Two Cities By John Edgar Wideman (Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin, Reviewed by David L. Ulin
Tales of urban life in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, from a novelist who continues to re-imagine the black experience in the United States.
(09/15/98)
Lord of Dark Places By Hal Bennett (Fiction)
Turtle Point Press, reviewed by David Ulin
Unavailable for 25 years, this novel is a classic portrait of the black experience in the years leading up to the Vietnam War.
The Deep Green Sea By Robert Olen Butler (Nonfiction)
Holt, Reviewed by David L. Ulin
A Vietnam vet returns to Ho Chi Minh City seeking closure, and finds love with a much younger woman
(01/16/97)
Women with Men By Richard Ford (Fiction)
Knopf, reviewed by David Ulin
Three long stories about emotional distress -- in Montana, and in Paris -- from the author of "The Sportswriter."
The Blonde on the Streetcorner By David Goodis (Fiction)
Serpent's Tail/Midnight Classics, Reviewed by David L. Ulin
This reissued 1954 novel, from a lost master of hard-boiled fiction, is about an aspiring songwriter on Philadelphia's meanest streets
(03/13/98)
The Zig Zag Kid: A Novel By David Grossman (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, reviewed by David L. Ulin
The new novel from the renowned Israeli writer is about a 12-year-old boy who befriends "the greatest thief in the world".
The Tribes of Palos Verdes By Joy Nicholson (Fiction)
St. Martin's Press, reviewed by David L. Ulin
A tough-minded first novel, narrated by a misfit high school girl who finds solace in surfing the Southern California coast.
(12/08/97)
Gravity:Tilted Perspectives on Rocketships, Rollercoasters, Earthquakes, and Angel Food By Joseph Lanza(Nonfiction)
Picador USA, reviewed by David L. Ulin
Fifteen short, and not overly scientific, meditations on gravity and its ever-present impact on our lives.
Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consumerism By Daniel Harris (Nonfiction)
Basic Books, review by Greg Villepique
With the malice of a gifted comic, an angry author argues that our "personal" tastes are something we were sold by advertising. (04/26/00)
Circumcision By David L. Gollaher (Nonfiction)
Basic Books, review by Greg Villepique
A physician argues the case against lopping it off.
(02/22/00)
Nat King Cole By Daniel Mark Epstein (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Reviewed by Greg Villepique
A top-notch biography
celebrates the jazz piano genius who gained his greatest fame as a pop
singer.
(11/12/99)
Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story By Tony Scherman (Nonfiction)
Smithsonian Institution Press, Reviewed by Greg Villepique
An account of one of rock 'n' roll's legendary drummers doesn't go deep enough.
(08/31/99)
A Short History of Rudeness By Mark Caldwell (Nonfiction)
Picador, Reviewed by Greg Villepique
How can a writer investigate manners when his definition of manners includes everything we do?
(08/06/99)
"Killer in Drag" and "Death of a Transvestite" By Ed Wood Jr. (Fiction)
Four Walls Eight Windows, Reviewed by Greg Villepique
The hopelessly inept transvestite filmmaker was also, it turns out, a hopelessly inept transvestite novelist.
(06/22/99)
To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America By Lillian Faderman (Nonfiction)
Houghton Mifflin, Reviewed by Norah Vincent
A noted historian offers a substantial contribution in a less than crowded field.
(06/24/99)
Betty Friedan: Her Life By Judith Hennessee (Nonfiction)
Random House, Reviewed by Norah Vincent
Broken crockery and catfights: A new biography of the feminist matriarch may make you want to take out a contract on her life.
(03/29/99)
Mara and Dann: An Adventure By Doris Lessing (Fiction)
HarperFlamingo, Reviewed by Norah Vincent
A dystopian vision of our planet undergoing another ice age thousands of years in the future, as seen through the eyes of two young children.
(01/08/99)
A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue By Wendy Shalit (Fiction)
The Free Press, Reviewed by Norah Vincent
A thoughtful and original meditation on gender issues, from a young writer who seeks to find common ground between feminists and conservatives.
(01/07/99)
Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas By Bill McKibben (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, Reviewed by Norah Vincent
Christmas has grown far too commercial, the author argues in this back-to-basics jeremiad, and it's time for less expensive holidays.
(12/21/98)
I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941 By Victor Klemperer (Nonfiction)
Random House, Reviewed by Norah Vincent
A literate and harrowing account, from a German Jew who escaped
being sent to a concentration camp, of life in Nazi-era Dresden.
(11/23/98)
"Silent Stars" By Jeanine Basinger (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Steve Vineberg
A massive tome on the silent era's greatest performers fails to come up with much that's fresh.
