Hut's Place

Weekly Words About New Books in

Independent Bookstores

October 13, 2024

Woodward Reports on Wars Being Waged in Ukraine and Middle East...and on the American Presidency; Actor/Gourmand Tucci Records a Year of Meals and Memories

War by Bob Woodward. Author and political journalist Woodward remains one of the best in the business, which makes any new work notable. He's a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting on Watergate and coverage of 9-11, and he's covered every president since Richard Nixon. In more recent years, he's penned three books about Donald Trump - Fear (2018), Rage (2020), and Peril co-written with Robert Costa (2021). Trump is still a leading character in War, as Woodward tells the behind-the-scenes story of three wars - Ukraine, the Middle East, and the struggle for the American Presidency. All the major players are featured - Putin and Zelensky, Netanyahu, and of course Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And lurking always is Donald Trump, conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power.

Although the book does not arrive in bookstores until Tuesday, several news organizations - including CNN and The New York Times - "obtained" a copy one week early and have already leaked some gossipy details. According to Woodward, and since echoed by the Kremlin, Trump sent Putin COVID testing equipment during the pandemic and at a time when it was in short supply in America. Trump has denied the story, as well as assertions in the book of his ongoing relationship with the Russian tyrant, including during the Ukranian incursion. It also appears that - behind closed doors anyway - President Biden and others are fond of expletive-laced outbursts. That's teaser material, of course - Woodward and his crew of researchers have done their homework yet again. The result is a fly-on-the-wall narrative that interested readers should find enlightening, sometimes frightening, and always compelling.

What I Ate in One Year: (And Related Thoughts) by Stanley Tucci. In 2021, beloved actor and food lover Tucci wrote a warm and witty memoir of life in and out of the kitchen called Taste: My Life Through Food. Three years later, Taste has lost none of its flavor and will no doubt receive a renewed sales boost from Tucci's delightful new effort chronicling a year's worth of meals.

In what may seem at first like a somewhat mundane and potentially repetitive (pasta again?) premise, Tucci records the food he eats for 12 months - in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself. The meals range from the mouth-wateringly memorable to the comfortingly domestic and to the infuriatingly inedible, but in the author's hands they also serve as springboards to engaging anecdotes about world travels, celebrations, losses, and the passage of time. It's an appetizing melange of meals and memories that Kirkus calls a "charming and sometimes touching glimpse into the life of an actor and gourmand."

Master of Police Procedurals Adds New Life to a Seasoned Series Partnership

The Waiting by Michael Connelly. For his sixth installment of the bestselling Ballard and Bosch series, mystery master Connelly adds a new wrinkle that infuses emotion and excitement. LAPD's Renee Ballard still heads up the Open-Unsolved Unit and she still relies on Harry Bosch to help her out of a jam - this one involving the theft of her gun and badge. The section of the book devoted to Harry's role in the FBI-led sting that leads to the recovery of Renee's belongings is vintage Connelly - tense and believable.

But it's another Bosch who grabs the spotlight in The Waiting. Harry's daughter Maddie - a patrol officer with ambitions of her own - volunteers for Ballard's cold case squad and quickly makes her presence felt. Connelly reigns supreme as master of the police procedural, taking readers deliberately through the step-by-step processes (and messy politics) of the investigations without sacrificing slow-build tension. He also imbues this series with new energy by adding a second Bosch to the mix. I bet she's here to stay.

In its starred reivew, Publishers Weekly wrote, "As always, Connelly brilliantly renders the ins and outs of these investigations, all while adding layers to Ballard’s backstory—including a moving subplot about her missing mother—and delivering white-hot suspense guaranteed to please his fans. This ranks with Connelly’s best."

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WHY THE COLUMN?

Hi, I'm Hut Landon, and I'm a bookseller in an independent bookstore in BerkeIey, CA.

My goal here is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what indie booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.

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