Book Reviews News

1:37 PM
3-February
2010 "The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life" by Bethenny Frankel (***)Bethenny Frankel is not only one of the reality stars of "The Real Housewives Of New York," she is a celebrity natural food chef and bestselling author of "Naturally Thin." Frankel recently released her latest book, "The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life," and she is hoping to help women out there get in touch with their "inner chef."
Topics: Book Reviews, Arts, Culture and Entertainment

8:25 PM
31-January
2010 "Shakespeare and Modern Culture" by Marjorie Garber (***1/2)The melancholy Dane. The Moor of Venice. The star-crossed lovers. All of the best characters of Elizabethan theater and more are discussed at length in "Shakespeare and Modern Culture." Author Marjorie Garber compiles 10 chapters of thoughtful analysis about William Shakespeare's prose, the characters within and the timelessness of these works.
Topics: Book Reviews, Arts, Culture and Entertainment

10:52 AM
16-January
2010 "Spinning Tropics" by Aska Mochizuki (**1/2)Culture clash gets a whole new outlook in the Asian export novel "Spinning Tropics." Young Japanese expatriate Hiro is a language instructor teaching her native tongue to students in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City. Among her pupils is an exuberant girl named Yun, who is instantly drawn to her first as a friend and eventually as a lover. Hiro's reciprocation makes for a passionate affair in a life that is otherwise confusing and lonely.
Topics: Book Reviews

7:57 AM
17-December
2009 "Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando" by Stefan Kanfer (***1/2)The life of Marlon Brando contained facets which were often best summed up by his most memorable movie quotes. Negotiation: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." Unbridled passion: "Stella!" Regret: "I coulda been a contender." Trepidation: "The horror! The horror!" Biographer Stefan Kanfer chronicles these moments and many more in "Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando."
Topics: Book Reviews

10:13 AM
4-December
2009 "The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep And Never Had To" by DC Pierson (***)Prepare for a satirical combination of "The Catcher in the Rye," science fiction and school shootings in "The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To." Darren's life is pretty boring. After all, how exciting can your life be when you're 16 and you still have to ride the bus around town?
Topics: Book Reviews

   

10:20 AM
20-November
2009 "Nightlight: A Parody" by The Harvard Lampoon (**1/2)With any world-wide cultural phenomenon, there always needs to be people willing to take it down a peg. And so, along comes "Nightlight: A Parody." Teenager Belle Goose is unsure what to expect when she moves from her mother's house in Phoenix to live with her father in the northwestern Oregon town of Switchblade - but don't bother trying to find it on a map, as cartographers don't care enough to include it.
Topics: Book Reviews

6:05 AM
20-October
2009 "Heroes And Villains: Essays On Music, Movies, Comics, And Culture" by David Hajdu (**1/2)David Hajdu, who previously wrote "Lush Life," a biography on Jazz composer Billy Strayhorn, and "Positively 4th Street," which chronicled the lives of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, among others, assembles his first collection of essays in "Heroes and Villains: Essays on Music, Comics, and Culture." The essays, which were nearly all published in The New Republic and The New York Review of Books among other places, all only share one thing common: music. The essays range from a piece on Rodgers & Hart, whose career took off in the 1920's, to names like Taylor Swift, who's currently topping charts.
Topics: Book Reviews

11:32 AM
19-October
2009 "What To Expect When You're Expected" by David Javerbaum (***)Who better to write a book about what to expect while you are a fetus than a former embryo himself? Emmy-winning comedian and former executive producer of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," author David Javerbaum takes a hilarious look from a growing fetus's point-of-view in his new book, "What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters." This laugh-out-loud parody of the popular "What to Expect" series for expectant mothers is the perfect book for those who need a little humor and a lot of patience in preparation to get through their nine-months of love, labor, and pain.
Topics: Book Reviews

11:47 AM
5-October
2009 "How To Leave Hialeah" by Jennine Capó Crucet (***1/2)Jennine Capó Crucet paints what's sure to be an awfully familiar portrait to South Florida residents in her book, "How To Leave Hialeah," and for others, its a true guide to the culture in Miami that Lonely Planet can't cover in their books. Instead, "How To Leave Hialeah" is a loosely connected group of chapters that chronicle the Cuban-American author's experiences in the Hispanic-filled neighborhoods of the city.
Topics: Book Reviews

2:03 PM
30-September
2009 "High On Arrival" by Mackenzie Phillips (**)For a quick financial fix, many forgotten names of yesterday's celebrities flex their rumba skills on "Dancing With The Stars" while others take on small parts on long-time running television shows, do a few charity events here and there, and even make the talk-show circuit rounds promoting whatever new, obscure series they may have on a channel no where near the first 100 channels of your cablevision lineup. Former child actress Mackenzie Phillips, on the other hand and for one reason or another, decided to retell her life story up to her present moment - detailing her rapes, arrests, drug abuse, drug overdoses, lost childhood and overall instability - in a new book that proves to be as shocking as the claims she makes that her father John Phillips, of the Mamas and Papas raped her and later had a consensual 10 year sexual relationship with his daughter.
Topics: Book Reviews