Book Reviews

You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman

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Cults, Foam Heads And Other Weird Things Thrive In 'Body Like Mine'

3:12pm August 27, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Alexandra Kleeman's novel, populated by TV-obsessed characters on a steady diet of Popsicles and oranges, is a controlled exercise in what critic Jason Sheehan calls "terrifying banality."

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'Latest Readings' Offers Buoyant Musings On A Lifetime Of Literature

11:05am August 26, 2015

by Craig Morgan Teicher

Literary critic Clive James revisits the work of great writers such as Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway, Shakespeare and others, subjecting each to the "finicky test of delight."

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Capturing An Unknowable Writer In 'Love Song'

10:56am August 25, 2015

by Michael Schaub

Author Tracy Daugherty's new biography of Joan Didion is an honest attempt to construct a coherent narrative about her — but critic Michael Schaub says it doesn't completely work.

A Manual For Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

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'A Manual For Cleaning Women' Showcases A Gritty, One-Of-A-Kind Voice

4:13pm August 24, 2015

by Maureen Corrigan

A posthumously published collection of stories steers recognition to Lucia Berlin, whose fictional narrators are the sort who have seen it all and aren't afraid to tell you about their crappy day.

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'Eileen' Is Dark, Damaged Fun

7:03am August 23, 2015

by Jean Zimmerman

Ottessa Moshfegh's new novel follows a defiantly, triumphantly off-putting young woman who dreams of escaping her grim New England existence. Critic Jean Zimmerman calls it "pleasingly perverse."

For Summer Reading Lists, Some Schools Take A More Modern Approach

6:18pm August 21, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Kathryn VanArendonk, who teaches developmental reading and writing at Union County College, about how some schools are including contemporary books on summer lists.

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Gothic Poetry And Grim Necessity In 'Shattered Wings'

12:52pm August 21, 2015

by Tasha Robinson

Aliette de Bodard's new novel is set in a postapocalyptic Paris, devastated by a magical war between factions of fallen angels. It's a gritty mix of high gothic poetry and knotty angelic rivalries.

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BuzzFeed's Saeed Jones Recommends Books Of Transformation For Summer

10:03am August 20, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Saeed Jones, literary editor at BuzzFeed, about his picks for summer reading. He recommends books where a character goes on some sort of journey.

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The Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany

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'The Automobile Club' Tours Egypt's Troubled History

7:03am August 20, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Alaa Al Aswany's new book sets the dynamics of a fallen family and an elitist car club against the tensions of post-World War II Egypt, but a clunky translation and too many plots keep the brakes on.

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Arts

Six Friends, A Pile of Cash And A Game With Deadly Consequences

6:33pm August 19, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

Black Chalk hinges on a plot twist that we won't give away. But we will say it's the summer thriller we've been waiting for: about a teenage game that turns dangerous as its players become adults.

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