(11/01/99)
Edward Albee: A Singular Journey By Mel Gussow (Fiction)
Simon & Schuster, reviewed by Steve Vineberg
The first biography of the man who wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is politer than it needs to be.
(08/24/99)
The Consolations of Philosophy By Alain de Botton (Nonfiction)
Pantheon, review by Virginia Vitzthum
Six great philosophers on six big problems, rendered in terms that even Bart Simpson could follow. (04/24/00)
Fay By Larry Brown< (Fiction)
Algonquin, review by Virginia Vitzthum
The heroine of Brown's sixth novel is a Huck Finn navigating the Mississippi lowlife in the body of a 17-year-old femme fatale. (04/04/00)
"Swaggart" By Ann Rowe Seaman (Nonfiction)
Continuum, Reviewed by Virginia Vitzthum
A thorough biography of the disgraced televangelist drops a bombshell about his Louisiana childhood.
(12/10/99)
Suits Me By Diane Wood Middlebrook (Nonfiction)
Houghton Mifflin, Reviewed by Maryanne Vollers
A lucid and probing biography of Billy Tipton, a female jazz musician who spent her life passing as a man.
(05/18/98)
CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War By Tony Horwitz(Nonfiction)
Pantheon Books, Reviewed by Maryanne Vollers
The author, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, explores the landmarks -- and the outer limits -- of the Southern mind
(03/10/98)
Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder. By James Stewart (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, Reviewed by Bill Vourvoulias
A throrough investigation tells a hair-raising story but doesn't go far enough in its indictment of the medical profession.
(09/02/99)
Colony Girl By Thomas Rayfiel (Fiction)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, reviewed by Sarah Vowell
A rebellious young Eve stands at the center of a novel about a Midwestern religious cult.
(09/16/99)
Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life By Laurence Bergreen (Nonfiction)
Broadway Books, reviewed by Sarah Vowell
An elegant biography of the jazz great, one that places Armstrong in social as well as musical context.
Sleeping Where I Fall By Peter Coyote (Nonfiction)
Counterpoint, Reviewed by Sarah Vowell
An engaging memoir from the well-known actor, about his radical days in the late '60s and early '70s.
(04/17/98)
It's a Slippery Slope By Spaulding Gray (Nonfiction)
Noonday, reviewed by Sarah Vowell
Another round of navel-gazing from the famed monologist, this time about his tortured season on the ski slopes.
Jesus Saves By Darcey Steinke (Fiction)
Atlantic Monthly Press, reviewed by Sarah Vowell
An investigation into sadism and suburban dread, this novel is about a young girl who is abducted from her summer camp.
Laughing In The Dark By Laurie Stone (Nonfiction)
Ecco Press, reviewed by Sarah Vowell
A chronicle of the years when comics like Sandra Bernhard, Lypsinka and John Leguizamo meshed art and laughs in downtown New York.
No Lease on Life By Lynn Tillman (Fiction)
Harcourt Brace, Reviewed by Sarah Vowell
One woman's chronicle of a day in the life of New York's East Village, where druggies and creeps (and good humor) abound
(01/22/97)
Now It's Time to Say Goodbye By Dale Peck (Fiction)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Reviewed by Rob Walker
A sensational, even preposterous novel about two urban gay men who move to a racially divided, violence-haunted Kansas town
(05/29/98)
Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man By Dan Anderson and Maggie Berman (Nonfiction)
HarperCollins, reviewed by Courtney Weaver
A bold and often hilarious sex primer that reads as if it were written by Paul Rudnick and Bette Midler.
The Women By Hilton Als (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, reviewed by Courtney Weaver
A gay man attempts to view the multiple roles society gives black women through the prism of his own experience.
Here on Earth By Alice Hoffman (Fiction)
Putnam, reviewed by Courtney Weaver
A dreamy, airy-fairy family melodrama about a mother and daughter from this oddly compelling novelist.
Eat Me By Linda Jaivin (Fiction)
Broadway Books, reviewed by Courtney Weaver
This provocative first novel, about food, sex and semiotics, was a bestseller in the author's native Australia
Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom By Sidney W. Mintz (Nonfiction)
Beacon Press, reviewed by Courtney Weaver
An academic skillfully brings anthropology, semiotics, class and politics to bear on the question:Why do we eat what we eat?
The Politics of Bad
Faith By David Horowitz (Nonfiction)
The Free Press, Reviewed by David Weir
In his latest book, Salon columnist David Horowitz does what he does best -- lights into the left.
(02/16/99)
The Invention of the Restaurant By Rebecca L. Spang (Nonfiction)
Harvard University Press, review by Pete Wells
You didn't know that it was invented, did you? A scholar unearths the unlikely origins. (03/24/00)
"The Cockroach Papers" By Richard Schweid (Nonfiction)
Four Walls Eight Windows, review by Pete Wells
They're revolting, they're fascinating, they're brilliantly engineered and every one of those vile little bugs is different.
