Book reviews, book-related news and author interviews
Updated: 27 min 50 sec ago
3 hours 29 min ago
In his new release, Moscow Sting (Ecco) -- the sequel to 2009’s Red to Black -- Alex Dryden picks up the story of Anna Resnikov, once the youngest female colonel in the KGB, who defected to the West out of love for Finn, a British MI6 operative who has since been murdered. As Finn’s despondent widow, she has been stashed in a “safe house” somewhere in the south of France with their 2-year-old
3 hours 30 min ago
It seems ridiculous to suggest that Jane Urquhart has exceeded herself with Sanctuary Line, out this week in Canada from McClelland & Stewart and next month in the U.S. from MacAdam/Cage.Urquhart is a winner of the Governor General’s Award (for The Underpainter), an officer of the Order of Canada and recipient of France’s Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. There are many other awards
5 hours 37 min ago
Is this the real face of William Shakespeare? Scientists say “it proves the writer suffered from cancer towards the end of his life.”
8 hours 32 min ago
Today is International Literacy Day: a date worth noting. Wikipedia reminds us that “September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of
Tue, 09/07/2010 - 08:01
Just when you thought the world couldn’t possibly need yet another biography of “Bloody Mary Tudor,” (1516-1558), along comes a young, hotshot British historian who not only discovers aspects others before her have missed, she shares her new tidbits in a compelling and lucid manner in her debut work.Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen (Random House) is published in the U.S. today, but it’s been
Mon, 09/06/2010 - 21:15
In every niche and genre and corner of fiction, critics and fans always have their ears open for the voice that will lead them into the future or, at very least, will define the fictional moment in terms of the art and the craft of wielding those words.Considering the nature of his dystopic fiction and the fullness of his vision, I can perhaps be forgiven for thinking that, in his debut, Darin
Mon, 09/06/2010 - 18:00
The author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, one of the most important works of philosophy to come out of the 1970s, turns 82 today. The Wikipedia entry on author Robert Pirsig is both hyperbolic and interesting:Pirsig’s publisher’s recommendation to his Board ended with “This book is brilliant beyond belief, it is probably a work of genius, and will, I’ll wager, attain classic
Mon, 09/06/2010 - 01:57
In 2008, I was captivated by a children’s book with a real but ephemeral edge. When the end of the year rolled around, I pegged The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum as one of my favorite books of the year. I wasn't alone: everyone loved that book, many of them for the same reasons I did: it was smart; it was beautiful; it was easy to look at, yet it didn't give it’s real meaning away
Thu, 09/02/2010 - 07:15
You’ve seen her on CNN where she is senior medical correspondent. While being a talking head on CNN doesn’t make you a medical expert, it does establish you as someone who knows how to ask questions and get answers. In The Empowered Patient (Ballantine) Cohen doesn’t do a lot of that. Rather she sets out to help readers ask the questions and find the best care as simply and directly as possible.
Wed, 09/01/2010 - 21:06
It’s impossible not to like the idea behind the four-year-old Dayton Literary Peace Prize, an award that celebrates “the power of literature to promote peace, nonviolent conflict resolution, and global understanding.”For 2010, contenders include Dave Eggers (Zeitoun), Eugenia Kim (The Calligrapher’s Daughter), Chinua Achebe (The Education of a British-Protected Child) and Ha Jin (A Good Fill).
Wed, 09/01/2010 - 16:14
The Kirkus review is as much as many readers will need to know. When Kirkus said that Our Tragic Universe (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) was a “freewheeling intellectual journey with no destination,” some readers were bound to reply with excitement, others with disdain.It is apparent that Thomas thinks. A lot. About stuff. And she thinks about a lot of stuff. And those things? They’re not
Mon, 08/30/2010 - 20:52
A few months ago, January Magazine editor Linda L. Richards began a review of The Locavore Way (Storey Publishing) with these words: “So many people are talking about green issues these days, alternative lifestyles have gotten to be mainstream.” And while I’m still not entirely certain that’s true, some recently published cookbooks would seem to back up at least part of what she’s saying.Case in
Mon, 08/30/2010 - 07:22
The opening line lets you know what sort of ride you’re in for:Sex is the most powerful thing in the universe, and if you’re not instantly good at it, you probably never will be and everyone will laugh at you.This is something you should know before even attempting sex.In case you’re under the impression that The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex (Chronicle Books) is some sort of manual intended to help you
Sat, 08/28/2010 - 23:30
You don’t often hear cries of “censorship!” in Canada, but when you do, it can get pretty silly.The most recent example is a good one. Annabel Lyon’s debut novel, The Golden Mean (Vintage Canada), is a fictionalized account of Aristotle’s teaching relationship with Alexander the Great. Since the book was published in Canada in the fall of 2009, it has been treated as a work of some literary merit
Thu, 08/26/2010 - 12:30
Emmy Award-winning producer, Anne Fortier (Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia), here takes on one of Shakespeare’s best-loved characters with a rich and resonant result.In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said that, in Juliet, (Ballantine) Fortier “bobs and weaves between Shakespearean tragedy and popular romance for a high-flying debut .... that reads like a Da Vinci Code for
Thu, 08/26/2010 - 07:30
Did you know that four out of ten American children eight-years-old can’t read on their own? It’s not because they aren’t being taught, but rather because they aren’t being exposed to books and reading during their formative periods. Childhood literacy expertly J. Richard Gentry would change all of that.“Confident readers are not born,” Gentry writes in his introduction to Raising Confident
Thu, 08/26/2010 - 01:05
A cover does not the book make. Still: for The Gnome’s Eye (Orca Books), it was certainly the cover design that caught mine. And no complaints, either: that sharply designed cover brought me to a book I might otherwise have missed.In post-War Yugoslavia in 1954, young Theresa’s life is forever altered when her father announces that the family will leave their war-torn country and emigrate to
Tue, 08/24/2010 - 07:50
With a great deal of the publishing industry in a tailspin for the last couple of years -- international economic crisis, the coming of age of the e-book, the falling of the sky in general -- there have been more questions than answers. But while everyone wonders what will save the industry, a lot of people agree on one thing: bestsellers of the blockbusting kind go a long way to take the ouch
Mon, 08/23/2010 - 16:01
From the publisher’s Web site:Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is generally considered the greatest American SF writer of the 20th century. A famous and bestselling author in later life, he started as a navy man and graduate of Annapolis who was forced to retire because of tuberculosis. A socialist politician in the 1930s, he became one of the sources of Libertarian politics in the USA in his later
Mon, 08/23/2010 - 07:35
Award-winning Montreal-based author and illustrator Mélanie Watt has a lot to answer for. Since 2001, Watt has created armloads of books for KidsCan Press, bringing home many awards in the process. Young readers have enjoyed her Scaredy Squirrel series of picture books and a whole series on Learning with Animals.More recently, Watt has been delighting young readers with the adventures of Chester
