James Earl Carter Jr.

 

When I walked out of the bookstore onto Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, I saw two of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect former President Jimmy Carter leaning close to one another, conferring. This was a decade ago, during Mr. Carter’s book tour for his memoir, “A Full Life.”

I’d worn my best black suit into the city, and the two Agents were wearing theirs, and so we three men in black observed the crowded line leading up to the store.  One Agent turned slowly from the other — it was then I noticed the earpiece he wore, its coiled wire running from behind his ear then disappearing under his coat collar — and as he slowly turned his head, he counted off three locations with a trio of nods. One, as he noted the billboard atop the building at the corner of Turk Street; two, as he stared directly across Van Ness; and three, as his eyes lingered down that grand Avenue, toward the Beaux-Arts dome of San Francisco’s City Hall.

Either he was verifying that his snipers were in position, or perhaps he was simply focused on high vantage points across from the bookstore. Van Ness is six busy lanes of traffic. A lot of distractions there, plenty of noise from cars and buses jockeying for position. Maybe the best place for me was back inside — not out here where I could unintentionally be seen as impeding his effort to protect one of the former leaders of the free world and a Nobel Laureate.

Inside the store, bookcases had been pushed aside to provide space for the line of readers who had been queuing down the street for hours. We booksellers gathered around the lead Secret Service agent after he left the busy street and listened while he explained what he expected of us.

“If someone’s just being loud,” he said, “we’ll let you take care of that.” And he looked over at his partner who was headed our way.

“Crowd control?” his partner addressed us. “That’s all you.” It took me a moment to realize he meant that we should politely ask any would-be hecklers to take their heckling outside. Ok, got it. Check. Though why someone would choose to heckle a 90-year-old statesman…

“If there’s any unexpected forward motion by someone,” he continued, “that’s not something for you to worry about.”

Ok, so the actual protection of the President would not be something we needed to concern ourselves with. Fair. They had the guns, we only had our books. Again, check.

He turned to leave, but I sidestepped and cut him off. I leaned in close, the same way his partner had, and quietly asked if he could let me know if Mr. Carter’s Code Name had changed from the time he was in office. I knew he had been referred to as Deacon then. Could he let me know if that had changed?

“No,” he said. He was polite, and while there may have been a hint of a smile, he was pretty definite about his answer. Still, he had smiled, so I asked one more question.  “Is there any way you could deputize me for the day?” I said. “Maybe just give me my own Code-Name for the next few hours?” I was thinking something like Bestseller, or Cliffhanger, or even Cash — after all, I had put on my best black suit for the occasion.

“No,” he said. But his smile was bigger that time. Then he stepped back, waiting patiently to protect the President. 

Undaunted, though without a Code Name of my own, I went and stood behind the stanchions we had positioned in the back of the store.  When Mr. Carter’s aide arrived, in a red-flowered dress and flats, she let us know she’d like a few more people available to help move the line along.  She looked at my coworker Elena and indicated she should be closer to where we had placed Mr. Carter’s chair.  Then she looked my way, about to give me instructions, but she hesitated, looked confused.  

“I’m a bookseller, too,” I said, and she laughed.

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “With your black suit I thought you were Secret Service.” She looked at the Agents close by.

I stood up a little straighter and didn’t mention that I didn’t get my own Code Name. I just took her instruction to stand to the left of where Mr. Carter would sit.  And then there was some happy commotion as the man of the hour arrived. Jimmy Carter, in a crisply ironed striped shirt, hair as white as the cover of his book, and that famous Carter smile.

“Nice to meet you,” he said to us, “thank you for helping out.” Then he sat and the signing began with San Francisco’s Mayor Ed Lee first in line.

The rest of the event was successful and fast — so many people thrilled to meet a member of the most exclusive club in the world. He had that smile and a kind word for everyone. There was only one hiccup when a hippy-dippy woman decided she’d drop to the ground, crawl under the ropes and the table, all in order to hand a prayer shawl to Mr. Carter.

She was unsuccessful, made so by the two Agents who were picking her up before she had even made it to the ground. Those men were fast. 

One attendee was actually a little grumpy at their actions. “This isn’t Russia,” he said to me. “Do you have to be so draconian?” Before I could answer — my good man, she was going to scurry under the table to get at the former President — he looked closer at my suit.  “Do you all shop at the same store for those outfits?”

