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Boswell's Presumptuous Task by Adam Sisman
The subtitle of this book is "The Making of 'The Life of Johnson,'" which makes it a biography about the writing of a biography -- the first great modern biography, in fact. Instead of diluting Sisman's book, this nested approach sharpens its focus, and besides, James Boswell, Dr. Johnson's devoted sidekick, in many ways makes for a more appealing protagonist than the redoubtable lexicographer, if only because we're never called upon to admire him. Still, you can't help but like the irrepressible Scotsman, with his puppyish enthusiasms, his endless struggles to give up drinking and fancy women, his hopelessly botched efforts to advance his standing and, ultimately, the unlikely achievement of his immortal book.
-- Laura Miller
Recent books praised by Salon's critics
The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing
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Boonville by Robert Mailer Anderson
In this rambunctious novel dedicated to skewering old hippies and the dizzy residents of a small Northern California town, a truant yuppie falls for a restless artist.
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Hotel World by Ali Smith
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Gone by Martin Roper
A young couple's life falls apart when the children in their new neighborhood subject them to a mysterious campaign of harassment.
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[02/21/2002]
The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe
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[12/07/2001]
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[12/06/2001]
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[12/06/2001]
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[12/06/2001]
Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi
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[12/06/2001]
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[10/08/01]
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[10/03/01]
The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan by Artyom Borovik
Like Vietnam chronicler Michael Herr, Russian journalist Artyom Borovik captured the hallucinatory hell of war -- but these days it's Borovik's account of Afghanistan that seems the most relevant.
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[09/25/01]
Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford
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The Forgetting by David Shenk
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[08/23/01]
Rock 'Til You Drop by John Strausbaugh
A baby boomer rock critic condemns his generation's insistence on lionizing the burned-out bands of their long-lost youth.
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[08/22/01]
The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes
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[08/06/01]
Human Trials: Scientists, Investors and Patients in the Quest for a Cure by Susan Quinn
When people put their bodies on the line in medical trials, can they be sure that scientists aren't cutting corners or preoccupied with stock prices?
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[08/02/01]
The Sappho Companion by Margaret Reynolds
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[08/01/01]
Searching for John Ford by Joseph McBride
New biographies tell of the director who loved Katharine Hepburn, drove John Wayne to tears and made Stalin applaud.
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[07/31/01]
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
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[07/25/01]
A Cold Case by Philip Gourevitch
From the author of "We Wish to Inform You" comes the true story of a detective who, almost 30 years later, hunted down a murderer the police never caught.
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[07/18/01]
Summer Reading
Our critics spotlight the season's cheap (and not so cheap) thrills and single out a few bestselling stinkers (paging Jackie Collins!).
By Salon's critics
[07/16/01]
The Fourth Hand by John Irving
In the novelist's latest, a studly newscaster loses a limb but gains a deeper understanding of sex.
Reviewed by Emily Jenkins
[07/13/01]
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