Books

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reviews "Cultural Misunderstandings: The French-American Experience" by Raymonde Carroll. It's a look at the different ways different cultures behave and think.

Critic Maureen Corrigan is a staunch Dick Francis fan, despite his problematic takes on race and gender. Though his horse racing-themed novels are formulaic, Francis can still weave a suspenseful story. Corrigan reviews his 29th novel, Longshot.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Ken Kesey's account of traveling the country in his bus Further during the 1960s. Leonard says it details Kesey and the Pranksters' many trips, but fails to explain their countercultural worldview.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Possession" by A. S. Byatt. It's a throwback to the big Victorian novels of the 19th century, but with postmodern nods to contemporary literary theory.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Jurassic Park," the new novel by Michael Crichton. Leonard says it's a boy's adventure story that could sell forever.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Cuba: A Journey," journalist Jacobo Timerman's scathing account of everyday life under Castro.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Runaway Bride, Elizabeth Kendall's book about women's portrayals and roles in the early era of film. The author says these women were allowed to be smarter, funnier and more self-respecting in ways that are uncommon today.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the South African author's new epistolary novel, which uses cancer as a metaphor for apartheid. Leonard says it's baffling with a terrible beauty, that spares no one -- including blacks and white liberals.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the fourth, and final installment in John Updike's Rabbit novels, Rabbit at Rest. Leonard says the first book was nearly perfect; this one is too concerned with capturing every aspect of the 1980s -- whether or not those references serve the story.

Book critic John Leonard reviews The General in His Labyrinth, a fictionalized account of the last days of Simon Bolivar. Leonard says there is plenty of magical realism to be found alongside Marquez's strong, socially conscious writing.