Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include Al Roker's account of a devastating hurricane in Texas, and Alice Hoffman's new historical novel.
The Storm of the Century by Al Roker; William Morrow, 297 pp.; non-fiction
The human drama and complex natural history of the hurricane that leveled Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 8, 1900, has been told and retold. Striking at the dawn of modern meteorology, it remains the deadliest natural disaster in American history, killing more than 8,000 people.
And its cautionary tragedy should haunt us now more than ever as climate change and extreme weather imperil the future.
In The Storm of the Century, his chronicle of the hurricane, popular NBC weatherman Al Roker doesn’t hype the relevance of Galveston’s misfortune.
Researching the lives of several survivors to impart flesh-and-blood immediacy, he portrays grocer Arnold Wolfram, schoolteacher Daisy Thorne, police chief Edwin Ketchum and first-grader Louise Bristol in their desperate hours. But none of their travails resonate as strongly as those of Isaac Cline, Galveston’s resident weatherman, an ambitious, workaholic member of the fledgling U.S. Weather Bureau.
Paste BN says *** out of four. “A fascinating, multifaceted story.”
The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman; Simon & Schuster, 365 pp.; fiction
Historical novel about Rachel Pomié – the mother of Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro -- set on the island of St. Thomas in the early 19th century.
Paste BN says ***1/2. “As lush and evocative as one of Pissarro’s paintings.”
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day; Touchstone, 260 pp.; non-fiction
A memoir by actress and Comic-Con favorite Felicia Day, about her adventures in geekdom.
Paste BN says ***1/2. “Written in (Day’s) engaging and often hilarious voice, it's just downright fun to read.”
Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont; Random House, 336 pp.; fiction
The extramarital affair between a successful New York City artist named Jack and a young woman is revealed when the latter sends a package of his printed (and sexually explicit) emails and chat logs to his wife – a package intercepted by their 11-year-old daughter.
Paste BN says ***1/2. “Told freshly and with consummate skill… (an) astonishingly precocious debut.”
Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge; NAL, 395 pp.; fiction
The story opens at the bottom of an empty swimming pool, where a kidnapped couple slowly starve to death. Freedom is possible — but only for one of them, and as time passes the gun sitting nearby, loaded with a single bullet, starts to beckon.
Paste BN says ***1/2. A “gripping debut… Boy, do the pages fly by.”
Contributing reviewers: Matt Damsker, Patty Rhule, Kelly Lawler, Kevin Nance, Charles Finch