Baum on Books: Recent Episodes
Joan Baum
With an eye on reviewing fiction and nonfiction that has regional resonance for Connecticut or Long Island, Joan Baum considers the timeliness and significance of recently published work: what these books have to say to a broad group of readers today and how they say it in a distinctive or unique manner, taking into account style and structure as well as subject matter.
Buckle up! Award-winning cartoonist and author, Jules Feiffer takes readers on a wild ride in his latest work- Amazing Grapes. A brother and sister team up to find their mother. But they must journey through a strange dimension filled with extraordinary friends and foes. WSHU's Joan Baum has this review.
In Carolyn Jack’s latest novel, a child prodigy navigates the ruthless worlds of classical music, opera, and his mother’s ambition. Can he survive the pressure? Book critic Joan Baum read the book. Here’s her review.
In the suspense novel, The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore, a teen disappears from a summer camp in the Adirondacks. But she’s not the first to go missing. Now a police detective is determined to solve the mystery but she’ll have to unravel generations of local secrets to do it. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
It looks like an idyllic historic Connecticut college town with students, professors, and coffee houses. But lurking under the surface is a sinister hedge fund billionaire pulling the strings. And when a co-ed turns up dead, that facade begins to crack. That’s the plot of author Michael Ledwidge’s latest thriller, No Safe Place. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
In the latest installment of author Claudia Riess’ art-history murder-mystery series, Dying for Monet a coveted Monet still life goes missing and the art dealer selling the work is found dead. WSHU’s Culture Critic Joan Baum read it. Here's her review.
They’re an unlikely pair. She’s a widow from the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. He’s a US veteran working as a private detective in Wyoming. But they’re both survivors of war. And that history binds this investigative team together as they work to bring a killer to justice. WSHU’s Culture Critic Joan Baum says the characters and plot of author Paul Barra’s new novel Sgt. Ford’s Widow, are compelling, suspenseful, and moving.
It’s not easy being a successful professional woman working for the NFL. For Poppy Benjamin, it gets a lot harder when the coach she works with is found dead. Now Poppy has to manage the growing negative press coverage while memories of bad choices from her past keep bubbling up. WSHU’s Culture Critic Joan Baum says, the new suspenseful novel, The Snap, by Connecticut resident Elizabeth Staple will keep you guessing till the end.
It made it on the best seller list in 1936, the year it was published. Three years later it became an iconic film. Today, it has been re-evaluated for its unrealistic portrayal of slavery in the American South. Margaret Mitchell's historical novel, Gone With The Wind, continues to have a cultural impact. WSHU's Culture Critic, Joan Baum, re-read the hefty book this summer. She shares her reflections in this essay.
A Manhattan psychiatrist becomes embroiled in a high-profile mob hit when a new patient casually asks him a loaded question. Now Dr. Bill Madrian has to make himself disappear before the Mafia does. Will he survive? WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum read this new suspenseful thriller. Here’s her review.
A Dutch national bank gets swindled out of a fortune by one of its bankers. It wasn’t a crime of greed but an act of resistance. This historic case is documented in a book that has just been translated into English. Our book critic Joan Baum read it and has this review.
She lost the man she planned to marry. Her grief gets her kicked out of her oncology unit. And now young doctor Lark Smith struggles to heal her life and career. The head surgeon of the hospital, “Dr. Satan,” offers her a deal. But he hates her. Is Lark willing to pay the price to get her job back?
In her new book, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, journalist and author Julie Satow reveals the stories of three women who elevated fashion and the retail industry during the golden age of department stores in New York City.
The handsome new oversized book A Year in the Vineyard by Sophie Menin and Bob Chaplin, takes readers on an international romp to explore the life cycle of grapes, vines and wines. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A high-end investment firm in Connecticut is the backdrop for a new murder mystery novel. And its author may surprise you. WSHU's book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A rodent rejuvenates the life of a woman who has given up on living. That’s the heart of the new novel Sipsworth, by New York-based writer Simon Van Booy. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
The Mark Twain classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gets a fresh retelling in Percival Everett’s new work: James: A Novel. This time we see the story through the eyes of Jim/James, a man who escapes slavery to keep his family together. Everett shares a deeply complex James who code-switches to survive. Here' WSHU’s Culture Critic Joan Baum's review.
