Noticed
In Their Own Words? Maybe
By JULIE BOSMAN
There is an understanding among publishers, editors and agents that ghostwriters are behind many novels by celebrities.
Book News and Reviews
Crystal Image Photography, Lawrence, Kan.
Bill James
Bill James, known for his analysis of baseball statistics, tackles data pertaining to well-known murders.
Books of The Times
‘State of Wonder’
By ANN PATCHETT
Reviewed by JANET MASLIN
In Ann Patchett’s new novel, a research scientist goes outside her comfort zone, to the Amazon jungle, to help solve the mystery of a colleague’s death.
Q&A;
A Fire Lookout on Solitude (and Lots of Time to Read)
By STEVEN KURUTZ
Philip Connors, the author of “Fire Season,” spends his summers living in a remote cabin in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico, where he is on the lookout for fires.
At Home With Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
Living Large, Off the Land
By MICHAEL TORTORELLO
Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen gave up a long commute to promote a do-it-yourself revolution from their home in Los Angeles.
Children’s Books
‘Far From Shore’
By SOPHIE WEBB
Reviewed by PAMELA PAUL
A field biologist and ornithologist’s illustrated journal of a four-month scientific voyage on the Pacific Ocean.
Books of The Times
‘Man With a Pan’
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
John Donohue has assembled a collection of essays and recipes by men who love cooking.
In Novel by Mayor’s Daughter, Hints of Family Life
By JULIE BOSMAN and MICHAEL BARBARO
Georgina Bloomberg’s new book, “The A Circuit,” is about a family headed by a blunt-talking Wall Street billionaire who lives in a Manhattan town house and “owns half of New York.”
Gluten-Free: Flavor-Free No More
By MELISSA CLARK
A slew of cookbooks have been published to help bakers navigate a gluten-free kitchen.
Books of The Times
‘Vaclav & Lena’
By HALEY TANNER
Reviewed by SUSANNAH MEADOWS
Haley Tanner’s “Vaclav & Lena” is a story of two Russian immigrants who first meet at age 6 in an English as a Second Language class at their Brooklyn school.
Books
Broad Brushstrokes Obscure a View of Brain Trauma
By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D.
In this tripartite story of brain, art and family life, the author aces the first part but comes up surprisingly short in the other two.
Five Poets Seasoned by Life
By DANA JENNINGS
New poetry by Dean Young, Dorianne Laux , Jim Moore, Tom Sexton and Laura Kasischke.
Novelist and His Hero Wonder, Will It Last?
By CHRISTOPHER KELLY
The Texas novelist Stephen Harrigan has been successful, but never in fashion among the New York literary set.
Critic’s Notebook
Books to Bury Yourself In
By JANET MASLIN
The beach book this summer is likely to have new names and new twists, even when it comes to Scandinavian mysteries.
Sunday Book Review
‘The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris’
By DAVID MCCULLOUGH
Reviewed by STACY SCHIFF
Illustration by Misprinted Type, photographs from Getty Images
David McCullough explores the intellectual legacy that France settled on its 19th-century visitors.
‘Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza’
By ADINA HOFFMAN AND PETER COLE
Reviewed by ANTHONY JULIUS
Tattered documents, dating back centuries, endure in a synagogue.
‘Toward You’
By JIM KRUSOE
Reviewed by SAM MUNSON
The narrator of Jim Krusoe’s novel tries to find a way for the living to get through to the dead.
‘The London Train’
By TESSA HADLEY
Reviewed by JEAN THOMPSON
Tessa Hadley’s novel is divided between two characters who once intersected for an affair.
‘Songs of Kabir’
Translated by ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
Reviewed by AUGUST KLEINZAHLER
A new translation brings a revered body of Indian verse into sharper relief.
‘Bullfighting’
By RODDY DOYLE
Reviewed by TOM SHONE
In Roddy Doyle’s stories, characters struggle with the funk brought on by middle age.
‘Reckless Endangerment’
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and JOSHUA ROSNER
Reviewed by ROBERT B. REICH
An account of the financial crisis highlights individuals who played crucial roles of responsibility.
‘Boredom: A Lively History’
By PETER TOOHEY
Reviewed by ANTHONY GOTTLIEB
Admitting he’s been bored for large tracts of his life, a classicist offers a history of his affliction.
‘Convicting The Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong’
By BRANDON L. GARRETT
Reviewed by JEFFREY ROSEN
Since the ’80s, Brandon L. Garrett writes, DNA testing has exonerated over 250 people convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.
‘The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture’
By JOSHUA KENDALL
Reviewed by JESSE SHEIDLOWER
Noah Webster was a journalist, reformer and lexicographer.
‘A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents — and Ourselves’
By JANE GROSS
Reviewed by ANNIE MURPHY PAUL
Jane Gross recounts her struggle to help an infirm parent and offers practical advice on eldercare.
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PRINT & E-BOOKS
- Fiction
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HARDCOVER
- Trade Fiction
- Mass-Market Fiction
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PAPERBACK
Is World War II Still ‘the Good War’?
By ADAM KIRSCH
With new books challenging our collective memory, can we still take pride in World War II?
What Did Qaddafi’s Green Book Really Say?
By MOHAMAD BAZZI
Qaddafi’s Green Book mixes utopian socialism and Arab nationalism with a streak of Bedouin supremacism.
Book Review Podcast
The historian David McCullough talks about his new book, “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris” and the business reporter Gretchen Morgenson describes the causes of the Wall Street implosion.
A New 'Sweet Valley High' Spinoff, Online
June 2, 2011
Glenn Beck Starts New Publishing Venture
June 1, 2011
Related in Opinion
Op-Ed Contributor
A Verb for Our Frantic Times
By SIMON WINCHESTER
Why “run” has surpassed “set” as the word with the most meanings.
Travel
Lake Geneva as Shelley and Byron Knew It
By TONY PERROTTET
When the two poets descended on the Swiss lake in 1816, the plan was poetry and pleasure. The result? Frankenstein, vampires and a love child.
Slide ShowBook Review Features
TBR
Inside the List
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Celebrities may rule the best-seller list, but psychopaths rule the world — or so suggests Jon Ronson, author of “The Psychopath Test.”
Up Front
By THE EDITORS
It shouldn’t be surprising that a writer whose work includes a story collection called “Throw Like a Girl” should have strong opinions on the pigeonholing of writers by gender.
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