Salon recommends

What we're reading: Crackerjack politically incorrect political comedy, a love letter to Australia and more.

Published September 19, 2000 9:53PM (EDT)

Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen
What's great about this book is that it's that magical combination of A) a book about politics that's B) actually funny. It's set in the swampy world of Florida politics, and the hero is an ecoterrorist who dognaps the pet Labrador of one of the state's top lobbyists, a sloppy cur who hunts Africa's big game in illegal hunting parks in Florida. There's not a shred of the politicaly correct about the book; it's dark satire where the funniest running gag involves the systematic dismemberment of a dead dog. So when I took a peek at the dust jacket, I was shocked to see that it bills itself as "brilliantly twisted entertainment wrapped around a powerful ecological plea." But I suppose it is. Right now, in the middle of a campaign where earnest sentiments are about as visible as a subliminal "flash" message, it takes a beat to recognize any sort of "powerful plea" that isn't in oversize bold type and accompanied by some bland Top 40 soundtrack.

-- Kerry Lauerman

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
I'm reading for background during my trip to Australia to cover the Olympics. It's a lighter book than Robert Hughes' "The Fatal Shore," but Bryson is a great companion to wander about with. He's a witty bon vivant, a raconteur and all-around good guy. The goodwill of his personality is infectious, too. While this is hardly the last word on contemporary Australia -- there's a slight quality of shtick to it and sometimes it feels like a series of magazine stories that's too much of a paean -- it's a rollicking good read. Bryson does deal with some of the dark stuff in Australian history, such as the way they'll change the subject when the Aborigines come up (not that any American could stand in judgment of them on that), but you won't find mordant critical observations here as you do with Hughes. It's a total love letter.

-- Gary Kamiya

Recent books praised by Salon's critics

What to read: September fiction
From a surreal, carnal coming-of-age set on Coney Island to a wicked, gossipy story of the literary life, our critics pick the best books.
By Salon's critics
[09/13/00]

Into the Tangle of Friendship by Beth Kephart
A memoir that celebrates the most ubiquitous, least definable passion.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Judd
[09/14/00]

Noodling for Flatheads by Burkhard Bilger
A tribute to moonshiners, squirrel-brain eaters, cockfighters and other Southern holdouts against a bland and uniform national culture.
Reviewed by Jonathan Miles
[09/13/00]

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The novelist's latest masterwork blends mystery, futuristic fantasy and family saga.
Reviewed by Karen Houppert
[09/12/00]

Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard
In his latest black-comic thriller, the peerless crime novelist takes his wisecracking swindlers from post-massacre Rwanda to downtown Detroit.
Reviewed by Charles Taylor
[09/07/00]

Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen E. Ambrose
The bestselling historian serves up the stirring tale of the unsung men who built the transcontinental railroad.
Reviewed by Stephen Prothero
[09/05/00]

Keep Australia on Your Left by Eric Stiller
The story of an attempt to kayak around Australia that ended -- refreshingly -- not with triumph or disaster but with honest failure.
Reviewed by Pete Wells
[08/31/00]

NYPD: A City and Its Police by James Lardner and Thomas Repetto
Behind the "blue wall of silence" of America's biggest and oldest police force, two authors find equal parts heroism and corruption
Reviewed by Andrew O'Hehir
[08/24/00]

The Secret Parts of Fortune by Ron Rosenbaum
The author of "Explaining Hitler" shares his adventures and passions, from getting caught in a pissing match with Oliver Stone to tracking down the inventor of canned laughter.
Reviewed by Mark Schapiro
[08/23/00]

The Heartsong of Charging Elk by James Welch
In this moving, nourishing novel the Native American writer probes the culture shock of an Oglala Sioux abandoned in France by Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
Reviewed by Jonathan Miles
[08/15/00]

The Making of Intelligence by Ken Richardson
A new attempt to answer a stubborn old question: If humans are such an intelligent species, why can't we figure out what IQ tests measure?
Reviewed by Christine Kenneally
[08/09/00]

Writing on Drugs by Sadie Plant
The author embarks on a stimulating trip into literature's strangest, smokiest den.
Reviewed by Gary Kamiya
[08/04/00]

The Dragon Syndicates by Martin Booth
The blood-soaked history of the Chinese secret societies that started the heroin trade and invented the "death by myriad swords."
Reviewed by Greg Villepique
[08/02/00]

A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You by Amy Bloom
A collection of stories that look frankly at the lives of transsexuals, adulterers, cancer survivors and angry teenagers.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Macklin
[08/01/00]

Herman Melville by Elizabeth Hardwick
A great critic takes on a great novelist, finding agony, homoeroticism and, ultimately, mystery.
Reviewed by Maria Russo
[07/26/00]

Assassination by Miles Hudson
A historian coolly assesses whether killing a leader is a useful political tactic.
Reviewed by Matthew DeBord
[07/25/00]

What to read: The best of July's fiction
Novels of love and evil, from lesbian Victoriana to deft, Vonnegut-style humor and gritty Indian realism.
Reviewed by Salon's critics
[07/24/00]

An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
The author of "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt" creates a heroine with violent dreams, a passion for numbers and some problems with sex.
Reviewed by Mike Albo
[07/20/00]

Little Saint: The Hours of Saint Foy by Hannah Green
On the trail of a French martyr beheaded by her father for embracing Christianity instead of the goddess Diana.
Reviewed by Laura Morgan Green
[07/18/00]

Collapse: When Buildings Fall Down by Phillip Wearne
Read the hair-raising details of how and why man-made structures come tumbling to earth!
Reviewed by Greg Villepique
[07/13/00]

The Language War by Robin Tolmach Lakoff
From hate speech laws to the battle over Native American sports team names, a linguist shows why we're so worked up about the power of words.
Reviewed by Virginia Vitzthum
[07/11/00]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
The plot deepens as the fourth Harry Potter book takes Rowling's young hero to his darkest adventure yet.
Reviewed by Charles Taylor
[07/10/00]

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
A strangely powerful first novel about spelling, mysticism and finding God in the details.
Reviewed by Gavin McNett
[07/05/00]

The Moose That Roared by Keith Scott
A fact-crammed history of the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" show and its gleefully prankish creators.
Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
[06/30/00]

Gig edited by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe and Sabin Streeter
In an update of Studs Terkel's "Working," Americans tell all about the jobs they hate and love.
Reviewed by Ann Marlowe
[06/28/00]

Vertigo by W.G. Sebald
The tale of a strange quest, haunted by the ghost of Kafka, from one of the oddest great writers around.
Reviewed by Brigitte Frase
[06/26/00]

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
In another sidesplitting collection, the author writes about his foulmouthed brother, his hopeless French and his brief career as a speed-freak performance artist.
Reviewed by Greg Villepique
[06/09/00]


By Salon Staff

MORE FROM Salon Staff


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Books