Featured Reviews

Isaacson, Walter PROFILES IN LEADERSHIP August 1, 2010 - Renowned historians describe the leadership secrets of presidents, generals, preachers, a baseball manager and others. This bright anthology from the Society of American Historians gathers essays from top-flight historians—Sean Wilentz, David M. Kennedy, Jean Strouse, Alan Brinkley, David Levering Lewis, ... Full Review

Martin, Steve AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY August 1, 2010 - The NYC art world, seen through the eyes of its most impartial constituents. In his latest novel, Martin (Born Standing Up, 2007, etc.) unveils an ambitious and heartfelt analysis of both the complexity and absurdity of the Manhattan art market. ... Full Review

Current Issue: Fiction

Abate, Carmine THE HOMECOMING PARTY August 1, 2010 - An adventurous and troubled boyhood is piquantly detailed in this 2004 novel from a respected Italian author (Between Two Seas, 2008). It begins one Christmas Eve in the Calabrian town of Hora (“where we speak...an old-fashioned form of Albanian”), as ... Full Review

Burns, Charles X'ED OUT August 1, 2010 - This graphic novel is more like an apocalyptic hallucination. The first installment of what promises to be a full-color series from one of America’s most renowned graphic artists, appears in some ways to be a throwback to the comic books ... Full Review

Donoghue, Emma ROOM August 1, 2010 - Talented, versatile Donoghue (The Sealed Letter, 2008, etc.) relates a searing tale of survival and recovery, in the voice of a five-year-old boy. Jack has never known a life beyond Room. His Ma gave birth to him on Rug; the ... Full Review

Kehlmann, Daniel FAME August 1, 2010 - From German author Kehlmann (Me and Kaminski, 2008, etc.), nine interconnected stories that cleverly explore the seductive nature of fame—and fiction’s role in creating it. Notoriety as both a blessing and (more often) a curse is the thread holding together ... Full Review

Kipps, Charles CRYSTAL DEATH August 1, 2010 - Conor Bard, the NYPD’s singing detective, makes a second page-turning appearance in the case of the blood-red diamond. Diamonds were not Zivah Gavish’s best friend. Her elegant throat cut, she’s discovered in her sumptuous New York apartment, the fabulous red ... Full Review

Krueger, William Kent VERMILION DRIFT August 1, 2010 - Conflicted protagonist Cork O’Connor works a case that has disturbing connections to his own family, as well as his past, in Krueger’s latest (Heaven’s Keep, 2009, etc.). Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor, former sheriff of fictional Tamarack County, Minn., works as a ... Full Review

Lindqvist, John Ajvide HANDLING THE UNDEAD August 1, 2010 - Bright lights in a big city herald the return of the dead in Swedish horrorist Lindqvist’s second novel, after Let the Right One In (2007), a vampire tale that was later turned into a movie. This time the author replaces ... Full Review

Rushdie, Salman LUKA AND THE FIRE OF LIFE August 1, 2010 - Rushdie’s 11th novel is a sequel to his charming 1990 fable Haroun and the Sea of Stories, written—as was its predecessor—for one of its author’s two sons. Visions of Kipling and J.M. Barrie may swim through readers’ heads as we ... Full Review

Yu, Charles HOW TO LIVE SAFELY IN A SCIENCE FICTIONAL UNIVERSE August 1, 2010 - A man frozen in a universe of his own making must pursue the meaning of life. In this debut novel, Yu (stories: Third Class Superhero, 2006) continues his ambitious exploration of the fantastic with a whimsical yet sincere tribute to ... Full Review

Current Issue: Nonfiction

Burstein, Andrew MADISON AND JEFFERSON August 1, 2010 - A monumental account of a 50-year political partnership that shaped the early history of the United States. In a dual biography of uncommon merit, Louisiana State University historians Burstein (Jefferson’s Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello, 2005, etc.) and Isenberg ... Full Review

Eyman, Scott EMPIRE OF DREAMS August 1, 2010 - Palm Beach Post books editor Eyman (Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer, 2005, etc.) presents the truly epic life of director Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959) in grand style, befitting the great man, who, in addition ... Full Review

