Louise Penny's new novel shows once again why she's a crowd favorite
"Kingdom of the Blind: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel" by Louise Penny, Minotaur. 400 pp. $28.99 "Kingdom of the Blind" is the 14th mystery in the Inspector Gamache series — and it's a spellbinder....
View ArticleA look at the man who helped solidify Led Zeppelin's hard-partying reputation
"Bring It on Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin, and Beyond — The Story of Rock's Greatest Manager" by Mark Blake, Da Capo. 304 pp. $27 No band ever did more to propagate the stereotype of the...
View ArticleBook Notes: The coddling of America’s college students
“The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure” By Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Penguin Press, New York, 2018. What happens on...
View ArticleYes, this novel has a cat narrator. I'm not ashamed to say it had me at meow.
"The Travelling Cat Chronicles" by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel, Berkley. 288 pp. $20 I love animals, and I love books, but I tend to avoid novels about animals because I don't enjoy...
View ArticleGarment industry meets the mob in ‘Button Man’
“Button Man” by Andrew Gross, Minotaur. 384 pp. $27.99 Andrew Gross’ prowess for rich historical mysteries, usually with a Jewish theme, takes another leap forward with the engrossing “Button Man.” Set...
View ArticleAn enigmatic child sends a small town on a search for answers
"Once Upon a River" by Diane Setterfield, Atria/Emily Bestler. 480 pp. $28 Diane Setterfield haunts familiar ground in "Once Upon a River," an eerily mystic tale of a mute child who captivates the...
View ArticleWoodward book puts White House back in damage-control mode
WASHINGTON (AP) — An incendiary tell-all book by a reporter who helped bring down President Richard Nixon set off a firestorm in the White House on Tuesday, with its descriptions of current and former...
View ArticleBen Montgomery’s ‘Man Who Walked Backward’ lets readers step into history
“The Man Who Walked Backward: An American Dreamer’s Search for Meaning in the Great Depression” by Ben Montgomery, Little, Brown Spark. 304 pp. $28Did Plennie Wingo make any progress going backward?...
View ArticleFor kids, books that explore immigration, war and other thorny issues
A young woman in a skirt of bright flaming feathers, small baby in her arms, crosses a bridge of place and language to become something new in a new home. Everything is strange and bewildering at first...
View ArticleBook review: An unknown past
“A Dead Man Running” by Steve Hamilton, (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 288 pages, $28)Alex McKnight would rather be at home in the Upper Peninsula, sitting at the Glasgow Inn, drinking a real Molson, or plowing...
View ArticleBook Notes: The frustration of having no path to citizenship
“Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen” By Jose Antonio Vargas. Dey Street Books, New York City, 2018. $25.99.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas has been living as an...
View ArticleAt 80, Frederick Forsyth has produced a classic thriller that's also eerily...
"The Fox," by Frederick Forsyth, Putnam, 286 pp., $28 In 1971, Frederick Forsyth, then a freelance reporter in need of cash, published his first novel, "The Day of the Jackal." His tale of a plot to...
View ArticleMichael Connelly's latest novel brings Harry Bosch a cold case and a...
"Dark Sacred Night" by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown, 433 pp., $29 Harry Bosch has had plenty of partners, but he might have met his match.In his long career as a Los Angeles detective in 20...
View ArticleJeff Kinney takes ‘Wimpy Kid’ from page to stage
Wimpy isn't the word you would use to describe a Jeff Kinney book tour. The latest tour for the author of the best-selling "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books began Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts. After a...
View ArticleNovelist Alexander McCall Smith: ‘I love writing people’s conversations’
Alexander McCall Smith — overachiever, master of the understatement — sounds a bit apologetic as he explains that he has lost track of the number of books he’s written. “I actually really stopped...
View ArticleA century after the end of World War I, a new look at lost masterpieces of...
A century ago, the four-year-long nightmare eventually called World War I finally came to a halt on Nov. 11, 1918. That date now goes by several names — Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day —...
View ArticlePursuing literary fame in ‘A Ladder to the Sky’
"A Ladder to the Sky" by John Boyne, Hogarth. 362 pp. $27 I'm embarrassed by how much I enjoyed John Boyne's wicked new novel, "A Ladder to the Sky." It's an addictive Rubik's Cube of vice that keeps...
View ArticleWilco’s Jeff Tweedy pens memoir, but says ‘I’m just getting started’
Jeff Tweedy has never been a fan of the rock star memoir. He admits he’s not well-versed in the genre. “They never appealed to me for some reason — I don’t know why,” he says. “I’m sure there are a lot...
View ArticleMemoir writer hunts for lost memories
‘The Day That Went Missing,’ by Richard Beard “The Day That Went Missing” by Richard Beard, Little, Brown. 280 pp. $27When I was 9 years old, my oldest brother died in an accidental drowning. That was...
View ArticleLouise Penny's new novel shows once again why she's a crowd favorite
"Kingdom of the Blind: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel" by Louise Penny, Minotaur. 400 pp. $28.99 "Kingdom of the Blind" is the 14th mystery in the Inspector Gamache series — and it's a spellbinder....
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