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"Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books, 418 pages, $27.50)
"Bad Mother" by Ayelet Waldman (Doubleday, 224 pages, $24.95) —The title is deceptive. These essays are about being not just a mother, but a wife, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a writer, a friend, a member of a family. They're also about being Ayelet Waldman, which puts a different spin on all of it.
"The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger" by Alec Wilkinson (Knopf, 151 pages, $22.95)
"The Song Is You" by Arthur Phillips (Random House, 272 pages, $25) Arthur Phillips' ambitious fourth novel is more frustrating than fulfilling, but in it he accomplishes something as well as any writer ever has. He beautifully conveys the irresistible pull of pop music, specifically its power over the middle-aged music lover who has traveled the righteous path from Walkman to portable CD player to -- blessedly! --iPod, all for the purpose of keeping a personal soundtrack close at hand.
1. "Relentless" by Dean Koontz. 2. "Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Deception" by Eric Van Lustbader. 3. "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" by Katherine Howe.
"The Family Man" by Elinor Lipman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 306 pp., $25) Elinor Lipman's social satire is Larry David without the high-pitched whine. Her novels have the clean, airy lines of P.G. Wodehouse and E.F. Benson. Her irony is not mean, not at the expense of any particular race, creed or color.
If you haven't bought a Father's Day gift yet for your dad, consider one of these titles, as recommended by The Savvy Reader blog.
"The Branch and the Scaffold" by Loren D. Estleman (Forge, 268 pages, $24.95) "Brimstone" by Robert B. Parker (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 293 pages, $25.95)
Fifteen books have a place on the fourth annual Kansas Notable Book List, announced by the State Library of Kansas. The list, which includes fiction, nonfiction and children's books, honors books released in the preceding year either by Kansas authors or about Kansas.
You could squander your summer plowing through a pile of trashy paperbacks. You could spill iced tea or margaritas on their pages and never mind the damage. No one would even question your choice of reading matter, because the weather is just too hot to get worked up much.
Three recent books offer in-depth looks at particular facets of Kansas history and institutions: James Lane's volunteer brigade, the roles of women and minorities in the Bleeding Kansas era, and Pittsburg State University.
