Category: Book Reviews

June 22, 2011

The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb *** (of 4)

Until the 1950s scientists and athletes believed that running a mile in under four minutes was physiologically impossible when suddenly three athletes — a Brit,...

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May 29, 2011

Talkative Man by R.K. Narayan *** (of 4)

In the small fictional Indian town of Malgudi an independent, very amateur journalist pauses over coffee to tell a story. His subject is the mysterious,...

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May 26, 2011

The Frozen Rabbi by Steve Stern *** (of 4)

A Chasidic Rabbi from the olden country goes out to meditate on the meaning of God, falls into a trance, and then a lake that...

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May 22, 2011

Bottom of the 33rd by Dan Barry

The story of the longest baseball game on record: A 33-inning minor league game. Apparently full of philosophy, “Because we are bound by duty. Because...

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May 1, 2011

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff **** (of 4)

Stacy Schiff doesn’t just bring the most powerful woman in history to life, she brings her readers on location. We face every decision Cleopatra contends...

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May 1, 2011

When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka *** (of 4)

A short introduction to the dehumanizing, racist relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps at the outset of World War II. We follow a single,...

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May 1, 2011

Insectopedia by Hugh Raffles ** (of 4)

It had great promise. An A to Z series of essays on the most numerous, weighty, and least talked about organisms on earth chronicled by...

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April 8, 2011

The Seer of Shadows by Avi ** (of 4)

The time is 1870s, the first widespread use of photography for regular people. It is Manhattan and the wealthy are beginning to pay for the...

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April 3, 2011

Create Dangerously by Edwidge Danticat *** (of 4)

Twelve essays by Danticat as she wrestles with the meaning of being an immigrant — neither from here, nor there — and the devastating history...

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March 29, 2011

The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall *** (of 4)

Mr. Vish Puri, chief detective of the Most Private Investigating Company, solves Delhi crimes. Well, he solves crimes when he isn’t investigating philandering spouses. The...

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