Books

Book critic John Leonard reviews Thomas Pynchon's "Vineland", the first novel in over fifteen years from the author of "V" and "Gravity's Rainbow."

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Goodnight!," by Soviet novelist Andrei Sinyavsky (AHN-dray Sin-YAV-skee). Sinyavsky was the first writer in the Soviet union to be convicted for the opinions voiced by his imaginary characters, and the book straddles the line between fiction and non-fiction as it tells the story of Sinyavsky and his alter ego/pseudonym, Abram Tertz.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Easter Island, The Mystery Solved," by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Labyrinth of Exile," Ernst Pawel's (pronounced "Powell") biography of Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionist movement.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews an English translation of the novel, "The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman," by Polish writer Andrzej Szczypiorski. Although it was a bestseller in Europe, the novel was banned in Poland because of the writer's involvement with Solidarity. With the recent political changes, Szczypiorski's book is now published in Poland and in July he was elected to the Polish Senate.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Take Time for Paradise," a collection of essays about sports by the late baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Fur Hat," a novel by Soviet writer Vladimir Voinovich. (VLAD-i-meer VOY-no-vitch).

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture" by George Lipsitz. The book examines how our collective memory has been shaped by popular culture since World War 2.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Slopes of Lebanon." It's a collection of essays and articles by Israeli writer Amos Oz.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913-1914" by Frederic Morton. It's a sequel to Morton's previous book about Vienna.