(01/03/00)
"My Kitchen Wars"By Betty Fussell (Nonfiction)
North Point Press, Reviewed by Pete Wells
The cookbook author recounts
the battles that made up her marriage.
(11/24/99)
The Temple Bombing By Melissa Faye Greene (Nonfiction)
Addison Wesley, reviewed by Anne Whitehouse
A vivid account of the 1958 bombing of Atlanta's Reform Jewish Temple, a forgotten episode in America's civil rights history.
Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers
By Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Fiction)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, reviewed by Anne Whitehouse
Set in Hawaii, this bumptious first novel, narrated by the daughter of poor agricultural workers, delves into language and identity.
Scandalmonger By William Safire (Fiction)
Simon & Schuster, review by Katharine Whittemore
The pundit and language columnist crafts a potboiler of sleaze and slander in the republic's infancy. (03/01/00)
Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad By David Haward Bain (Nonfiction)
Viking, Reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
It's sprawling and overloaded with facts, but this account of the building of the transcontinental railroad does justice to
one of the great American achievements.
(11/15/99)
Duel By Thomas Fleming (Nonfiction)
Basic Books, Reviewed by By Katharine Whittemore
A sensational history recounts the face-off that altered the course of the nation.
(09/29/99)
American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party
By Frederick J. Simonelli (Nonfiction)
University of Illinois Press, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A new biography explores the life and legacy of America's premier fascist.
(07/19/99)
Who Killed Kirov? By Amy Knight (Nonfiction)
Hill and Wang, Reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Since it isn't hard to guess, this investigation works better as a biography than as a whodunit.
(06/11/99)
Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. America and All the Ships at Sea By Richard Bausch (Nonfiction)
HarperCollins, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A young broadcast journalist in 1964 meets mobsters, black civil rights fighters, white rioters -- and gets tipped-off on JFK liaison.
Women in Their Beds: New and Selected Stories By Gina Berriault (Fiction)
Counterpoint, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Bright wordplay with an almost Eastern European bite -- think Chekhov or Kundera -- mark these fine stories by the American writer.
Leaving a Doll's House By Claire Bloom (Nonfiction)
Little, Brown & Co., reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A curious (and controversial) memoir about the actress' life, including her 17 hellish years with the novelist Philip Roth.
Be Sweet By Roy Blount, Jr. (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A shaggy memoir, from the Southern humorist, about the various women in his life -- and the origins of his comic bent
(06/01/98)
A Pirate Looks at Fifty By Jimmy Buffett (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Tales of salt, sand, sea and sky, from a beach-obsessed pop singer who can actually write
(06/15/98)
Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower By Susan Eisenhower (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A sentimental but often compelling retelling of the life of President Dwight Eisenhower's remarkable wife, written by her granddaughter.
Imagining Atlantis By Richard Ellis (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Did the famed 'lost city' exist or didn't it? The author, a marine expert, adeptly wades through dozens of (often crackpot) arguments and theories
(07/03/98)
A People's Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution By Orlando Figes (Nonfiction)
Viking, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A young historian who writes with a novelist's touch offers perhaps the best (and most readable) chronicle yet of the Russian Revolution.
Don't Tell Dad By Peter Fonda(Nonfiction)
Hyperion, Reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
An amiable memoir, from the actor son of Henry Fonda, about his nightmarish childhood, his drug days and his scattered career
(04/06/98)
Speak Sunlight By Alan Jolis (Nonfiction)
St. Martin's Press, reviewed by Katharine Whittamore
A vivid, sensual memoir of life in Franco's Spain, from the perspective of the privileged and observant young son of a Parisian diplomat.
Sahara Unveiled By William Langewiesche (Nonfiction)
Pantheon, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
The author, a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly, makes his way through Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Senegal in this fact- and history-filled travel memoir.
Drawn With the Sword By James M. McPherson (Nonfiction)
Oxford University Press, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A collection of essays on the Civil War tackling questions large (Why did the Confederacy lose?) and small (Were the dying Grant's memoirs effected by his medicinal cocaine use?).
I Was Amelia Earhart By Jane Mendelsohn (Fiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
This literary reconstruction of Amelia Earhart's final flight glides aloft on thermals of poetic speculation.
Fame & Folly By Cynthia Ozick (Nonfiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Ardent, erudite essays from the brilliant literary critic, on T.S. Eliot, Trollope, Salman Rushdie, the Holocaust and other subjects.
