Peter Mehlman writes for film and television. He was the creator of the comedy series It’s Like, You Know, and was also a producer for Seinfeld.
Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike (Ballantine, $15). The happiest of the Rabbit series, but also the darkest in terms of the American dream. Money and leisure fight it out with desire and mortality, and, by the end, you can see who’ll win. Harry Angstrom’s ruminations on America, religion, and sex are funny and scary and cruel. Buy it at Amazon.com
My Life as a Man by Philip Roth (Vintage, $14). The obsessions of a writer crippled by his personal life, with all the markings of classic Roth—the autobiographical tightrope, the hazy lines between reality and fiction. The book starts off with two short stories written by the protagonist. The rest of the book tells you where the stories came from.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Something Happened by Joseph Heller (Simon & Schuster, $15). As scorchingly funny and surreal as Catch-22, but more relatable. Heller is so off-center, the story seems impossible. But ultimately, it’s reality with its most horrific impact.
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (Picador, $14). A book of short stories filled with brilliant wordplay and stinging moments. Moore takes you to places you can’t bear to be and then leads you deeper and deeper. Mixtures of tragedy and comedy come so easily in these stories, you can’t believe what you’re laughing about.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14). Merely by creating an entirely new genre—nonfiction novel—Capote makes the pantheon. But the structure is genius, bringing you meticulously to the edge of the murder of the Clutter family, then jumping over the event to the next morning—and taking you far beyond—before finally returning to that awful night. And no one’s writing is more elegantly clean than Capote’s.
Roget’s Thesaurus
-
Donald Trump’s week in Asia: can he shift power away from China?Today's Big Question US president’s whirlwind week of diplomacy aims to bolster economic ties and de-escalate trade war with China
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
-
Nathan Harris’ 6 favorite books that turn adventures into revelationsFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McGuire, and more
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
