The Faithful Narrative of a Pastor’s Disappearance by Benjamin Anastas. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 277 pages, $24.
If books were shelved according to the cadence of their titles rather than by the names of their authors, Benjamin Anastas’ new novel might find itself wedged between Narrative of the Planting of the Massachusetts Colony and Wonder-Working Read More
The Edward Said Reader , edited by Moustafa Bayoumi and Andrew Rubin. Vintage, 472 pages, $15.
Did you see the newspaper pictures last month of Columbia University professor Edward Said? He wasn’t photographed in his campus office or before a classroom of undergraduates or strolling in Morningside Heights–too commonplace for Mr. Said. He was in Read More
24/7: Living It Up and Doubling Down in the New Las Vegas , by Andrés Martinez. Villard Books, 352 pages, $25.
The Real Las Vegas: Life Beyond the Strip , edited by David Littlejohn. Oxford University Press, 306 pages, $30.
In Nevada: The Land, the People, God, and Chance , by David Thomson. Alfred Read More
The first thing you notice in Stanley Kunitz’s studio in his Cape Cod house is not the greenish Hermes 3000 typewriter, nor the narrow cot in the corner, nor even the long shelf of poetry that lines the wall. These are ordinary objects to be found in any writer’s study. What makes Mr. Kunitz’s room Read More
Perlman’s Ordeal , by Brooks Hansen. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 329 pages, $24.
What do we mean when we say that a book is “hypnotic”? What exactly is a “mesmerizing” novel? Not one that puts us to sleep. Nor does a prose-induced trance necessarily suppress our critical faculties, as true hypnosis can. What the cliché Read More
Timbuktu , by Paul Auster. Henry Holt, 181 pages, $22.
A large dog stares at us from the cover of Paul Auster’s new novel, Timbuktu . Does that mean the book is about a dog? Mr. Auster has never written on that subject before. Or could the book jacket be some kind of clue to Read More
Truffaut: A Biography , by Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana, translated by Catherine Temerson. Alfred A. Knopf, 462 pages, $30.
A cinephile who became a film critic who became a filmmaker, François Truffaut remained always a cinephile at heart. He made 21 films in 24 years, a long celluloid love letter to the movies. Read More
