What People Magazine is Reading This Week (Dec 12th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the December 12th issue of People:

The Drop, by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown and Company, 2011. Print Length: 401 p. MYSTERY. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (59 reviews). People's slant: "Master crime writing Connelly gives his favorite detective two cases to solve - and double the suspense." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Harry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. In one morning, he gets two. DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? Then Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene fraught with internal politics. Councilman Irvin Irving's son jumped or was pushed from a window at the Chateau Marmont. Irving, Bosch's longtime nemesis, has demanded that Harry handle the investigation. Relentlessly pursuing both cases, Bosch makes two chilling discoveries..." - Publisher.

Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II , by Philip Eade. Henry Holt, 2011. Print Length: 377 p. BIOGRAPHY. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (3 reviews). People's slant: "...after reading this engaging biography of Philip's early years, it's easy to see how the future Queen of England fell for him." Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Before he met the young girl who became Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip had a tumultuous upbringing in Greece, France, Nazi Germany, and Britain. His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was born deaf; she was committed to a psychiatric clinic when Philip was eight. His father, Prince Andrew of Greece, already traumatized by his exile from his home country, promptly shut up the family home and went off to live with his mistress, effectively leaving his young son an orphan. Remarkably, Philip emerged from his difficult childhood a character of singular vitality and dash - self-confident, opinionated, and devastatingly handsome. In this authoritative and wonderfully compelling book, acclaimed biographer Philip Eade brings to vivid life the storm-tossed early years of one of the most fascinating and mysterious members of the royal family." - Publisher.

The Angel Esmeralda, by Don DeLillo. Scribner, 2011. Print Length: 226 p. STORIES. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (7 reviews). People's slant: "Behold and be dazzled." Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"From one of the greatest writers of our time, his first collection of short stories, written between 1979 and 2011, chronicling - and foretelling - three decades of American life Set in Greece, the Caribbean, Manhattan, a white-collar prison and outer space, these nine stories are a mesmerizing introduction to Don DeLillo’s iconic voice, from the rich, startling, jazz-infused rhythms of his early work to the spare, distilled, monastic language of the later stories. In Creation, a couple at the end of a cruise somewhere in the West Indies can’t get off the island—flights canceled, unconfirmed reservations, a dysfunctional economy. In Human Moments in World War III, two men orbiting the earth, charged with gathering intelligence and reporting to Colorado Command, hear the voices of American radio, from a half century earlier. In the title story, Sisters Edgar and Grace, nuns working the violent streets of the South Bronx, confirm the neighborhood’s miracle, the apparition of a dead child, Esmeralda." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

What People Magazine is Reading This Week

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the November 28th issue of People:

V is for Vengeance, by Sue Grafton. Putnam, 2011. Print Length: 437 p. MYSTERY. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (64 reviews). People's slant: "...it's Kinsey's show, and after three decades Grafton's iconic detective remains a quirky delight." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"A woman with a murky past who kills herself - or was it murder? A dying old man cared for by the son he pummeled mercilessly. A lovely woman whose life is about to splinter into a thousand fragments. A professional shoplifting ring racking up millions in stolen goods. A brutal and unscrupulous gangster. A wandering husband, rich and powerful. A spoiled kid awash in gambling debt thinking he can beat the system. A lonely widower mourning the death of his lover, desperate for answers that may be worse than the pain of his loss. An elegant but ruthless businessman whose dealings are definitely outside the law: the spider at the center of the web. And Kinsey Millhone, whose thirty-eighth-birthday gift is a punch in the face that leaves her with two black eyes and a busted nose..." - Publisher.

The Sisters, by Nancy Jensen. St. Martin's Press, 2011. Print Length: 337 p. NOVEL. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (25 reviews). People's slant: "Jensen's likable story argues for openness and forgiveness between sisters, for their own sake and for the health of their families." Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Growing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, with their mother dead and their stepfather an ever-present threat, Bertie Fischer and her older sister Mabel have no one but each other - with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong. A choice made in desperate haste sets off a chain of misunderstandings that will divide the sisters and reverberate through three generations of women. What happens when nothing turns out as you planned?" - Publisher.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 656 p. BIOGRAPHY. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (43 reviews). People's slant: "Massie's latest will transport history lovers." Kindle edition $14.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.... The story is superbly told. All the special qualities that Robert K. Massie brought to Nicholas and Alexandra and Peter the Great are present here: historical accuracy, depth of understanding, felicity of style, mastery of detail, ability to shatter myth, and a rare genius for finding and expressing the human drama in extraordinary lives." - from the hardcover edition.

