Book Reviews

Book review: Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco

Book review: Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco

By John Lucas | March 18, 2010
The footnotes Joe Sacco refers to in the title of his latest—and arguably his most ambitious—work of graphic journalism are people.
Book review: The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason

Book review: The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason

By Michael Hingston | March 18, 2010
Zachary Mason’s novel makes a compelling case for literature’s fundamental elasticity.
Book review: Point Omega by Don DeLillo

Book review: Point Omega by Don DeLillo

By Michael Hingston | March 11, 2010
Don DeLillo's new novel, Point Omega, clocks in at just over 100 pages, and is consumed on every level with silence.

Book review: Country Driving by Peter Hessler

By David Chau | March 11, 2010
After obtaining a Chinese driver’s licence, Peter Hessler, a staff writer for the New Yorker, travelled the road developments that were transforming the sprawling nation.
Book review: The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

Book review: The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

By Mark Harris | March 4, 2010
It’s taken the English-speaking world a while to twig to this fact, but the Swedes have replaced the Scots at the apex of the crime-writing pyramid.
Book review: The Parabolist by Nicholas Ruddock

Book review: The Parabolist by Nicholas Ruddock

By Michael Hingston | March 4, 2010
At the centre of the debut novel by Guelph, Ontario’s Nicholas Ruddock is a highfalutin philosophy trumpeted by a (fictional) group of Mexican poets circa 1975.
Book review: Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas

Book review: Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas

By Alexander Varty | February 18, 2010
Nadine Cohodas’s straightforward but enlightening biography provides an almost day-by-day account of Nina Simone’s life that adds to our understanding of both her immense talent and her equally gargantuan ego.
Book review: The Politics of Black Women's Hair by Althea Prince

Book review: The Politics of Black Women's Hair by Althea Prince

By Juliane Okot Bitek | February 18, 2010
In her latest book, The Politics of Black Women’s Hair, Althea Prince explores whether hair should be seen as a political statement among black women.
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Book review: The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

Book review: The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

By John Lekich | February 4, 2010
In The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, biographer Joan Schenkar offers a remarkably compelling look at the complex personality of novelist Patricia Highsmith.

Book review: We Are All Made Of Glue by Marina Lewycka

By Patty Jones | February 4, 2010
In case you were wondering: yes, the Holocaust, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the 1984 U.K. coal miners’ strike can in fact all coexist in one kooky-comic novel.
Book review: Kaspoit! by Dennis E. Bolen

Book review: Kaspoit! by Dennis E. Bolen

By Alexander Varty | January 21, 2010
“Kaspoit”, apparently, is the sound of a beer can being opened, but you’ll want a shot of something stronger once you’ve finished Vancouver author Dennis E. Bolen’s fifth novel.
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Book review: VU: The Story of a Magazine by Michel Frizot and Cédric de Veigy

Book review: VU: The Story of a Magazine by Michel Frizot and Cédric de Veigy

By Jennifer Croll | January 21, 2010
One of the trailblazers that put photography front and centre was French newsmagazine VU, the subject of this coffee-table tome from Michel Frizot and Cédric de Veigy.
Book review: The Moon of Letting Go by Richard Van Camp

Book review: The Moon of Letting Go by Richard Van Camp

By Alexander Varty | January 14, 2010
Richard Van Camp is a magical storyteller in the old-school sense, fully capable of holding an audience enthralled with his voice alone.
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Book review: Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

By Michael Hingston | January 14, 2010
The freewheeling eighth novel by Brooklyn’s Jonathan Lethem takes place in an alternate-universe version of Manhattan, though the degree of its unreality is never clearly defined.
Book review: Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

Book review: Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

By Michael Hingston | January 7, 2010
When faced with a book of essays, especially one that isn’t tied to a single, unifying topic, it’s tempting to leaf through the table of contents, cherry-pick the best entries, and discard the rest. But this isn’t possible with Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays.
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