Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY’s picks for book lovers include Last Girl Before Freeway, a biography of Joan Rivers, and Zadie Smith's new novel, Swing Time.
Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Loves, Losses, and Liberation of Joan Rivers by Leslie Bennetts; Little, Brown, 400 pp.; non-fiction
What made Joan Rivers run?
At the time of her death at age 81 in 2014, the famed insult comedian was still doing stand-up, writing books, dishing out zingers on Fashion Police and selling her baubles on QVC.
In short, she had no intention of stopping.
Author Leslie Bennetts asks provocative questions in her quest to discover what made Rivers tick in her new biography, Last Girl Before Freeway.
What emerges through Bennetts’ adept reporting is a portrait of a complicated, contradictory figure: a driven woman who was both kind (in private) and cruel (in public); a trailblazer for women’s comedy who wasn’t a feminist; and a huge success who was never satisfied or felt she received her due.
USA TODAY says *** out of four stars. “Highly readable…(a) clear-eyed biography.”
Dishy new bio of Joan Rivers offers complex portrait
Swing Time by Zadie Smith; Penguin Press, 453 pp.; fiction
In her new novel, Smith (White Teeth) follows the friendship of two female friends over decades and across continents.
USA TODAY says ***½ stars. “Smith is a master stylist… but always game for a pulpy plot turn.”
Zadie Smith has another hit with 'Swing Time'
Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital by David Oshinsky; Doubleday, 322 pp.; non-fiction
The author charts the remarkable transformation of Bellevue from bare-bones almshouse appendage in the 1700s to world-class academic medical center today.
USA TODAY says *** stars. A “rich history.”
New book goes inside world-famous Bellevue Hospital
The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer; Little, Brown, 518 pp.; fiction
Meyer (Twilight) writes a thriller for adults in the vein of David Baldacci or Lee Child, pitting a scientist against the shadowy government figures who once employed her, then tried to eliminate her.
USA TODAY says ***½ stars. “Consistently fast-paced fun...a terrific ride.”
Stephenie Meyer brews a tasty thriller with 'The Chemist'
Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner; Ecco, 464 pp.; non-fiction
This new book zooms in on the year when everything changed for The Beatles, as the weary quartet got off the road and out of the studio.
USA TODAY says *** stars. “What the book does particularly well is glimpsing the bandmates in their unguarded moments.”
Contributing reviewers: Jocelyn McClurg, Matt McCarthy, Eliot Schrefer, Charles Finch, Kim Willis