domingo, 31 de julio de 2011

Books review


Sunday Book Review

‘This Beautiful Life’

Illustration by office of Paul Sahre
In this timely novel, a family’s Manhattan life comes crashing down when their 15-year-old forwards a sexually explicit video made for him, unsolicited, by a girl two years younger.
THE MECHANIC MUSE

The Jargon of the Novel, Computed

We like to think modern fiction is free from the artificial stylistic pretensions of the past. But computer analysis reveals that linguistic tics unique to fiction writing endure.

‘Age of Greed’

Jeff Madrick traces the regulatory and cultural changes that led to America’s current financial trouble.

‘Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants’

A British nature writer is impressed by the ubiquitous resiliency of what we call weeds.
Sapphire

‘The Kid’

In this sequel to “Push,” Precious has died, and her son finds himself in a world of brutality.

‘Jamrach’s Menagerie’

In Carol Birch’s historical novel, a young boy is lured on a sea voyage to hunt for a Komodo dragon in the East Indies.
Stephen Colbert at the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” last year.

‘Are You Serious?’

Lee Siegel explains how seriousness has evolved in Western society, from the age of Socrates to that of contemporary TV hosts.
Deborah Kay Davies

‘True Things About Me’

A sexual obsession pulls this novel’s heroine into her darkest self.

‘The Astral’

The hero of this novel, a Brooklyn poet, is thrown out by his wife for adultery he didn’t commit.

‘A Billion Wicked Thoughts’

Two computational neuroscientists analyze Web searches to identify sexual desires and preferences.

‘Perplexities of Consciousness’

A philosopher argues that we have a poor understanding of our conscious experience.
Thomas B. Reed

‘Mr. Speaker!’

A life of Thomas Reed, the Gilded Age Congressional leader.
Nuremberg, summer 1945.

‘Exorcising Hitler: The Occupation and Denazification of Germany’

A history of the occupation of Germany after 1945, where there was little resistance to the Allies even as Hitler’s influence lingered.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Pirate Picture Books Ahoy!

Four new picture books about pirate brutes and the pleasures of not bathing, brushing your teeth or speaking proper English.
Book News and Reviews
Melissa Forman
BOOKS OF THE TIMES

‘Northwest Corner’

In “Northwest Corner,” John Burnham Schwartz picks up the story of his novel “Reservation Road” 12 years later.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES

‘Books About Joseph Heller’

Two books about Joseph Heller, by his daughter, Erica Heller (“Yossarian Slept Here”) and Tracy Daugherty (“Just One Catch”).
Bernard L. Madoff,who might be the topic of an untitled book to be released by Little, Brown & Company this fall.

A Publisher Plays Coy With Book Release

Bookstore buyers are in the dark as Little, Brown & Company coyly offers the fall release “Untitled” by Anonymous, marketed as “the inside story of life with one of the most controversial figures of our time.”
A new-releases display at the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle contains both paperbacks and hardcovers. Now publishers often don't wait the traditional year before bringing out paperbacks.

Paperback Publishers Quicken Their Pace

E-books are helping to alter the time-honored schedule for life after hardcover, with softcover versions of novels and nonfiction works being released earlier and earlier.
HUMANITIES 2.0
A digital map of the Gettysburg battlefield illustrates what Gen. Robert E. Lee would have seen on the second day of fighting.

Digital Maps Are Giving Scholars the Historical Lay of the Land

Many-layered mapmaking is helping scholars recreate vanished landscapes and envision history.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Christopher Johnson

‘Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little’

The branding consultant Christopher Johnson explains how to think big and write small when we compose all those little bits that are now a part of our online lives.
A scene from “Golf in the Kingdom,” which opens on Friday. The film, based on the novel of the same title, was shot at Bandon Dunes, a resort in Oregon.

A Mystical Tale, From Tee to Green

After years of development, Michael Murphy’s “Golf in the Kingdom” has been turned into a film by the director Susan Streitfeld and the producer Mindy Affrime.
Events celebrating Marshall McLuhan, in 1967, are being held in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Early Media Prophet Is Now Getting His Due

Events in Europe, Washington and three Canadian cities last week honored the centennial of Marshall McLuhan, who introduced ideas like “the medium is the message” and “the global village” into everyday use.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Katharine Weber

‘The Memory of All That’

The novelist Katharine Weber brings many famous and glamorous names to her memoir, including that of her grandmother’s lover, George Gershwin.
BOOKS

Their Zeal Changed Lives, if Not the System

Dr. David A. Ansell writes about his years working at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where treating patients was often a medical and political struggle.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
Helen Schulman

‘This Beautiful Life’

In “This Beautiful Life” Helen Schulman traces an e-mail caper at a New York private school that goes out of control.
The author Esmeralda Santiago at home in Katonah, N.Y. Her new novel, “Conquistadora,” is an epic of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico in History, Imagined and Real

Esmeralda Santiago’s latest work is a sweeping historical novel set on a plantation in her native Puerto Rico.
Book Review Back Page
SKETCHBOOK | WENDY MACNAUGHTON
Snacks of the Great Scribblers
Walt Whitman began the day with oysters and meat. The novelist Vendela Vida swears by pistachios. Lord Byron sipped vinegar to keep his weight down.
From the Aug. 7 Book Review
ESSAY

The Great Fleet Street Novel

Evelyn Waugh’s 1938 novel “Scoop” features journalists and the police in cahoots, and a press lord with a cult of personality. Sound familiar?

Book Review Podcast

Featuring Helen Schulman on her new novel, “The Beautiful Life”; and the linguist Ben Zimmer on what computer analysis reveals about the jargon of fiction.
  •  This Week's Book Review Podcast (mp3)
The Times's Critics
Recent reviews by:
Metropolitan
BOOKSHELF
German immigrants, 1925.

Giving Voice to Immigrants, Past and Present

A collection of oral histories that recounts the hopes and dreams of immigrants, the best urban sanctuaries in the city and the legacy of Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood.
Style
NOTICED
CUBA'S GLITTERATI Above, Roselyn Mereno Pérez and Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle, Fidel Castro’s son. Center, Che Guevara’s son, Camilo, being interviewed. Top, Cuban night life. The photos are from “Habana Libre.”

What Would Che Say?

Michael Dweck’s new book of photographs includes the creative types who may shape the new Cuba.
Dining

‘The Camping Cookbook’

Annie Bell, an English food writer, shows how to cook and serve with no real counter space and limited sources of clean water.
Your Money
SHORTCUTS
Susan G. Bell self-published her novel,

Options for Self-Publishing Proliferate, Easing the Bar to Entry

A wide range of options exists for authors who choose to forgo traditional book publishing.
Obituaries

George Lascelles, Lord Harewood, Dies at 88; Wrote Opera Reference

A first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, Mr. Lascelles was best known to American readers as the longtime editor of Kobbé’s Complete Opera Book.
Book Review Features

Editors’ Choice

Recently reviewed books of particular interest.

Paperback Row

Paperback books of particular interest.

No hay comentarios: