We’ve got your weekend covered

By Bookmarked - Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

Ripley Entertainment Inc.

Our latest book reviews:

• A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert ‘Believe It Or Not’ Ripley, by Neal Thompson, review by Matthew Hays

• Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis, by Robert M. Edsel, review by Jessica Allen

• All That Is, by James Salter, review by Sarah Murdoch

• Life in a Marital Institution: Twenty Years of Monogamy in One Terrifying Memoir, by James Braly, review by Joanne Latimer

• A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra, review by Richard Warnica

• The Last Man in Russia: The Struggle to Save a Dying Nation, by Oliver Bullough, review by Brian Bethune

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Time for spring reading

By Bookmarked - Friday, May 3, 2013 at 10:41 AM - 0 Comments

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Our latest book reviews:

• The Secret Lives of Sports Fan: The Science of Sports Obsession, by Eric Simons, review by Jonathon Gatehouse

• Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom, by Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez, review by Peter Shawn Taylor

• A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us about Ourselves, by Robert A. Burton, review by Brian Bethune

• And Hell Followed with Her: Crossing the Dark Side of the American Border, by David Neiwert, review by Martin Patriquin

• Country Girl: A Memoir, by Edna O’Brien, review by Patricia Dawn Robertson

• Salt Sugar Fat, by Michael Moss, review by Jonathan Chevreau

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Sunday reading

By Bookmarked - Friday, April 19, 2013 at 2:33 PM - 0 Comments

Once the most famous comic-strip artist in the America, Capp created 'Li'l Abner' (Capp Enterprises)

Our latest book reviews:

• Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary, by Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen, review by Jaime J. Weinman

• Drunk Mom: A Memoir, by Jowita Bydlowska, review by Anne Kingston

• Red Doc>, Anne Carson, review by Brian D. Johnson

• The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, by Kristopher Jansma, review by Richard Warnica

• The Hungry Ghosts, by Shyam Selvadurai, review by Dafna Izenberg

• A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel: Murder, Money, and an Epic Power Struggle in China, by Pin Ho and Wenguang Huang, review by Brian Bethune

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Eat your heart out: cookbooks, book reviews and bestsellers

By Bookmarked - Friday, April 12, 2013 at 11:11 AM - 0 Comments

Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Our latest book reviews:

• A Prince Among Stones: That Business with the Rolling Stones and other Adventures, by Prince Rupert Loewenstein, review by Mike Doherty

• Nocturne: On the Life and Death of My Brother, by Helen Humphreys, review by Brian Bethune

• I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Culture of Science, by Marjorie Senechal, review by Katie Engelhart

• Gun Guys: A Road Trip, by Dan Baum, review by Brian Bethune

• A Beautiful Truth, by Colin McAdam, review by Dafna Izenberg

• The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, by Denise Kiernan, review by Michael Petrou

Plus, the Cookbook Store’s March bestsellers.

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The Cookbook Store’s March bestsellers

By Alison Fryer - Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 4:13 PM - 0 Comments

The Cookbook Store's Allison Fryer (Photograph by Jessica Darmanin)

International flavour rules the roost this month, with the beautifully designed Polpo–from the London, U.K. restaurant–taking the number 1 spot.

We thought we’d look back to our bestseller list from our first month way back in April 1983–that’s right, The Cookbook Store turns 30 this year. You’ll recognize most, if not all, of these titles. Needless to say, everyone was making Chicken Marbella from The Silver Palate Cookbook, helping it to become an iconic dish.

March, 2013

1. Polpo, by Russell Norman
2. Nigelissima, by Nigella Lawson
3. Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
4. Pati’s Mexican Table, by Pati Jinich
5. Clueless in the Kitchen, by Evelyn Raab
6. Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi
7. Full of Flavor, by Maria Elia
8. The Smitten Kitchen, by Deb Perelman
9. The Art of the Restaurateur, by Nick Ladner
10. The Flavor Bible, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

 Spring/Summer, 1983

1. The Silver Palate Cookbook, by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
2. Entertaining, by Martha Stewart
3. Soho Charcuterie, by Francine Scherer & Madeline Poley
4. Muffin Mania, by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli
5. New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet, by Pierre Franey
6. Fare for Friends, by The Fare for Friends Foundation

Must-reads for an extra-long weekend

By Bookmarked - Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 10:50 AM - 0 Comments

Michael Ochs/Archives/Getty Images

Our latest book reviews:

• Napalm: An American Biography, by Robert M. Neer, review by Brian Bethune

• Spartacus, by Aldo Schiavone, review by Colby Cosh

• Criminal Enterprise, by Owen Laukkanen, review by Ken MacQueen

• Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill, by Michael Sheldon, review by Patricia Treble

• Vampires in the Lemon Grove, by Karen Russell, review by Mike Doherty

• I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon, by Touré, review by Brian D. Johnson

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Springtime reading: From Clive Davis and Scientology to polar bears and Zelda

By Bookmarked - Friday, March 22, 2013 at 11:06 AM - 0 Comments

David Mounce/Corbis

Our latest book reviews:

• The Truth About Luck, by Iain Reid, review by Jessica Allen

• Never Look a Polar Bear in the Eye, by Zac Unger, review by Joanne Latimer

• The Soundtrack of My Life, by Clive Davis, review by Jaime J. Weinman

• Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape, by Jenna Miscavige Hill with Lisa Pulitzer, review by Joanne Latimer

• Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Anne Fowler, review by Katie Engelhart

• Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked, by Jeffrey Frank, review by Mike Doherty

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Philip Roth at 80

By Bookmarked - Friday, March 15, 2013 at 7:30 AM - 0 Comments

Bob Peterson / Time & Life Pictures /Getty Images

Philip Roth at 80: America’s greatest hope for winning the Nobel Prize for literature has never been more relevant. Here’s why.

Plus, our latest book reviews:

• Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Recovering the Power of Character and Empathy, by Emily Bazelon, review by Dafna Izenberg

• Wave, by Sonali Deraniyagala, review Sarah Weinman

• The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement, by Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis, review by Pamela Cuthbert

• Rage Against the Dying, by Becky Masterman, review by Sarah Weinman

• The Book of My Lives, by Aleksander Hemon, review by Naoko Asano

• Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life, by Adam Phillips, review by Mike Doherty

Continue…

What to do on March Break? Read!

By Bookmarked - Friday, March 8, 2013 at 10:30 AM - 0 Comments

Mike Hutchings/Reuters

Our latest book reviews:

• Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong, by David Walsh, review by Jonathon Gatehouse

• Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson, review by Jen Cutts

• With Charity For All: Why Charities are Failing and a Better Way to Give, by Ken Stern, review by Peter Shawn Taylor

• Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The Wars Of The Roses, by Sarah Gristwood, review by Patricia Treble

• With or Without You: A Memoir, by Domenica Ruta, review by Sarah Weinman

• Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage, by Jeffrey Frank, review by Jaime J. Weinman

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March madness of a literary kind

By Bookmarked - Friday, March 1, 2013 at 11:27 AM - 0 Comments

This 18-karat gold watch had a chart of Manhattan's changing night sky and chimes that played the Big Ben melody (Sotheby's)

Our latest book reviews:

• A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World’s Most Legendary Watch, by Stacy Perman, review by Brian Bethune

• The Demonologist, by Andrew Pyper, review by Liisa Ladouceur

• Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, by Charles Wheelan, review by Chris Sorensen

• The Good House, by Ann Leary, review by Sarah Murdoch

• Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World, by Matthew Goodman, review by Brian Bethune

• Detroit: An American Autopsy, by Charlie LeDuff, review by Martin Patriquin

Plus, the Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction will be announced on March 4. Find all our coverage of the five finalists here. 

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Your Sunday starts here

By Bookmarked - Friday, February 15, 2013 at 12:45 PM - 0 Comments

Andy Isaacson/The New York Times/Redux

Our latest book reviews:

• Ship It Holla Ballas! How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker’s Loudest, Craziest and Richest Crew, by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback, review by Andrew Stobo Sniderman

• The River Swimmer, by Jim Harrison, review by Jessica Allen

• The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century, by Paul Collins, review by Brian Bethune

• The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster, by Jonathan M. Katz, review by Michael Petrou

• Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent, by Gabrielle Walker, review by Ken MacQueen

• The Last Runaway, by Tracy Chevalier, review by Dafna Izenberg

Plus, an excerpt from Sandra Djwa’s Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page, the fourth in our five-part series with The Charles Taylor Prize nominees.

