Summertime
by J.M. Coetzee
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Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee apparently wishes he were a different writer altogether, said Brock Clark in The Boston Globe. This is the third novel he’s written in the form of a fictionalized autobiography. Here, the character “John” Coetzee is actually dead, and his biographer is interviewing ex-lovers, who invariably describe him as having been cold and detached. In effect, we are listening to “one of our major writers confessing to his limitations,” and the experience is unexpectedly moving.
Happy
by Alex Lemon
(Scribner, $25)
Alex “Happy” Lemon coped poorly with the stroke that interrupted his college career, said Laura Miller in Salon.com. In his sometimes overwritten but otherwise vivid and compelling memoir, Lemon confesses to shoplifting, boozing, picking fights with his best friend, and cheating on his best girl. It’s his “hippie sculptor” mom who helps dig him out if his hole. Their relationship is “funkily, goofily, supremely life-affirming,” and Lemon’s depiction of it makes this book “something special.”
How to Change Someone You Love
by Brad Lamm
(St. Martin’s, $25)
Brad Lamm’s new book challenges the thinking of 12-step addiction-recovery programs, said Benoit Denizet-Lewis in TheDailyBeast.com. Alcoholics Anonymous has insisted for decades that non-addicts can’t change an addict’s behavior, but Lamm strongly advises group interventions, often with “enablers” included. Lamm has worked for several years as an intervention specialist, but I worry that his title alone “sends out a potentially unhealthy message.”
The Autobiography of Fidel Castro
by Norberto Fuentes
(Norton, $28)
This fictional autobiography probably captures the reality of Fidel Castro’s life better than any nonfiction book ever will, said Steve Weinberg in the Chicago Sun-Times. Norberto Fuentes knew Castro well before falling out of favor, and he’s used that insider knowledge to depict the Cuban leader as “prolix and off-center from the beginning.” Imagine Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin, in the form of a 550-page “masterpiece” of Latin American literature.
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August 10 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a global plastics problem, GOP enthusiasm over tariffs, and more
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5 thin-skinned cartoons about shooting the messengerCartoons Artists take on unfavorable weather, a look in the mirror, and more
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Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
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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.”