Booklist articles from January 2009

Booklist archives from January 2009

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood.(Adult Nonfiction)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, by Mark Harris (Penguin) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Add Mark Harris to the short short list of film writers who can tell a story. And what a story it is!...

Lush Life.(Adult Fiction)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Lush Life, by Richard Price (Farrar) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Lush Life is deceptively simple. On New York's gentrifying Lower East Side, two boys from the projects hold up three men, killing one. Two cops investigate. But Price's...

Little Audrey.(Youth Fiction)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Little Audrey, by Ruth White (Farrar) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Based on incidents from her own life and told in the voice of her older sister, White offers a heartfelt story of what it's like to be poor, hungry, and sometimes...

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.(Youth Nonfiction)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Hyperion/Jump at the Sun) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The narrative showcases the pride and camaraderie of the Negro Leagues.... If the...

The House in the Night.(Youth Picture Book)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson and illustrated by Beth Krommes (Houghton) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The art is spectacular. Executed in scratchboard decorated in droplets of gold, Krommes' illustrations expand on...

Kamp Katrina.(Video)(Brief article)(Video recording review)
January 1, 2009... Kamp Katrina (Carnivalesque) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Kamp Katrina smartly avoids retelling the events of the hurricane or railing against government ineptitude. Ms. Pearl and her husband's efforts are a story told best at ground...

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.(Audio)(Brief article)(Audiobook review)
January 1, 2009... The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski; read by Richard Poe (Recorded Books) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Poe's excellent narration keeps listeners interested in this compelling novel. When Edgar is signing, Poe uses a flat,...

African American National Biography.(Reference Source)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... African American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Oxford) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "African American National Biography records the contributions and achievements of more than 4,000...

Adult books.(2008 Editors' Choice)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Adult Books editors have selected the following titles as representative of the year's outstanding books for public-library collections. Our scope has been intentionally broad, and we have attempted to find books that combine literary,...

Adult books for young adults.(2008 Editors' Choice)(Young adult review)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Selected by the Books for Youth editors, the following titles constitute the year's best personal reading for teenagers among adult books published in 2008. More on each book's content and suggested audience can be found in the full-length...

Books for youth.(2008 Editors' Choice)(Children's review)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Committed to providing a broad selection of outstanding books that mixes popular appeal with literary excellence, the Books for Youth editorial staff has chosen the titles below as best-of-the-year fiction, nonfiction, and picture books. ...

Media.(2008 Editors' Choice)(Audiobook review)(Video recording review)
January 1, 2009... Video Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq. 2007.56 min. HBO, DVD, $24.98 (0-7831-5708-8). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] James Gandolfini interviews 10 injured Iraq War veterans, whose stories of courage, sacrifice, and determination in...

Reference sources.(2008 Editors' Choice)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... African American National Biography. Ed. by Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. 8v. 2008. 5,568p. illus. Oxford, $795 (9780195160192). African American lives are "collected and resurrected" in this impressive set, a product...

Room to grow.(BooklistOnline)
January 1, 2009... If you live in a small space, like I do, you have to make tough decisions every day about what to keep and what to get rid of. You may even have adopted a strict "bring something in, throw something out" policy. Well, Booklist magazine is a...

The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight. By Mark Caro. Mar. 2009. 320p. Simon & Schuster, $25 (9781416556688). 641.6. In 2006, Chicago's City Council enacted a ban on the sale of...

Dead Silence.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Dead Silence. By Randy Wayne White. Mar. 2009. 352p. Putnam, $25.95 (9780399155406). Crime Fiction. Retirement didn't sit well with Dec Ford, White's marine biologist and black-ops agent. Doc's back in the game now but choosing...

The Last Dickens.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Last Dickens. By Matthew Pearl. Mar. 2009.400p. Random, $25 (9781400066568). Crime Fiction. Pearl's latest literary historical mystery aligns perfectly with his two previous works, the widely applauded Dante Club (2002) and...

Life Sentences.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Life Sentences. By Laura Lippman. Mar. 2009. 348p. Morrow, $24.99 (9780061128899). Crime Fiction. It's a stroke of genius to write a mystery about a memoir writer. Memoirs purport to tell the truth even though they are subjective...

