book reviews

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Edwards Comes Off as 'Sinister,' 'Phony' in Book
Edwards Comes Off as 'Sinister,' 'Phony' in Book
Tina Brown
Feb 1, 2010 11:30 AM CST

Edwards Comes Off as 'Sinister,' 'Phony' in Book

And author/ex-lackey Andrew Young looks just as bad

(Newser) - Andrew Young’s The Politician is a mesmerizing, downright chilling book, which leaves both its subject and author looking like absolute scum. In one corner there’s Young, Edwards’ “body man, beard and shit-eating courtier,” a “craven acolyte” so pathetic that his main act of rebellion against...

Gilbert's Latest Lacks Magic of Eat, Pray, Love

Academic interest in marriage obscures personal touch in Committed

(Newser) - Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert's new book, Committed, has our heroine coming to terms with marriage after swearing off the institution, with the aid of a lot of research. Some critics aren't convinced:
  • "One generally doesn’t indulge another person’s emotional processing at this length unless the
...

Writers Pick Best Books of '09
 Writers Pick Best Books of '09 
Year in Review
Dec 11, 2009 3:40 PM CST

Writers Pick Best Books of '09

Nick Hornby, Judy Blume, and more weigh in

(Newser) - What was the best book of the year? Salon asked Nick Hornby, Junot Diaz, Curtis Sittenfeld, and other people with better literary credentials than ours what they enjoyed in 2009. Their responses are in the photo gallery.

New Books Do Carver Justice
 New Books Do Carver Justice 
stephen king
Nov 21, 2009 10:16 AM CST

New Books Do Carver Justice

Biography, story collection provide 'necessary corrective'

(Newser) - Two new books on Raymond Carver—a biography and a collection of stories—bring a "welcome and necessary corrective" to what we know of the short story master, writes Stephen King. Carol Sklenicka's A Writer's Life cuts Carver too much slack for his personal life—he was a "...

Going Rogue: What Reviewers Are Saying

Same old Sarah: 'ever optimistic, weirdly ungrammatical'

(Newser) - Most reviewers agree Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is intriguing—mostly for the swipes at the McCain campaign and what Palin writes about her life off the political stage. Some takes:
  • The book is "a crackling read of grudges recalled, and settled, in her favor, a rewriting of the 2008
...

'Sarah's Not Retreating, She's Reloading'
'Sarah's Not Retreating, She's Reloading'
BOOK REVIEW
Nov 16, 2009 5:37 AM CST

'Sarah's Not Retreating, She's Reloading'

Going Rogue shows Palin as smart feminist with eye on presidency

(Newser) - The Sarah Palin who emerges on the pages of Going Rogue is a far cry from the "prejudiced, dim-witted ideologue of the popular liberal imagination," Melanie Kirkpatrick writes in the Wall Street Journal . Kirkpatrick finds a "nuanced" politician "capable of mastering complicated issues," and a...

Andre Agassi's Autobiography 'Lively but Narrow'
Andre Agassi's Autobiography 'Lively but Narrow'
BOOK REVIEW
Nov 9, 2009 8:30 AM CST

Andre Agassi's Autobiography 'Lively but Narrow'

Open has griping, conceit, lots of tennis

(Newser) - Andre Agassi’s autobiography has gotten a lot of hype, thanks to his admission of using both crystal meth and a toupee—but most of Open deals with “tennis, more tennis, the misery of tennis,” writes Janet Maslin in the New York Times. Still, even minutely detailed descriptions...

Dan Brown Goes to Washington
Dan Brown Goes to Washington
BOOK REVIEW
Sep 14, 2009 6:10 AM CDT

Dan Brown Goes to Washington

The master pulls off a DC Da Vinci Code : secrets, conspiracy, plus giant squid

(Newser) - Nobody can pull off Dan Brown's well-worn Da Vinci Code formula for treasure-hunt thrills anymore—except Dan Brown, Janet Maslin writes in the New York Times. Brown's new book The Lost Symbol, hitting bookstores tomorrow, "clicks even if at first it looks dangerously like a clone," packing in...

True Compass : Kennedy's Life in Modest Terms
True Compass: Kennedy's Life in Modest Terms
BOOK REVIEW
Sep 4, 2009 2:25 PM CDT

True Compass: Kennedy's Life in Modest Terms

'Heartfelt' memoir depicts pursuit of public good, atonement

(Newser) - In True Compass, Ted Kennedy’s memoir, he writes with “searching candor” about the personal losses he endured, the mistakes he made, and the struggle to live up to his family reputation, writes Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times. The result is a powerful tribute to perseverance and...

Hotties Hate Marriage in Prospect Park West
Hotties Hate Marriage
in Prospect Park West
BOOK REVIEW
Aug 23, 2009 4:04 PM CDT

Hotties Hate Marriage in Prospect Park West

Get ready to meet the scheming gals of Prospect Park West

(Newser) - Kudos to Carrie Bradshaw for seeking sex in the city, because marriage in the city apparently stinks, Annie Karni writes in the New York Post. Author Amy Sohn’s dark new tome about marriage and motherhood, Prospect Park West, is garnering praise as the next Sex and the City, following...

