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NEWS ABOUT: book reviews

book reviews stories: 37 news summaries

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BOOK REVIEW

Dan Brown Goes to Washington

The master pulls off a DC Da Vinci Code: secrets, conspiracy, plus giant squid

Sep 14, 09 6:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nobody can pull off Dan Brown's well-worn Da Vinci Code formula for treasure-hunt thrills anymore—except Dan Brown, Janet Maslin writes in the New York Times. Brown's new book The Lost Symbol, hitting bookstores tomorrow, "clicks even if at first it looks dangerously like a clone," packing in... More »

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book reviews • Da Vinci Code • Dan Brown • The Lost Symbol

BOOK REVIEW

True Compass: Kennedy's Life in Modest Terms

'Heartfelt' memoir depicts pursuit of public good, atonement

Sep 4, 09 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - In True Compass, Ted Kennedy’s memoir, he writes with “searching candor” about the personal losses he endured, the mistakes he made, and the struggle to live up to his family reputation, writes Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times. The result is a powerful tribute to perseverance... More »

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John F. Kennedy • Ted Kennedy • publishing • memoir • book reviews • childhood • Robert F. Kennedy • Edward Kennedy • True Compass

BOOK REVIEW

Hotties Hate Marriage
in Prospect Park West

Get ready to meet the scheming gals of Prospect Park West

Aug 23, 09 4:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Kudos to Carrie Bradshaw for seeking sex in the city, because marriage in the city apparently stinks, Annie Karni writes in the New York Post. Author Amy Sohn’s dark new tome about marriage and motherhood, Prospect Park West, is garnering praise as the next Sex and the City, following... More »

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women • Sex and the City • book reviews • Carrie Bradshaw

book review

This Is Your Best Shot to Finish
a Pynchon Novel

Author shifts gears, has fun with a stoner detective in the '60s

Jul 31, 09 1:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thomas Pynchon's back with what appears to be his most accessible novel yet, in the unlikely category of detective fiction. Critics reviewing Inherent Vice say he pulled it off:
  • Laura Miller, Salon: It's "a sun-struck, pot-addled shaggy dog story that fuses the sulky skepticism of Raymond Chandler with
... More »

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fiction • author • book reviews • book • Thomas Pynchon • Inherent Vice • Raymond Chandler

BOOK REVIEW

 Anderson vs. Gladwell: 
 The Battle Over Free  

Anderson's new book sets off old-school journalists' feud

Jul 1, 09 7:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Chris Anderson's new book, Free, examining the repercussions the Internet trend of bringing costs to zero, triggered a mini-war with Malcolm Gladwell, who lambasted him for arguing that "the New York Times should be staffed by volunteers, like Meals on Wheels." In the London Times, Antonia Senior does... More »

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media • online media • Malcolm Gladwell • free • book reviews • new media • Chris Anderson

 Summer Book Suggestions 

Forget the economy with these notable upcoming tomes

May 30, 09 10:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - It’s almost summer, and that means it’s time to forget about the economy, grab a book, and head to the beach. The Wall Street Journal has some suggestions:
  • The Secret Speech, by Tom Rob Smith: Nothing says “escapism” like this novel—set in the
... More »

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book reviews • book • Donald E. Westlake • Robert Ludlum

Book Review

 Baseball May 
 Kill You 


May 26, 09 1:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - If you’re thinking about a trip to the ball park, you’d better have some good insurance. In their new book, Death at the Ballpark: A Comprehensive Study of Game-Related Fatalities, Robert Gorman and David Weeks chronicle 850 baseball-related deaths, listing them in reference-like fashion. You’d... More »

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book reviews • accidental death • baseball • baseball history • Jay-ZTV

opinion

Zombies Work
in Latest Jane
Austen Spinoff

Somehow, style lends itself to the undead ... aliens ... vampires ...

Apr 17, 09 12:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been so well received that one must question “why these silly, campy things work so well,” Monica Hesse writes in the Washington Post. She suggests that it’s not simply because Jane Austen and vampires sell—as the author of the forthcoming... More »

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fiction • horror • book reviews • adaptation • Jane Austen • Victorian novel • Pride and Prejudice • Seth Grahame-Smith

book review

From Romantic Lemons, Literary Lemonade

It's fizzy, too—and comes complete with recipes and regrets

Apr 9, 09 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Recipes for "Morning After Pumpkin Bread" and "Ineffectual Eggplant Parmigiana" should clue readers in that Giulia Melucci's I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti is no how-to on gaining a man's heart through his stomach, Joyce Wadler writes for the New York Times. Melucci—"... More »

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New York • cooking • literature • writer • relationship • book reviews • book • publishing industry • Giulia Melucci

OPINION

Bad Book? Vent
Your Fury on Amazon

One-star reviews offer relief from
literary anxiety

Feb 9, 09 10:30 AM CST
(Newser) - Anne Enright's The Gathering won the prestigious Booker Prize and dozens of adulatory reviews, but Cynthia Crossen of the Wall Street Journal didn't find much to admire in the bleak story of a dysfunctional family. Luckily, there's a place to vent such disappointment, she writes: amid Amazon's readers' reviews, where... More »

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Internet • literature • book reviews • book • Amazon