Long Lost.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Long Lost. By Harlan Coben. Apr. 2009. 400p. Dutton, $26.95 (9780525951056). Crime Fiction. Mutli-award-winning author Cohen returns to the series that kick-started his red-hot career in his latest novel starring Harvard-educated...

Storm from the Shadows.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Storm from the Shadows. By David Weber. Mar. 2009. 730p. Baen, $27 (9781416591474). Science Fiction. This splendid continuation of the Honor Harrington saga takes its departure from both The Shadow of Saganami (2004) and At All...

Drood.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Drood. By Dan Simmons. Feb. 2009. 784p. Little, Brown, $26.99 (9780316007023). Crime Fiction. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Everyone knows the name Charles Dickens, but only dedicated mystery buffs remember his friend and fellow...

Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls. By Liz Funk. Mar. 2009. 256p. Touchstone, paper, $15 (9781416562634). 155.6. Like Sara Shandler's Ophelia Speaks (1999), this title, written by a 19-year-old...

The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today's Pressures.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today's Pressures. By Stephen Hinshaw. Feb. 2009. 256p. Ballantine, $25 (9780345503992). 155.5. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience working with teen girls and a recent,...

The Jewish Body.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Jewish Body. By Melvin Konner. Jan. 2009.304p. Schocken, $22 (9780805242362). 296.3. This is the eleventh book in the Jewish Encounters series and 17 more are planned. Konner writes that it is his intent to not only trace the...

Lessons from San Quentin: Everything I Needed to Know about Life I Learned in Prison.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Lessons from San Quentin: Everything I Needed to Know about Life I Learned in Prison. By Bill Dallas and George Barna. Feb. 2009. 256p. Tyndale, $22.99 (9781414326566). 277.3. In February 1993, Dallas entered San Quentin prison,...

The Book of Dead Philosophers.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * The Book of Dead Philosophers. By Simon Critchley. Feb. 2009. 320p. Vintage, paper, $14.95 (9780307390431). 190. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dismayed by the devolution of philosophy into a dry academic specialty, Critchley...

Donkey Holes and Pigeon Feathers.(The Manley Arts)
January 1, 2009... A couple decades ago, I was the banquet speaker at a conference in the South. Prior to my speech, the association president was slated to announce the winner of the librarian of the year award. During dessert, Dick, a man I had known for some...

Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. By Robin Gerber. Feb. 2009. 288p. HarperCollins, $24.95 (9780061341311). 338.7. Cofounder of the Mattel Company, Ruth Handler and her...

The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-de-Siecle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-de-Siecle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror. By John Merriman. Feb. 2009. 272p. illus. Houghton, $26 (9780618555987). 363.3250944. A notable scholar of French history, Merriman recounts...

How Lincoln Learned to Read: Twelve Great Americans and the Education That Made Them.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... How Lincoln Learned to Read: Twelve Great Americans and the Education That Made Them. By Daniel Wolff. Mar. 2009. 352p. Bloomsbury, $26 (9781596912908). 370.973. Eclectic author and journalist Wolff looks at the training, formal...

Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average. By Joseph T. Hallinan. Feb. 2009. 304p. Broadway, $24.95 (9780767928052). 153. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

A Case for the Existence of God.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * A Case for the Existence of God. By Dean L. Overman. Feb. 2009. 250p. Rowman & Littlefield, $24.95 (9780742563124). 212. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What would St. Anselm think? Centuries after the medieval saint framed his...

In the Shadow of the Oval Office: From JFK to Bush II: The Presidents' National Security Advisers.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... In the Shadow of the Oval Office: From JFK to Bush II; The Presidents' National Security Advisers. By Ivo H. Daalder and I. M. Destler. Feb. 2009.400p. Simon & Schuster, $27 (9781416553199). 355. An assessment of national security...

The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960. By Shaun A. Casey. Jan. 2009. 272p. Oxford, $27.95 (9780195374483). 322. Almost 50 years ago, the election of a Catholic president seemed unlikely. The smashing defeat...

The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them. By Amy Dickinson. Feb. 2009. 240p. Hyperion, $22.95 (9781401322854). 306.874. When Ann Landers retired as the reigning doyenne of advice-column...

My Little Red Book.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... My Little Red Book. Ed. by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. Feb. 2009. 217p. Twelve, paper, $14.99 (9780446546362). 305.235. Borrowing her title from Mao Tse-tung's classic, 18-year-old Nalebuff presents her own, very different manifesto:...

