Emmett L. Bennett Jr. Dies at 93; Helped Decipher Linear B
Professor Bennett played a vital role in deciphering Linear B, the Bronze Age Aegean script that defied solution for more than 50 years.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Off the Shelf: In ‘Mondo Agnelli,’ a Ride on Fiat’s Roller-Coaster — Review
“Mondo Agnelli,” a new book, tells the story of the Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, the struggles and the turnaround of his family’s crown jewel, Fiat, and the rescue of Chrysler.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Brontë landscape's battle for survival as new housing threatens tourist trade
Haworth's church roof needs repairs, while plans for housing estates overshadow moors where the sisters walkedThe Rector of Haworth's three daughters were with him last week as he prepared his sermons for Christmas and the new year, given in the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Ted Hughes's jaguar sculpture hints at poet's demons
Poet's family to sell rare jaguar sculpture that they believe shows his pain over Sylvia Plath's deathTed Hughes's fascination with jaguars inspired some of his verse, but it was little known until now that it also led him to create... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Arts | Long Island: In a Long Island Library, an Exhibition on John Adams’s Books
“John Adams Unbound,” a traveling exhibition at the Sachem Public Library in Holbrook, celebrates the founding father’s collection of 3,500 volumes and offers a glimpse at his sometimes irate annotations.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
Bookshelf: Books on an Enduring Grid, Lost Synagogues and a 1959 Tale
New books describe stories of “the city’s first great civic enterprise,” recycled shuls in the boroughs outside Manhattan, and high school football.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
New Year honours recognise successes in poetry, prose – and reality TV
Those honoured in arts include 'the finest living English poet', novelists, actors and the man behind the Big Brother formatThe arts awards in the honours list have a distinctly literary feel, with the poet Geoffrey Hill, elected last year as... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 31 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review: Haiti's Tragic History
A book about Haiti's troubled history in The New York Times Book Review, and a look at five cold warriors who changed their minds about nuclear weapons in the weekly podcast discussion.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Alex Gilvarry’s First Novel Satirizes Fashion and Politics
Alex Gilvarry’s novel “From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant” is a satire of the fashion world and, improbably, Guantánamo Bay prison.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Smut - Stories - By Alan Bennett - Book Review
Proper middle-class characters have surprising secrets in Alan Bennett’s tales.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
420 Characters - Stories - Written and illustrated by Lou Beach - Book Review
These brief tales first appeared on Facebook.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
The Partnership - Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb - By Philip Taubman - Book Review
A journalist examines the unlikely campaign of five cold war veterans to eliminate our nuclear arsenal.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
The Unquiet American - Richard Holbrooke in the World - Edited by Derek Chollet and Samantha Power - Book Review
Essays about the foreign-policy stalwart Richard Holbrooke, and some writings of his own.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul - Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty - By John M. Barry - Book Review
John M. Barry explores the personal trials that shaped a Puritan dissident’s advocacy for the separation of church and state.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Domains: Christopher Paolini’s Dragon Lair
The author of best-selling fantasy novels owns a lot of daggers and dragonalia.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Some Of My Lives — By Rosamond Bernier — Book Review
A fixture in the worlds of art and fashion reflects on a splendid career.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
The Man Within My Head - By Pico Iyer - Book Review
Pico Iyer writes about the kinship he feels with Graham Greene.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Salvage The Bones - By Jesmyn Ward - Book Review
A pregnant 15-year-old and her family await the arrival of Hurricane Katrina in this National Book Award-winning novel.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
How It All Began - By Penelope Lively - Book Review
A mugging changes the lives of several characters in Penelope Lively’s novel.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Gossip - The Untrivial Pursuit - By Joseph Epstein - Book Review
Joseph Epstein argues that gossip serves a number of worthwhile purposes.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Robert K. Massie is at No. 8 on the hardcover nonfiction list this week with his biography of Catherine the Great, who “always kept a book in her room and carried another in her pocket.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Up Front
Joyce E. Chaplin’s path to Benjamin Franklin.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Essay: Liu Xiaobo’s Plea for the Human Spirit
In essays and poems, the imprisoned Chinese poet demonstrates a considerable amount of anger while retaining his Gandhian nonviolent spirit.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Haiti - The Aftershocks of History - By Laurent Dubois - Book Review
The scholar Laurent Dubois’s new book relates the violent birth and troubled existence of Haiti, a tale of much misery, shot through with flashes of hope and bravery.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 30 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Smut: Stories’ by Alan Bennett — Review
Alan Bennett’s new book brings together two novellas that celebrate several varieties of sexual activity involving respectable parents of adult children.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 29 December, 2011
Currents | Q&A: David Treuer on Reservation Life — Q&A
The writer David Treuer, who has a new nonfiction book called “Rez Life,” on his new home on an American Indian reservation.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 29 December, 2011
Ker-pow! Women kick back against comic-book sexism
UK-made, female-driven anthology Bayou Arcana is causing a stir for more than just its haunting images and storylinesIt is one of the more eagerly awaited titles due to emerge from Britain's vibrant independent comic and graphic novel scene. But the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Forgotten Land’ by Max Egremont - Review
In “Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia,” Max Egremont tries to peel back the layers of history in a land whose fate was in its geography.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Book and Film on Ralph Rucci
An autobiography of the fashion designer is to be followed by a documentary, to be screened at New York Fashion Week in February.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Children's Books: ‘Tom the Tamer’ — By Tjibbe Veldkamp — Review
In “Tom the Tamer,” an inventive young boy helps his father overcome a fear of the great outdoors.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 28 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘How to Think Like a Neandertal’ — By Thomas Wynn and Frederick L. Coolidge — Review
Thomas Wynn, an anthropologist, and Frederick L. Coolidge, a psychologist, delve into the minds of Neandertals.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 27 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ by P. D. James - Review
