Every Day Is for the Thief

As a source of insight into Nigeria, Every Day Is for the Thief is excellent. As fiction, which it is billed as, less so. I sense that this book, reworked and originally published in Nigeria before Teju Cole's Open City,  is a profit play on that novel's success.

The Guts

A novel that consists of 90 percent dialogue cannot be easy to pull off, but Roddy Doyle has succeeded with The Guts. Gallows humor colors the story of Jimmy Rabbitte (of The Commitments), newly diagnosed with bowel cancer. When the book turns to music, Rabbitte's passion, it takes off.

Bring Up the Bodies

The sometimes congested prose of Wolf Hall gives way in its successor, Bring Up the Bodies, to a style that heightens the accelerating drama of Anne Boleyn's downfall. There is more anger and confrontation in this book, which may partly explain the improved readability. There are also grave hints of what is to come in the concluding volume.

The Lovely Ladies

The Lovely Ladies is a murder mystery, certainly, and finds Van der Valk in Dublin, but like Nicolas Freeling's other works this is more than a genre piece. The shortfalls of everyone involved get a discerning dissection.

Islam Explained

In simple language using questions and answers, Tahar Ben Jelloun gives an overview of the origins, beliefs and contributions of Islam. A flowering of science and philosophy a thousand years ago was the high point of Islamic civilization. To move back toward that place, Ben Jelloun advocates elements of the religion that stress education, intellectual inquiry and tolerance.