By Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner | 320pgs
Release Date: April 24, 2012

Summary:
Fans of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series will rejoice with the release of the new book The Wind Through the Keyhole. Those who have been jonesing for more stories about the Gunslinger Roland Deschain and his adventures through Mid-World, will get the rush of plunging into the author’s incredibly detailed Western/Sci-Fi/Fantasy world for the eighth time. This book, considerably shorter than the last few novels of the series, is a detour that falls between the fourth book Wizard and Glass and the fifth book Wolves of the Calla, in the Dark Tower timeline. As Roland and his ka-tet (Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy) take refuge from a destructive storm, he recounts a story from his youth, the hunt for a vicious shape-shifting serial killer. The teenage Gunslinger investigates the murders, and befriends a young boy left bereft in the wake of the shape-shifter’s violence, comforting him with a mythical legend. Thus begins an intricate story within a story, crafted with King’s signature style and imagination. Read more…

At the invitation of The New York Review of Books Blog to discuss the Coen brothers’ latest incarnation of True Grit, authors Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana read the original novel by Charles Portis and viewed Henry Hathaway’s 1969 film featuring John Wayne, along with screening the latest movie starring Jeff Bridges. After reviewing all the material, McMurtry and Ossana agreed that the main theme of True Grit in all its incarnations, is loyalty. Set in 1880′s Arkansas, Rooster Cogburn, a curmudgeonly bounty hunter, is pestered by 14-year-old Mattie Ross into helping her avenge her father’s death. As they venture into dangerous Indian Territory on their search for the killer, Tom Chaney, they find an ally in La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger. This story shows that loyalty “doesn’t prevent disagreement, or out-and-out fights, but it is often the coat love wears—a tattered and ragged coat, as in this fine movie—but maybe, just maybe, the best thing we have.” Read more…