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century. By George Friedman. Jan. 2009. 272p. Doubleday, $25.95 (9780385517058). 303.49. Friedman, author and founder of a forecasting company, sets out to provide a sense of the...

No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels. By Jay Dobyns. Feb. 2009. 304p. illus. Crown, $25.95 (9780307405852). 364.106. This story of a two-year undercover investigation of the Arizona...

Paranoia: The Twenty-first Century Fear.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Paranoia: The Twenty-first Century Fear. By Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman. Jan. 2009. 224p. illus. Oxford, $19.95 (9780199237500). 362.2. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a recent experiment, psychologist Daniel Freeman used a...

Sherman.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Sherman. By Steven E. Woodworth. Jan. 2009. 224p. illus. Palgrave, $21.95 (9780230610248). 355.0092. In his contribution to the Great Generals series, Woodworth sketches several nonmilitary aspects of Sherman's life, too. Raised...

So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government. By Robert G. Kaiser. Jan. 2009.416p. illus. Knopf, $27.95 (9780307266545). 328.73. Kaiser, senior correspondent for the Washington Post, takes a...

The Soul of a Leader: Character, Conviction, and Ten Lessons in Political Greatness.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Soul of a Leader: Character, Conviction, and Ten Lessons in Political Greatness. By Waller R. Newell. Jan. 2009. 352p. HarperCollins, $25.95 (9780061238543). 352.23. Readers with an interest in philosophies of leadership as...

Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat. By Hank Cardello and Doug Garr. Feb. 2009. 272p. Ecco, $25.95 (9780061363863). 338.4. A veteran of the high-flying world of food marketing, Cardello knows firsthand...

Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability. By Daniel Sperling and Deborah Gordon. Jan. 2009.320p. Oxford, $24.95 (9780195376647). 388.3. With statistical data, charts, graphs, and erudite analysis, Sperling and Gordon present...

The Woman behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * The Woman behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience. By Kirstin Downey. Mar. 2009. 480p. Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, $35 (9780385513654). 331.092. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... We Look like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands. By Rachel Shahi. Feb. 2009. 272p. Walker, $25 (9780802715722). 305.892. Journalist Shabi, born in Israel to Iraqi-Jewish parents, was raised in England but...

The Cure for Money Madness: Break Your Bad Money Habits, Live without Financial Stress, and Make More Money!(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Cure for Money Madness: Break Your Bad Money Habits, Live without Financial Stress--and Make More Money! By Spencer Sherman. Feb. 2009. 256p. Broadway, $24.95 (9780767928557). 332.024. Sherman, wealth advisor and entrepreneur,...

Elsewhere, U.S.A: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, Blackberry Moms, and Economic Anxiety.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Elsewhere, U.S.A: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, Blackberry Moms, and Economic Anxiety. By Dalton Conley. Jan. 2009.240p. Pantheon, $24 (9780375422904). 306.09. A...

What Would Google Do?(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... What Would Google Do? By Jeff Jarvis. Feb. 2009. 272p. illus. Collins Business, $26.99 (9780061709715). 658.4. Jarvis, columnist and blogger about media, presents his ideas for surviving and prospering in the Internet age, with...

Cranes: A Natural History of a Bird in Crisis.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Cranes: A Natural History of a Bird in Crisis. By Janice M. Hughes. 2008. 256p. illus. Firefly, $45 (9781554073436). 598.31. Of the world's 15 species of cranes, 3 are endangered, 6 are vulnerable to extinction, and 1 is near...

The Daily Coyote: A Story of Love, Survival, and Trust in the Wilds of Wyoming.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Daily Coyote: A Story of Love, Survival, and Trust in the Wilds of Wyoming. By Shreve Stockton. 2008. 304p. illus. Simon & Schuster, $23 (9781416592181). 599.744. When Stockton rode her Vespa from San Francisco to New York...

Albatross: Their World, Their Ways.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Albatross: Their World, Their Ways. By Tuie De Roy and others. 2008. 240p. illus. Firefly, $49.95 (9781554074150). 598.42. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Coleridge's epic "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is as close as most of us...

Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Human Evolution.(Brief article)(Book review
January 1, 2009... * Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Evolution. By Adrian Desmond and James Moore. Jan. 2009.456p. illus. HMH, $30 (9780547055268). 576.8. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As portentous as current...

Owls of North America.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Owls of North America. By Frances Backhouse. 2008. 216p. illus. Firefly. $34.95 (9781554073429). 598.97. These iconic birds have enthralled virtually every human culture, with totemic owls representing both good and evil found in...

Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species. By Scan B. Carroll. Feb. 2009. 352p. Houghton, $26 (9780151014859). 508. With this, his third book about evolution, molecular biologist Carroll...

The End of My Addiction.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The End of My Addiction. By Olivier Ameisen. Jan. 2009. 256p. Farrar/Sarah Crichton, $24 (9780374140977). 616.86. In this remarkably candid memoir of crippling alcoholism, cardiologist Ameisen's passion for curing addiction is...

Why Evolution Is True.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Why Evolution Is True. By Jerry A. Coyne. Jan. 2009. 271p. illus. Viking, $27.95 (9780670020539). 576.8. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Far more presentational than disputatious, Coyne s demonstration that evolution has proven...

Nature's Second Chance: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Nature's Second Chance: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm. By Steven I. Apfelbaum. Feb. 2009. 256p. Beacon, $25.95 (9780807085820). 639.90. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ecologist Apfelbaum wanted to put into practice...

Memory Lessons: A Doctor's Story.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Memory Lessons: A Doctor's Story. By Jerald Winakur. Jan. 2009. 272p. Hyperion, $24.95 (9781401303020). 616.8. If geriatrician Winakur has the same way with patients as he has with words, his are very lucky patients, indeed....

Our Life in Gardens.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Our Life in Gardens. By Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd. Feb. 2009. 320p. illus. Farrar, $25 (9780374160319). 635. One of those marvelous books that answers the often confounding gardening question, "What plant should I buy?" this...

The Cracker Kitchen: A Cookbook in Celebration of Cornbread-Fed, Down-Home Family Stories and Cuisine.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Cracker Kitchen: A Cookbook in Celebration of Cornbread-Fed, Down-Home Family Stories and Cuisine. By Janis Owens. Feb. 2009. 304p. illus. Scribner, $25 (9781416594840). 641.59. Owens more than meets expectations, with every...

The Urban Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Gr3affiti Generation.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Urban Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Gr3affiti Generation. By King Adz. 2008. 256p. illus. Thames & Hudson, $24.95 (9780500514306). 641.59. Adz expands the idea of what a cookbook ought to entail with this loud, brash...

The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy: Bodies, Books, Fortunes, Fame.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * The Making of Mr. Gray's Anatomy: Bodies, Books, Fortunes, Fame. By Ruth Richardson. Jan. 2009. 324p. illus. Oxford, $29.95 (9780199552993). 611.0092. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In August 1858 the publisher Parker and Son issued...

P. Allen Smith's Bringing the Garden Indoors: Containers, Crafts, and Bouquets for Every Room.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * P. Allen Smith's Bringing the Garden Indoors: Containers, Crafts, and Bouquets for Every Room. By P. Allen Smith and others. Feb. 2009. 224p. illus. Clarkson Potter, $32.50 (9780307351098). 747. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] No...

The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution. By Denis Dutton. Jan. 2009. 224p. illus. Bloomsbury, $25 (9781596914018). 701. We talk about the maternal instinct and the mating instinct, why not, asks Dutton, the art...

My Two Polish Grandfathers and Other Essays on the Imaginative Life.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... My Two Polish Grandfathers and Other Essays on the Imaginative Life. By Witold Rybczynski. Feb. 2009.240p. illus. Scribner, $25 (9780743235983). 720.92. Prolific architecture writer Rybczynski reflects upon his personal and...

She Always Knew How: Mae West, a Personal Biography.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... She Always Knew How: Mae West, a Personal Biography. By Charlotte Chandler. Feb. 2009. 336p. illus. Simon & Schuster, $26 (9781416579090). 791.43. Chandler's biographies of film notables include leading ladies Ingrid Bergman, Joan...

Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films. Ed. by Graydon Carter. Jan. 2009. 335p. illus. Penguin, $16 (9780143114710). 791.43. These lively essays from...