P. D. James’s latest mystery revisits the world of “Pride and Prejudice,” as a murder intrudes on the proper, manored lives of Elizabeth and Darcy.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
Books on Science: ‘A Great Aridness’ and ‘Bird on Fire’ - Book Review - Drought in the Southwest
“A Great Aridness,” by William deBuys, and “Bird on Fire,” by Andrew Ross, focus on the killing droughts that have lately gripped the region — and are likely to recur.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: E-Reader Help From New York Public Library
Free e-books are available for members of the New York Public Library and can be downloaded remotely.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
A Literary History of Word Processing
Scholars are trying to recover the literary history of word processing, one casual deletion and trashed document at a time, starting with writers like Stephen King and Frank Herbert.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 26 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Whore of Akron’ and ‘When the Garden Was Eden’ - Review
Harvey Araton writes about the 1970s New York Knicks with reverence in “When the Garden Was Eden,” but Scott Raab is comically bloody minded in “The Whore of Akron,” a hate later to LeBron James.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 25 December, 2011
Digital Domain: For Libraries and Publishers, an E-Book Tug of War
Several publishers have barred libraries from buying their e-books, saying that allowing unlimited e-reading isn’t a sustainable business model. But one publisher is trying a different approach.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 24 December, 2011
The Third Reich — By Roberto Bolaño — Book Review
A German vacationer and a South American burn victim engage in a war strategy game in Roberto Bolaño’s novel.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: What Literature Owes the Bible
Marilynne Robinson on the Bible's influence on Western literature and more.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
The Folly of Fools — By Robert Trivers — Book Review
An evolutionary biologist investigates why lying and self-deception play such prominent roles in our lives.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Everything Is An Afterthought - The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson - By Kevin Avery - Book Review
Paul Nelson, an early arbiter of rock, championed the myth of the macho outsider.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Nonfiction Chronicle: Bears, Dolphins and the Animal Stories We Tell
Books about the power of narrative to change the relationship between people and animals.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Ezra Pound's daughter aims to stop Italian fascist group using father's name
CasaPound, named after the American poet, was supported by a racist who killed two African men in FlorenceEzra Pound, the 20th-century American poet who wrote The Cantos, was known for his fascist sympathies and antisemitism.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Up Front
Michael Wood’s restless imagination.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Tom Clancy, whose new novel hits the hardcover fiction list at No. 2 this week, is often described as prescient. But is he really?... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Crime: Last Exits in Brooklyn
The ex-cop Moe Prager confronts cancer and the murder of his ex-wife’s sister in Reed Farrel Coleman’s “Hurt Machine.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Queen Of America - By Luis Alberto Urrea - Book Review
In this sequel to “The Hummingbird’s Daughter,” a Mexican saint wanders the United States.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Nonfiction Chronicle
Books by Anita Hill, Bill Vlasic, Amir and Khalil, and John Moynihan.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Journey To the Abyss — The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1880-1918 — Book Review
The diaries of an acute observer of turn-of-the-century Europe.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Democratic Enlightenment — By Jonathan I. Israel — Book Review
Never mind Voltaire. The Enlightenment’s more radical thinkers set the world on its modern course, Jonathan I. Israel argues.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Nothing - A Portrait of Insomnia - By Blake Butler - Book Review
A memoir and meditation on the experience of insomnia.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Man Seeks God — By Eric Weiner — Book Review
In search of enlightenment, Eric Weiner explores eight faiths.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Jo Shapcott wins Queen's gold medal for poetry
Costa prize-winning poet follows illustrious predecessors including WH Auden and John BetjemanThe poet Jo Shapcott, who began the year by winning the Costa book of the year award for her collection Of Mutability, has ended 2011 by being named the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Essay: Their Noonday Demons, and Ours
Like early medieval monks, we too are prone to the ills that come with solitary, sedentary, cerebral work.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Caitlin Moran's How to Be a Woman wins public vote for book of the year
Witty, personal take on feminism takes Galaxy readers' awardCaitlin Moran's witty take on modern feminism, How to Be a Woman, has been voted book of the year by the public.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 23 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Clark Howard’s ‘Living Large In Lean Times’ - Review
“Clark Howard’s Living Large in Lean Times,” a tightwad manifesto that’s been lingering on The New York Times how-to best-seller list all fall, is at once gloomy and upbeat.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
The Book of Books: What Literature Owes the Bible
A number of the great works of Western literature address themselves very directly to questions that arise within Christianity and test doctrine by means of dramatic imagination.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
The Lives They Lived: Wilfrid Sheed, b. 1930
Good sentences, the ebullient critic and novelist Wilfrid Sheed wrote in 1990, are sent into the air like a series of jazz licks.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
The Lives They Lived: Ruth Stone, b. 1915
We have never had an effective means to discover the best poets among us, and Ruth never learned how to play the game.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Poetry anthology sparks race row
Poet Rita Dove's Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry attacked by renowned critic Helen Vendler for valuing 'inclusiveness' over qualityA furious row has broken out in the rarefied confines of American poetry circles, after grande dame of poetry criticism... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Chris Mullin tops poll of MPs' Christmas book choices
Former Labour minister's diaries most popular choice for politicians' stockingsA Jamie Oliver cookbook may have topped the Christmas bestseller lists yet again this year, but among the political classes Chris Mullin's latest volume of diaries, A Walk-On Part, was the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Domestic Lives: Jonathan Ames: The Mess I’m In
Life at the mercy of a phenomenon — a kind of metaphysical cousin to hoarding — known as kipple.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 22 December, 2011
Room for Debate: The Books That Authors Love to Give and Receive
What is the best book you have ever received as a gift? What are your favorite books to give to friends?... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Stella Tillyard’s ‘Tides of War,’ Napoleonic Novel - Review
The biographer Stella Tillyard’s first novel, “Tides of War,” set in Napoleonic times, numbers the Duke of Wellington in its cast of characters.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book That Became Hit French Film to Be Released in U.S.
