July 18, 2004

Hardcover Highlights

ONFICTION | FICTION Bling By ERICA KENNEDY Hip-hop gossip lit makes its inevitable arrival with this satirical novel featuring thuggish rappers, bratty models and greedy record executives. Conspirators By MICHAEL ANDRÉ BERNSTEIN Michael André Bernstein's novel of European intrigue in the years surrounding World War I evokes a decadent and self-absorbed world. Four Souls By LOUISE ERDRICH In this novel, an American Indian woman seeks revenge against the timber baron who has robbed her reservation of much of its land. The Hollywood Dodo By GEOFF NICHOLSON In Geoff Nicholson's satire, an Englishman visits Hollywood and emerges scathed. The Lemon Table: Stories By JULIAN BARNES Julian Barnes's collection concerns itself with old age and aging, territory upon which he imposes a fine variety of plots and moods. Natasha: And Other Stories By DAVID BEZMOZGIS David Bezmozgis's collection of linked stories follows the fortunes of a family of immigrants in Canada. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination By HELEN FIELDING A Bridget Jones clone (but thinner) falls for a guy who might be a terrorist. The Sari Shop By RUPA BAJWA In this debut novel, a lowly shop assistant comes face to face with the wider world. Sweet Land Stories By E. L. DOCTOROW E. L. Doctorow's stories depict criminality and hatefulness, but they are told in a spirit of sweet affirmation. You Remind Me of Me By DAN CHAON A first novel explores the intertwined fates of marginal, small-town people. NONFICTION | FICTION American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps By PHILIP WEISS In 1976, a young Peace Corps volunteer was murdered in Tonga. Then the crime was swept under the rug, reports Philip Weiss in a new book. Battle Ready By TOM CLANCY with TONY ZINNI and TONY KOLTZ With help from Tom Clancy, Tony Zinni describes what the heat of battle is like. Beasts of Eden: Walking Whales, Dawn Horses, and Other Enigmas of Mammal Evolution By DAVID RAINS WALLACE David Rains Wallace follows the trail of bone hunters and the intellectual battles that some of these paleontologists waged with one another. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim By DAVID SEDARIS As if to compensate for his plush new life as a publishing-world rock star, David Sedaris has perfected the quick, tidy, sermonical soul-search. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization By FRANKLIN FOER Franklin Foer might not prove the thesis suggested by his book's title, but he's written an eccentric, fascinating exposé of soccer and its fans. "I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa By CHARLES BRANDT Based on tape-recorded interviews, Charles Brandt tells the story of Frank Sheeran, a hit man who claims he shot Jimmy Hoffa. Letters, 1928-1946 By ISAIAH BERLIN The correspondence of a towering intellectual maps out much of 20th-century England's social and literary history. Politics: Observations & Arguments, 1966-2004 By HENDRIK HERTZBERG Hendrik Hertzberg, who has been writing about the carnival of American politics since the 1960's, has released a collection of his work. The Second Mark: Courage, Corruption, and the Battle for Olympic Gold By JOY GOODWIN A producer for ABC revisits the Salt Lake City Olympics pairs skating scandal. Sirio: The Story of My Life and Le Cirque By SIRIO MACCIONI and PETER ELLIOT A look back at the career of Sirio Maccioni, Le Cirque's owner, who introduced simple Italian cooking into the Francocentric world of haute cuisine. So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful of Record Executives and Other True Tales From a Drummer's Life By JACOB SLICHTER The drummer for the Minneapolis power-pop band Semisonic focuses in this memoir on the often banal work of becoming a rock star. Why We Do It: Rethinking Sex and the Selfish Gene By NILES ELDREDGE Sex is not the ultimate aim of life, says the eminent paleontologist Niles Eldredge, taking a stand against evolutionary psychology. Wilco: Learning How to Die By GREG KOT Greg Kot has written an entertaining book about Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, who try to make iconoclastic music in an era of corporate consolidation. A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck By JANE SMILEY The novelist Jane Smiley, an owner and breeder of horses, celebrates her passion for the sport of kings in a memoir.

RECENTLY ON THE COVER OF THE BOOK REVIEW Red Grooms By THOMAS HOVING For half a century, Red Grooms has redeemed New York by poking fun at it; now a glorious fat art book joins the party. My Life By BILL CLINTON Bill Clinton's memoir is, by a generous measure, the richest American presidential autobiography. Oblivion: Stories By DAVID FOSTER WALLACE The narrator of David Foster Wallace's stories is aware of everything, all the time. The Master By COLM TOIBIN Alone at the hub of Colm Toibin's novel stands Henry James, a man made cold by his ruthless dedication to his art. Dylan's Visions of Sin By CHRISTOPHER RICKS The great British literary critic performs a close reading of Bob Dylan's words. Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul By TONY HENDRA In this extraordinary spiritual memoir, Tony Hendra, an alum of National Lampoon, learns to accept God's love with the help of a monk. On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (and Always Have) in the Future Tense By DAVID BROOKS David Brooks separates Americans according to their values and habits, then puts them back together again. Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution By NEIL LANCTOT This history of black baseball from 1933 through the 1960's provides a context for the story of the game's integration. Plan of Attack By BOB WOODWARD Bob Woodward's book lives up to the hype, offering by far the most intimate glimpse we have been granted of the secretive Bush White House. Nothing Lost By JOHN GREGORY DUNNE John Gregory Dunne's final novel revolves around a black drifter, his killers and a publicity-hungry supermodel. Alexander Hamilton By RON CHERNOW Ron Chernow's life of Hamilton portrays this neglected founding father as the architect of American economic might. Blue Blood By EDWARD CONLON An N.Y.P.D. detective tells what it's like to be given a gun by a city that doesn't trust cops. Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror By RICHARD A. CLARKE Former counterterrorism coordinator Richard A. Clarke's memoir made headlines — and it's a thumping good read. In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat. By RICK ATKINSON A reporter with the troops in Iraq found that the biggest what-ifs were the what-afters concerning the occupation. Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585-1828 By WALTER A. McDOUGALL By 1828, America was a great, rich country. How did we do it? The historian Walter A. McDougall replies: by letting hustlers hustle. Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett By JENNIFER GONNERMAN In her book about an ex-convict, Jennifer Gonnerman shows the extent to which imprisonment has been normalized in some communities.