Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include the thriller 'Luckiest Girl Alive,' and a memoir by a San Diego veternarian.
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll; Simon & Schuster, 338 pp.; fiction
Luckiest Girl Alive is a beach read with some serious bite.
From its opening sentence, this novel and its protagonist, Ani FaNelli, are not what they appear to be.
Magazine writer Ani is not just any girl. She’s looking to shake her small-town roots and traumatic past. Ani is the reinvention of TifAni FaNelli and the soon-to-be Mrs. Ani Harrison, wife to Luke, the blue-blooded embodiment of middle-class TifAni’s dreams.
In addition to planning her wedding, Ani is busy working at the popular The Women’s Magazine and relentless in her pursuit of obtaining physical perfection. Yes, Ani’s perfect, idealized life seems just within her grasp.
But not so fast. Some of Ani’s secrets may come dangerously close to dismantling her finely constructed and well-polished veneer.
Paste BN says ***1/2 out of four. “Luckiest Girl Alive has been compared favorably to other recent Girl best sellers, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train. And it is well deserved.”
All Dogs Go to Kevin: Everything Three Dogs Taught Me (That I Didn't Learn in Veterinary School) by Jessica Vogelsang; Grand Central; 336 pp.; non-fiction
A memoir about her professional and personal life, by veterinarian.
Paste BN says ***1/2. “With humor, grace and a wonderfully deft way with words, (Vogelsang) escorts us through the trials of vet school and the ups, downs and surprises of a small-animal practice in San Diego.”
Armada by Ernest Cline; Crown, 355 pp.; fiction
A teen gamer battles a horde of aliens for the fate of the world.
Paste BN ***. “This is a clever, relatable read for the Comic-Con crowd.”
Diane von Furstenberg: A Life Unwrapped by Gioia Diliberto; Dey Street, 272 pp.; non-fiction
A biography of the designer who gave us the iconic wrap dress.
Paste BN says *** out of four. “Rich with delicious details …von Furstenberg’s story is a timely tale of a woman who knows what other women want: Everything.”
The Coloring Book: A Comedian Solves Race Relations in America by Colin Quinn; Grand Central, 224 pp.; non-fiction
“If you read this book and don’t find it funny, it’s not because it’s not funny, it’s because you’re brainwashed not to laugh at ethnic humor,” standup comedian Colin Quinn writes.
Paste BN says ***. Quinn’s “often-bruising, self-abasing rites of passage, whether in school playgrounds or Lower Manhattan bars…account for the much of the book’s charm and grace.”
Contributing reviewers: Mary Cadden, Sharon Peters, Brian Truitt, Patty Rhule, Gene Seymour