On the Cover of Sunday's Book Review
The year's notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.
Also in the Book Review
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
The best in picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction, selected by the children's book editor of The New York Times Book Review.
The musician and author thinks Ozzy Osbourne wrote the best rock memoir.
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Most of the current season's cookbooks are heavily influenced, in visual style and in content, by the relentless advance of food television.
By JOSHUA HAMMER
This season's travel books abound with journeys inspired by literary lions, including Epicurus, Virginia Woolf and the Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa.
By DOMINIQUE BROWNING
This season's gardening books include several that honor the tree's noble status.
By ROBERT LANDAU Reviewed by JONATHAN LETHEM
Robert Landau's coffee-table book documents a time when images that originated on album covers or concert posters became oversize roadside attractions.
Edited by BARRY PARIS Reviewed by PETER BOGDANOVICH
The second volume of essays adapted from Stella Adler's legendary theater classes analyzes the works of Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill and others.
By TIM GRAY Reviewed by ANDY WEBSTER
Tim Gray, the editor in chief of Variety, traces the magazine's evolution decade by decade, along with the trajectory of American culture.
By JASON C. ANTHONY Reviewed by REBECCA P. SINKLER
Jason C. Anthony's "Hoosh" is a paean to the lousy food available to Antarctic explorers.
By ORHAN PAMUK. Translated by EKIN OKLAP. Reviewed by EDMUND de WAAL
Orhan Pamuk's guidebook to the museum he created to accompany the novel "The Museum of Innocence."
By ALEXANDRA JACOBS
New illustrated books commemorate anniversaries for the fashion magazines Vogue and W.
By KITTY KELLEY Reviewed by GREG TOBIN
A tribute to the photographer Stanley Tretick and his images of President John F. Kennedy and his family.
By JOSHUA ELI PLAUT Reviewed by ELINOR LIPMAN
Joshua Eli Plaut combines history, Jewish studies and sociology in this examination of Hanukkah.
By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. Edited by JON LELLENBERG and DANIEL STASHOWER. Reviewed by BILL STREEVER
"Dangerous Work" reproduces Arthur Conan Doyle's handwritten journal and illustrations from his time on an Arctic whaler in 1880.
By LARRY McMURTRY Reviewed by TIMOTHY EGAN
Larry McMurtry's breezy tour, with many artifacts, of Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Edited by RUSS KICK Reviewed by ANNIE WEATHERWAX
"The Graphic Canon" reimagines the world's literature as comics and visual art.
By JACOB TOMSKY Reviewed by CLANCY MARTIN
Jacob Tomsky's memoir about his 10-plus years in the hotel business.
By JOE NICK PATOSKI Reviewed by JOHN WILLIAMS
Joe Nick Patoski recounts the wins, losses and exploits of America's Team.
Edited by FRANKLIN FOER and MARC TRACY Reviewed by DAVID OSHINSKY
Fifty portraits of Jews who have influenced sports in the locker room and beyond.
By GARY MARMORSTEIN Reviewed by BRAD LEITHAUSER
A biography of Lorenz Hart, the lyric-writing partner to the composer Richard Rodgers and perhaps the most popular songsmith-poet in America.
By MICHAEL FEINSTEIN with IAN JACKMAN Reviewed by MICHAEL FEINGOLD
The singer-pianist Michael Feinstein's illustrated take on the Gershwins and their work.
By YAEL KOHEN Reviewed by SHEILA WELLER
This oral history traces the rise of women in comedy through the voices of comics, club owners, producers, writers, agents and network executives.
By CAMILLE PAGLIA Reviewed by JOHN ADAMS
"Glittering Images" takes its reader on a tour of 29 of Camille Paglia's favorite artworks.
Edited by ANALISA LEPPANEN-GUERRA and DICKRAN TASHJIAN. Reviewed by JULIE BLOOM
"Joseph Cornell's Manual of Marvels" is a new boxed-set based on a little-known work by the artist that was created by altering and remaking a French agricultural yearbook from 1911.
Edited by CHRIS WILLIAMS Reviewed by JOHN SIMON
"The Richard Burton Diaries" covers the actor's seesawing yet intense marriages with Elizabeth Taylor, his intense reading habits and more.
By BUDDY GUY with DAVID RITZ Reviewed by ALAN LIGHT
A chatty, slim memoir by the blues giant Buddy Guy.
Edited by JUSTIN HALL Reviewed by GLEN WELDON
A diverse sample of comics depicting the political struggles of representation for lesbians and gay men and the personal struggles of coming out.
By PAT IRWIN
A coffee-table book filled with photos and memorabilia from the career of the Stones, and Philip Norman's new biography of Mick Jagger.
By SEAN WILENTZ Reviewed by PETER KEEPNEWS
"360 Sound" recounts the history of Columbia Records, from its modest beginnings 125 years ago to its current status as one of the last remaining giants of an industry in turmoil.
By JOHN UPDIKE Reviewed by FRANCINE PROSE
The essays in "Always Looking" display the qualifications of a novelist that John Updike brought to his moonlighting as an art critic.
Photographs by TIM WALKER Reviewed by VALERIE STEELE
The British photographer Tim Walker has become known for collaborating with a team of makeup artists, painters and builders to construct elaborate sets full of ingenious props.
By CYNDI LAUPER with JANCEE DUNN Reviewed by DAVID HAJDU
Cyndi Lauper's memoir of her unglamorous outer-borough upbringing and not entirely glamorous life since MTV made her a pop star in the 1980s.
By COURTNEY WATSON MCCARTHY Reviewed by POLLY MORRICE
Pop-ups convey the visual impact and appeal of Antoni Gaudi's most loved Barcelona designs.
By MARK ROSENTHAL, MARLA PRATHER, IAN ALTEVEER and REBECCA LOWERY Reviewed by JOHN YAU
Interviews with 60 artists about the influence of Andy Warhol, based on a show at the Metropolitan Museum.
By JUDITH BRODIE with SARAH BOXER, JANINE MILEAF, CHRISTINE POGGI and MATTHEW WITKOVSKY Reviewed by CARLO ROTELLA
This catalog of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington offers an account of artists' use and abuse of the newspaper from 1909 to 2009.
By J. D. BIERSDORFER
New apps make Shakespeare's plays and poems more accessible - even enticing - for a 21st-century audience.
Children's Books
By ANITA SILVEY
New books featuring bears, including "Bear Despair," a wordless book by the French illustrator Gaëtan Dorémus.
By PAMELA PAUL
Picture books for the season, including the story of three cowboys who are waiting for "Santy Claus."
By PHILIP PULLMAN Reviewed by MARJORIE INGALL
Philip Pullman tells 50 fairy tales in a straightforward manner, hewing closely to the Grimm originals.
Back Page
By CHELSEA CAIN
A writing group for celebrated adult authors and one for 7-year-olds have more in common than you might suspect.
By GREGORY COWLES
Mike Huckabee, whose book "Dear Chandler, Dear Scarlett" is No. 8 on the hardcover advice list, wants to leave his grandchildren "more than just a vintage guitar that they will sell on eBay the day I die."
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.
By IHSAN TAYLOR
Paperback books of particular interest.
This week, a big show for the Book Review's big holiday issue, with discussions about our 100 Notable Books of 2012, a dictionary controversy, the Rolling Stones, Joseph Cornell, the Dallas Cowboys, Shakespeare apps and best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.
REVIEWS BY THE TIMES'S CRITICS
|