The week in books: from Bond to black power

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Florence is hot: ‘The Monster of Florence’ by Douglas Preston is #13 in our nonfiction bestsellers list; ‘The Enchantress of Florence’ by Salman Rushdie is #2 in fiction.

Rushdie won the Booker of Bookers this week for his 1981 winner book ‘Midnight’s Children,’ prompting Jacket Copy to look at other trophies he’s gathered (pretty ladies all).

‘First Stop in the New World’ looked into the inner life of Mexico City, while we got the straight talk from Gustavo Arellano, the writer behind the O.C. Weekly column and book called ‘¡Ask a Mexican!’

James Bond got kicked around and Janet Carlson kicked up her heels.

We looked at black power, in the upper crust of Stephen L. Carter’s novel ‘Palace Council’ and the historic political role of African-American entertainers, from Paul Robeson to Spike Lee, in Richard Iton’s ‘In Search of the Black Fantastic.’

Speaking of powerful African Americans: Barack Obama has two nonfiction books on the L.A. Times paperback bestsellers list, ‘The Audacity of Hope’ at #3 and ‘Dreams From My Father’ at #8. (John McCain’s ‘Why Courage Matters’ does not appear in the Top 10).

Carolyn Kellogg