New book offers myriad resources to help us de-stress our harried lives
Cashing in on stress is big business nowadays. On a daily basis, advertisements bombard us with products promising to help us rest and relax—exercise programs, eating plans, videos, books, music, vacations—all guaranteeing to be the quintessential key to stress reduction. But with our BlackBerrys and iPhones constantly chirruping, oil spills freely gushing into the ocean and the global economy still stagnating it’s no wonder that we have all turned into giant balls of stress and tension, struggling to schlep through our lives day in and day out.

A new graphic novel mirrors life in the deep south—with a twist
In the tradition of groundbreaking graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” and Alan Moore’s “Watchmen,” writer Johnnie (JD) Arnold and artist Rich Koslowski’s new book “BB Wolf and the Three LPs” ingeniously melds the medium of classic comic books with a serious, history-steeped story, all making for an excellent, moving piece of work, which will be celebrated at a release party on July 10 at Comicopolis.

Set in a world mirroring the deep American south of the Jim Crow era, where wolves are the victims of racism and oppression at the hands of hateful pigs, the story follows the life of the title character, a blues musician whose farm and family are unfairly and horrifically taken away from him.

Author Laura Fraser’s account of coming to terms with and then learning to love her place in the world
Being a woman, a writer and an avid traveler, I was intrigued by Laura Fraser’s new book, “All Over the Map.” Travel writing may sound glamorous, but it can be an exhausting and sometimes frightening job. Many of the world’s farthest flung corners, once you set foot in their squalid streets, no longer seem exotic but downright scary. On the other hand, being a travel writer presents a string of riveting sensory experiences that remain engrained on your memory far after the reality has faded into the past. But perhaps more than a focus on travel writing, Fraser’s book, dubbed a “coming of middle-age memoir” by Booklist, is a look into the life of an independent woman who is coming to terms with her internal struggle for excitement and security. In short, she wants to have someone to come home to.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author pens poignant new novel
Literary maven Jane Smiley is no stranger to fame. She has published four works of non-fiction and 13 novels (including the critically acclaimed “A Thousand Acres” which I read in my American Authors class while studying English in college and promptly fell in love with her writing) in the time that many people take to decide where to travel for summer vacation.  Her latest literary foray is entitled, “Private Life,” an illuminating new novel that spans the life of an ordinary woman married to an extraordinary yet self-indulgent man. Or so she thinks. The 20th century has just dawned and Margaret Early, a native of St. Louis, Mo., blithely marries the man her mother chooses for her, and resigns herself to be a dutiful housewife. Her secretive new husband moves her to Northern California, where she endures two world wars, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and myriad personal tragedies. Little does she know of the trials and tribulations she will endure as the wife of a Navy captain that fancies himself a scientist of the highest degree. What begins as a marriage based on convenience and security turns into a prison sentence, and Smiley’s lyrical prose explores the life of one woman who lives a life she grows to loathe. To outside observers, Margaret’s existence seems charmed, but on the inside, turmoil and unhappiness threaten to disarm her will to live.

Editor’s note: In this week’s Poetry Corner, we feature the work of D. A. Powell, the author of “Tea,” “Lunch,” and “Cocktails,” which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. His most recent collection, “Chronic,” was also a finalist for the NBCC Award, and was named a best book of 2009 by Publishers Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications, and won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. He teaches at the University of San Francisco and lives in the Bay Area. The following selected poems, written by D. A. Powell are: “confessions of a teenage drama queen,” “early havoc,” and “he’s a maniac, maniac” from “Chronic,” © 2009. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minn., graywolfpress.org.