Guardian and Observer Book Reviews for 20110812-20110814

Guardian and Observer book reviews (without Amazon lookup)

see blog post for more information

All Made Up by Janice Galloway

Object Review by Adam Mars-Jones - from The Observer

Janice Galloway describes her fraught teenage years in a second volume of her memoir. But words fail her, writes Adam Mars-Jones

The Tyranny of Choice by Renata Salecl

Object Review by Killian Fox - from The Observer

Do you really want to help yourself? Step one, according to this powerful attack on consumer society, is to avoid self-help books, writes Killian Fox

The End: Hitler's Germany, 1944-45 by Ian Kershaw

Object Review by Ben Shephard - from The Observer

A comprehensive retelling of the final days of the Third Reich is frustratingly short of fresh analytical insight, writes Ben Shephard

The Sound of Trumpets by John Mortimer

Object Review by Philip Womack - from The Observer

Published shortly after Tony Blair came to power, John Mortimer's satire of the New Labour era remains brilliantly unsettling, writes Philip Womack

Found: A Daughter's Journey Home by Tatum O'Neal

Object Review by Alex Clark - from The Observer

Child star Tatum O'Neal's memoir is an affecting story of a woman who still craves her father's approval, writes Alex Clark

Lazarus is Dead by Richard Beard

Object Review by Tom Lee - from The Observer

Jesus and Lazarus remain biblical archetypes with little psychological depth in this reimagining of their relationship, writes Tom Lee

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Object Review by Patrick Ness - from The Guardian

Patrick Ness on a vivid dystopian world

The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey

Object Review by Peter Forbes - from The Guardian

Peter Forbes on a book that would have had Darwin swooning

The Love and Death of Caterina by Andrew Nicoll

Object Review by William Leith - from The Guardian

William Leith enjoys a fable about old-fashioned male pride and its pitfalls

Alice by Judith Hermann

Object Review by Philip Hensher - from The Guardian

Philip Hensher on a triumph of the novelist's art

You by Joanna Briscoe

Object Review by Rachel Seiffert - from The Guardian

Rachel Seiffert is glad to be hooked by a tale of love on a Devon moor

Free Ride by Robert Levine

Object Review by Evgeny Morozov - from The Observer

Is online piracy and ubiquitous free content killing our culture? Robert Levine's polemic is entertaining but doesn't quite convince Evgeny Morozov

The Kid by Sapphire

Object Review by Bernardine Evaristo - from The Observer

The story of the brutalisation of a young boy is as bold and powerful as its prequel, Push, writes Bernardine Evaristo

Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital by Catherine Hakim

Object Review by Will Self - from The Guardian

A blueprint for a sexual free market leaves Will Self feeling decidedly uneasy

The Beach Beneath the Street by McKenzie Wark

Object Review by Jonathan Derbyshire - from The Guardian

Jonathan Derbyshire on the life and times of the Situationist International

Open City by Teju Cole

Object Review by Giles Foden - from The Guardian

Giles Foden follows a city walker through the private spaces of his mind

Patronage by Maria Edgeworth

Object Review by Helen Zaltzman - from The Observer

Published a year after Pride and Prejudice, Maria Edgeworth's 1814 epic deserves rediscovery, writes Helen Zaltzman

The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness

Object Review by James Purdon - from The Observer

Ceausescu's Bucharest falls again in a vivid semi-autobiographical novel, writes James Purdon

The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad

Object Review by Kamila Shamsie - from The Observer

Kamila Shamsie is beguiled by a collection of stories from Pakistan that illuminate the harsh codes of the tribal lands