The memoir is the basis of the movie "Intouchables," which could set a box-office record in France.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Children's Books: Imperfect Little Girls
Two new picture books address the ultracompetitive natures of mini-superhumans.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘[sic]: A Memoir,’ by Joshua Cody - Review
“[sic],” Joshua Cody’s raunchy memoir, recounts his search for reasons to live as he fights cancer and what he calls “the guilt of the ill.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Spanish novelist Lucía Etxebarria quits writing in piracy protest
Author says more copies of her book have been downloaded illegally than sold, and claims politicians too scared to actAn award-winning Spanish novelist claims that the illegal downloading of ebooks has forced her to give up writing and start looking... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Jamie Oliver scores fourth Christmas No 1
Jamie's Great Britain sells nearly 60,000 copies in single week, topping Christmas book chart for a second year runningDon't want to know what that book-shaped present is under the tree? Then you might want to stop reading here, because most... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
The Notebook to become a musical
Novelist Nicholas Sparks announces his romantic novel, already a hit film starring Ryan Gosling, is heading for BroadwayThe soggiest kiss since Andie MacDowell forgot her umbrella in Four Weddings and a Funeral could soon be seen on stage after Nicholas... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Goodnight iPad rewrites classic bedtime story for digital era
Pastiche of Goodnight Moon inserts 21st-century gadgetry into traditional children's taleA parody of the classic children's bedtime story Goodnight Moon, dragging the simple tale into the modern age by replacing moons, kittens, mittens and bears with iPads, e-readers and a... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
Patrick Leigh Fermor's final volume will be published
Long-awaited conclusion to revered account of walk across Europe set to come out in 2013Readers stranded on the edge of Bulgaria since 1986 by the travel writing great Patrick Leigh Fermor are set to be rewarded at last with the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Toward a North Korea Reading List
Books about North Korea by journalists, defectors and novelists.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Poems by Bao Phi, Roberto Bolaño and Simon Armitage — Review
Five poets who write in vital and original voices, from a Vietnamese-American tale spinner to an alter-ego cockroach.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Bhagavad Gita trial in Russia closes Indian parliament
Ministers condemn Siberian calls for ban on Hindu holy book as Hare Krishna followers protest outside Russian consulateIndian politicians forced parliament to close on Monday in a protest against a Siberian trial calling for a version of a Hindu holy... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Maya Angelou Says She's Disappointed With Rapper After Collaboration
Ms. Angelou learns that a track from the rapper's coming album on which she appears makes frequent use of a racial epithet.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Brent library campaigners lose appeal against closures
Court rejects claim that council's decision to close six libraries in London borough was 'fundamentally flawed and unlawful'Campaigners fighting to save six "treasured" libraries have lost a court of appeal battle over the closure decision.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Church withdraws charity Bibles over Planned Parenthood link
Southern Baptist Convention pulls breast cancer charity edition after discovering indirect links to abortion providerA Bible published by the Southern Baptist Convention to raise awareness and money for breast cancer has been pulled from shelves in America after Christians complained... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Maya Angelou criticises Common collaboration
Poet offended by rapper's use of N-word on a track in which she appears, saying his language is 'vulgar and dangerous'The poet Maya Angelou has criticised Common's use of the N-word. Angelou said she was "surprised and disappointed" at the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 19 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Beethoven in America,’ by Michael Broyles - Review
In “Beethoven in America” Michael Broyles tracks how Americans have shaped Beethoven as they have seen fit.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Meerkat cult inspires hunt for quirky Christmas bestseller
Publishers wait to see which offbeat title heads the yuletide bestsellers listsWhen Meerkats Turn Bad; 101 Uses for a Dead Meerkat; Where's the Meerkat? – drawn by the success of last year's surprise Christmas hit, the fictional meerkat memoir The... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens, Book Critic
Even as he weakened from cancer, Christopher Hitchens remained a vibrant and honest reviewer of books about a wide range of subjects.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Novelties: Online Textbooks Aim to Make Science Leap From the Page
“Principles of Biology,” a digital-only textbook, includes interactive features that take it beyond early e-textbooks that were static reprises of the print versions.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Betjeman's beloved Kennet runs dry and raises fears for England's rivers
Glory was in me, the poet wrote of one of the finest chalk streams in England. Now its flow has been reduced to a trickleWhen Sir John Betjeman went to Marlborough College in the early 1920s, it was, by and... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
Apple's struggle to defeat Amazon set to be exposed by European ebook inquiry
The deal that the iPad maker struck with publishers could be threatened by an inquiry into the prices people in the EU pay for their digital readingFor book publishers, Christmas will come twice this year. After the festive trade in... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 18 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: A Brainy Beauty and World War II
John Adams reviews Richard Rhodes's "Hedy's Folly" and more.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Hedy’s Folly — By Richard Rhodes — Book Review
Richard Rhodes tells the story of how the movie star Hedy Lamarr teamed up with an avant-garde composer to design a sophisticated weapons system during World War II.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Books of Style: Surprising Histories, With Drinks
After a rabble-rousing 2011, holiday readers may rush to wrap themselves in a few nostalgia-drenched books that offer refuge from the headlines.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: For Richard Dawkins, Traditional Christmas Carols Trump Atheism
Richard Dawkins, the prominent zoologist and atheist, just can't stand 'White Christmas."... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Because of Winn-Dixie' Musical Hires Canine Star and His Trainer
"Because of Winn-Dixie" musical gets its canine star and his trainer as part of creative team.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens: a contrarian for whom radicalism was a style
Frances Stonor Saunders says alcohol, hard living and linguistic lust all combined to make Hitchens a compelling presencePerhaps more than any other public intellectual of his age, Christopher Hitchens consciously invoked the quality of what he called (quoting Swift) saeva... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick — Edited by Pamela Jackson, Jonathan Lethem and Erik Davis — Book Review
In his later years, Philip K. Dick’s hallucinatory experiences overlapped with the concerns of his science fiction.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens: 'the consummate writer, the brilliant friend'
Ian McEwan writes of his close friend's last weeks, and how his love of journalism and literature sustained him to the endThe place where Christopher Hitchens spent his last few weeks was hardly bookish, but he made it his own.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: The Happy Hitchens: Quotations from The Life-Lover, Too
Dwight Garner on life-affirming remarks from the late Christopher Hitchens, best known for his put-downs and critiques.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Essay: The Channeling of the Novel
Recently, our leading novelists have found themselves pursued less by Hollywood than by HBO.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Getting to Know Charles Dickens
Four books introduce young readers to Charles Dickens, whose life was as fascinating as his work.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Spending An Afternoon in Christopher Hitchens's Hospital-Room-Turned-Office
New York Times reporter Charles McGrath describes what it was like to interview a terminally ill Christopher Hitchens in his hospital room, only months before Hitchens's death.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Just like normal people, rich and famous authors like Janet Evanovich often give books for the holidays. Sometimes they even give best sellers. Here’s the proof.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Miniature Magazine by a Young Charlotte Brontë Fetches $1.1 Million at Auction