FreeDarko Presents the Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * FreeDarko Presents the Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game. Mar. 2009. 219p. illus. Bloomsbury, $23 (9781596915619). 796.323. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Where to start? This is not your...

The Boxing Scene.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Boxing Scene. By Thomas Hauser. Jan. 2009. 264p. Temple Univ., paper, $22.95 (9781592139774). 796.83. The prolific Hauser has written 14 boxing books as well as numerous other works of nonfiction and fiction. He also maintains...

Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit. By Matt McCarthy. Feb. 2009. 320p. illus. Viking, $25.95 (9780670020706). 796.35. Much as Jim Bouton recorded life as a major leaguer with the 1969 Seattle Pilots in his...

At the New Yorker.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... At the New Yorker. By George Steiner. Jan. 2009. 304p. New Directions, paper, $18.95 (9780811217040). 814. Often criticized as elitist, Steiner wrote for the New Yorker between 1967 and 1997 on a broad array of topics, with...

The Fat Man and Infinity and Other Writings.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... The Fat Man and Infinity and Other Writings. By Antonio Lobo Antunes. Tr. by Margaret Jull Costa. Feb. 2009. 320p. Norton, $26.95 (9780393061987). 869.4. Though recent translations of Knowledge of Hell (2008) and What Can I Do When...

The Bard: Robert Burns, a Biography.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * The Bard: Robert Burns, a Biography. By Robert Crawford. Jan. 2009. 480p. Princeton, $35 (9780691141718). 821. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The first twenty-first-century biography of Scotland's national poet publishes on January...

A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx. By Elaine Showalter. Feb. 2009. 608p. Knopf, $30 (9781400041237). 810.9. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In spite of concerted efforts to reclaim lost...

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother and Friend to Man and Dog.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother and Friend to Man and Dog. By Diana Joseph. Mar. 2009. 224p. Putnam/Amy Einhorn, $23.95 (9780399155284). 814. A rite of passage...

Poe: A Life Cut Short.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Poe: A Life Cut Short. By Peter Ackroyd. Jan. 2009. 224p. illus. Doubleday/Nan A.Talese, $21.95 (9780385508001). 818. The fourth Brief Lives volume written by Ackroyd focuses on a man as famous for his personality as his works. As...

Snark: A Polemic in Seven Fits.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Snark: A Polemic in Seven Fits. By David Denby, Jan. 2009. 128p. Simon & Schuster, paper, $15.95 (9781416599456). 809. Right up front, Denby, film critic with the New Yorker, defends wisecracking that is meant to take shots at the...

Triangular Road.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Triangular Road. By Paule Marshall. Mar. 2009. 192p. Basic, $23 (9780465013593). 813. Acclaimed novelist Marshall looks back at her early years as a writer and her self-discovery of her place in the African diaspora. She begins...

Love Comes First.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Love Comes First. By Erica Jong. Jan. 2009. 112p. Tarcher, $24.95 (9781585426843). 811. Revered and reviled for her smart, sexy novels about the power of women, including her imaginative tribute to the first woman poet, Sappho's...

Mary Austin and the American West.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... * Mary Austin and the American West. By Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson. Jan. 2009. 352p. illus. Univ. of California, $29.95 (9780520246355). 818. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Goodman and Dawson paired up to write William Dean...

Another look at: Edgar Allan Poe.(Recommended readings)
January 1, 2009... If you're proud of American literature, the first decade of the twenty-first century is pretty much one long, bicentennial festival, celebrating the two-hundredth birthdays of these first-rank American authors: philosopher-poet Ralph Waldo...

Murderers in Mausoleums: Riding the Back Roads of Empire between Moscow and Beijing.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Murderers in Mausoleums: Riding the Back Roads of Empire between Moscow and Beijing. By Jeffrey Tayler. Jan. 2009. 320p. Houghton, $24 (9780618799916). 915.04. Tayler, a talented journalist with the soul of an intrepid...

1948: A Soldier's Tale; The Bloody Road to Jerusalem.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... 1948: A Soldier's Tale; The Bloody Road to Jerusalem. By Uri Avnery. Tr. by Christopher Costello. Feb. 2009. 400p. Oneworld, $19.95 (9781851686292). 956.042092. Avnery is a longtime peacenik who has been a fixture of the Israeli...