Book Reviews

The White Road, by Edmund De Waal.

'White Road' Maps The History Of Porcelain

by Jean Zimmerman

While readers may not share Edmund de Waal's obsession with the precious clay (at one point, he crafts an exhibition of 2,455 white-glazed porcelain vessels), his writing makes the subject seductive.
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'My Father's Guitar' Plays On Perception And Memory

by Heller McAlpin

Joseph Skibell's new collection of personal essays is full of offbeat life lessons, moving from whimsy to weight. And, as he puts it, though the stories are true, they're full of "imaginary things."
The Other Paris, by Luc Sante.

'The Other Paris' Goes Beyond The Banlieues

by Tomas Hachard

Luc Sante's cultural history focuses on the darker corners of the City of Lights, and the rougher and more disreputable citizens of the French capital who, he argues, have made Paris what it is today.
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Rage And Humor Alternate In 'Arab Of The Future'

by Etelka Lehoczky

Cartoonist Riad Sattouf uses a loose-limbed comic style to tell the story of his harsh early childhood in Libya, Syria and France — but the cartoony look belies the book's anger and icy cynicism.