The New York Times calls it “riveting”, a “meticulous dissection of the Enron story.” Kurt Eichenwald weaves together the stories of Enron’s top executives in the years and months leading up to the startling collapse of “America’s best-managed company.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson has been diagnosed with liver cancer and told a newspaper in his native Pittsburgh that he is dying.

Wilson has recently been completing his 10-play cycle chronicling the black experience in 20th-century America. Two of the plays in this cycle – “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson” earned Pulitzer Prizes. The 10th and final play, “Radio Golf,” is now running at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Wilson was diagnosed with the ailment in June. He is 60 years old and lives in Seattle.

No new play or dance events on the horizon for The Play Ground to report on so, while the nice weather is still here, we will continue to cover outdoor events. Dawn Farm, a facility that assists addicts and alcoholics in achieving long term recovery, is hosting a Dawn Farm Jamboree on September 11 at their farm in Ypsilanti. It is a family event with activities for all ages.
If you wish to brush up on the topic before you go, here is a book you may be interested in: The Wellness-Recovery Connection: Charting Your Pathway To Optimal Health While Recovering From Alcoholism And Drug Addiction by John Newport.

Satchel O'Rye, 23 and unemployed in a dying town in rural Australia, feels trapped but obliged to stay with his delusional father and unwell mother. Satchel's dad has closed his service station because he believes that "God will provide." His mother works as a nurse but her pay barely keeps the family afloat. While chopping wood, Satchel sees a strange striped animal. The sister of a friend tells him it's a sidestep wolf or Tasmanian tiger thought to be extinct in Australia. Then Satchel's beloved dog is hit by a car. When he sees the tiger again, he's caught in the moral dilemma of either revealing its existence to gain recognition and perhaps money for his dog's surgery or leaving the animal to run free. Sonya Hartnett, an award winning Australian author, draws interesting parallels between Satchel, the town and the tiger, all struggling to survive.

"Startlingly original . . . Be prepared to be astonished."— The New York Times Book Review

Maisie Dobbs might not be a household name like Miss Marple or Kinsey Millhone but this third installment in the series by Jacqueline Winspear could change that.

In Pardonable Lies, Maisie Dobbs, a London psychologist and PI extraordinaire will journey back to painful memories of WWI and test her relationships with an old friend in order to fulfill a deathbed request to track down a young pilot who disappeared under questionable circumstances. Excerpt

For another exceptional British mystery of the same period, you might want to give Rennie Airth's River of Darkness, or the latest from Anne Perry, entitled Angel in the Gloom a try.

Melina Marchetta's 1992 novel Looking for Alibrandi won numerous literature prizes and landed on the national Australian high school reading list. Saving Francesca is Marchetta's first book in over ten years and her observations of school, family, and spirituality remain spot-on. The protagonist's biting wit and fierce love for her family and friends make this a must-read for fans of Louise Rennison or Laurie Halse Anderson.

When a family reads three or four picture books a night as part of the bedtime ritual, it is easy to lose sight of the concept of picture books as art.
A current exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago reminds us how talented picture book illustrators can be. The exhibit is called Fantasy, Facts and Furry Friends: Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, 2001-2005. You can view the original artwork and the finished book side by side. Many different styles of art are featured. Kevin Henkes' 2005 Caldecott winner Kitten's First Full Moon, completely drawn in black and white, is showcased. Brian Collier's lush jewel-toned illustrations for Doreen Rappaport's Martin's Big Words are included. Mo Willems' famous pigeon from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is there along with many others.
If you're in the Chicago area, don't miss this exhibit. It runs through October 30.

Sherlock Holmes--what other literary character has appeared in so many stories not written by his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Four notable additions to this Conan Doyle sub-genre have appeared in the past year:

In Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind, Holmes is 93, no longer sure of his memory or of his interpretation of events. His post-atom bomb visit to Hiroshima with a Japanese correspondent is haunting.

Michael Chabon's The Final Solution: A Story of Detection, also taking place after WWII, introduces a mute young refugee from the Third Reich. Caleb Carr's The Italian Secretary takes Holmes and Watson to Edinburgh, where murderous scoundrels are profiting from historic events at Holyrood Castle.

Avoiding school supply sales like the plague? Trying to get the most out of your last days of freedom? Need a book that is GUARANTEED to make every minute spent reading it worthwhile?

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman is that book. Picture a boy out on an important date, (his best friend's vicarious love-life depends on it!). He takes her to a horror movie, then to the beach. The girl is feeling romantic, the boy is feeling lucky. Our hero goes to the trunk to get out the beach blanket, and..

What, you thought I was going to just give it away? Sorry my friend, you'll just have to get the book.

There were no new fiction titles on the list last Sunday. But a few new titles that the editors recommended are always worth a look.

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis has provoked a lot of attention. Ellis has written a novel with a protagonist named Bret Easton Ellis. How much of it is real? Does it matter?

The Good Priest’s Son by Reynolds Price can be added to the small but growing list of 9/11 novels. Once again the prolific Price wrestles with the role of religion in everyday life.