Heartfelt memoir of Lynch Happy Accidents: A Memoir By Jane Lynch Unlike the conniving, feisty -- and hilarious -- character on megahit “Glee” that has catapulted her to fame, Jane Lynch does have a heart. The deliciously evil Sue Sylvester’s voice is drowned out by Lynch’s heartfelt and hilarious forthrightness in her new memoir, “Happy Accidents.” Lynch took a long, varied path to stardom o...

Old Korean folktales on women Virtuous Women: Three Classic Korean Novels Translated by Richard Rutt and Kim Chong-un (Royal Asiatic Society) Meet some of the most famous female characters of Korea’s traditional folktales. Translated by Richard Rutt and Kim Chong-un in the 70s, “Virtuous Women: Three Classic Korean Novels” presents three of the most popular Korean folktales of all time, feat...

The two most moving scenes in Tom Perrotta’s sixth novel, “The Leftovers,” come late in the book. In the first, Kevin Garvey ― abandoned husband, distracted father, mayor of the affluent suburb of Mapleton ― tells a woman he’s been dating that he’s just heard from his college-age son for the first time in months. “Were you close?” she asks, herself a bit distracted. “He was my little boy, I was a...

On the third floor of a big, gray building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, silver-haired docent Julie Chelminski recently stepped up to the middle of a hushed room and faced 15 spellbound tourists. “On the walls of this room there were 9,000 drawers,” Chelminski said. “And in those drawers were 10 million cards.” This was in the New York Public Library’s catalog room. And these were book peopl...

LONDON (AP) ― The family of Roald Dahl is trying to raise the funds to preserve a hut in which the late writer wrote tales of big friendly giants, fantastic foxes and magical chocolate factories The family hopes to raise 500,000 pounds ($790,000) to stop the 50-year-old brick and polystyrene shed ― preserved as it was when Dahl died in 1990 ― from falling apart. Relatives plan to move the inter...

Book comes out as part of an ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s first year in office NEW YORK (AP) ― It’s a side of Jacqueline Kennedy only friends and family knew. Funny and inquisitive, canny and cutting. In “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life With John F. Kennedy,” the former first lady was not yet the jet-setting celebrity of the late 1960s or...

A savage critique of China’s ‘great rise’ Why China Will Never Rule the World By Troy Parfitt (Western Hemisphere Press) The title of “Why China Will Never Rule the World” points to a provocative argument, but few readers will be prepared for just how damning an assessment author Troy Parfitt makes of a country touted by many as a superpower-in-waiting. It’s not just the idea of China ever l...

Tower of Ants By Choi In-ho (Hollym) A young man who isn’t happy with his job as a copy writer for an advertising company, one day finds his flat suddenly infested with ants. He tries to get them out of his place, but their numbers only grow until they take over his personal space. This grotesque and rather fantasy-like novella by author Choe In-ho delves into the meaning of lost individualit...

A baby is snatched by crows. His sister treks into the woods to find him and is followed by one Curtis Mehlberg, “son of Lydia and David, resident of Portland, Ore., comic-book fan boy, persecuted loner.” Wild adventures ensue. If the story sounds like modern-day folklore from the band the Decemberists, it is, in a way. The sturm und drang just isn’t set to a catchy blend of the band’s bouzouki...

Anatoly Kim shares how he inherited artistic spirit from famous ancestors His grandfather was a Korean farmer who wanted land of his own. After realizing he would never be able to own land in Korea, his home country, he decided to move to the Russian Far East in 1908, leaving everything behind including his family. He wanted “his” land that badly. “His dream never came true because the Russian...

The Korean Culture and Information Service has published the English-language book “The Korean Wave” to introduce the country’s contemporary pop culture, which has gained attention overseas with the spread of K-pop and Korean dramas. The book is the first publication of the four-part “K-Culture Series” through which the KOIS plans to introduce detailed culture content this year. “The Korean Wav...

KBS CoolFM (89.1 Mhz) will feature the life of late Catholic missionary and physician Lee Tae-seok, who devoted his life to helping people in southern Sudan, for its special English program for children Sept. 12-13. Prepared exclusively for the upcoming Chuseok holidays, the show, titled “The Greatest Love of All,” will have the Korean introduction by actor Sohn Hyun-joo and child actor Yang Han...

U.S. magazine publishes Korean short fiction for the first time The English-language translation of author Yi Mun-yol’s 1982 novella, “An Anonymous Island” will be published on the New Yorker’s upcoming issue on Sept. 12, Yi’s local publisher Minumsa said. The American magazine ― established in 1925 ― is well-known for its attention to modern fiction and literary reviews, along with its comment...

New York magazine publishes Korean short fiction for the first time The English-language translation of author Yi Mun-yol’s 1982 novella, “An Anonymous Island” will be published on the New Yorker’s upcoming issue on Sept. 12, Yi’s local publisher Minumsa said. Yi Mun-yol The American magazine -- established in 1925 -- is well-known for its attention to modern fiction and literary reviews, alon...

The Cut By George Pelecanos (Little, Brown and Co.) At Thrillerfest, a crime writers conference held in Manhattan this summer, dozens of literary agents spent half a day listening to would-be authors pitch their ideas for books about grizzled Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who return to the states to fight crime. To nearly all of them, the agents said thanks, but no thanks. Agents attribu...