Spend your weekend reading about a biography of Norman Rockwell.A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. A link has been sent to your friend's email address.What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY's picks for book lovers include a new biography of American painter Norman Rockwell, and essays about reading by Britain's Nick Hornby.
American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 441 pp.; non-fiction
Why is it that so many great artists were so screwed up? Even Norman Rockwell. Norman Rockwell, for pete's sake!
He is the cornball king, the artist as fantasy storyteller, the artist of Americana. But was he a "real" artist? Art-world types argue about it to this day. Even Rockwell (especially Rockwell) dithered, dismissing himself as a mere illustrator while secretly longing to be taken seriously as an ARTIST, all caps.
As his new biographer, Deborah Solomon, makes clear, Rockwell was more than an illustrator. He painted arresting images that move us, inspire us, amuse us, that tell us something about ourselves and our times.
But his full story is often surprising.
If you thought you knew what Rockwell was all about, well, Solomon suggests maybe not. Did you know that he spent years in therapy with a leading psychiatrist — Erik Erikson — decades before seeing a shrink was routine?
USA TODAY says ***½ out of four. "Highly readable, illuminating."
Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books; by Nick Hornby, McSweeney's, 464 pp.; non-fiction
Collects Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns from Believer magazine.
USA TODAY says ***1/2. "Ten Years in the Tub is something to soak in and savor."
Stella Bain; by Anita Shreve, Little, Brown, 261 pp.; fiction
In Marne, France, in 1916, a woman drifts into consciousness on a battlefield hospital cot and realizes "that she does not know her own name."
USA TODAY says ***. "An intriguing character study that delivers compelling mystery without melodrama."
Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann; Penguin Press, 482 pp.; non-fiction
The authors' sequel to the best seller Game Change looks back at the last presidential election.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "Heilemann and Halperin's ability to get behind the scenes and into Obama's head makes Double Down nearly as riveting as their first work about the 2008 election."
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith; Simon & Schuster, 304 pp.; fiction
Investigator Arkady Renko is on the case after an investigative journalist named Tatiana Petrovna – inspired by the real-life Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya – dies after falling from the balcony of her abandoned apartment building.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "Smith's writing conveys irony, social commentary and wry humor in whippet-sleek phrasing."
Contributing reviewers: Maria Puente, Korina Lopez, Jocelyn McClurg, Aamer Madhani, Patty Rhule
Here's a look at what's buzzing in the books world today:
This Is How It Ends
By Christa Parravani'Jarhead' author Anthony Swofford tells the rest of the story in 'Hotels, Hospitals and Jails.'After former Marine sniper Anthony Swofford hit it big with Jarhead, his memoir about the Gulf War that became an acclaimed movie, he had to deal with a new problem: too much money, sex, drugs and alcohol, which nearly killed him.USA TODAY says ***½ out of four. "Gritty, intense and wrenching."The Red House
I've Got Your Number| Sophie Kinsella; The Dial Press; 448 pp.; $26; fictionFans of Sophie Kinsella's amusing Shopaholic novels won't want to miss her latest foray into chick lit. Ditsy heroine Becky Bloomwood may have taken a shopping break, but Britain's Kinsella brings us an equally delightful funny girl in Poppy Wyatt.Poppy is a charming if insecure physiotherapist who is engaged to Magnus, a celebrity university lecturer. After she loses her emerald engagement ring and has her cellphone stolen, Poppy stumbles upon another phone in the trash that belonged to the former assistant of Sam Roxton, a handsome exec at a consulting firm.Complications (and humor) ensue as Poppy convinces Sam to allow her to keep the phone until she finds her ring — promising to forward his messages, Poppy-style.USA TODAY says *** out of four. "Delivers all the usual Kinsella hallmarks — sharp insight into the current state of relationships crossed with laugh-out-loud screwball situations — but with a digital-age twist."That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor| Anne Sebba; St. Martin's Press; 283 pp.; $27.99; non-fictionWallis Simpson — the American for whom Britain's king famously abdicated — is everywhere these days. In Madonna's new movie, W.E. In a new stage drama in London. And in new biographies, including That Woman by Anne Sebba, who had access to previously unexamined Simpson letters. Her fresh take on a familiar tale concludes that this wasn't the "romance of the century" — just a pathetic muddle.USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "This book is clear-sighted about but relatively sympathetic to the American woman for whom King Edward VIII gave up his throne in 1936, shaking Britain and its royal family to the core."A Good American| Alex George; Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam; 384 pp.; $25.95; fictionIn this heartfelt novel, Alex George depicts the immigrant experience — beginning in 1904 in Germany as a young couple flees to America after the girl's family discovers she is pregnant. Frederick Meisenheimer and Jette Furste end up in Missouri, where generations of the Meisenheimer family will flourish and fulfill the American dream.USA TODAY says *** out of four. "Epic and lyrical …an honest and delightful story."Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity | Katherine Boo; Random House, 256 pp., $27; non-fictionThe hit movie Slumdog Millionaire made viewers around the world aware of the poverty and slums in Mumbai, India. In Behind the Beautiful Forevers, New Yorker staff writer Katherine Boo takes a microscope to that world, centering on a slum called Annawadi and its desperate, if resourceful, inhabitants.USATODAY says ***1/2 out of four. "Outstanding. … Brings alive an almost unimaginably harsh world through the stories of people trying to make their way in a place few of us can imagine."What It Was | George Pelecanos; Reagan Arthur/Back Bay, 272 pp., $9.99 paperback original; 99-cent e-book until Feb. 27, then $4.99; fictionHere's your last chance to get What It Was, George Pelecanos' terrific new crime novel, as a 99-cent e-book. The price, good until Monday, is a steal. And for those who prefer print books, there's a $9.99 paperback. You'll get a rip-roaring introduction to Derek Strange, a young black private investigator and the hero of a number of Pelecanos' earlier novels.USA TODAY says ***½ out of four. Pelecanos is "the best crime writer you've never read. … Buckle up for one thrilling ride. For 99 cents, you can't afford to miss it."For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com. 