REQUIRED READING
The Address Fiona Davis (fiction, Dutton)
New York’s most famous residence, The Dakota, is its own character in this historical novel by Davis, author of “The Dollhouse,” which was set in the Barbizon Hotel for Women. In “The Address,” two women’s lives are intertwined in The Dakota. Althoughh they lived 100 years apart, they share an apartment in common.
The Last Fighter Pilot Don Brown (nonfiction, Regnery)
The story of the last combat mission of World War II is told here in gripping detail, relayed by fighter pilot Capt. Jerry Yellin, who flew a mission nine days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. By the time he returned to Iwo Jima from his mission, the war was over. ver.
Beautiful Bodies Kimberly Rae Miller (memoir, Little A)
Miller has spent her life in pursuit of the “perfect” body — yes, ever since “Sesame Street” inspired her first diet at the tender age of 4 (she also had a brief stint as a dietpill model and worked as a health and fitness writer spilling details on how celebrities stay thin.) It’s partt memoir, part social history of the age-old quest for physical perfection.
The Bettencourt Affair: The World’s Richest Woman and the Scandal that Rocked Paris Tom Sancton (nonfiction, Dutton)
Liliane Bettencourt is the heiress to the 40 billion dollar L’Oréal fortune, making her the richest woman in the world (and the world’s 14th-richest person). But her name is connected to an explosiveve scandal in-involving L’Oréal’s shadowy corporate history, World War II secrets and plenty of courtroom drama.
Impossible Views of the World Lucy Ives (fiction, Penguin)
Stella Krakus is a curator at the Central Museum of Art, where she’s having a bit of an impossible week. A colleague has mysteriously disappeared, her ex-husband won’t leave her alone and the museum’s main exhibit is sponsored by a Belgian with plans to taketake over the world’s water supply. In the midst of all this, a mysterious map appears, detailing a 19th century utopian settlement.
The History Makers Val Bodurtha (fiction, Lanier Press)
What would have happened if the Aztec Empire had never been conquered by Spain — and went on to become a superpower? That’s the premise of this clever alternative history written by Bodurtha, a 20-year-old college student who got the idea for the book after taking an AP history class at Horace Mann. Told through the eyes of an upper-class teenager in modernday Azteca.