Baum on Books

50 years ago this month, the film JAWS debuted in theaters. And for generations, moviegoers have been thrilled to be terrified by the fabled great white shark. But in the novel, the toothy fish is not the star of the story. Book critic Joan Baum re-read JAWS and has this review.

Consider the humble insect. These tiny, multi-legged creatures of infinite variety are all around us. They're also more vital to life on Earth than we humans realize. Author Peter Kuper explores the world of insects and the scientists who study them in his new illustrated book, Insectopolis. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A groom goes missing. A bride goes into hiding. Years later, the past seeps into the present and upends the lives of three women. That's just the beginning of the new novel, After The Ocean, by WSHU's classical music host Lauren Rico.

Writing a memoir is not easy. Dredging up traumatic moments from your past can be painful. For some, it's downright destructive. In her new book, Permission, Connecticut-based writer Elissa Altman shares her insights into the art of writing memoirs and how revealing a hushed-up family incident tore her family apart. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum read it. You can listen to her review right here.

Spelling words in English can be confusing. Many have been baffled by it. And many have tried to simplify the process. In his new book, author Gabe Henry shares a brief 500 year history of those attempts to make spelling easier. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

Edward Gorey was famous for his signature black and white illustrations that are often steeped in humor with a sinister twist. Gorey also drew his whimsical images on envelopes for letters he sent to a close friend. And that friend has just published a collection of their correspondence in a new book. WSHU's Book Critic Joan Baum read it and has this review.

Football captain, Rhino Rhinehart is in trouble. He punched a fellow student. Now Rhino is in his high school's counseling group so he can stay on the football team. He's surprised to find The Group a source of support. But his connection with them also lands him in the middle of a tragic school incident. How will Rhino find his way through it? Well, WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum read this book for young readers. Here's her review.

Can the work of composer Stephen Sondheim change your life? Theater critic Richard Schoch believes it can. In his new book, How Sondheim Can Change Your Life Schoch dives deep into Sondheim's music, lyrics, and characters where he says life lessons are woven into the plays. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum read it. You can listen to her review right here.

A Splendid Death, the latest thriller, by Connecticut-based author Mark Rubinstein, tells the story of two brothers from New Jersey who become entangled with government-backed mercenaries in Franco's Spain. WSHU's Culture Critic, Joan Baum says the novel is a nail-biter. Here's her review.

A rustic castle on a remote Scottish island. It's an ideal setting for a literary conference until it all goes horribly wrong. The dramatic death of the conference organizer compels three romance writers to team up and solve a Who-Done-It. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum read The Authors Guide to Murder.

Reading books in translation can be a tricky venture. Does the work reflect the author's original vision or the perspective of the translator? What's a reader to do? Well, there's a new book out that explores the delicate nuance of translation. WSHU's Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

Fairy Tales! Those fanciful yarns we learned as children were fun bedtime stories. But, author and scholar Jack Zipes believes they can be so much more. In his latest work, Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, Zipes shares lost stories, that he says, could transform minds and nations for the better. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A bereaved college student, a landscaper, and a lawyer form an unexpected love triangle in the debut novel by Connecticut-based writer Diane Parrish, Something Better. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum says don't underestimate this debut work that dives deep into love, redemption, and forgiveness.

Buckle up! Award-winning cartoonist and author, Jules Feiffer takes readers on a wild ride in his latest work- Amazing Grapes. A brother and sister team up to find their mother. But they must journey through a strange dimension filled with extraordinary friends and foes. WSHU's Joan Baum has this review.

In Carolyn Jack's latest novel, a child prodigy navigates the ruthless worlds of classical music, opera, and his mother's ambition. Can he survive the pressure? Book critic Joan Baum read the book. Here's her review.

In the suspense novel, The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore, a teen disappears from a summer camp in the Adirondacks. But she's not the first to go missing. Now a police detective is determined to solve the mystery but she'll have to unravel generations of local secrets to do it. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

It looks like an idyllic historic Connecticut college town with students, professors, and coffee houses. But lurking under the surface is a sinister hedge fund billionaire pulling the strings. And when a co-ed turns up dead, that facade begins to crack. That's the plot of author Michael Ledwidge's latest thriller, No Safe Place. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

In the latest installment of author Claudia Riess' art-history murder-mystery series, Dying for Monet a coveted Monet still life goes missing and the art dealer selling the work is found dead. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum read it. Here's her review.

They're an unlikely pair. She's a widow from the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. He's a US veteran working as a private detective in Wyoming. But they're both survivors of war. And that history binds this investigative team together as they work to bring a killer to justice. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum says the characters and plot of author Paul Barra's new novel Sgt. Ford's Widow, are compelling, suspenseful, and moving.

It's not easy being a successful professional woman working for the NFL. For Poppy Benjamin, it gets a lot harder when the coach she works with is found dead. Now Poppy has to manage the growing negative press coverage while memories of bad choices from her past keep bubbling up. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum says, the new suspenseful novel, The Snap, by Connecticut resident Elizabeth Staple will keep you guessing till the end.

