Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include Annie Proulx's epic novel Barkskins, and Grunt, new non-fiction from Mary Roach.
Barkskins by Annie Proulx; Scribner, 713 pp.; fiction
The new novel by Annie Proulx is both very long and ambitious. It tracks the gradual but ceaseless ravaging of the forests of the new world between 1693 and 2013; its aim is nothing less than a reckoning with the human role in the present global ecological crisis.
It succeeds.
Proulx’s book begins with two men arriving in Canada (New France, as it was called) as indentured servants. They find an impossible natural splendor there, “evergreens taller than cathedrals, cloud-piercing spruce.” One of the men, Rene Sel, works the land honestly, marrying a Mi’kmaw woman.
The other, Charles Duquet, disappears, re-emerging after some years as an unscrupulous furrier. What follows is the tale of the dynasties that these men found, with each generation taking something irreplaceable from the Earth.
Paste BN says ***½ out of four stars. “Barkskins is masterful, full of an urgent, tense lyricism, its plotting beautifully unexpected…a marvel.”
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach; Norton, 285 pp.; non-fiction
A relentless exploration of the physical misfortunes suffered by members of the armed forces in action, and the efforts by scientists to blunt them.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Roach is a tenacious investigative journalist with an appetite for the unappetizing...Grunt ranks high in the Roach repertoire.”
The Last Star by Rick Yancey; Putnam, 352 pp.; fiction
The villainous Others prepare their final assault on mankind in the final book in Rick Yancey’s young-adult 5th Wave invasion saga.
Paste BN says *** ½ stars. “Action-packed…(a) thought-provoking and satisfying conclusion.”
Greetings From Utopia Park by Claire Hoffman; Harper, 262 pp.; non-fiction
Memoir of growing up in Utopia Park in Iowa and spending 2,200 hours practicing Transcendental Meditation as a direct descendant of one of founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s pupils.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Gripping…a deep dive into mysticism and skepticism.”
End of Watch by Stephen King; Scribner, 429 pp.; fiction
A mind-numbing tablet app with cute colorful fish becomes a killer plot device in End of Watch, the conclusion to Stephen King’s hard-boiled Mr. Mercedes trilogy.
Paste BN says **** out of four stars. “King breaks out his familiar gift for the otherworldly… as strong a King series as The Dark Tower in terms of characterization and pure storytelling.”
Contributing: Charles Finch, Barry Singer, Brian Truitt, Mary Byrne