Books and reading

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews some new summer reads. Below is a list of her favorites:

Fresh Air's book critic gives us her list of the top books of the year.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new memoir, The Only Girl in the Car by Kathy Dobie.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan comments on the phenomenon of citywide reading groups, where an entire city reads the same book.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan on her favorite books of 2001

Book critic Maureen Corrigan has her holiday season literary gift list. This year, all the books revolve around New York City: Manhatten Unfurled (2001) by Matteo Pericoli; A Walker in the City (1951) by Alfred Kazin; A Drinking Life (1994) by Pete Hamill; Terrible Honesty (1995) by Ann Douglas; Down 42nd Street: Sex, Money, Culture, and Politics at the Crossroads of the World (2001) by Marc Eliot; My New York (1993) by Kathy Jakobsen.

Maureen Corrigan reviews "Almost."

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on his five-year-old daughter's developing literary tastes.

Critic Maureen Corrigan recommends two books that you might want to give as holiday presents. First, a children's book called Emily, by Michael Bedard, about a young girl who meets Emily Dickinson. Second: The Open Door, a new paperback collection of writers writing about what made them love to read books when they were young.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Book Wars" by James Atlas. It's the latest book in the growing debate over whether or not students should be required to read a set curriculum of "great books." Maureen says the more interesting thing about the book is that it's filled with ads for Federal Express.