challenges to library books continue at record pace in 2023, American Library Association reports
NEW YORK — Book bans and attempted bans continue to hit record highs, according to the American Library Association. And the efforts now extend as much to public libraries as school-based libraries. Through the first eights months of 2023, the ALA tracked 695 challenges to library materials and services, compared...
Former Wilkinsburg author Deesha Philyaw has a 7-figure deal for her next 2 books
NEW YORK — Prize-winning fiction writer Deesha Philyaw, who struggled to find a publisher for what became her acclaimed debut “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” has a seven-figure deal for her next two books. Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Thursday that it had signed Philyaw, formerly...
Book review: Stephen King finds terror in the ordinary in new pandemic-set novel ‘Holly’
“Holly” by Stephen King (Scribner) In half a century of writing horror novels, Stephen King has created some remarkable villains. Who can forget the sing-song voice of Pennywise the clown, the devil incarnate Randall Flagg, or the drooling jaws of Cujo? The big bads in King’s latest novel, “Holly,” aren’t...
Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — After parents in a rural and staunchly conservative Wyoming county joined nationwide pressure on librarians to pull books they considered harmful to youngsters, the local library board obliged with new policies making such books a higher priority for removal — and keeping out of collections. But that’s...
Sewickley interior designer Betsy Wentz pens book about making a house a home
Betsy Wentz recalled sitting on the floor of the carriage house of her Edgeworth home as a little girl sorting through colorful swatches. Her mother was an interior designer and the space was filled wall to wall with fabric and wallpaper samples. “My mom was an incredible teacher, a visionary...
Fiction writers fear the rise of AI, but also see it as a story to tell
NEW YORK — For a vast number of book writers, artificial intelligence is a threat to their livelihood and the very idea of creativity. More than 10,000 of them endorsed an open letter from the Authors Guild this summer, urging AI companies not to use copyrighted work without permission or...
Phil Mickelson has wagered more than $1 billion, according to book by renowned gambler Billy Walters
Phil Mickelson has wagered more than $1 billion over the last three decades and wanted to place a $400,000 bet on the 2012 Ryder Cup while playing for Team USA, according to a much-anticipated book by renowned gambler Billy Walters. Mickelson denied ever betting on the Ryder Cup. “While it...
‘True to the spirit of the times’: Plum native set to release 3rd historical novel
If it ever comes up during Trivia Night, the 58th doge of Venice died on July 18, 1365. OK. So, what’s a doge? And who cares? The first answer is the ceremonial leader of the canal-laden city-state in what now is Italy. The second is Kevin Butler. For his soon-to-be-published...
Book review: True crime meets history in Sara DiVello’s 1920s murder mystery ‘Broadway Butterfly’
“Broadway Butterfly” by Sara DiVello (Thomas & Mercer) The unsolved murder of the beautiful Dot King captivated New York. But the hype around the case proved insufficient motivation to catch the killer. So what happened? In “Broadway Butterfly,” a jazzy true crime historical thriller, author Sara DiVello unearths piles of...
Child star Mia Armstrong is working on a picture book about her experiences with Down syndrome
NEW YORK — Child star and activist Mia Armstrong has a picture book coming out next year about her experiences with Down syndrome, what her publisher calls “all the joys and challenges.” Random House Children’s Books announced Monday that Armstrong’s “I Am a Masterpiece!” will be released next January. Illustrated...
Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness at Jan. 6 hearings, has book deal
NEW YORK — A former White House aide to President Donald Trump who became a prominent congressional witness against him and his allies in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol has a book deal. Cassidy Hutchinson’s “Enough” will be released Sept. 26 by Simon &...
50 shades of ballet? Melanie Hamrick on her steamy novel that makes ‘Black Swan’ seem tame
NEW YORK — Melanie Hamrick, who knows her way around a quick pirouette, had to move fast when her 6-year-old son Deveraux recently picked up a copy of her new novel, “First Position,” as she was signing books. “I didn’t realize how well he was reading,” the former ballerina and...
Book Review: ‘The Art Thief’ is an astonishing story that capitalizes on our love of true crime
“The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession” by Michael Finkel (Alfred A. Knopf) What is it about stories of transgression that keep us wanting more of them? Tales of heists, con artists and even murders permeate all corners of society, from Dostoevsky to “Tiger...
Central Park birder Christian Cooper is turning his viral video fame into a memoir and TV show
NEW YORK — There’s nothing that can keep Christian Cooper from enjoying his “happy place,” the bird-friendly Ramble of Central Park — not even his tense, viral video encounter three years ago with a woman walking her dog off leash in his refuge. Cooper is a lifelong birder, and Black,...
Cormac McCarthy, author of ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘Blood Meridian,’ dies at 89
Cormac McCarthy, the acclaimed fiction writer whose books were regarded as American masterpieces by critics and legions of fans but who refused to offer insight into what had inspired them or what they might mean, has died. Widely regard as one of America’s greatest living writers, McCarthy died on Tuesday...
‘George’ is about saving and being saved by a wild bird
“George: A Magpie Memoir,” by Frieda Hughes (Avid Reader Press) Frieda Hughes in an English poet and painter who has built a following on birding Instagram (friedahughes) with her beguiling videos of owls. She has also written several children’s books and a weekly poetry column for The Times of London....
Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell pens powerful graphic memoir ‘The Talk’
“The Talk” by Darrin Bell (Henry Holt & Company) Seeing the other children at the park playing with water guns, Darrin asks his mom for one. Her immediate response: No. Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Darrin Bell’s graphic memoir “The Talk” begins around age 6, when his mom first has “the...
T.J. Newman returns with a novel that’s on par with summer movie blockbustersVideo
Time is a precious commodity and some readers need to be hooked from page one. T.J. Newman ‘s 2021 debut novel “Falling” (Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster) begins with a sentence that blasts out of a cannon: “When the shoe dropped in her lap the foot was still in it.” The...
‘On the Rocks’ tells the story of the Primadonna restaurant owner
Joseph “Joe Joe” Costanzo Jr. slept in restaurant booths at his Primadonna Restaurant in McKees Rocks. He missed family events. His wife, Donna Costanzo, said the best way to see him was to work at the restaurant. He knew most diners’ names, greeting them with a hearty hello and a...
Stair climb: Harrison native to showcase images of steps at Oakmont Carnegie Library
Paola Corso is always looking to take the next step. The Harrison native writes about and photographs staircases not only for their beauty, but for their functional use as a journey to get from one place to another. “I am always looking for steps,” said Corso, who lives in Brooklyn,...
1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible sells for $38 million at New York auctionVideo
NEW YORK — A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold Wednesday for $38 million in New York. The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses...
Oprah teams with Arthur C. Brooks on book about happiness
NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey’s latest book project is one she helped write. Winfrey has teamed with the author, educator and Atlantic columnist Arthur C. Brooks on “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier,” to be published Sept. 12 by Portfolio Books. “I started reading...
Barbara Kingsolver, Hernan Diaz win fiction Pulitzer Prizes
NEW YORK — The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to two class-conscious novels: “Demon Copperhead,” Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic “David Copperfield,” and Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York. It’s the first time the Pulitzers have...