A Manhattan psychiatrist becomes embroiled in a high-profile mob hit when a new patient casually asks him a loaded question. Now Dr. Bill Madrian has to make himself disappear before the Mafia does. Will he survive? WSHU's Book Critic Joan Baum read this new suspenseful thriller. Here's her review.

A Dutch national bank gets swindled out of a fortune by one of its bankers. It wasn't a crime of greed but an act of resistance. This historic case is documented in a book that has just been translated into English. Our book critic Joan Baum read it and has this review.

She lost the man she planned to marry. Her grief gets her kicked out of her oncology unit. And now young doctor Lark Smith struggles to heal her life and career. The head surgeon of the hospital, “Dr. Satan,” offers her a deal. But he hates her. Is Lark willing to pay the price to get her job back?

In her new book, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, journalist and author Julie Satow reveals the stories of three women who elevated fashion and the retail industry during the golden age of department stores in New York City.

The handsome new oversized book A Year in the Vineyard by Sophie Menin and Bob Chaplin, takes readers on an international romp to explore the life cycle of grapes, vines and wines. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A high-end investment firm in Connecticut is the backdrop for a new murder mystery novel. And its author may surprise you. WSHU's book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A rodent rejuvenates the life of a woman who has given up on living. That's the heart of the new novel Sipsworth, by New York-based writer Simon Van Booy. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

The Mark Twain classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gets a fresh retelling in Percival Everett's new work: James: A Novel. This time we see the story through the eyes of Jim/James, a man who escapes slavery to keep his family together. Everett shares a deeply complex James who code-switches to survive. Here' WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum's review.

A sinister underground entity builds babies with stolen DNA. Meanwhile, celebrities, with “desirable traits" hire biotech detectives to keep their genetic material safe. But will it work? WSHU's Book Critic Joan Baum has this review.

What is the creative process? How does art get made? These are some of the questions a new book by former New York magazine editor Adam Moss strives to answer. Our book critic Joan Baum has this review.

Essayist Arthur Krystal shares his reflections on aging, cultural appropriation, and oversharing on social media in his latest publication. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

Yale University Press has published a catalog highlighting rarely-seen drawings and prints by the pre-eminent Renaissance Italian painter, Botticelli. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

In her latest novel, The Vixen Amber Holloway, New York author Carol LaHines crafts a tense psychological tale where a Dante scholar descends into her own personal hell. Our book critic, Joan Baum, had this review.

A group of ultra-right extremists in New York City organized to overthrow the U.S. government. And they nearly succeed. It was just one plot in a broad effort to replace Democracy with Fascism in the 1940's. Our book critic Joan Baum read all about it in journalist Rachel Maddow's latest work, Prequel.

Joanne Leedom-Ackerman used to teach writing at NYU and CCNY. Now she is a Vice President of PEN International and the author of a new political thriller. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

Up on the roof of a New York City apartment building, tenants gather to tell tales and escape their isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. That's the setting of a new collection of stories. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

In her first work of fiction, a New York psychiatrist explores our human need to forge relationships with each other through a series of short stories. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A Long Island detective gets caught up in the greedy intrigue of the pharmaceutical industry as he searches for a missing biochemist. That's the latest plot in a mystery novel by author Chris Knopf. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

There are a wealth of biographies on the life of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. A new book challenges how those profiles interpret the man, his life, and his work. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

First, it was a biography. This summer it was a must-see movie. Our Book critic Joan Baum read the book and saw the film. Here's her review of American Prometheus.

Star Crossed is a new book that tells the true story of two young people in Paris, who fell in love during the Nazi occupation. Our Culture Critic Joan Baum has this review.

Life in Harlem during the volatile 1970's. That's the setting for author Colson Whitehead's latest novel. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

The Box Art Auction is one of the highlights of summer on the East End of Long Island. And it's all for a good cause. WSHU's Culture Critic Joan Baum speaks with Arlene Bujese, the benefit chair of the auction.

A missing child, a family torn apart, and a genealogy test that uncovers long-held secrets. That's just the beginning of a new novel by WSHU's Classical Music Producer Lauren Rico. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

What would you do with an 11-acre parcel of moorland on Montauk, Long Island? That's the question author Céline Keating explores in her latest novel, The Stark Beauty of Last Things.

In her new book, journalist Kate Storey chronicles the history of the Kennedy clan and their summers by the sea in Hyannis Port. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

In his latest work, Francis Levy offers an illustrated collection of short stories that are inspired by the work of Franz Kafka. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A charming grifter makes her way through Long Island's elite society in a new novel by Emma Cline. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

A struggling fashion stylist from Great Neck, Long Island receives an unexpected gift from a woman in Miami with a cryptic past. And that's just the beginning of a new novel our book critic Joan Baum says is a good summer read.

Author Mark Weeks studied law at Fordham University in New York City. He used that degree to practice law and craft an action infused legal thriller. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.

Puffed up and powerful personalities who create their own reality are not new. A biography published by Yale University Press, excavates the life of an Egyptian Pharaoh with a massive ego. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.