Books for Grownups April 2008
Books for Grownups April 2008
AARP The Magazine and Publishers Weekly have teamed up to let you know about the latest fiction, nonfiction, and lifestyle/self-help of interest to you. Once you've checked out the selections below, visit Publishers Weekly's and pages for reviews, author Q&As, and more. FICTION
By Peter Carey (Knopf, $24.95)
If you thought Washington politicking was harsh, wait until you see what goes on in an Australian hippie commune. Set in the late 1960s and early ’70s, this literary adventure novel follows a half-convinced Vietnam-era radical as she flees the U.S. for the Outback with the child of a recently killed underground counterculture icon.
By Edward Chupack (St. Martin's Press, $23.95)
Boomers with fond memories of the book Treasure Island will relish this debut, a swashbuckling tale of murder mixed with maps, ciphers, and codes and narrated by an aging Long John Silver as he faces the hangman’s noose back in England.
By Laurie Graham (Harper, $24.95)
An under-the-stairs fictional chronicle of the Joseph P. Kennedy family’s interwar period. With nanny as narrator, Mr. and Mrs. K’s cold-hearted and pressure-driven parenting is revealed along with the petty squabbles at the root of John, Robert, and Ted’s political lives.
By Michael Kruger (Harcourt, $23)
A middle-aged German goes to Turin to deal with the giant unfinished novel of his late famous friend. Like all great friendships, this one turns out to have its secrets, and the novel becomes a beguiling meditation on the nature of authorship and the limits of how much one artist can know another.
By Donald Ray Pollock (Doubleday, $22.95)
Fifty-four-year-old Pollock’s debut story collection takes a Winesburg, Ohio approach to his hometown. It’s dark, twisted, and full of uncouth characters. Great fun, in other words. NONFICTION
By David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26)
After writing about the folk scene of the early 1960s in Positively 4th Street, Hajdu goes back a decade to examine the censorship debate over comic books, which he suggests was a prelude to the cultural battle over rock music.
By Richard Zoglin (Bloomsbury, $24.95)
A senior Time magazine writer-editor who covered the showbiz beat for 20 years, Zoglin once did major pieces on Carson, Cosby, Letterman, Seinfeld, and others. Now he offers a comedy chronicle of laughmakers from the mid-1960s to the early '80s with entertaining excerpts and funny one-liners.
By Melody Petersen (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $26)
Are Americans taking too many pills? Journalist Petersen thinks so and documents how drug companies’ slick marketing has sold us on everything from antacids to antidepressants.
Edited by David Kaiser (Harvard/Belknap, $35)
Vincent Bugliosi won’t like this book, in which a Naval War College historian takes a sober look at the evidence for a Mafia conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK.
By Susan Jacoby (Pantheon, $26)
A trenchant critique of American political and social apathy, this book weighs in against anti-intellectualism and antirationalism in a historical survey and analysis of contemporary politics. LIFESTYLE/SELF-HELP
By Martha Weinman Lear (Wellness Central, $22.99)
If you’re always losing your keys and occasionally your daschund, Lear—bestselling author of Heartsounds—will soothe your anxiety. A succinct look at the science of memory and advice on how to keep your own memory fit and nimble.
By Lawrence D. Chilnick (Da Capo Lifelong, $16.95)
Chilnick, a health writer and one-time heart-attack patient, takes readers on a personal step-by-step guide to address lifestyle changes and plan a fit life.
By Charla Krupp (Springboard, $25.99)
Krupp, style expert for the Today show and former beauty director for Glamour, offers easy-to-follow, tried-and-true fashion advice for women well beyond their 20s. Whether high- or low-maintenance about their beauty routine, women of a certain age who want to compete in our youth-obsessed culture will treat this easy read with interest.
By David Roche (Perigee, $19.95)
Part memoir, part inspiration, part handbook, this powerful little volume by Roche—a performer and motivational speaker now in his 60s who was rejected by a Catholic seminary because of a severely disfigured face—is witty and frank on coming to terms with being yourself.
