Naina Sharma has been a bookworm from the very beginning, but was always particularly drawn to fantasy and historical fiction. Her tastes have since expanded to include nonfiction, particularly memoirs and historical nonfiction, but she will always have a soft spot for the more magical and surreal.
What are the chances that a book you start reading on assignment without much enthusiasm or desire will be the book that blows your mind? In this case, pretty high.
Everyone has that one book that instantly becomes a favorite from the first page, the one that makes them feel every emotion, from laughter to tears, intensely, and that leaves them with the urge to reread from the minute the last page is finished. And if one is particularly lucky, one might also get his or her hands on the author of that book's memoir.
Rod Stewart is a music legend, and true to form, here is his larger-than-life autobiography in which he bares every sex, drugs, and rock and roll moment he has had both on and off the stage.
In this pearl of a book, food historian Mark Kurlansky informs and delights with an enthralling look at the history of New York City through the storied past of a most succulent mollusk -- the oyster.
In his long-anticipated memoir, Salman Rushdie finally tells his story, fatwa and all. More than just a living history, however, Joseph Anton is also an ode to freedom and the art of the word.
In a collision of literary brilliance, mystery writer P. D. James takes inspiration from Jane Austen and creates a crime thriller involving Austen's beloved characters. Follow Elizabeth and Darcy after Austen's novel left off, as only James can thrillingly imagine.
You've read and loved Wharton's The Age of Innocence ... now Francesca Segal makes her debut with The Innocents, a modern retelling of the classic that is uniquely her own.
Cassandra Clare's addictive young adult fantasy series, The Mortal Instruments, is unusual, partly because it's set in New York City but also because the mythological characters and teen love story are so believable.
Longings for a more constructed story than the movie drew this reader to Truman Capote's original novella, later adapted by Blake Edwards for the silver screen.
Aaron Burr has gone down in history as the American villain: the man who killed the beloved Alexander Hamilton in a petty duel, and cost the country one of its founding fathers. Henry W. Brands' The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr paints a picture of a softer and more sympathetic Burr, a devoted father and early feminist who, with an ill-fated bullet, became the man America loved to hate.
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a female comedienne/actress writes a book on her mishaps in life and love, starting with herself as an awkward child and wrapping up the book with a happy ending. If this story is, in fact, old news to you, prepare to be refreshed by Dratch's telling.
Much like she did with her popular column, “Life In the 30’s,” Quindlen writes invitingly about everyday life, though the focus is now on life in the 50s and 60s. Still, what’s wonderful about Quindlen’s writing is that she manages to be universally relatable.
In Sebba's revealing portrait of the Southern woman who caused the abdication of King Edward VII and turned Britain upside down, the author dismantles the rosy image of a great love story, giving a much deeper and nuanced view of Wallis.
I was nervous when I picked up Lois Lowry’s The Giver recently. I was worried that what had seemed profound and poetic as a child would become trite and lack depth as an adult. Luckily, the book, and my memory, did not disappoint.
The Gathering Storm is volume one in The Katerina Trilogy by Robin Bridges, and it is thoroughly enjoyable as a young-adult historical fiction read.
A Modern Classic That Endures: Robert Penn Warren's All the King’s Men
Oceans Eleven Comes to the YA Set: Ally Carter's Perfect Scoundrels
Some Heat Before Summer: Long Simmering Spring by Elisabeth Barrett
Mark Bittman's VB6: The Lifestyle Book Everyone's Talking About
Free Will: A Concise Study in Fact vs Illustion
Alice Munro
Barbara Kingsolver
George Saunders
Haruki Murakami
Abigail Pollak
Allyson Pearl
Andrew Agudo
Jen Marshall
Joe Muscolino
Rita D. Jacobs
