Roundup: “A Jane Austen Education” and more

by Mark Athitakis | May-16-2011

Do Jane Austen’s novels hold the key to being a better person? Carolyn Kellogg reviews William Deresiewicz’s A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter for the Los Angeles Times; Nancy Connors reviews it for the Cleveland Plain Dealer; and Craig Seligman reviews it for Bloomberg.

Jane Ciabattari reports from a PEN World Voices Festival panel on book reviewing that included commentary from Cynthia Ozick, Morris Dickstein, Herve Le Tellier, and Carsten Jensen.

Katherine A. Powers reviews Justin Cartwright’s Other People’s Money for the Barnes & Noble Review.

Stephen Burt reconsiders the 90s indie-pop band Blueboy at the blog of the London Review of Books.

Lizzie Skurnick considers the career of The Real Housewives of New York City’s Bethenny Frankel and her new self-help book, A Place of Yes, for Time.

Rayyan Al-Shawaf reviews Kim Barker’s The Taliban Shuffle for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Linda White covers Robert Bly’s recent Minneapolis appearance at the Examiner.

Adam Kirsch reviews Walter Benjamin’s Early Writings 1910-1917 for Tablet.

Scott Esposito reviews Edouard Leve’s Suicide for the National.

As part of her ongoing “The Art of the Review” series at Publishers Weekly’s website, Parul Sehgal interviews New Delhi-based critic Nilanjana Roy.

Eric Miles Williamson reviews Don Winslow’s Satori for the Los Angeles Times.

Rebecca Oppenheimer reviews three finance-themed novels for the Howard County Times

Steven G. Kellman reviews Asaf Schurr’s Motti for the Jewish Daily Forward.

Shaun Randal reviews Ludvik Vaculik’s The Guinea Pigs for Words Without Borders.

Ron Charles reviews Mary Doria Russell’s Doc for the Washington Post.

Heller McAlpin reviews Chris Adrian’s The Great Night for NPR.org.

If you have a news item or review you’d like considered for inclusion in future roundups, please email nbcccritics@gmail.com.