Book Reviews

For October, our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles praises picture book author Todd Parr and his insight into the emotional needs of children who are dealing with loss, change — and other children.

Karina Sainz Borgo's novel follows a woman dealing with the death of her mother while trying to escape the violence and scarcity gripping Venezuela — an anarchy the book presents in shocking detail.

You won't get a full picture of Prince from this book, but it does manage to pierce through some of the mystery the renowned artist purposely cultivated around and about himself.

The anthology demonstrates that American women are just now at the starting line of exploring and understanding their anger; it's more about how they live with anger than about what makes them angry.

Surrealist writer and poet Silvina Ocampo has been called "the best kept secret of Argentine letters," and two new translations have beautifully captured her evocative prose style for new readers.

Ruta Sepetys' new young adult novel is set in Spain in the 1950s, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. A teenaged American tourist in Madrid falls for a local, with eye-opening consequences.

Throughout his career, Edmund Morris repeatedly showed boredom, even disdain, for the traditional biography. In turn, he sometimes injected his books with an artistic flair that got in the way.

Le Carré's latest novel presents an aging, embittered spy dealing with multiple claims on his loyalties — and a challenger to his supremacy at badminton, a sport le Carré himself played and loves.

More than a mere chronicler armed with facts and dates, Sam Roberts is a nonfiction writer with the heart of a novelist; he's writing about buildings — but he does so while telling engaging stories.

Kathy Iandoli goes far beyond hoisting her heroes upon a pedestal; in rendering them as conflicted, complicated artists struggling against sexism and patriarchy, she wields an illuminating fury.