[Fri, 30.Jun.06]
:. Bookmarks: Brief reviews of new and overlooked books
This week: The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel; Lenny Bruce Is Dead by Jonathan Goldstein; Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart.

[Thur, 29.Jun.06]
:. The Husband by Dean Koontz
After you demand that evil be given an uppercase E, what do you do next, agitate for a more Gothic font?

[Wed, 28.Jun.06]
:. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont
In his new book, Paul Malmont turns the era's best known pulp writers, Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, into the stuff of their books -- crime-fighting, risk-taking heroes who must work together to save New York's Chinatown from certain destruction.

[Tues, 27.Jun.06]
:. Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy by Bruce Bartlett
One need not share Bartlett's flawed perspective to find his condemnation of the Bush administration persuasive.

[Mon, 26.Jun.06]
:. The People's Republic of Desire by Annie Wang
Is it worth being treated like a second-class citizen [in America], as long as one enjoys unparalleled freedom and an education?

[Fri, 23.Jun.06]
:. Bookmarks: Brief reviews of new and overlooked books
This week: Drugs Are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir by Lisa Crystal Carver.

[Thur, 22.Jun.06]
:. The Anti-Oedipus Papers by Felix Guattari
Knowledge is a kindness, but when you approach the unknowable the real work begins.
 

:. Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music by Wendy Fonarow
When dissected, an indie rock gig isn't all that different from the stereotype of nearly naked dancers circling the fire as they fall into a trance.

[Mon, 19.Jun.06]
:. Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
The blowjob barely affects Lizzie's growth as a character, and it doesn't scintillate. It's just there.

[Fri, 16.Jun.06]
:. What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self by Ellyn Spragins (editor)
Whether you're teenage Maya Angelou or clothing designer Eileen Fisher questioning the benefits of making it alone, your doubts correspond.

[Thur, 15.Jun.06]
:. Quipu by Arthur Sze
Sze is ultimately concerned with the most primary of all relationships: that between the mind and the world.

[Tues, 13.Jun.06]
:. Watching Wildlife by Cynthia Chris
Chris analyzes several nature films from this era, a couple of which depicted rape as a "natural" occurrence in such species as elephant seals and koalas.

[Mon, 12.Jun.06]
:. Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald
With a work as dense and as broad in scope as Conspiracy, we are allowed the time for side stories and subplots that are just as compelling as Enron's end.

[Fri, 9.Jun.06]
:. Bookmarks: Brief reviews of new and overlooked books
This week: Ghost of Hoppers by Jaime Hernandez; Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Jumpstart Your Career Even if You Haven't Had a Job in Years by Monica Samuels and J.C. Conklin; The Imperfect Mom: Candid Confessions of Mothers Living in the Real World by Therese J. Borchard (editor).

[Thur, 8.Jun.06]
:. White Shadow by Ace Atkins
Why rush to turn the page when each paragraph is so wonderfully rendered?

[Wed, 7.Jun.06]
:. Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government -- and How We Take It Back by David Sirota
In Hostile Takeover, Sirota points the finger at Corporate America and a bevy of politicians from both parties who are at best, unable to prevent gross corporate profiteering and at worst, lining their pockets with gifts and big campaign donations at citizens' expense.

[Tues, 6.Jun.06]
:. The Disappointment Artist by Jonathan Lethem
As the Eggerses and Safran Foers of the literary hype machine take childlike pranksterdom and surreal folk tales to often dazzling, uncharted heights, Lethem writes from a less ambitious but no less affecting point, imbuing well-worn genres with an almost paralyzing intimacy.

[Mon, 5.Jun.06]
:. The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley
It's fairly safe to say that in a time of crisis, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin isn't the guy whom you'd want responsible for your well-being.

[Fri, 2.Jun.06]
:. They Played the Game, Vol. 1 by Stephen Randall
If They Played the Game only gave a mirror to those who make a living with play this would be an adequate collection, but there are moments of pure wonder and delight that have nothing to do with the field.

[Thur, 1.Jun.06]
:. The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley
The historian's customary irony is replaced with the assumed fatalism of the Norse themselves, for whom death was a harsh fact of daily existence. The effect is monumental, and carries the burnished authenticity of a long-lost epic.