The New York Times regularly runs book reviews, and two recent reviews caught my attention (the first two listings below). The newspaper also has recently debuted a list of outstanding books for 2008, and I've listed the ones that struck me as appealing below (marked as on the New York Times list).
HAVE YOU SEEN . . .?” A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films; By David Thomson
The opening lines of the New York Times review sufficiently hooked and persuaded me to read the book in the near future: “It was with equal parts awe and exasperation that I read David Thomson’s latest book, a slab called “ ‘Have You Seen . . .?’: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films.” Awe? Absolutely. Like people who run for president or build entire homes only out of discarded bottles or cans, Thomson has set himself an almost ludicrous task and pulled it off: he has written a volume of 1,000 short essays, each 500 or so words long and devoted to a single film, which in sum constitute both a de facto history of the art form and a snob-friendly, intellectually luxe consumer guide, though the word “guide” almost devalues this passionate, illuminating, rich and eccentric book.”
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS: How Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits
By Les Standiford
DEAR AMERICAN AIRLINES; By Jonathan Miles.
The review starts off with: “Jonathan Miles’s fine first novel takes the form of a letter to the titular air carrier, which has stranded Benjamin R. Ford, the book’s middle-aged protagonist, in O’Hare Airport on the way to his estranged daughter’s wedding.”
Ranked on the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2008.
A MOST WANTED MAN; By John le Carré
The most recent novel from the prolific master of spy fiction (who was once a spy himself). At 76, the New York Times alleges, le Carré “is still sharp, still fizzing with ideas, and fueled by a new righteous fury.”
Read the New York Times book review here. Ranked on the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2008.
DESCARTES’ BONES: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason; By Russell Shorto
From the review: “As it turns out, the skull of the philosopher was separated mysteriously, at an early date, from the rest of his bones. This macabre fact provides Shorto with the makings of a detective story but also with an irresistible metaphor. Descartes’s chief contribution to modern science and philosophy was his radical focus on epistemology, on defining the boundaries of what we are capable of knowing with certainty.” Ranked on the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2008.
A SECULAR AGE; By Charles Taylor.
From the review: “Taylor seeks to prove that God is still very much present in the world, if only we look at the right places and allow the mind to open itself to moral inquiry and aesthetic sensibility rather than traditional theology as the gateway to religion.” Ranked on the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment