What book reviewers are saying this week

WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING...
SICILIAN TRAGEDEE
By Ottavio Cappellani / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
“Although ‘Sicilian Tragedee’ abounds in references to Lampedusa’s ‘Leopard’ and allusions to Shakespeare ... it’s a great early ’60s film (Pietro Germi’s ‘Divorce Italian Style,’ which is also set in Sicily) that the novel brings most vividly to mind.... Cappellani, like Germi, generates full-throttle comedy with a bitter edge.”
– DAVID LEAVITT, The New York Times

THE STORK’S NEST: Life and Love in the Russian Countryside
By Laura Lynne Williams / Fulcrum Publishing
“ ‘Storks’ Nest’ is a sociological study, travelogue, love story, folklore and a plea ...  beautifully written by a first-time author whose powers of observation bring to life the Russian countryside and its people.”– DICK KRECK, The Denver Post

CHAMPLAIN’S DREAM: The European Founding of North America
By David Hackett Fischer / Simon & Schuster
“David Hackett Fischer’s fine new biography, ‘Champlain’s Dream,’ is the first important book on Champlain in 20 years.... [I]t signals a new perspective on the European impact on the Americas. “
– DAVID WALTON, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel