Blogcritics

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of June 2, 2008

Kevin Eagan — Tue, 3 Jun 2008 00:29:12 EDT

The summer reading season is here, and The Early Word is here to steer you in the right direction.
The Early Word finally returns from its spring slumber, and what a perfect week to come back in full force with the latest best-selling books to line your summer shelves (or beach bags, if you're one of the lucky few). In both fiction and nonfiction, there's plenty of mystery and intrigue to keep you busy reading, and the summer book season...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of February 17, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:32:10 EST

Deepak Chopra, Nora Roberts, J.D. Robb, Lisa Scottoline, Michael Palmer, Elizabeth Moon, Jacqueline Winspear...
Go to the bookstores and buy the latest in mysteries, thrillers, and police procedurals. Why? Because George Washington and Abe Lincoln would have wanted it that way. FICTION:In Lady Killer by Lisa Scottoline, Philadelphia attorney Mary DiNunzio, last seen in Killer Smile (2004), agrees to help her high school rival Trish Gambone, "the...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of February 10, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:24:22 EST

Benazir Bhutto, Susan Jacoby's Age of American Unreason, Michael Scheuer's Marching Toward Hell; Grimes, Higgins, Toltz, McDaniel, Millhauser, Divakaruni, Baxter, Berenson...
My Funny Valentine......Is your figure less than GreekIs your mouth a little weakWhen you open it to speakAre you smart?I hope so, because there's not a mush-headed love story to be had amid this week's quirky comic tales, novels of insidious suspense, and cautionary accounts. So unless you want to settle for another last-minute...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of January 27, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:54:28 EST

FICTION: Grisham, Krentz, Banks; All Shall Be Well, And All Shall Be Well, And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well. NONFICTION: Stranger than Fiction.
There's some promising novels testing the early, brisk 2008 waters a little more boldly than the screaming January ninnies thus far -- running a mini-gamut of sorts from better-than-expected blockbusters like John Grisham to tasty morsels such as Pat Barker's latest and a debut novel from Tod Wodicka that's garnering high critical...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of January 20, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:03:45 EST

Kinsella, King, Cornwell, Delinsky, Martin, Lescroart, Schwartz; plus the Race Card, the Electronic Mob, Reflections on Hillary Clinton, Predictions from the Experts...
Another Britney-Free "Early Word"! And it looks like Momma Spears' Down-Home Parenting For Dummies done got put on hold. Go figure... NONFICTION:Race Card: How Bluffing about Bias Makes Race Relations Worse by Richard Thompson FordIn a world of wayward hand-wringing in which self-serving individuals and political hacks use accusations...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of January 13, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:40:08 EST

Stephen King, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Newt Gingrich, Tom Cruise, Stuart Woods, Delinsky, Bernhardt, Cornwell, Corporate Whistleblower, Whyte, Bush Tragedy...
This week’s new releases feature a couple of supernatural stories sure to scare up some sales, and though I’m not talking about the new Tom Cruise biography, one is a nonfiction title. Jennifer Finney Boylan’s I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted is a memoir about growing up in a spook-filled Pennsylvania mansion known...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of January 6, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 7 Jan 2008 05:38:31 EST

Roddy Doyle, Janet Evanovich, Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism, Madeleine Albright and Bill Woodward's Memo to the President-Elect, Kelly Corrigan, Bernhard Schlink, Sue Miller...
2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008, 2008... There, that should do me fine for now -- hope you don't mind me using the space for the "new year check-writing and what-not" practice. Oh, very well -- here's a list of new books, too:NONFICTION: Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation from Hegel to Whole Foods by...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of December 23, 2007

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 07:23:50 EST

It's uncanny: On Christmas morning you can tell a book by its cover. Bookstores have new gifts this week. Be canny and make an exchange.
You wouldn’t think that the week or two following Christmas would be ideal times to come out with new book releases. But book lovers can tell an obvious duplicate or unwanted gift by looking at its cover, or are especially itchin’ to use those just-received gift certificates -- and rather than wait and wait for depleted product to be...

The Early Word: New Books For The Weeks Of December 9 & 16, 2007

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sun, 9 Dec 2007 09:51:27 EST

Condoleezza Rice, George H.W. Bush, Steve Berry, Cecelia Ahern, J.D. Robb, Chris Ware, Tao Te Ching, World War II, Why Women Wear What They Wear...
Special Double Issue this week! The only other time I do this, of course, is with the Early Word Swimsuit Edition in Summer. Merry Christmas!FICTION:There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia AhernBestselling author Cecelia Ahern, the daughter of Ireland's prime minister and the author of three previous novels, returns with the whimsical and...

The Early Word: New Books For The Week Of November 25, 2007

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:23:58 EST

Satiety�s just a page away: Koontz, Buchanan, Gabaldon, Dietz, Enright, Sandra Brown, George R.R. Martin, David Drake... 'Tis just as good to get.
Ah, the season for giving. So, as a grateful getter, let me make use of this week's new book release schedule to do some major hinting around about what others can give me for Christmas this year. And it's real easy, too, if you just remember my ever-changing bipolar brain and its schizophrenic needs. This time around, satiety's just a...