All Book Reviews
Short stories from a pair of masters'The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories' by Penelope Lively and 'Anything Is Possible' by Elizabeth Strout showcase the drama in everyday life.
'Earthly Remains' looses Inspector Brunetti on another murdererDonna Leon's 27th 'Inspector Brunetti' mystery is as acute and witty as her first.
Three distinct, delightful poetic voicesAcclaimed poets Linda Pastan, Cynthia Zarin, and Peter Cole offer powerful new collections.
'Rising Star' offers a severe but insightful assessment of Barack ObamaPulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Garrow has written a meticulously researched but overly detailed biography of the 44th president.
'Jefferson' is a complex, balanced account of the Founding FatherHistorian John Boles takes a noticeably less adulatory tone than past biographers yet goes surprisingly easy on Jefferson when it comes to slavery.
'Dragon Teeth' – the latest posthumous Crichton book – is propulsively readableSet in the Wild West of 1876, the book conveys the sheer wonder of the early days of the fledgling science of paleontology.
'There’s a Mystery There' parses the magic of the work of Maurice SendakJournalist Jonathan Cott attempts a critical study of the picture books of the award-winning author-illustrator.
'On Tyranny' suggests many simple actions can foster civil societyThe book is an expansion of a popular Facebook post on defending democracy that author and Yale historian Timothy Snyder wrote following the US election.
'Last Hope Island' celebrates the brave exiles who helped defeat Nazi GermanyAuthor Lynne Olson explains the little-known roles of the Dutch, Poles, Czechs, and French in helping the United Kingdom survive the Battle of Britain and even shortening the war.
'Apollo 8' ably resurrects the thrill and drama of the 1960s space raceJeffrey Kluger, a longtime science writer and editor for Time magazine, spins an engaging tale, delving into the nooks and crannies of physics, space politics, and human dynamics.
'Aliens' asks scientists to consider – seriously – extraterrestrial lifeThe main purpose of 'Aliens' isn’t to argue for or against the proposition that we are not alone, but to discuss the conditions necessary for life and the possibility that such conditions exist.
'Miss Burma,' inspired by family history, is a troubled tale of marriage and warCharmaine Craig's second novel traces the effects of political oppression, war, and genocide.
'Killers of the Flower Moon' is a true crime slice of Native American history'The Lost City of Z' author David Grann delivers an absorbing but disturbing account of a string of mostly unsolved murders in the Osage Indian Nation of Oklahoma in the 1920s.
'The Souls of China' traces the remarkable rebirth of religion in ChinaBuddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity claim around 300 million followers today, nearly one-third of China’s adult population.
'The Road to Camelot' takes a fresh look at JFK's 1960 campaignVeteran reporters Thomas Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie have crafted a tougher and more balanced account of the long campaign than anybody's written yet.
'October' masterfully portrays the intricacies of the Russian revolutionBritish sci-fi and fantasy author China Miéville sifts through the extraordinary disagreements, debates, and debacles that accompanied the Russian reds on every step of the road to revolution.
'Salt Houses' examines identity in diasporaHala Alyan's debut novel is a chronology of a Palestinian family and their mandatory wandering life imposed on them by the Six-Day War of 1967 and subsequently Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
'Men Without Women' is Murakami at his whimsical bestHaruki Murakami's seventh short story collection is rife with familiar obsessions and yet still surprising.
'Literally' is a bouncy summer read built on a sleight-of-hand trickYA author Lucy Keating delivers a light and fluffy fiction with citrusy twist of metafiction.
'Mockingbird Songs' documents a warm friendship with the elusive Harper LeeWayne Flynt has collected his correspondence with Harper Lee. Perhaps the quality of Lee that will hit readers most is her humor.
