I Wear the Black Hat
by Chuck Klosterman (Scribner, $25)
The fugitive Edward Snowden would have been a perfect candidate for Chuck Klosterman’s latest book, said Kevin Nance in USA Today. In this “witty, brainy, at times self-indulgently discursive” new volume, the pop-culture critic aims to parse the relative villainy of various real and fictional figures. Why, he asks, is Batman revered while real-life vigilantes are scorned? Along the way, Klosterman becomes proof for his own theory that a charming troublemaker can get away with anything.
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Confessions of a Sociopath
by M.E. Thomas (Crown, $25)
It’s strange to read a book whose author doesn’t care if you like it, said Evelyn Theiss in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Sociopaths operate without regard for others’ opinions, so we shouldn’t be surprised this volume’s pseudonymous author-—a sociopathic but nonviolent law professor—“bores us by repeatedly bragging about how smart, attractive, and successfully manipulative she is.” Yet when M.E. Thomas finally starts describing how she and other sociopaths see the rest of us, “it all becomes riveting.”
Tampa
by Alissa Nutting (Ecco, $26)
If only Alissa Nutting’s debut novel didn’t so obviously invite comparisons with Nabokov, said Susannah Meadows in The New York Times. Her story about a teacher who seduces a 14-year-old is essentially “a gender-swapped Lolita,” and though “highly diverting,” it doesn’t compare. But Nutting excels at exploring the difference gender makes. Female predators are typically less ostracized than male predators, but Tampa will make you believe that they’re “every bit as destructive.”
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton
by Elizabeth L. Silver (Crown, $25)
The protagonist of Elizabeth Silver’s first novel “cannot help but narrate her story unreliably, most of all to herself,” said Sarah Weinman in The New Republic. A murderer facing execution, she’s resigned to her fate even as she fears oblivion. But her cynical voice proves “so pungent and potent” that the novel’s midstream switch of perspectives registers as “a small letdown.” Still, in taking the harder road of providing us two less-than-likable narrators, Silver manages “a more rewarding payoff.”
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Should you add your child to your credit card?The Explainer You can make them an authorized user on your account in order to help them build credit
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Cracker Barrel crackup: How the culture wars are upending corporate brandingIn the Spotlight Is it 'woke' to leave nostalgia behind?
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'It's hard to discern what it actually means'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”