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George Plimpton was a literary man about town who did it all, from co-founding The Paris Review to boxing (and dribbling and quarterbacking) with the pros. Now, in George, Being George, 200 friends, lovers and rivals detail Plimpton's remarkable exploits. ()
He went silent for three decades after a devastating motorcyle accident, but he's publishing again. ()
Roiphe's new memoir is about losing her husband to a heart attack after nearly 40 years of marriage. ()
December 22, 2008 · There are so many books published these days — ranging from brilliant to dismal, from interesting to deadly dull — that, faced with row upon row or table upon table at a library or bookstore, it's often hard for readers to plow through everything that's available. ()
December 23, 2008 · The McCourt family gained fame through the books of brothers Frank and Malachy. In A Long Stone's Throw, the youngest brother, Alphie, shares a colorful account of his own life in Ireland and America. ()
December 22, 2008 · MIT professor Sherry Turkle has spent 25 years collecting essays from her students based on the following prompt: "Was there an object you met during childhood or adolescence that had an influence on your path into science?" One student remembered his obsession with stop signs. ()
December 21, 2008 · Forget the picturesque tree and perfectly arranged presents. Christmas means blending old customs with new traditions, even if the result is messier than a bag full of carrot jam. ()
December 20, 2008 · Big publishing companies such as Random House are in the midst of cost-cutting, layoffs, and corporate restructuring. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has stopped acquiring manuscripts for the rest of this year. ()
December 23, 2008 · A new cookbook spreads the wisdom and recipes of the late Elizabeth David, perhaps the most celebrated English food writer of the last century. David enjoys a place in British cooking and culture somewhat like that of Julia Child in the United States. ()
December 20, 2008 · From Show Boat to The King and I, he and his partners wrote shows as substantive as they were entertaining. Hammerstein's lyrics — now collected in a single book — are a big part of why. ()
December 20, 2008 · James Thurber's decades-old, modern take on the standard fairy tale has just been reprinted. Weekend Edition's Daniel Pinkwater says if you like the The Princess Bride or Rocky and Bullwinkle's "Fractured Fairy Tales," you'll like this tale, too. ()
December 20, 2008 · Carmen Flowers and Sue Bailey offer a guide that makes planning your own funeral more fun than you might expect. The book is called Grave Expectations: Planning the End Like There's No Tomorrow. ()
December 23, 2008 · Long ago, it was considered revolutionary to have a copy of the Bible written in the common language of the people. The world's leading Bible publisher is taking that idea further. Representatives of the publisher are travelling across the country in a big bus, inviting people to help write a new edition of the Bible, one verse at a time. ()
December 19, 2008 · You've shopped for the family, put up the tree, baked the kugel, prepped the brisket and mailed off your packages. Now give yourself a present: time alone with a good book. ()
December 18, 2008 · You'd have to be dedicated to your work to set yourself aflame for "research purposes" — but author Kevin Conley did just that. His new book catalogs his four years spent following Hollywood stuntmen. ()
Awkward over hors d'oeuvres? Knowing how to make small talk is tough. These books may help.
Pitch darkness moves the world with a different logic in these three books.
Books are only things, but writers like Crisp, Warhol and Byron are individuals.
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