The Cobra Event By Richard Preston (Fiction)
Random House, reviewed by Katherine Whittemore
The science is riveting in "The Cobra Event." The story, however, is only fair. (11/20/97)
From Bondage By Henry Roth (Fiction)
St. Martin's Press, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
From the author of the classic "Call It Sleep," a novel about young man trying to escape the stigmas of poverty, parochialism, and sexual transgression.
Piano Pieces By Russell Sherman (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
The author, a renowned classical pianist, delivers a series of sprightly, erudite essays about music, musicians and the most remarkable of instruments.
News of the Spirit By Lee Smith (Fiction)
Putnam, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Six longish short stories from the Virginia-born writer. At her best, she sounds like Scout grown up, at her worst a saccharine Fanny Flagg.
The Way We Are By Margaret Visser (Nonfiction)
Faber & Faber, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Sixty quirky, far-ranging and pedagogic essays on topics such as spitting, wedding cakes and the Easter Bunny, from the acclaimed Toronto food writer.
Worst Fears By Fay Weldon (Fiction)
Atlantic Monthly Press, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
The British author's 21st novel concerns a well-known actress who discovers the far-flung promiscuity of her late husband.
Night Beat By Mikal Gilmore (Nonfiction)
Dutton, Reviewed by Beth Wolfensberger Singer
Deeply personal essays about rock music, from the Rolling Stone writer and author of the memoir "Shot In the Heart."
(02/06/98)
The Distance to the Moon By James Morgan (Nonfiction)
Riverhead Books, Reviewed by Brad Wieners
A writer offers his own take on the literature of the road: the cross-country trip as midlife crisis.
(05/14/99)
Way Out There in the Blue By Frances FitzGerald (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, review by Ian Williams
The definitive account of Star Wars, the military fantasy that's soaked taxpayers for $60 billion -- and counting. (04/28/00)
Patrick O'Brian: A Life Revealed By Dean King (Nonfiction)
Henry Holt and Co. , review by Ian Williams
The bestselling novelist wasn't, it turns out, the man he claimed to be. (03/21/00)
Altar Music By Christin Lore Weber (Fiction)
Scribner, review by Mary Elizabeth Williams
An ex-sister's tale of sexually confused priests and predatory nuns. (03/22/00)
"When Bad Things Happen to Other People" By John Portmann (Nonfiction)
Routledge, review by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A new look
at Schadenfreude forgives us that nasty vice, but doesn't let us have much
fun with it.
(12/22/99)
A Certain Age By Tama Janowitz (Fiction)
Doubleday, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
In her best work in years, the author shows she's been studying at the Wharton school.
(08/10/99)
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing By Melissa Bank (Fiction)
Viking, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
The novel may mock the literature of man-trapping, but it's still too gentle
by far.
(06/15/99)
"Heartbreaker" By Robert Ferrigno (Fiction)
Pantheon Books, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Author Robert Ferrigno returns from a long sabbatical, just in time for summer.
(06/01/99)
The Calling By Catherine Whitney (Nonfiction)
Crown Publishing, Reviewed Mary Elizabeth Williams
A lapsed Catholic goes back to her roots and explores our fascination with nuns.
(05/28/99)
"Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)" By Stacy Schiff (Nonfiction)
Random House, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Mrs. Nabokov could have been anything she wanted to be. All she wanted to be was Mrs. Nabokov.
(04/20/99)
An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England By Venetia Murray (Nonfiction)
Viking Books, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Regalese: A new history sheds dazzling light on extravagantly eccentric Regency England
(03/31/99)
Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency By Saul David (Nonfiction)
Atlantic Monthly Press, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Regalese: A new history sheds dazzling light on extravagantly eccentric Regency England
(03/31/99)
The Vampire Armand By Anne Rice (Fiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Armand, the nubile Venetian -- he's the living, breathing remnant of the high Renaissance -- returns in Rice's latest gothic vampire saga.
(10/22/98)
Waltzing the Cat By Pam Houston (Fiction)
Norton, Reviewed by Paige Williams
Linked short stories, from the author of "Cowboys Are My Weakness," about a restless female photographer and her penchant for selfish, distant men.
(12/18/98)
The Other Side of the River By Alex Kotlowitz (Fiction)
Doubleday, Reviewed by Paige Williams
From the author of "There Are No Children Here," a tale about a murder (and racial and class divides) in a small Michigan town
(01/29/97)
"The Lexus and the Olive Tree" By Thomas Friedman (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Reviewed by Scott Whitney
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman offers an important message about the new world economy: Globalize or die.
(04/19/99)
Girls Only: Sleepovers, Squabbles, Tuna Fish and Other Facts of Family Life By Alex Witchel (Nonfiction)
Random House, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Arch and epigrammatic essays, from the New York Times cultural reporter,
about her eccentric family.
