Recent Reviews
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/20/Web-Resampled/2012-06-20/books0620charles--145x100.jpg)
Mark Haddon’s ‘The Red House,’ reviewed by Ron Charles
In Mark Haddon’s “The Red House,” a week of vacation unpacks years of conflict.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/blogs/spacer.gif)
‘Homer’ is a tale of contentment
Elisha Cooper’s picture book for young readers is about a very happy observer of the world.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/18/BookWorld/Images/books0620nolan.jpg)
‘Barnum’s Bones’ by Tracey Fern
“Barnum’s Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World,” by Tracey Fern
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img2.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/18/BookWorld/Images/books0620quattlebaum.jpg)
‘The Drowned Cities,’ by Paolo Bacigalupi
“The Drowned Cities,” a thrilling companion to “Ship Breaker,” by Paolo Bacigalupi.
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‘Beautiful Ruins’ by Jess Walter
“Beautiful Ruins”combines nostalgia and lost love on the romantic Italian coast and adventures in cutthroat Hollywood.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/blogs/spacer.gif)
“Never Tell”
New York detective Ellie Hatcher returns in “Never Tell,” Alafair Burke’s fast-paced sequel about a suicide case.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img2.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/12/BookWorld/Images/books0613robertson.jpg)
A late friend’s journals reveal a secret side
Why do we keep secrets from those we love most? That’s one question in Nichole Bernier’s bittersweet novel “The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.”
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img3.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/12/Web-Resampled/2012-06-12/books0613weeks--145x100.jpg)
Love is not blind in ‘Helen Keller in Love’
Only a brave novelist would imagine a complex romantic narrative for someone as chronicled as Helen Keller, but Rosie Sultan does that in “Helen Keller in Love.”
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img3.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/05/Style/Images/2012-05-10T091941Z_2_CBRE8490PCA00_RTROPTP_3_REVIEW-US-BOOKS-AUTHORS-SPACEK.jpg)
Book Review: ‘My Extraordinary Ordinary Life’
In a refreshingly down-to-earth and often beautifully written book, Sissy Spacek reminds us why she’s been a cinematic fixture for nearly four decades.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/08/Web-Resampled/2012-06-08/books0609bonos2--145x100.jpeg)
‘Aerogrammes’: Crisp tales of kinship
Washington writer Tania James infuses the real and the clearly imagined with a deftly drawn authenticity.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/blogs/spacer.gif)
In age of social media, ‘Wife 22’ clicks
Melanie Gideon delivers a comedy of manners that’s as up-to-the-minute as your favorite Twitter feed.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://img3.wpdigital.net/rf/image_145x100/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/06/Web-Resampled/2012-06-06/books0607dirda--145x100.jpg)
An ‘arch-conjuror’s’ royal relevance
Glyn Parry’s ‘The Arch-Conjuror of England’ about notorious mathemetician John Dee focuses mainly on his relationship to the court and government of England.
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A perfect summer romp
REVIEW | Maggie Shipstead’s novel borrows tropes from classic romantic comedies.
Sunday reviews
Ron Charles
![Ron Charles](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/ron-charles_80x72.jpg)
Mark Haddon’s ‘The Red House,’ reviewed by Ron Charles
In Mark Haddon’s “The Red House,” a week of vacation unpacks years of conflict.
Ron Charles
![Ron Charles](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/ron-charles_80x72.jpg)
John Lanchester’s ‘Capital’
In vivid, short chapters, we meet London residents who have no idea that by the end of the year, a bank in New York will collapse and throw the economy into chaos.
Ron Charles
![Ron Charles](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/ron-charles_80x72.jpg)
A perfect summer romp
REVIEW | Maggie Shipstead’s novel borrows tropes from classic romantic comedies.
Michael Dirda
![Michael Dirda](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/04/04/Web-Resampled/2011-04-04/michael-dirda_80x72--78x70.jpg)
Review: “The Sovereignties of Invention”
The book of 11 parables and fantasies by Matthew Battles will reel you in but leave you thinking, ”Huh?”
Michael Dirda
![Michael Dirda](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/04/04/Web-Resampled/2011-04-04/michael-dirda_80x72--78x70.jpg)
Portrait of the author as a man
Gordon Bowker’s new biography of the famed Irish writer James Joyce is a warts-and-all account.
Michael Dirda
![Michael Dirda](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/04/04/Web-Resampled/2011-04-04/michael-dirda_80x72--78x70.jpg)
An ‘arch-conjuror’s’ royal relevance
Glyn Parry’s ‘The Arch-Conjuror of England’ about notorious mathemetician John Dee focuses mainly on his relationship to the court and government of England.
Jonathan Yardley
![Jonathan Yardley](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/jonathan-yardley_80x72.jpg)
“City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age”
P.D. Smith’s guidback to urban life is the best primer on cities since Lewis Mumford’s classic “The City in History”
Jonathan Yardley
![Jonathan Yardley](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120621063410im_/http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Staff-Bio/Images/jonathan-yardley_80x72.jpg)
“Paris In Love”
Eloisa James chronicles her family’s soujourn in Paris and her fascination with Paris shopping and food.
Literary Calendar
Going Out Guide: Upcoming events
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Get the latest on readings, signings and author appearances in the D.C. area.
Best books of 2011
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