All Book Reviews
A girl and boy meet at a bookstore in Iran. Sixty years go by.Tinged with love and sadness, Marjan Kamali’s new novel ‘The Stationery Shop’ is an ode to an Iran that no longer exists.
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ memoir serves up calm wisdomJohn Paul Stevens’ memoir “The Making of a Justice” and the biography “Oliver Wendell Holmes” are must-reads for legal buffs.
‘The Nickel Boys’ reckons with a legacy of racism and abuseColson Whitehead's novel tells a story of two black teenagers in a corrupt reform school and the resilience they mustered in the face of hate.
Rudyard Kipling loved Vermont. Then he had to leave it.Christopher Benfey’s ‘If’ takes a closer look at the writer’s time in America – a key creative period when he wrote ‘The Jungle Book.’
The Apollo 11 moon landing and the men who made it happen‘Shoot for the Moon’ concentrates on the astronauts who carried out the historic mission, and ‘American Moonshot’ looks at the galvanizing power of President John F. Kennedy's vision.
A geological detective story told through clues written in the iceJon Gertner’s ‘The Ice of the End of the World’ is an examination of scientists’ grit against the harsh backdrop of Greenland’s ice sheet.
Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest novel charts the friendships of womenIn ‘City of Girls,’ young protagonist Vivian’s indiscretions become steppingstones to self-realization.
E.B. White’s essays argue eloquently against extremismA new collection, put together by his granddaughter, demonstrates what made him such a pointed observer of representative government.
Believing in the experiment of democracy, despite the setbacksIn her latest book, ‘This America: The Case for the Nation,’ historian Jill Lepore affirms and celebrates the country’s foundational values.
Two early presidents raised warnings about the cult of personalityIn ‘The Problem of Democracy,’ Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg write that John Adams and John Quincy Adams recognized the pitfalls of the U.S. political system.
‘Charged’ examines the role of prosecutors in the U.S. justice systemWriter and lawyer Emily Bazelon argues that the election of more reform-minded prosecutors could help reduce America’s soaring incarceration rates.
Intimidated by verse? ‘Don’t Read Poetry’ explores how to enjoy poems.Stephanie Burt entices readers into an appreciation of poetry by demystifying the act of poetry reading.
Lee Krasner: abstract expressionist painter in her own rightMarried to famed ‘drip’ painter Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner is being rediscovered by a new generation.
‘Becoming Dr. Seuss’ opens up the author-illustrator’s worldBiographer Brian Jay Jones reveals the perfectionist who gained fame with his children’s books, but feared he was not taken seriously as an artist.
A restless, kaleidoscopic view of an empire’s legacyJournalist Alev Scott’s book ‘Ottoman Odyssey’ traverses the cultural and social history of the region to explain the present.
‘Jurassic Park’ fans could learn a lot about real dinosaurs in this bookMichael J. Benton distills a career’s worth of paleontology discoveries into the engaging and colorful ‘Dinosaurs Rediscovered.’
The 10 best books of June to read while you soak up the sunThere are beach reads and exciting travel adventures galore in the June roundup of the Monitor’s top 10 book recommendations.
Wendell Berry takes a stand on stewardship of the earth‘What I Stand On,’ a collection of the poet-farmer’s essays, argues for a societal shift away from a culture of destruction and consumption.
Penguin Classics adds four books by Asian Americans to the canonWith four books by Asian American authors, Penguin Classics finally recognizes a long-overlooked genre of American literary and cultural tradition.
‘Pride and Prejudice,’ eh? What if Jane Austen were Muslim Canadian?Uzma Jalaluddin’s debut novel ‘Ayesha at Last’ charms with its witty and insightful update of ‘Pride and Prejudice.’
