Baum on Books

Regime Change, by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, is the result of 3 arduous years of meticulous investigation into the second Trump presidency. What they discover is an unmoored administration focused on retribution and profit. WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum says the book earned its top spot on the New York Times bestsellers list.

A team of climbers journeys up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but they don’t all make it back down. The fallout from their expedition follows the team back home with dreadful consequences. Kimberly McCreight’s new novel, Someone Else’s Husband, takes readers on a wild, suspenseful trip to discover what happened on the mountain and who is responsible for the murder. Here's Joan Baum's review.

What is happiness? Why do we need art? What is virtue? Aristotle had answers to these deep questions. Now a new book, Aristotle - The First Teacher by Philip Freeman, takes a closer look at the Greek philosopher and how his 2000-year old ideas still resonate today. WSHU’s Joan Baum has this review.

The diplomas have been dispersed. The caps have been tossed. The last semester has been paid for. College life is now over. But WSHU’s Joan Baum says now is when the education begins. Joan shares some reflections on taking responsibility for your own erudition.

A young Hungarian man simply flows with the random events that shape his life for him. This profound feeling of detachment guides the main character of the novel Flesh. Author David Szalay won the 2025 Booker Prize for his work. It stood out so far from the other entries that judges of the Prize said they never read anything quite like it. WSHU’s Culture Critic Joan Baum read it, and she agrees.

An older woman learns that her eyesight is waning. That prompts her to start writing letters while she still can. Lots of letters. And these letters make up the novel that’s a sleeper hit this year. WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum reviews The Correspondent.

A no-nonsense lawyer takes on a dubious divorce case. Big mistake. He soon becomes embroiled in a Big Pharma scandal and murder. This is not a story from the daily headlines but the latest legal thriller by attorney Jeffrey Stephens. WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum says Illusions of Trust reads like 21st-century noir.

Lolita, the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, still stirs controversy seven decades after its first publication. The basic storyline is infamous. WSHU’s Book Critic Joan Baum says what often gets overlooked is Nabokov’s eloquent writing and his examination of how unchecked desire destroys lives.

It’s a vintage hardboiled detective novel, complete with greed, addiction, a mysterious death, and lots of colorful language. But WSHU’s Book Critic, Joan Baum, said Raymond Chandler’s iconic work, The Long Goodbye, and Chandler himself, are so much more.

He didn’t set out to be a philanthropist. But attorney Sandor Frankel’s life took an unanticipated turn, and he found himself managing a multi-billion-dollar trust fund for Leona Helmsley. Frankel writes about his life and career in his memoir, Accidental Philanthropist. WSHU's Book Critic Joan Baum has this review.