A small piece of writing by Charlotte Bronte sells for some big pounds.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Snow
Children’s books set in wintry landscapes.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Voyages
Children’s books about remarkable journeys.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Up Front
Simon Callow on his introduction to the work of Charles Dickens.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
T Magazine: The Giving Spree | Jeffrey Eugenides
The Giving Spree continues with more gifts to give and get from T's friends and family.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Young Adult: Stay With Me - By Paul Griffin - Book Review
In this novel, two urban teenagers bond over a rescued pit bull.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Without Tess - By Marcella Pixley - Book Review
What happens in a family when a girl’s imagination shades into psychosis.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Children's Books: A Girl Named Faithful Plum — By Richard Bernstein — Book Review
A true story of a girl who wins admission to an incredibly selective dance academy.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Why We Broke Up - By Daniel Handler. Illustrated by Maira Kalman - Book Review
Daniel Handler’s novel sifts through the wreckage of a high school romance.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Reading Life: Julian Barnes and the Diminishing of the English Novel
Julian Barnes’s infolded scrupulousness matches a reduced idea of English fiction, a habit of reading that appeals and wearies.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Crime: Michael Connelly’s ‘The Drop’ and Other Crime Books
The cynical and principled Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch is back in Michael Connelly’s novel “The Drop.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Fiction Chronicle
Novels by Helen Dunmore, Hillary Jordan, Alan S. Cowell, Joshua Mohr and Sonia Taitz.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Look, I Made a Hat — By Stephen Sondheim — Book Review
In the second volume of his collected lyrics, Stephen Sondheim explicates his meticulous craft.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Death Comes To Pemberley - By P. D. James - Book Review
In P. D. James’s sequel to “Pride and Prejudice,” Elizabeth Bennet’s impossible siblings are still making trouble and there’s a murder to be solved.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens memoir to be published in January
Entitled Mortality and based on his columns for Vanity Fair, , Christopher Hitchens' final memoir will be published by Atlantic in the new yearA final memoir by the late author and polemicist Christopher Hitchens will be released early next year,... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens quotes: the writer's most memorable bons mots
The polemical journalist on George W Bush, Mother Teresa, the Bible and cheap booze"The four most overrated things in life are champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics." – the New Yorker, 2006... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens Is Dead at 62 — Obituary
Mr. Hitchens wrote in the tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell and trained his sights on targets as various as Henry Kissinger, the British monarchy and Mother Teresa.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Joe Simon, a Creator of Captain America, Is Dead at 98
Mr. Simon’s superhero Captain America was conceived out of a patriotic impulse in the years leading up to World War II.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62
Celebrated journalist, writer and unshakeable secularist has died from complications of oesophageal cancerThe writer, journalist and contrarian Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 after crossing the border into the "land of malady" on being diagnosed with an... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Paris Journal: Oscar Wilde’s Tomb Sealed From Admirers’ Kisses
The Irish author’s massive tomb in Paris has been cleansed of decades of lipstick markings and graffiti, and a plate glass wall erected as a deterrent.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 16 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Blue Notes in Black and White’ by Benjamin Cawthra - Review
Benjamin Cawthra’s “Blue Notes in Black and White” considers how the camera conferred cultural legitimacy to jazz as black music.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Lord Byron takes pride of place at art show curated by Simon Schama
Historian requisitions paintings from British embassies around the world for his Travelling Light show at Whitechapel GalleryA smouldering Lord Byron, dressed in ostentatious Albanian gear, looms large in a new show curated by the historian Simon Schama, who can't hide... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Charlotte Brontë manuscript bought for £690,000 by Paris museum
Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits purchases miniature booklet created by author when she was 14 at auctionA Charlotte Brontë manuscript is heading to France after being sold for £690,850 at Sotheby's in London. The miniature booklet, one of six handwritten... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
China banks on bloody blockbuster to win friends … and Oscars
State partially funds Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War – starring Christian Bale and set during 1937 Rape of Nanking – to boost nation's film industryChina's most expensive film, a bloody blockbuster about the Japanese army's massacre of civilians in... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
George Whitman, Paris Bookseller and Cultural Beacon, Is Dead at 98
Mr. Whitman, the American-born owner of Shakespeare & Company in Paris, believed that “the book business is the business of life.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Library closures: writers attack Ed Vaizey in open letter
Joanna Trollope and Yann Martel among signatories to letter accusing culture minister of 'deafening silence' over library cutsJoanna Trollope, Yann Martel, Patrick Ness and Kate Mosse were among the 200-plus signatories to a blistering open letter to culture minister Ed... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
US to mark World Book Night with classic titles give-away
Thousands of books by authors from Maya Angelou to Alice Sebold to be handed out across US on 23 AprilTens of thousands of copies of classic titles by authors including Maya Angelou, Dave Eggers, Alice Sebold and John Irving are... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Russell Hoban, ‘Frances’ Author, Dies at 86
Mr. Hoban, a prolific author, created the “Frances” series of children’s books and the “Riddley Walker” science-fiction novel for adults.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 15 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Republic, Lost’ - Campaign Finance Reform - Book Review
In “Republic, Lost,” Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Harvard Law School, proposes an alternative means for financing elections.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
New Books From Paul Theroux, Jeffrey Zaslow and Randall Silvis
New books from Paul Theroux, Roberto Bolaño, Jeffrey Zaslow, Randall Silvis, Sara Levine and Matthew Shaer.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Music Review: Axiom at Alice Tully Hall - Review
The new-music ensemble Axiom celebrated Elliott Carter’s 103rd birthday with the premiere of his “Three Explorations” at Alice Tully Hall.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
ArtsBeat: Staging Your Own Theatrical Table Reading
The only thing better than reading a play like Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” is reading it aloud with people you like. What plays would you enjoy reading with friends?... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Children's Books: Pop-Up Book Roundup
A roundup of this season’s pop-up children’s books, including new pop-up versions of “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
John Kinsella writes of poetry's 'responsibility to bring change'
Poet who withdrew from TS Eliot prize in protest at sponsor says artform 'should channel disobedience'"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world," wrote Shelley in 1821. Now poet John Kinsella, who withdrew from the TS Eliot prize last week... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Russell Hoban, cult author, dies aged 86
Author of post-apocalyptic classic Riddley Walker as well as numerous children's books described himself as 'an addict to writing'Legendary cult author Russell Hoban, whose apocalyptic novel Riddley Walker was described by Anthony Burgess as "what literature is meant to be",... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
Roger McGough becomes new Poetry Society president
'Patron saint of poetry' takes up role as Arts Council restores more funding in wake of summer's internal battlesRoger McGough, the one-time pop star with the Liverpool band The Scaffold – famed for its 1968 Christmas No1 Lily the Pink... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Tuck Everlasting' Musical Sets Sights on Broadway