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Baby, it’s cold outside. (Read a book)

By Bookmarked - Friday, February 8, 2013 at 1:14 PM - 0 Comments

Christian Miller/Getty

Our latest book reviews:

• Always Looking: Essays on Art, by John Updike, review by Joanne Latimer

• The Noir Forties: The American People from Victory to Cold War, by Richard Lingeman, review by Jaime J. Weinman

• Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us, by Donald K. Yeomans, review by Kate Lunau

• The Illicit Happiness of Other People, by Manu Joseph, review by Martin Patriquin

• Heat: Adventures in the World’s Most Fiery Places, by Bill Streever, review by Charlie Gillis

• Soldier Of Christ: The Life Of Pope Pius XII, by Robert A. Ventresca, review by Brian Bethune

Plus, an excerpt from Tim Cook’s Warlords, the third in our five-part series with The Charles Taylor Prize nominees.

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Fireside reading: Six new reviews + Maclean’s bestsellers

By Bookmarked - Friday, February 1, 2013 at 12:23 PM - 0 Comments

Universal History Archive/Getty Images

Our latest book reviews:

• Cataract, by John Berger, review by Brian Bethune

• Artful, by  Ali Smith, review by Mike Doherty

• The Dinner, by Herman Koch, review by Anne Kingston

• On the Map: A Mind Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks, by Simon Garfield, review by Colby Cosh

• American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop, by Caroline de Margerie, review by Sarah Murdoch

• Gun Machine, by Warren Ellis, review by Brian Bethune

Plus, an excerpt from Ross King’s Leonardo and The Last Supper, the second in our five-part series with The Charles Taylor Prize nominees.

Best book bets for hibernation season

By Bookmarked - Friday, January 25, 2013 at 10:25 AM - 0 Comments

Olympic bobsledder Steven Holcomb (Harry How/Getty)

Our latest book reviews:

• Elihu Washburne: The Diary and Letters of America’s Minister To France During the Siege and Commune of Paris, by Michael Hill, review by Peter Shawn Taylor

• Tenth of December: Stories, by George Saunders, review by Dafna Izenberg

• The Kingdom of Rarities, by Eric Dinerstein, review by Brian Bethune

• The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations, by Ian Morris, review by Brian Bethune

• Martin Amis: The Biography, by Richard Bradford, review by Mike Doherty

• But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold, by Steven Holcomb, review by Jonathon Gatehouse

Plus, an excerpt from Carol Bishop-Gwyn’s biography of the National Ballet of Canada’s founder Celia Franca, the first in our five-part series with The Charles Taylor Prize nominees:

• Celia Franca: Always on her toes, by Brian Bethune

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Six book reviews, 20 bestsellers

By Bookmarked - Friday, January 11, 2013 at 2:02 PM - 0 Comments

Diana Vreeland (KenProbst/Corbis Outine)

Our latest book reviews:

• Yip Harburg: Legendary Lyricist and Human Rights Activist, by Harriet Hyman Alonso,  review by Jaime J. Weinman

• The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I, by Ayana Mathis, review by Patricia Treble

• Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland, by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, review by Anne Kingston

• Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America, by Thomas J. Craughwell, review by Jessica Allen

• A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus, by Frederic Raphael , review by Brian Bethune

• Venice: A New History, by Thomas F. Madden, review by Brian Bethune

Must reads on the first weekend of 2013

By Bookmarked - Friday, January 4, 2013 at 10:16 AM - 0 Comments

Everett Collection

Our latest book reviews:

• Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother, byEve LaPlante,  review by Dafna Izenberg

• The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis, review by Sarah Weinman

• Thirst: Water & Power in the Ancient World, by Steven Mithen, review by Michael Petrou

• The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom, by Marcus Rediker, review by Peter Shawn Taylor

• What Are You Looking At? The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art, by Will Gompertz, review by Joanne Latimer

• The Holy Or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of ‘Hallelujah’, by David Nasaw, review by Marni Jackson

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Six ways to escape holiday madness: Maclean’s book picks and bestsellers

By Bookmarked - Friday, December 14, 2012 at 11:20 AM - 0 Comments

Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan (Berthold Steinhilber/LAIF/Redux)

Feature interview: 

• Black Swan author Nassim Nicholas Taleb divides the world into three

Our latest book reviews:

• The Pharoah: Life At Court and On Campaign, by Garry Shaw,  review by Brian Bethune

• Lenin’s Kisses, by Yan Lianke, review by Anne Kingston

• The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden, by Mark Bowden, review by Michael Petrou

• Inhumanities: Nazi Interpretations of Western Culture, by David B. Dennis, review by Brian Bethune

• The Elephant Keepers’ Children, by Peter Høeg, review by Dafna Izenberg

• The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy, by David Nasaw, review by Jaime J. Weinman

