Weekend picks for book lovers

What should you read this weekend? Paste BN's picks for book lovers include an entertaining novel about a heroine who likes the bottle a bit too much, and a history of marriage in the movies.

The Good House by Ann Leary; St. Martin's Press, 304 pp.; fiction

Sixtysomething, single and a successful real-estate agent, Hildy Good is the affectionately flawed heroine of Ann Leary's second novel The Good House. She's also the descendant of Salem witch Sarah Good — yes, that would be Goody Good. But no, she's no goody-goody.

Hildy has a tangled history with the North Shore Massachusetts town her family has called home for generations. She has a lusty past — and now present — with the local garbageman. She has a complicated relationship with her grown daughters — and most especially with the alcohol she (allegedly) swore off thanks to their intervention.

And after some new neighbors have moved into (fictional) Wendover, Hildy finds herself with a partner-in-pinot-crime, Rebecca McAllister, an old-money equestrian in a dull, new-money marriage addled with her own set of secrets.

Leary, a Connecticut resident and the wife of actor Denis Leary, gleefully peels back the pretensions that so often accompany portraits of ye olde Americana.

Paste BN says *** out of four. "Whatever the cracks in Hildy's house, The Good House is a good read."

I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies by Jeanine Basinger; Knopf, 384 pp.; non-fiction

Esteemed Wesleyan University academic and cinematic soothsayer Jeanine Basinger provides an account of how films have represented wedlock, both holy and unholy, through the years.

Paste BN says ***. "Timely…insightful."

Proof of Guilt: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd; William Morrow, 343 pp.; fiction

In this 15th novel starring World War I veteran Ian Rutledge, the dogged detective, still haunted by what he experienced in the trenches, heads the investigation into the murder of an unidentified man found on a London street.

Paste BN says ***. "A complex tale with an ever-expanding cast of characters and missing bodies."

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus; Minotaur, 371 pp.; fiction

In this tale from one of Germany's popular mystery writers, Tobias Sartorius, 30, has served his time for killing two teenage girls whose bodies were never found. After he returns to his hometown and another girl goes missing, Tobias is blamed.

Paste BN says ***. "Well-crafted… readers won't stop until the shocking ending is finally revealed."

On Looking: Eleven Walks With Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz; Scribner, 320 pp.; non-fiction

Horowitz opens our eyes to a world we've been missing as she walks through New York City with companions including a naturalist, a wildlife researcher, a blind woman, her own toddler son and her dog.

Paste BN says ***. "The author, who proves to be a charming companion, takes the reader by the hand for a delightfully brisk and revealing set of walks."

Contributing reviewers: Olivia Barker, Susan Wloszczyna, Carol Memmott and James Endrst