Finger Lickin’ Fifteenby Janet Evanovich
Murder, romance, and barbecue—oh my!
If summer is the season for guilty pleasure reads, there’s no time like the present to crack open Janet Evanovich’s latest novel in the Stephanie Plum series. Plum’s pal Lula witnesses the beheading of a celebrity chef, and it’s up to the dynamic duo to solve the crime and win a $1 million grand prize in a barbecue competition while they’re at it. If any of this sounds ridiculous (read: character names like Stanley Chipotle), that’s because it is. But Evanovich’s wonky brand of brain candy has kept her going strong for the first 14 books in the series, and Finger Lickin’ Fifteen—rife with action, adventure, and a healthy dose of fart jokes—sufficiently follows suit. It’s the perfect break for your tired mind if heavier books (both in composition and in weight) start losing their appeal.
Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocationsby Henry Fairlie
A collection from one of journalism’s great iconoclasts.
Sometimes the finest journalists are the ones who have a remarkable ability to find everyone’s faults—even their own employer’s. Hunter S. Thompson had this ability; his words cut the most powerful men in America to the bone. Henry Fairlie, a hard-drinking contemporary of Thompson’s, had the same skill. A Brit who adored America, Fairlie verbally assaulted the left and right with reckless abandon while saving plenty of ire for the media companies that signed his paychecks. A new collection of his writing, much of which originally was published in The New Republic, presents some of the columnist’s most elegant “ pugilistic prose,” reports Publishers Weekly. Fairlie, who coined the term “the establishment,” has many admirers, including Christopher Hitchens, who fancies himself a bit of an heir to Fairlie’s tradition and remains in awe of Fairlie’s ability to “sustain such a high moral tone” in spite of his late-night carousing and caustic personality. One of the praises that frequently appears in reviews of the collection is how relevant Fairlie’s columns are today.
The Angel’s Gameby Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A dazzling page-turner from the author of the bestselling Shadow of the Wind.
A sprawling semi-prequel to Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s 2005 phenomenon, The Shadow of the Wind, this supernatural mystery set in 1920s Barcelona tells the tale of David Martín, a newspaper crime reporter, born into poverty, who eventually makes a living penning sensationalist novels while holed up in a decrepit mansion. When things start falling apart in Martín’s life—his great love marries someone else, his novel doesn’t earn the acclaim it deserves—the protagonist accepts a too-good-to-be-true offer from an eccentric French editor. Martín is to write a book that will change hearts and minds, and he’ll be paid a fortune in return. Before long, though, he finds himself at the center of a dark, spiraling labyrinth.
The Passion of the Hausfrau: Motherhood, Illuminated by Nicole Chaison
The real-life messes of motherhood in comic-book form.
Perhaps the only well-known graphic depiction of the American supermom prior to The Passion of the Hausfrau existed in the works of Norman Rockwell—almost a government conspiracy to cover up the real inner workings of motherhood tantamount to Tupperware parties or Nixon’s Kitchen Debate. But perennial favorite Nicole Chaison, who self-publishes Hausfrau Muthahzine, is hell-bent on changing all that. With the help of quotations and headings from Joseph Campbell’s work of comparative mythology, Chaison illustrates the pitfalls, spit-ups, and Bjorns of everyday parenting. Mothers the world over are sure to appreciate the wit and humor with which The Passion addresses motherhood; fathers will either gain a little insight or be guilt-tripped into offering the missus a night off. Either way, it’s worth a read.
Magnificent Desolationby Buzz Aldrin
The astronaut digs deep and reveals the bittersweet fortune of his mission.
In his new memoir, Buzz Aldrin tells his two stories with equal candor: one the story of a universally recognized hero, and the other of a fringed soul, one unable to reconcile with the planet to which he returned. Aldrin recounts his best years, those as an international hero, and worst years, when he was plagued by alcoholism and depression. For humans to set foot on the moon, he writes, two forces had to come into sharp alignment. On one hand was the legend and legacy that would forever follow their names far into the future. On the other was an equally weighty sensation, what Aldrin calls “magnificent desolation.” His new memoir takes the phrase as its title, reflecting the double-edged fortune that his mission implied. Such balancing forces are well-suited to the frontier of space exploration, and yet they also run deep through the former astronaut’s life.
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