Staged presentation of "Tuck Everlasting" raises hopes for Broadway production... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
The Pour: Four Reasons to Turn the Pages - The Pour
Four new books on wines and spirits.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Alvin Plantinga’s New Book on God and Science
Alvin Plantinga, who has led a movement of unapologetically Christian philosophers, argues that theism is compatible with science in his new book, “Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion and Naturalism.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Hedy’s Folly,’ by Richard Rhodes - Review
Richard Rhodes’s new book, “Hedy’s Folly,” traces how the glamorous actress Hedy Lamarr and the avant-garde composer George Antheil came to devise a remote-controlled torpedo during World War II.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
The Bookseller of Kabul author cleared of invading Afghan family's privacy
Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad, who spent months with bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais, tells of relief over rulingIt provided a compelling picture of the life of an Afghan family living under the tyranny of the Taliban and became the bestselling nonfiction... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Amazon.com branded 'Grinch that stole Christmas trade'
Outrage from booksellers over online discount given to shoppers who report high-street pricesAn Amazon.com promotion, which offered customers a discount if they let Amazon know the prices of items for sale in traditional shops, has provoked widespread anger, drawing a... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Carlos Acosta: from the ballet to the galley proof
The famed dancer has already penned an autobiography – now Bloomsbury is to publish his fiction debut, a novel set in CubaCarlos Acosta is more accustomed to en pointe than penpoint, but the world-renowned Cuban ballet dancer has written his... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy to become very graphic novel
DC Comics signs Glaswegian crime writer Denise Mina to adapt Girl With a Dragon Tattoo novels for comic formatSuper-tough bisexual computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, star of Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millenium trilogy, is set to become even spikier after Glaswegian crime... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Op-Ed Contributor: Amazon’s Jungle Logic
Writers defend books from the Internet giant’s latest tactic.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley to be Booker judge
Man Booker judges' panel to be chaired by Sir Peter StothardActor Dan Stevens, best known as Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley – the war hero consigned to a wheelchair for life before making an abrupt recovery – is to be a... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 13 December, 2011
Steve Jobs Biography and Other Hot Titles Bookstore Lures
In the so-called year of the e-book, retail bookshops are reporting brisk sales for high-priced titles.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life,’ by Ann Beattie - Review
Ann Beattie’s “Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life” mixes biographical observation, fictional interludes and writing-class exercises.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 12 December, 2011
On the Runway Blog: Ray Eames: How She Dressed
In a new documentary, “Eames: The Architect and the Painter,” the filmmakers train their sights on the style of Ray Eames.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Book swaps at London tube and train stations 'a good idea', says Johnson
London mayor agrees to look into creating a network for sharing books at capital's stations in time for 2012 OlympicsBook swaps and book shares could be set up at tube and train stations across London in time for the 2012... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Penguin joins push for short ebooks
Penguin is the latest publisher to embrace quick, digital-only reads, hoping they can reach a time and cash-starved marketAngry Birds on the way to work, or half an hour with Helen Dunmore, Julian Barnes or Emma Donoghue? A slew of... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 12 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘The Stranger’s Child’ by Alan Hollinghurst - Review
Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel, “The Stranger’s Child,” reflects English values and attitudes from 1913 until the cellphone age.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 11 December, 2011
Character Study: Asperger’s Syndrome Inspires Homeless Woman’s Comic Book
Leironica Hawkins, who is homeless and has Asperger’s syndrome, fought back her panic and created a comic book about the ailment.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 11 December, 2011
Spielberg's film of War Horse gives new impetus to animal charity
Stage and screen success of Michael Morpurgo's WW1 tale has brought 80-year-old Brooke Trust back to global prominenceA charity begun 80 years ago by a young brigadier's wife who was appalled by the condition of discarded British war horses has... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Sunday, 11 December, 2011
British Poet Christopher Logue Dies at 85
Mr. Logue was a poet, actor, soldier and ice-cream bandit in 85 colorful years.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 10 December, 2011
Back To Work - Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy - By Bill Clinton - Book Review
Bill Clinton presents his views on the country’s challenges and explains his plan for creating jobs.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: CBGB and Condoleezza Rice
On this week's podcast, Gerald Marzorati on "Love Goes to Buildings on Fire," Will Hermes' book about the New York music scene in the 1970s; The Times's Susan Chira discusses Condoleezza Rice's new memoir; Julie Bosman has notes from the... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Editors and Critics Pick Their Favorite Books of 2011
Times editors and critics choose their favorite reads of 2011.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Buckley - William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism - By Carl T. Bogus - Book Review
Carl T. Bogus traces the making of the man who remade conservatism.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Batman' Soars to No. 1
"Batman: The Black Mirror" enters our hardcover graphic books best sellers list at No. 1. The story features Dick Grayson, the former Robin, filling in for the Dark Knight and encountering a new evil.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Up Front
This week we present our 10 Best Books of the Year, drawn from all the books reviewed here in the past 12 months.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Julian Barnes’s novel “The Sense of an Ending” continues lurking on the best-seller list, one of several testaments to the influence of literary prizes.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Life Upon These Shores — Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 — By Henry Louis Gates Jr. — Book Review
A visual summary of the African-American experience.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
The Sisters - By Nancy Jensen - Book Review
In this first novel, two sisters lose their relationship over a miscommunication.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire — Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever — By Will Hermes — Book Review
The Bronx may have been burning, but downtown Manhattan’s mid-’70s music scene was even hotter.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Explorers of the Nile — The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure — By Tim Jeal — Book Review
This book recounts the Victorian-era search for the river’s headwaters.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
The Uninnocent - Stories - By Bradford Morrow - Book Review
Bradford Morrow’s tales walk the line between clarity and chaos.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
On Poetry: The Solitudes — By Luis de Gongora — Book Review
Like most difficult poems, Luis de Góngora’s “Solitudes,” recently published in a new translation, is often preoccupied with simplicity.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Adam and Evelyn — By Ingo Schulze.Translated by John E. Woods — Book Review
A young couple from Dresden go bed-hopping abroad and risk defecting just ahead of German reunification.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Assumption - By Percival Everett - Book Review
Percival Everett toys with the murder-mystery genre while pursuing larger themes of identity and truth.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Love and Shame and Love — By Peter Orner — Book Review
In Peter Orner’s novel, three generations of men share a fundamental lack of understanding of the women they love.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
The Artist of Disappearance - Three Novellas - By Anita Desai - Book Review
The characters in Anita Desai’s three novellas are in search of personal fulfillment.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
No Higher Honor - A Memoir of My Years in Washington - By Condoleezza Rice - Book Review
