domingo, 22 de mayo de 2011

Book Review


Sunday Book Review
Harold Bloom
Mark Mahaney for The New York Times
Harold Bloom
BOOK REVIEW

‘The Anatomy of Influence’

At the age of 80, with almost 40 books behind him and nearly as many accumulated honors, Harold Bloom has written a kind of summing-up of his monumental career as a critic and scholar.
Albert Brooks

‘2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America’

Albert Brooks’s first novel imagines a cancer-free future in which parents live longer than ever — and children resent them for it.
Jon-Jon Goulian

‘The Man In the Gray Flannel Skirt’

Jon-Jon Goulian has a peculiar strategy for coping with physical insecurity, lofty expectations and other “pressures of modern life.”
Ann Packer

‘Swim Back to Me’

In the stories of Ann Packer, individuals struggle against personal devastation.

‘The Watery Part of the World’

A novel ties the fate of Aaron Burr’s daughter to a cloistered community on the Outer Banks.

‘Pulse’

Julian Barnes’s stories cover loss, friendship, sex and what it takes for two people to click.

‘Join The Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World’

A journalist argues that social networks can mitigate social ills.
Maryam Jameelah in 1962.

‘The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism’

How a Jewish girl from Larchmont became an Islamic polemicist.
Frontispiece of the 1572 Latin edition of Abu Ali al-Hassan ibn al-Haytham's “Optics.”

‘The House of Wisdom’

An Iraqi-born physicist recalls the golden age of Islamic astronomy, mathematics, medicine and philosophy.

‘Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness’

A psychology professor offers the theory that consciousness is a show we stage for ourselves.
Whose revolutionary ideals? An incident during Shays's Rebellion.

‘Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation’

A collection of essays expands our textbook view of the American Revolution.

‘Bottom of the 33rd’

Dan Barry finds layers of meaning in baseball’s longest game.

‘Tabloid City’

A New York murder tale unfolds over the 24-hour news cycle.
ESSAY

The Case for Self-Publishing

For a writer like me — midcareer, midlist, more or less middlebrow — self-publishing seems to make a lot of sense.
CRIME

Touch of Evil

Mystery novels by Lawrence Block, Jo Nesbo, Stefanie Pintoff and Scott O’Connor.
Book News and Reviews
Erik Larson
Benjamin Benschneider
Erik Larson
BOOKS OF THE TIMES

‘In the Garden of Beasts’

A Berlin post in the 1930s was no plum, but William E. Dodd accepted the role of ambassador to Germany, and he and his family offer a glimpse into life as Hitler rose to power.

At Home on the Farm and in E-Books

Susan Orlean’s new book, a long essay called “Animalish,” about her love of animals, was written for Amazon’s Kindle Singles collection.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Teju Cole

‘Open City’

Teju Cole’s first novel follows a lugubrious narrator as he wanders around New York.

Newly Released Books

This month’s new releases include Will Allison’s “Long Drive Home,” Mark Watson’s “Eleven,” Danzy Senna’s “You Are Free,” Marcelo Figueras’s “Kamchatka” and Anna Gavalda’s “French Leave.”
CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Bedtime Books for Boys

Three new picture books lull children to sleep with a construction site going to bed, a boy in search of his lost bedtime bunny and the story of a little bear’s day told backwards.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Jon-Jon Goulian, author of “The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt.”

‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt’

A loquacious, high-strung, daft and vaguely sad new memoir by Jon-Jon Goulian, a grandson of Sidney Hook’s.
EXHIBITION REVIEW
A Gutenberg bible on display as part of the New York Public Library's 100th anniversary exhibition.

Oh, the Stuff Those Lions Guard

In “Celebrating 100 Years,” the New York Public Library shows its populist side in a millennium’s worth of artifacts.
Sugar Ray Leonard in 1979.

In Book, Sugar Ray Leonard Says Coach Sexually Abused Him

In his forthcoming autobiography, Sugar Ray Leonard says he was sexually abused by “a prominent Olympic boxing coach” as a young boxer.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Jon Ronson

The Psychopath Test

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

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
Annie Jacobsen

‘Area 51’

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’

Rob Young’s new book explores folk music during the 1960s and early ’70s in Britain.

