Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include a new history of comedy, and Beatriz Williams' latest love story.
The Comedians by Kliph Nesteroff; Grove Press, 357 pp.; non-fiction
Reading about the cultural history of American comedy could be a dry experience. But fortunately, stand-up comic turned showbiz historian Kliph Nesteroff offers an informative and engaging account in The Comedians.
Conducting 200 interviews, Nesteroff provides a clear through-line from vaudeville to the New Millennium.
In terms of game-changers, you have to start with Frank Fay, the witty monologist (married to actress Barbara Stanwyck) who pioneered the master of ceremonies as a biting one-man show. Bob Hope said Fay “could do more with nothing, with attitude, than any man I ever saw on stage.”
The Fay influence carried over to such popular comics as Jack Benny, Milton Berle, George Burns and Hope, who started at the end of vaudeville but thrived in radio and TV.
Fittingly, The Comedians ends with a tribute to Robin Williams, who took his own life last year. But the stage was Williams’ salvation, and Nesteroff observes that the sensitivity and perception of the comic greats comes with a dark side we should never forget.
Paste BN says *** stars out of four. “Anecdotes about personality and style elevate the book beyond mere history.”
Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams; Putnam, 452 pp.; fiction
Tells the stories of two women, one in the 1930s, the other in the 1960s, and their complicated love lives (one is in love with both a Nazi and a member of the Jewish Resistance).
Paste BN says ***. Offers “a complicated and compelling love triangle... Infinite Sea has its pleasures.”
John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman; HarperCollins, 600 pp.; non-fiction
Examines the life of David Cornwell, better known as John le Carre, author of such espionage classics as The Spy Who Came In From the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Paste BN says ***1/2. “Sisman provides aficionados of le Carré’s fiction with canny assessments of, and inside information on, all his written work.”
Recipes for Love and Murder by Sally Andrew; Ecco, 432 pp.; fiction
This mystery should ruin a lot of diets; its many irresistible recipes are the creation of Tannie Maria, a widow who believes that good food can solve problems bigger than hunger. She gives her recipes out in the local newspaper, but when she becomes its advice columnist the promotion lands her in the thick of an ugly murder investigation.
Paste BN says ***. A “charming South African debut.”
Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise Parker; Scribner, 225 pp.; non-fiction
The actress pens an unconventional memoir composed of letters, most addressed to men: "Dear Daddy," "Uncle," "Mentor" and "Neighbor," and more off-kilter scrawls to "Mr. Cabdriver," "Yaqui Indian Boy" and "Emergency Contact."
Paste BN says ***1/2. “Darkly humorous … poignant and sometimes heartbreaking.”
Contributing reviewers: Bill Desowitz, Patty Rhule, Gene Seymour, Charles Finch, Patrick Ryan