Condoleezza Rice offers her account of George W. Bush’s presidency.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: 'Wind in the Willows' Musical in the Works
The 'Mary Poppins' team will tackle another children's classic.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
London Journal: David Guterson Wins Bad Sex in Fiction Award for ‘Ed King’
The American author David Guterson won the annual Bad Sex in Fiction award in London this week for passages of his novel “Ed King.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
David Montgomery, 84, Dies; Chronicled Lives of Workers
Mr. Montgomery was a labor historian whose experience as a machinist informed his influential writing about the culture of the factory floor.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: An App to Take You Deep Into Dickens's London
A close-up view of the bad old days.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Cheap classics boom as rest of book trade struggles
While recession bites elsewhere, sales of Wordsworth Editions' £1.99 classics have surgedAs the winds of recession sweep across the UK, a story of the decadent rich in New York has beaten the gloom, with a £1.99 edition of The Great... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Gilbert Adair, acclaimed film critic and novelist, dies aged 66
Prolific journalist and author whose novels were often adapted for the big screen, has diedGilbert Adair, the acclaimed critic who had some of his own novels turned into successful films, has died aged 66.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Essay: Anarchist Anthropology
The activist-scholar who helped start Occupy Wall Street rewrites the history of debt and reimagines its future.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 9 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Look, I Made a Hat,’ Stephen Sondheim Lyrics - Review
The second volume of Stephen Sondheim’s collected lyrics, “Look, I Made a Hat,” describes his collaborations with James Lapine as a vital artistic renewal.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Rare Ten Commandments Text Added to Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition
The leather scroll is believed to be the second-oldest extant version of the commandments.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
Dickens manuscript illuminates author's workings
A new facsimile edition of Great Expectations, showing the writer's decisions and revisions, provides fresh insight into his creative geniusDense with ink, a spider web of crossings-out, rewritings and even text-speak, the manuscript of Charles Dickens's much-loved novel Great Expectations... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
Green Carnation prize won by Catherine Hall
Award 'for modern gay writing' goes to The Proof of Love, beating work by Colm Tóibín and Jackie KayCatherine Hall's "simmering, brooding" story of a young Cambridge mathematician in a hostile Lake District village, The Proof of Love, has won... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 8 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Poet to Poet: Graywolf To Publish Bly-Transtromer Correspondence
Graywolf to publish translated Robert Bly - Tomas Transtromer correspondence... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Africa’s New Fashion Influence
The current designers looking to the continent for inspiration are avoiding the old clichés.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Up Close: New Book About Michelle Obama’s Style
“Commander in Chic” by Mikki Taylor is a guide to managing style the way Michelle Obama does.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Extra Virginity’ by Tom Mueller; a Word on Olive Oil - Review
In “Extra Virginity,” Tom Mueller reveals the brazen fraud in the olive oil industry and teaches readers how to sniff out the good stuff.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Charles Dickens's London of dirt and despair captured in evocative exhibition
Paintings of Victorian poverty go on display alongside rare manuscripts in the first museum show on the author in 40 yearsAlex Werner, curator of the first major museum show on Charles Dickens for more than 40 years, says one of... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Kurt Vonnegut's son attacks biography of his father
Mark Vonnegut says Charles Shields' And So It Goes ignores much evidence in portraying Slaughterhouse-Five author as a bitter old manKurt Vonnegut's son has hit out at a new biography of the Slaughterhouse-Five author which paints him as a bitter,... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Children's Books: Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas
Three reissued Christmas books tell timeless stories of a sparse little tree, a big-hearted mouse and a gift-wrapped kangaroo.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Amazon.com extends publishing arm into children's books
Bookseller steps up move into publishing with acquisition of 450 children's titles from Marshall CavendishAfter dipping its toe into the waters of romance, mystery and science fiction publishing, Amazon.com has announced its biggest publishing venture yet with the acquisition of... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
TS Eliot prize: Second poet withdraws in sponsor protest
John Kinsella joins Alice Oswald in pulling out of shortlist to oppose award's funding by investment firm AurumTS Eliot himself worked for Lloyds Bank, but John Kinsella has now become the second poet to withdraw from the prize set up... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Amazon Publishing Push Grows to Children’s Books
In expanding its publishing ambitions, the online retailer is acquiring more than 450 titles from Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Wednesday, 7 December, 2011
Books of The Times: Adam Sisman’s ‘Honourable Englishman,’ on Hugh Trevor-Roper
Adam Sisman’s new biography of the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, “An Honourable Englishman,” is a rescue mission of sorts: it will not persuade you to admire him, exactly, but you will warm to his bumptious company.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
This week's arts diary
Could there be a 'German bailout' for the RSC? The award refusal that was refused, and will Glasgow get a Turner?Ostermeier's HamletThomas Ostermeier's widely acclaimed production of Hamlet, which the director brought to London last week from his home theatre... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Who Probed Roots of Ideology and Bias, Dies at 65
Ms. Young-Bruehl was a philosopher, psychoanalyst and biographer known for her lives of two influential women, Hannah Arendt and Anna Freud.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Mexico mocks presidential candidate for literature festival faux pas
Asked which books changed his life, Enrique Peña Nieto lists two Jeffrey Archers, misattributed Mexican classic and BibleAsked when launching his book, Mexico: The Great Hope, at a literary festival, which were the three other books he'd say had changed... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
David Guterson comes first in Literary Review's bad sex fiction award
The author of Snow Falling on Cedars wins the prize for his fifth novel, Ed King, a modern rewrite of the story of OedipusAn over-reliance on coy terms such as "family jewels", "back door" and "front parlour" has won acclaimed... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
ebook price fixing: Apple and five publishers face EU inquiry
Inquiry to find out if publishing houses and iPad makers have conspired to take on Amazon's dominanceThe European commission has launched an investigation into whether Apple and five large publishing houses have conspired to fix the price of ebooks.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Alan Moore attacks Frank Miller in comic book war of words
Moore condemns Miller's work as misogynistic, homophobic and misguided after Sin City creator's attack on Occupy movementAlan Moore, one of the most influential comic book creators of the past few decades, has launched an attack on fellow industry stalwart Frank... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Amanda Knox hires top literary lawyer to land lucrative book deal
Robert Barnett's clients include Obama, Clinton, Bush Jr, Palin and Tony Blair as freed US student looks for best offerAmanda Knox says she's hired a lawyer to help her land a book deal after an Italian court cleared her and... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Facts and fiction feature in the Blue Peter shortlist
Two novels and two non-fiction books are in the running for the Blue Peter book awardBooks about the Olympics, the extreme world, a time-travelling schoolgirl and a family with dark secrets are in the running for the Blue Peter book... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Alice Oswald withdraws from TS Eliot prize in protest at sponsor Aurum
The poet, shortlisted for much-praised collection Memorial, objects to investment company's focus on hedge fundsAward-winning poet Alice Oswald has pulled out of prestigious poetry award the TS Eliot prize in protest over its sponsorship by an investment company.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Alan Moore v Frank Miller: comics legends clash