Feldman, Noah SCORPIONS August 1, 2010 - New York Times Magazine contributor Feldman (Law/Harvard Univ.; (The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, 2008, etc.) compares the careers and the constitutional visions of four of the most important Supreme Court justices ever. Of Franklin Roosevelt’s nine Supreme ... Full Review

Hersh, Kristin RAT GIRL August 1, 2010 - Funny, quirky coming-of-age story from a unique musical artist. For her first work of nonfiction, Hersh (Toby Snax, 2007), best known as founder and principal songwriter of art-rock band Throwing Muses, revisited the journal she kept from the winter of ... Full Review

Leavy, Jane THE LAST BOY August 1, 2010 - Another biography of the late Yankee slugger—but this candid, compassionate portrait is worth a dugout full of the others. Sports journalist Leavy (Sandy Koufax, 2002) produces an enduring, though certainly not endearing, portrait of The Mick. Eschewing traditional chronology, the ... Full Review

Russell, Thaddeus A RENEGADE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES August 1, 2010 - Sure, you’ve got your Honest Abe and your steadfast Molly Pitcher, your Daniel Boone and Dale Evans. But how do the vice-ridden rest of us fit into American history? As Russell (History and Cultural Studies/Occidental Coll.; Out of the Jungle: ... Full Review

Snyder, Timothy BLOODLANDS August 1, 2010 - A chillingly systematic study of the mass murder mutually perpetrated by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. From 1933 to 1945, 14 million people were murdered between the two regimes, as Stalin and Hitler consolidated power, jointly occupied Poland and ... Full Review

Winchester, Simon ATLANTIC August 1, 2010 - The prolific journalist and historian returns with a story both geographically immense and profoundly personal. Winchester (The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom, 2008, etc.) offers a ... Full Review

Current Issue: Children's

Alley, Zoë B. THERE'S A PRINCESS IN THE PALACE August 1, 2010 - The Alley duo spread the joy of There’s a Wolf at the Door (2009) into another oversized and overstuffed (with giggles, that is) volume. Within a graphic-novel format, the tales of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, the Frog Prince and ... Full Review

Atinuke ANNA HIBISCUS August 1, 2010 - Linked short stories star Anna Hibiscus, who lives in a large house in a compound in “amazing Africa” with baby brothers Double and Trouble, parents and extended family. The first title in this appealing new series introduces Anna’s world. The ... Full Review

Bolden, Tonya FINDING FAMILY August 1, 2010 - Set in 1905 Charleston, W.Va., this richly lyrical and historically persuasive coming-of-age story explores the ties that bind, break and renew an affluent African-American family. Narrator Delana, 12, lives with her aloof grandfather and his overprotective sister Tilley, who has ... Full Review

Chayil, Eishes HUSH August 1, 2010 - Seventeen-year-old Gittel is preparing for marriage, and she hopes the shadchen, the matchmaker, picks a good husband. It's 2009 in this Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood, where Yiddish is a first language and women work so men can study Torah all day. ... Full Review

Ellis, Deborah NO SAFE PLACE August 1, 2010 - Fifteen-year-old Abdul, an Iraqi Kurd, has escaped war-torn Baghdad and traveled for four months across six countries only to hit a dead-end in the Jungle in Calais, a community of migrants trying to survive in squalid shanties with winter coming. ... Full Review

Freedman, Russell LAFAYETTE AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION August 1, 2010 - Against the wishes of father, family and nation, 19-year-old Gilbert de Lafayette bought a ship, escaped France and became the youngest general in the Continental Army, a teenager leaving a young wife and a huge personal fortune to pursue military ... Full Review

Funke, Cornelia RECKLESS August 1, 2010 - Funke deftly escorts readers on another fantasy adventure, this time to dark, enchanting Mirrorworld, a fairy-tale land inhabited by humans, faerie creatures and the Goyls, a warring stone race. Discovering a magical mirror with the evocative message, “The mirror will ... Full Review

Heide, Florence Parry DILLWEED'S REVENGE August 1, 2010 - Well-deserved woe unto adults who do Dillweed wrong! His parents are off voyaging, and he’s poetically jealous: “Dillweed liked to go places. He liked to have adventures. He liked to have a good time. His parents went places. His parents ... Full Review

