If the whole town were suddenly transparent and you could see in one broad sweep everything about the place, "you'd be overcome before you turned away," writes Tracy Kidder of Northampton, Mass., the town he dissects in Home Town. And overcome "not just by malignancy and suffering, but by all the tenderness and joy, all the little acts of courage and kindness and simple competence and diligence operating all the time."
In his fifth book of reportage, Kidder—author of 1981's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Soul of a New Machine and of 1985's bestselling House—ambitiously sets out to take just such a broad view, mostly through the eyes of a colorful local cop named Tommy O'Connor. But the book's real hero is the western Massachusetts city of Northampton itself (pop. 30,000), a kind of New Age Pleasantville that Kidder tries to describe through overlapping stories of its past and present. The characters here, though a bit pat at times, are worthy of a miniseries: the likable drug dealer-informant, the smart stripper, the rich lawyer with obsessive-compulsive disorder, the welfare mom studying literature at Smith College, the wise and lenient judge. Finally we are left with a flesh-and-blood town that Kidder's sharp eye brings movingly to life. (Random House, $25.95)
Bottom Line: Grand vision of a small place
by Damon Wayans
At his best—which is to say laugh-out-loud funny—Wayans (of TV's In Living Color) deftly skewers celebs and has-beens, husbands and wives, blacks and whites with equal, politically incorrect abandon. Whether he's commenting on ex-TV host Magic Johnson's muddled diction ("Did he just say, '[Mill be] might back'? or did Buckwheat just grow up and get a talk show?") or pondering whites' outrage over O.J. Simpson's murder-trial acquittal ("If they hadn't won in civil court, they'd a brought him to The People's Court"), the actor-comedian displays a cheeky irreverence that sometimes hits close to home—especially his own. You may wonder if Wayans's wife and four kids will appreciate Daddy's candor about his sex life, personal hygiene and parenting skills ("Some kids, all they understand is an a—whupping"). Some of his other riffs—like a fantasy about the first physically disabled superhero—are tasteless and unfunny. (In Wayans's perverse universe, the former does not necessarily negate the latter.) But his book (written with David Asbery), made up of stand-up-style and often street-raw monologues, reveals a fierce, fearless and funky comic sensibility. (HarperCollins, $22)
Bottom Line: Way, Wayans-out humor
by Reg Green
When 7-year-old Nicholas Green was murdered by highway robbers in Italy in 1994, his parents donated his organs, saving five lives and touching millions more with their generosity and grace. Reg Green says it was an easy decision, but it had a volcanic effect: Within days the number of people signing donor cards in Italy quadrupled. The Greens became national heroes.
In this affecting memoir, Green, a journalist, shows what it's like to go from an ordinary family of four to international advocates for organ donation. Yet without a shred of self-pity, he never forgets that what triggered the family's change of status was an irreplaceable loss. Most amazing of all, this man, who still can't bear to part with his boy's hiking boots, never shows anger toward Nicholas's killers. (O'Reilly & Associates, $24.95)
Bottom Line: Real-life Touched by an Angel tale
by Rick Browne and Jack Bettridge
Soon, American backyards will be sizzling with the sounds of that fine culinary tradition, the summer barbecue. But before you smoke your steak or baste your brisket, check out how the pros do it in this appetizing tribute to the power of the pit.
Authors Browne and Bettridge attended gigantic barbecue contests and visited with some fabled grillers to assemble their definitive look at what they call "true Q." There are exotic recipes (Sweet Piggie Rubbin' Powder, Rattlesnake Prime Rib), great tips (keep your sauce in a spray bottle and mist your meat instead of slathering it) and some fascinating glimpses into the mania of barbecue nuts ("if it moves," boasts one, "we cook it"). And the photos—courtesy of Browne—are so mouthwateringly vivid they all but drip off the page. (Time-Life, $24.95)
Bottom Line: Awesome homage to backyard cuisine
by Minette Walters
Page-turner of the week
The Dorset beach is balmy, the sky cloudless, and it's shaping up to be a postcard-perfect summer's day—except for the nude corpse sprawled on the shore. And with the discovery of the nymphlike young woman that opens Walters's erotically charged mystery, everything changes, not least of all for detective Nick Ingram. Not only must he solve the homicide (and the mystery of a toddler who subsequently turns up nearby), but he is also distracted by witness Maggie Jenner, a tart-tongued local stable owner on whom Ingram has long had an unrequited crush.
Fans who have followed Walters's growing mastery over the course of her five other novels won't be disappointed by this one, which stakes her claim as a worthy rival to sisters-in-crime P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. With her insightful psychology and intriguing contemporary characters—no tea-sipping vicars here, thank you veddy much—Walters gives the English village mystery a fine new spin. (Putnam, $23.95) Bottom Line: Tantalizing psychological thriller
>A CELIBATE SEASON Carol Shields and Blanche Howard Two friends team up to craft a poignant epistolary tale about a couple who learn the limits of their marriage during a 10-month separation. (Penguin, $12.95)
SHY BOY Monty Roberts With help from stunning photos by Christopher Dydyk, the author of The Man Who Listens to Horses recounts his gentling of a wild mustang. (HarperCollins, $30)
ONE MORE TIME Mike Royko In this posthumous collection of his columns, journalist Royko displays the breezy wit that made him so beloved in the Windy City. (University of Chicago Press, $22)
- Contributors:
- Harry Bauld,
- Mike Lipton,
- Amy Waldman,
- Alex Tresniowski,
- Pam Lambert.
CELINE’S INFERTILITY STRUGGLE: MY PRIVATE HEARTBREAK
Daily injections, painful tests and four failed IVF attempts: The singer, 41, reveal her dreams for a second baby. ‘I’ll try until it works’