Moore criticises 'unpleasant sensibility' of 'completely misguided' Miller after Sin City author's tirade against the Occupy movementIn a take-down worthy of his anti-hero vigilantes V or Rorschach, comics legend Alan Moore has condemned his fellow comics writer Frank Miller as... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
A Conversation With George Dyson: George Dyson: Looking Backward to Put New Technology in Focus
The science historian George Dyson, author of the new book “Turing’s Cathedral,” talks about the genius of Alan Turing and John von Neumann, and growing up in the birthplace of the H-bomb.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Out of Neal Stephenson’s Imagination Came a New Online World
The author Neal Stephenson’s reputation for prescience about the online world is well earned, even if he regards it lightly.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Ted Hughes to take place in Poets' Corner
Memorial to the former poet laureate, who died in 1998, to be unveiled in Westminster Abbey's South TranseptA slab inscribed with poignant lines from a poem by Ted Hughes, uniting in one stone his love of poetry, fishing, and his... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Love Goes to Buildings on Fire,’ by Will Hermes - Review
In “Loves Goes to Buildings on Fire,” Will Hermes has isolated the years 1973 to 1977 as a crucial, if sometimes awkward, period of transition in New York and in American music.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 5 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Author Says She's Found a Portrait of Jane Austen
Jane Austen and a newly discovered illustration possibly depicting the author of "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" will be the subject of a BBC special called "Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait?"... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo producer blasts film critic over early review
Scott Rudin bans New Yorker reviewer David Denby from future press screenings for breaking film's embargoOscar-winning producer Scott Rudin has banned David Denby, a critic from the New Yorker magazine, from all future press screenings of his films after Denby... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Jane Austen biographer discovers 'lost portrait'
Biographer Dr Paula Byrne is convinced that 'imaginary portrait' was actually drawn from lifeJane Austen scholar Dr Paula Byrne claims to have discovered a lost portrait of the author which, far from depicting a grumpy spinster, shows a writer at... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Parallel Stories,’ a Novel by Peter Nadas - Review
“Parallel Stories,” by the Hungarian novelist Peter Nadas, explores the lives of numerous characters as their experiences unfold during the tumultuous history of 20th-century Europe.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Almost 4m children in Britain do not own a book, poll finds
National Literacy Trust describes as 'very worrying' results of survey of 18,000 children between 11 and 16Almost 4 million children in Britain – one in three – do not own a book, a poll has found. The National Literacy Trust... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Monday, 5 December, 2011
Off the Shelf: ‘Ajax Dilemma’ Looks at Fundamental Fairness
“The Ajax Dilemma,” a new book, uses Greek mythology to show how fundamental issues of justice can set off conflict in modern society.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 4 December, 2011
Publishers Gild Books With ‘Special Effects’ to Compete With E-Books
As more readers switch to e-books, publishers are releasing print books with design elements emphasizing the physical beauty of the old-fashioned hard copy.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Sunday, 4 December, 2011
Kurt Vonnegut's dark, sad, cruel side is laid bare
A biography of the author of Slaughterhouse Five undermines his warm, grandfatherly imageA new biography of acclaimed American author Kurt Vonnegut, beloved by fans worldwide for his work's warm humour and homespun Midwestern wisdom, has shocked many with a portrayal... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
Maverick political poet and playwright Christopher Logue dies at 85
Dubbed the 'Alexander Pope of his day', Christopher Logue's colourful life included two spells in prisonChristopher Logue obituaryChristopher Logue, the poet and playwright who called himself the "rewrite man", has died at the age of 85 at his home in... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
Christa Wolf Dies at 82; Wrote of the Germanys
Ms. Wolf, a leading writer from the former East Germany, explored the weight of history on ordinary people as well as her own struggles with Nazism and life in a Communist society.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
Bookshelf: N.Y.C. Bridges, Hotels and Gateway Park — Bookshelf
New works cover the golden age of bridges, the meatpacking district, venerable hotels and the surroundings of Jamaica Bay.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Saturday, 3 December, 2011
TBR: Inside the List
Michael Crichton returns to the hardcover fiction best-seller list with “Micro,” a techno thriller completed by Richard Preston after Crichton’s death.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Book Review Podcast: 100 Notable Books of 2011
On this week's podcast, the editors of the Book Review discuss their selection process for the year's notable books; Andrew Graham-Dixon talks about his new biography, "Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane"; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; and... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holidays In Heck - By P. J. O’Rourke - Book Review
P. J. O’Rourke’s latest collection of global dispatches.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Then Again - By Diane Keaton - Book Review
A provocatively honest memoir by a self-sufficient star of the big screen.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Making of ‘Maus’
This book, commemorating the 25th anniversary of “Maus,” includes an expansive interview with Art Spiegelman and an exhaustive collection of archival material.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Death of King Arthur — Thomas Malory’s ‘Le Morte d’Arthur’ — Retold by Peter Ackroyd — Book Review
The exploits of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, based on the 15th-century classic “Le Morte d’Arthur.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
How We Got to Dessert
A look at the cultural phenomenon of dessert, which has its roots in savory-sweet 16th-century dishes like eel in marzipan and goose-liver macaroons.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Age of Def Jam
A commemorative picture book justifies Def Jam as not only a record label, but a bona fide chapter in pop-culture history.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: The History of Caricature
A history of caricature and satire from the 15th century onward.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
75 Years - The Very Best of Life - Illustrated. 224 pp. Life Books. $36.95 - Book Review
A collection of gorgeous, memorable photos from Life magazine’s archive.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Books Of Style: Three Books About Coco Chanel
It was almost inevitable that three new books would end up pitted against one another in reviews, but now their authors are going after one another in real life.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Magic of Magnum
Hundreds of raw images from some 70 photographers are included in this compilation.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Up Front
This year’s Holiday Books issue includes, once again, our selection of 100 Notable Books, including a wide range of biographies — many about 20th-century giants.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Legend - By Marie Lu - Book Review
This debut novel set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles is told from the alternating perspectives of two teenagers.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Young Adult: Iboy - By Kevin Brooks - Book Review
A 16-year-old develops superhero powers after a 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS is embedded in his skull.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Embracing Home: Books About Cooking
This season’s cookbooks embrace American regionalism and home cooking.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Novelist Who Loved Food
An exploration of Balzac as the first writer to bring “meals into literature, in all their diversity.”... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Spinoza, Plums, and Why We Draw
John Berger offers his sketches and writing alongside excerpts of Spinoza’s philosophy.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Spencer Tracy - A Biography - By James Curtis - Book Review
A portrait of the movie star as a real human being.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Howard Cosell - The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports - By Mark Ribowsky - Book Review
Mark Ribowsky’s biography charts Howard Cosell’s rise from obscurity.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Golden Age of the Paparazzi
