Noteworthy from the Trib

Several interesting items from the Tribune books section this week.

No Place for Children: Voices From Juvenile Detention, by photojournalist Steve Liss, looks like an absolutely essential piece of journalism. Stellar photographs of the inmates of the Wade County juvenile detention system in Laredo, Texas (there's that state again) are supplemented by transcipts of inmate interviews. (Though the Trib printed several of Liss' photos, none appear on its website.) As reviewer Beth Kephart puts it: "Liss does not once cross the line and exploit his subjects. He does not seek to shock us; he seeks to help us understand: That these children should not be behind bars. That they are suffering from poverty and fractured homes, from mental illness or addiction. That their crimes, 75 percent of the time, are nonviolent. That what they need is help: love, education, diagnoses, medical attention, a firm guiding hand." It's probably wishful thinking that our neanderthal political leaders would take notice of this message, but that's what I'm hoping for anyway.

Luis J. Rodriguez's Music of the Mill gets the front page treatment and a glowing review from Patricia Henley: "Rodriguez's life is a triumph of art over circumstance, and Music of the Mill is that triumph's soundtrack."

And the Trib's baffling review timeliness continues, as they finally get around to covering Andrew Winston's Looped, which was released back in February. As I've noted on several occasions, if the Trib truly cared about the local arts community, they'd be a lot more prompt about reviewing reviews from area novelists. Reviewer Bill Savage finds some fault with the range of Winston's storylines ("And while the plots have their share of intrigue and interest, the storylines aren't sharp enough to provide plot-oriented, pop-culture guilty pleasures.") which really doesn't surprise me. Though I haven't yet read the novel, I would have been very surprised if the writer could have possibly given ample depth to the 20+ characters portrayed in the novel. Even John Dos Passos, to whose Manhattan Transfer Winston's novel has been compared by Savage and at least one other reviewer I've read, didn't try to tackle that many central characters in his landmark novel. Overall, Savage gives a very guarded recommendation: "Readers of Looped might want either more-ambitious art or more down-and-dirty drama, but perhaps the middle ground between Manhattan Transfer and Tales of the City is someplace worth occupying." Regardless, Looped is still high up on my to-read list.

Lastly, the "From the Precincts" section ("Local booksellers tell us what Chicago is buying") welcomingly strays from its usual dispatch from the Deerfield Borders and the Schaumburg Barnes & Noble--where James Patterson and Mitch Albom are undoubtedly still selling briskly--to report from the incorrigable Quimby's Bookstore in Wicker Park:

1. Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture, edited by Thurston Moore (Universe, $22.50)
Essays about creating mixed audiotapes, edited by a member of the band Sonic Youth.

2. H.P. Lovecraft: Against the Word, Against Life by Michael Houellebecq (Believer, $18)
A European writer's appraisal of author H.P. Lovecraft's life and work.

3. Blecky Yuckerella, by Johnny Ryan (Fantagraphics, $11.95 paper)
A collection of the weekly comic strip, which appears in Vice Magazine and in the Portland Mercury.

4. Disposable, by Sean Cilver (Concrete Wave, $24.95)
The history of skateboard art.

5. I Am Alive and You Are Dead, by Emmanuel Carrere (Picador, $15 paper)
A biography of science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick.

Neither a Tuesday nor a Morrie in sight.