Blogcritics

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of December 1, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 04:08:15 EST

Cornwell, Jance, Elizabeth Peters, Steve Berry, Beedle the Bard, Tila Tequila, Yes They Did, Rise of the Rich, Talkin' 'Bout Boys - Yea Yea Boys...
History and mystery, but not much more... FICTION: The Charlemagne Pursuit (Cotton Malone Series #4)By Steve Berry In his latest Cotton Malone adventure, Steve Berry integrates such elements as Charlemagne, Nazis, ancient manuscripts, historical puzzles, and scientific surprises into a plot that gets underway with Malone searching for answers about...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of November 24, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:23:44 EST

Calvin Trillin, Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler, Jim Butcher, Belva Plain, New Benet's, Tovey Cats, Dilgo Khyentse, Alison Goodman, Sheri Reynolds, End Of The World, Ma!
The Holidays are here, but there's at least one book here that might keep you from getting all warm and fuzzy about it. It's the one that reminds us, without a lot of nuance, that the end of the world is nigh. I think you'll know which one it is...The End: Natural Disasters, Manmade Catastrophes, and the Future of Human Survival By Marq...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of November 17, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:13:33 EST

Gladwell on how we succeed; Leary on Why We Suck. Also: Lincoln, Huckabee, "Magic" Johnson, Jonas Bros, James Patterson, Higgins Clark, P.D. James, Dickey...
After last week's feast, we're back to famine. But there are some treats... Outliers: The Story of SuccessBy Malcolm Gladwell In the fascinating Outliers: The Story of Success, New Yorker contributor Malcolm Gladwell, in analyzing and searching for a common thread among our developmental patterns, dismantles the myth of individual merit to...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of November 10, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:34:54 EST

Stephen King, Lincoln, Toni Morrison, Glenn Beck, Artie Lange, Wally Lamb, Paul Simon, Churchill, Evel Knievel, Sinatra, Card, Deaver, Bola�o, Watchmen, Andrew Jackson...
"Shake and shake / the catsup bottle / first none'll come / and then a lot'll." Make a few metaphoric leaps and Richard Armour's quatrain about condiments might apply to book release schedules, too. Compare and contrast to previous weeks, or just do the math: FICTION: Just After SunsetStephen King In the introduction to this...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of November 3, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 10:03:52 EST

Send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille: Ackroyd covers the waterfront, Brands on FDR. Also: Foxworthy, Naipaul, Bond, Brando, Baldacci, Robb, Warrick Dunn...
This Early Word comes with a promise to spread a wealth of information around, just in time for Election Day...Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano RooseveltBy H. W. Brands Delving into considerable archival materials, personal letters, public speeches, and familial and professional accounts, prolific...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of October 27, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:14:20 EDT

Rock bios: Lennon and Cobain; Presidential politics: Obama, Kennedy, and Lincoln; History: Irish Americans, Pearl Harbor, Loot!; Fiction: DeMille, Steel, Perry, Truman, Dickey, Butcher...
It’s beginning to look a lot like a wide variety of new book releases, fiction and non… John Lennon: The LifeBy Philip Norman The Life is what comes along when you’re busy expecting yet another Beatles biography. But then John Lennon: The Life is not just any life history. Philip Norman, the author of the highly regarded Shout!...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of October 20, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:37:31 EDT

Robert B. Parker, Jonathan Kellerman, John Updike, Vince Flynn, Iris Johansen, Anita Shreve, Kelley Armstrong, Chagall, Eminem, John Grogan, Ancient Egypt, Star Wars...
Updike returns with the Eastwick witches. It's such an ancient pitch...NON-FICTIONChagall: A BiographyBy Jackie Wullschlager As one of the most innovative artists of the twentieth century, opening new inroads into modernism, Marc Chagall achieved fame and fortune, and over the course of a long career created some of the best-known and revered...

The Early Word: New Non-Fiction for the Week of October 13, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:44:36 EDT

Abe Lincoln, Emily Post, Descartes, Versailles, The NSA, Intellectual Devotional, Jon and Kate Gosselin, Tony Curtis, George Hamilton, Robert Vaughn, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia...
The appearance of so many celebrity bios and tell-alls prompts me to quote Homer Simpson: “Celebrities - is there anything they don’t know?” I would say that some don’t know enough to keep their yappers shut during election year, but maybe that’s just me. Lincoln: The Biography of a WriterBy Fred Kaplan The most...

The Early Word: New Non-Fiction for the Week of October 6, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 08:39:21 EDT

Anne Rice, Arthur Rimbaud, Marcella Hazan, John Rock and the Reproductive Revolution, the Hunt for Bin Laden...
Ahem. I call this piece, "In Celebration of Autumn: New Books, in Poetry and Prose." Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted ManBy Dalton Fury In its endeavor to track down the world’s most dangerous man, the 40 members of America’s super secret counter-terrorist unit...

The Early Word: New Non-Fiction for the Week of September 29, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:42:01 EDT

Buffett, Branson, Prince, Noonan, Mourning, Adams, Orbinski, Holocaust, Dog Talk, Jacksonians, Gravity, Confederacy, Philosophies, 'Philanthrocapitalism'...
Biographies and memoirs and then some...The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of LifeBy Alice Schroeder Throughout the years Warren Buffett has treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world’s wealthiest...