Newsletter: Books: Food and the stories we tell, plus glam rock and YA in the age of Trump

Are you still shopping for the holidays? Don’t miss our books gift guide!

THE BIG STORY

Susan Straight is one of our Critics at Large and writes an essay for us that’s really hard to sum up (that’s how you can tell it’s a good essay). Basically, it’s about an elk head and food and J. Ryan Stradal’s novel “Kitchens of the Great Midwest” and the stories that echo through our lives. And here is Straight’s essay “Sex in a Pan.”

A LITERARY FEUD

When Vladimir Nabokov first moved to the U.S. in 1940, he was an unknown; “Lolita” was still 15 years away. But Nabokov was soon introduced to one of America’s leading literary figures, the critic Edmund Wilson. Wilson gave Nabokov his first big American break — if you can call book reviewing a big break — and the two became fast friends. And then, enemies. Tyler Malone has our review of “The Feud” by Alex Beam.

Vladimir Nabakov, who in addition to writing enjoyed collecting butterflies.

(Horst Tappe / Getty Images )

BANG A GONG

What is there to make of glam rock, the glitter-filled, self-consciously superficial musical phenomenon of the early ’70s? Simon Reynolds explores that in his 700-page book “Shock and Awe,” which analyzes as much as it celebrates the role of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, forgotten bands such as Mud, early Lou Reed and, of course, David Bowie. Bowie’s “career runs through ‘Shock and Awe’ like real gold thread among all the rhinestones and Lurex,” Elizabeth Hand writes in our “Shock and Awe” review (there are music videos).

OTHER REVIEWS AND NEWS

Los Angeles writer Wendy Ortiz has done something different in her new book, “Bruja,” a raw and dark version of a dream diary, a “dreamoir.” In our review of “Bruja,” Ellie Robins explains that how we think about dreams gets at the changing nature of self. Meanwhile, David Savill, a former journalist, looks to the outside for his first novel, “They Are Trying to Break Your Heart,” an ambitious fiction that ties together the war in Bosnia and the devastating 2004 tsunami; “They Are Trying to Break Your Heart” is reviewed by Melissa Holbrook Pierson. And we talk to several YA authors about writing for teens in the age of Trump.

In the strangest book news this week, author Sara Gruen (“Water for Elephants”) was trying to do something good — raise money for someone who has been wrongly convicted — by getting into the toy resale game. What she got was trouble. The writer bought dozens of this holiday’s hot toy — Hatchimals — at an already high price, then marked them up still further. First, EBay told her to stop, and she was worried she’d lose the $20,000 she’d spent. Then she got accused of “Christmas greed” and worse by parents desperate to get the toys for their kids. Here’s the whole crazy story — and if you’re a parent searching for a Hatchimal, she still (as of this writing) has some for sale at the Gruen Zoo.

BESTSELLERS

“The Daily Show” makes a double appearance on our nonfiction bestseller list this week. Debuting at No. 3 is “The Daily Show: An Oral History” by Chris Smith, Jon Stewart and a big cast of characters that includes guests, commentators and hosts. That includes Trevor Noah, the show’s current host, whose own memoir debuts at No. 6 on the list. “Born a Crime” is Noah’s story of growing up mixed-race in South Africa; when he was born in 1984, the country was still under apartheid.

Trevor Noah

(Paul Zimmerman / Getty Images )

T.C. BOYLE

T.C. Boyle is one of Southern California’s literary stars; he’s known primarily for writing novels (“The Terranauts,” “The Tortilla Curtain,” “The Women”). This week, though, he wrote an essay for BuzzFeed — it’s about the death of a close friend, a fellow wild child, someone he’d fictionalized in his own work. The moving essay is “Death Comes for the Quaalude King of Lake Tahoe,” and if “Quaalude” went over the heads of a few younger online readers, well, they probably got the idea.

KEEP READING

I’m book editor Carolyn Kellogg, and no, I never actually saw a Quaalude, but I have read about them. What are you reading? Tell me at carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com.