Daily book reviews in the Times
- 1
This noir-like thriller gives readers thrills -- and a little too much blood.
Oct. 17, 2009
- 2
The drummer for the Police recalls his childhood, being in a super band and life with drumsticks in hand.
Sept. 16, 2014
- 3
The author’s latest plunges Harry Bosch -- and his devoted fans -- to thrilling, new depths as a case sends the detective to China when his daughter’s life is threatened.
Oct. 12, 2009
- 4
The story of a boy and a pachyderm.
Oct. 10, 2009
- 5
Considerations on the lasting legacy of the diary and its author.
Oct. 9, 2009
- 6
A couple’s lives are transformed on a dizzying, rushed trek to Mt. Kenya.
Oct. 5, 2009
- 7
Short, explosive, unforgotten: The story of Ramparts Magazine and its lingering influence long after it was gone.
Oct. 2, 2009
- 8
The companion book to the PBS series pays homage to America’s crown jewels, and the people who fought to save them.
Sept. 25, 2009
- 9
The murderous hero of Showtime’s hit series is back -- married with family, hunting a new menacing foe -- in a new novel, our reviewer finds, that caters to the worst in readers.
Sept. 24, 2009
- 10
The Talking Head’s book is a two-wheeled travelogue from a keen cultural observer.
Sept. 16, 2014
- 11
The writer’s long struggles with depression give extra weight to her memoir on grief and the loss of her husband.
Sept. 18, 2009
- 12
In this smart and well-paced thriller, former archaeologist Jonathan Marcus is a brainy action hero who delves into biblical lore and historical revisionism.
Aug. 22, 2009
- 13
The author of “Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air” looks into the tragic death of a football star-turned-soldier in Afghanistan and the U.S. Army’s maneuvers to conceal what really happened.
Sept. 11, 2009
- 14
In the author’s new novel, characters follow a relic’s irresistible pull.
Sept. 7, 2009
- 15
A young ambitious actor finds himself thwarted by his double in a novel that reimagines the theater world of 1970s New York.
Sept. 8, 2009
- 16
The A-list writers are at the top of their game in this young-adult short story collection of all things nerdy.
Sept. 5, 2009
- 17
A mysterious man and a tragic death prompt an otherwise stable couple to reexamine their roles and long years together.
Sept. 4, 2009
- 18
Artists are in the business of simultaneously de-familiarizing and re-familiarizing us with the world around us.
Sept. 1, 2009
- 19
They came from New York, the Midwest, the Southern states, a great exodus of young comics traveling west in search of a few minutes with Johnny Carson.
Aug. 27, 2009
- 20
Enter the afterlife of Hatcher McCord, a news presenter marooned in hell. There, he encounters a who’s who of the historic and famous as well as his ex-wives.
Aug. 31, 2009
- 21
The anthology offers a selection of Miyazaki’s thoughts about film, art and contemporary Japanese culture.
Aug. 29, 2009
- 22
The debut novel set in South Africa during apartheid has well-written characters and humor, but is sometimes difficult to follow as it flits about adulthood, teen years and childhood.
Aug. 28, 2009
- 23
The author fictionalizes the story of her mother’s flight from an unhappy arranged marriage and the many obstacles she faced.
Aug. 25, 2009
- 24
The author creates genealogical fiction out of an anecdote culled from Carter’s 2002 memoir ‘Nothing to Fall Back On,’ but uneven storytelling weakens the effort.
Aug. 24, 2009
- 25
A recently widowed former British TV news anchor frantically searches for meaning in this novel that knows its setting.
Aug. 21, 2009
- 26
A passion for food leads the writer to eating disorders, diets and ultimately a healthier relationship with food.
Aug. 20, 2009
- 27
Like gold standard writers Elmore Leonard and the late Donald Westlake, Joe R.
Aug. 15, 2009
- 28
The late Swedish author’s cache of manuscripts given to his publisher just prior to his death yields a pulse-pounding follow-up to ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.’
July 27, 2009
- 29
Comparisons to Cormac McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men’ may be unavoidable, but ‘Rain Gods’ is its own stylish slice of contemporary Texas noir.
July 25, 2009
- 30
Stories offer characters not revenge or redemption but the simple gift of acceptance.
July 24, 2009
- 31
The late author pulls off a seemingly impossible job: making an absurd conceit believable.
