Book reviews and more!

THE MIRAGE MAN, by David Willman

September 27, 2011

CHILLING INVESTIGATIVE PROFILE of 2001’s anthrax attacks via US mail, and of the FBI’s (now dead) prime suspect.

Grade: B PLUS

THE MIRAGE MAN: BRUCE IVINS, THE ANTHRAX ATTACKS, AND AMERICA'S RUSH TO WAR
Bantam
2011

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A MAN OF PARTS, by David Lodge

September 26, 2011

BIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL ABOUT H.G. Wells would probably have worked better as a biography than this queasy hybrid.

Grade: SOLID B

A MAN OF PARTS
Viking
2011

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PUMPED FOR DEATH, by Elaine Viet

September 25, 2011

FAST-PACED MYSTERY FEATURES women bodybuilders, a decades-old murder, and newly minted honeymooner private eyes.

Grade: B PLUS

PUMPED FOR MURDER: A DEAD-END JOB MYSTERY
New American Library/Penguin
2011

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NOW YOU SEE IT, by Cathy N. Davidson

September 24, 2011

FASCINATING LOOK AT recent neuroscience around attention, and its synergies with technology and education.

Grade: B PLUS

NOW YOU SEE IT: HOW THE BRAIN SCIENCE OF ATTENTION WILL TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE, WORK, AND LEARN
Penguin
2011

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DON’T KILL THE BIRTHDAY GIRL, by Sandra Beasley

September 23, 2011

A POET’S MEMOIR of life with severe food allergies is more impressionistic than self-help, but insightful, wry.

Grade: SOLID B

DON'T KILL THE BIRTHDAY GIRL: TALES FROM AN ALLERGIC LIFE
Crown
2011

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WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE, by Tess Stimson

September 22, 2011

INFERTILITY, INFIDELITY, COMAS, and sisters as rivals: crisp writing can’t redeem soap-operatic UK chicklit.

Grade: B MINUS

WHAT'S YOURS IS MINE
Bantam
2011

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CRIME, by Ferdinand von Schirach

September 21, 2011

DELICATELY WROUGHT NOIR tales of crime from a distinguished German defense attorney, in crisp translation.

Grade: B PLUS

CRIME: STORIES
Knopf
2011

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VIOLETTE NOZIERE, by Sarah Maza

September 20, 2011

A HEADLINE-GRABBING MURDER in 1933 Paris, examined in depth, illuminates the culture and politics of the era.

Grade: B PLUS

VIOLETTE NOZIERE: A STORY OF MURDER IN 1930S PARIS
University of California Press
2011

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TWICE AS DEAD, by Sue Ann Jaffarian

September 19, 2011

A CORPSE AT A WEDDING launches the peppy plus-size paralegal Odelia Grey on her 6th juicy murder investigation.

Grade: SOLID B

TWICE AS DEAD
Midnight Ink
2011

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REVOLUTION, by Deb Olin Unferth

September 18, 2011

A NAIVE AMERICAN TEEN’S days of revolution-chasing in 1980s South America revisited in a rueful, witty memoir.

Grade: B PLUS

REVOLUTION: THE YEAR I FELL IN LOVE AND WENT TO JOIN THE WAR
Henry Holt
2011

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