The BookReport

Chris is Reading: Joseph Anton & The Black Count

Two major works of non-fiction appear this month, one a memoir, the other a biography: Salman Rushdie finally reveals how his life was shattered and imperiled in Joseph Anton, his compelling memoir (Random House). On Valentine’s Day 1989, Rushdie was informed that the Ayatollah had sentenced him to death (he learned what “fatwa” means) for writing The Satanic Verses, a novel deemed “against Islam.”

Rushdie recounts how he was forced underground, guarded 24/7, and how his ordeal became the most important battle for freedom of speech that the world had seen until then. How does a writer live, love, and continue to express himself when his words, his very thoughts become lethal?

Alexandre Dumas will be forever praised and admired for his magnificent swashbuckling novels The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, et.al., but what few people know — that his novels were inspired by his own father Alex Dumas — is the thrilling subject of The Black Count by Tom Reiss (Crown).

Born to a black slave woman and a white French nobleman, Alex Dumas’s exploits became rich fodder for his son the novelist. Alone among his race, Dumas Sr. Rose from bondage to join the Army and eventually command thousands of soldiers. His principles set him against Napoleon, and he found himself thrown into a dungeon — setting the stage for for him to become the real Count of Monte Cristo. The Black Count is a book for any history lover who wants their swash buckled.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: The Casual Vacancy

October always brings the “people in black” to the Hamptons, as movie-folk come to celebrate the annual Hamptons International Film Festival. Like those movie studios who unspool their important reels in the last few months of the year, publishers release many major new books from bestselling authors.

This month brings new works from Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Dennis Lehane, Pat Barker, Jo Nesbø, Barbara Kingsolver, Sandra Cisneros, Dennis Lehane, Pat Barker, and Donna Leon, to name just a few.

One of the most highly-anticipated novels  is  J. K. Rowling’s first foray into fiction for grown-ups, The Casual Vacancy (Little, Brown). Rowling brings her wonderful creative strengths to the wise and touching tale of Pagford, an ostensibly idyllic, quiet little town in England. When Barry Fairbrother dies prematurely, the whole town is stunned. But Barry has left vacant a seat on the parish council, setting in motion an election battle that will lay bare the seamier side of Pagford, as dark sides are revealed, passions loosed, locals betrayed and betraying. Pagford, it seems, is a not-so-idle idyll.

Rowling has again plotted perfectly, spinning a tale that will satisfy readers who have been craving another great story from one of our best storytellers. Make no mistake: this is not Harry Potter. Comparisons are foolish, and will lead down a road that should not be travelled. The Casual Vacancy is dark, yes, but decidedly adult.

—Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Double Cross

Those seeking nonfiction thrills should look no further than Double Cross by Ben Macintyre (Crown). The bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat tells the true story of the D-Day spies. On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, and won one of the fierest battles of the war with a surprising lack of casualties.

Double Cross is the untold story of Operation Fortitude, which plotted and supported the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which turned German spies into double agents — agents who tricked the Nazis into believing that the attack would come elsewhere. The Operation was the most successful deception of the war, keeping Hitler far off the mark, and crippling the Nazis on that fateful day. Macintyre documents this amazing story with gripping panache, sealing his reputation as one of our greatest historians.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: The Age of Miracles

As we become immersed in the heady, humid days of August, thank heavens there are a bunch of great books to calm and cool you. I’m a big fan of debut novels; they give me hope for the future. One of the best I’ve read this year is The Age of Miracles (Random House), by Karen Thompson Walker.

Walker’s premise is brilliant: one day, for no apparent reason, the earth begins to slow down in its revolution. We see the consequences through the eyes of our narrator, 11 year-old Julia. Her life, her parents, her loves. This fantastical novel is really a beautifully written coming-of-age story, with all the awkward and achey moments deftly displayed. No matter how fast or slow the world moves around her, Julia moves at her own speed, as we all should — or realize that everyone can topple off their own axis.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Beautiful Ruins

Jess Walter, author of the bestselling The Financial Lives of the Poets, is back with a perfect summer novel, Beautiful Ruins (Harper). A small town on the Italian coastline, the blueness of the Ligurian sea, Hollywood starlets, the set of the film Cleopatra, long-lost loves...what more could you ask for? 