At Google, the Book Tour Becomes Big Business

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.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Picture Books About Family Photography

“Grandma’s Wedding Album” depicts an album within a book; “A Photo for Greta” is about a bunny whose father is a photographer.
Children’s Books Special Section
Illustration by Elwood H. Smith
Jane Goodall living among the chimpanzees in “The Watcher.”

Picture Books About Jane Goodall

A pair of biographies connect a pre-eminent primatologist’s lifelong work to her childhood fascinations.

‘Divergent’

In Veronica Roth’s first novel, an urban dystopia is divided into five factions, each guided by a particular virtue.

‘Okay for Now’

Gary D. Schmidt tells a tale of an eighth grader’s healing and discovery through art.

‘Noah Barleywater Runs Away’

When an 8-year-old boy gets fed up and leaves home, he meets some strange characters.

‘Beauty Queens’

Beauty pageant contestants crash on an island, and defy expectations.
Dylan playing for Guthrie in “When Bob Met Woody.”

Picture Books About Folk Music

In these two picture books, an appreciation of folk music is passed from generation to generation.

‘Abandon’

In this supernatural romance inspired by the myth of Persephone, a girl flirts with a death deity.

Novels About Abusive Relationships

Two young adult novels explore abusive dating relationships.

‘Babymouse: Mad Scientist’ and ‘Squish’

A science project in the “Babymouse” graphic novel series takes on a life of its own in “Squish: Super Amoeba.”

‘Fallen Grace’

A Victorian orphan goes in search of her missing sister in Mary Hooper’s historical novel.

‘Ruby Red’

In this novel, a London schoolgirl inherits a time-travel gene.
Book Review Preview
Harold Bloom's Influence
Sam Tanenhaus, the Book Review editor, interviewed Harold Bloom, who has achieved an almost unheard-of celebrity for a literary scholar. Bloom's new book is "The Anatomy of Influence."
Albert Brooks's First Novel
Albert Brooks has written his first novel, “2030.” The Book Review’s editor, Sam Tanenhaus, interviews the acclaimed actor, screenwriter and director about the art of writing fiction.
Rob Lowe Wrote a Book
Rob Lowe discusses his memoir, “Stories I Only Tell My Friends,” with Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of the Book Review.
Jane Goodall, Illustrated
Two new children's books explore the life of Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee expert and prominent conservationist. The Times spoke with Dr. Goodall about living out her childhood dreams.
SKETCHBOOK
Book Covers That Got Away
A gallery of rejected book cover designs whose creators couldn’t quite let them rest in peace.

Book Review Podcast

A conversation with Harold Bloom about his life and work and Albert Brooks discusses his first novel,”2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America.”
  •  This Week's Book Review Podcast (mp3)
Related in Opinion
OPINIONATOR | FIXES

Publishers as Partners in Literacy

First Book Marketplace, which makes quality new books affordable for poor children, helps in ways that libraries and used book bins can’t.
The Times's Critics
Recent reviews by:
Children’s Books
Children’s Bookshelf: Wheels
Picture books about bicycles, wagons and cars.
Children’s Bookshelf: Cats & Dogs
Picture books about pets and working animals.
T Magazine
HAND GESTURE -- As Jacques Chirac demonstrated to Laura Bush in 2003, a kiss is never just a kiss.

Operation Seduction

Is everyone in France out to rope you in? Mais oui! Elaine Sciolino unmasks a nation forever obsessed with the soft sell.
Magazine
RIFF

Eat, Pray, Love, Rinse, Repeat

What happens when a character from the book decides to write a memoir about being in a memoir? It’s the dawn of a new genre: the meta-moir.
Business
OFF THE SHELF

Behind the Greening of Wal-Mart

In a new book, Edward Humes tells how a former river-rafting guide convinced Wal-Mart to change its environmental policies.
Book Review Features
TBR
Erik Larson

Inside the List

Erik Larson’s “In the Garden of Beasts” hits the hardcover nonfiction list at No. 4, without any help from Navy Seals or Steven Tyler’s hairdresser.
Tom Carson

Up Front: Tom Carson

The critic Tom Carson has written about music, books, television and film for publications as diverse as The Village Voice and GQ.

Editors’ Choice

Recently reviewed books of particular interest.

Paperback Row

Paperback books of particular interest.

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