Age of Ambition won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2014, and no wonder. Nothing I’ve read about the rise of China for many years has immersed me so deeply into the texture of life in that country or more memorably portrayed its yawning contradictions. Estimated reading time: 3...
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Many of the very best detective novels are to be found in character-centered series tied to a particular time and place. Think Harry Bosch in Michael Connelly’s contemporary L.A. Sonchai Jitpleecheep in John Burdett’s Bangkok. Quirke in Benjamin Black’s 1950s Dublin. Inspector...
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A legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia named Sal Cupertine is spirited off to Las Vegas in a refrigerated meat truck after a botched job. There, after six months of radical plastic surgery and cramming with the Torah and the Talmud, he resurfaces as Rabbi David Cohen in a thriving suburban...
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Why does Barack Obama’s performance on national security issues in the White House contrast so strongly with his announced intentions as a candidate in 2008? After all, not only has Obama continued most of the Bush policies he decried when he ran for the...
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Every writer can have a bad day (or a bad year), and it would appear that Tana French was having one when she wrote The Secret Place. Oh, I read the whole thing, anyway. It’s hard to resist writing like this: “Alison’s mum has had a lot of plastic surgery and she wears fake...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.