I decided to let him believe I was part of the Secret Service and just took his book with a smile and handed it to former president Jimmy Carter to sign.

                        *  *  *

When the news was released shortly afterwards that President Carter had cancer, we were all surprised.  It would have been easy to cancel his tour.  Everyone would have understood.  But he came, thrilling the hundreds of people who had lined up to meet him, shaking my hand when I offered it and thanking us all. Signing both his memoir for me along with my brag book — with a jaunty “Good job!” atop his signature.

All with a smile. 

We laughed later, though, when the internet meme made its rounds, a photo of Mr. Carter with a saw in his hand, the words over the photo reading, “You may be Awesome, but you’ll never be 91-year-old Jimmy Carter building-homes-for-the-less-fortunate-while-fighting-cancer Awesome.

Has there been a President with a more esteemed period post-presidency? No. No, there hasn’t. He was always a gentleman. Respected as a person. Distinguished by his quiet grace. May his memory be eternal. 

more

really.

Nick's Picks, 100 Notable Books of 2012 - 61, 60...

#61:  One Last Strike, by Tony La Russa.  William Morrow and Company.  $27.99.

Little hint?  If you're an author and you want to appear on the now World Famous Nick's Picks ™ - well, if you somehow manage to secure a boat ride across San Francisco Bay (with me) on your way to a Postseason Baseball Game starring your World Champion San Francisco Giants - it's a gimme, you get on the list.

You can read about that here, or you can read Tony's book - One Last Strike (and he insisted that I call him Tony when he visited the store for a signing, and I'm not about to go against the wishes of a big league manager who's got three World Series' rings on his fingers.)

One Last Strike is mainly about the World Series of 2011 - with dashes of La Russa's illustrious baseball career thrown in for seasoning.

Their lead-up and their eventual victory in the Series (after withstanding more than one Last Strike) was one of the more remarkable in recent memory - of course, this was all before the San Francisco Giants magisterial trip to the Series this year.

But you can't count a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence (the Giants.  This year.) as diminishing the achievement of the St. Louis Cardinals last year.  I'm, you know, just pointing that out, is all.

Tony's accounts of the year are impressive, engaging, thorough - and it's funny reading about a vegetarian animal-rights-activist winning over the decidedly meat-and-potatoes population of Missouri.  One Last Strike is a wild ride, well told.




#60:  Bill Veeck:  Baseball's Greatest Maverick, by Paul Dickson.  Walker & Company.  $28.

Great men associated with baseball often have biographies written about them - rarely does a great biography happen to be about a baseball man.  Paul Dickson helps to mitigate this with his marvelous book, Bill Veeck:  Baseball's Greatest Maverick.

It's easy to only remember Mr. Veeck as a showboating owner pulling colorful stunts - like putting a midget in a game with the number 1/8 on his back; being the first owner to shoot off fireworks when one of his players hit a home run; or hiring a clown to be his first base coach - much to the delight of the crowds, not so much to the delight of the Baseball-Powers-That-Be.

What can be forgotten is that Mr. Veeck won pennants and the World Series.  More importantly, he had conspired to integrate the Major Leagues years before Jackie Robinson would break that barrier.  His plans were foiled when the team (the Philadelphia Phillies) he was planning to buy - with the intent of filling its roster with players from the Negro Leagues - was taken over by Major League Baseball to prevent its sale to him.

The guy who orchestrated this?  Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis?  Kind of a jerk, really.  And ironic that the buffoon he arranged to purchase the Phils - Billy Cox - ended up betting on his own team and was banned by baseball.  Ironic because Mr. Landis made his name decades earlier by coming down with an iron fist on those players involved in the Black Sox betting scandal.  Jerk.

Anyway.  Great book.  Great character.  Just go buy it and read a stellar biography that dissects its subject - and America - through baseball's prism.

Nick's Picks, 100 Notable Books of 2012 - 64, 63, 62...

#64:  Building Stories, by Chris Ware.  Pantheon.  $50. 