Lying on the Couch By Irvin D. Yalom (Fiction)
Basic Books, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
A revealing novel about therapy and its discontents, from the psychoanalyst author of "Love's Executioner."
Tabloid Dreams By Robert Olen Butler (Fiction)
Henry Holt, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Twelve eclectic short stories, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, each inspired by an actual tabloid headline.
Clement Greenberg: A Life By Florence Rubenfeld (Nonfiction)
Scribner, Reviewed by Deborah Wilk
A biography (and a critical reexamination) of the powerful,
larger-than-life art critic who championed abstract expressionism
(03/26/98)
The Great Shame; and the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World By Thomas Keneally (Nonfiction)
Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A writer of Irish extraction explores Australia and North America in a quest to uncover Ireland's history.
(09/13/99)
The
Entertainment Economy: How Mega Media Forces Are Transforming Our Lives By Michael J. Wolf (Nonfiction)
Times Books, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
The Shopping News: Move over, Adam Smith -- make way for Mickey Mouse.
(03/15/99)
Trumpet By Jackie Kay (Fiction)
Pantheon Books, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A multivoiced debut novel offers a fact-based drama of gender, race and all that jazz.
(03/10/99)
Satyricon USA: A Journey Across the New Sexual Frontier By Eurydice (Nonfiction)
Scribner, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A writer is so determined to prove sex takes place between the ears
that she forgets it also occurs between the legs.
(02/12/99)
Charles At Fifty By Anthony Holden (Nonfiction)
Random House, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A biography about the public and private life of the misunderstood and often vilified man who
would be king.
(12/07/98)
Charles:
Victim or Villain By Penny Junod (Nonfiction)
HarperCollins, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A biography about the public and private life of the misunderstood and often vilified man who would be king.
(12/07/98)
Nureyev: His Life By Diane Solway (Nonfiction)
Morrow, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A meticulous biography of the sexually ambiguous dance icon who gave ballet a rock 'n' roll mystique.
(10/09/98)
They Call Me Mad Dog! A Story for Bitter, Lonely People By Erika Lopez (Fiction)
Simon & Schuster, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Set in San Francisco, this exuberant sequel to the author's "Flaming Iguanas" is a twisted love story that mixes narrative, typography and illustration
(12/04/98)
As Francesca By Martha Baer (Fiction)
Broadway Books, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
By a Wired editor (and first serialized in Hotwired), this novel delves into torrid online relationships and their mysteries and discontents.
Airframe By Michael Crichton(Fiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
Soon to be a major movie, no doubt, this novel of disaster in the skies is the latest from the author of "Jurassic Park."
The Hottest State By Ethan Hawke (Fiction)
Little, Brown, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A tale of romance among the young, the angry and the artsy by the popular actor.
Rat Pack Confidential By Shawn Levy (Nonfiction)
Doubleday, Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A detailed peek into the lives of the undisputed kings of Vegas cool -- Frank, Dino, Sammy, Peter and Joey -- and the forces that destroyed many of them.
(05/11/98)
Lolita By
Vladmir Nabokov: performed by Jeremy Irons (Fiction)
Random House Audio Books, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A faithful and gripping 12-hour audio version of Nabokov's masterpiece, brought to compelling life by actor Jeremy Irons.
Rock & Roll: An Unruly History By Robert Palmer (Nonfiction)
Harmony Books, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
An assured and intelligent history of rock, by a former New York Times critic.
Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes By John Pierson (Nonfiction)
Hyperion, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
The exhilarating and crushing reminiscences of independent cinema's most successsful "bag man."
Dumbing Down: Essays on the Strip-Mining of American Culture By Katharine Washburn and John Thornton, editors (Nonfiction)
Norton, reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Williams
A collection condemning the decline of American culture, from Madonna to cookbooks to the pronunciation of the word "mother."
Alias Grace By Margaret Atwood (Fiction)
Doubleday, reviewed by Paige Williams
A convicted, but possibly innocent, 19th century murderess befriends a psychiatrist in this Booker Prize-nominated novel.
Dixie Rising By Peter Applebome (Nonfiction)
Times Books, reviewed by Paige Williams
A New York Times reporter argues that the South's ideals -- think gun control, race and music -- profoundly influence modern America.
Walker Percy: A Life By Patrick Samway (Nonfiction)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, reviewed by Paige Williams
A well-researched and often compelling biography of the author of "The Moviegoer" and "The Last Gentleman.
The Story of Jane By Laura Kaplan
(Nonfiction)
Pantheon, reviewed by Beth Wolfensberger
A "collective memoir" of a legendary underground abortion service that operated in America from 1969 to 1973.
