Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include a new novel about film star Marlene Dietrich, and a history of the U.S. Postal Service.
Marlene by C.W. Gortner; William Morrow, 403 pp.; fiction
The actress Marlene Dietrich played cabaret singers, spies, vamps and Catherine the Great, fascinating moviegoers and the public worldwide for decades. She was a symbol of mystery, allure and glamour.
In Marlene, C. W. Gortner (Mademoiselle Chanel) gives Dietrich the fictionalized biography treatment.
Dietrich is a fascinating creature. She's a stunning and self-absorbed German girl whose hard-working mother cleans houses to pay for her daughter's violin lessons after Marlene’s father dies. The freedom of life at a music conservatory leads to a job as a cabaret singer, where she attracts the attention of German director Josef Von Sternberg, her mentor and tormentor. He gives her a breakthrough role in The Blue Angel, the film that would bring Dietrich to Hollywood.
Yet her most compelling role may have been her defiance of Adolf Hitler as the Nazis rose to power and decimated her homeland. During the war, she ignored personal danger to entertain hundreds of thousands of American troops abroad.
Dietrich appears to have been irresistible, and slinks from one lover to the next, despite her enduring marriage to Rudi Sieber, an assistant casting director.
Paste BN says *** out of four stars. “Gortner’s well-paced story of Dietrich’s life…is fascinating and compelling.”
Neither Snow Nor Rain by Devin Leonard; Grove Press, 316 pp.; non-fiction
This history of the United States Postal Service begins in Ben Franklin’s days and takes us into the troubled present.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Serves up a colorful array of visionaries, hucksters, daredevils and crackpots… makes you care what happens to its main protagonist, the U.S. Postal Service itself.”
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett; Little, Brown, 356 pp.; non-fiction
Beginning in the 1960s, Haslett’s novel looks at the debilitating impact of mental illness on a family over four decades.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Gut-wrenching.”
The Fireman by Joe Hill; William Morrow, 768 pp.; fiction
A highly contagious spore called Dragonscale that causes its victims to spontaneously combust in Hill’s sci-fi/horror tale.
Paste BN says ***½ stars. “Superbly crackling…deserving of a warm reception.”
Old Age: A Beginner’s Guide by Michael Kinsley; Tim Duggan Books, 160 pp.; non-fiction
The Vanity Fair columnist, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1993, directs this book about aging and death to baby boomers.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Wry… an exercise in generational self-assessment that falls tonally somewhere between ‘What’s It All About, Alfie?’ and ‘Is That All There Is?’ ”
Contributing reviewers: Patty Rhule, Gene Seymour, Don Oldenburg, Brian Truitt, James Endrst