Book News and Reviews
Barney Poole
Jon Ronson
In “The Psychopath Test,” Jon Ronson takes his mistrust of psychiatry along on his expeditions, visiting people everywhere from prisons to the corridors of power.
Celebrity Memoirs
BY SHIRLEY MacLAINE and ROB LOWE
Reviewed by CARINA CHOCANO
In their new memoirs, Shirley MacLaine and Rob Lowe treat the reader like a friend while making it clear that noncelebrities can never really understand the strangeness of celebrity life.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Area 51’
By ANNIE JACOBSEN
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
Annie Jacobsen’s exhaustively researched book asserts that its title subject was a cold war site, not a home to little green men.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Electric Eden’
By ROB YOUNG
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
Rob Young’s new book explores folk music during the 1960s and early ’70s in Britain.
At Google, the Book Tour Becomes Big Business
By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI
Many authors may be concerned over Google’s plan to make their books available free online, but a number of them are happy to promote their work at the company’s speakers series.
‘Infamous Players’
By PETER BART
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
Peter Bart’s new memoir recalls his years as a vice president at Paramount under Robert Evans in the late 1960s and 1970s.
At 100, Still a Teacher, and Quite a Character
By JOSEPH BERGER
Bel Kaufman, the granddaughter of the great Yiddish storyteller Sholem Aleichem, taught a course on Jewish humor this year at Hunter College, where she graduated in 1934.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Picture Books About Family Photography
By ANNA ALTER and HARRIET ZIEFERT
Reviewed by PAMELA PAUL
“Grandma’s Wedding Album” depicts an album within a book; “A Photo for Greta” is about a bunny whose father is a photographer.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Small Memories: A Memoir’
By JOSÉ SARAMAGO
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
This memoir by the Nobel laureate José Saramago, who died last spring, ends with a series of old family photographs that he has mischievously annotated.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘On China’
By HENRY KISSINGER
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Henry A. Kissinger’s fascinating, shrewd and sometimes perverse new book, “On China,” tries to show how the history of China has shaped its foreign policy and attitudes toward the West.
Sunday Book Review
‘To End All Wars’
By ADAM HOCHSCHILD
Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
Corbis (1915)
Adam Hochschild’s stirring account of World War I concentrates on appalling losses in the ranks and the courage of dissenters.
‘On China’
By HENRY KISSINGER
Reviewed by MAX FRANKEL
China and America are mutually dependent economic giants, Henry Kissinger argues, but they need a design of partnership.
‘A Singular Woman’
By JANNY SCOTT
Reviewed by ELIZA GRISWOLD
This biography of Barack Obama’s mother presents a more complex picture than the president offered in his own books.
‘Among the Truthers’
By JONATHAN KAY
Reviewed by JACOB HEILBRUNN
A journalist travels the world of conspiracy theories, about everything from President Obama’s birthplace to 9/11 to vaccines.
‘The Paper Garden’
By MOLLY PEACOCK
Reviewed by ANDREA WULF
A biography of an 18th-century widow who, in her 70s, invented a new way to depict flowers.
‘Caleb’s Crossing’
By GERALDINE BROOKS
Reviewed by JANE SMILEY
In Geraldine Brooks’s historical novel, a missionary’s daughter forms a bond with a scholarly Indian.
‘The Sly Company of People Who Care’
By RAHUL BHATTACHARYA
Reviewed by DINAW MENGESTU
The narrator of this novel journeys into Guyana’s interior to seek answers about the country’s past.
‘What’s Gotten Into Us?: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World’
By MCKAY JENKINS
Reviewed by ELIZABETH ROYTE
An effort to come to terms with the unknown consequences that synthetic chemicals may hold for consumers.
‘Saints and Sinners: Stories’
By EDNA O'BRIEN
Reviewed by LIESL SCHILLINGER
Some of the restless, searching people in Edna O’Brien’s stories confront political violence, others reflect on disappointing loves.
‘I Have Seen the Future’
By PETER HARTSHORN
Reviewed by KEVIN BAKER
This biography of Lincoln Steffens traces the convictions and delusions of one of the original “muckrakers.”
‘The Wizard of Lies’
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
Reviewed by LIAQUAT AHAMED
A Times journalist explains how Bernard Madoff pulled off history’s greatest Ponzi scheme, and how he got away with it for so long.
‘Rubber Balls and Liquor’
By GILBERT GOTTFRIED
Reviewed by PETER KEEPNEWS
The sometimes controversial comedian Gilbert Gottfried looks back on the performances that brought him attention.
Children’s Books Special Section
Illustration by Elwood H. Smith
Picture Books About Jane Goodall
By PATRICK McDONNELL and JEANETTE WINTER
Reviewed by STEVE JENKINS
A pair of biographies connect a pre-eminent primatologist’s lifelong work to her childhood fascinations.
‘Divergent’
By VERONICA ROTH
Reviewed by SUSAN DOMINUS
In Veronica Roth’s first novel, an urban dystopia is divided into five factions, each guided by a particular virtue.
‘Okay for Now’
By GARY D. SCHMIDT
Reviewed by RICHARD PECK
Gary D. Schmidt tells a tale of an eighth grader’s healing and discovery through art.
‘Noah Barleywater Runs Away’
By JOHN BOYNE
Reviewed by LOIS LOWRY
When an 8-year-old boy gets fed up and leaves home, he meets some strange characters.
‘Beauty Queens’
By LIBBA BRAY
Reviewed by WHITNEY JOINER
Beauty pageant contestants crash on an island, and defy expectations.
Picture Books About Folk Music
Reviewed by SEAN WILENTZ
In these two picture books, an appreciation of folk music is passed from generation to generation.
‘Abandon’
By MEG CABOT
Reviewed by KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI
In this supernatural romance inspired by the myth of Persephone, a girl flirts with a death deity.
Novels About Abusive Relationships
By JENNIFER BROWN and DEB CALETTI
Reviewed by LISA BELKIN
Two young adult novels explore abusive dating relationships.
‘Babymouse: Mad Scientist’ and ‘Squish’
By JENNIFER L. HOLM and MATTHEW HOLM
Reviewed by DAN KOIS
A science project in the “Babymouse” graphic novel series takes on a life of its own in “Squish: Super Amoeba.”
‘Fallen Grace’
By MARY HOOPER
Reviewed by AMANDA FOREMAN
A Victorian orphan goes in search of her missing sister in Mary Hooper’s historical novel.
‘Ruby Red’
By KERSTIN GIER
Reviewed by SUSAN BURTON
In this novel, a London schoolgirl inherits a time-travel gene.
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