Book Reviews

Yelena Akhtiorskaya's debut novel is about a family that emigrates from Odessa to the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, N.Y. It's a funny tale full of insider knowledge and offbeat words.

Alan Cheuse reviews Angels Make Their Hope Here, by Breena Clarke.

Since October thousands of children attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border have been taken into custody. Author Kate Bernheimer recommends a book to help reflect on the lives of these children.

William T. Vollmann's 2005 novel Europe Central was a masterpiece. His latest work, a collection of ghost stories entitled "Last Stories and Other Stories" is flabby and cliched.

After Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird, she became a recluse and lived with her sister, Alice, in Alabama. Reporter Marja Mills uses rich detail to provides glimpses into their twilight years.

Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 this week. Author Kevin Roose says Ernest Thayer's classic poem on failure, "Casey at the Bat," might cheer the Brazilian soccer team up.

Jacqueline Winspear's debut mystery, Maisie Dobbs, set in England around World War I, came out in paperback a decade ago. A new edition testifies to the enduring allure of the traditional mystery.

California tells the story of a couple who, when they learn they are having a baby, leave their solitary refuge in a forest for a Utopian community in post-apocalyptic America.

In their new book, Peter Finn and Petra Couvee explain the fraught history behind the Russian novel, Doctor Zhivago. And they tell the story of Boris Pasternak, the novel's brave author.

Emily Gould's first novel stars 30-something single women in New York City who are figuring out what's important in life. It's worth picking up for its sharp social observations and inspired wordplay.