Briefly Mentioned: Cookbooks

The Food52 Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs. William Morrow, 2011. Print Length: 451 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $16.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Optimized for larger screens.

"...food writers and editors Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs had a mission: to discover and celebrate the best home cooks in the country. Each week for fifty-two weeks, they ran recipe contests on their website, Food52.com, and the 140 winning recipes make up this book. These recipes prove the truth that great home cooking doesn’t have to be complicated or precious to be memorable. This book captures the community spirit that has made Food52 a success. It features Amanda’s and Merrill’s thoughts and tips on every recipe, plus behind-the-scenes photos, reader comments, and portraits of the contributors - putting you right in the kitchen with America’s most talented cooks." - Publisher.

Momofuku Milk Bar, by Christina Tosi. Foreword by David Chang. Clarkson Potter, 2011. Print Length: 256 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (16 reviews.) Kindle edition $18.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
Annotation.

"The highly anticipated complement to the New York Times bestselling Momofuku cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar reveals the recipes for the innovative, addictive cookies, pies, cakes, ice creams, and more from the wildly popular bakery. It all started one day when Momofuku founder David Chang asked Christina to make a dessert for dinner that night. Just like that, the pastry program at Momofuku began, and Christina’s playful desserts helped the restaurants earn praise from the New York Times and the Michelin Guide and led to the opening of Milk Bar, which now draws fans from around the country and the world. With all the recipes for the bakery’s most beloved desserts - along with ones for savory baked goods that take a page from Chang’s Asian-flavored cuisine, such as Kimchi Croissants with Blue Cheese - and 100 color photographs, Momofuku Milk Bar makes baking irresistible off-beat treats at home both foolproof and fun." - from the hardcover edition.

Lidia's Italy in America, by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, with Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Knopf, 2011. Print Length: 359 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (8 reviews). Kindle edition $18.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"After taking us on journeys into her own kitchen and into kitchens across Italy, Lidia Bastianich now invites us on a road trip into the heart of Italian American cooking today. Traveling around the United States, Lidia visits Italian American communities that created something new out of the recipes passed down from their ancestors. As she explores this utterly delectable and distinctive cuisine, Lidia shows us that every kitchen is different, every Italian community distinct, and little clues are buried in each dish: the Sicilian-style semolina bread and briny olives in New Orleans Muffuletta Sandwiches, the Neapolitan crust of New York pizza, and mushrooms (abundant in the United States, but scarce in Italy) stuffed with breadcrumbs, just as peppers or tomatoes are. Lidia shows us how this cuisine is an original American creation that redefines what we know as Italian food while always paying tribute to Italy...And of course, there are Lidia’s irresistible recipes." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly's November 11th and 18th Issues

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the November 11th and 18th issues include:

Then Again, by Diane Keaton. Random House, 2011. Print length: 304 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant:"...an autobiographical project as idiosyncratic as its subject." Amazon customer rating: None yet. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box she’d collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK. So begins Diane Keaton’s unforgettable memoir about her mother and herself. In it you will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, the loving, complicated, always-thinking Dorothy Hall. Over the course of her life, Dorothy kept eighty-five journals - literally thousands of pages - in which she wrote about her marriage, her children, and, most probingly, herself. Dorothy also recorded memorable stories about Diane’s grandparents. Diane has sorted through these pages to paint an unflinching portrait of her mother - a woman restless with intellectual and creative energy, struggling to find an outlet for her talents - as well as her entire family, recounting a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years." - from the hardcover edition.

Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life, by Ann Beattie. Scribner, 2011. Print length: 304 p. LITERARY BIOGRAPHY. EW's slant: "...strikingly original..." Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Pat Nixon remains one of our most mysterious and intriguing public figures, the only modern First Lady who never wrote a memoir. Beattie, like many of her generation, dismissed Richard Nixon’s wife: “interchangeable with a Martian,” she said. Decades later, she wonders what it must have been like to be married to such a spectacularly ambitious and catastrophically self-destructive man. Drawing on a wealth of sources from Life magazine to accounts by Nixon’s daughter and his doctor to The Haldeman Diaries and Jonathan Schell’s The Time of Illusion, Beattie reconstructs dozens of scenes in an attempt to see the world from Mrs. Nixon’s point of view. Like Stephen King’s On Writing, this fascinating and intimate account offers readers a rare glimpse into the imagination of a writer. Beattie...packs insight and humor into her examination of the First Couple with whom boomers came of age. Mrs. Nixon is a startlingly compelling and revelatory work." - Publisher.

Blue Nights, by Joan Didion. Knopf, 2011. Print Length: 208 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "What wafts off the pages of this haunting memento mori are undistilled, profoundly human expressions of fatigue, fear, dignity, regret, and vulnerability that are almost - but not quite - under the author's control." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (27 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old. Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintana’s wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintana’s childhood - in Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced... Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept." - from the hardcover edition.

Shine, by Lauren Myracle. Amulet Books, 2011. Print length: 376 p. YA NOVEL. EW's slant: "...a bleak, artful novel that paints a nuanced picture of hatred..." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (58 reviews). Kindle edition $9.32. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice. Against a backdrop of poverty, clannishness, drugs, and intolerance, Myracle has crafted a harrowing coming-of-age tale couched in a deeply intelligent mystery." - Publisher.

My Long Trip Home, by Mark Whitaker. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print length: 368 p. MEMOIR. EW's slant: "...less about the journalist's storied career than his gut-wrenching saga of family and racial identity." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"His father, 'Syl' Whitaker, was the charismatic grandson of slaves who grew up the child of black undertakers from Pittsburgh and went on to become a groundbreaking scholar of Africa. His mother, Jeanne Theis, was a shy World War II refugee from France whose father, a Huguenot pastor, helped hide thousands of Jews from the Nazis and Vichy police. They met in the mid-1950s, when he was a college student and she was his professor, and they carried on a secret romance for more than a year before marrying and having two boys. Eventually they split in a bitter divorce that was followed by decades of unhappiness as his mother coped with self-recrimination and depression while trying to raise her sons by herself, and his father spiraled into an alcoholic descent that destroyed his once meteoric career. Based on extensive interviews and documentary research as well as his own personal recollections and insights, My Long Trip Home is a reporter’s search for the factual and emotional truth about a complicated and compelling family..." - Publisher.

The Last Testament, by God, with David Javerbaum. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print length: 400 p. HUMOR. EW's slant: "...the Almighty (with some help from David Javerbaum, former executive producer of The Daily Show) delivers the ultimate telleth-all." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Over the course of his long and distinguished career, god has literally seen it all. And not just seen. In fact, the multi-talented deity has played a pivotal role in many major events, including the Creation of the universe, the entirety of world history, the life of every human being who has ever lived, and the successful transitioning of American Idol into the post–Simon Cowell era. Now, as the earth he has godded so magnificently draws to a Mayan-induced close, God breaks his 1,400-year literary silence with his final masterpiece, The Last Testament. As dictated to his mortal amanuensis, 11-time Emmy Award–winning comedy writer David Javerbaum, God looks back with unprecedented candor on his time in the public sector. Sometimes preachy, sometimes holier-than-thou, but always lively...sure to appeal to not only hardcore God fans and 'worshipers,' but to anyone who’s ever had total omnipotence." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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What People Magazine is Reading This Week (Nov 14th Issue)

For those Kindle readers who, like me, read for entertainment, scanning the book reviews in People magazine is good way to check out new people-related books - celebrity bios, popular novels, absorbing nonfiction - just hitting bookstore shelves. Featured in the November 14th issue of People:

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and Other Concerns), by Mindy Kaling. Crown Archetype, 2011. Print Length: 240 p. HUMOR. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (27 reviews). People's slant: "...the Office star riffs on everything from being 'chubby for life' to her love of chest hair." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck - impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence 'Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?' Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!" - Publisher.

An Invisible Thread, by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski. Foreword by Valerie Salembier. Howard Books, 2011. Print Length: 272 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (7 reviews). People's slant: "...the story of Schroff's life-changing friendship with a homeless boy." Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Excuse me lady, do you have any spare change? I am hungry. When Laura Schroff first met Maurice on a New York City street corner, she had no idea that she was standing on the brink of an incredible and unlikely friendship that would inevitably change both their lives. As one lunch at McDonald’s with Maurice turns into two, then into a weekly occurrence that is fast growing into an inexplicable connection, Laura learns heart-wrenching details about Maurice’s horrific childhood. Sprinkled throughout the book is also Laura’s own story of her turbulent childhood. Every now and then, something about Maurice's struggles reminds her of her past, how her father’s alcohol-induced rages shaped the person she became and, in a way, led her to Maurice. As their friendship grows, Laura offers Maurice simple experiences he comes to treasure: learning how to set a table, trimming a Christmas tree, visiting her nieces and nephew on Long Island, and even having homemade lunches to bring to school. It is the heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned thirty years..." Publisher.

