They're popular, but are they good? Use our critics' verdicts as a guide:
Buy It = this is a can't-miss, fabulous book; Borrow It = not perfect, but we think you'll enjoy it; Skip It = critical miss
FICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
BUY IT
"A beautifully written novel, an experience to savor."
A masterful and profoundly moving novel that employs exquisite language to explore the limits of language and the tricks of memory.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
SKIP IT
"Deaver's sleight of hand, so effective on the homefront, carries less weight in a world of international counterterrorism in which it's a given that everybody's trying to kill or discredit everybody else. It's still magic, but it's harder to care when everyone is a magician."
FICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
BORROW IT
"Humorous and witty and as entertaining as a good night out."
Andrews (
Spring Fever, 2012, etc.) presents a delightful novel about love, revenge and more love.
Read full book review >
CHILDREN'S
Released: Feb. 26, 2013
VERDICT:
BORROW IT
"Timmy may not be one of the great children's-book characters, but he has greatness in him. Just like all of us. (Comic mystery. 8-12)"
The great children's-book characters can get on your nerves. Eloise is a little spoiled. The Cat in the Hat refuses to listen to anyone else. Timmy Failure would be easy to actually hate.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: April 23, 2013
VERDICT:
SKIP IT
"Longmire's ninth (As the Crow Flies, 2012, etc.) is a tense, action-filled story with Johnson's usual touches of humor and romance. No wonder Longmire's TV series has been renewed for a second season."
The vast, lonely spaces of rural Wyoming attract some unusual lifestyles. It's up to Sheriff Walt Longmire to sort the good from the bad.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
SKIP IT
"Will appeal to military buffs, conservative readers and, of course, firearms enthusiasts."
A raucous and duly violent tour of American history through the sights of 10 famous weapons, from the Kentucky long rifle to the M-16.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
BUY IT
"Kevin Phillips' 2012 tour de force, 1775, delivered a massive argument for that year as the key to American independence. A traditionalist, Ellis sticks to 1776 and writes an insightful history of its critical, if often painful, events."
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Ellis (
First Family: Abigail and John Adams, 2010, etc.) writes book after book on the American Revolutionary period. Practice makes perfect.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
BORROW IT
"A touching, fairly uncomplicated portrayal of rowing legends."
The long, passionate journey of the University of Washington rowing team to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Read full book review >
NONFICTION
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
BORROW IT
"The president's supporters and, really, all political junkies will love this. Republicans, not so much."
A veteran author, journalist and commentator chronicles the campaign that assured President Barack Obama a second term and cemented a consensus among Americans stretching back to the New Deal.
Read full book review >
CHILDREN'S
Released: June 4, 2013
VERDICT:
BORROW IT
"Completely engaging, infused with moments of sweetness, humor and major epiphanies. (Fiction. 12 & up)"
A high school graduate realizes that having a near-perfect life means
not always having the best of everything.
Read full book review >
FICTION
Released: May 28, 2013
VERDICT:
SKIP IT
"A C-minus effort."
FICTION
Released: May 28, 2013
VERDICT:
BUY IT
"An expertly written tale of ancient crimes, with every period detail--and every detail, period--just right."
The sins of the fathers are always visited upon the sons--and in Meyer's sweeping, absorbing epic, there are plenty of them.
Read full book review >
