It figures that Sacramento journalist-moralist William T. Vollmann would choose Japan as his most recent project. The National Book Award-winner has always favored the biggest canvases for his unique style of long-form reporting. For instance, his examination of California's Imperial Valley, "Imperial" (among his 20-some titles), is 1,300 pages.
Now he's teamed with www.byliner.com, a San Francisco startup publishing site, for "Into the Forbidden Zone: A Trip Through Hell and High Water in Post-Earthquake Japan."
The piece is described this way: "Vollmann ventures into the nuclear hot zone, outfitted only with rubber kitchen gloves, a cloth facemask and a capricious radiation detector. He emerges with a haunting report on daily life in a now-ravaged Japan. (There) he finds troubling omens of a future heading toward us all."
"Forbidden Zone" is being sold through Amazon.com for $2.99, downloadable to most digital devices, at www.byliner.com.
Books for baseball fans
One thing that's making this baseball season so compelling is that so many fans can root for the world champion San Francisco Giants. Or not. Here's a trio of interest, anyway.
The self-published "A Unique Look at Big League Baseball" by Joe Taxiera ($39.95, 380 pages) is an exhaustive compendium of baseball history, statistics, records and photos. Putting it together was a 10-year commitment by the Davis author. Two print versions and one e-book/PDF version (at varying prices) are available at www.uniquebaseall.com.
"Going Yard" by Lew Freedman (Triumph, $16.95, 208 pages): Home runs are the subject here – who made them, how many, when and where. One whole chapter is devoted to Babe Ruth, in his day "belting the ball harder and farther than anyone who had ever played."
"Life Is Yours To Win" by Augie Garrido (Touchstone, $23, 272 pages): The college-baseball coach applies the "lessons forged from the purpose and passion" of baseball to getting ahead in everyday life.
From local authors
On the closer-to-home front:
"Mr. Date Night" by Cary Farley (3L, $24.95, 174 pages): Sacramento musician, high school teacher and single guy Farley mixes recipes (My Mom's Peach Cobbler) with edgy dating advice for those looking for love and "date meals." Included is a CD by Farley, "Unwind."
Have we had enough Ishi books yet? Not quite. Ishi, you'll recall, was the last American Indian in Northern California to have lived outside the sphere of the white men's world, emerging from the wilderness in 1911 near Lassen Peak. In "Ishi's Untold Story in His First World" (Paragon, $31.47 with shipping, 325 pages with photos), Quincy-based educator and anthropologist Richard Burrill details Ishi's life and times. This is his fifth book on Ishi, available at www.ishifacts.com.
"Breaking the Silence" by Frances H. Kakugawa (Willow Valley Press, $15.95, 170 pages): In verse and prose, the veteran author offers burden-lightening encouragement to family caregivers.
On bookshelves
These disparate titles are totally captivating in their own ways:
"The Chef's Apprentice" by Elle Newmark (Washington Square, $15, 400 pages), set in 15th century Venice, weaves its many elements effortlessly: a young street urchin given the chance of a lifetime; an enigmatic chef with a dangerous secret; a forbidden book that may hold the secret to eternal life; a group of madmen who conspire for power; a historically accurate look at a legendary city; and, above all, the tantalizing descriptions of cooking exotic foods in a palace kitchen.
"Wicked Bugs" by Amy Stewart (Algonquin, $18.95, 288 pages) offers more than we comfortably want to know about a host of "diabolical insects." For instance, the description of a bite from a brown recluse spider will make you shudder (as will the drawings), but in a good way.
Edgar Allan Poe winners
In case you missed it, the Mystery Writers of America recently announced the winners of its 65th annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards. They go to the most distinguished writers in mystery fiction and fact; www.mysterywriters.org. Here's a sampling:
Best novel: "The Lock Artist" by Steve Hamilton
Best first novel by an American author: "Rogue Island" by Bruce DeSilva
Best paperback original: "Long Time Coming" by Robert Goddard
Best fact crime: "Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity" by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
Best critical/biographical: "Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvous with American History" by Yunte Huang
Best short story: "The Scent of Lilacs" by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
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