By Karen Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman (Ten Speed, $15.95)
This positive and practical guide for the first-time entrepreneur details the life cycle of a small-business launch with real-life success stories and a slew of helpful hints and strategies. Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
Books for Grownups April 2008
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AARP The Magazine and Publishers Weekly have teamed up to let you know about the latest fiction, nonfiction, and lifestyle/self-help of interest to you. Once you've checked out the selections below, visit Publishers Weekly's and pages for reviews, author Q&As, and more. FICTION
By Peter Carey (Knopf, $24.95)
If you thought Washington politicking was harsh, wait until you see what goes on in an Australian hippie commune. Set in the late 1960s and early ’70s, this literary adventure novel follows a half-convinced Vietnam-era radical as she flees the U.S. for the Outback with the child of a recently killed underground counterculture icon.
By Edward Chupack (St. Martin's Press, $23.95)
Boomers with fond memories of the book Treasure Island will relish this debut, a swashbuckling tale of murder mixed with maps, ciphers, and codes and narrated by an aging Long John Silver as he faces the hangman’s noose back in England.
By Laurie Graham (Harper, $24.95)
An under-the-stairs fictional chronicle of the Joseph P. Kennedy family’s interwar period. With nanny as narrator, Mr. and Mrs. K’s cold-hearted and pressure-driven parenting is revealed along with the petty squabbles at the root of John, Robert, and Ted’s political lives.
By Michael Kruger (Harcourt, $23)
A middle-aged German goes to Turin to deal with the giant unfinished novel of his late famous friend. Like all great friendships, this one turns out to have its secrets, and the novel becomes a beguiling meditation on the nature of authorship and the limits of how much one artist can know another.
By Donald Ray Pollock (Doubleday, $22.95)
Fifty-four-year-old Pollock’s debut story collection takes a Winesburg, Ohio approach to his hometown. It’s dark, twisted, and full of uncouth characters. Great fun, in other words. NONFICTION
By David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26)
After writing about the folk scene of the early 1960s in Positively 4th Street, Hajdu goes back a decade to examine the censorship debate over comic books, which he suggests was a prelude to the cultural battle over rock music.
By Richard Zoglin (Bloomsbury, $24.95)
A senior Time magazine writer-editor who covered the showbiz beat for 20 years, Zoglin once did major pieces on Carson, Cosby, Letterman, Seinfeld, and others. Now he offers a comedy chronicle of laughmakers from the mid-1960s to the early '80s with entertaining excerpts and funny one-liners.
By Melody Petersen (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $26)
Are Americans taking too many pills? Journalist Petersen thinks so and documents how drug companies’ slick marketing has sold us on everything from antacids to antidepressants.
Edited by David Kaiser (Harvard/Belknap, $35)
Vincent Bugliosi won’t like this book, in which a Naval War College historian takes a sober look at the evidence for a Mafia conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK.
By Susan Jacoby (Pantheon, $26)
A trenchant critique of American political and social apathy, this book weighs in against anti-intellectualism and antirationalism in a historical survey and analysis of contemporary politics. LIFESTYLE/SELF-HELP
By Martha Weinman Lear (Wellness Central, $22.99)
If you’re always losing your keys and occasionally your daschund, Lear—bestselling author of Heartsounds—will soothe your anxiety. A succinct look at the science of memory and advice on how to keep your own memory fit and nimble.
By Lawrence D. Chilnick (Da Capo Lifelong, $16.95)
Chilnick, a health writer and one-time heart-attack patient, takes readers on a personal step-by-step guide to address lifestyle changes and plan a fit life.
By Charla Krupp (Springboard, $25.99)
Krupp, style expert for the Today show and former beauty director for Glamour, offers easy-to-follow, tried-and-true fashion advice for women well beyond their 20s. Whether high- or low-maintenance about their beauty routine, women of a certain age who want to compete in our youth-obsessed culture will treat this easy read with interest.
By David Roche (Perigee, $19.95)
Part memoir, part inspiration, part handbook, this powerful little volume by Roche—a performer and motivational speaker now in his 60s who was rejected by a Catholic seminary because of a severely disfigured face—is witty and frank on coming to terms with being yourself.
By Karen Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman (Ten Speed, $15.95)
This positive and practical guide for the first-time entrepreneur details the life cycle of a small-business launch with real-life success stories and a slew of helpful hints and strategies. Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures