Books

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  Book Review Martin A. Lee: Smoke Signals: A Social History Of Marijuana 

  This dryly serious book about pot has an agenda, but stoner humor is right off the menu. 

  September 3, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Martin Amis: Lionel Asbo: State of England 

  A British ex-pat mocks the state of his home country through the lens of a thuggish nouveau-rich Lotto mega-winner. 

  September 3, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Chris Colfer: The Land Of Stories: The Wishing Spell 

  That kid from Glee is back in yet another medium, this time a surprisingly complicated, hefty fairy-tale novel. 

  September 3, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review D.T. Max: Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life Of David Foster Wallace 

  David Foster Wallace gets a solid, mostly fair first biography 

  September 3, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Craig Brown: Hello Goodbye Hello

  A meticulously configured series of stories about real-life encounters between famous figures provides some remarkable anecdotes. 

  August 27, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Chuck Thompson: Better Off Without ’Em: A Northern Manifesto For Southern Secession 

  A travel writer explores the South to make sense of its culture, but comes back with facile conclusions. 

  August 27, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Victor LaValle: The Devil In Silver 

  This novel sets out to expose some of the problems of mental hospitals, but the agenda outweighs the narrative. 

  August 27, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Claire Vaye Watkins: Battleborn

  A debuting writer with familial ties to Charles Manson’s cult escapes her past and establishes herself as a strong voice. 

  August 27, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Ariel S. Winter: The Twenty-Year Death

  Three novels in the style of three different crime-fiction greats make up the body of this compelling adult debut.

  August 20, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Rachel Joyce: The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry 

  A walking trip across England creates many connections for an isolated man in this quixotic novel. 

  August 20, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Stephen Miller: The Messenger 

  This story of a terrorist spreading smallpox through America seems inspired by thrillers, but is more delicate and personal. 

  August 20, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Richard C. Morais: Buddhaland Brooklyn 

  A conceptually slight new novel from the author of The Hundred-Foot Journey follows a young Buddhist through trials and self-discovery in New York. 

  August 20, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Stephen L. Carter: The Impeachment Of Abraham Lincoln 

  The Emperor Of Ocean Park’s author tries alternate history with this story of Lincoln’s post-assassination-attempt political woes. 

  August 13, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Charles Yu: Sorry Please Thank You: Stories 

  A writer who’s been compared to Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams finds his own feet in these clever stories of Star Trek redshirts and videogame failures. 

  August 13, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Kurt Andersen: True Believers 

  A ’60s radical struggles with her past—and worse, the question of whether anyone else cares about her past—in this fast-paced novel. 

  August 13, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Chris Dumas: Un-American Psycho: Brian De Palma And The Political Invisible 

  What could have been a dry, academic work on the controversial filmmaker reads as a vital argument for the richness of his work. 

  August 13, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Tana French: Broken Harbor 

  The latest literary mystery in a bestselling series has more to prove than past entries, and more to lose with its pompous hero.

  August 6, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Carlos Ruiz Zafón: The Prisoner Of Heaven 

  A Spanish bestseller continues his florid fantasy series about the power of books, but this time finds some of his archetypes wearing thin. 

  August 6, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Barry Fantoni: Harry Lipkin: Private Eye 

  The age of the geriatric detective in this murder mystery puts a new pressure on the familiar Sam Spade archetype.

  August 6, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Christian Kiefer: The Infinite Tides 

  The marooned-on-Earth astronaut at the heart of this draggy debut never seems to find a purpose. 

  August 6, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Mark Perryman: Why The Olympics Aren’t Good For Us, And How They Can Be 

  A sports journalist comes up with some smart observations about how to fix what’s wrong about the modern Olympic Games. 

  July 30, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Graham Joyce: Some Kind Of Fairy Tale 

  The author of The Tooth Fairy returns with another unsettling modern fairy tale about a stolen child—or possibly something else entirely. 

  July 30, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review John Brandon: A Million Heavens 

  A teenager who drops into a coma after a supposed religious experience unites and divides a town in this tender novel. 

  July 30, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review J.I. Baker: The Empty Glass 

  A Condé Nast editor and Time Out New York founder moves into fiction with this flat, tasteless fictional explication of Marilyn Monroe’s last days. 

  July 30, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Joe Meno: Office Girl 

  The Hairstyles Of The Damned author returns with a novel about dull people living dull lives—which somehow turns out to be dull. 

  July 23, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review E.J. Swift: Osiris 

  Social inequity and compromise form the thematic backbone of this post-apocalyptic novel about a floating city. 

  July 23, 2012 | 12:02am -

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  Book Review Karen Thompson Walker: The Age Of Miracles 

  This terrific debut novel watches a girl come of age in a damaged world that’s slowly ceasing to spin. 

  July 23, 2012 | 12:01am -

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  Book Review Tom King: A Once Crowded Sky 

  Tom King’s debut novel turns a world of powerless heroes into a War On Terror metaphor. 

  July 23, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  Book Review Don Winslow: The Kings Of Cool 

  As Oliver Stone’s Savages adaptation hits theaters, this fast-paced but more poignant prequel is hitting bookstores. 

  July 16, 2012 | 12:03am -

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  Book Review Dave Eggers: A Hologram For The King

  The author of What Is The What continues to disguise current events and opinions as fiction, but with diminishing results.

  July 16, 2012 | 12:02am -