Books

  • Book Review Bear Grylls: Mud, Sweat And Tears

    The star of Man Vs. Wild tells his own pre-stardom story, but leaves out all the most interesting bits. 

    May 21, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Warren Littlefield and T.R. Pearson: Top Of The Rock

    A former NBC president offers an oral history of the network’s ’80s and ’90s heyday, from not enough perspectives, but plenty of solid anecdotes. 

    May 21, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Ben Fountain: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

    An author held out by Malcolm Gladwell as the essence of late-blooming creative genius publishes his first novel, about an Iraq vet whose decisions skewer wartime America. 

    May 21, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review Ed Falco: The Family Corleone

    A new work-for-hire author kneels to Mario Puzo and kisses his ring with this prequel, but excessive backstory adds little to the Godfather saga. 

    May 21, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review China Miéville: Railsea 

    This fantastical, self-aware take on Moby-Dick not only smashes the fourth wall, it breaks down the pieces for typography. 

    May 14, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Christopher Buckley: They Eat Puppies, Don’t They? 

    The author of Boomsday and Thank You For Smoking returns for another politically aware satire, but this one lacks specificity or bite. 

    May 14, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Nell Freudenberger: The Newlyweds

    The story of an email-order Bangladeshi bride and her attempts to come to terms with her American husband proves surprisingly sweet. 

    May 14, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review Brandon W. Jones: All Woman And Springtime

    This debut novel follows two North Korean women through self-discovery and sex slavery, fending off exploitation with strong characterization. 

    May 14, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review Roberto Bolaño: The Secret Of Evil

    Fans of 2666’s author are being rewarded with a wave of his posthumously released work, including this frustrating final short-scraps collection.

    May 7, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Andrés Neuman: Traveler Of The Century

    Sex, history, and literary criticism merge in this compelling novel from a Spanish-based writer getting his first English translation.

    May 7, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Regina O’Melveny: The Book Of Madness And Cures

    An ambitious debut chases a woman chasing her father across Renaissance Europe, but never catches up long enough to determine its own intentions.

    May 7, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review John Irving: In One Person

    The author of A Prayer For Owen Meany delivers another Big Important Novel.

    May 7, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review Joe Pantoliano: Asylum: Hollywood Tales From My Great Depression

    The pugnacious actor from Memento, The Matrix, and much more supposedly wants to educate the world about mental illness, but this odd collection of anecdotes doesn’t fit the bill. 

    April 30, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Nick Dybek: When Captain Flint Was Still A Good Man

    This terrific debut, about a community of fishermen and humanity’s capacity for evil, introduces a possibly reluctant literary dynasty in the making. 

    April 30, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Joseph Olshan: Cloudland

    An attempt to fuse emotionally sophisticated literary fiction with a quirky mystery novel doesn’t service either genre well.

    April 30, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review Stephen King: The Wind Through The Keyhole 

    Stephen King said he was done with the Dark Tower series. He wasn’t.

    April 30, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review Jeet Thayil: Narcopolis

    A former drug addict from India turns his experiences with drugs into a poignant novel about a neighborhood that bonds via a drug parlor.

    April 23, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Seth Grahame-Smith Unholy Night

    The author of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter drifts further from mash-ups, but not fully into original territory, by recasting the three biblical wise men as thieves and adventurers.

    April 23, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Elizabeth Bear: Range Of Ghosts

    A trilogy launch from an award-winning fantasy veteran spends a lot of time on setup and moral clarity. 

    April 23, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review Jonathan Franzen: Farther Away: Essays

    A new collection of essays from the author of The Corrections and Freedom draws personal connections between writer and reader via topics as diverse as David Foster Wallace’s death and excessive use of “I love you.”

    April 23, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review Lionel Shriver: The New Republic

    A revived trunk novel from the author of We Need To Talk About Kevin takes on terrorism, fame, and charisma imbalance in a flat and dated way.

    April 16, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Christopher Moore: Sacré Bleu: A Comedy D’Art 

    The author of Lamb, Fool, and The Stupidest Angel returns with another smart historical comedy-fantasy, this time focusing on how a magical blue paint affects art in 1890s Paris. 

    April 16, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Nick Harkaway: Angelmaker

    The search for a global doomsday device is more excitement than this novel’s dull protagonist deserves.  

    April 16, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review Brian Francis Slattery: Lost Everything

    Post-apocalyptic America is as much of a character as any of the characters in this richly realized novel. 

    April 16, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review Eric Erlandson: Letters To Kurt

    Eric Erlandson’s literary debut, Letters To Kurt, begins with promise, like his music career did.

    April 9, 2012 | 12:03am -

  • Book Review Anne Tyler: The Beginner's Goodbye

    The hero and narrator of Anne Tyler’s new novel is so reminiscent of Macon Leary—the hero of her biggest hit, The Accidental Tourist—that it’s strange she didn’t just call him “Macon Leary” and make The ...

    April 9, 2012 | 12:02am -

  • Book Review Rachel Maddow: Drift

    War is hell, but it’s a hell we’ve learned to live with. For America, perpetual conflict has become the status quo.

    April 9, 2012 | 12:01am -

  • Book Review Mark Leyner: The Sugar Frosted Nutsack

    “Purposefully impenetrable” is a significant understatement when it comes to describing The Sugar Frosted Nutsack, Mark Leyner’s first novel in more than a decade.

    April 9, 2012 | 12:00am -

  • Book Review Matty Simmons: Fat, Drunk, & Stupid: The Inside Story Behind The Making Of Animal House 

    This breezy book offers so few insights, it could almost be a parody of an I-was-there cash-in.

    April 2, 2012 | 12:04am -

  • Book Review Hari Kunzru: Gods Without Men

    A story of parents who lose their autistic boy in the desert—possibly to aliens?—doubles as an indictment of Western culture. 

    April 2, 2012 | 12:02am -