Post Folds Book Review Section to Cut Costs

Literature reviews will be shuffled into other sections of paper

Jan 28, 09 6:01 PM CST
(Newser) - The Washington Post will print Book World—its stand-alone Sunday section—for the last time Feb. 15 and shuffle its reviews into other newspaper sections to cut costs, the New York Times reports. Book World will remain intact online, run by a previously downsized staff. The closure comes amid... More »

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Washington Post • American media • book reviews • advertising sales • New York Times Book Review • literary criticism • newspaper industry • recession depression • Book World

Book Review


 How to Eat for Yourself, 
 Your Wallet, the Planet   

New Book tells how to eat healthier, cheaper, and greener

Jan 5, 09 4:12 PM CST
(Newser) - Mark Bittman is a unique voice in American food writing, an “anti-foodies’ foodie” who rejects both the “chefolatry” of gourmet mags and Rachel Ray-style pandering, writes Laura Miller in Salon. His new book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, is both exceedingly ambitious—it purports to... More »

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food • environment • vegetables • diet • book reviews

Book Review

New Critique
of Snark Misses the Point

Denby blames the hecklers, fails to see what they're heckling

Dec 31, 08 8:03 PM CST
(Newser) - Give David Denby credit for bravery: He's 65 and the movie critic at the New Yorker, so he “could have written the most concise, insightful, and expertly argued book about snark and still come off like an Internet-age Andy Rooney,” writes Adam Sternbergh of New York ... More »

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irony • book reviews • David Denby

BOOK REVIEW

 How-to Guides 
 for New Tipplers 

Five new guides to seasonal cheer

Dec 17, 08 12:50 PM CST
(Newser) - The holiday season tends to produce a glut of books on wine, and while all primers leave out the most important part—actual bottles—five new reads get a once-over by Eric Asimov in the New York Times.
  • Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course, by Andrew Jefford: a "
... More »

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wine • book reviews • wine industry • pinot noir • Eric Asimov

BOOK REVIEW

History Often Forgets About This Adams

And it's a shame: Sam, cousin of John, helped shape our revolution

Nov 26, 08 4:22 PM CST
(Newser) - When people think of Samuel Adams these days, the beer, and not the Revolutionary War hero, may come to mind first. But a new book from Ira Stoll—Samuel Adams: A Life—makes the case for bringing the cousin of John Adams out of "the attic of history."... More »

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history • book reviews • Samuel Adams • Revolutionary War • founding fathers

BOOK REVIEW

 45 Years Later, 
 JFK Theories Live On 

New book on JFK assassination offers new ideas, little proof

Nov 23, 08 3:20 PM CST
(Newser) - In the canon of great conspiracy theories, the JFK assassination remains unquestionably king. The enduring national mystery has given rise to some of the most complicated explanations, and the theory offered by a new book is one of the more pleasingly convoluted, reports Vanity Fair in a look at Legacy ... More »

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Fidel Castro • assassination • Martin Luther King Jr. • book reviews • JFK assassination • conspiracy theory • Robert F. Kennedy

BOOK REVIEW

The Culture Wars, College Football Style

Michigan-Ohio State rivalry illuminates tale of  '60s, '70s upheaval

Nov 21, 08 5:00 PM CST
(Newser) - The cultural disconnect between conservative college football programs and America’s liberalizing culture in the late 1960s and early ‘70s is the theme of War as They Knew It, a book by Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg. The survey of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry (which continues tomorrow) through... More »

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rivalry • Richard Nixon • Michigan Wolverines • New Republic • liberals • Vietnam War • University of Michigan • book reviews • Jonathan Chait • Bo Schembechler • Ohio State University • Ohio State Buckeyes • 1960s • 1970s • conservatives • culture wars • Detroit Free Press • Woody Hayes • Michael Rosenberg

BOOK REVIEW

Death Takes a Holiday in Saramago's Latest

Author of Blindness deals with death in new novel

Oct 10, 08 6:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - The premise of Jose Saramago’s Death With Interruptions seems a bit cutesy at first, with a Buffy-esque Grim Reaper deciding to take some time off her job, writes Shannon McBeen in Radar. But as Saramago explores the ramifications of universal immortality, he manages to transform “the admittedly weak... More »

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literature • Portugal • writer • book reviews • book • Jose Saramago

BOOK REVIEW

 Waiter Serves It Up in Tell-All

Behind the scenes at a New York bistro

Aug 26, 08 12:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - A waiter known for grumbling about his work online has now recounted his misadventures in a book, Waiter Rant. Steve Dublanica tells Bloomberg about its highlights: runaway rodents, crazed customers, and his background in the mental health field. "Dealing with rabidly insane psychopaths is perfect training for dealing with... More »

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food • New York • restaurant • autobiography • book reviews • service industry

BOOK REVIEW

Pelosi Teaches America's Daughters to Complain

Dem's 'tiresome' tome not worth (short) read

Aug 4, 08 3:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi’s new book is titled Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters. But if its contents, and the Democrat’s actions, are any indication, America’s daughters mostly have the power to whine, Samantha Sault writes in the Weekly Standard. Amid “tiresome feminist complaining,”... More »

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Nancy Pelosi • House of Representatives • memoir • book reviews • oil drilling

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