by Gary Shteyngart (Get the Book)
Instead of the incisive, satirical novel that readers might expect from Shteyngart (Super Sad True Love Story), this refreshing memoir makes it clear that for a writer in his 40s, he has produced enough material to fill volumes. Shteyngart unleashes a storm of lacerating humor upon himself and everything (and everyone) that made him who he is. As an immigrant, a misfit, and a lonely kid yearning to fit in, the author brings to life a quintessentially American story. This fascinating look into the making of a prominent literary voice is difficult to put down. VERDICT Poignant, vitriolic, wistful, always moving and painfully honest, this memoir is a substantial contribution. Shteyngart is well known for writing book blurbs for other authors; expect to see some heavy hitters getting behind this memoir, a self-examination that is entertaining and devastating in equal measure. Highly recommended. --Library Journal
by Peter Richmond (Get the Book)
Phil Jackson is the most successful coach in professional sports history. He won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and another five with the Los Angeles Lakers. And he was a player on two New York Knick championship teams in the early seventies. Veteran sports journalist Richmond calls this a biography, but it's really more of a quest Richmond in search of the real Phil Jackson, a fascinating man who has remained a bit of a mystery despite a penchant for writing books about himself and his career (four to date). Richmond spent a lot of time with those four books, but he also interviewed former players, friends, and associates in an attempt to get a sense of the man as well as the coach. Phil the Coach has been remarkably consistent in his methods and interaction with his players, who all revere him. The enigmatic Phil has been the public Phil hippie, coach, husband, teacher, seeker, friend, and father. Sometimes the contexts overlap. But inarguably, he's a fascinating subject, and while Richmond may not plumb Jackson's depths completely, he makes a reasonably good dive in that direction. --Booklist
by Deborah Solomon (Get the Book)
Esteemed art critic and biographer Solomon turns our perception of Norman Rockwell inside out in this fast-paced yet richly interpretative inquiry. Rockwell became famous for creating 323 meticulously rendered, witty, and touching covers for the spectacularly popular Saturday Evening Post between 1916 and 1962. Precise in their detail and expressive in their psychology, Rockwell's narrative depictions of all-American small-town life are charming and rascally, yet Solomon discerns sorrow. She reads his many portraits of exuberant boys as a rewriting of his own unhappy past as a runty kid in cramped New York apartments. Drawing was his solace and illustration his goal, though for all his success, he felt anachronistic as abstract expressionism flourished, and his fastidious realism seemed quaint. But that wasn't his greatest source of frustration. A workaholic neat-freak, Rockwell whose first wife divorced him due to mental cruelty, and whose second, the mother of his three sons, became an institutionalized alcoholic was happiest in the company of young men. As Solomon points out manifestations of homoerotic desires in Rockwell's brilliantly composed paintings, her sensitivity to his struggles deepen appreciation for his virtuosic artistry and for his valor in using his work to champion civil rights and nuclear disarmament. Solomon's penetrating and commanding biography is brimming with surprising details and provocative juxtapositions, just like Rockwell's mesmerizing paintings. --Booklist
by Henry Bushkin (Get the Book)
Show-business junkies old enough to have spent many of their late nights between 1962 and 1992 watching Johnny Carson, the King of Late Night, will likely devour this long-anticipated memoir in one gulp. Notorious for keeping his distance from one and all, even those he purportedly loved, Carson was perhaps closest to Henry Bushkin, his lawyer and consigliere for 18 years, from 1970 to 1988; the relationship ended badly, but Bushkin self-described as Carson's lawyer, counselor, partner, employee, business advisor, earpiece, mouthpiece, enforcer, running buddy, tennis pal, drinking and dining companion, and foil may be the one living person capable of giving readers at least a glimpse of the man behind the genial, oh-so-smooth mask. Naturally, there is more than one man back there. Carson, Bushkin says, was endlessly witty and enormously fun to be around, but he also could be the nastiest son of a bitch on earth. ... What would Carson have made of this book? Perhaps he might have recognized Bushkin's undying regard, even love, for his former running buddy, but more likely, Bad Johnny would have quoted from his Tonight Show character Carnac the Magnificent: May a love-starved fruit fly molest your sister's nectarines. --Booklist