My Life, Deleted: A Memoir, by Scott Bolzan, Joan Bolzan and Caitlin Rother. HarperOne, 2011. Print Length: 304 p. MEMOIR. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Scott Bolzan went to work on December 17, 2008, like any other Wednesday. By that afternoon, he'd lost every memory of his past. Awakening in a hospital with no memory of who he was or how he got there, the forty-six-year-old didn’t know that the petite blonde at his side was his wife of twenty-four years, Joan - or even what a wife was. He couldn’t remember the births of his two young-adult children, the daughter he’d lost, his time as an offensive lineman for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, or his flourishing aviation career. Scott’s life and the lives of everyone who loved him were forever changed when he slipped, hit his head, and lost consciousness in his office bathroom, suffering one of the most severe cases of permanent retrograde amnesia on record. With heartrending honesty and no shortage of humor, the Bolzans share their remarkable journey as Scott navigates his way through a now-unfamiliar world. Both gut-wrenching and brimming with optimism, the Bolzans’ captivating story makes a powerful statement about commitment - and the possibility of finding extraordinary opportunity in life’s greatest challenges." - Publisher.

Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family, by Laurie Sandell. Little, Brown and Company, 2011. Print Length: 352 p. NONFICTION. Amazon customer rating: 2 1/2 stars (25 reviews). People's slant: "Since Andrew and Ruth cooperated with author Sandell, it's not surprising that the book portrays them sympathetically...Buy that or not, anyone curious about this fractured, once tight-knit family will find plenty of food for thought here." Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In December 2008, the world watched as master financier Bernard L. Madoff was taken away from his posh Manhattan apartment in handcuffs, accused of swindling thousands of innocent victims - including friends and family - out of billions of dollars in the world's largest Ponzi scheme. Madoff went to jail; he will spend the rest of his life there. But what happened to his devoted wife and sons? The people closest to him, the public reasoned, must have known the truth behind his astounding success. Had they been tricked, too? With unprecedented access to the surviving family members-wife Ruth, son Andrew and his fiancée Catherine Hooper-journalist Laurie Sandell reveals the personal details behind the headlines. How did Andrew and Mark, the sons who'd spent their lives believing in and building their own families around their father's business first learn of the massive deception? How does a wife, who adored her husband since they were teenagers, begin to understand the ramifications of his actions? Muzzled by lawyers, vilified by the media and roundly condemned by the public, the Madoffs have chosen to keep their silence - until now. Ultimately, theirs is one of the most riveting stories of our time: a modern-day Greek tragedy about money, power, lies, family, truth and consequences." - Publisher.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.

Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

On CBS's Late Show with David Letterman (Oct. 28, 2011):

The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation about America; Who We Are, Where We've Been, and Where We Need to Go Now, to Recapture the American Dream, by Tom Brokaw. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Rooted in the values, lessons, and verities of generations past and of his South Dakota upbringing, Brokaw weaves together inspiring stories of Americans who are making a difference and personal stories from his own family history, to engage us in a conversation about our country and to offer ideas for how we can revitalize the promise of the American Dream. Inviting us to foster a rebirth of family, community, and civic engagement as profound as the one that won World War II, built our postwar prosperity, and ushered in the Civil Rights era, Brokaw traces the exciting, unnerving changes in modern life - in values, education, public service, housing, the Internet, and more - that have transformed our society in the decades since the age of thrift in which he was raised ... a wise, honest, and wide-ranging book, a nourishing vision of hopefulness in an age of diminished expectations." - from the hardcover edition.

On Comedy Central's Daily Show (Nov. 1, 2011):

No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington, by Condoleezza Rice. Crown, 2011. Print Length: 784 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $15.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"From one of the world’s most admired women, this is former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s compelling story of eight years serving at the highest levels of government. In her position as America’s chief diplomat, Rice traveled almost continuously around the globe, seeking common ground among sometimes bitter enemies, forging agreement on divisive issues, and compiling a remarkable record of achievement. With the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Rice found herself at the center of the Administration’s intense efforts to keep America safe. In 2005 Rice was entrusted with even more responsibility when she was charged with helping to shape and carry forward the President’s foreign policy as Secretary of State. No Higher Honor takes the reader into secret negotiating rooms where the fates of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon often hung in the balance, and it draws back the curtain on how frighteningly close all-out war loomed in clashes involving Pakistan-India and Russia-Georgia, and in East Africa. Surprisingly candid in her appraisals of various Administration colleagues and the hundreds of foreign leaders with whom she dealt, Rice also offers here keen insight into how history actually proceeds..." - from the hardcover edition.

