All Book Reviews
'Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay' forwards the angry, tender story of two Neapolitan womenWith 'Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay,' Elena Ferrante gives the story of a woman鈥檚 life epic dimension in an interior landscape.
'Gray Mountain' is a satisfying, old-fashioned legal thriller'Mountain' is the newest book by John Grisham that can make a weekend disappear.
'Deep Down Dark' tells the remarkable story of 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 daysPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hector Tobar chronicles the physical and psychological ordeal of the miners with artful suspense and arresting details.
'The American Vice Presidency' sketches all 47 men who held America's second-highest officePolitical journalist Jules Witcover offers interesting biographical detail and helpful historic context on the lives of America's vice presidents.
'The Innovators' traces the history of the computer and its creatorsSteve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson considers the interplay of genius, creativity, and collaboration that helped to produce the computer.
'The Sense of Style' argues for writing that is direct, economical, and preciseLinguist Steven Pinker offers a 鈥淕uide to Writing in the 21st Century,鈥� with a look back at the 20th century鈥檚 lingual lessons.
'A Brief History of Seven Killings' reads like a reggae version of 'The Sound and the Fury'This haunted and haunting tale of Jamaica鈥檚 bloody political struggles turns on the attempted assassination of Bob Marley.
'How We Got to Now' credits six technologies with helping to invent modern lifeScience writer Steven Johnson takes readers on a rapid but interesting tour of world history as he traces the development of technologies from glass-making to radio broadcasting.
'Embattled Rebel' suggests that Jefferson Davis had plenty of help when it came to losing the Civil WarPulitzer-winning historian James M. McPherson determines that Confederate President Jefferson Davis devised a credible strategy for fighting the war.
'A Path Appears' considers how and why we giveCan philanthropists save the world? NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl Wudunn take a look at well-intentioned efforts to give.
'Boy on Ice' tells the sad story of the rise and fall of an NHL enforcerMeticulously reported and beautifully written, 'Boy on Ice" uses the life of NHL player Derek Boogaard to explore the systemic culture surrounding fighting in professional hockey.
'Our Lady of the Nile,' a novel set in Rwanda before the 1994 genocide, has an air of foreboding and urgencyAuthor Scholastique聽Mukasonga is a gifted storyteller with a sure sense of plot construction, and an aptitude for crafting piquant descriptions.
'George Frideric Handel: A Life With Friends' weaves an unusual tapestry from the music and friendships of a great composerEllen T. Harris uses Handel's music to analyze and contextualize his life and times, concentrating on the composer's interesting, albeit 'less famous' friends.
'Agent Storm' recounts the journey from radical Islam to informantBurly, red-headed, and Danish, Morten Storm was an unlikely double agent in the war on transnational terrorism.
'The Glass Cage' asks: Will automation rob us of our skills?Nicholas Carr wonders how human beings will learn to enjoy technology 鈥� without losing the edge that comes from striving.
'Florence Gordon' may be the most magnificent fictional character you will meet this yearFlorence Gordon is the grouchy old feminist that no reader will be able to resist.
'Thirteen Days in September' is a great, readable account of the Camp David Accords'The Looming Tower' author Lawrence Wright delivers what will likely be one of the best accounts of the talks between then-President Jimmy Carter, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1978.
'Edge of Eternity' keeps the pages turning through the end of the 20th centuryThe concluding book of Ken Follett's 'Century' trilogy turns the second half of the 20th century into gripping reading.
'A Deadly Wandering' takes a sharp look at the fatal consequences of texting and drivingMatt Richtel鈥檚 tragic probe of a texting-and-driving case is also an examination of the role technology plays in our lives.
'Tennessee Willams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh' paints a troubling yet compassionate portraitNew Yorker critic John Lahr examines the damaged, tormented life that inspired the work of Tennessee Williams.
