And Here’s the Kicker
by Mike Sacks
(Writer’s Digest, $18)
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Second City Unscripted
by Mike Thomas
(Villard, $26)
This “highly readable” oral history won’t teach you why the comedy so often works at Chicago’s famed Second City theater, said Jack Helbig in Booklist. But author Mike Thomas “has a flair for fashioning celebrity portraits from disparate sound bites,” and he’s created a “fast, easy” overview of the outfit that for half a century has been launching such luminaries as Joan Rivers, John Belushi, and Bill Murray. Too bad he couldn’t convince Murray to actually participate.
I Shudder
by Paul Rudnick
(Harper, $24)
Skip the stories about Paul Rudnick’s Jewish family, said Linda Winer in Newsday. This “lovable and astute” collection of essays from the New Jersey–born playwright and screenwriter is best when delivering juicy stories about Hollywood or delving into the “deeply intimate and personal diary” of a fictional New York perfectionist named Elyot Vionnet. A “stupendously amusing” creation, Vionnet has “a highly developed sense of right and wrong.” You’ll enjoy all five of his extended screeds, even if some hit close to home.
I’m Dying Up Here
by William Knoedelseder
(Public Affairs, $25)
William Knoedelseder’s new book about a crucial 1979 West Coast comedians’ strike is “full of dishy, I-was-there detail,” said Stephen Reiss in The Washington Post. But the former Los Angeles Times reporter is “so besotted” with the front-row view he had of Jay Leno, David Letterman, and a handful of other big-name picketers that he loses perspective. His story’s cardboard villain, club owner Mitzi Shore, should have been his most compelling character.
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Israel: Losing the American publicFeature A recent poll finds American support for Israel's military action in Gaza has fallen from 50% to 32%
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Unmaking AmericansFeature Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans. Could he do that?
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EPA: A bonfire of climate change regulationsFeature The Environmental Protection Agency wants to roll back its 'endangerment finding,' a ruling that lets the agency regulate carbon emissions
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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.”