In My TBR Stack:

Falcon Guide to Van Life: Every Essential for Nomadic Adventures
by Roxy and Ben Dawson
Globe Pequot
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

This essential guidebook for anyone looking to hit the road, from the weekend warriors to the full-time nomads, combines practical information, inspirational photography, and engaging stories of travel and adventure. It helps the reader transition past the 9-5 to the nomadic lifestyle, and then guide them to the best vistas, hikes, and adventures in the country. Get the inside scoop on building out a van, from insulation to plumbing, building a budget, and staying safe and well on the road.

Inside you'll find:

5 Suggested Road Trip Itineraries complete with maps, highlights, and stop information:

Denver, Colorado to Whitefish, Montana
Moab, Utah to Yosemite National Park, California
Seattle, Washington to San Francisco, California
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina
Millinocket, Maine to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland

The van guide to National Parks:
Northeast
Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
Southeast
Congaree National Park (South Carolina)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina and Tennessee)
Midwest
Badlands National Park (South Dakota)
Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota)
West
Yellowstone National Park (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming)
Yosemite National Park (California)
Redwoods State and National Park (California)
Southwest
Canyonlands National Park (Utah)
Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
Zion National Park (Utah)
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Colorado)
Northwest
Glacier National Park
Olympic National Park

Book Excerpt:

Films of Endearment: A Mother, A Son and the '80s Films That Defined Us
by Michael Koresky
Hanover Square Press
Hardcover


Read the excerpt here

From the publisher's website:


Michael Koresky's most formative memories were simple ones. A movie rental. A mug of tea. And a few shared hours with his mother. Years later and now a successful film critic, Koresky set out on a journey with his mother to discover more about their shared cinematic past. They rewatched ten films that she first introduced to him as a child, one from every year of the '80s, each featuring women leads.

Together, films as divergent as 9 to 5, Terms of Endearment, The Color Purple and Aliens form the story of an era that Koresky argues should rightly be called "The Decade of the Actress."

Films of Endearment is a reappraisal of the most important and popular female-driven films of that time, a profound meditation on loss and resilience, and a celebration of the special bond between mothers and their sons.

Book Excerpt:

Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service
by Carol Leonnig
Random House
Hardcover


Excerpt can be read here

From the publisher's website:


Carol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today—from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service wasn’t always so troubled.

The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in judgment: break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains.

To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that’s in desperate need of reform. “I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,” she writes, “not because they wanted to share tantalizing gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the service they love."

On My Radar:

The Deadly Don: Vito Genovese Mafia Boss
by Anthony M. DeStefano
Citadel Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Vito Genovese ran rackets as a member of Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria's gang in New York City before joining forces with Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel as bootleggers during Prohibition. As a soldier in the Castellammarese War, he helped orchestrate Masseria's death on behalf of Brooklyn crime lord Salvatore Maranzano, consolidating his position and power before ensuring Maranzano, too, was knocked off. For the next three decades, Vito Genovese--shrewd, merciless, and utterly savage--killed countless gangsters in his bid to become the capo di tutti i capi--boss of bosses--in the American Mafia. Genovese would betray some of the mafia's most notorious bosses, including Albert Anastasia and Frank Costello, to eventually seize control of the Luciano crime family, one that still bears the Genovese name today.

In The Deadly Don, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano presents the rise and fall of Vito Genovese in this first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso--from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese

made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire. DeStefano reveals the important and terrifying role Genovese played in the creation of the Mafia, detailing his bloody and ruthless lifetime of crime that would put him behind bars for his last fifteen years--and securing his infamous place in the history of organized crime.

On My Radar:

you don't have to be everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves
by Diana Whitney
Workman Publishing
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Created and compiled just for young women, You Don’t Have to Be Everything is filled with works by a wide range of poets who are honest, unafraid, and skilled at addressing the complex feelings of coming-of-age, from loneliness to joy, longing to solace, attitude to humor. These unintimidating poems offer girls a message of self-acceptance and strength, giving them permission to let go of shame and perfectionism.

