BOOKS
to read:
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Norton; 567 pages; $10
A surprise bestseller of the year. Not only does the report provide an authoritative and well-written account of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, but it also offers wise words on the need for joined-up thinking in the West about how to win the war against radical Islamism.
Snow. By Orhan Pamuk. Knopf; 448 pages; $26. Faber and Faber
A novel about the tensions between Turkey’s urban, secularist elite and their long-derided Islamist opponents. By the leading interpreter of Turkish society to the western world, it deals with such familiar Pamuk themes as faith, identity and betrayal.
The Master. By Colm Toibin. Scribner; 352 pages; $25.
In this novel, short-listed for the Man Booker prize, the author insinuates himself under the skin of Henry James, covering not only the known episodes in the literary lion’s life, but also imagining the darker corners. One of a handful of recent novels that have to do with James, Mr Toibin’s portrayal of innocence, shyness and even wisdom confirms him as a master craftsman.
Chronicles: Volume One. By Bob Dylan. Simon & Schuster; 304 pages; $24
It is the best of books, it is the worst of books. The first volume of Bob Dylan’s projected autobiography begins and ends with a fascinating musician in a cold New York of the 1960s. The middle, however, drags with the musings of a self-important middle-aged man.
The Plot Against America. By Philip Roth. Houghton Mifflin; 400 pages; $26.
A novel about what happens to one Jewish family—the Roths of Newark, indeed—when America’s welcome is gradually rescinded. The book imagines a nasty turn in American politics in the 1930s, when Charles Lindbergh, an aviator with strong Nazi sympathies, wins the presidential election on an isolationist ticket. An extraordinary description of how history can encroach upon ordinary lives.
In Tasmania. By Nicholas Shakespeare. The Harvill Press; 320 pages
For many people, Tasmania is an island of the imagination, distant and alluring. Nicholas Shakespeare weaves a cast of unlikely characters into 200 years of Tasmanian history.
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to read:
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Norton; 567 pages; $10
A surprise bestseller of the year. Not only does the report provide an authoritative and well-written account of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, but it also offers wise words on the need for joined-up thinking in the West about how to win the war against radical Islamism.
Snow. By Orhan Pamuk. Knopf; 448 pages; $26. Faber and Faber
A novel about the tensions between Turkey’s urban, secularist elite and their long-derided Islamist opponents. By the leading interpreter of Turkish society to the western world, it deals with such familiar Pamuk themes as faith, identity and betrayal.
The Master. By Colm Toibin. Scribner; 352 pages; $25.
In this novel, short-listed for the Man Booker prize, the author insinuates himself under the skin of Henry James, covering not only the known episodes in the literary lion’s life, but also imagining the darker corners. One of a handful of recent novels that have to do with James, Mr Toibin’s portrayal of innocence, shyness and even wisdom confirms him as a master craftsman.
Chronicles: Volume One. By Bob Dylan. Simon & Schuster; 304 pages; $24
It is the best of books, it is the worst of books. The first volume of Bob Dylan’s projected autobiography begins and ends with a fascinating musician in a cold New York of the 1960s. The middle, however, drags with the musings of a self-important middle-aged man.
The Plot Against America. By Philip Roth. Houghton Mifflin; 400 pages; $26.
A novel about what happens to one Jewish family—the Roths of Newark, indeed—when America’s welcome is gradually rescinded. The book imagines a nasty turn in American politics in the 1930s, when Charles Lindbergh, an aviator with strong Nazi sympathies, wins the presidential election on an isolationist ticket. An extraordinary description of how history can encroach upon ordinary lives.
In Tasmania. By Nicholas Shakespeare. The Harvill Press; 320 pages
For many people, Tasmania is an island of the imagination, distant and alluring. Nicholas Shakespeare weaves a cast of unlikely characters into 200 years of Tasmanian history.
posted by D @ 7:02 AM
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