Jinks, Catherine THE GENIUS WARS August 1, 2010 - Cyber-espionage takes both front seats in this conclusion to the outstanding Genius series. Though raised to be a criminal mastermind, 15-year-old Cadel rejects the role, desiring only a normal life with his new adoptive parents. No chance: Suddenly his fugitive ... Full Review

Krause, Ute OSCAR AND THE VERY HUNGRY DRAGON August 1, 2010 - A terrifying beast meets its match in a resourceful boy. When the earth trembles, the villagers at the bottom of the hill know it's time to send the dragon a princess to eat. One day, unfortunately, no princess is available; ... Full Review

Krull, Kathleen KUBLA KHAN August 1, 2010 - The Emperor of Everything, indeed! Droll writing and detailed, almost encyclopedic, pen-and-watercolor illustrations make a perfect marriage for young readers trying to apprehend the totality of Kubla Khan’s personality, history and accomplishments. The vivid description of Kubla’s life as the ... Full Review

Maclear, Kyo SPORK August 1, 2010 - Children of mixed marriages are about to find an unlikely ally in their cutlery drawers. Spork stands out. With a spoon for a mum and a fork for a dad, Spork is simultaneously too round and too pointy to fit ... Full Review

McNeal, Laura DARK WATER August 1, 2010 - This debut solo effort after several collaborations with husband Tom McNeal (The Decoding of Lana Morris, 2007, etc.) stands out in the crowded coming-of-age field. The affecting narrative springs believably from the first-person thoughts of Pearl DeWitt as she recalls ... Full Review

Pal, Erika AZAD'S CAMEL August 1, 2010 - A kidnapped orphan races away to freedom. In an Arabian village, a little boy named Azad, who lives with his poor elderly uncle, fetches water for tea and tends to the goat before running off to play with his friends. ... Full Review

Pien, Lark MR. ELEPHANTER August 1, 2010 - A day in the life of Mr. Elephanter is a slice from the bygone, when the scale and pace of life didn’t require medication. Mr. Elephanter, clearly a mild and loving soul, works at the elephantery, tending a small tribe ... Full Review

Resau, Laura THE RUBY NOTEBOOK August 1, 2010 - Thoughtful, intense Zeeta and her free-spirited mother return in this follow-up to The Indigo Notebook (2009). Perennial travelers, the two have now settled in the atmospheric city of Aix-en-Provence. Zeeta eagerly anticipates the arrival of her boyfriend Wendell from Colorado, ... Full Review

Spires, Ashley BINKY TO THE RESCUE August 1, 2010 - Intrepid Space Cat Binky returns with another thrilling and dangerous adventure! While keeping his humans safe from invading aliens (i.e., insects), Binky falls from a window into OUTER SPACE! (aka the backyard). Thank goodness he has his Space Cat Exploration ... Full Review

Thompson, Kate THE WHITE HORSE TRICK August 1, 2010 - Starting at the ending and ending at the beginning, Thompson's latest Liddy-family romp in Tír na n’Óg (The Last of the High Kings, 2008, etc.) lives up to the highest expectations and brings back familiar friends from both worlds, from ... Full Review

Viorst, Judith LULU AND THE BRONTOSAURUS August 1, 2010 - Viorst, better known within the children's-book world for picture books than novels, flexes her muscles and introduces readers to delightfully obnoxious, fit-throwing Lulu, a spoiled only child prone to indulging in over-the-top temper tantrums to get what she wants. And ... Full Review

Wells, Rosemary ON THE BLUE COMET August 1, 2010 - Time travel hurts. Eleven-year-old Oscar Ogilvie, Jr., first discovers this when he--dodging bullets in an armed robbery--belly-dives into a model train layout at the First National Bank of Cairo, Ill., on Christmas Eve 1931 and, miraculously, finds himself aboard a ... Full Review

Woon, Yvonne DEAD BEAUTIFUL August 1, 2010 - Anyone who reads knows that vampires are in. But this hefty novel takes a new and unconventional look at the undead, focusing on story and interesting characters and leaving gore and mayhem hidden in the background. Renée Winters is a ... Full Review