At Eighty-Two: A Journal By May Sarton (Nonfiction)
W.W. Norton, reviewed by Beth Wolfensberger
Small pleasures and ironic regrets from one of America's most beloved diarist's final years.
A Slant of Sun: One Child's Courage By Beth Kephart (Nonfiction)
Norton, Reviewed by Katherine Wolff
A graceful and moving memoir of motherhood, from a writer whose young son was diagnosed with a disorder linked to autism
(11/16/98)
At Home in the World By Joyce Maynard (Nonfiction)
Picador USA, Reviewed by Katharine Wolff
Joyce Maynard was 18, and J.D. Salinger 53, when they began a short-lived affair, recounted in this unflattering tell-all memoir.
(09/14/98)
"Dear Genius": The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom Collected and edited by Leonard S. Marcus (Nonfiction)
HarperCollins, Reviewed by Katherine Wolff
A remarkable collection of letters, from the legendary children's book editor, to writers such as Maurice Sendak and E.B. White.
(04/13/98)
What Do Women Want? By Erica Jong (Nonfiction)
HarperCollins, Reviewed by Cathy Young
A slim collection of essays, from the author of "Fear of Flying," on topics ranging from Viagra and Venice to Hillary Clinton and Anais Nin.
(10/06/98)
Waterloo Sunset: Stories By Ray Davies (Fiction)
Hyperion, review by Stephanie Zacharek
The legendary leader of the Kinks ventures gamely into fiction. (03/23/00)
Yes We Have No: Adventures in the Other England By Nik Cohn (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Novelist and cultural critic Nik Cohn tours ye merry olde land of low-rent gangsters, spiritual wanderers, techno DJ's and football hooligans.
(10/12/99)
Having Everything By John L'Heureux (Fiction)
Atlantic Monthly Press, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A well-heeled academic takes a walk on the kinky side.
(09/24/99)
Ringing for You By Anouchka Grose Forrester (Fiction)
Scribner, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Another post-"Bridget Jones" novel tackles the subject of a single woman's love life. Yawn.
(09/10/99)
Italian Fever By Valerie Martin (Fiction)
Alfred A. Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
In the land of Bernini and amore, an unassuming New Yorker discovers herself.
(08/02/99)
My Russian By Deirdre McNamer (Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A serious novel that's almost a thriller tells of a woman who assumes a disguise and hunkers down 11 blocks from home.
(07/21/99)
The Migration of Ghosts By Pauline Melville (Fiction)
Bloomsbury, Reviewed Stephanie Zacharek
In a dozen stories, Pauline Melville uses symbols to beat the reader senseless.
(05/26/99)
China Chic By Valerie Steele and John S. Major (Nonfiction)
Yale University Press, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Foot binding was barbarous, but that doesn't mean the shoes weren't fabulous.
(04/30/99)
The Sopranos By Alan Warner (Fiction)
Farrar, Straus And Giroux, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Six Catholic schoolgirls head off for the city in search of trouble and go back home looking for love.
(04/08/99)
Flesh Guitar By Geoff Nicholson (Fiction)
Overlook Press, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A British satirist piles craziness on craziness in the tale of a reincarnated guitar.
(03/09/99)
The Houdini
Girl By Martyn Bedford (Fiction)
Pantheon, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
British novelist lays out the darkly romantic story of a grief-stricken magician who loses his true love in a grisly, suspicious train wreck.
(02/19/99)
The Crime of Sheila McGough By Janet Malcolm (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
The journalist continues her ruminations, this time on an attorney whose tenacity brought the wrath of the legal system down on her.
(02/05/99)
The Tesseract By Alex Garland (Fiction)
Riverhead Books, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A jigsaw puzzle of a novel in which three interlocking stories lead to a violent climax.
(01/29/99)
Cole Porter: A Biography By William McBrien (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Porter was among the most brilliant songwriters of the century, and this well-researched yet ultimately tuneless bio doesn't do him justice.
(10/20/98)
Going Down: Lip Service From Great Writers Edited by Jay Schaefer (Nonfiction)
Chronicle Books, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Timely meditations on the joys of pearl diving and cone honing; contributors include Oscar Wilde, Erica Jong and John Updike.
(10/08/98)
Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy: The Who By John Perry (Nonfiction)
Schirmer, Reviewed by Stephanie
Zacharek
A lovely piece of rock analysis, from a writer (and guitarist) who can't help blending the Who's story with his own.
(12/15/98)
Cinderella & Company By Manuela Hoelterhoff (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
This irresistible blend of gossip, reportage and crackerjack
observation follows Italian mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli through today's
colorful opera scene
(09/28/98)
Pure Drivel By Steve Martin (Nonfiction)
Hyperion, Reviewed by Stephanie
Zacharek
Effortless, silly and subtly erudite, the author's short New Yorker
essays, collected here, prove that there is such a thing as an elegant puff piece.