Walter ties them all together in this superb story that starts in Italy in 1962, when an innkeeper sees an Hollywood actress and falls in love, and moves forward to today as the now-elderly gentleman shows up on a Hollywood set, looking for his lost love.  With dozens of unforgettable characters (including the rakish Richard Burton), Beautiful Ruins is a moving portrait of people who cling to their dreams, and dreams that fracture, fade, and sometimes, actually, come true.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Gone Girl

Ah, summer...so many books, so little time…

The thriller of the summer is sure to be Gillian Flynn’s remarkable Gone Girl (Crown). Flynn has gathered great attention for her previous suspenseful novels, Dark Places and Sharp Objects, but she shoots into a whole other stratosphere with her latest. Not since Adam Ross’s bestselling thriller, Mr. Peanut, have I read such a compelling and breathtaking dissection of marriage cloaked in a nail-biting page-turner. 

Nick and Amy Dunne have been married for five years. On the morning of their anniversary, Amy disappears, leaving behind the signs of a struggle and some clues that seem to implicate her husband. Is Nick guilty? If so, what exactly is he guilty of?

With alternating chapters in each of their voices, the reader soon comes to realize that both Amy and Nick are deliciously unreliable characters. With the cops closing in, revelations  and lies pile up, and the reader realizes just how deadly marriage can be.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Summer Cookbooks

This is a great summer for foodies. Ricky Lauren has a gorgeous new book, The Hamptons: Food, Family and History (John Wiley), a picture perfect collection of recipes, history, and memories. The Laurens have lived all over the East End, and Mrs. Lauren invites us into their homes and gives us over 100 recipes for delicious food that’s been shared with her family and friends. East End Tuna Croquettes, Beer-Batter Fish and Chips, Saffron Risotto with Shrimp and Clams, Potato Cheese and Fruit Blintzes… there’s something scrumptious for every palate.

Sure to be one of the hottest gift books this summer, The Hamptons is perfect for visitors and year-rounders alike. Lauren has perfectly captured all that is special about the East End.

Martha Stewart is back with Martha’s American Food (Clarkson Potter), a delicious compendium of our country’s best dishes from coast to coast. Full of wonderful, mouth-watering photos, Martha breaks up the recipes by territory: All American (mmm... Meatloaf), Northeast (whoa… New England Clam Chowder), South (Buttermilk Fried Chicken), Midwest (that’s right… Pigs in a Blanket),  Southwest (seven Layer Dip), and West (oh, god… Cioppino!).

Full of dishes you thought you knew how to make, and the drinks and cocktails togo with them, Martha’s American Food is an instant classic, a must for every kitchen.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Restaurant Man

Joe Bastianich is one of my favorite restauranteurs, knowledgable about all things food and wine. Whether side by side with his mom Lidia, or having an espresso at his wonderful Eataly market, Joe always has something interesting to say. I‘m thrilled that he’s finally given us a fantastic memoir, Restaurant Man (Viking).

Funny, revealing and frank, Bastianich tells how he learned about the food life at the aprons of his mother and father, and how that jump-started the culinary journey that led to his life in some of the greatest eateries in the country.

Restaurant Man is brutally honest, and one of the best memoirs of its kind since  Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Home

One of my favorite novelists, Toni Morrison, returns with the breathtaking and brief Home (Knopf). Frank Money is a Korean War veteran, just returned to the ever-racist U.S., hospitalized for unspoken atrocities that have scarred him both physically and mentally.

Defeated, angry, and lost, he is shocked out of his stupor by his need to save his younger sister, who is gravely ill after being medically abused by the doctor she works for. Frank must get to her in time, and must take her back to the small Georgia town where they grew up together. Frank has always hated his hometown, but it is a journey he must take, to save his sister and himself.

Morrison’s novel is, as usual, beautifully written, and Frank’s journey, full of childhood memories and flashes of the war’s brutalities, is a journey of redemption. Home is the U.S. Home is Georgia. But ultimately, Home is family. Home is love. Home is memory.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: In One Person

John Irving has always grappled with issues of sexual identity, but in his powerful and potently political new novel, In One Person (Simon & Schuster), Irving wrestles with these themes and pins them to the floor. This is his most moving, passionate, and heartfelt novel since A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Irving introduces us to Billy, a self-considered bisexual, as well as the family, friends, and lovers who orbit him. Billy’s story is all at once a story of unrequited love, sexual fluidity, lifelong bonds, and absent caretakers; a story of how you discover who you are by who you love, and how to take comfort from and be comfortable with that choice.

