Maureen Corrigan

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists 1854-67, by Rachel Cohen. It's a book about friendships between American writers and artists and photographers.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new updated versions of classic Nancy Drew novels.

The Fresh Air book critic reviews three books about life in New York City: Love Monkey, by Kyle Smith, Work and Other Sins: Life in New York City and Thereabouts, by Charlie LeDuff, and Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan, by Phillip Lopate.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new biography Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn. It's about the rivalry between Queen Elizabeth the First and her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Amateur Marriage, the new book by Anne Tyler.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Gatekeeper, the new memoir by British academic superstar Terry Eagleton. Also, his new book After Theory (to be published this month in the United States) is a recant of his widely read 1983 book Literary Theory: An Introduction.

Fresh Air's book critic gives us her list of the top books of the year.

Corrigan's choices include: The Company You Keep by Neil Gordon; Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left by Susan Braudy; and They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 by David Maraniss.