(09/16/98)
The Museum Guard By Howard Norman (Fiction)
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
From the author of "The Bird Artist," a ruminative novel, set
during World War II, about a woman's obsessive identification with a
painting.
(08/17/98)
Viper Rum By Mary Karr (Fiction)
New Directions, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
From the author of "The Liar's Club," a book of poetry that's
filled with humor, aggressive vitality and a hovering veil of despair
(08/04/98)
The American Way of Death Revisited By Jessica Mitford (Nonfiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
This updated version of the author's muckraking classic proves that
the funeral industry is as corrupt as it ever was.
(07/29/98)
The Girl In The Flammable Skirt By Aimee Bender (Nonfiction)
Doubleday, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Short stories that combine a kind of magic realism with urban myth,
with often surprising results.
(07/24/98)
Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist By Walter Bernstein (Nonfiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
The often moving story of a veteran TV and movie writer who, because of his political leanings, was blocked from working during most of the 1950s.
Words for the Taking By Neal
Bowers
(Nonfiction)
Norton, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Relating Bowers' search
for the man who plagiarized his poems, this book is both a detective
story and a rumination on the worth of poetry.
All over but the shoutin By Rick Bragg (Nonfiction)
Pantheon, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A memoir, from a New York Times national correspondent, about his dirt-poor upbringing in the deep South.
The Half-Life of Happiness By John Casey (Fiction)
Knopf, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
From the author of "Spartina," a sprawling novel about a liberal lawyer whose family spins apart in front of him
(03/02/98)
Half a Life
By Jill Ciment (Nonfiction)
Crown, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Hair-hopping and parent-strangling in 1960s Southern California: An incident-filled and often harrowing memoir about the author's coming-of-age.
Great Books By David Denby (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
The author returns to Columbia University 30 years after graduating to read and write about the virtues (and vices) of the Great Books.
Cafe Europa: Life After Communism By Slavenka Drakulic (Nonfiction)
Norton, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Smart and funny personal essays from the Croatian writer, about the
cultural growing pains of Eastern European countries.
Out of Sheer Rage By Geoff Dyer (Noniction)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
More memoir than sober academic study, this book details one
writer's obsession with D.H. Lawrence and his own writer's block
(05/05/98)
Dreaming Out Loud By Bruce Feiler (Nonfiction)
Avon Books, Reviewed by Stephanie
Zacharek
A cutting and often very funny look inside all that's tawdry -- and
all that's heartfelt -- about the country music scene today.
(04/27/98)
The Phantom Father By Barry Gifford (Nonfiction)
Harcourt Brace, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A Memoir, By The Well-Known Novelist And Screenwriter, About His Racketeer Father Who Ran An All-Night Liquor Store In Chicago In The 1950s.
La Moreau By Marianne Gray (Nonfiction)
Fine Books, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A biography of Jeanne Moreau, the most enigmatic, intuitive and simply beautiful actress to have emerged from French cinema.
The Gangster of Love By Jessica Hagedorn (Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Set in the music and art scenes of the 1970s, this follow-up to Hagedorn's acclaimed "Dogeaters" follows the emotional travails of three young artists.
Heathens By David Haynes (Fiction)
New Rivers Press, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A brisk, funny, no-holds-barred novel about race, religion and a somewhat harried elementary-school teacher.
Go Now By Richard Hell (Fiction)
Scribner, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
In this debut novel by the legendary punk rocker, a heroin-addicted New York
musician makes a road trip to California in a '57 DeSoto.
A Journey With Elsa Cloud By Leila
Hadley (Nonfiction)
Books & Co./ Turtle Point, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A silken, idiosyncratic travel memoir about a mother's attempt to reconnect with a daughter studying Buddhism in India.
Just an Ordinary Day By Shirley
Jackson (Fiction)
Bantam, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A new collection of
short
stories, many of them never before published, from the acclaimed author of
"The Lottery."
Dreamer By Charles Johnson (Fiction)
Scribner, Reviewed by Stephanie
Zacharek
From the author of the National Book Award-winning "Middle
Passage," a novel about the final two years of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life
(03/25/98)
Stars Screaming By John Kaye (Fiction)
Atlantic Monthly Press, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
From a noted screenwriter, a novel that captures '70s-era Hollywood in all its warped complexity and glamour (11/25/97)
Eat Fat By Richard Klein (Nonfiction)
Pantheon, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
With information and incantation, the author of "Cigarettes are Sublime" now encourages readers to embrace our fat.
