Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN's picks for book lovers include Jane Smiley's new novel set on an Iowa farm, and a touching true animal story about donkey named Simon.
Some Luck by Jane Smiley; Knopf, 416 pp.; fiction
It's difficult to pronounce anything like a definitive judgment on Some Luck, the first installment in a new trilogy of novels following an Iowa farm couple, Walter and Rosanna Langdon, and their ultimately far-flung offspring over an entire century beginning in 1920.
The second and third parts of the trilogy are scheduled to be published next year, and until then, we can't see how the narrative seeds the author has planted in this first volume will germinate and grow to maturity later on.
That said, it seems reasonable to expect an abundant harvest. Smiley's latest is anchored in the satisfactions and challenges of life on a farm, but expands with the Langdon diaspora to various American cities and beyond.
Paste BN says ***1/2 out of four. An "auspicious beginning" to a trilogy… "a masterpiece in the making."
Saving Simon: How a Rescue Donkey Taught Me the Meaning of Compassion by Jon Katz; Ballantine, 240 pp.; non-fiction
The author recounts the true story of rescuing a donkey that was so abused it was nearly dead.
Paste BN says ***. A "heart-warming, provocative animal-bonding book."
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; Knopf, 333 pp.; fiction
In this post-apocalyptic tale, civilization has all but been destroyed by a deadly strain of the flu, yet a traveling theater company still performs Shakespeare.
Paste BN says ***1/2. "A superb study of humanity and all its flaws, but also its triumphs."
Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr; Norton, 604 pp.; non-fiction
A biography of the playwright behind such modern claisscs as The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Paste BN ****. "Rigorously detailed, sumptuously written… should be required reading for all theater fans."
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes; Mulholland Books, 436 pp.; fiction
Detective Gabi Versado is on the case after a series of exceptionally gruesome homicides in Detroit.
Paste BN ***1/2. "Accomplished."
Contributing reviewers: Kevin Nance, Don Oldenburg, Kelly Lawler, Elysa Gardner, Martha T. Moore