July 18, 2009
- 32
A dream jackpot win turns into a nightmare.
July 13, 2009
- 33
The writer brings his reportorial eye for detail and experience in the field to a story about a foreign correspondent in Kosovo seeking the leader of a band of Arab rebels.
July 7, 2009
- 34
A biography of Agatha Christie examines in detail her 1926 disappearance.
July 2, 2009
- 35
A compelling look at the birth and evolution of recording, and how it changed the way the world hears itself.
June 25, 2009
- 36
Waters’ first novel, which borrows liberally from some of her previous stories, is an intimate portrait of family.
June 22, 2009
- 37
Michael Shapiro’s almost too-inside account of Rickey’s innovative but ultimately doomed bid to overhaul the sport in 1958-60.
June 15, 2009
- 38
In the novel, a writer tries to tell a tale of romance in spite of, and sometimes with inspiration from, the censor.
June 2, 2009
- 39
The author brings wit and humor to the story of a group of friends in post-2001 America looking back on their activist ways in the 1960s.
May 29, 2009
- 40
Call it a love letter to the diversity, polyglot sprawl, complexities, contradictions, pitfalls, humanity and streetlife of the metropolis.
May 25, 2009
- 41
The enigmatic singer-songwriter emerges as a fascinating, if frustrating, subject to tackle.
May 21, 2009
- 42
Nimbly translated from its original German, this bizarre mystery-thriller manages to come together winningly in the end.
May 18, 2009
- 43
A disturbing chronicle of abuses suffered by women enlisted in the U.S. Army and serving in Iraq.
May 13, 2009
- 44
A sampling of views about parenthood and modern life from a writer who’s turned her blog into a lucrative site on the web.
April 18, 2009
- 45
The author (left) continues his urban chronicles/thrillers with a tale of redemption and the long journey there.
May 11, 2009
- 46
The author of intriguing historical mysteries returns with a reporter’s effort to probe the death -- murder? -- of a British industrialist in the years before World War I.
May 9, 2009
- 47
It’s the brash amid the brass as a once scantily clad dancer adapts to the starched-shirt Army life.
May 4, 2009
- 48
The author blurs the line -- too much -- between his prose and the renowned world explorer’s.
May 5, 2009
- 49
Without a father and struggling against fate, a young man in Morocco grows up in poverty until he makes a shocking discovery - his father isn’t dead.
April 28, 2009
- 50
The influential food writer and editor sifts through the life and legacy of her mother, mistakes, misery and all.
April 24, 2009
- 51
A memoir of growing up in extremely difficult circumstances in the City of Brotherly Love.
April 15, 2009
- 52
Regrets and reconciliation within ivy-covered walls.
April 13, 2009
- 53
Do I Owe You Something?: A Memoir of the Literary Life; Michael Mewshaw (Louisiana University Press: 226 pp., $29.95)
Sept. 21, 2003
- 54
Haunting prose propels a murder mystery involving youths, their corrupted elders and a bleak landscape.
April 4, 2009
- 55
It’s a novel about stoners writing children’s tunes.
April 2, 2009
- 56
The story by Youzaburou Kanari, with art by Kuroko Yabuguchi, is a comedy-adventure manga series with a denunciation of the Iraq war.
March 30, 2009
- 57
A highly readable, interesting account of the actor’s rocky career and all-too-brief life.
March 26, 2009
- 58
The author (above) uses a wide canvas to chronicle Victorian lives of the theater.
March 23, 2009
- 59
Debunking myths and looking back on Dodger history and Walter O’Malley.
March 21, 2009
- 60
Facts - and possible solutions - from a longtime food industry exec.
March 20, 2009
- 61
A tell-all about life on the backlot with Tarzan and the gang.
March 19, 2009
- 62
Making a case for the benefits of the vegetarian lifestyle.
March 16, 2009
- 63
The story of a violent incident in an exclusive community illustrates how safety is one of humanity’s most precious resources.
March 14, 2009
- 64
The Kennedy patriarch in his Hollywood years: Maneuvering for studios, chorus girls, Gloria Swanson and laying the foundations of his family’s empire.
March 12, 2009
- 65
Raymond Chandler and Jonathan Lethem are the inspirations behind this debut mystery novel about a detective with narcolepsy.
March 10, 2009
- 66
A new thriller from a writer whose stories are as rich as any by Greene, Deighton or Le Carre.
March 7, 2009
