All Book Reviews
'Landfalls' is a delightful, intelligent 18th-century sailing yarnA debut novel of an 18th-century French expedition 鈥� capturing history's delusions and personal slants 鈥� proves a 'surprise and a triumph.'
Two poetry collections focus on how to think, how to chooseMary Oliver and Kay Ryan both offer insightful new work.
'Find a Way,' swimmer Diana Nyad's stirring tale, is not for the squeamishNyad's message: 'You're never too old to chase your dreams.'
'Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 3': rambling, cantankerous, funny 鈥� and sadIn addition to humor and raw partisanship, the book is punctuated with moments of great darkness.
'The Tsar of Love and Techno' connects Russian characters from the Caucasus to SiberiaThe author of 'A Constellation of Vital Phenomena' returns with a set of short stories that link to his award-winning debut.
'Gold Fame Citrus' is a love story set in tomorrow's parched CaliforniaThe future is thirsty in this novel of an attempted escape from a drought-ravaged California.
'Empire of Self': a wonderful, moving biography of Gore VidalGore Vidal accomplished more in a typical decade than most people do in a lifetime.
鈥榃hen Clouds Fell from the Sky鈥� sheds new light on a dark period in Cambodia鈥檚 historyJournalist Robert Carmichael examines the nearly four-year period of Khmer Rouge rule through a family's search for a loved one who disappeared into the regime鈥檚 secretive prison system, never to be seen again.
鈥楳 Train鈥� follows Patti Smith as she slips beguilingly between present and pastSmith is so charming and unpretentious a writer that her rambles carry more than their weight in words.
'Doomed to Succeed' examines the complicated, ambivalent US-Israel bondIn this well researched history Ross meticulously chronicles the bumpy ride that the two nations have taken together since 1948.
'Undermajordomo Minor' is an imaginative fairytale marred by small imprecisionsThe latest novel from the author of 'The Sisters Brothers' tells the story of an enigmatic Baron in a language all its own.
'Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights' is Salman Rushdie's clanky meditation on faithIn Rushdie's murky new novel, characters from two worlds 鈥� the mundane and human and the supernatural 鈥� set off an era of chaos that lead to the end of religion and its most destructive side effects.
'The Year of Lear' skillfully traces the mark of current events on ShakespeareShakespeare wrote three great works in 1606: 'King Lear,' 'Macbeth,' and 'Antony and Cleopatra.' Shapiro demonstrates that all three were marked by their time.
'Death by Water' takes readers on a wild ride of epic proportionsNobel Prize-winner Kenzabur艒 艑e's fifth novel starring alter ego Kogito Choko will be the densest, most rewarding 432 pages you'll read this year.
'This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance' seeks to account for a mother's unhappinessThe story of a doomed cruise provides bittersweet laughs and an opportunity for the mother at its helm to examine her marriage, daughter, and self-image.
'Kissinger 1923-1968: The Idealist' portrays a Kissinger few knowThe first volume of Niall Ferguson鈥檚 new biography focuses attention on Kissinger鈥檚 life before he became the most revered and reviled statesman in modern times.
'My Kitchen Year' follows Ruth Reichl through a difficult year eased by favorite foodsWhen she lost her job, Ruth Reichl retreated to her hilltop glass house in upstate New York and cooked.
'The New Tsar' traces the 'rise and reign' of Vladimir PutinNew York Times correspondent Steven Lee Myers coherently, comprehensively, and evenhandedly tells the story of how Putin came to rule Russia.
'The Heart Goes Last' offers a struggling young couple a Faustian bargainMargaret Atwood's 15th novel depicts a mild dystopia in which the desire for freedom is pitted against the need for security.
'Fates and Furies' is Laurent Groff's cruel but clever subversion of marriageWith cutting inventiveness, one of today's best novelists examines a whirlwind marriage, and finds a new way to write about matrimony in the 21st century.
