Book News and Reviews
Fred Thornhill/Reuters
The critic Roger Ebert and his wife, Chaz, at the Toronto International Film Festival this month.
In “Life Itself” the film critic Roger Ebert covers much career and personal ground, including the challenge of coping with cancer and disfiguring surgery.
MEDIA DECODER
Schwarzenegger to Publish Memoir
By JULIE BOSMAN
Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a deal to write a memoir, tentatively titled "Total Recall," and due for publication in Oct. 2012.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘Nightwoods’
By CHARLES FRAZIER
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Charles Frazier’s new book, “Nightwoods,” set in the 1960s, recounts both a love story and a story of survival and endurance; mostly, though, it is a story about second chances.
Kindle Connects to Library E-Books
By JULIE BOSMAN
Amazon has significantly increased the potential visibility of library e-books by opening up its popular Kindle reading device to these books for the first time.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Picture Books About Girls Who Dress Up
Reviewed by PAMELA PAUL
“I Had a Favorite Dress” and “Birdie’s Big-Girl Dress” are two new picture books about girls and their cherished dresses.
Century After It Was Banned, Place of Honor for Twain Tale
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
“Eve’s Diary” was pulled from the shelves of a library in 1906 after trustees objected to illustrations of a naked Eve in Eden.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘The Quest’
By DANIEL YERGIN
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
In “The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World,” Daniel Yergin returns to the topic of how energy policy is driving global change.
MacArthur Foundation Selects 22 ‘Geniuses’
By FELICIA R. LEE
The 22 recipients of the $500,000 “genius awards” selected by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation represent a broad swath of achievement in the arts and sciences.
BOOKS OF THE TIMES
‘The Affair’
By LEE CHILD
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
In “The Affair,” the 16th book in the Reacher series, Lee Child gives his hero a back story.
Sunday Book Review
‘The Grief of Others’
By LEAH HAGER COHEN
Reviewed by SUSANN COKAL
Jon Klassen
Leah Hager Cohen’s fourth novel weaves a complex pattern of light and dark, happiness and grief, in a 21st-century version of the family chronicle.
‘Driving Home’
By JONATHAN RABAN
Reviewed by STACY SCHIFF
Jonathan Raban’s essays describe how he left England for a new life in Seattle.
‘A Man of Parts’
By DAVID LODGE
Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER BENFEY
David Lodge’s novel is based on the life of H.G. Wells, writer, prophet, political thinker and lover.
‘I Married You for Happiness’
By LILY TUCK
Reviewed by COLIN THUBRON
Lily Tuck’s novel traces the joys and the mysteries of a long marriage.
‘Three Famines: Starvation and Politics’
By THOMAS KENEALLY
Reviewed by JOHANN HARI
When it comes to famine, Thomas Keneally finds natural forces less culpable than social injustice.
‘Is Marriage for White People?’
By RALPH RICHARD BANKS
Reviewed by IMANI PERRY
Why are black women much less likely to marry than white?
‘There but for the’
By ALI SMITH
Reviewed by SYLVIA BROWNRIGG
Ali Smith’s satire about a guest who refuses to leave is also a parable of contemporary life.
‘The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India’
By SIDDHARTHA DEB
Reviewed by SAMANTH SUBRAMANIAN
Siddhartha Deb looks at how individual Indians are dealing with the country’s rapid change.
‘What It Is Like to Go to War’
By KARL MARLANTES
Reviewed by ELIZABETH D. SAMET
A Vietnam veteran offers a deeply personal look at the ordeal of combat.
‘Assassins of the Turquoise Palace’
By ROYA HAKAKIAN
Reviewed by CAROLINE MOOREHEAD
The 1992 killings of four Iranian opposition leaders in Berlin implicated the highest levels of Iran’s leadership.
‘The Golden Empire’
By HUGH THOMAS
Reviewed by CHARLES C. MANN
Hugh Thomas continues his monumental account of the glory days of Spain.
‘Train Dreams’
By DENIS JOHNSON
Reviewed by ANTHONY DOERR
A powerful American story of backwoods tragedy and isolation unfolds in Denis Johnson’s novella.
‘American Dreamers’
By MICHAEL KAZIN
Reviewed by BEVERLY GAGE
Michael Kazin extols the influence of the left’s reformers, radicals and idealists in shaping America.
‘Noon’
By AATISH TASEER
Reviewed by PARUL SEHGAL
A young protagonist is caught between the worlds of India and Pakistan.
Children's Books
‘Wonderstruck’
By BRIAN SELZNICK
Reviewed by ADAM GOPNIK
Brian Selznick’s new book, which follows “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” expands on his method.
‘Wildwood’
By COLIN MELOY
Reviewed by CLAIRE DEDERER
The Decemberists’ singer and songwriter, Colin Meloy, imagines a world that is part Portland, part fantasy.
‘The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman’
By MEG WOLITZER
Reviewed by STEFAN FATSIS
The hero of Meg Wolitzer’s first young adult novel possesses a special power that gives him an unfair advantage in Scrabble.
‘The Flint Heart’
By EDEN PHILLPOTTS
Reviewed by JERRY GRISWOLD
Katherine and John Paterson bring back a century-old fantasy classic.
Bookshelf: Fairy and Folk Tales
By PAMELA PAUL
Children’s and young adult books about kings, orphans, dragons and mythological beasts.
The Director Andrew Haigh on 'Weekend'
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