Ok, I get it.  They're just comic books.  They shouldn't be Notable because this list is reserved for Literature or unrivaled Non-Fiction.  Except, of course, I already mentioned Drama, by Raina Telgemeier.  It clocked in at #85.  So, since I've already broken the ice, gotten you acquainted with the fact that, yes, comic books can be Notable, get ready for Chris Ware.  What he does in Building Stories is ingenious and glorious and comes as a welcome reminder that some experiences can't be downloaded.  And Building Stories is one of those.  To talk about Mr. Ware's latest effort, you have to start with the physical object.  The book.

Books, books.  The Book is dead!  Long live Books!

Building Stories is a box, and when you open it, you're confronted with the pieces of Mr. Ware's story - fourteen physically discrete tales concerning the people who live in the same apartment building.  So what he's done is given you the building blocks for the building he's constructed - but you're the architect.

You decide which of the books, or strips, or pamphlets you are going to read first.  What catches your eye first when you open his wonderful box?  Start with that and explore from there.

Are the stories linked?  Yes, yes - but each informs the other in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, and the order in which you greet them for the first time affects how you'll perceive them.

One of the many beauties of Mr. Ware's work is the fact that it's so tactile - you have to hold it to discover it.  You don't plug it in, don't wait for it to sync - you, ya know, read it like a book.

And when you do, you'll be reminded that there's a reason books have lasted for centuries while our newfangled gadgets - records, 8-tracks, Walkmans - often disappear in a few dozen years, or less.

Think you're Kindle will be anything but a paperweight in ten years?  Please think again.  Will anyone who stumbles across this marvelous box experience the same level of excitement that you will if they find it in 10, 50, or 100 years from now?

Yes, they will.  And all they'll need to enjoy it is some light to see by.

#63:  Sailor Twain:  Or, the Mermaid in the Hudson, by Mark Siegel.  First Second.  $24.99.

Wow.

I'd like to leave it at that.  At Wow.  But you'll want some details, some indication of why you should go buy this book right now.

Do you like beautiful, atmospheric art?  Mark Siegel's Sailor Twain is told through his unforgettable charcoal drawings.  Do you like a little Hemingway?  A little Poe?  A little mythology?  Maybe Melville?

How about sex?  You like sex, don't you?  Sailor Twain has all that and more.  It's got a steamship in the 19th Century on the Hudson River, carrying two men - both haunted by a mermaid.  It's got obsession, and love - did I mention sex?  I forget.  But it's got that, too.

Look, let's just leave it at Wow, ok?  Should be enough.

Wow.

#62:  A Once Crowded Sky, by Tom King.  Touchstone.  $26.

Sure, you thought the best story about Superheroes this year was going to be seen inside a movie theater.  Did you think it was going to be Spiderman - the remake of the movie that came out 10 years ago?  Or maybe you're an Avengers kind of person?  You were looking forward to a hunky Thor, a sexy Black Widow?

Or did you think Batman was going to be the best?  With Christian Bale doing that weird thing with his voice?  Please tell me you weren't the one person who thought Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance was going to be good?  That wasn't you, right? Right?

Because the best Superhero story this year wasn't a movie, it was a book - A Once Crowded Sky by Tom King.

Do you have to like comic books - especially the Golden Age of superheroes - to love this book?  Probably, yeah, to love it.  But if you're interested in a heroically spun yarn that just happens to have some caped-crusaders as the main characters, don't hesitate.

The world as we find it - the World according to Tom King - takes place after all the world's heroes (all but one!) have voluntarily given up their powers.  A World according to Tom King where the villain's all committed suicide.  The society of powerless superheroes (Soldier of Freedom, Devil Girl, Doctor Speed) created by King are so fully realized they could have existed alongside Superman and Captain America and Wonder Woman.

The twists and turns, the back-stories, the loves and the hates, they all propel Mr. King's story at a furious pace.  Fun?  Oh, yeah, this one's fun.  But if you can imagine a literary Superhero novel, you'll know that the fun actually runs deep.

Nick's Picks, 100 Notable Books of 2012 - 66, 65...

#66:  The Cocktail Waitress, by James Cain.  Hard Case Crime.  $23.99.
 
Ah!  This work is Notable because it's the lost novel of James M. Cain.   He started it a few years before his death and never saw its publication.

