domingo, 17 de julio de 2011

Books review


Sunday Book Review

‘The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning’

Andy Warhol’s “Five Deaths,” circa 1963.
Andy Warhol Foundation/Art Resource, NY
Andy Warhol’s “Five Deaths,” circa 1963.
Maggie Nelson’s meditation on violence in our culture aims its criticisms at the fine arts, literature, theater and even poetry.

‘Railroaded’

The historian Richard White sees the 19th-century American railways as a Gilded Age extravagance that worked social, political and environmental havoc.

‘The Big Roads’

Earl Swift’s account of the creation of the U.S. expressway system is textured and nuanced, easy on the asphalt, long on personalities.
Esmeralda Santiago

‘Conquistadora’

Esmeralda Santiago’s heroine, a feminist before her time, runs a sugar plantation in 19th-century Puerto Rico.

‘The Last Werewolf’

A novel narrated by a werewolf, morally as well as physically ambiguous, who is tortured by the spirits of his victims and ready to surrender to his pursuers.

‘Turn of Mind’

This haunting first novel’s deeply unreliable narrator is a former surgeon with Alzheimer’s and the prime suspect in her best friend’s murder.

‘Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet’

While detailing the great harm done by humans, Tim Flannery also writes hopefully about the earth’s future.

‘Tangled Webs’

James B. Stewart warns of the risks of a perjury epidemic that has “infected nearly every aspect of society.”
Margaret Drabble

‘A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman’

Margaret Drabble’s short-story collection reflects the last half of the 20th century.
Children's Books
From “Orani”

‘Orani: My Father’s Village’

This picture book documents an American girl’s adventures in her father’s native Sardinia.

‘Small Town Sinners’

In Melissa Walker’s young adult novel, a girl coming of age in an evangelical community begins to test boundaries and question absolute faith.

‘Dreams of Significant Girls’ and ‘Dancing Home’

A novel of girls at an elite Swiss boarding school in the 1970s, and another of two Mexican-American fifth-graders struggling with assimilation.

Bookshelf: America

Children’s and young adult books about baseball, Ben Franklin, Lewis and Clark and more.

‘Level Up’

A graphic novel about video games, growing up Asian-American and the challenges of meeting parental expectations.
Book News and Reviews
George R. R. Martin
Karolina Webb
George R. R. Martin
BOOKS OF THE TIMES

‘A Dance With Dragons’

The latest installment in George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” cycle is like a sprawling 19th-century novel turned out in fantasy motley, more Balzac and Dickens than Tolkien.
MOVIE REVIEW | 'HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2'

Class Dismissed

Childhood ends with tears and howls and swirls of smoke, the shock of mortality and bittersweet smiles in the grave, deeply satisfying final movie in the “Harry Potter” series.
THE HOT LIST | BOOKS

A Prescient Novel Retains Its Power

Michiko Kakutani says Don DeLillo’s 1997 novel, “Underworld,” is well worth rereading.
THE HOT LIST | BOOKS

A Great Guide (Apologies to Its Author)

Dwight Garner revisits “Hooked,” the ninth collection of Pauline Kael’s film reviews from The New Yorker.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Ben Mezrich

‘Sex on the Moon’

The latest book from Ben Mezrich, the baloney artist who wrote the Facebook story “The Accidental Billionaires,” concerns the theft of priceless Moon rock samples.
Ann Dunham, the president's mother, in Indonesia.

Book Challenges Obama on Mother’s Deathbed Fight

The book suggests that the president mischaracterized a central anecdote about Ann Dunham’s deathbed dispute with her insurance company.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Owen Jones

‘Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class’

Writing with wit and outrage, Owen Jones offers a portrait and a defense of the British working class.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Dana Spiotta

‘Stone Arabia’

In Dana Spiotta’s new novel, a Los Angeles musician’s family feels the fallout from his devotion to what might have been.
The author Donald Ray Pollock grew up in Knockemstiff, Ohio, and the small village continues to influence his work.

Writer Remains Literary Voice of Knockemstiff

Donald Ray Pollock has followed his 2008 short-story collection, “Knockemstiff,” with a novel, also set in the Ohio town of that redolent name.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Jason Zinoman

‘Shock Value’

“Shock Value” tells the story of how the seminal shockers of the late 1960s and early ’70s came to be and how a handful of films and filmmakers brought the scary horror movies back to life.
Book Review Back Page
ESSAY

The Me My Child Mustn’t Know

Can a memoirist write with total honesty if she is worried about what her son might think?

Poetry Chronicle

Poetry by Michael Dickman, Ross Gay, C. Dale Young and Chris Martin.

Book Review Podcast

Featuring conversations with the novelists John Banville, a k a Benjamin Black, and Esmeralda Santiago.
  •  This Week's Book Review Podcast (mp3)
The Times's Critics
Recent reviews by:
Magazine
MAGAZINE PREVIEW

Miranda July Is Totally Not Kidding

She is the most honest, uninhibited filmmaker of our time. Or: She’s twee, precious and maddening. Discuss. Nicely.
FIRST

Let’s Ban Books, Or at Least Stop Writing Them

Why do so many reporters at The Times want to write books? Why, in fact, would anyone want to?
Business
OFF THE SHELF

Compelling Tales, Rarely Told Well

I find the quality of too many business books, well, underwhelming. There. I said it.
Home
BOOKS

A History of Design Gets an Update

The second edition of “A History of Design from the Victorian Era to the Present” is being published this week, more than four decades after the first edition.
MOTHERLODE BLOG

Motherlode Book Club: 'Origins'

The latest selection in the Motherlode Book Club: “Origins,” by Annie Murphy Paul
Obituaries
Henry Carlisle in 1988.

Henry Carlisle, Aided Oppressed Writers, Dies at 84

Mr. Carlisle wrote novels of his own, edited Camus and helped translate and publish Solzhenitsyn.
Theodore Roszak

Theodore Roszak, ’60s Expert, Dies at 77

Mr. Roszak popularized the term “counterculture” in referring to a generation that rebelled against war and sought new ways of thinking.
Book Review Features
TBR
George R. R. Martin

Inside the List

Wherein we ready ourselves for the onslaught of George R. R. Martin’s fantasy blockbuster “A Dance With Dragons.”

Editors’ Choice

Recently reviewed books of particular interest.

Paperback Row

Paperback books of particular interest.

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