Johnny Cash: The Life
by Robert Hilburn (Little, Brown)
Another Johnny Cash book? Hilburn tells Required Reading why: “I didn’t feel any of the others came close to capturing the full story . . . the artistry or the personal life. When I asked Johnny’s longtime manager, Lou Robin, how much of the story remained to be told, he said 80%. And it was no exaggeration.” His findings include “the song he ‘lifted’ lyrics from to create ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ . . . the woman he (while still married to his first wife) asked to marry him seven years before he asked June Carter,” and, Hilburn says, there was “far more darkness in John’s life than any of us imagine, but ultimately he is redeemed (as an artist and a man) and his life story proves inspiring.”
The Cartographer of No Man’s Land
by P.S. Duffy (Liveright)
In Duffy’s debut novel, Canadian pacifist Angus McGrath is promised a job as a military cartographer in WWI London but instead finds himself navigating heavy artillery fire on the Western Front. Meanwhile, Angus grows increasingly concerned about both his MIA soldier brother-in-law and his 13-year-old son at home. Duffy’s well-researched account of bloody 1917 battle of Vimy Ridge should satisfy even the most die-hard of WWI buffs.
The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea
by Gregory A. Freeman (New American Library)
Lost in the reporting about all of Sandy’s destruction on land is this harrowing tale of shipwreck at sea. And not just any ship: This is the wooden-hull tall ship used in the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty,” as well as “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Despite warnings, the ship set sail from New London, Conn., to St. Petersberg, Fla. Heroic rescue efforts by the Coast Guard couldn’t save the ship’s captain and a crew member. A thrilling and sad adventure.
We Are Water
by Wally Lamb (Harper)
Sex and the suburbs? The latest novel from Lamb (“She’s Come Undone”) takes on both those topics. Set in a Connecticut bedroom community in the early years of the Obama administration, the story begins when local artist, wife and mother Annie Oh dumps her psychologist husband after 27 years of marriage and three children. She’s fallen for her Manhattan art dealer, Viveca. Gay marriage has just been made legal in the state and the couple sets out to wed in Oh’s hometown — but not before all of the novel’s protagonists air their dirty laundry. Get ready for a spin.
Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz
(Titan Books)
Hell’s Kitchen-raised artist Ortiz has treated each of the original “Star Trek” episodes as if it were a feature film — and created stylish, retro movies posters for each one. Using different styles, inspired by Soviet art of the ’20s and ’30s, romantic comedies of the ’50s, comedies of the ’60s and old horror flicks, Ortiz has come up with some brilliant works.