Book Reviews

A rivulet of authentic human grit runs through the core of Winters' novels, with his characters' struggles to just get by as important as any far-fetched plot twist.

A smorgasbord of surface pleasures, where the telling is all — and each story vanishes into the ether almost as soon as it's told.

Most of the stories in Dublin Tales show off Irish literature at its best: overflowing with feeling, humor and insight.

An imaginative examination of the art of novel writing that is thought-provoking and invigorating in equal measure.

An impressively packaged compendium of travel delights — tips and insights that strike a solid balance between depth and breadth.

A playful grab-bag of moods, genres, and plain impressive writing, with much to appreciate.

Tales of the haves, the have-nots, and the never-wills — at its best when writers burrow into specific neighborhoods.

A loving paean to a halcyon time in hard-rock history — and a strong argument for the music's importance.

Pride and Prejudice relocated to New York's Chinatown — a frothy concoction that gets there in diverting fashion.

Fleet, funny and perceptive — entertains even as it contemplates what people actually mean to each other, and what it all means.

As a starting point for planning a glamping experience, the photography alone is enough to fuel daydreams of exotic getaways.

A clever confection that isn't shy about revealing the humanity behind its fantastical loop-de-loop narrative trickery.

Sprightly tales written and translated by Chinese female and nonbinary authors — charm and freshness cut through translation barriers.

Oft-perplexing, oft-illuminating — short stories that dare to disorient, drawing near-subconscious connections between everyday happenings and emotional turmoil.

Erratic but stimulating — a rare opportunity to sample multiple minority voices, showing how unique points of view can freshen up even the hoariest of genres.

Lacks the wild ambition and gravity of Bolaño's best work, but a tasty summation of his talents, presented in miniature.

Rollicking fun — its reclamation of Asian-American history, with all its attendant sorrows and hopes, holds out the promise of a new, true story ahead.

Encyclopedic in detail and fit to bursting with invention — a kaleidoscopic novel imagining Dietrich, Wong, and Riefenstahl across a turbulent century.

Candid but affectionate portraits of rock's most famous names — from Dylan to Waits — and the wizardry that captured their sounds.

Expect a few cultural grace notes and agreeable potboiler antics — just don't expect something truly original.

An appealing compendium of fifteen tales that range all over the city, with welcome doses of local color and atmosphere.

A simple, potent tale of young Chinese outcasts struggling to survive amid an unforgiving landscape of industrial and rural squalor.

An engrossing account of Walsh, Parcells, and Gibbs — three coaches who dominated the NFL and transformed the sport in the process.

Focusing on the art of sport rather than the noise surrounding it — a meditative, literate account of the 2017 men's tennis tour.

An appealing survey of NFL history — and a reminder of how many unsung deep thinkers have shaped the modern game.

A quiet, introspective novel about immigrants who return to the homeland they left behind — and the gulf between expectations and reality.

A book of questions without answers, where getting hung out to dry is the punchline and the point.

One would never have guessed that the f-word would ultimately generate such pathos.

Sad but never self-pitying, funny but substantial, artful but not arty, this literary collection from Okinawa is a tribute to survival.

China's history, tradition, and political climate may discourage flexibility, but the subaltern classes still find maneuvering room on the margins.

The sex-thriller novel that scandalized Japan is both lurid and endearingly square.

A formidable balance of narrative depth, understated melancholy, wry humor, and big-as-outdoors passions — Murakami's anomalous masterpiece.