Advanced Search
XReview: Edward O. Wilson tackles 'The Social Conquest of Earth'
The scientist dissects the origins of the human condition in his latest work.
'The Other America' takes the veil off American poverty
Fifty years on, Michael Harrington's book resonates in its impassioned look at one of the country's 'greatest scandals.'
Clarice Lispector: Four novels form a picture of Brazil novelist
New translations of Clarice Lispector novels include the posthumous assemblage 'A Breath of Life,' 'Near to the Wild Heart,' 'Agua Viva.'
Not Just for Kids: In Alyson Noel's 'Fated,' teen embraces her shaman legacy
A kickoff to a new, four-part paranormal romance series called Soul Seekers, 'Fated' by Alyson Noel is about a teen girl who finds she descends from a line of shamans.
Review: Tricky dynamics in Alison Bechdel's 'Are You My Mother?'
'Fun Home' writer Alison Bechdel turns her lens on the maternal bond in 'Are You My Mother?' but has a harder time navigating the interaction between art and intimacy.
Review: 'The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat' by Thomas McNamee
'The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat' is a not-very-filling biography of the late Craig Claiborne, a food editor, restaurant critic and cookbook author who helped shape the modern American food world.
Review: Surprising misstep for Paul Theroux in 'The Lower River'
Stale tropes detract from the author's latest novel, about a Westerner's ill-thought-out flight to Africa.
Book review: 'Bring Up the Bodies' is a compelling re-creation
Hilary Mantel returns to the vicious world of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell's maneuverings.
Not Just for Kids: 'Gilt's' 16th century dangerous liaisons
Katherine Longshore tells the fictionalized story of Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, from the perspective of a friend.
Review: 'A Disposition to Be Rich' relates a Wall Street con
Geoffrey C. Ward details the life and crimes of Ferdinand Ward, his great-grandfather, whose victims included Ulysses S. Grant.
Review: 'In One Person' by John Irving
The author's 13th novel is a story about AIDS, sexual identity and the loss that comes with growing up, but its general tone of acceptance means that its characters' struggles aren't too difficult.
Book review: 'At Home on the Range' by Margaret Yardley Potter
The cookbook has been republished after an initial run in 1947, and her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert ('Eat Pray Love') reintroduces Potter in the forward. The cookbook is insightful and funny, weaving together practical advice and recipes.
Review: Albright's 'Prague Winter' mixes the personal, historical
Madeleine Albright tells a riveting tale of her family's experience in Europe during World War II in 'Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948.'
Preserving the true spirit of New Orleans
A historic-collection series seeks to keep the city's musical heritage alive. Ben Sandmel's 'Ernie K-Doe' is up next.
Not Just for Kids: Inside every prince, a bumbling idiot
'The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom' by Christopher Healy tells the real story of fairy-tale princes. Prince Charming, for example, is a pampered wimp.
Review: 'Home' by Toni Morrison feels distant
This is not among her best works. The novel about Korean War veteran Frank doesn't seem to engage even its author.
Book review: 'The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson' by Robert Caro
The author has written his best installment in his biographical series. He captures LBJ as a frustrated vice president and in his sudden elevation to the presidency in the wake of John F. Kennedy's assassination. It follows Johnson as he set a new course with the Civil Rights Act and a war on poverty.
Review: 'Rain Dragon' by Jon Raymond doesn't think like a girl
The author tells the story of a couple who leave L.A. for an Oregon organic farm from an alienated man's point of view.
Review: 'Cookbook Library' marks an amazing evolution in cuisine
The history of food and cooking is told in vivid detail by co-authors Anne Willan, Mark Cherniavsky and Kyri Claflin.
Not Just for Kids: 'Insurgent' by Veronica Roth
'Insurgent,' the second installment of Veronica Roth's 'Divergent' trilogy, follows lead characters Tris and Tobias as their bond is battle-tested when they rise up against their dystopian society's constrictive boundaries.
For Alain Mabanckou, breakthrough translates well
English versions of his novels, which are loaded with biting social commentary and written in French, are appearing in the U.S.
The Siren's Call: Where's Rimbaud?
In 'Rimbaud in Java,' Jamie James seeks to fill in a mysterious six-month gap in the French poet's life.
Not Just for Kids: 'Never Fall Down' details horrors of Khmer Rouge
Arn Chorn Pond's story of brutality and survival in Cambodia is the basis of a novel by Patricia McCormick.
