Sunday Book Review
Paolo Ventura
‘1861: The Civil War Awakening’
By ADAM GOODHEART
Reviewed by DEBBY APPLEGATE
In this exhilarating account of the Civil War’s first stage, Adam Goodheart turns his lens upon some fascinating figures who loomed large at the time but have now been mostly forgotten.
‘Reading My Father: A Memoir’
By ALEXANDRA STYRON
Reviewed by JAMES CAMPBELL
William Styron’s daughter tells what it was like to live with her famous father’s depression and paranoia.
‘Ice’
By ICE-T
Reviewed by BAZ DREISINGER
Ice-T — rapper, actor, author — holds forth on urban culture and the price of fame.
ON POETRY
How Poets Achieve Their Styles
By DAVID ORR
A look at new books by Matthew Zapruder, 43, and Rachel Wetzsteon, who killed herself at 42 in 2009.
‘Save Me’
By LISA SCOTTOLINE
Reviewed by CAROLINE LEAVITT
A mother’s action during a school emergency causes an uproar in her idyllic suburban community.
‘The Weird Sisters’
By ELEANOR BROWN
Reviewed by TOM De HAVEN
This first novel is narrated by a trinity of sisters who return home to care for their ailing mother.
‘In the Rooms’
By TOM SHONE
Reviewed by TOM RACHMAN
In Tom Shone’s first novel, a literary agent joins Alcoholics Anonymous to pursue an esteemed author.
‘A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout’
By CARL SAFINA
Reviewed by GREGG EASTERBROOK
A report from a marine ecologist who scrutinized the Deepwater Horizons oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
‘We Had It So Good’
By LINDA GRANT
Reviewed by STACEY D’ERASMO
Linda Grant’s novel follows a generation through a British couple who met in college in the late 1960s.
‘The Age of Airpower’
By MARTIN VAN CREVELD
Reviewed by MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
Martin van Creveld questions Americans’ faith in air power as a way to win a war without a heavy price.
‘Scribble, Scribble, Scribble’
By SIMON SCHAMA
Reviewed by PHILLIP LOPATE
In these essays, the historian Simon Schama roams among various pursuits, both broad and intimate.
‘News From the World’
By PAULA FOX
Reviewed by DAVID LEAVITT
This literary assortment from Paula Fox includes stories, essays and memoir fragments, written over the course of half a century.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Old-School Interactive Books
By ARTHUR GEISERT and HERVE TULLET
Reviewed by PAMELA PAUL
Two new picture books, “Ice” and “Press Here,” invite reader engagement without bells or whistles.
Book News and Reviews
Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times
A school in Sarhad-e Broghil built by Greg Mortenson’s charity
Two Schools in Afghanistan, One Complicated Situation
By EDWARD WONG
The “Three Cups of Tea” author Greg Mortenson’s charitable work, seen up close, suggests the complexity of development work in Afghanistan.
Judge Approves Bonus Plan for Executives of the Borders Group
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The bankruptcy judge said a revised plan was “in the best interests of the debtors, their estates and creditors.”
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘My New American Life’
By FRANCINE PROSE
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
In Francine Prose’s new novel, an Albanian immigrant seeks the good life by inventing stories of her old one.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Stories I Only Tell My Friends’
By ROB LOWE
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
Often in his memoir, “Stories I Only Tell My Friends,” Rob Lowe, who shows himself to be smart and self-deprecating, marvels at the sheer absurdity of his circumstances.
Newly Released Books
By SUSANNAH MEADOWS
This month turns out to be a cruel one for women, with new releases — from Jo Ann Beard, Siri Hustvedt, Mary Gordon, Linda Grant, David Hewson and Michael Wallner — exploring themes of adolescence, adultery, aging and murder.
SKIN DEEP
This Is What ‘Parisienne’ Looks Like
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Inès de la Fressange, businesswoman and former model, wrote a best-selling book of tips on how to look Parisian.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Reading My Father: A Memoir’
By ALEXANDRA STYRON
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
Alexandra Styron writes of growing up with a novelist who had a charmed social circle and difficult personality.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Idea Man’
By PAUL ALLEN
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
The headline-making aspect of Mr. Allen’s memoir is his depiction of the stormy relationship with Bill Gates as two business partners’ equivalent of a first bad marriage.
BOOKS ON SCIENCE
Eighty Years Along, a Longevity Study Still Has Ground to Cover
By KATHERINE BOUTON
Researchers find conscientiousness might be the key to a long life.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Unfamiliar Fishes’
By SARAH VOWELL
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Sarah Vowell’s “Unfamiliar Fishes” is a relentlessly casual, personal take on the Americanization of Hawaii.
‘Three Cups of Tea’ Author Defends Book
By JULIE BOSMAN and STEPHANIE STROM
A CBS News report questioned several facts in Greg Mortenson’s memoir, which has fed a charity he runs.
Sweet Valley Twins Are Back, and, Like Readers, Fully Adult
By JULIE BOSMAN
St. Martin’s Press is navigating the trickiness of reviving a beloved series and directing it at the people who were devoted to it the first time around.
- Fiction
- Nonfiction
PRINT & E-BOOKS
- Fiction
- Nonfiction
HARDCOVER
- Trade Fiction
- Mass-Market Fiction
- Nonfiction
PAPERBACK
ESSAY
An Evangelical Pastor Opens the Gates of Heaven
By LAUREN F. WINNER
In his controversial new best seller, “Love Wins,” the evangelical minister Rob Bell challenges traditional views of heaven and hell.
CRIME
Covert Operations
By MARILYN STASIO
Mystery novels by Anne Perry, Philip Kerr, David Downing and Julia Spencer-Fleming.
Book Review Podcast
Featuring Adam Goodheart on his book “1861: The Civil War Awakening”; and excerpts from a panel discussion about the role of poetry in the modern world.
This Week's Book Review Podcast (mp3)
2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced
By JEREMY W. PETERS
The New York Times won two Pulitzer Prizes for commentary and foreign reporting in 2010, while The Los Angeles Times received the coveted public service Pulitzer.
Graphic Books Best Sellers: Dates, Heroes and Fairies
April 22, 2011
Book Review Podcast: The Civil War
April 22, 2011
'Dark Knight Returns' Page Up for Auction
April 22, 2011
Week in Review
Why the King James Bible Endures
By CHARLES McGRATH
The King James Bible turns 400 next month. But it still speaks to current debates over how best to translate sacred texts.
Sunday Magazine
Shaun Tan’s Wild Imagination
By CARLO ROTELLA
Already celebrated in his native Australia, the artist has emerged on the global stage at 37 as a major visual storyteller.
Metro
In Elite Library Archives, a Dispute Over a Trove
By MICHAEL BARBARO
Paul Brodeur, a former investigative reporter for The New Yorker, claims the New York Public Library has mishandled the collection of documents he donated to its archives.
Business
Scenes From the Madoff Masquerade
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
Bernard L. Madoff remained calm and seemingly in control as the financial crisis closed in around him, a new book says.
Book Review Features
Up Front: Baz Dreisinger
By THE EDITORS
Baz Dreisinger started writing about hip-hop in the late 1990s, as both an academic and a journalist.
TBR
Inside the List
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Greg Mortenson, whose “Three Cups of Tea” clocks its 220th week on the paperback nonfiction list, tests the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.
Interactive Guide
