A Reading Life - The Barnes & Noble Review

A Reading Life

Displaying articles for: February 2012

Labels:

FICTION

March 2, 2012

Coral Glynn

By PETER CAMERON

Reviewed by Katherine A. Powers

A tale of love, loneliness, and the mysteries of an English mansion reaches back to the gothic novels of the past.

February 22, 2012

Lonely Monsters

Essay by Katherine A. Powers

In honor of the centenary of Elizabeth Taylor's birth, two novels that showcase the author's gift for crafting comedies of manners with troubling undertones.

Labels:

FICTION

February 9, 2012

At Last

By EDWARD ST. AUBYN

Reviewed by Katherine A. Powers

The final volume in the author's celebrated Patrick Melrose cycle faces pain with wit and unflinching honesty.

About the Columnist

Katherine A. Powers reviews books widely and has been a finalist for the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle.

Daybook

May 22: The video game Pac-Man, featuring "the most iconic character from the golden age of arcade video games," was released on this day in 1980. Over the next decade, gamers spent over $2.5 billion in quarters…

Previously in Daybook

In the Margin

Ethan Rutherford and Matt Burgess (Dogfight: A Love Story) on the writing of Rutherford's surreal and fiercely funny story collection The Peripatetic Coffin.

Earlier Posts

The Long List

Books, CDs, DVDs to know about now

She Left Me the Gun

Emma Brockes' mother Paula escaped from South Africa with a smuggled pistol and a dark secret. A daughter unravels her family's covert past -- and a suspenseful legal drama -- in this hard-boiled memoir of survival.

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Expand your memory, puzzle-solving skills, and sense of metaphysical wonder with philosopher Daniel C. Dennett's tasting menu of user-friendly neuroscience and poetic lingual pursuits.

When the Devil Drives

Thespian-turned-P.I. Jasmine Sharp searches for a missing actress and veteran detective Catherine MacLeod tries to solve the case of a murdered one. Their paths intertwine amid the Scottish theater community with uproarious and gory results.