Books

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Fanny Trollope: The Life and Adventures of a Clever Woman" (Viking) a biography of the mother of novelist Anthony Trollope.

Richard Ford, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the novel "Independence Day," has edited and collected a new selection of short stories by the great Russian playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov. It's called "The Essential Tales of Chekhov" (Ecco Press)

Book critc Maureen Corrigan chooses her favorite reads from this past year.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Mark O'Donnell's new Christmas novel, "Let Nothing You Dismay."

Nationally syndicated sex advice columnist Dan Savage has written a collection of his Q & A's in "Savage Love" published by Plume books. He is also an associate editor at The Stranger, a weekly alternative paper in Seattle.

New York writer Daniel Drennan has written a new collection of essays about life in Manhattan. His book "The New York Diaries: Too True Tales of Urban Tramau" is published by Ballantine Books.

Dr. Norman Rosenthal is an expert on seasonal affective disorder a/k/a SAD. Commonly called the winter blues, Rosenthal talks about why many people get depressed during the winter months and how light therapy can help. His book "Winter Blues: Seasonal Affective Disorder, What it is and How to Overcome it." by Guilford Press.

Organizing expert Julie Morgenstern. She is the founder of Task Masters, a New York based consulting company that tries to improve people's efficiency through better organizing skills. Her new book is "Organizing from the Inside Out" by Owl Books.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human" (Riverhead books,) by Harold Bloom.

Historian and author Deborah Gray White has compiled a new history of black women and their struggle against racism and male chauvinism. It's called "Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves 1894-1994" (W.W. Norton) White is a professor of history at Rutgers University and the co-director of the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis.