Weekend picks for book lovers
What should read this weekend? Paste BN's picks for book lovers include the latest mystery by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) and a new novel about brothers by the author of The Hours.
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland Books, 456 pp., fiction)
The Cuckoo's Calling wasn't just a book — it was news. A few months after its publication last year, with mild acclaim and milder sales behind it, word emerged that its author, Robert Galbraith, was actually a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling.
Now Rowling — um, Galbraith — has written a sequel. The heroes of The Silkworm are again shaggy London private eye Cormoran Strike, still trying to cope with the loss of a leg (in Iraq) and a girlfriend, and his spirited assistant Robin, who has her eye on becoming Strike's partner.
Their case involves a missing novelist, Owen Quine. He's vanished, leaving behind a manuscript that is scandalizing some of the most important figures in London publishing circles with its cruel caricatures of them. When a body turns up, Strike and Robin have to race to exonerate their client, whom Scotland Yard suspects of murder.
Paste BN says: * * * ½ out of four. "A great detective novel: sharp, immensely readable, warmhearted but coolheaded, with a solution worthy of the immaculately plotted Harry Potter series."
The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 272 pp., fiction)
Two brothers — one a bartender, the other works in a hip clothing store — search for authentic fulfillment in a story set during George W. Bush's second term; by the author of The Hours.
Paste BN says: * * * *. "Thoughtful, intimate … Cunningham's writing still loops the loop from quotidian to cosmic at top speed."
Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr (Simon & Schuster, 337 pp., non-fiction)
A biography of Sally Ride, who made history when she flew on the space shuttle in 1983 as a mission specialist.
Paste BN says: * * *. "A full and happy life that makes for a fast, fun read."
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Scribner, 448 pp., fiction)
A newly retired cop gets a mocking letter from the infamous Mercedes Killer, a madman who ran a gray Mercedes into a crowd of people and got away.
Paste BN says: * * * ½. "Takes the old detective genre in an excellent, modern direction."
Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Korda (Harper, 785 pp., non-fiction)
A new biography of the Confederate general attempts to roll back 150 years of mythmaking.
Paste BN says: * * *. "Admiring but nuanced … Korda brings a well-rounded knowledge of military history to the undertaking."
Contributing reviewers: Charles Finch, Martha T. Moore, Ray Locker, Brian Truitt, Gregory Korte