Book reviews added in the week of 3/18-3/24

Hi all,

Multiple links to full-length professional reviews of the following
books released in the US have been added to http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
in the last week:

"Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization"
by Nicholson Baker - Nicholson Baker has spent much of his writing
career exploring any scene down to its most minute details so that
when they are added together they capture the fabric of a life. With
"Human Smoke," he steps up this process to explain the path to World
War II, the brutality of its participants, and the mistakes he
believes world leaders, especially Winston Churchill, made along the
way. The entire book is a chronicle of vignettes from newspaper and
magazine articles, radio speeches, memoirs, and diaries, most of them
less then a page long. Together they paint a portrait of a series of
events that led to a war that Nicholson Baker, a pacifist, thought
might have been avoidable. "Human Smoke" has received mixed reviews
with the Chicago Sun-Times saying, "Still, as much as I found myself
disagreeing with 'Human Smoke,' even despising it in parts, I'm glad I
stuck with this odd moral shell game of a book. Parts of it read like
history as it would have been written by the Nazis had they won the
war. But it also takes a nightmare that we are too familiar with, all
too comfortable with, and retells it afresh, poking and prodding us,
challenging our self-assigned sense of goodness, and ultimately
keening at the charnel house that Europe became for six horrible years
in the middle of the 20th century."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/human_smoke
Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1416567844/?tag=reviewsofbooks8-20

"The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese
Food" by Jennifer 8. Lee - Jennifer 8. Lee got the idea for "The
Fortune Cookie Chronicles" when she read an article about 110 people
all winning a lottery playing the same numbers, a statistical
anomaly. It turns out that they all got the same six numbers from
fortune cookies. She delved into the history of Chinese food in
America, discovering that most of it didn't originate in China.
General Tso's chicken, chop suey, and fortune cookies were all
invented in the United States. She explored why American Chinese food
is so popular and why so many Chinese immigrants come to the U.S. to
start or work in Chinese restaurants. "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles"
has received mostly positive reviews with the Rocky Mountain News
saying, "Overall, 'The Fortune Cookie Chronicles' is a marvelous work
of journalism, history and exploration of an enduring cultural
institution. It's also a pure pleasure to read. After finishing the
book, you'll never take for granted the small pleasures you experience
the next time your order of beef with broccoli, white rice and tea
arrives steaming at your table.
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/fortune_cookie_chronicles
Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0446580074/?tag=reviewsofbooks8-20


Multiple links to full-length professional reviews of the following
books released in the UK have been added to http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
in the last week:

"Serious Things" by Gregory Norminton - "Serious Things" centers
around Bruno Jackson, an overweight civil servant who is detached from
life. A chance encounter with a childhood acquaintance, Anthony
Blunden, rocks him emotionally. They attended the same boarding
school as boys. Bruno was an outsider there, bookish, soft, and
raised in Malaysia, while Anthony was beautiful and charming. They
formed an odd relationship with Bruno perhaps more reliant on Anthony
than the other way around. The boys were taken under the wing of a
liberal teacher, Mr. Bridge, which leads to actions that have since
unsettled Bruno's life. "Serious Things" jumps back and forth between
the present and the early 90s as Bruno explains the past and what he
must do in the present to get his life back on track. Gregory
Norminton's novel has received positive reviews with The Independent
saying, "Bar some occasionally uninspiring dialogue, it's superbly
written, with not a superfluous word, and enriched with wonderfully
vivid images."
All reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/serious_things
Amazon.co.uk link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0340834676/?tag=bookreviews-21

"Remembering the Bones" by Frances Itani - "Remembering the Bones"
finds Georgie Danforth hearty and healthy as she prepares to leave her
Canadian home to go to England. Georgie was born the same day as
Queen Elizabeth II and she's one of 99 people in the Commonwealth who
were invited to share the queen's birthday with her. On her way to
the airport, though, Georgie has an accident and is left injured in a
ravine where she can't be seen from the road. Unsure how long she's
been there or when help might arrive, Georgie falls back on an old
comforting routine, naming the bones of the body she first memorized
as a girl. As she names each bone, it brings back memories of
different interactions with family members over the years. Unwilling
to go quietly into the night, Georgie tries to draw on the strength
provided by these memories to find a way to stay alive to make more of
them. Frances Itani's novel has received mostly positive reviews with
the New York Times saying, "Presented in loose chronological order,
each fragment of memory is fascinating in its own way, moving from
childhood's elemental fears and discoveries to the conflicted joys and
pains of adulthood. Itani deftly brings them together, dipping into
the past to illuminate the present moment, building such emotional
complexity that the novel's ending - both inevitable and surprising -
is as subtle as it is wrenching."
All reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/remembering_the_bones
Amazon.co.uk link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0871139774/?tag=bookreviews-21


Happy reading!

Bill - administrator of http://www.reviewsofbooks.com