A sinister underground entity builds babies with stolen DNA. Meanwhile, celebrities, with “desirable traits" hire biotech detectives to keep their genetic material safe. But will it work? WSHU's Book Critic Joan Baum has this review.
What is the creative process? How does art get made? These are some of the questions a new book by former New York magazine editor Adam Moss strives to answer. Our book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Essayist Arthur Krystal shares his reflections on aging, cultural appropriation, and oversharing on social media in his latest publication. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Yale University Press has published a catalog highlighting rarely-seen drawings and prints by the pre-eminent Renaissance Italian painter, Botticelli. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
In her latest novel, The Vixen Amber Holloway, New York author Carol LaHines crafts a tense psychological tale where a Dante scholar descends into her own personal hell. Our book critic, Joan Baum, had this review.
A group of ultra-right extremists in New York City organized to overthrow the U.S. government. And they nearly succeed. It was just one plot in a broad effort to replace Democracy with Fascism in the 1940’s. Our book critic Joan Baum read all about it in journalist Rachel Maddow’s latest work, Prequel.
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman used to teach writing at NYU and CCNY. Now she is a Vice President of PEN International and the author of a new political thriller. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Up on the roof of a New York City apartment building, tenants gather to tell tales and escape their isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. That’s the setting of a new collection of stories. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
In her first work of fiction, a New York psychiatrist explores our human need to forge relationships with each other through a series of short stories. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A Long Island detective gets caught up in the greedy intrigue of the pharmaceutical industry as he searches for a missing biochemist. That’s the latest plot in a mystery novel by author Chris Knopf. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
There are a wealth of biographies on the life of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. A new book challenges how those profiles interpret the man, his life, and his work. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
First, it was a biography. This summer it was a must-see movie. Our Book critic Joan Baum read the book and saw the film. Here’s her review of American Prometheus.
Star Crossed is a new book that tells the true story of two young people in Paris, who fell in love during the Nazi occupation. Our Culture Critic Joan Baum has this review.
Life in Harlem during the volatile 1970’s. That’s the setting for author Colson Whitehead’s latest novel. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
The Box Art Auction is one of the highlights of summer on the East End of Long Island. And it's all for a good cause. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum speaks with Arlene Bujese, the benefit chair of the auction.
A missing child, a family torn apart, and a genealogy test that uncovers long-held secrets. That’s just the beginning of a new novel by WSHU’s Classical Music Producer Lauren Rico. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
What would you do with an 11-acre parcel of moorland on Montauk, Long Island? That's the question author Céline Keating explores in her latest novel, The Stark Beauty of Last Things.
In her new book, journalist Kate Storey chronicles the history of the Kennedy clan and their summers by the sea in Hyannis Port. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
In his latest work, Francis Levy offers an illustrated collection of short stories that are inspired by the work of Franz Kafka. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A charming grifter makes her way through Long Island’s elite society in a new novel by Emma Cline. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A struggling fashion stylist from Great Neck, Long Island receives an unexpected gift from a woman in Miami with a cryptic past. And that’s just the beginning of a new novel our book critic Joan Baum says is a good summer read.
Author Mark Weeks studied law at Fordham University in New York City. He used that degree to practice law and craft an action infused legal thriller. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Puffed up and powerful personalities who create their own reality are not new. A biography published by Yale University Press, excavates the life of an Egyptian Pharaoh with a massive ego. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
In his latest work journalist and author, Andrew Nagorski investigates the intricate plan to get the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud out of Nazi-occupied Vienna and safely to London. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
In the latest installment of his nail-biting spy series, Dr. William Maz takes readers to Bucharest during the 1990s when the oligarchs seized power over a vulnerable Romania. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
He’s famous for the lyrics he wrote for iconic Broadway plays. But what is known about the man himself? A new biography offers a modern perspective on the life of Oscar Hammerstein and his work. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Next Wednesday author Jennifer Egan will speak about her latest novel, The Candy House at the Greenwich Library in Connecticut. To whet your appetite, book critic Joan Baum has this review.
She was once described by a Boston reporter as a “millionaire Bohemianne” who “leads where no one dares to follow.” A new novel based on the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner explores how she became an iconic maverick in the world of art. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A new true crime book takes a closer look at a scandalous murder of the 1920s. The investigation and trial sparked a battle between two New York City tabloids to offer readers the most salacious details. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
The #Me Too movement is at the center of a new legal thriller set in New York City. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
One hundred years ago this December, The Waste Land was first published. T.S. Eliot’s famous poem has been described as highly influential, irregular, and innovative. Its theme… the spiritual and cultural decay of…well just about everything.