The cast of 68 poets is extraordinary: Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, who read at Joe Biden's inauguration; bestselling authors like Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Acevedo, Sharon Olds, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Mary Oliver; Instagram-famous poets including Kate Baer, Melody Lee, and Andrea Gibson; poets who are LGBTQ, poets of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, poets who sing of human experience in ways that are free from conventional ideas of femininity. Illustrated in full color with work by three diverse artists, this book is an inspired gift for daughters and granddaughters—and anyone on the path to becoming themselves.

No matter how old you are,
it helps to be young
when you're coming to life,
to be unfinished, a mysterious statement,
a journey from star to star.
—Joy Ladin, excerpt from "Survival Guide"

On My Radar:

King Richard - Nixon and Watergate: An American Tragedy

by Michael Dobbs
Knopf
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

In January 1973, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. He enjoyed an almost 70 percent approval rating. But by April 1973, his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasized into what White House counsel John Dean called “a full-blown cancer.” King Richard is the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate conspiracy unraveled as the burglars and their handlers turned on one another, exposing the crimes of a vengeful president.

Drawing on thousands of hours of newly-released taped recordings, Michael Dobbs takes us into the heart of the conspiracy, recreating these traumatic events in cinematic detail. He captures the growing paranoia of the principal players and their desperate attempts to deflect blame as the noose tightens around them. We eavesdrop on Nixon plotting with his aides, raging at his enemies, while also finding time for affectionate moments with his family. The result is an unprecedentedly vivid, close-up portrait of a president facing his greatest crisis.

Central to the spellbinding drama is the tortured personality of Nixon himself, a man whose strengths, particularly his determination to win at all costs, become his fatal flaws. Rising from poverty to become the most powerful man in the world, he commits terrible errors of judgment that lead to his public disgrace. He makes himself—and then destroys himself.

Structured like a classical tragedy with a uniquely American twist, King Richard is an epic, deeply human story of ambition, power, and betrayal.

On My Radar:

Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News
by Lisa Napoli
Abrams Books
Trade Paperback



From the publisher's website:

How did we get from an age of dignified nightly news broadcasts on three national networks to the age of 24-hour news channels and constantly breaking news? The answer—thanks to Ted Turner and an oddball cast of cable television visionaries, big league rejects, and nonunion newbies—can be found in the basement of an abandoned country club in Atlanta. Because it was there, in the summer of 1980, that this motley crew launched CNN.

Lisa Napoli’s Up All Night is an entertaining inside look at the founding of the upstart network that set out to change the way news was delivered and consumed, and succeeded beyond even the wildest imaginings of its charismatic and uncontrollable founder. Mixing media history, a business adventure story, and great characters, this is a fun book on the making of the world we live in now.

On My Radar:

Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI
by Dana Kollman
Citadel Books
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Step past the flashing lights into the true scene of the crime with this frank, unflinching, and unforgettable account of life as a crime scene investigator. Whether explaining rigor mortis or the art of fingerprinting a stiff corpse on the side of the road, Dana Kollmann details her true, unvarnished experiences as a CSI for the Baltimore County Police Department.

Unlike the popular crime dramas proliferating on today's television networks, these forensic tales forgo glitz for grit to show what really goes on. Kollmann recounts stories that the cops and the CSI's usually leave in the field, bringing the sights, smells and sounds of a crime scene alive as never before.

Unveiling the process and science of crime scene investigation in all its can't-tear-your-eyes-away fascination, Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand takes you into the strange world behind the yellow tape, offering a truly eye-opening perspective on the day-to-day life of a CSI.

In My TBR Stack:

House Fire
by Alan Corey
House Money Books
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Do you have enough money for retirement? Want to cash out of the 9-to-5 corporate workweek while young enough to pursue your dreams? Are you ready right now to live off the income from a handful of real estate rental properties?

Beginners start here.

Learn about the technique called House FIRE (financial independence, retire early). Find out how to create the life you want to live with just a few real estate investments so you can fast-forward to a stress-free early retirement.