Review: Jonathan Franzen's 'Farther Away' wants to bridge distance
The author mulls David Foster Wallace, birding, identity and connections.
Review: 'American Canopy' by Eric Rutkow should get out more
In 'Trees, Forests and the Making of a Nation,' the author seems to have spent little time outside the library and in our troubled landscape.
Book review: 'Against Wind and Tide' offers revealing portrait
Anne Morrow Lindbergh reveals herself through letters and diary entries in 'Against Wind and Tide.'
Introducing Los Angeles to itself
An L.A. novelist says the city's writers need to create a more complex and accurate picture of it — for itself and for the way it resides in the world's imagination.
Los Angeles, a writer's challenge and glory
Novelist Robert Crais draws from perspectives both near and far to uncover a city rich in mystery and opportunities.
Los Angeles has plenty of history, if you look for it
History in L.A. doesn't hit you in the face like it does elsewhere. Often you have to go exploring to find it, but sometimes it's as obvious as the Hollywood sign.
To live and write in L.A.
Writer Tod Goldberg couldn't quite grasp the essence of Los Angeles as a young first-time visitor, but that had as much to do with the city as with him.
Review: 'The Angry Buddhist' by Seth Greenland gets a vote
In this novel, a congressional election in the Palm Springs area proves ruthless, messy and entertaining.
The Sunday Conversation: Robert Weil
W.W. Norton's former executive editor says the publishing company's revived Liveright imprint shows Norton's belief in great writing, and sees e-books as a complement to the printed word.
Jesmyn Ward ('Salvage the Bones') writes of Mississippi
Jesmyn Ward's Mississippi-set 'Salvage the Bones' won the National Book Award for fiction. She has more stories to tell from the South.
Critic's Notebook: Literature of 1992 L.A. riots is fragmented
Pieces by Nicole Sampogna, Lynell George, Richard Rayner and Wanda Coleman stand out, but the full picture seems incomplete.
Review: Paolo Bacigalupi brings chaos to life in 'Drowned Cities'
The horrors of war and children's fight for survival in a chaotic world are imaginatively detailed in Paolo Bacigalupi's 'The Drowned Cities.'
T.C. Boyle archives go to Ransom Center at UT Austin
The university is also home to material from Norman Mailer, Don DeLillo and more.
Not Just For Kids: 'The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict' by Trenton Lee Stewart
This elegant, playful prequel provides the back story to the narcoleptic genius in the 'Mysterious Benedict Society' series.
The Writing Life: David Treuer mines his family's 'Rez Life'
The son of an Ojibwe mother and a Jewish father writes about Native American reservation life in this nonfiction work.
Book review: 'A Rake's Progress,' a biography of David Hockney
Volume 1 of a planned two-parter by Christopher Simon Sykes chronicles the British painter's life and art from 1937 to 1975, including his move to L.A.
An Appreciation: Adrienne Rich
The poet ('A Change of World,' 'Diving Into the Wreck') and feminist ('Of Woman Born') was a standard-bearer, Carol Muske-Dukes writes.
Daniel Boorstin got it right in 'The Image'
The historian wrote 50 years ago that U.S. culture was moving away from substance toward sensationalism in an era of mass media. And so postmodernism was born.
Book review: 'The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens'
The author's exuberant use of words in private is as vivid as in public.
Book review: 'Suddenly, a Knock On the Door' by Etgar Keret
The author goes from one extreme to another in this wonderfully absurdist short-story collection.
Not Just for Kids: 'Titanic: Voices From the Disaster'
Deborah Hopkinson pulls together accounts of survivors and witnesses, photos, ship's logs, letters, menus and ice warnings sent from other ships. It's riveting.
Book reviews: 'Free Will,' 'Religion for Atheists'
The necessity of self-improvement and social betterment is thoughtfully explored in Sam Harris' and Alain de Botton's books.
Figment fires up teens' literary aspirations
An online community for young writers, Figment aims to let users steer the conversations while connecting them to the larger world of literature.
Book review: 'No Time Like the Present' by Nadine Gordimer
An interracial couple navigates modern life in South African in 'No Time Like the Present,' by Nadine Gordimer.
Faces to Watch in 2012: Books
Novelist Shalom Auslander, author Amelia Gray and Literary Death Match host Todd Zuniga.
Connect
