Boston Phoenix | Books | AAN.org

A Beautiful Mindnew

Again, Malcolm Gladwell is able to cross one discipline after another, one subset of behavioral psychology after another.

Boston Phoenix | Jon Garelick | 02-03-2005 | Nonfiction

Tags: tipping, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell, Point

Our True Storiesnew

Ten of the best non-fiction works covered by the Phoenix in 2004, including books by Bob Dylan, Art Spiegelman, Alain de Botton, and Rachel Cohen.

Boston Phoenix | Phoenix reviewers | 12-29-2004 | Nonfiction

Tags: Various Authors, 2004, yearinreview, 2004's Best Nonfiction Books

Personal and Political Conundrumsnew

A selection of fiction that Phoenix reviewers liked this year, including novels by Orhan Pamuk, Philip Roth, Edward St. Aubyn, and Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum.

Boston Phoenix | Phoenix reviewers | 12-29-2004 | Fiction

Tags: Various Authors, 2004, yearinreview, 2004's Best Fiction Books

The Man Who Rolled the Beatles' First Jointnew

Al Aronowitz says the '60s wouldn't have been the same without him. Now, as he types away alone in his cluttered New Jersey apartment, the "Blacklisted Journalist" looks back.

Boston Phoenix | Mike Miliard | 12-03-2004 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: and, Bob, Dylan, rock, beatles, roll, Al Aronowitz, Bob Dylan and the Beatles: Volume One of the Blacklisted Journalist

Girls, Interruptednew

In Growing Up Fast, documentarian Joanna Lipper offered a piercing look at teen motherhood. Now her book lets six young mothers tell their stories in their own words.

Boston Phoenix | Camille Dodero | 12-01-2004 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: pregnancy, teen, Growing Up Fast, Joanna Lipper

Ready to Ware: Comics from McSweeney'snew

For issue #13 of Dave Eggers's McSweeney's Quarterly, Chris Ware dons the guest editor's hat, turning the volume into an anthology of his favorite contemporary comics artists. Also reviewed is Canadian cartoonist Seth's Clyde Fans Book 1.

Boston Phoenix | Douglas Wolk | 12-01-2004 | Fiction

Tags: Various Authors, Clyde, Dave, eggers, fans, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13

Lindbergh's America: Reading Philip Roth Post-11/2new

If reading Philip Roth's The Plot Against America pre-Nov. 2 suggested a twisted parable about current events, then reading it after the elections is downright eerie.

Boston Phoenix | Jon Garelick | 12-01-2004 | Fiction

Tags: Philip Roth, The Plot Against America

Troubled Master: Willem de Kooning's art and lifenew

De Kooning achieved fame late in a turbulent life dedicated to women, drink, and work, work, work.

Boston Phoenix | William Corbett | 11-22-2004 | Nonfiction

Tags: de Kooning: An American Master, Mark Stevens; Annalyn Swan

The Ebb and Flow of American Beer Culturenew

In a quixotic journey to find “The Perfect Beer Joint,” the novelist and long-time Wall Street Journal writer Ken Wells embarked on a perambulating journey down the length of the Mississippi River to see what he could see and sip what he could sip. Travels with Barley, the fizzy and flavorful travelogue that resulted, is appropriately intoxicating.

Boston Phoenix | Mike Miliard | 11-22-2004 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: Ken Wells, Travels with Barley: A Journey Through Beer Culture in America

Hard Timesnew

Seth Mnookin reflects on his journey from junkie to Newsweek media expert to profiler of the scandals at the New York Times.

Boston Phoenix | Tamara Wieder | 11-16-2004 | Author Profiles & Interviews

Tags: Hard News, Seth Mnookin

Chaos Theorynew

So many eccentric characters and event-filled asides make this short novel seem crowded and the air inside a little stuffy. The protagonist's fate isn’t something you’re apt to care about, and the last-minute attempt at poignancy hardly registers more than a "how ironic."

Boston Phoenix | Richard C. Walls | 11-16-2004 | Fiction

Tags: Peter Stephen Jungk, Tigor