Book Reviews

Short Cuts

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 9:36pm
The life of Robert Altman, told in interviews with nearly 200 of his friends, colleagues and family members.
Categories: Book Reviews

She Did Go Home Again

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 9:36pm
A wonderfully intelligent and frank memoir about the Mennonite upbringing Rhoda Janzen returned to after an emotional and physical crisis.
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Master of Disaster

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 5:32pm
John Irving’s new novel follows a father and son through 50 years in “a world of accidents.”
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Children’s Books: Poached, Then Coddled

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:33pm
A duck discovers a huge speckled egg in “The Odd Egg”; readers free a frog by opening the pop-up book “Big Frog Can’t Fit In.”
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Children’s Books: Family Circle

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:32pm
A journey in pictures and verse from an unexplored beach to a busy music-filled family room and into a tranquil, moonlit night.
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Children’s Books: The Art of Sound

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:32pm
A pop-up romp through cubism and futurism, and a lesson in early-­20th-century modernist formalism.
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Children’s Books: GRRRR!!! Oops!

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:32pm
This beautifully illustrated retelling of the classic fable has only seven words, all sound effects.
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Children’s Books: Color Schemes

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:31pm
An illustrated poem about the seasons; a story about a penguin searching for new colors; and a collection of classic fairy tales with vivid pictures.
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Children’s Books: When Bulldozers Roamed the Earth

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:31pm
A book imagining trucks as dinosaurs, and other explorations of the primal place of machines in the lives of small children.
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Children’s Books: Snow Zone

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:29pm
Books about a squirrel waiting for winter; a bunny having a snow day; and Santa getting ready for Christmas.
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Children’s Books: Everyday Weirdness

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:29pm
This illustrated collection of surreal tales features water buffalo, stick figures and rivers of unread poetry.
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Children’s Books: Blowin’ in the Wind

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:28pm
Two young adult histories and a graphic novel about the worst ecological disaster in American history.
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Children’s Books: Boys at War

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:28pm
A young adult novel about an 18-year-old American soldier struggling under the weight of his experience in Iraq.
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Children’s Books: Foreign Aid

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:27pm
This lovely picture book tells a true story about Masai villagers who bestow a heartfelt gift after 9/11.
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Children’s Books: Whale Riders

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:26pm
A tightly paced young adult novel set in a steampunk version of the First World War.
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Children’s Books: Field Guides to Fairies

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 3:26pm
A recent crop of fairy-themed novels and reworked fairy tales is proving the resilience of an age-old genre.
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Happy Days

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 1:17pm
An argument that can-do optimism has hardened into a suffocating force that bears little relation to genuine happiness.
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Paperback Nonfiction

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 12:58pm
Top 5 at a Glance
1. FREAKONOMICS, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
2. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
3. I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL, by Tucker Max
4. THE GLASS CASTLE, by Jeannette Walls
5. BLINK, by Malcolm Gladwell
Categories: Book Reviews

Hardcover Nonfiction

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 10:21am
Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE BOOK OF BASKETBALL, by Bill Simmons
2. SUPERFREAKONOMICS, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
3. HAVE A LITTLE FAITH, by Mitch Albom
4. WHAT THE DOG SAW, by Malcolm Gladwell
5. ARGUING WITH IDIOTS, written and edited by Glenn Beck, Kevin Balfe and others
Categories: Book Reviews

Deadly Summit

Book Reviews - November 6, 2009 - 9:31am
An American climber recounts some of the most dramatic attempts on the peak of K2.
Categories: Book Reviews