Jay Bahadur: ‘The Pirates of Somalia’

“Somalia is like a country out of a twisted fairy tale, an ethereal land given substance only by the stories we are told of it,” Toronto-based journalist Jay Bahadur writes in the introduction to his debut, The Pirates of Somalia.

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In an attempt to flesh out that picture, Bahadur ditched his marketing gig and took off for the Horn of Africa where, over the course of a year, he chronicled the life of one gang of pirates—both on and off the sea. Blending firsthand accounts of the modern-day swashbucklers with those ...

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‘French Lessons’ with Ellen Sussman

Ellen Sussman pays homage to the beloved City of Lights in her second novel French Lessons, a literary tour through the arrondissements that explores how traveling and learning a language can change both our selves and our lives.

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Spanning the course of a single day in Paris, the book follows a trio of Americans as they traverse the streets—each with a French tutor in tow. Sussman brilliantly evokes the melancholy of Josie, a high school French teacher mourning the loss of her lover; the chaos that encompasses Riley, an ex-pat with ...

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Eat Like a Star: Celebrity Cookbooks

Celebs, ever obsessed with staying fit and healthy-looking, seem to be taking on the cookbook genre in droves lately (Gwyneth, anyone?). Adding to the bumper crop of cookbook titles arriving this spring, here are a few standout titles from folks in the public eye. Invite them off the screen and into your kitchen today. 

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On the heels of his well-received diet manual Extra Lean, Saved by the Bell alum Mario Lopez returns with Extra Lean Family: Get Lean and Achieve Your Family’s Best Health Ever (Celebra, May). The co-host of the nightly entertainment ...

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10 Excellent New Cookbooks for 2011

Wondering what to do with the vegetables you’ve planted in your backyard plot or the spring bounty that’s overflowing the stalls of your local farmer’s market? It might be time to invest in a new cookbook or two. The year’s off to a savory start, with titles from veterans like food revolutionary Jamie Oliver and early California cuisine adopter Jonathan Waxman as well as debut volumes from newcomers like It Chef Stevie Parle. Catering to the preferences of nearly every palate, this year’s crop of cookbooks is sure to please even the finickiest of the ...

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Women, Booze, War, God: 'The Quotable Hitchens'

Christopher Hitchens: iconic intellectual or a booze-soaked contrarian with a national platform? The longtime Vanity Fair columnist is nothing if not a study in contradictions—pulling in readers one moment with a brilliant dismantling of politics as usual in Washington before sending them scurrying in distaste the next when railing against the female sense of humor—or lack thereof.

Read more books written and edited by Christopher Hitchens at Kirkus. 

Whether he’s submitting to water-boarding or wrestling with God and mortality, Hitchens can’t help but grab our attention and make us re-evaluate our principles—it’s why we ...

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America’s Favorite Golden Girl: Betty White

Betty White’s been busy lately. Between mud-wrestling over Snickers during the 2010 Super Bowl, hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live and starring in the new TV Land series Hot in Cleveland, she’s barely had a moment to breathe. Sometime during all that, though, St. Olaf’s pride and joy found time to pen her sixth book, If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t), a meditation on her life, career and loves—of both the human and animal variety. Here, White tells us about life in front of the camera, her friendship with John Steinbeck ...

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Good Vibrations—The Life and Times of Sexpert and Feminist Susie Bright

“Most people unfamiliar with my work imagine that anyone with the youthful nickname of Susie Sexpert must be an adolescent airhead, a happy but too-dim nympho, someone who set out to shock her strict parents—or, alternatively, was raised in a den of hedonists,” Susie Bright writes in the preface to her memoir Big Sex, Little Death.

Let's talk about sex...read more books about love, life and the other at Kirkus.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Born to a pair of globe-trotting linguists who came home to roost on the West Coast, Bright came of age ...

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Lessons From Coco Chanel

Acclaimed writer Karen Karbo (How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great, 2007, etc.) investigates the enduring influence of the iconic designer Giorgio Armani once called “the most elegant woman who’s ever lived.” With its winning mix of fashion history, memoir and biography, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel will strike a chord among even the most unfashionable of readers.

Here, Karbo charts the legendary fashionista’s rise from the poorhouses of rural France to the apex of all fashion, and many will be surprised to discover that Chanel’s aphorisms and advice resonate just as deeply ...

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Smart kids really do finish FIRST: Neal Bascomb uncovers ‘The New Cool’

Acclaimed ...

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Rediscovering Singapore, One Recipe at a Time

She chronicles it all in her charming memoir of cuisine and culture A Tiger in the Kitchen, guaranteed to send readers out, with taste buds salivating, in search of the nearest Singaporean restaurant or booking the next ...

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Brooke Burke Gets ‘Naked’

Like most women, Brooke Burke wears many hats: former Playboy model, current co-host and season seven winner of Dancing with the Stars and online entrepreneur. But, first and foremost, she’s just your average mother of four, struggling to find the time to pick up after her children, connect with her husband and get the grocery shopping done.