On NPR's Fresh Air (Nov. 2, 2011):

Blue Nights, by Joan Didion. Knopf, 2011. Print Length: 208 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (15 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old. Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintana’s wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintana’s childhood - in Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced... Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept." - from the hardcover edition.

On CBS's 60 Minutes (Nov. 6, 2011):

Capitol Punishment, by Jack Abramoff. BookBaby, 2011. Amazon customer rating: none yet. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The name Jack Abramoff is synonymous with Washington scandal, but the fascinating facts of his case are either largely unknown or wildly misunderstood. His memoir will serve as a corrective - an engrossing, informative work of political nonfiction that is also a gripping real-life thriller. The biggest surprise twist comes in the form of Abramoff himself, a smart, funny, charming, clear-eyed narrator who confounds every expectation of the media's villainous portrait. He's a perfect bundle of contradictions: an Orthodox Jew and upstanding family man with a staunch moral streak, caught in multiple scandals of bribery and corruption with an undercurrent of murder. Abramoff represented Indian tribes whose lucrative casinos were constantly under threat from proposed changes in law; though he charged the tribes many millions, he saved them billions by ensuring votes to support the livelihoods of their reservations. Much of Jack's share was funneled not into his own coffers, but to charities. Abramoff on the front pages could not be further from the Jack Abramoff who's ready to tell his honest and compelling story." - Publisher.

On NPR's Diane Rehm Show (Nov. 9, 2011):

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert K. Massie. Random House, 2011. Print Length: 656 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (20 reviews). Kindle edition $17.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"...another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.... The story is superbly told. All the special qualities that Robert K. Massie brought to Nicholas and Alexandra and Peter the Great are present here: historical accuracy, depth of understanding, felicity of style, mastery of detail, ability to shatter myth, and a rare genius for finding and expressing the human drama in extraordinary lives." - from the hardcover edition.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.


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A Week of Entertainment: Kindle Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly's November 4th Issue

Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the November 4th issue include:

The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater. Scholastic Press, 2011. Print length: 416 p. YA NOVEL. EW's slant: "With this beautifully executed drama, Stiefvater has established herself as one of the finest YA novelists writing today." Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (38 reviews). Kindle edition $8.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Some race to win. Others race to survive. It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen..." - Publisher.

The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food, by Adam Gopnik. Knopf, 2011. Print length: 320 p. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "By turns meaty and frothy, this ode to the social experience of eating combines a reporter's eye for facts with a gourmand's devotion to food." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Never before have we cared so much about food. It preoccupies our popular culture, our fantasies, and even our moralizing - “You still eat meat?” With our top chefs as deities and finest restaurants as places of pilgrimage, we have made food the stuff of secular seeking and transcendence, finding heaven in a mouthful. But have we come any closer to discovering the true meaning of food in our lives? With inimitable charm and learning, Adam Gopnik takes us on a beguiling journey in search of that meaning as he charts America’s recent and rapid evolution from commendably aware eaters to manic, compulsive gastronomes. It is a journey that begins in eighteenth-century France - the birthplace of our modern tastes (and, by no coincidence, of the restaurant) - and carries us to the kitchens of the White House, the molecular meccas of Barcelona, and beyond. ...Gopnik delves into the most burning questions of our time, including: Should a Manhattanite bother to find chicken killed in the Bronx? Is a great vintage really any better than a good bottle of wine? And: Why does dessert matter so much?" - Publisher.

The Stranger's Child, by Alan Hollinghurst. Knopf, 2011. Print length: 448 p. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...elegant if often obtuse multifamily saga." Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (24 reviews). Kindle edition $13.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"In the late summer of 1913, George Sawle brings his Cambridge schoolmate - a handsome, aristocratic young poet named Cecil Valance - to his family’s modest home outside London for the weekend. George is enthralled by Cecil, and soon his sixteen-year-old sister, Daphne, is equally besotted by him and the stories he tells about Corley Court, the country estate he is heir to. But what Cecil writes in Daphne’s autograph album will change their and their families’ lives forever: a poem that, after Cecil is killed in the Great War and his reputation burnished, will become a touchstone for a generation, a work recited by every schoolchild in England. Over time, a tragic love story is spun, even as other secrets lie buried—until, decades later, an ambitious biographer threatens to unearth them..." - from the hardcover edition.

Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson. Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print Length: 656 p. BIOGRAPHY. EW's slant: "...as full a portrait as we're ever likely to get of the prickly, complicated, driven genius who reimagined computers, movies, phones, music, and tablets." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (221 reviews). Kindle edition $16.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted." - Publisher
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