Book Reviews

Books
Arts

'Warburg' Struggles For Love And Justice In Wartime Rome

4:26pm September 03, 2014

by Alan Cheuse

James Carroll's experience as a Catholic priest informs his new Warburg in Rome, which follows an American tasked with rescuing European Jews in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Rome.

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SCOTUS On Cellphones And The Privacy Of Poetry

4:26pm September 03, 2014

by Craig Morgan Teicher

To put a literary spin on the Supreme Court's recent decision to limit warrantless cellphone searches, author Craig Morgan Teicher turns to A.R. Ammons' book of poetry, Tape for the Turn of the Year.

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'10:04': A Strange, Spectacular Novel Connecting Several Plotlines

2:27pm September 03, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Ben Lerner's new novel is about a writer who gets an advance for a second work of fiction, is diagnosed with an aortic heart valve problem and agrees to be the sperm donor for a close friend.

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Arts

As Summer Winds Down, Wistful Dreams Of A 'Lost Estate'

8:23pm August 22, 2014

by Alexander Aciman

The scent of fresh pencils is in the air, and homework assignments are around the corner. In honor of back-to-school season, author Alexander Aciman recommends The Lost Estate by Henri Alain-Fournier.

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Arts

Nostalgic For Noir? Feiffer's 'Kill My Mother' Is A Toxic Treat

7:56am August 22, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

In his first graphic novel, Jules Feiffer, 85, has returned to the seedy comic strips, hard boiled novels and B movies of his youth. Maureen Corrigan says it's "a mulligan stew of murder and desire."

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'F' Is For Fraudster In A Family Novel For Our Modern Times

9:30am August 21, 2014

by Ellah Allfrey

Daniel Kehlmann's F, about three brothers abandoned by their father, examines the detail of lives lived without integrity. It is brilliantly translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway.

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Books
Arts

In Cunningham's Latest, Powerful Language Makes Up For Weak Plot

10:58am August 18, 2014

Michael Cunningham's newest novel is named after a fairy tale. But this is no Disney fantasy. Instead The Snow Queen is a story of death, drugs and aging (not always gracefully).

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In A Funny New Novel, A Weary Professor Writes To 'Dear Committee Members'

11:31am August 15, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Julie Schumacher's anti-hero pens recommendations for junior colleagues, lackluster students and former lovers. The novel deftly mixes comedy with social criticism and righteous outrage.

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With Magic And Fables, 'Angel Of Losses' Breathes Life Into History

9:47am August 06, 2014

by Ellah Allfrey

Stephanie Feldman's debut novel is about Jewish folk tales and family history. It's also an exploration of the inheritance of loss and the guilt of survival as it is passed down through generations.

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Books
Arts

'Ride Around Shining' Reimagines Gatsby's Nouveau-Riche Excess

3:54pm July 29, 2014

by Maureen Corrigan

Chris Leslie-Hynan's debut novel follows a white grad student who's a chauffeur to a black basketball player. It references The Great Gatsby often with fresh takes on race, manhood and meritocracy.

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