Weekend reading: on Christmas trees, John Lennon and Saul Steinberg

By Bookmarked - Friday, December 7, 2012 at 1:06 PM - 0 Comments

Our latest book reviews:

• The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, by Shani Boianjiu,  review by Andrew Stobo Sniderman

• The John Lennon Letters, edited and with an introduction by Hunter Davies, review by Mike Doherty

• Inventing the Christmas Tree, by Bernd Brunner, review by Brian Bethune

• Saul Steinberg: A Biography, by Deirdre Bair, review by Sarah Murdoch

• A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change, by John Glassie, review by Colby Cosh

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The Cookbook Store’s November bestsellers

By Jessica Allen - Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 10:50 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Jessica Darmanin

Every month, Toronto’s Cookbook Store shares their bestsellers list, compiled by manager Alison Fryer, with us. The November top-sellers, says Fryer, were an eclectic bunch: “a little Canadian, a little Middle Eastern, a successful food blogger, a TV personality, a chemist, and a dash of baking rounded out with healthy cooking.”

There are some pretty great gift ideas here, people. For example, I would really like No. 2, 3 and 7.

1. Canada’s Favourite Recipes, by Rose Murray and Elizabeth Baird

2. Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimia

3. Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, by Deb Pereleman

4. Lucky Peach Issue 5, by David Chang and Peter Meehan

5. Bouchon Bakery, by Thomas Keller and Sebastian Rouxel

6. Vegetarian’s Complete Quinoa Cookbook, edited by Mairlyn Smith

7. Barefoot Contessa Foolproof Recipes by Ina Garten

8. Modernist Cuisine at Home, by Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet

9. Spilling the Beans, by Sue Duncan and Julie Van Rosendaal

Your Sunday starts here

By Bookmarked - Friday, November 30, 2012 at 12:38 PM - 0 Comments

Myrna Loy (Myrna Williams) as Nora Charles and William Powell as Nick Charles (Clarence Sinclair Bull/John Kobal Foundation/Getty)

Our latest book reviews:

• Conning Harvard: Adam Wheeler, the Con Artist Who Faked His Way Into the Ivy League, by Julie Zauzmer,  review by Mike Doherty

• Robert Schumann: The Life and Work of a Romantic Composer, by Martin Geck (translated by Stewart Spencer), review by Jaime J. Weinman

• Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm, by Philip Pullman, review by Brian Bethune

• Return of the Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett, review by Ken MacQueen

Weekend reading: Comediennes and Assholes, Newfoundland and Montreal

By macleans.ca - Friday, November 23, 2012 at 1:57 PM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Chris Young/CP

Our latest book reviews

•  We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy, by Yael Kohen, review by Jen Cutt

• Assholes: A Theory, by Aaron James, review by Martin Patriquin

• Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland’s Confederation with Canada, by Greg Malone, review by Brian Bethune

• The Dead of Winter, by Peter Kirby, review by Kate Lunau

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Your weekend starts here: That’s right — with Arnold Schwarzenegger

By Bookmarked - Friday, November 16, 2012 at 10:45 AM - 0 Comments

Our latest book reviews:

• The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965, by William Manchester and Paul Reid,  review by Patricia Treble

• Elsewhere: A Memoir, by Richard Russo, review by Joanne Latimer

• The Testament of Mary, by Colm Toibin, review by Brian Bethune

• Zoo Time, by Howard Jacobson, review by Dafna Izenberg

• Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, by Arnold Schwarzenegger with Peter Petre, review by Joanne Latimer

• The Human Shore: Seacoasts in History, by John R. Gillis, review by Brian Bethune

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Your Sunday starts here

By Bookmarked - Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

Our latest book reviews:

• The Malice of Fortune, by Michael Ennis, review by Julia De Laurentiis Johnson
• Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter, by Melissa Francis, review by Joanne Latimer
• Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan, review by Anne Kingston.
• The Blood of Free Men: The Liberation of Paris, 1944, by Michael Neiberg, review by Peter Shawn Taylor
• Mao: The Real Story, by Alexander V. Pantsov (with Steven I. Levine), review by John Fraser
• The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675, by Bernard Bailyn, review by Brian Bethune

Must read: Bestselling titles for the end of October

By Bookmarked - Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 10:00 PM - 0 Comments

Our latest book reviews:

• The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, by Kevin Dutton, review by Brian Bethune
• The Book of Genesis: A Biography, by Ronald Hendel, review by Brian Bethune.
• Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of the Devils, by Richard Crouse, review by Brian D. Johnson.
• Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, by Chrystia Freeland, review by Chris Sorensen.