“This revelatory and exhilarating and funny book not only tells us of the Beat generation, but of a time when we as individuals felt truly free. It is as fresh and pertinent as the latest scholarly history only far more entertaining.”—Studs Terkel

"[This] newest collection of stories, Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black, finds Gordimer poking at embers of the fire that has fueled her work since the very beginning, more than half a century ago: politics, both racial and sexual; our responsibilities to unknown (and perhaps unknowable) others; and, especially, the dangers of delving into history without adequate preparation . . . Nadine Gordimer is more interesting, and provocative, than most."—The Washington Post

"Yamanaka's tortured characters take us through poles of illness and health, damnation and redemption, curses and prayers, and life and death in a dazzling display of language that reveals the author's roots as a poet . . . Yamanaka's dogged attention to details—particularly shards of beauty in the midst of terrible events—makes this novel wondrous and life-affirming even as it guides readers through the difficult territories of sickness, loss and death . . . Anah suffers many devastating words and events in the course of this novel. But in Behold the Many, one of our nation's most dynamic literary stylists forces us to stare wide-eyed into the pain until we can see the healing beauty hidden in its folds."—Tananarive Due, The Washington Post Book World

"Ma Jian has accomplished something extremely difficult. That is, he has created a work of art that functions simultaneously as literature and call to action . . . You wish that copies of this book could be distributed along the route of the Olympic torch's progress toward the upcoming Beijing games, an event that might not be taking place had the world not succumbed to the seductions of forgetfulness—the same dangers and temptations that Ma Jian's hero, and his novel, struggle so valiantly to resist."—Fracine Prose, The New York Review of Books

"Betsey Brown is a joy to read. Every sentence seems filled with delicate, jubilant, sly, comical, musical brio. The energy, good humor, imagination and joie de vivre make this novel a refreshing exception to most contemporary fiction."—Phillip Lopate

"'What does it take to be good at something, when failure is so easy?' asks writer/physician Gawande . . . Diligence, ingenuity and 'doing right' . . . Gawande illustrates each of these qualities with stories from his own experience, [and] his observations of and conversations with other physicians . . . For young doctors . . . Gawande suggests five strategies: Ask unscripted questions, don't complain, 'count something' (be a scientist as well as a doctor), write something (to make yourself part of a larger world) and change in response to new ideas. A must-read for medical professionals-and a discerning, humanizing portrait of doctors at work for the rest of us."—Kirkus Reviews