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This Trio Of New Offerings Looks Promising

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By KAREN HAYMON LONG, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2008

The best thing about being a book editor: the hundreds of new books that arrive in the mail every week.

The worst thing about being a book editor: the hundreds of new books that arrive every week.

It's tough to decide which are worth reviewing, which may be THE blockbuster and which first novel just might become a runaway hit.

When I took over this job from Kevin Walker last fall, he told me not to be discouraged. It gets easier, he said. You'll make mistakes. You'll disregard a book that everyone else in the world goes nuts for. But, it gets easier.

He offered one more bit of advice: Read page 69. You can always judge a book by Page 69.

I've followed that advice, and it has been pretty much true.

Here are a few new books that I'm betting are winners:

"Havana Deco," by Alejandro G. Alonso, Pedro Contreras and Martino Fagiuoli (W.W. Norton, $39.95)

Maybe because Americans aren't allowed to visit Cuba, many of us are intrigued by it, especially its architecture.

This finely produced book is filled with color photos of the many art deco buildings in Havana and their various architectural elements. Some are breathtaking.

The text describes the history of the buildings and the people who built them. Images offer close-ups of doors, decorative panels, staircases, moldings and even paintings and sculptures.

Like all good architectural books, this one makes you yearn to see the buildings in person.

Sadly, Page 69 isn't inspiring: It shows tiny photos of hospitals.

"Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters," edited by Robert Giroux and Lloyd Schwartz (Library of America, $40)

Due out in February, this excellent, 975-page book contains all the poems Elizabeth Bishop published and many drafts and poems that weren't previously published.

It also features travel stories and 53 letters she wrote from 1933 to 1979 to other illustrious writers, including Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore and Randall Jarrell.

Some well-known writers considered Bishop their favorite poet. This book shows just how talented and smart she was.

"Greetings From St. Petersburg," by Mary L. Martin and Nathaniel Wolfgang-Price (Schiffer Books, $24.95)

Most everyone loves old postcards, and this small coffee table-style book is filled with colorful vintage postcards featuring the many virtues of St. Petersburg.

Some are touristy - a woman at Sunken Gardens climbing a ladder next to two bunches of bananas. Others depict beautiful hotels long since torn down and places, such as The Coliseum, that, thankfully, remain.

It makes for a nice keepsake of St. Petersburg and Old Florida.

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