 |
|
|
|
|
| Featured Reviews |
|
|  | Neville, Katherine THE FIRE
September 01, 2008 - Belated sequel to The Eight (1988), Neville's sprawling mystical-thriller debut novel about a quest to locate and decipher the secrets encrypted in an antique bejeweled chess set. Packed with the sort of bamboozling twaddle that should come with a warning: Belief in Alchemy Required. Still, fans of The Eight, Dan Brown, etc., will jump right in.
|
| | Friedman, Thomas L. HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED
September 01, 2008 - The world is flat, New York Times columnist Friedman told us in his bestselling 2005 book of that name. Now things are getting worse, and the clock is ticking. Americans have squandered most of the goodwill extended since 9/11, writes Friedman, and in the years of the Bush administration no thought has been given to what 9/12 is supposed to look like.
|
| Current Issue: Fiction |
|
 | Bolaýýo, Roberto 2666
September 15, 2008 - Published posthumously in a single volume, despite its author's instruction that it appear as five distinct novels, it's a symphonic envisioning of moral and societal collapse, which begins with a mordantly amusing account ("The Part About the |
| Havill, Steven F. THE FOURTH TIME IS MURDER
September 15, 2008 - Speaking on behalf of A Woman's World, a national magazine of considerable distinction, respected writer Madelyn Bolles has a proposition. If the undersheriff is amenable, she'll be profiled in depth as a woman whose accomplishments other women are |
| Leigh, Julia DISQUIET
September 15, 2008 - A woman arrives at the gate of a large French estate. She has a suitcase, a broken arm and two children. A stone wall and an electronic security system separate the woman, the boy and the girl from the château inside. Undeterred, the woman leads her |
| Schulze, Ingo NEW LIVES
September 15, 2008 - The postmodernist author maintains he is merely editing the writings of a disgraced businessman whose post-unification newspaper empire collapsed in the late 1990s. Schulze has "discovered" a series of letters written by Enrico (aka Heinrich) Türmer |
| Current Issue: Nonfiction |
|
| Greene, Graham GRAHAM GREENE
September 15, 2008 - Greene (1904–91) was a highly educated and ultra-sophisticated literary artist who dabbled compulsively in political engagement and thrill-seeking; a thoughtful Catholic communicant with a pronounced agnostic strain and a querulous skepticism; and a |
| Lemonick, Michael D. THE GEORGIAN STAR
September 15, 2008 - Son of a German musician, William Herschel (1738–1822) emigrated to England as a young man, eventually finding steady employment in the upscale resort city of Bath. A workaholic who supported his huge family by teaching, performing and conducting, |
| Mordden, Ethan ZIEGFELD
September 15, 2008 - Ever the witty and erudite raconteur, Mordden (All That Glittered: The Golden Age of Drama on Broadway, 1919–1959, 2007, etc.) transports readers to the time when Times Square was just an intersection of streets. Shortly after Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. |
| Plait, Philip DEATH FROM THE SKIES!
September 15, 2008 - After a brief introduction, astronomer Plait (Bad Astronomy, 2002) gets down to business with asteroid strikes. The chapter begins with a fictionalized episode that leads to the arrival of the killer planetoid. The author then steps back to relate |
| Prophet, Erin PROPHET'S DAUGHTER
September 15, 2008 - The Church Universal and Triumphant, which Prophet estimates to have had 40,000 followers worldwide at its peak, was an offshoot of earlier New Age movements combining Christian teachings, Eastern religious concepts and the channeling of messages |
| Spawforth, Tony VERSAILLES
September 15, 2008 - British scholar Spawforth (Ancient History/Newcastle Univ.; The Complete Greek Temples, 2006, etc.) details the construction, restoration and daily intrigues at the royal palace—the opulent official residence and center of government—from the reign |
| Current Issue: Children's |
|
| Barkley, Brad JARS OF GLASS
September 15, 2008 - With their institutionalized mother lostin a fog of visions and voices, Chloe and Shana find themselvesliving witha frayed, alcoholicfather and a silentfour-year-old who finds comfort in spoonfuls of sugar.Through alternating chapters related |
| Cooper, Floyd WILLIE AND THE ALL-STARS
September 15, 2008 - In 1942 on Chicago's North Side, Willie, a young African-American boy, dreams of becoming a great baseball player in the Major Leagues, like Joe DiMaggio or Dizzy Dean. When he hears the old men in the street talking about Cool Papa Bell and other |
| Denenberg, Barry LINCOLN SHOT
September 15, 2008 - Designed by Rich Deas to resemble in both look and size a yellowed memorial issue of a 19th-century tabloid, this one-year-later account of Lincoln's youth and political career features a linked set of lengthy, sharply analytical articles and a |
| Grant, Judyann Ackerman CHICKEN SAID, "CLUCK!"
