Rico's Reviews

A famous and treasured writer in Britain but still a relatively unknown in America, Boyd writes intelligent, big-screen novels that stay with you like memories of a great friend. This one tells the story of Amory Clay, a photographer who gets her start covering fascist riots in 1930s London and then goes on to cover World War II and Vietnam. A daughter, mother, lover, and devoted friend, Clay’s life is both representative of her time and truly extraordinary.  —Rico

The author of more than a couple of the best British novels in recent memory, including Flaubert’s Parrot and The Sense of an Ending, Barnes is also a very serious fan of 19th- and 20th-century art. Here he brings his two passions—painting and writing—together in a series of essays about some of the greatest artists of the last 200 years, including Delacroix, Cezanne, and Magritte, illuminating their process, their often-drama-filled lives, and their towering artistic achievements. —Rico

The authors of the best-selling Brunelleschi’s Dome (King) and The Louvre (Grebe) join forces to lead us through the major paintings and frescoes of Florence, Italy, including every single painting in the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia, and the Duomo, along with important works from 28 other churches. Featuring stunning color plates and insightful commentary, this large-format gift book is simply glorious. Short of an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy, it’s the best holiday gift an art lover could ask for.  —Rico

If there was still any doubt that Franzen is the best living American novelist, this book crushes it. In addition to the wide array of deeply drawn characters, unsurpassed erudition, and astounding prose that we’ve come to expect from him, Purity offers something else: a drum-tight, globe-spanning plot. I laughed, I squirmed, and I gasped, but mostly I stayed up into the wee hours greedily turning pages.  --Rico

Featuring the first two short novels he ever published, Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973, along with a new introduction in which he describes his early writing days, this book crackles with the off-beat sensibility and mysteriously intriguing storytelling that has made Murakami an international sensation. While these two works stand on their own, part of the fun is recognizing early treatments of scenes and obsessions that show up in later works. If you love wonderful (and compact) literary fiction, this is for you. If you’re a Murakami fan, this is mandatory.  --Rico

Between glowing reviews everywhere and multiple articles in The New Yorker and virtually every European newspaper speculating about her true identity (she writes under a pen name and does zero publicity), the last twelve months have been Ferrante’s year—deservedly so. This, the fourth and final book in her excellent Neapolitan series, completes the saga of bookish Elena and strong-willed Lila, childhood friends who’ve spent their lives navigating friendship, womanhood, and family in the violent world of working-class Naples, Italy.  --Rico

A novel written in the form of letters of recommendation? Sounds like a literary stunt, but Schumacher absolutely nails it. While maintaining her formal conceit she perfectly blends satire and real human emotion, offering a sharp (and hilarious) commentary on modern academia through one professor's tired pen and fading sanity. If you’ve ever needed a letter of recommendation or written one, you'll laugh and you’ll cry. I unreservedly recommend Ms. Schumacher for your reading pleasure.  —Rico

I ran a book discussion group for fifteen years. When the members voted for their favorite book over that stretch, this was the winner. Set in India, it’s one of those amazing novels that is both about specific, deeply rendered human beings, and about an entire nation and culture. Think Dickens, think Tolstoy. It’s that good. I don’t cry at the end of books; I did at the end of this one.