Book Review

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  Book Review Marjorie Celona: Y

  This subtly characterized debut novel turns villains into the heroes of their own story, as a young abandoned girl explores her identity.

  January 21, 2013 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Stephen Baxter: Doctor Who: The Wheel Of Ice

  The Doctor Who book series flashes back to 1969 with a novel by a well-established hard-SF author.

  January 14, 2013 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review George Saunders: Tenth Of December: Stories

  Is George Saunders the finest short-story writer alive? This collection argues that he is.

  January 14, 2013 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Will Self: Umbrella 

  The latest from the author of Great Apes and How The Dead Live becomes a complicated jumble of plotlines and time periods.

  January 14, 2013 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson: A Memory Of Light

  In his trilogy capping the series by the late bestselling author, Brandon Sanderson did what Jordan couldn’t, but possibly not as well as Jordan might have.

  January 8, 2013 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Jeff Bridges, Bernie Glassman: The Dude And The Zen Master

  The star of The Big Lebowski shares some zzz-inducing Zen conversations and film analysis with his Zen master.

  January 7, 2013 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Ian F. Svenonius: Supernatural Strategies For Making A Rock ’N’ Roll Group

  While pretending to offer a musical how-to, the frontman of Nation Of Ulysses and The Make-Up gets at some fundamental truths about creativity and the music industry.

  January 7, 2013 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Warren Ellis: Gun Machine

  The cult comics hero behind The Authority and Transmetropolitan returns with another machine-gun-prose pulp novel.

  December 31, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Philip Pullman: Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm

  The author of the His Dark Materials trilogy brings his interest in folklore to re-telling Grimm’s fairy tales, but they could use more of a personal touch.

  December 31, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Nick Tosches: Me And The Devil

  The infamous music biographer may expose too many of his own prejudices in this novel about a man addicted to his young lovers’ blood.

  December 26, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Ian McEwan: Sweet Tooth

  Atonement’s author returns to the structure of his best-known novel, but with frustratingly lowered stakes.

  December 24, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Mark Atherton: There And Back Again: J.R.R. Tolkien And The Origins Of The Hobbit

  An academic look at Tolkien’s influences doesn’t reveal much, except the possible origins of the word “hobbit.”

  December 17, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review José Saramago: Raised From The Ground

  A fantastic 1980 novel from a Nobel Prize winner finally gets an English translation.

  December 17, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Magnus Flyte: City Of Dark Magic

  This overstuffed murder mystery has more ideas than room for execution, from drug-induced time travel to an affair with a prince.

  December 17, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Ken Jennings: Because I Said So!

  The Jeopardy mega-winner takes on a new type of trivia, dissecting the myths of parental warnings and received wisdom.

  December 10, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Felix Gilman: The Rise Of Ransom City

  The sequel to Felix Gilman’s stellar 2010 Western fantasy, The Half-Made World, further develops and populates an intriguing setting.

  December 10, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Bill Roorbach: Life Among Giants

  An NFL quarterback turned chef struggles to come to terms with his parents’ murder and his wealthy neighbors in this John Irving-esque novel. 

  December 10, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Roberto Bolaño: Woes Of The True Policeman

  The latest posthumous work from the Chilean author is a long-in-the-works companion to 2666, and reads like a deleted-scenes collection.

  December 3, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Joe Abercrombie: Red Country

  The epic-fantasy author who writes anti-epic-fantasy continues to update his gritty imaginary world and undermine his genre’s usual tropes.

  December 3, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Jami Attenberg: The Middlesteins

  The author of The Melting Season returns with a Jonathan Franzen-esque sprawling family about a woman whose eating disorder leads her to abandon her family.

  December 3, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Penn Jillette: Every Day Is An Atheist Holiday!

  The loud half of Penn & Teller has more opinions than he needs to share in his new essay collection.

  November 26, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Laina Dawes: What Are You Doing Here? A Black Woman’s Life And Liberation In Heavy Metal

  A black journalist documents her own experiences in a traditionally white musical subculture in this smart, ambitious book.

  November 26, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Brandon Sanderson: The Emperor’s Soul

  The author of Elantris, Warbreaker, and the post-Robert Jordan Wheel Of Time series takes a break for a slight but satisfying story.

  November 26, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Kevin Pollak, Alan Goldsher: How I Slept My Way To The Middle

  A minor star passes on stories about the major stars he’s met and worked with.

  November 19, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Sean Howe: Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

  A snappy, smart history follows the comics publisher from its shoestring origins to its billion-dollar movie business.

  November 19, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Robin Sloan: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

  This striking debut novel reads like a Dan Brown mystery with brains, a soul, and a deep interest in books.

  November 19, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review A.M. Homes: May We Be Forgiven

  Arrested Development is a familiar touchstone in this tragicomic novel about a patriarch who gets put away and the reluctant relative who replaces him as family figurehead.

  November 19, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review David Foster Wallace: Both Flesh And Not: Essays

  The posthumous collections from the Infinite Jest author continue, but this essay collection does helpfully background his longer fiction work.

  November 12, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Dennis Lehane: Live By Night

  The author of Mystic River follows up The Given Day with another enjoyable crime novel set in Prohibition-era Boston.

  November 12, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Bettye LaVette, David Ritz: A Woman Like Me

  “No one has enjoyed sex more than I have,” the Motown artist and Broadway singer claims in this frank, salacious memoir.

  November 12, 2012 | 12:01am -