One Hundred Saturdays, a collection of edited interviews the author Michael Frank did with Stella Levi, is in part a history lesson that goes back thousands of years, as well as a dark narrative of the mid-20th century.
So you think you know Cleopatra? A new biography of the ancient Egyptian leader challenges many of the myths that have defined her over the centuries. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Writer Howard Owen puts his years as a reporter and editor to good use in his next mystery novel, Dogtown. It won’t be available until the first week of December, but book critic Joan Baum got a peek at his latest work and has this review.
In his latest mystery novel, former Israeli Ambassador and Yale professor, Michael Oren, explores a forgotten piece of World War II history that occurred in New England.
Mary Rodgers was a composer, an author, and the daughter of the celebrated Richard Rodgers. She passed away in 2014. But a new memoir reanimates her voice and offers a peek behind the Broadway curtain and its cast of famous characters.
Mary Rodgers was a composer, an author, and the daughter of the celebrated Richard Rodgers. She passed away in 2014. But a new memoir reanimates her voice and offers a peek behind the Broadway curtain and its cast of famous characters.
A bar in the Lower East Side is the setting of one short story in a collection of 16 pieces that explores writing, art, and the human condition. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
A bar in the Lower East Side is the setting of one short story in a collection of 16 pieces that explores writing, art, and the human condition. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
He was born Melvin Kaminski in Brooklyn, New York. He’s been a 1,000 year-old man, the King of France and Dr. FRAHN-ken-steen. But he’s best known as Mel Brooks and he has a new memoir out.
He was born Melvin Kaminski in Brooklyn, New York. He’s been a 1,000 year-old man, the King of France and Dr. FRAHN-ken-steen. But he’s best known as Mel Brooks and he has a new memoir out.
Women and book clubs go together. In the U.S. close to 80% of all participants in book clubs are women.
Women and book clubs go together. In the U.S. close to 80% of all participants in book clubs are women.
A well-known 19th century artist from Long Island plays a key role in a new novel by Robert Crooke.
The latest novel by native New Yorker Larry Duberstein, examines the ordinary life of a retired high school guidance counselor who discovers he may not be as ordinary as he thinks. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Books that grace many summer reading lists are often filled with tales of daring exploits and steamy liaisons. And it would be all the more compelling if those stories were true. Well, relatively true. Yale University Press has released a new biography on the audacious life of Italian adventurer, Giacomo Casanova. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.
Writer Iris Smyles hails from Long Island. However, her scant on-line biographies identify her place of residence as, “somewhere." That will give you a sense of her quirky and whimsical writing style. Book critic Joan Baum read her latest work, “Droll Tales.”
“Her Last Affair,” the latest novel by author and Connecticut native, John Searles is described as a thriller. Book critic Joan Baum says it’s more than just a page-turner.
A new novel by writer William Carpenter examines the lingering bitterness created by the 9/11 attacks and how people struggle to manage profound loss.
A beach on Long Island was the site of a little known act of attempted sabotage during World War II. That incident inspired historical fiction author Eve Karlin’s latest novel.
WSHU commentator David Bouchier has gathered his “few well-chosen words,” and published them in his latest book, Out of Order.
A new biography of Abraham Lincoln explores the president’s efforts to build a plan that would heal a nation recovering from a civil war.
A remarkably wise, slyly humorous and compassionate review of the year Keller spent gardening with his Connecticut “clients” (as he calls them) — cancer patients, special needs children, kids in juvenile detention facilities.
Book Critic Joan Baum went into her archives and rediscovered a novel that imagines what happened to author Herman Melville during his “silent years.”
The story, set in part on Gardiners Island in Long Island Sound, is intended as a tribute to Henry James’s massive 1904 novel The Golden Bowl.
WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum spoke with former Congressman Israel about his love of books and why reading books is vital.
WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum spoke with former Congressman Israel about his love of books and why reading books is vital.
In 1938 a complex plan was underway to remove Adolf Hitler from power. A new historical novel takes a closer look at that plot and how it all went wrong.
Brutally realistic about the effects of war and realpolitik, but also affectingly personal and nostalgic, The Bucharest Dossier is suspenseful enough to make one forget the woes of the world for a while.
In his first novel, author Jeff Schnader sets his novel during the volatile student protests on the Columbia University campus in 1972.
Award-winning writer Colson Whitehead's latest novel is a comic crime caper set in 1960s Harlem.
Yale University Press has published the new edition of its Book of Quotes. This latest version sets the record straight on who really said what.
The king of horror and supernatural haunting, Stephen King, hasn’t forgotten his fan base — there’s a nod in his new book to The Shining’s creepy Overlook Hotel — but in Billy Summers, King’s latest, he takes readers on a different kind of thriller ride in what some are saying is his best book yet. It may also be his most moving, getting us to care deeply about a professional killer.
Seventy years ago this past spring, husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted for spying for the Soviet Union, largely on testimony against them by Ethel’s brother David Greenglass, who worked at the Atomic Lab at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Forgotten in Death is the 53rd book in J.D. Robb’s Eve Dallas murder mystery series, as in fill-in-the-first-word: “_____ in Death,” the first book being Naked in Death in 1995, and the one before this one, Faithless in Death.
It can’t be easy writing a new book in a series because you have to consider readers who may be coming to you for the first time, as well as keep up with characters fans tell you they want to see back. But longtime Richmond Virginia newspaperman Howard Owen showed 10 books ago in his Willie Black murder mysteries that he can continue to create absorbing new challenges for Willie, his smart, sardonic, biracial protagonist reporter, now 60, and still working the police night beat because — well, a couple of novels back — he misbehaved. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
There are books galore about American presidents — biographies, memoirs, analyses by colleagues, family members, scholars, journalists, by presidents themselves — but Gary Ginsberg hits on something new: a close-up look at various presidents through the eyes of their closest companions.
Here’s a book that’s well named: “Bald.” To emphasize the point, the cover contains an illustration of a man in profile, his pate as smooth as stone, and a back flap front-face photo that shows one hairless Simon Critchley, professor of philosophy, looking a bit perturbed. But not because he’s bald. Critchley announces the fact as his opening sentence: “I’m bald.” The condition started when he was 19 and then, he says, “like the Roman Empire, my hair went into a long and irreversible decline and fall.”
Erik Larson is so good a storyteller that as you read through The Splendid and the Vile, his magnificent saga of Winston Churchill during the bombing of Britain — “the year Churchill became Churchill,” as Larson says — you wonder how it will all turn out! The book is what’s been said of Larson’s earlier works: “addictively readable.”
Though Amagansett-based author Ellen Feldman’s compelling new novel The Living and the Lost is set in Berlin shortly after World War II, with flashbacks to 1938, it resonates today with disturbing themes about the heritage of hatred, and suggests that the title “The Living AND the Lost” may well have been “the Living ARE the Lost.”
A new and expanded edition of a book first published 58 years ago about a man said to have been the world’s greatest conductor shows why the myth took hold and why it remains unchallenged.
You know how writers are sometimes asked whom they would like to have over for a small dinner party? Well, historian, biographer and academic Walter Isaacson, out now with another magnificent tome, The Code Breaker, says – with nods to other innovators he’s written about, including Einstein, Steve Jobs and his favorite genius, Leonardo Da Vinci – that his guests would be Benjamin Franklin and Jennifer Doudna.
What could seem further from our polarized, diverse world and abbreviated social-media discourse than Virginia Woolf’s 1925 stream-of-consciousness novel Mrs. Dalloway with its, aristocratic title character Clarissa Dalloway consumed with giving an elegant party, and its author’s long periodic sentences, full of metaphors, allusions, parentheses and interior hesitations? And yet, in a recent essay in The New York Times Book Review Yale University senior lecturer in creative writing, Michael Cunningham provides an introduction to a new issue of Woolf’s book that is so compelling it commands attention.
101 Arabian Tales: How We All Persevered in Peace Corps Libya should be required reading for all Peace Corps volunteers and administrators once the 60-year-old federal agency resumes activity — it shut down because of COVID. Meanwhile, the book should also be recommended reading for everyone for what it says about an increasingly important and volatile region of the world.
Nemesis by Philip Roth, published in 2010, eight years before he died, has got to be one of the most subtly instructive elegiac novels written about a widespread raging disease. In this case, polio.