You are browsing the archive for December2012
December 31, 2012
WILD, ROUGH AND TUMBLE memoir by a high-end art forger of his checkered career and jet set life. Unruly fun!
Grade: SOLID B
CAVEAT EMPTOR: THE SECRET LIFE OF AN AMERICAN ART FORGER
Pegasus
2012
Tags: Art History, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Solid B Reviews, True Crime, Visual Arts
December 30, 2012
BLEAK, TERRIFYING NOVEL from Swedish horror superstar John Ajvide Lindqvist wields the power of a nightmare.
Grade: B PLUS
LITTLE STAR
St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne Books
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Horror, Novels
December 29, 2012
COMPLEX, THOUGHTFUL HISTORICAL mystery features vivid characterization and a wealth of 1780s English detail.
Grade: SOLID B
ISLAND OF BONES
Penguin/Pamela Dorman Books
2012
Tags: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Novels, Solid B Reviews
December 28, 2012
FASCINATING SOCIAL HISTORY of “pseudoscience” debates focuses on Velikovsky’s “worlds in collision” theory.
Grade: B PLUS
THE PSEUDOSCIENCE WARS: IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY AND THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN FRINGE
University of Chicago Press
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, History of Science, Non-Fiction, Science, Social History
December 27, 2012
GRAND STEAMPUNKY COLLAGE of science fiction and historical fact revolves around H. G. Wells’s WAR OF THE WORLDS.
Grade: B PLUS
THE MAP OF THE SKY
Atria
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Historical Fiction, Novels, Science Fiction
December 26, 2012
RAMSHACKLE DELTA PICARESQUE finds two tough repo men trying to help the world’s most no-account thieves.
Grade: B PLUS
BELUGA
St. Martin's Press
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Humor, Mystery, Novels
December 25, 2012
SURPRISINGLY ENTERTAINING MEMOIR details a writer’s multi-decade struggle with a serious anxiety disorder.
Grade: SOLID B
MONKEY MIND: A MEMOIR OF ANXIETY
Simon & Schuster
2012
Tags: Memoirs, Mental Health and Illness, Non-Fiction, Solid B Reviews
December 24, 2012
THE SHATTERING IMPACT of World War I is vividly depicted here; the portrayal of family conflict is less strong.
Grade: SOLID B
TOBY'S ROOM
Knopf Doubleday
2012
Tags: Historical Fiction, Novels, Solid B Reviews, World War I
December 23, 2012
I don’t review poetry here, but I cannot help taking a minute to rave about the new collection of poems by the late, great Lucille Clifton. The poems are beautifully curated, the book design is clear and readable, and the foreword by Toni Morrison was touching in its recognition of Clifton’s gifts. Do think about buying this if you’re a poetry fan—or maybe even if you aren’t! Clifton was a strong and distinctive voice, and the power of her work cannot be denied.
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LUCILLE CLIFTON, 1965-2010
BOA Editions
2012
Tags: African American Writers, Black Writers, Poetry, Women's Issues
A MOTHER/DAUGHTER relationship, fractured by addiction and depression, is healed by feminism and by coming out.
Grade: SOLID B
RIDING FURY HOME: A MEMOIR
Seal Press
2012
Tags: Addiction and Recovery, LGBTQ Interest, Memoirs, Mental Health and Illness, Non-Fiction, Solid B Reviews, Women's Issues