The Gospel According to Coco Chanel
by Karen Karbo
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Clearly, not everything Coco Chanel said or did should be taken as a “life lesson,” said Carolyn Kellogg in the Los Angeles Times. But before the legendary, self-made designer took up with a Nazi propagandist, she coined countless little aphorisms that women should heed. “This fun, insightful look at the genius behind the little black dress” seems to ponder them all, its “chatty” tone evoking a memorable brunch conversation with an impassioned, fascinating friend.
Shooting Stars
by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger
(Penguin, $27)
LeBron James’ new book about his high school teammates “reads like a better-than-average young adult novel,” said Dwight Garner in The New York Times. There’s plenty of charm in its story about four close friends who pull one another through boyhood challenges and then carry their Akron high school team to a national championship. But it’s a “measured, modest book,” not nearly as memorable as co-author Buzz Bissinger’s classic football tale, Friday Night Lights.
Official Book Club Selection
by Kathy Griffin
(Ballantine, $25)
This new memoir by comedian Kathy Griffin doesn’t skimp on the blunt-spoken “celebrity dish” upon which she’s built her career, said Teresa Budasi in the Chicago Sun-Times. But Griffin also strikes “a delicate balance between the personal and the professional.” As satisfying as it is to learn that Britney Spears in real life is “as dumb as a stick,” Griffin is just as merciless when discussing her own divorce or her near-fatal liposuction.
The 50th Law
by 50 Cent and Robert Greene
(HarperStudio, $20)
“As celebrity self-help books go,” this new effort from rapper 50 Cent is “surprisingly readable,” said Oliver Burkeman in the London Guardian. Co-author Robert Greene, whose Machiavellian The 48 Laws of Power became a cult hit in hip-hop circles, doesn’t try to write in the ex–drug dealer’s voice. But as he extols fearlessness as the secret to 50’s success, what fascinates is the cynicism of this book’s advice. The lesson? Don’t worry about being authentic: Tend to your public image.
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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.”