“Eloise at Christmastime” celebrates the season

There are some books that appeal to children of all ages, and this slender volume with well-chosen words and whimsical illustrations has withstood the test of time. Eloise at Christmastime is a classic, with a known, irrepressible, and slightly tarnished heroine—a six-year-old child who lives on the top floor of a very tony hotel, The […]

“Fly by Night” soars among 2006’s best books

Fly by Night is the book I’m happiest to have stumbled upon this year. I discovered the novel by chance, and it scares me that I might have missed the opportunity to revel in such an enveloping story and to marvel at such engrossing writing. Fly by Night is Oliver Twist meets The Golden Compass […]

Al Gore wants to save your kids (and their planet) with “An Inconvenient Truth”

Editor’s note: The DVD release of An Inconvenient Truth has received plenty of recent press, but this review (originally posted here on September 25) reminds us that this fascinating movie is also a riveting book—a hot gift for anyone concerned about our warming planet.
Al Gore is the de facto president of the planet, at […]

David Sedaris skewers the merry season in “Holidays on Ice”

For those who are weary of the holiday season, here is a wonderfully witty book on why it is perhaps better to ignore the holiday with all the tinsel, glitter, and folderol. In Holidays on Ice, David Sedaris, a writer of none-too-gentle commentaries, collects six of his evil little essays into a small, thin, […]

“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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]