Billy’s journey is emotionally harrowing, but also filled with contagious humor. Irving again does what he does best: his characters are “characters,” but always ring true and touch your heart.

In One Person is a celebration of Billy’s triumph — from curious and confused adolescent, turning to literature for clues to his own mysteries (the gorgeous and groundbreaking Giovanni’s Room among many), to grown man living through the AIDS scourge — knowing himself, being himself, and realizing that he need not apologize for any of it. Irving’s portrait of the AIDS Decade is the most compelling and personal depiction of the disease’s ruthlessness, its diabolical insouciance, and the horrible pinball effect of its path.

In One Person is quintessential Irving: bold and brave, and in the same breath, beautifully pugilistic. Irving dares you to consider Billy’s life and not be both moved and outraged. It is surely one of the most important books of the year.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: New Cookbooks

What are the holidays without a cookbook round-up?  With new offerings from Lidia, Mario, Jacques, and my beloved Cook’s Illustrated, there’s a bounty for your favorite menu-maker.

Lidia Bastianich is back in her kitchen with Lidia’s Italy in America (Knopf), more than 175 recipes from Italian American centers throughout the country.  From Baltimore Crab Cakes to Chicago’s Deep-Dish Pizza, New Orleans Muffuletta sandwich to New York’s Neopolitan Pizza, Lidia’s found the best this country has to offer.  My favorite recipe reveals the secrets behind the time-honored Rainbow Cookies.

 

 

Mario Batali gathers “simple family meals” in Molto Batali (Ecco), a celebration of his favorite seasonal recipes for family festivities.  Arranged by month, these mouth-watering meals include Escarole Soup (perfect for a chilly day), Nectarine and Black Pepper Cheesecake (just think about it!), Fettucine with Peas and Pancetta, and Braised Chicken with Sweet Onions and Parmigiano (mmm...”braised” anything.)

 

 

I’m thrilled watching Jacques Pepin in action, and Essential Pepin (Houghton Mifflin) collects more than 700 of his all-time favorite recipes (and includes a DVD of searchable cooking techniques). Roast Turkey with Mushroom Stuffing, Mussels Gratine, Grilled Steak with Lemon-Thyme Butter, Leeks in Bechamel Gratin, Iced Grand Marnier Souffle — imagine what the other 695 recipes are like! This is a must for every cook’s library.

 

 

Move over Joy of Cooking, How to Cook Everything, and Fannie Farmer...a new cookbook bible has been born. Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook (America’s Test Kitchen) has collected over 2,000 tried and tested recipes from 20 years of my favorite cooking magazine.  Whether you’re a neophyte or seasoned chef, these fabulous recipes will quickly enter your kitchen lexicon. Open to any page, and you’ll find the best recipe that the wonderful chefs at America’s Test Kitchen could foolproof — Country-Style Potato-Leek Soup, Turkey Tetrazzini, Chicken Saltimbocca, Steak Frites, Classic Frittata, and hundreds more, all presented with the unique Cook’s Illustrated style.

— Chris Avena

Chris is Reading: Nonfiction Highlights of the Season

Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History, by Robert Hughes (Knopf). Hughes is one of our greatest art and cultural historians, and Rome is a fascinating, illuminating, and epic account of the city that Hughes clearly worships. With his usually abrupt and no-nonsense style, Hughes tracks the city’s social, political, and cultural histories, as well as his own personal affair with her, detailing how she’s been hopelessly besmirched by crass tourism. Insightful and revelatory, Rome is the perfect marriage of author and subject.

 

Philip Galanes writes the “Social Q’s” advice column every week for the New York Times Sunday Styles section, and his graceful irreverence has earned him a legion of fans.  His new book, Social Q’s (Simon & Schuster), is the perfect stocking stuffer!  Funny and fair-minded, Social Q’s addresses the everyday quandaries that folks stumble over.  Faux-pas, weddings, relationships, work, play, love, and line-cutters are all addressed and resolved, Galanes-style.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll just be thankful you can turn to Philip to sort things out.

— Chris Avena