Books
One Nightstand, Six Affairs: Novels Of Illicit Love
()Hotels, pools, beaches, airplanes: all good places to ignite a summer fling -- or read about one. Here are six recent titles that will let you explore, from the safety of your deck chair, our human capacity for ecstasy and pain.
New & Notable
- Hardcover Nonfiction: 'Operation Mincemeat'
- Hardcover Fiction: 'The Rembrandt Affair'
- Paperback Nonfiction: 'Blink'
- Paperback Fiction: 'The Lacuna'
Thrilled To Death
'Advise And Consent': Scandal In The U.S. Senate()
July 27, 2010 Thriller writer Richard North Patterson knows about engrossing political dramas -- he served as the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor. As his favorite thriller, he recommends Allen Drury's Pulitzer Prize-winning Advise and Consent, a political novel that still rings true after 50 years.
In E-Publishing Revolution, Rights Battle Wears On()
July 27, 2010 In the most recent battle of the publishing revolution, a major literary agency has announced its plans to bypass traditional publishers and start selling some prominent titles as e-books through Amazon. Needless to say, publishers are fighting back.
Author Interviews
Paparazzi Take Center Stage In Hiaasen's 'Star Island'()
July 27, 2010 Vacuous pop stars, a hygiene-challenged photographer and corrupt politicians all play a part in Carl Hiaasen's new satire of the industry that both makes and breaks celebrities.
A Novel Approach: Free Books For Donations()
July 27, 2010 The Concord Free Press has been publishing books and giving them away for the past two years. The Massachusetts-based publisher just asks readers to make a donation to a charity or a person in need and to chart the donation online. It also encourages readers to share the book with others.
Futurist 40 Years Later: Possibilities, Not Predictions()
July 26, 2010 Alvin Toffler's Future Shock was first published in July 1970. The book includes insights into the effects of rapidly changing technology and "information overload." People may not be as shocked by change as 81-year-old Toffler had imagined, but he says there's still value in envisioning possibilities.
Author Interviews
Jennifer Egan Does Avant-Garde Fiction -- Old School()
July 26, 2010 Influenced by both The Sopranos and Marcel Proust, Jennifer Egan takes her readers on a swirling, playful ride through time in A Visit from the Goon Squad, a novel of linked short stories -- including one told as a PowerPoint presentation -- that defies categorization.
Books We Like
'Tis The Season For 'The Thousand Autumns'()
July 26, 2010 Stories about sober, upstanding Dutch trading clerks on assignment in Tokugawa-era Japan aren't exactly trendy in the publishing industry ... but that didn't stop David Mitchell. Critic Michael Schaub finds Mitchell's latest novel so inventive and complex that he expects it to easily qualify as one of the best books of 2010.
A London Cabbie's Summer Reading Picks()
July 24, 2010 Will Grozier, who drives a taxi in London, is no ordinary cabbie. NPR's Scott Simon calls him "the best-read man that I have ever encountered in my life" -- which is why NPR occasionally calls Grozier up for reading recommendations. Here are Grozier's latest picks, five books that are equally suitable for diving into on the beach or sampling on a short taxi ride.
Author Interviews
'Kook': Life's Lessons Learned On A Surfboard()
July 25, 2010 After sailing the Antarctic Sea and traversing the deepest Tibetan gorge, Peter Heller became a "kook," or beginner surfer. It was while surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif. that he caught a glimpse of his next great adventure: a trip down the West Coast, in search of the perfect wave. In Kook he tells the story of that journey, and what he learned along the way.
My Guilty Pleasure
Gilded Romances Of Dashing Dandies, Brooding Beaus()
July 23, 2010 Author Helen Simonson risks her literary pretensions to admit a lifelong secret attraction to the Regency romance novels of Georgette Heyer. The dampened muslin dresses, the highly polished boots -- for her, nothing beats these tales of heroines who require a man with a firm hand on the bridle.
