Old Media Monday: This week's newsmaking books

The latest news, reviews, and appearances, back from a week (and a day) off. (By the way, if you're as obsessed/contemptuous of the inner workings of that old dinosaur, The New York Times Book Review, as much of the irrepressibly new blogosphere seems to be, take a look at Gawker's lengthy note-taking from a recent appearance of Review editor Barry Gewen at Harvard U.)

The New York Times:

Sunday's Book Review cover: Remainder by Tom McCarthy: "What fun it is when a crafty writer plays cat and mouse with your mind, when you can never anticipate his next move and when, in any case, he knows all the exits to the maze and has already blocked them.... You find yourself exhilarated by your confusion, wanting to be caught--if only to learn, as the fangs sink in, what the chase was actually for."
Last Sunday's cover: Dancing to "Almendra" by Mayra Montero (three cheers for the Times, by the way, for putting relatively unknown novels on its cover two straight weeks): "Her writing is swift and agile; it dances like a tough kid in a good suit--well pressed but never boring, and never calling attention to the strength that lies behind it."
Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman: "What André Aciman considers, elegantly and with no small amount of unbridled skin-to-skin contact, is that maybe the heat of eros isn't only in the friction of memory and anticipation. Maybe it's also in the getting."
Leap!: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives? by Sara Davidson: "When Ms. Davidson wrote "Loose Change" in 1977, she took on the voice-of-a-generation mantle. Years passed. Her generation didn't do anything interesting. But now it's in a pickle, and it needs a voice again."

The Daily Show:

Tue., Feb. 27: Man in the Middle by John Amaechi
Thu., Mar. 1: A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting by Sam Sheridan

Oprah®:

Tue., Feb. 27: In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing by Lee and Bob Woodruff

Fresh Air:

Fri., Feb. 23: The Dogs Who Found Me by Ken Foster
Thu., Feb. 22: In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, Jeb: America's Next Bush by S.V.Date, and When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It by Ben Yagoda
Wed., Feb. 21: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Tue., Feb. 20: Wish I Could Be There: Notes From a Phobic Life by Allen Shawn

All Things Considered:

Fri., Feb. 23: The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being by Sherwin Nuland and Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Wed., Feb. 21: Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences--Some Happy, Some Sad of an American in China and What They Taught Him by Carl Crow

The New Yorker:

Mar. 5 issue: No book reviews (outside Briefly Noted), but there's a story by Steven Millhauser (a personal favorite), that begins, "You are angry, Elena. You are furious."

--Tom, Amazon Bookstore