John Leonard

Book critic John Leonard reviews the author's newest book, about his journey through Yemen. Leonard appreciates the window into Middle Eastern culture, which the West often overlooks.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Search for the Pink Headed Duck," by Rory Nugent, about his travels to India and Tibet. He says Nugent is a "splendid quack" whose stories are exotic and sometimes hard to believe.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Grossman's first novel, "The Smile of the Lamb," originally written in 1983. It explores the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians through the lenses of culture and language.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Half Man," George Packer's novel of a journalist in a small Pacific Rim country.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Secret Pilgrim" by John LeCarre. It's the final chapter in LeCarre's novels starring master spy George Smiley, which Leonard says it's a Pilgrim's Promise of a book, and LeCarre's best in recent years.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the new family memoir by the prolific novelist. He says it features many of the same themes found in Roth's fiction, like an obsession with memory, and one usually absent: love.

Book critic John Leonards says the Russian author is the greatest writer never to have received the Nobel prize. He reviews a new biography by Brian Boyd, which explores Nabokov's complex and unnerving mind.

Book critic John Leonard reviews the African American writer's new novel, set against the events surrounding the 1985 burning of the MOVE house in West Philadelphia by the Philadelphia police.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Angkor, the Hidden Glories," a new book about the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor Wat. The photos are by Michael Freeman; the writing is by Roger Warner.

John Leonard reviews Salman Rushdie's new book, Haroun. It's an adventure-filled children's book, one Leonard wouldn't have expected Rushdie to write in exile.