Bruce
by Peter Ames Carlin (Touchstone, $28)
Books about Bruce Springsteen could fill a small New Jersey library, said Jay Lustig in the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger. “But until one comes out with the words ‘by Bruce Springsteen’ on the cover, Bruce will be the definitive one.” The Boss cooperated with Peter Ames Carlin for this thorough look at a legendary career, and Carlin interviewed 150 people to get the story right, including saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who sat with Carlin shortly before his death last year.
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Light and Shade
by Brad Tolinski (Crown, $26)
Culled from conversations with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, this new book from Guitar World’s editor “sheds serious light” on an “enigmatic musical genius,” said Ethan Gilsdorf in The Boston Globe. Brad Tolinski is great at dispersing the fog surrounding the band, including the nature of the relationship between Page and singer Robert Plant. But this is a book for musicians rather than casual Zep fans. “If discussions about altered tunings make your hedgerow bustle,” you’ll dig Light and Shade.
Rod
by Rod Stewart (Crown, $27)
Some rock stars “plumb the depths of their souls” in their autobiographies, said Jim Farber in the New York Daily News. Not Rod Stewart. “Nearly every anecdote in his mad romp of a book arrives with an arched eyebrow and a wry smile.” You can imagine Stewart on a barstool reeling off “one intoxicating anecdote after another,” whether the subject is how he almost scrapped “Maggie May” or the myth about how he once had a certain bodily fluid pumped from his stomach.
Kicking & Dreaming
by Ann and Nancy Wilson (It Books, $28)
At a time when women didn’t front rock bands, Ann and Nancy Wilson blazed a blistering trail through the music industry, said Howard Cohen in The Miami Herald. The sisters, who formed Heart in the 1970s, “write movingly and with a sense of humor” in this joint autobiography, which takes readers from their upbringing as Marine brats to their heyday cranking out such arena-rock classics as “Barracuda.” Despite the sisters’ various tribulations, their bond seems stronger than ever.
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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.”