Tuesday, May 15 2012
What Do You Get When You Mix Yeast & Flame Retardant? ‘White Bread’
White bread might be bland, but White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf is not.
Monday, May 14 2012
History as a Witness to Murder: ‘Midnight in Peking’
Peking, on the edge of World War II, couldn't have been more fraught with tension. The brutal murder of a young Englishwoman was the proverbial match struck to this powder keg of a city.
‘Elizabeth I’: Thick Book, Thin Characters
This comprehensively researched portrait of Elizabeth I falls short of capturing the Virgin Queen
Friday, May 11 2012
A Well-Written Working Class Hero: ‘Waterline’
The stark rhythms in Ross Raisin's prose form a kind of poetry that is as unexpected as it is beautiful. This is a superb story, detailing one man's downward spiral.
The World Is Your Oyster: ‘1,000 Places to See Before You Die’
First published in 2003, this updated edition has added 28 additional countries, including Ghana, Qatar, Latvia and Vanuatu, and 200 new entries, for those who might think that Earth, and its attractions, are finite.
Thursday, May 10 2012
Where the Bodies Are: David Harvey’s ‘Rebel Cities’
As the world passes the tipping point where more than half of its population now lives in urban areas, David Harvey condemns the idea of the capitalist machine.
Tom Gauld’s ‘Goliath’ Is Interesting Enough, but Thin
Depth of engagement + duration of experience = importance to the audience.
Wednesday, May 9 2012
‘Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone by Johnny Ramone’ Reads Something Like a Ramones Song
Direct, ascerbic, occasionally thoughtful or breathtakingly thoughtless -- like the man himself -- this is a quick, riveting read.
Post-Apocalypse, Zoe Marshall Becomes Her Own White Knight in ‘White Horse’
White Horse is gritty fun that gets where it's going -- just not at a gallop.
Tuesday, May 8 2012
The Wheel, Reinvented: ‘Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America’
A book written at the height of the Occupy protests contains clues about the movement's future -- if it has one.
‘Still’ Continues Lauren Winner’s Winding Journey of Religious Quest
This is a puzzling book at first, even disturbing, but in the end it earns our trust, in itself and in Lauren Winner.
Monday, May 7 2012
Alison Bechdel’s ‘Are You My Mother?’ Reveals a Graphic, Independent Mind
Like her previous memoir about her father -- the acclaimed and prismatic Fun Home -- Are You My Mother? blends textbook academia, beautifully emotive drawings, and generous confessions to find some familial recovery after years of discord.
‘Curses! A F***ed-up Fairy Tale’ is Truly Twisted
Chock-a-block with nursery rhyme characters gone wrong, some of the most creatively messed up metaphors you’ve ever read, and racy to boot, J. A. Kazimer has created a demented storybook world that will make anyone with a funny bone howl.
Friday, May 4 2012
There’s a Lot of Teeth Gnashing in Elisabeth Badinter’s ‘The Conflict’
Are women forgoing motherhood because they're afraid they'll fall short of the ideal of the "good mother"? Badinter makes an occasionally convincing if myopic case for that, but frankly, I hope not.
Thursday, May 3 2012
Searching for Psychic Connections in Heidi Julavits’ ‘The Vanishers’
Heidi Julavits has a rare gift for combining fantasy and realism in a powerfully evocative manner that recalls the work of such masters of this hybrid form as Salman Rushdie and Toni Morrison.
The Ghost in the Machine: Ellen Ullman’s ‘The Bug’
Ellen Ullman has the rare experience of having worked in computing while holding fast to what might be called old-fashioned values: a deep appreciation for the arts, the need for human contact, and the ability to write about it all in a gripping novel.
Wednesday, May 2 2012
Art and Open Wounds: ‘This Will Have Been’
The '80s became a cultural moment in which a conversation about boundaries and their instability acquired sharp teeth. Beautifully designed, an objet d’art in itself, this book explores art from a time period that had a deeply ambivalent attitude toward art.
Living Life on His Own Terms: ‘David Hockney: A Rake’s Progress—The Biography’
The timing couldn’t be better for this enjoyable and well-sourced book, which — like David Hockney’s own work — is both conversational and perceptive.
Tuesday, May 1 2012
Turning Normal on Its Head: Kate Bornstein’s ‘A Queer and Pleasant Danger’
Kate Bornstein's memoir takes readers “to the crossroads of her life” and artfully and honestly demonstrates her decisions to “opt for the path more outlawed, less culturally approved”.
Bestowing Animation Upon Lifeless Matter: ‘Frankenstein: The Interactive Literary App’
Maybe hacking up a classic horror story is anathema to many readers, but there is a strange allure about stitching together a new creation from the body of the novel. What's the harm in a little experimentation?