It begins with such promise, with so many of Cain's recognizable brushstrokes in place.  A beautiful widow, forced into taking a job as a cocktail waitress.  The son she is desperate to be reunited with.  The two customers who intrigue her for different reasons - the young man with grandiose dreams, the old man who wants to marry her . . .

Alas, while it's interesting - especially for fans of noir - The Cocktail Waitress doesn't measure up to Mr. Cain's best.  Don't get me wrong - there are moments of sizzle, of danger.  Just have an old copy of Double Indemnity by your side when you're done, that and a slug of bourbon.



#65:  Return of the Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett.  Mysterious Press.  $25.

This collection is an even more notable event - it comprises two stories (After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man) that Dashiell Hammett wrote following the unexpected success of the first Thin Man movie.  That film exceeded expectations at the box office and received four Academy Award nominations - including a nod for Best Picture (It Happened One Night was the winner, and let me tell you, I'm not so sure about that).

MGM asked Mr. Hammett for more stories, and so he penned the two collected here.  They're being billed as novellas - which isn't quite right.  The stories aren't exactly screenplays, though they're close, and they're not exactly novellas - they're more a hybrid.

One thing is for sure - Mr. Hammett's ear for dialogue is on spectacular display. 

His stories - like Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's - are a little more sinister in words than what got translated to film.  But Nick and Nora Charles (what?  He's Greek?  And named Nick?) scintillated on screen and on the page, and the duo is in fine form here (and yes, I do in fact have a crush on Myrna Loy.  Sue me.  All I have to do is close my eyes and hear her asking Nicky for another drink and I swoon.  Did I say sue me?)

So put away the bourbon and pour yourself a dry martini - and please remember to shake it in Waltz time.  Nick Charles would approve.

Nick's Picks, 100 Notable Books of 2012 - 70, 69, 68, 67...

 #70:  The Sandcastle Girls, by Chris Bohjalian.  Doubleday.  $25.95.





Chris Bohjalian's writing is always lush, but in The Sandcastle Girls, he takes the reader on a remarkable journey drawing from his Armenian heritage.  Follow this story from Syria during the First World War to New York today - and back again.





#69:  Dead Stars, by Bruce Wagner.  Blue Rider Press.  $35.

Bruce Wagner is usually entertaining and often profane - Dead Stars delivers doses of both.  There are so many stories and so many characters who occupy the sex-filled waters that makes up Mr. Wagner's Hollywood, and since most of them show no compunction about dipping their toes repeatedly in this dirty pool, sometimes you'll be looking for the nearest shower so that you can clean up before continuing.

But if you sometimes indulge in reality TV, sometimes sneak a peak at tabloid headlines while waiting to check-out at the market, Dead Stars is for you.

The English cover is better than ours.

#68:  Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel.  Henry Holt and Co.  $28.

So, if you're Hilary Mantel and you won the Man Booker Prize for your last novel - Wolf Hall - what do you do for an encore?  You pen Bring Up the Bodies, deliciously delving into Tudor history and the trial of Anne Boleyn.  Throw in a little Cromwell, a little court intrigue, package it with the scents and scenes of the times - all leavened with details that don't ever feel thrown in to show how much research you've done but rather rise up from the story and enrich it.

That's what you do.  And then you go out and win the Man Booker, again.




#67:  The People of Forever are Not Afraid, by Shani Boianjiu.  Hogarth.  $24.

Follow three young women in Israel as they go from high school to their stark new world after they're conscripted. 

This debut from Shani Boianjiu demonizes neither side in the war taking place - forever now, forever and ever - in the Middle East.  Does it show them in times of triumph and beauty and anger and hatred?  Yes, and Ms. Boianjiu does it brilliantly.  I don't want to say that this is a coming of age novel - I mean, it is - but that cliche diminishes what has been accomplished.  Buy it.  Buy it and read it and then we'll talk.

Nick's Picks, the 100 Most Notable Books of 2012 - 72, 71...

#72:  Shake Off, by Mischa Hiller.  Mulholland Books.  $24.99.

If you read a thriller this year, make it Shake Off.  Mischa Hiller has been likened to Graham Greene - and while that is a lofty comparison, his writing has Greene's eye for detail and can be sophisticated and dispassionate - but right in the head of the main character, Michel Khoury.

