You are browsing the archive for May2011
May 11, 2011
OLIVER SACKS CONSIDERS the neurology of visual crises with clarity, compassion, and a moving personal account.
Grade: B PLUS
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307272089
Knopf
2010
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Health, Non-Fiction, Science
May 10, 2011
MEDICAL/LEGAL THRILLER’S timely Big Pharma theme, vivid courtroom detail are sadly undermined by clunky prose.
Grade: B MINUS
THE TRIAL
St. Martin's
2011
Tags: B Minus Reviews, Mystery, Novels, Thriller
May 9, 2011
QUIET, POWERFUL, POETIC, VIVID novel follows four Minnesota Gen Xer friends from junior high through their 30s.
Grade: A MINUS
MERIT BADGES
New Issues Poetry and Prose
2011
Tags: A Minus Reviews, Novels
May 8, 2011
WACKY META-MYSTERY is also a parody of dysfunctional collaborations, authors undermining each other. Good fun!
Grade: SOLID B
HEADS YOU LOSE
Putnam
2011
Tags: Humor, Mystery, Novels, Solid B Reviews
May 7, 2011
THOUGHTFUL BIOGRAPHY of the complex and troubled chess prodigy Bobby Fischer combines sympathy with insight.
Grade: B PLUS
ENDGAME: BOBBY FISCHER'S REMARKABLE RISE AND FALL -- FROM AMERICA'S BRIGHTEST PRODIGY TO THE EDGE OF MADNESS
Crown
2011
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Biography, Chess, History, Non-Fiction
May 6, 2011
MOODY, PICARESQUE TALE of disillusion, politics, finance, and love set against Bolivia’s 2005 elections.
Grade: SOLID B
A YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE TO LATE CAPITALISM
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner
2011
Tags: Novels, Solid B Reviews
May 5, 2011
PIONEERING AFRICAN-AMERICAN JOCKEY shares her inspiring story of facing mental illness, addiction, homelessness.
Grade: B PLUS
LONG SHOT: MY BIPOLAR LIFE AND THE HORSES WHO SAVED ME
HarperCollins
2011
Tags: African American Writers, B Plus Reviews, Black Writers, Horses and Riding, Memoirs, Mental Health and Illness, Sports, Writers of Color
May 4, 2011
SCOTLAND’S MOST ECCENTRIC DETECTIVE, Hamish Macbeth, is back with another taut mystery all snuggled up in cozy.
Grade: B PLUS
DEATH OF A CHIMNEY SWEEP
Grand Central Publishing
2011
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Mystery, Novels
May 3, 2011
AN IRANIAN-AMERICAN WRITER looks at her mother’s experiences, including marriage at age 13. Moving, revelatory.
Grade: B PLUS
THE GOOD DAUGHTER: A MEMOIR OF MY MOTHER'S HIDDEN LIFE
Grand Central Publishing
2011
Tags: B Plus Reviews, History, Iran, Iranian-American Writers, Memoirs, Women's Issues
May 2, 2011
RACY, ENGAGING, SCHOLARLY but never dry, this history of 18th-century London’s red-light spots is eye-opening.
Grade: B PLUS
LONDON'S SINFUL SECRET: THE BAWDY HISTORY AND VERY PUBLIC PASSIONS OF LONDON'S GEORGIAN AGE
St. Martin's
2010
Tags: B Plus Reviews, History, Non-Fiction