Richard Roeper is a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times and co-host of Ebert and Roeper. His book Hollywood Urban Legends (New Page Books, $14) is now in paperback.
The Desert Rose by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster, $12). As much as I appreciate McMurtry’s Westerns, I’m an even bigger fan of his slice-of-life character studies, including The Last Picture Show, Horseman, Pass By (filmed as Hud), and Terms of Endearment. But my favorite is the lesser-known The Desert Rose, the story of an aging Vegas showgirl and her beautiful but increasingly difficult daughter. It’s hilarious and heartbreaking.
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Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) by Robert Caro (Vintage, $19). The second volume of Caro’s definitive biography of Lyndon Johnson details L.B.J.’s run for the Senate in 1948—a race he won by 87 votes out of a million cast. Caro reveals L.B.J. to be one of the most fascinating and complex characters in modern American politics. A snake, a charmer, a bully, and a consummate politician.
The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt (HarperCollins, $14). Lefcourt ranks with Carl Hiassen as the best comic novelists of their generation. In this brave and knowing satire, a beloved All-Star shortstop with the perfect wife and the perfect public image falls in love—with his team’s second baseman.
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