Whether you are starting from nothing, have one or two rental homes already, or looking to diversify other investments into real estate, House FIRE is your step-by-step guide to immediately changing your financial future. Learn how to overcome analysis paralysis and typical first-timer freeze when evaluating rental properties so you can be in complete control of your time and money and live the life you always wanted.

On My Radar:

Chasing the Thrill: Obsession, Death, and Glory in America's Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt
by Daniel Barbarisi
AA Knopf
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

When Forrest Fenn was given a fatal cancer diagnosis, he came up with a bold plan: He would hide a chest full of jewels and gold in the wilderness, and publish a poem that would serve as a map leading to the treasure’s secret location. But he didn’t die, and after hiding the treasure in 2010, Fenn instead presided over a decade-long gold rush that saw many thousands of treasure hunters scrambling across the Rocky Mountains in pursuit of his fortune.

Daniel Barbarisi first learned of Fenn’s hunt in 2017, when a friend became consumed with decoding the poem and convinced Barbarisi, a reporter, to document his search. What began as an attempt to capture the inner workings of Fenn’s hunt quickly turned into a personal quest that led Barbarisi down a reckless and potentially dangerous path, one that found him embroiled in searcher conspiracies and matching wits with Fenn himself. Over the course of four chaotic years, several searchers would die, endless controversies would erupt, and one hunter would ultimately find the chest.

But the mystery didn’t end there.

Full of intrigue, danger, and break-neck action, Chasing the Thrill is a riveting tale of desire, obsession, and unbridled adventure.

In My TBR Stack:

Strange Love
by Fred Waitzkin
Open Road Media
Trade Paperback


From the book publicity:

Narrated by a man vacationing in a remote fishing village on the spectacular Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Strange Love tells a story of disappointments, unusual desires, and the things people will do when their dreams haven’t materialized in the ways they had hoped.

The man once imagined himself as a great novelist like his heroes Philip Roth and John Updike. Instead, he has spent thirty years working as an exterminator in filthy basements and elevator shafts. The young woman he meets in Costa Rica, Rachel, grew up in the shadow of poverty, loss, and trauma, yet she possesses an uncanny talent for storytelling, the very gift the man himself lacks. Now, along with her sister, she has pieced together a life running the Fragata Lounge, a ramshackle bar on the beach, where their aunt flirts with the American tourist and not-so-subtly reminds Rachel that her youthful appeal is fleeting, her chance to escape this place diminishing with each passing day.

As Rachel shares her story with the man, he is mesmerized—by her beauty, the details of her past, and the way she tells of them. Soon he finds himself hinting that he is in fact the wildly successful author he once dreamed of being—and that he has the power to change her life . . .

On My Radar:

The Plot: A Novel
by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Celadon Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?

On My Radar:

In the Land of Good Living: A Journey to the Heart of Florida
by Kent Russell
Vintage Books
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

In the summer of 2016, Kent Russell–broke, at loose ends, hungry for adventure–set off to walk across Florida. Mythic, superficial, soaked in contradictions, maligned by cultural elites, segregated from the South, and literally vanishing into the sea, Florida (or, as he calls it: “America Concentrate”) seemed to Russell to embody America’s divided soul. The journey, with two friends intent on filming the ensuing mayhem, quickly reduces the trio to filthy drifters pushing a shopping cart of camera equipment. They get waylaid by a concerned citizen bearing a rifle; buy cocaine from an ex-wrestler; visit a spiritual medium. The narrative overflows with historical detail about how modern Florida came into being after World War II, and how it came to be a petri dish for life in a suddenly, increasingly diverse new land of minority-majority cities and of unrivaled ethnic and religious variety. Russell has taken it all in with his incomparably focused lens and delivered a book that is both an inspired travelogue and a profound rumination on the nation’s soul–and his own. It is a book that is wildly vivid, encyclopedic, erudite, and ferociously irreverent–a deeply ambivalent love letter to his sprawling, brazenly varied home state.