Browse the bookplates of the famous, infamous, and unknown

You’re a serious reader if you have your own bookplate. Or you’re a book collector. Or a dignitary. Or maybe you’re someone with a lot of time on your hands. But most bookplate users basically boil down to folks who love to read and want to brand their beloved books as their own. It’s pretty […]

Bill Bryson’s “Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” is a rollicking read

David Sedaris cracks me up. Carl Hiaasen’s Floridian farces are each an entertaining hoot. And Bill Bryson is a surefire spirits-lifter, whether he’s summarizing the secrets of the universe in A Short History of Nearly Everything or expanding his own galaxy of personal anecdotes in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir. […]

Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is 2006’s best book

No book in a long time has meant more to me than The Road. It’s been years since a book has grabbed hold of me and taken me on such a captivating, stunning journey. And I don’t remember any other contemporary literature that is more beautifully, starkly written. In other words, Cormac McCarthy has written […]

King, Rowling, Grisham: top guilty pleasures

What do Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and John Grisham have in common? They’re all authors we’re ashamed to read. Well, at least in public. And at least in the U.K. The Guardian Unlimited reports on a survey of guilty reads—the top authors readers turn to for pleasure reading. King topped the guilt-ridden list, with Rowling […]

Best books of 2006: Is “The Accidental” the next “Beloved”?

Editor’s note: Join us in celebrating the end of 2006 by revisiting some of our favorite books of the year—like The Accidental, which we originally reviewed in November.
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 […]

Best books of 2006: Sy Montgomery makes “The Good Good Pig” fly

Editor’s note: Join us in celebrating the end of 2006 by revisiting some of our favorite books of the year—like The Good Good Pig, which we originally reviewed in August.
Sy Montgomery is crazy about animals. She’s stalked man-eating tigers in India, cavorted with legendary pink dolphins in the Amazon, and been emotionally restored by the […]

Best books of 2006: Terri Jentz hunts her attempted murderer in “Strange Piece of Paradise”

Editor’s note: Join us in celebrating the end of 2006 by revisiting some of our favorite books of the year—like Strange Piece of Paradise, which we originally reviewed in August.
Imagine that you’re a 20-year-old Yale student, celebrating the summer of 1977 by attempting to cycle across the United States with a friend. You’re one of […]

Best books of 2006: “Manhunt” stalks and surveys Lincoln’s assassin

Editor’s note: Join us in celebrating the end of 2006 by revisiting some of our favorite books of the year—like Manhunt, which we originally reviewed in September.
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is one of the most revered and remembered events in United States history. It is murder made hallowed and ubiquitous. From your local grade […]

“Leaving the Saints” takes readers in search of one woman’s truth

“But is it true?” That’s the question that kept repeating in my mind as I eagerly read Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith. Part memoir, part spiritual guidebook, and part religious exposé, this compelling book by Martha Beck centers on the author’s assertion that her father sexually abused her […]

“Watching the World Change” continues to remember September 11

Weeks ago, I finished The Looming Tower, the acclaimed book by Lawrence Wright about the modern history of people and events leading to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It is an expert account of the escalating fanaticism of the religious zealots that perpetrated the mass murders and destruction on that now-hallowed day. Over […]