September 15, 2008 - New readers and new gardeners alike will cluck with pleasure at the adventures of Earl and Pearl. Earl and Pearl want to grow pumpkins, so they set off, seed packet and shovel in hand, to begin their new garden. Pesky Chicken wants in on the fun, |
| Juby, Susan GETTING THE GIRL
September 15, 2008 - Sherman Mack, dorky ninth-grader and girl enthusiast, turns detective when his crush seems on the verge of being D-listed: Ifa girl's photo appears on bathroom mirrors with a circled letter D, she's immediately rendered invisible.These |
| Lanagan, Margo TENDER MORSELS
September 15, 2008 - Lanagan's debut U.S. novel after three spectacular short-story collections, including the Printz Honor-winning Black Juice (2005), scintillates, titillates and altogether wows. Her trademark linguistic gyrations bring life to this reimagined, |
| Layson, Annelex Hofstra LOST CHILDHOOD
September 15, 2008 - When Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies in 1942, four-year-old Annelex's comfortable colonial world turned upside down. With her pilot father away at war, her family was among 300,000 Europeans and Eurasians interned for years in Japanese prison |
| Link, Kelly PRETTY MONSTERS
September 15, 2008 - Although some of Link's work appears in other YA and adult short-story anthologies, this is her first collection wholly aimed at a young-adult audience. Weirdly wonderful and a touch macabre, the nine short stories take readers into worlds with |
| McKissack, Patricia C. STITCHIN' AND PULLIN'
September 15, 2008 - McKissack's series of poems tells the story of and honors the history of the women quilters of Gee's Bend, Ala. For years, these emancipated former slaves existed out of the mainstream before being "discovered" and celebrated for preserving a unique |
| Nelson, Marilyn THE FREEDOM BUSINESS
September 15, 2008 - An astonishing, heartbreaking cycle of poems is set in counterpoint against the slave narrative that inspired them. Venture Smith, born Broteer Furro in Guinea, was captured and enslaved at the age of six and brought to America in 1738. Moving from |
| Perkins, Lynne Rae THE CARDBOARD PIANO
September 15, 2008 - Debbie, of 2005's Newbery-winning Criss Cross, reappears in a book for younger readers that quietly underscores the truth that friends can still be friends even if they have different enthusiasms and interests. Debbie's desire to share her piano |
| Raschka, Chris PETER AND THE WOLF
September 15, 2008 - Language chosen for its sound at least as much as for its meaning lends an improvisatory air to this rendition of Prokofiev's musical tale, and theatrical illustrations definitely kick things up an additional notch. Having introduced themselves, the |
| Reibstein, Mark WABI SABI
September 15, 2008 - The Japanese concept of wabi sabi, or the art of finding "beauty and harmony in what is simple," is explored textually and visually in this story of a Japanese cat named Wabi Sabi who wonders what her name means when a visitor asks her mistress. |
|
|
|
|
| Online Exclusive
|
| Reader Beware
August 15, 2008 - Eighth-grade grammar is of direct use for very few professions. Copyediting is one of them. Good copyeditors, who remember eighth-grade as well as, or better than, their first kisses, are worth their weight in platinum. And when copyediting is not done well, everybody suffers. Our reputation to the contrary, Kirkus reviewers can be a forgiving lot: We typically review from galleys and have grown accustomed to reading past typos and other errors, confident that the publication team's copyeditors will correct them in the finished books. This doesn't always happen. Consider the case of one of the best young-adult books of the year.
|
|
|
| Coming Soon |
| BOOKS SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW
Click here for the updated list of the books scheduled for review in one of the upcoming issues of Kirkus Reviews.
|
|
|
|
|
.gif?JSESSIONID=CRSgLFkQ7jHgN3NVbckQk9VBQC7mpCJMcDhfNv4ClgGND1C4h80X!1912853304)
