Weekend picks for book lovers, including 'Hunting El Chapo,' 'Space Odyssey'
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include Hunting El Chapo, an account by the lawman who tracked down the notorious drug lord.
Hunting El Chapo: The Inside Story of the American Lawman Who Captured the World's Most-Wanted Drug Lord by Andrew Hogan and Douglas Century; Harper, 352 pp.; non-fiction
In 2001, when Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo,” made his first legendary escape from custody hiding in a laundry cart, Andrew Hogan was a small-town Kansas kid dreaming of playing college football and becoming a state trooper.
Thirteen years later, Hogan and El Chapo dramatically came face to face, weapons drawn, in an underground parking garage in the Sinaloa city of Mazatlán.
This first-person account describes how the former Drug Enforcement Administration special agent who led the years-long manhunt in Mexico got to that moment in his life.
In 2011, committed to nailing El Chapo, Hogan becomes head of the DEA's Sinaloa Cartel desk in Mexico City. Drama ignites when Hogan, the DEA and an elite force of Mexican marines are in hot pursuit and hunt down the drug lord.
El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States, has pleaded “not guilty” to a 17-count indictment in U.S. federal court in Brooklyn charging him with overseeing a multibillion-dollar international drug trafficking operation that laundered money (including in the U.S.) and oversaw a ruthless campaign of murders and kidnappings. His trial is now six months away.
Paste BN says ★★★ out of four. “Captivating … this may be the most authentic glimpse inside the world of El Chapo — because Hogan actually went there and did what few thought possible.”
Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the Making of a Masterpiece by Michael Benson; Simon & Schuster, 512 pp.; non-fiction
This exhaustive look at the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, starring the two creative geniuses who brought it to life, arrives on the movie’s 50th anniversary.
Paste BN says ★★★. “Enlightening … a solid companion piece to a sci-fi classic.”
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer; Riverhead, 454 pp.; fiction
Feminism, friendship, loyalty and love amid campus sexual misconduct and the women’s empowerment movement are the focus in this tale of a female college student mentored by a feminist icon.
Paste BN says ★★★½. “Strikes at the third-rail topics of our times with the surety and sharpness of an arrow shot by an expert archer. … Wolitzer offers readers a lot to chew on.”
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers; Knopf, 323 pp.; non-fiction
Tells the story of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a twentysomething San Franciscan who dreamed of reviving the coffee industry in his family’s native Yemen.
Paste BN says ★★★½. “Eggers can’t disguise his enthusiasm for his subject … delivers a jolt of uplift.”
Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen; Random House, 284 pp.; fiction
An upper-class Manhattan neighborhood chooses sides after a lawyer with anger issues takes a golf club to a beloved handyman’s leg in a fight over a parking spot.
Paste BN says ★★★. “Captures the angst and anxiety of modern life. … Quindlen’s book reads like a metaphor for our divisive times.”
Contributing reviewers: Don Oldenburg, Brian Truitt, Patty Rhule, Mark Athitakis
