Bess Newman studied English and French in college and worked as a writer and editor at a financial book publisher in New York City. She left publishing for law school and currently tries to spend all of her free time reading.
Favorite Authors:
Ian McEwan, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Jane Austen, John Irving, Pat Conroy
Desert Island Books*:
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro, The Translator by John Crowley
Other Interests:
Knitting, jewelry-making, reality TV shows of questionable quality, pirates
Book Reviews by Bess:
- A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff
- Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes
- Because She Can by Bridie Clark
- Beginner's Greek by James Collins
- Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
- Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky
- The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
- Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
- Brainiac by Ken Jennings
- Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
- Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
- Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard
- Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
- Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
- The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
- The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
- The English American by Alison Larkin
- Fathers and Sons by Alexander Waugh
- Finishing Touches by Deanna Kizis
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner
- Heat by Bill Buford
- The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
- Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
- Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh
- Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh
- The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
- I Like You by Amy Sedaris
- Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
- by Fiona Maazel
- Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
- The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
- One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
- The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
- The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein
- Pirateology from Candlewick Press
- Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner
- Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
- Second Chance by Jane Green
- Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman
- South of Broad by Pat Conroy
- Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan
- The Temple Dancer by John Speed
- Testimony by Anita Shreve
- Tomorrow by Graham Swift
- Trauma by Patrick McGrath
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
- The View from Mount Joy by Lorna Landvik
- What is the What by Dave Eggers
- When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
- When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
- The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
- Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
- Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler
