Biography makes case for legacy of ‘Roots’ author Alex Haley
“Alex Haley: And the Books That Changed a Nation” by Robert J. Norrell; St. Martin’s Press (272 pages, $27)Alex Haley was a working freelance writer, not an ideologue. Yet he wrote two of the 20th...
View ArticlePhilip K. Dick's difficult life and visionary work
There are few science-fiction writers more popular or praised than Philip K. Dick, an author so well-known that his books now come emblazoned with his monogram, PKD, in giant letters on the cover.His...
View ArticleJane Smiley's completes her Midwestern trilogy
Jane Smiley's timing couldn't be better, coming to the Midwest to discuss her trilogy about 100 years of family in that month of holiday land mines between Thanksgiving and Christmas.A hundred years....
View ArticleYoung adult authors tackle troubles from the headlines
“All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely; Antheum Books for Young Readers (320 pages, $17.99)Have you ever picked up a book you didn’t expect to like, but before you’d finished the first...
View ArticleCookbook author shares festive citrus-centric recipes from her new book...
Hudson, Ohio, cookbook author Carla Snyder is talking about her longtime zest for citrus. As a child, she said, her mother let her bust open the bag of candied citrus slices and eat them on the way...
View ArticleTop mystery novels of 2015
What makes a mystery land on the best of the year’s list? The perfect melding of strong characters, unusual plots and evocative settings that make the novel stay in this reader’s mind long after the...
View ArticleThe art of the romance novel cover
Ah, the much-maligned romance novel: The pretzel-like plot featuring a lovelorn protagonist falling madly for the hunkiest of hunks until the two eventually foray into a world of soft sensual delights....
View Article9 cardinal rules for someone learning to cook
No one is really “born” a cook or a baker or a candymaker. Not even the world’s culinary stars.The road to becoming comfortable in the kitchen, a cook will tell you, is rarely straight or smooth. It is...
View Article15 books to look for in early 2016
Here’s a look at a few of the promising books and authors headed our way in January, February and March.“Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges” (Little, Brown), by Amy Cuddy....
View ArticleBachelor party does not end well in thriller
“The Guest Room” by Chris Bohjalian; Doubleday (336 pages, $26.95)A well-heeled Wall Streeter, generally considered a good guy, agrees to throw a bachelor party at his suburban Westchester house for...
View ArticleHelen Ellis’‘American Housewife’ a dark, funny voice to remember
“American Housewife: Stories” by Helen Ellis; Doubleday (208 pages, $24) Don’t play poker with Helen Ellis, unless you plan on borrowing bus fare to get home: She’s a successful high-stakesplayer. But...
View Article‘Olive Kitteridge’ author Elizabeth Strout continues powerful storytelling
When Elizabeth Strout was in second grade, there was a boy, very poor, with no friends and dirt behind his ears. “Our teacher said to him, ‘You are not so hard up that you can’t afford a bar of soap,’...
View ArticleSeth Grahame-Smith’s Jane Austen-zombie mash-up makes it to the screen
When Seth Grahame-Smith came up with the idea for a mash-up of Jane Austen’s most popular book and a tale of today’s probably equally popular armies of the undead – resulting in the 2009 novel “Pride...
View ArticleInterview: Alafair Burke, author of ‘The Ex’
When she was in third grade, Alafair Burke’s parents moved the family from South Florida to Wichita, Kansas. The move was fortuitous, but young Alafair was more than a little skeptical. “They took me...
View ArticleLove theater? Here’s a book that explains why
“The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built” by Jack Viertel; Sarah Crichton Books (336 pages, $28)Jack Viertel changed my theater-going life, and he might change yours. A...
View Article‘The President’s Book of Secrets’ goes behind the scenes of CIA briefings
“The President’s Book of Secrets” by David Priess; PublicAffairs (384 pages, $29.95)On Aug. 6, 2001, the third day of his August vacation in Texas, President George W. Bush welcomed two visitors into...
View ArticleBook Notes: Secret lives of teenage girls
American girls ages 13 to 19 live in two worlds, the real and the virtual. They interact with both worlds simultaneously — though the more absorbing of their worlds is the virtual one they hold in...
View ArticleReview: ‘Dimestore: A Writer’s Life’ by Lee Smith
“Dimestore: A Writer’s Life” by Lee Smith; Algonquin Books (202 pages, $24.95) Lee Smith’s parents raised her to leave the Appalachian town of Grundy, Virginia, where they “were closed in entirely, cut...
View ArticleIn Edna O’Brien’s ‘Little Red Chairs,’ even refugees want to go home
“The Little Red Chairs: A Novel” by Edna O’Brien; Little, Brown (320 pages, $27) “The Little Red Chairs,” Edna O’Brien’s latest novel, begins in the place to which O’Brien always eventually returns: A...
View ArticleKate DiCamillo tells ‘true story of my heart’
When she was a very little girl, sick in bed for the third time with measles, Kate DiCamillo looked out the window and saw a strange sight. Her father was walking through the orange grove toward the...
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