He's an operative who covets one thing - peace in the Middle East.  When he's forced to run, the paranoia of spies colors every turn.  If you fondly remember Adam Hall's Quiller, you'll love Khoury.  If you don't - shame on you.  Go introduce yourself to Adam Hall, then read Hiller.




#71:  Brothers:  On His Brothers and Brothers in History, by George Howe Colt.  Scribner.  $30.

Do you have brothers?  I have brothers.  I'm the middle of three - and that should tell you everything you need to know.  George Howe Colt has three brothers - and like me, he is fascinated, repulsed and invigorated by them.

Brothers?  There's so much going on with brothers.  Rivalry, admiration, jealousy, devotion, hate and affection.  Mr. Colt examines these through the prism of his own bothers, while at the same time looking at famous brothers through history - from the Booths and the Thoreaus to the most famous brothers of all time, the Marx Brothers.

If you've wondered how a man's life can be altered - for better and worse - by the complex relationship he has with his brother(s), or if you're fascinated by how your own foibles ans strengths can be the result of the push and pull of close relationships, read Brothers.

Then take me out for a drink - the stories I could tell you...

Nick's Picks, the 100 Most Notable Books of 2012 - 76, 75, 74, 73...

#76:  Magic Tree House 20th Anniversary Edition: Dinosaurs Before Dark, by Mary Pope Osborne.  Random House Books for Young Readers.  $14.99.

No, it's not cheating.  This book was published just a few months ago - I can't help it if it's a commemorative edition.  Besides, for Kristina?  My five-year-old?  This was the most important literary event of the year.

I have a friend who is a Sales Representative for Random House.  Sales Reps?  For publishers?  Some of the coolest people in the world.  Dandy is no exception.  She sent some books to me for my girls - and this was Kristina's.

Kristina has discovered Mary Pope Osborne in a big way this year.  In Kindergarten, she gets to go to the library every Thursday, and every Thursday she brings another Magic Tree House home.  Sometimes she "forgets" to return last week's book, and the rules of the library clearly state that you can't check out a new book before you've returned your old one.

Somehow, this admonition doesn't count for Kristina.  Either her librarian is a softy, or Kristina is playing her.

So when I brought this new hardcover home for her?  And gave it to my daughter?  She held it in her hands, gentle-like, as she looked down at it.  As her eyes got big.  As they filled with tears (Kristina does not cry from joy, hardly ever).  And then she clutched Dinosaurs Before Dark to her chest and exclaimed, Oh Daddy!  I love it!

If that doesn't make this one of the Most Notable Books of 2012, I don't know what would.  Thank you, Mary Pope Osborne, for continuing to enchant young readers with your adventures.  And thank you, Dandy, for being one of the coolest people in the universe.




#75:  Junie B., First Grader: Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff), by Barbara Park. Random House Books for Young Readers.  $11.99.

Ok, yes, so this would be my oldest daughter's pick.  Eight-year-olds and Junie B.?  They get along famously - especially if the eight-year-old is my Elizabeth.

I think our daughter first got turned onto Junie. B. Jones because she could live vicariously through her.  Elizabeth?  Elizabeth is a good kid.  Very law-abiding.

So when she started reading about Junie B., a little girl who doesn't always follow the rules, who seemingly spends more time getting to know the principal, in his office, than she spends with her own teacher, named Mrs. (She has another name, too, but Junie B. Jones just calls her Mrs.) - well, Elizabeth decided this was someone she wanted to get to know.

It had been about five years since Junie B. had graced the page, so this was a welcome return to the exploits of the most popular first-grader in our household.

Thanks again, Dandy - you made two little girls very happy.




#74:  Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Third Wheel, by Jeff Kinney.  Harry N. Abrams.  $13.95.

You know how people who are really bad at introductions just say, And now, let me present to you someone who needs no introduction?  And then they just duck out?

I hate that.  If it's your job to introduce someone, then freaking introduce them.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, though?  Jeff Kinney's newest needs no introduction.  Do you know a kid, 8ish to preteenish?  Just get them this book.



#73:  This Moose Belongs to Me, by Oliver Jeffers.  Philomel.  $16.99.

Do you know Oliver Jeffers?  Why not?  Is there some little someone in your life who you read picture books to?  Are you tired of crappy picture books?  Good, me too.