Circumnavigation By Steve Lattimore (Fiction)
Holt, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Intelligent short stories populated by neighborhood bullies, decent husbands who drink too much, effeminate Navy guys and tough, skinny, clairvoyant teenage girls
(12/04/97)
Wild Decembers By Edna O'Brien (Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin, review by Stephanie Zacharek
The great Irish novelist delivers a resoundingly passionate tale of land feuds and illicit love. (04/18/00)
Use Me By Elissa Schappell (Fiction)
Harper Collins, review by Stephanie Zacharek
A disarming debut collection tracks a woman's life from teenage passion to grown-up grief. (03/14/00)
Abbreviating Ernie By Peter Lefcourt (Nonfiction)
Villard, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
This wickedly comic novel, about a woman who lops off her (dead) husband's penis, is the satirical follow-up to "Di and I."
Girl in Landscape >By Jonathan Lethem (Fiction)
Doubleday, Reviewed by Stephanie
Zacharek
From the author of "As She Climbed Across the Table," an effecting
tale exploring the psyche of a teenage girl in a very strange land
(03/17/98)
Graceland: Going Home with Elvis By Karal Ann Marling (Nonfiction)
Harvard University Press, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
An elegiac, heartfelt book about Presley's place in American culture, and the places -- Las Vegas, Hollywood, Memphis --where he touched down.
The Last of the Savages By Jay McInerney (Fiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
From the author of "Bright Lights, Big City," a chronicle of the friendship between a rebellious rich boy and his admiring working class friend.
The Magician's Wife By Brian Moore (Fiction)
Dutton, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A slim, forceful historical novel, set in 19th century France, about a magician, his wife and a dashing, but calculating, count
(02/03/98)
Starting Out in the Evening By Brian Morton (Fiction)
Crown, Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A lovely book about art and the intellect, featuring three characters -- an aging novelist, his daughter and a worshipful young student
(01/07/97)
Footsucker By Geoff Nicholson (Fiction)
The Overlook Press, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A winsome novel about foot and shoe fetishism, from a British novelist whose primary subject is obsession.
Rave On By Philip Norman (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A biography of rock pioneer Buddy Holly, from the author of 1981's "Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation."
Down by The River By Edna O'Brien (Fiction)
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A shimmering, magnificent novel, inspired by a real-life Irish rape victim who was forbidden to leave the country to obtain an abortion.
No Mercy By Redmond O'Hanlon (Nonfiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Rip-roaring travel writing about a trip to the Congo in search of a mythical dinosaurlike creature reputed to live by a jungle lake.
The Devil Problem (and Other True Stories) By David Remnick (Nonfiction)
Random House, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Essays on subjects ranging from dueling Shakespearian scholars to Michael Jordan, from the talented New Yorker staff writer.
Kill Kill Faster Faster
By Joel Rose (Fiction)
Crown, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A terse, tough-guy novel about a convicted killer who writes a hit Broadway
play and becomes a literary celebrity.
Push By Sapphire (Fiction)
Knopf, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A straight-talking first novel about Precious Jones, a 16-year-old girl from Harlem who triumphs over enough strife to fill six books.
A Fez of the Heart: Travels Around Turkey in Search of a Hat By Jeremy Seal (Nonfiction)
Harvest, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
Tracing the origins of a hat inextricably linked to Turkey (but banned there in 1925), the young author delivers a vivid peek inside a complex culture.
Larry's Party By Carol Shields (Fiction)
Viking, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A novel about a small-town florist turned maze-designer from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Stone Diaries."
Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss
By Kenneth Silverman (Nonfiction)
HarperCollins, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
An chronicle of Houdini's life, his famous stunts and his career as a writer, raconteur and exposer of shyster psychics.
Space Is The Place: The Lives and Times of Sun RaBy John F. Szwed (Nonfiction)
Pantheon, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A very readable biography of the legendary, visionary, whacked-out big-band leader who claimed he was born on Saturn.
Paper Wings By Marly Swick
(Fiction)
Harper Collins, reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
In this novel about middle-class family life set in the 1960s and '70s, a
woman's obsession with the Kennedys has troubling undercurrents.
First, Body By
Melanie Rae Thon (Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin Co., reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A collection of tough, angular short stories from an author who made Granta's
list of the best young American writers.
The Secret Lives
Of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life
By Thomas Geoghegan (Nonfiction)
Pantheon, Reviewed by Jason Zengerle
A political thinker goes on a restless quest to discover what it
means to be a good citizen in late-20th century America
(02/08/99)
The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber By Nicholson Baker (Nonfiction)
Random House, reviewed by Sue Zesiger
In these essays, the author of "Vox" and "The Fermata" trains his hyper-observant eye on such subjects as model airplanes and library card-catalogues.