The Georgetown Set
The Georgetown Set: Friends and Rivals in Cold War Washington by Gregg Herken “The hand that mixes the Georgetown martini is time and again the hand that guides the destiny […]
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter What a ghastly title! Only for you dear readers would I […]
The Fifth Risk
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis Michael Lewis has made a career of turning arcane subjects such as baseball statistics (Moneyball), collateralized debt obligations (The Big Short), and football strategy […]
The Diary of a Bookseller
The Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell In 2001, Shaun Bythell bought a second-hand bookshop in Wigtown, a tiny town located on a peninsula […]
The Cut-Out Girl
The Cut-Out Girl by Bart van Es In 2014, Bart van Es, a professor of English Literature at Oxford University, visits his father’s foster sister, Lien, in Amsterdam. Lien is […]
The Crown in Crisis
The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman I was disappointed in The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication, a day-by-day account of the last month […]
The Churchills in Love and War
The Churchills in Love and War by Mary S. Lovell From the time that war hero the Duke of Marlborough built Blenheim Palace in 1704, the Churchill family has occupied […]
The Churchill Sisters
The Churchill Sisters by Rachel Trethewey Without question, Winston Churchill was one of the great statesmen of the 20thC, but as a parent, less great. This is somewhat understandable as […]
The Bolter
The Bolter by Frances Osborne A bolter, as readers of the novels of Nancy Mitford know, refers not to a horse, but rather an unconventional (or wicked) woman who leaves […]
The Blind Side
The Blindside by Michael Lewis A year or so ago, I read an article by Michael Lewis in The New York Times entitled “The Ballad of Big Mike.” The article, […]
The Barbizon
The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren When I moved to New York City in 1983, I had a thrilling new job but no place to […]
Believing the Lie
Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George I have (almost) forgiven Elizabeth George for killing one of my favorite characters a few books ago. And when I read her latest Inspector […]
The Confidence Men
The Confidence Men by Margalit Fox It all started with a homemade Ouija board. In an isolated WW I prisoner-of-war camp in Yozgad, Central Anatolia, British prisoner Harry Jones, a […]
The Appeal
The Appeal by Janice Hallett The Appeal, an epistolary novel, opens with a memo from a lawyer asking two of his colleagues to review a case file. “It is best […]
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians edited by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann with Chris Mooney James Patterson, best known for his prodigious output of thrillers, is also an […]