Mr. Jeffers is funny.  And better yet, your little someone will think his books are funny.  But guess what?  You will, too.

In this, his latest, Wilfred is a little boy who likes things just so.  Do you remember Sally, from When Harry Met Sally?  Wilfred likes it the way he likes it, too.

The only problem is, Wilfred has a pet moose.  Have you ever had a pet moose?  Me neither.  But according to Mr. Jeffers, a Moose has a mind of its own - and Wilfred's Moose hits the road because that's what a Moose does, evidently.

This book is silly but beautifully drawn.  You'll love Wilfred.  You'll love "his" Moose.  And you won't tire of reading it again and again (which is good, because you will). 

Nick's Picks, the 100 Most Notable Books of 2012 - 78, 77...

#78:  The Art Forger, by B. A. Shapiro.  Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.  $23.95.

Ever read a book that touches on one of your own experiences?  And if it's a good book, the journey is that much more rewarding?  B. A. Shapiro's The Art Forger is just such a book for me.  The pivot point of her story deals with the 1990 break-in at the Gardner Museum in Boston.

That heist resulted in the loss of thirteen pieces of art valued at more than half a billion dollars, making it the largest theft of property ever - if you discount the Elgin Marbles, but that's another story.

What makes this story for me so personally interesting is that when I was lucky enough to first visit the Gardner - during a trip to see my oldest brother while George was studying in Boston - I was dismayed to learn that Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee wasn't on display, was instead under the watchful eye of a conservator as it was being cleaned.  This painting, and Vermeer's The Concert, were the only two paintings that I knew were housed in the Gardner and I had been especially looking forward to them.

Still got to see Vermeer - one of his only 34 known works - and so many others, got to see them in the splendid vessel that holds all the art there:  the former home of Isabella Stewart Gardner.

Love that museum - my favorite anywhere.  I went back to it during that brief Boston trip.  Spent so much time looking, and drawing, and examining - just not the Storm on the Sea of Galilee.

A sketch from Paul César Helleu's Woman Threading a Needle, 17 April 1987 

When I tell the story, it was the following year, on March 18, 1990, right after the Rembrandt had been returned to its place on the wall, that a couple of crooks entered the Gardner dressed up as cops and when they walked out again, the museum was 13 pieces of art poorer.

Poof.

Just gone.  Never to be seen again - except by the bastard that had them stolen.  My one chance to gawk at that extraordinary piece of art had vanished like smoke in the nighttime. 

There's only one problem with my version of the tale - George had been some years graduated from Harvard by the time 1990 rolled around, so it of course couldn't have been the very next year that the crime occurred, or even the year after that.

I haven't knowingly lied when I tell the story - the events simply conflated.  My one chance to see the Storm at the Gardner, the return of the painting to the museum, the theft - the time between one to the other to the other just shrank.  Not willfully.  Not with malice aforethought - it just did.  And to me the short time-frame has always made my experience so much more regrettable

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, right?

Sorry about the digression - but I'll get back to it in #77, coming up next, ok?

Because while this was supposed to be about The Art Forger, not me, Ms. Shapiro's book returns us to the scene of that crime.  Her novel is a contemporary tale set in Boston.  Our hero - Claire Roth - is a down-on-her-luck artist who is given the chance of a lifetime:  will she accept receipt of one of the most famous paintings stolen from the Gardner in order to forge it?

If she does, she'll be paid handsomely (and oh how she needs the money) and the owner of the premier Boston art gallery will host a one-woman show for her (and what artist could turn that down?)

Sound too good to be true?  Well, what if - as she studies the painting she has been hired to forge - Claire begins to have doubts about the authenticity of the stolen masterwork?  Could the forger be studying a forgery?

Ms. Shapiro's novel is layered and luminous - showing off Boston, its art-denizens, and the arcane world of forgers.  It's not a globe-trotting, Da Vinci Code imitation - The Art Forger is introspective, deftly plotted, and will have you impatiently turning its pages until the end.




#77:  Imagine:  How Creativity Works, by Jonah Lehrer.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  $26.