An enormous coffee-table book fixes the work of paparazzi with an almost ennobling glaze.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The N.F.L.’s Highlight Reel
This book offers morality tales from the N.F.L. with larger-than-life heroes and a few signature battles.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Belzoni - The Giant Archaeologists Love to Hate - By Ivor Noël Hume - Book Review
A biography of Giovanni Belzoni, a 6-foot-6 “giant” who earned the undying enmity of his successors in a field that only later became known as archaeology.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Miranda July Is in Your House
The artist and filmmaker Miranda July presents portraits of the sad, joyous and weird lives of Los Angeles residents.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Cecil Beaton in New York
This coffee-table book showcases some of the finest photographs the high-society favorite took during his many sojourns in New York.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
A Museum in a Book
The brainchild of a group of unnamed editors, this book is an encyclopedic art museum between covers.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Pursuit of Italy - A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples - By David Gilmour - Book Review
The historian David Gilmour argues that the 1861 unification of Italy was a mistake.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Doors - A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years - By Greil Marcus - Book Review
The Doors, with the charismatic but tormented lead singer Jim Morrison, were instrumental in the swift transformation of rock ’n’ roll from brash diversion to serious genre.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Sweet Judy Blue Eyes - My Life in Music - By Judy Collins - Book Review
The singer Judy Collins reveals the harder facts of her life.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Getting to Carnegie Hall
This book celebrates the 120th birthday of Carnegie Hall, whose very name is synonymous with musical excellence.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
The Joys of BAM
A bumper-car ride down memory lane for habitués of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Gift Guide: Notable Children’s Books of 2011
A selection of the year’s best works.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Puppet - An Essay on Uncanny Life - By Kenneth Gross - Book Review
Kenneth Gross offers poetic and scholarly insights into the strange, archaic world of puppets.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Into The Silence - The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest - By Wade Davis - Book Review
With their empire in tatters, postwar Britons were desperate for a source of renewal and needed grand projects to restore national pride. They looked eastward, and up.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Rome - A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History - By Robert Hughes - Book Review
Robert Hughes examines the Eternal City through its history, politics and art.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Think Before You Eat
In this collection of essays, Adam Gopnik offers a serious examination of food and taste.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Looking Back in Vogue
Joan Didion, Carly Simon, Karl Lagerfeld and others share their enthusiasm for archival fashion photos in this collection of essays from Vogue.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Le Freak - An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny - By Nile Rodgers - Book Review
A member of the hit-generating band Chic and a producer for Diana Ross and others, Nile Rodgers recounts his life and career in music.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Children's Books: Bookshelf: Nativity
Children’s books about the birth of Jesus.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Children's Books: Picture Books About Christmas
Two new picture books about the celebration of Christmas.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Children's Books: Picture Books About Hanukkah
Three new children’s books about the story of Hanukkah.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Crime: Notable Crime Books of 2011
A look back at some of the best mysteries reviewed this year.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Album Covers
Two pioneering artists, Alex Steinweiss and R. Crumb, see their designs for record covers collected between book covers.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Harsh Adventures: Books About Travel
Searching for tribes in the Amazon, exploring Machu Picchu, retracing Graham Greene’s steps in Africa and more.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Music Chronicle
A roundup of books about jazz, Jagger and the world of music.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Reliable Resources: Books About Gardening
The inside story of New York’s High Line, a helpful guide to the cactus, a spruced-up edition of a gardening bible and more.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: The Antarctic
Two new books for ice and death fans chronicle the exploration of the South Pole and the Transantarctic Mountains.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Holiday Books: Visuals
A roundup of art and design books, on Saul Bass’s logos, pavement art, neon signs and cigar box labels.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Essay: Read It Again, Sam
Lots of writers reread their favorite books — and not just once or twice.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Raunchy Alice musical could be Ken Russell's final legacy
Ken Russell's work in progress on bawdy Wonderland film could be completed by new directorHe died last weekend leaving a legacy of classic films, such as The Devils and Women in Love, that led to tributes from across the film... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Paperback Row
Paperback books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Editors’ Choice
Recently reviewed books of particular interest.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Celebrity memoirs lose star power at the tills
Do the memoirs of a pretend celebrity, Alan Partridge, bring the curtain down on what was once a blockbuster genre?The stars are out in the window of Foyles flagship store on London's Charing Cross Road, with Joanna Lumley and Alan... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Paddington Bear gets ebook treatment
Author Michael Bond gives go-ahead for digital versions of the children' favouritesPaddington, the duffle-coated, marmalade-loving bear from Darkest Peru, is joining the digital revolution after his creator Michael Bond was convinced of the virtues of ebooks.... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Angry Birds colonise cookbook market
After the runaway success of the game, its makers have – naturally – moved on to launch Bad Piggies' Egg RecipesStand aside, Jamie Oliver; Nigel Slater, put down your spatula. A new contender for cookbook of the year is about... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Fearing Climate Change’s Effects on the Adirondacks
Jerry Jenkins, an ecologist, documents the ecosystem of the Adirondacks and laments its future in the face of global climate change’s local effects.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Friday, 2 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Grand Pursuit’ by Sylvia Nasar - Review
In “Grand Pursuit,” Sylvia Nasar surveys a century and a half of great minds behind the development of the dismal science.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
Biography of cancer wins Guardian First Book award
Siddhartha Mukherjee's 'remarkable and unusual' study, The Emperor of All Maladies, beats four novels to the £10,000 prizeRead an extract from The Emperor of All MaladiesAn oncologist has won the Guardian First Book award for his "biography" of cancer, The... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Kelli O'Hara to Star in 'Bridges of Madison County' Musical Workshop
Kelli O'Hara will star in and Bartlett Sher will direct a workshop of the "Bridges of Madison County" musical.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
Arthur C Clarke predicted Russians would put first man on moon
In a rediscovered 1963 episode of The Sky at Night, Clarke says Russia will win the space race with the US close behindSir Arthur C Clarke predicted in a lost BBC interview that the Russians would win the space race... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
ArtsBeat Blog: Look! Up in the Sky! It's an Astronomical Price for a Comic Book!
Action Comics No. 1, which features the first appearance of Superman, sells for more than $2 million.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
William Faulkner's complete works sold for TV adaptation
HBO signs deal with Deadwood creator David Milch to produce films and series based on Faulkner's novels and storiesOften described as unfilmable, the works of William Faulkner are set to be adapted for television by David Milch, creator of the... More...
From: Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
Books of The Times: ‘Unreal Estate,’ by Michael Gross - Review
In “Unreal Estate” Michael Gross gets nosy about grandiose estates, places that tend to be gated.... More...
From: NYT > Books
Thursday, 1 December, 2011
