Archive for November 2006

“The Lost Colony” finds Artemis Fowl in perhaps his best adventure to date

Artemis Fowl is not your typical hero. The Irish lad happens to be filthy rich, stinking brilliant, and perhaps the muddiest purveyor of dirty deeds. Yes, Fowl is foul. Peel away the diminutive Saville Row suits and you’ll find a criminal mastermind and undisputed genius. That’s the conceit of Eoin Colfer’s immensely entertaining and […]

“A Joyous Season” lampoons good holidays gone bad

Are you already weary of the holiday season? Have you had your fill of good cheer, gaudy gift-wrapped presents, sugar cookies, tinsel ground into the carpet, blue-plastic snowflakes, and saccharine television specials? Do you wince when you see Santa Claus with the three wise men at the Nativity scene? Do you mutter something rude under […]

Is “The Accidental” the next “Beloved”?

I’ve had The Accidental sitting on my desk for the past couple months. I put it there after finishing it, with the intention of reviewing Ali Smith’s remarkable novel. But this tale of a family on holiday in the English countryside is so distinct, enigmatic, and powerful that it has kept me guessing and wondering […]

A gift idea for the bibliophile: five fine books about books by Nicholas Basbanes

In 1995, Nicholas A. Basbanes, a former literary editor and author of a nationally syndicated book column, scripted his first book, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. In the 11 years since, this important and comprehensive work has seen multiple printings and is considered a classic for those who sell, […]

IMPAC Dublin Award: A literary prize that spans the world

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has a really long name, apparently because it’s got some sort of Texas complex. Maybe everything is bigger in Dublin too. After all, this award (which stems from that Irish capital’s city council) presents the world’s biggest book-oriented cash prize, welcomes author submissions written in any language, embraces literature […]

Why I like “I Like You” and Amy Sedaris

“She’s so weird.” That’s the apt appraisal of Amy Sedaris that my boss uttered recently. I agree: Sedaris is a strange one, and her off-kilter personality is not necessarily for everyone. But, to me, this sister of best-selling humorist David Sedaris is consistently entertaining, often hilarious, and sometimes bizarre—a loveable, loopy-aunt kind of bizarre. Yes, […]

“Casanova Was a Book Lover” is a match made for bibliophiles

Serendipity. Another one of my blind forages through the wonderful world of books about books yielded a fine and rather amazingly perceptive volume with the unlikely title of Casanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books. As the author, John Maxwell Hamilton, blithely […]

Consider “The Tipping Point” on election day

Editor’s note: It’s election day in the United States—a perfect time to be reminded about little things (like voting) that can make a big difference. That’s why we’re revisiting this book review, which originally published in July.
As I write this, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference is sitting in the […]

Stephen King lists his favorite audiobooks

In his “The Pop of King” column in the November 3 issue of Entertainment Weekly, author Stephen King has a lot to say about books that talk—audiobooks, I mean. The entire column can be boiled down to “audiobooks, while imperfect, are a good thing” (my words, not his). I agree. For book lovers, audiobooks allow […]