Imagine is listed here because it was notable, yes - notable and tragic.  Jonah Lehrer was a young writer with a trio of bestsellers under his belt and a new gig with the New Yorker - it couldn't get much better for a scribe.  And then - like those beautiful pieces of art in the Gardner Museum - it all disappeared.

Just two months after joining the New Yorker, Mr. Lehrer resigned when it was revealed that portions of his work had been plagiarized or made up from whole cloth.  The most damning bits were quotes that Mr. Lehrer attributed to Bob Dylan at the beginning of his most recent book, Imagine:  How Creativity Works.  So in the first chapter of this, his third book - his third enormously popular book - Mr. Lehrer quoted Bob Dylan.  Except the quotes were fake.

Lesson #1:  If you are going to make up quotes, don't make up quotes from one of the most recognizable voices of a generation. 

It's difficult to read the apology Mr. Lehrer wrote when he resigned from the New Yorker.  He sounds contrite yet erudite, ashamed and painfully young.  It's heartfelt.  It's sad.  He apologizes.  He explains how he continued his lies in a moment of panic when a reviewer asked him to provide attribution for the quotes that weren't.

What made it so difficult for me to read his confession was the fact that I understood.  Lies?  For a writer?  Lying is easy.  It's what we do every day.  Often, it's not malicious.  Often, I'm telling you a story about not ever being able to see Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee - how I visited its museum one year when it was unavailable to view, and how the next year it was stolen.

So close!  And yet so far.  And also, more importantly, not true.  The events - my visit and the theft - were separated by years, not months.  Again, there was no perfidy coloring my tale - I related it exactly how I remembered it.  And part of the reason the theft stung is because I missed my one chance to see the piece, and now my chances were gone, and the sting went deeper because Act One and Act Two were separated by hardly a handful of seasons.

And yet - and yet - this is a lie.

When I tell a story and a certain line gets a good response, I probably make sure to repeat that line the next time.  Do I improve it for effect?  Also, yes - probably.  I like telling stories and I enjoy the praise I sometimes receive and yes my tales get Taller the more I tell them.

Nature of the beast or unscrupulous alteration of the truth?

Honestly - I don't know.

It's ironic, indeed, that in a book that sought to explain the magic of creativity, it was that very trait writ large that demolished its foundation.

It's my hope that Mr. Lehrer is allowed to write again - that we don't sanctimoniously prevent him from doing the thing he did so well.  Perhaps he could use his gifts to explain how we sometimes make the slope so slippery before ever stepping out on the ice.

Perhaps.

Nick's Picks, the 100 Most Notable Books of 2012 - 81, 80, 79...

#81:  Defending Jacob, by William Landay.  Delacorte Press.  $26.

You know those cliches that booksellers use?  Gripping.  Riveting.  Page turner.  The problem is sometimes they're true - we just get lazy and instead of telling you why we liked the book, we resort to these shortcuts.

Sorry about that.

This, then, would be the wrong time to tell you that William Landay's Defending Jacob is a page-turner that is at turns riveting and gripping.  Nicholas Sparks called it amazing, and Mr. Sparks hardly ever uses cliches, so can we call it good?

If not, let's just say that Mr. Landay reinvigorates the courtroom thriller.  Andy Barber, a District Attorney investigating the brutal murder of a teenage boy, has to confront the awful fact that his son is fast becoming the prime suspect.

Through it all, Mr. Landay believably shows the disintegration of Andy's marriage, and the chinks in the armor of Andy's belief in the innocence of his son.  And before I use any more cliches, I'll just say that this is one courtroom drama you don't want to miss.




#80:  Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson.  Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam.  $25.95.

Do I need to say anything besides this is the funniest book I read all year?

There are so many things I love about Ms. Lawson.  First, she doesn't mind the word blog.  Me?  I hate it.  I'm uncomfortable saying, Hey, I write a blog.  Wanna read it?  Or have a cookie?

She?  She makes it her own and calls herself The Bloggess - not ironically.  I think.

I'm never sure when Ms. Lawson is joshing and when she's not.

Please, though - just trust me.  Ms. Lawson follows that old writer's saw and writes about what she knows - in this case, her family.  Her totally psychotic and disturbed family.  But you know what?  Well balanced families aren't funny!  So, ha!

Just read it, for me?  Then we'll talk.

