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NEWS ABOUT: book reviews

Anderson vs. Gladwell: The Battle Over Free

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

(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 »

Summer Book Suggestions

Forget the economy with these notable upcoming tomes

(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 paranoid nightmare of
... More »

Baseball May Kill You

(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 likely be... More »

Zombies Work in Latest Jane Austen Spinoff

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

(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 »

From Romantic Lemons, Literary Lemonade

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

(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—"a... More »

Bad Book? Vent Your Fury on Amazon

One-star reviews offer relief from literary anxiety

(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 »

Post Folds Book Review Section to Cut Costs

Literature reviews will be shuffled into other sections of paper

(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 a... More »

How to Eat for Yourself, Your Wallet, the Planet

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

(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 offer... More »

New Critique of Snark Misses the Point

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

(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 Magazine. His... More »

How-to Guides for New Tipplers

Five new guides to seasonal cheer

(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 "poetically inspirational"
... More »

History Often Forgets About This Adams

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

(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 »

45 Years Later, JFK Theories Live On

New book on JFK assassination offers new ideas, little proof

(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 »

The Culture Wars, College Football Style

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

(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 »

Death Takes a Holiday in Saramago's Latest

Author of Blindness deals with death in new novel

(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 »

Waiter Serves It Up in Tell-All

Behind the scenes at a New York bistro

(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 »

Pelosi Teaches America's Daughters to Complain

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

(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 »

Wife Shouldn't Worry Laura Bush: Dowd

First lady is sympathetic character in controversial novel

(Newser) - Words like "smear" and "gossip" have flown around American Wife, the novel probing the secret life of Laura Bush, but the book itself is pretty harmless, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times. Kings and queens have always inspired art, Dowd notes, and Wife isn’t sensationalist—... More »

Evangelicals' Sex Talk Has Hidden Agenda

Despite racy rants, they push abstinence, anti-gay views: author

(Newser) - Sex is no longer taboo for the religious right—but the evangelical sexual revolution is no liberation movement, historian Dagmar Herzog argues in her new book, Sex in Crisis. Instead, Herzog asserts that “evangelicals, over the last couple of decades, have beaten liberals at their own game by adapting... More »

Nixonland Gets 'Excellent' Prez Utterly Wrong

Conrad Black, author of rival bio, scorns hit job, recites strong points

(Newser) - The biography Nixonland is a hatchet job on an “excellent president,” media mogul Conrad Black (from behind bars) writes in the New York Sun, picking apart author Rick Perlstein’s slights—and reminding of the profound accomplishments of the 37th president. Beyond crediting Nixon with coarsening the political... More »

Summer's 'Most Enchanting Debut Novel'

Edgar Sawtelle is Hamlet -inspired 'bolt from the blue'

(Newser) - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, the debut novel from former software developer David Wroblewski, is “a great, big, mesmerizing read, audaciously envisioned as classic Americana," Janet Maslin raves in the New York Times. "Pick up this book and expect to feel very, very reluctant to put it... More »

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