Book Reviews
Category
Audiobook Review: Mona Awad’s “Bunny” Is a Hare-Raising Allegory of the Writing Process
Mona Awad’s new novel is a gothic fairy tale rife with symbolism, one that takes a cartoonish distillation of a graduate program as its setting.
Book Review: Did Disney Save Star Wars? The Question is Academic.
In two new books, scholars suss out how a franchise built by a solo auteur has flourished in the care of a giant corporation.
Audiobook Review: “Alphabet Squadron” Spells Out a New Kind of Star Wars Story
“Alphabet Squadron” takes us deep into the trenches with a ragtag band of New Republic pilots, and the audiobook has a new sound for this gritty story.
Book Review: Emily Nussbaum and Jia Tolentino Change the Channel
Two of this summer’s essential new books, “I Like to Watch” and “Trick Mirror,” come from staff writers at the New Yorker.
Is the Apollo 11 Anniversary Inspiring or Depressing?
Two new books and a giant-screen edition of the “Apollo 11” documentary shed light on a remarkable human achievement at its half-century mark.
Audiobook Review: “Dooku: Jedi Lost” is a Whirlwind Backstory
A new audio exclusive tells the backstory of Count Dooku, the Star Wars prequel villain who left the Jedi Order only to return to haunt it.
Audiobook Review: “H.G. Wells: The Science Fiction Collection”
A new Audible collection enlists a stable of screen stars to read H.G. Wells’s five best-known science fiction novels. They’re still ripping good stories.
Audiobook Review: “Master & Apprentice” Spotlights Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Before Jar Jar
Distinguished as the earliest book in the current Star Wars timeline, Claudia Gray’s ‘Master & Apprentice’ is lavish exposition of Qui-Gon Jinn’s backstory.
Hetty McKinnon’s “Family” Vegetarian Cookbook, Reviewed by a Carnivore
I didn’t grow up in a house where roasted cauliflower was “highly sought after,” but now I’m on the same page as McKinnon’s kids: ready to ditch the Spam.
Audiobook Review: In “Up Against the Wall,” David Hasselhoff Saves the Free World
David Hasselhoff wrote and narrates a new alternate history that inflates his role in the end of the Cold War beyond, even, the strange reality of it.
Book Review: Mark Dery’s “Born to Be Posthumous” Probes Edward Gorey, Gently
It’s well past time for a proper Edward Gorey biography, and gratifyingly, Mark Dery explores the eccentric artist’s world without overexplaining.
Audiobook Review: “Queen’s Shadow” Explores Amidala in the Age of AOC
E.K. Johnston’s YA novel explores Padmé Amidala’s transition from queen to senator. Audiobook narrator Catherine Taber voiced Padmé on “Clone Wars.”