Martha Woodroof
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Deborah Eisenberg's collection of short stories showcases the writer's uncanny knack for creating vivid portraits of urban American life. Eisenberg, who was named a MacArthur Fellow last year, says she took up writing as a way of expressing rage.
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Roger Smith's South African thriller is horrific to read, yet impossible to put down, says reviewer Martha Woodroof. Smith is also a screenwriter, and it shows in his pacing and construction; his short, fast-moving scenes tumble one on top of another in this haunting narrative of violence and survival.
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Martha Woodroof reviews the new novel by Sadie Jones, the author of The Outcast. Small Wars is about the conflict faced by a British couple involved in the "Cyprus Emergency" of the mid-1950s.
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The Booker Prize-winning author calls her new novel, The Children's Book, her "easiest to love." In it, the children of a bohemian turn-of-the-century couple discover the truth about their parents. Byatt is also the author of Possession.
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an unlikely best-seller — it's the first book in a trilogy of thrillers written by Stieg Larsson, a previously unknown Swedish journalist who died of a heart attack in 2004.
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Jennifer Haigh's new novel, The Condition, is about a girl who has a genetic disorder that stops her development just before puberty. The "condition" gives her family an excuse to resist facing each other and fall apart.
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Book reviews appear to be an endangered species, at least for standalone sections of the newspaper. Recently the San Diego Union Tribune merged its books section with the arts pages. That is spurring debate about how readers will learn about the books.
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British writer Mark Haddon's first novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, brought him critical and popular acclaim. He follows up with A Spot of Bother.
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Novelist Louise Erdrich returns to the Ojibwe world in her latest work, but The Painted Drum also explores human relationships. The central character steals the title object in order to give it back to its rightful owners.
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The Da Vinci Code has been out for more that two years, and it still remains on bestseller lists. The popularity of Dan Brown's novel that combines science, religion, history and suspense has publishers jumping at the opportunity to spot the next literary sensation.