Oh, and that mouse on the cover?  Hamlet Mouse?  I own him.  So there's that, too.




#79:  The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, by Deb Perelman.  Knopf.  $35.

Do you eat?  If you eat, you want this cookbook.

What do you want in a cookbook?  Beautiful pictures?  Check.  Delicious recipes?  Check?  A cook with a personality?  Check.  Someone who's funny and who can write and who, through her words and pictures, makes you want to immediately begin cooking her food?  Check check check.

The "her" in this scenario is Deb Perelman, creator of the Smitten Kitchen.  Ms. Perelman's food?  Well, it's not necessarily for the faint of heart - not because it's intimidating - no, it's so inviting, you'll be pulling up a chair in no time.  It's because it's easy to become obsessed with her creations - to the detriment of any relations you may have with family and friends.  Unless they eat, too, and if that's the case, you're golden.

I wonder if it's too late to make her Emmentaler on Rye with Sweet and Sour Red Onions...

Nick's Picks, the 100 Most Notable Books of 2012 - 84, 83, 82...

#84:  The Signal and the Noise, by Nate Silver.  Penguin Press.  $27.95.

Ok, so Nate Silver is my hero.  Mr. Silver, a statistician, took his passion for numbers and combined it with his passion for baseball.  There is no other sport where stats are so often quoted, maligned and venerated - so the combination was a Natural.

He sold his system to the Baseball Prospectus, and then he played a little poker.  Another no-brainer combination of numbers and a game - except I'm pretty sure that Mr. Silver is scary smart.

Then?  Then there was politics.  In 2008, he correctly projected the Presidential winner in 49 out of 50 states.  Hard to really improve on that, but he did this past November when he correctly predicted the winner in all these United States - and for good measure, he also got right the District of Columbia.

Mr. Silver takes wishful-thinking, throws it in a blender, pushes the HIGH button, and pours himself a tall frosty cup of reality.

That's mmm-mmm good - and the Signal and the Noise is a clear-eyed look at Mr. Silver's science of prediction.



#83:  Bushman Lives!, by Daniel Pinkwater.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  $16.99.

Where was Daniel Pinkwater when I was a kid?  Or, rather, why wasn't Modesto hip to Mr. Pinkwater when I was a kid?  If I'd been given Lizard Music at ten, my world would have been a much better place.  Ah, well.

The beauty of Mr. Pinkwater's novels for Young Adults is that Old Adults can read them, too.  Like Bushman Lives!  Who is Bushman?  A fabled gorilla from the Chicago Zoo that our hero, Harold Knishke, obsessives over.  If I as a child could have read about a hall-monitor gone bad, a flautist who sells his flute in order to begin life-drawing classes, about hidden castles and hidden islands - about best-friends joining the Navy and then not - my world would have been a much better place, did I say that?

Fortunately, you can make your world a better place just by entering this, one of the amazing books that Mr. Pinkwater has created over his long and storied career.  How amazing?  Well, it goes off in so many different directions that a friend of mine described it as a literary starburst and to discover just how apt that comparison is, you'll have to read it.

Bushman Lives! indeed.



#82:  Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball--and America--Forever, by Tim Wendel.  Da Capo Press.  $25.

Yeah, yeah - if you remember 1968, they say, you weren't really there.  But maybe you don't want to remember that stupid, terrible year.  The assassinations - King and Kennedy; Vietnam - from the Tet Offensive to the photographed execution of  Nguyễn Ngọc Loan to the massacre at My Lai; the brutal end of the Prague Spring - and the awful beginning of the Troubles in Ireland.

Yet for all that - 1968 contained moments of beauty.  The Beatles created Apple Records, Apollo 7 - the first manned Apollo mission - was launched, and the Detroit Tigers won the World Series.

This last achievement is brilliantly retold in Tim Wendel's Summer of '68.  This is Denny McLain winning 31 games.  This is Bob Gibson and his 1.12 ERA, his 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the Series.  Catfish Hunter and his perfect game.

Mr. Wendel covers all this against the violent backdrop of 1968 - providing you with the mirror that baseball so often becomes of the nation where it's played. 

It's ironic, of course, that his book came out in a year that saw the Tigers return to the World Series - only this time, the Detroit Tigers would be swept by the San Francisco Giants.