Book Reviews

Jim Harrison lived as he wrote — vividly. One year after his death, a new collection of his essays on food, wine, writing and aging brings him roaring back in all his immoderate brilliance.

David Bellos' new book is a comprehensive guide to Les Misérables, and a compelling story in its own right, packed with detail about the creation and publication of Victor Hugo's massive masterpiece.

Deb Olin Unferth's story collection delights in going in unexpected directions, and her sensitively-drawn characters feel the full, real, often contradictory and uneasy layering of human emotion.

Little is known about the real life of Kate Warne, the first female detective in America — but Greer Macallister's romp of a novel paints her as a live wire, an ace in a dangerous man's world.

Jean Hanff Korelitz's latest is set at a tony New England college rocked by racial unrest. It's a suggestive exploration of tough issues, but lacks the nuance and intellect of the best campus novels.

Dan Chaon's latest novel suggests that even people who seem kind can lead you down dangerous paths, whether they realize it or not.

Cartoonist Peter Bagge's new biography of Zora Neale Hurston swoops through her life at breakneck speed, losing some real-life pathos along the way, but sustaining an electric, colorful energy.

Nell Stevens retreated to a remote corner of the Falkland Islands in an attempt to write a novel. She came away with something better: This oddly winning memoir of deprivation, rain and penguins.