This Is Your Best Shot to Finish a Pynchon Novel
This Is Your Best Shot to Finish
a Pynchon Novel
book review
Jul 31, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

This Is Your Best Shot to Finish a Pynchon Novel

Author shifts gears, has fun with a stoner detective in the '60s

(Newser) - Thomas Pynchon's back with what appears to be his most accessible novel yet, in the unlikely category of detective fiction. Critics reviewing Inherent Vice say he pulled it off:
  • Laura Miller, Salon: It's "a sun-struck, pot-addled shaggy dog story that fuses the sulky skepticism of Raymond Chandler with the
...

Anderson vs. Gladwell: The Battle Over Free

Anderson's new book sets off old-school journalists' feud

(Newser) - Chris Anderson's new book, Free, examining the repercussions the Internet trend of bringing costs to zero, triggered a mini-war with Malcolm Gladwell, who lambasted him for arguing that "the New York Times should be staffed by volunteers, like Meals on Wheels." In the London Times, Antonia Senior does...

Summer Book Suggestions
 Summer Book Suggestions 
May 30, 2009 10:42 AM CDT

Summer Book Suggestions

Forget the economy with these notable upcoming tomes

(Newser) - It’s almost summer, and that means it’s time to forget about the economy, grab a book, and head to the beach. The Wall Street Journal has some suggestions:
  • The Secret Speech, by Tom Rob Smith: Nothing says “escapism” like this novel—set in the paranoid nightmare of
...

Baseball May Kill You
 Baseball May 
 Kill You 
Book Review
May 26, 2009 1:22 PM CDT

Baseball May Kill You

(Newser) - If you’re thinking about a trip to the ball park, you’d better have some good insurance. In their new book, Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities, Robert Gorman and David Weeks chronicle 850 baseball-related deaths, listing them in reference-like fashion. You’d likely be...

Zombies Work in Latest Jane Austen Spinoff
Zombies Work
in Latest Jane
Austen Spinoff
opinion
Apr 17, 2009 12:59 PM CDT

Zombies Work in Latest Jane Austen Spinoff

Somehow, style lends itself to the undead ... aliens ... vampires ...

(Newser) - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been so well received that one must question “why these silly, campy things work so well,” Monica Hesse writes in the Washington Post. She suggests that it’s not simply because Jane Austen and vampires sell—as the author of the forthcoming...

From Romantic Lemons, Literary Lemonade
From Romantic Lemons, Literary Lemonade
book review
Apr 9, 2009 10:30 AM CDT

From Romantic Lemons, Literary Lemonade

It's fizzy, too—and comes complete with recipes and regrets

(Newser) - Recipes for "Morning After Pumpkin Bread" and "Ineffectual Eggplant Parmigiana" should clue readers in that Giulia Melucci's I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti is no how-to on gaining a man's heart through his stomach, Joyce Wadler writes for the New York Times. Melucci—"a...

Bad Book? Vent Your Fury on Amazon
Bad Book? Vent
Your Fury on Amazon
OPINION
Feb 9, 2009 10:30 AM CST

Bad Book? Vent Your Fury on Amazon

One-star reviews offer relief from literary anxiety

(Newser) - Anne Enright's The Gathering won the prestigious Booker Prize and dozens of adulatory reviews, but Cynthia Crossen of the Wall Street Journal didn't find much to admire in the bleak story of a dysfunctional family. Luckily, there's a place to vent such disappointment, she writes: amid Amazon's readers' reviews, where...

Post Folds Book Review Section to Cut Costs

Literature reviews will be shuffled into other sections of paper

(Newser) - The Washington Post will print Book World—its stand-alone Sunday section—for the last time Feb. 15 and shuffle its reviews into other newspaper sections to cut costs, the New York Times reports. Book World will remain intact online, run by a previously downsized staff. The closure comes amid a...

How to Eat for Yourself, Your Wallet, the Planet

New Book tells how to eat healthier, cheaper, and greener

(Newser) - Mark Bittman is a unique voice in American food writing, an “anti-foodies’ foodie” who rejects both the “chefolatry” of gourmet mags and Rachel Ray-style pandering, writes Laura Miller in Salon. His new book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, is both exceedingly ambitious—it purports to offer...

New Critique of Snark Misses the Point
New Critique
of Snark Misses the Point
Book Review
Dec 31, 2008 8:03 PM CST

New Critique of Snark Misses the Point

Denby blames the hecklers, fails to see what they're heckling

(Newser) - Give David Denby credit for bravery: He's 65 and the movie critic at the New Yorker, so he “could have written the most concise, insightful, and expertly argued book about snark and still come off like an Internet-age Andy Rooney,” writes Adam Sternbergh of New York Magazine. His...

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