Poet’s Kinship With the President
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
On Wednesday the inaugural planners will announce that Richard Blanco will be the 2013 inaugural poet, joining the ranks of notables like Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.
Book News & Reviews
Patricia Wall/The New York Times
Books of The Times
‘Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History’
By MICHAEL L. GILLETTE
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
“Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History” shows in Mrs. Johnson’s own words how she developed into an assertive first lady and an environmental pioneer who was decades ahead of her time.
Richard Ben Cramer, Writer Of Big Ambitions, Dies at 62
By MARGALIT FOX
Mr. Cramer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, was the author of “What It Takes,” an intimate, deeply reported account of the 1988 presidential election.
Books of The Times
‘Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti’
By AMY WILENTZ
Reviewed by MICHIKO KAKUTANI
The “Fred Voodoo” referred to in the title of Amy Wilentz’s new book represents to her all the stereotypes outsiders have come to attach to Haitians.
Books of The Times
‘The Dude and the Zen Master’
By JEFF BRIDGES and BERNIE GLASSMAN
Reviewed by MARK OPPENHEIMER
“The Dude and the Zen Master” is an incomplete and spotty guide to Zen philosophy, where sometimes the Dude-ism and the Buddhism mix in a helpful way.
Off the Shelf
The Military Machine as a Management Wreck
By FRED ANDREWS
In “Bleeding Talent,” a new book, Tim Kane urges a dose of classic economics to overhaul the military structure. “In terms of managing talent,” he says, “the U.S. military is doing everything wrong.”
Books of The Times
A Nerdy-Dirty Primer on Primal Urges
By DWIGHT GARNER
The School of Life, a new Picador series, includes self-help books by Alain de Botton and Philippa Perry.
General Details Pentagon Tensions With Obama on Afghanistan
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
In a long-awaited memoir, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says disputes with the White House began at the beginning of President Obama’s first term.
An Uncomfortable Tale, Told Anew
By FELICIA R. LEE
The Huntington Theater Company is providing the biggest stage yet for Oren Jacoby’s theatrical adaptation of “Invisible Man,” the classic Ralph Ellison novel.
The Family Franchise
By LAURA M. HOLSON
Nathaniel and Simon Rich, the sons of Frank Rich and Gail Winston, make being celebrity siblings look like a walk in the park.
A Careful Writer Stalks the Truth About Scientology
By CHARLES McGRATH
Lawrence Wright’s book “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief” explains that more people appear willing to discuss Scientology’s image problems.
Books of The Times
‘Gun Machine’
By WARREN ELLIS
Reviewed by CHARLES McGRATH
In Warren Ellis’s “Gun Machine” a murderous psychopath who believes he is a resident of pre-colonial Manhattan is tracked by a messy, isolated police detective.
Media Decoder Blog
Barnes & Noble Faces Steep Challenge as Holiday Nook Sales Decline
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
The company's Nook unit suffered a 12.6 percent decline in sales compared with the same period a year earlier, a blow to its hopes of building up its digital division to compete with behemoths like Amazon.com.
George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You’ll Read This Year
By JOEL LOVELL
The brutal, beautiful vision of a great American storyteller.
Books of The Times
‘Pow!’
By MO YAN
Reviewed by DWIGHT GARNER
Meat plays an outsize role in the demented behavior in Mo Yan’s novel “Pow!”
Sunday Book Review
Olaf Hajek
‘The Twelve Tribes of Hattie’
By AYANA MATHIS
Reviewed by ISABEL WILKERSON
Set against the backdrop of the Great Migration, Ayana Mathis’s novel is a brutal and poetic allegory about a family beset by tribulations.
Francine Prose: By the Book
The author, whose recent books include “The Turning” and “Reading Like a Writer,” enjoys skimming writers’ memoirs for gossip about people she knows.
‘Love Song: The Lives of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya’
By ETHAN MORDDEN
Reviewed by ALLAN KOZINN
Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya inhabited several countries and genres.
‘The Tale of the Heike’
Translated by ROYALL TYLER
Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER BENFEY
Combining various narrative styles, Royall Tyler translates a medieval Japanese saga of pride, romance and warfare.
‘A Man of Misconceptions’
By JOHN GLASSIE
Reviewed by JAD ABUMRAD
John Glassie’s subject, an intensely curious 17th-century thinker, tried to explain a rapidly changing world.
‘Me Before You’
By JOJO MOYES
Reviewed by LIESL SCHILLINGER
In Jojo Moyes’s novel, the young assistant to a quadriplegic devises adventures they can undertake together.
‘The Barbarous Years’
By BERNARD BAILYN
Reviewed by CHARLES C. MANN
Bernard Bailyn argues that the early settlers were a “mixed multitude” who created disparate American cultures.
‘Love Is a Canoe’
By BEN SCHRANK
Reviewed by DEAN BAKOPOULOS
Her marriage in trouble, a young New York professional turns to the self-help book she loved as a child.
‘The End of Your Life Book Club’
By WILL SCHWALBE
Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER R. BEHA
How a man and his mother connected during her final illness.
‘Life Goes On’
By HANS KEILSON. Translated by DAMION SEARLS.
Reviewed by JUDITH SHULEVITZ
Originally published in 1933, Hans Keilson’s autobiographical first novel paints a bleak picture of life in Weimar Germany.
‘The Physics of Wall Street’
By JAMES OWEN WEATHERALL
Reviewed by FLOYD NORRIS
Physicists have applied their science (successfully) to some of the thorniest problems in economics, James Owen Weatherall argues.
Crime
Stolen Life
By MARILYN STASIO
In “Daddy Love,” Joyce Carol Oates writes about a young boy snatched from the parking lot of a mall.
‘What's a Dog For?’
By JOHN HOMANS
Reviewed by WALTER VATTER
A look at the relationship between dogs and people.
‘The Care and Feeding of Exotic Pets’
By DIANA WAGMAN
Reviewed by LYDIA MILLET
Diana Wagman’s heroine encounters a deranged iguana owner.
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PAPERBACK
Back Page
The Book Boys of Mumbai
By SONIA FALEIRO
Young peddlers in Mumbai can rattle off the titles of the pirated books they sell, but they cannot tell you what’s inside.
Books That Even a Critic Could Love
By JANET MASLIN
The daily book critics of The New York Times choose their favorite books of the year.
- 10 Favorite Books: Michiko Kakutani | Janet Maslin | Dwight Garner
Book Review Podcast
This week, John Homans talks about “What’s a Dog For?”; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; Allan Kozinn discusses Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.
Book Review Features
Inside the List
By GREGORY COWLES
Thirty years ago on the best-seller list, James Michener’s “Space” was one of several books grappling with the final frontier.
The 10 Best Books of 2012
The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.
Favorite Book Cover Designs of 2012
Some of the year’s best book covers, chosen by people in and around the world of graphic design.
Goodbye, Frustration: Pen Put Aside, Roth Talks
By CHARLES McGRATH
Philip Roth discussed his decision to stop writing fiction: “I knew I wasn’t going to get another good idea, or if I did, I’d have to slave over it.”
Richard Ben Cramer On and Off the Field
January 8, 2013
Historians Look Back, and Inward, at Annual Meeting
January 4, 2013
Thomas Pynchon to Publish New Book
January 4, 2013
Style
Books Of Style
Uncommon Advice for Seeking a Fresh Start
By LIESL SCHILLINGER
A book about self-image, another about diet and one about habits do not follow the usual self-help path.
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