Burke’s first book, The Naked Mom, is a breezy, delightful read that will have readers chuckling as she recounts what she’s learned about life, love and herself along the way. In it, she shares these 10 tips on how to ...

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‘Feed Your Face’ tackles skin woes with food

Plagued by blackheads? Annoyed by eczema? Creased with crows’ feet? Dermatologist to the stars Jessica Wu offers a revolutionary, yet simple treatment plan for improved skin and a healthier body in her debut book, Feed Your Face—watch what you eat.

Readers will learn how to strengthen their nails, lengthen their lashes and clear their complexions all while tidying up their waistlines, like longtime Wu patients Maria Bello, Kimora Lee Simmons and Lisa Ling. Wu’s easy-to-read, practical advice on skin care and total body maintenance is peppered with anecdotes, scientific evidence and includes recipes for homemade skin cleansers and ...

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'Why We Get Fat'

Science magazine writer Gary Taubes follows up his highly acclaimed and controversial critique of modern dietary science, Good Calories, Bad Calories (Knopf, 2007), with a fresh look at what’s behind one of the nation’s top public health epidemics—obesity.

Why We Get Fat systemically dismantles the myths surrounding weight gain, scientifically proving that it’s not how much you eat, as much as it is what you eat. Taubes argues for better policy and food-industry regulations while offering easy-to-follow guidelines on what you should be eating—regardless of your size. Michael Pollan, move over. Food culture just found ...

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A Look at Jackie As Editor

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is known as many things: Style icon. Tragic widow. Hounded public figure. Lady of Camelot. But Greg Lawrence, and 125 of the authors and editors he interviewed for his book Jackie As Editor, is betting readers aren’t aware of one of the things that gave Jackie the most pleasure in life—her two decades as a prized editor at Doubleday.

Interested in this title? You might also like Reading Jackie by William Kuhn.

Sought out by the best and the brightest authors, tackling a wide range of subjects and genres, Jackie wrangled together more than 100 ...

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2010 Best Books: Isabel Wilkerson

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson takes on one of the most underreported issues of 20th-century America in her debut The Warmth of Other Suns—the Great Migration. Between the advent of World War I and 1970, an estimated 6 million African-Americans left the South, resulting in one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in American history. With lyrical prose and intricate detail, The Warmth of Other Suns is a universal story of courage and possibility—the story of America itself. Recently, Wilkerson spoke with Kirkus about Amy Tan, quilting clubs and her own history as a “daughter of the migration ...

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Kirkus Q&A: Jennifer Donnelly

A sprawling novel that crosses oceans, cultures and centuries, Revolution is a painstakingly detailed look at growing up a troubled teenage girl. Weaving back and forth between the lives of Andi Alpers, a typical Brooklyn private-school student, and Alexandrine, an aspiring French actress who comes of age during the French Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly’s transcendent prose allows readers to shuttle through time with the greatest of ease. The author doesn’t shy away from the meaty issues we grapple with in adolescence: the nature of sorrow and grief, the formation of political consciousness and the power of art. Here, Donnelly ...

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The Power of 11.5 Inches of Plastic

Love her or hate her, there’s no escaping Barbie. Sibert Award winner Tanya Lee Stone tackles the American icon in her latest book, The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie. Tracing the doll’s origins, as well of those of her creator, Stone offers a thorough investigation of Barbie and her resounding impact on American society and beyond. Here, the author talks with Kirkus about the controversy surrounding Barbie’s figure, why the doll inspires such simultaneous loathing and love, and her own experiences with Barbie growing up.

What inspired you to take on one of the most iconic ...

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Kirkus Q&A: Steve Martin

His frenetic stand-up act is the stuff of legend. He’s penned screenplays, stage plays, novels, even children’s books—and that’s just his fiction. He’s strummed his banjo all the way to a Grammy. Is there anything Steve Martin can’t do? We’re not likely to find out anytime soon. With the release of An Object of Beauty, Martin cements his place as one of the country’s wiliest wordsmiths. Deftly navigating the art boom, bust and rebirth of the past two decades through the prism of another irresistible female protagonist, Martin sprinkles his pages with ...

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Kirkus Q&A: Chelsea Handler

This interview first ran in our Kirkus Nonfiction Spotlight in April 2010. Today, Grand Central Publishing announced that Chelsea Handler now has her own imprint. Her next book, Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me, is set to be published May 2011.

Loud and loquacious late-night host Chelsea Handler returns with her third collection of musings on love, life and the Lifetime Movie Network, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. Fans familiar with the comedienne are no stranger to Handler’s frank opinions about Hollywood starlets and current events. But, quick as she is to wag her sharp tongue, Handler isn’t afraid ...

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Scieszka on Spaceheadz

At the heart of the latest release from Jon Scieszka, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is a lesson on media literacy. The author doesn’t hide his contempt for the advertising tactics and ubiquitous sloganeering of the modern era—his protagonist Michael K. is a savvy fifth grader with a healthy dose of skepticism. That’s a quality that Scieszka is eager to instill in his readers. To foster a better understanding of the media blitz directed at today’s children, Spaceheadz includes clever, interactive Web material designed to allow readers to create their own content. Here ...

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