The Presidents Club
Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity
by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy (Simon & Schuster)
Ever wonder what American presidents talk about when they get together? This pair of top Time mag editors let us in on some of the secrets. When President Kennedy was murdered, LBJ turned to President Eisenhower, who drove to Washington to see him and offer tips on how to address a joint session of Congress. And while George W. Bush was no fan of Bill Clinton’s for defeating his father, we learn just how they came together to work for Haitian earthquake relief.
Come, Tell Me How You Live
An Archaeological Memoir
by Agatha Christie Mallowan (William Morrow
There are no murders in this book, first published in 1947, and now in print again. Instead, we have a fascinating travelogue through 1930s Syria and Iraq, where the great mystery writer accompanied her second husband, British archaeologist Max Mallowan on his expeditions. So, instead of Christie on Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, she’s describing local acommodations: “No sooner have the lamps been extinguished, then mice in their scores emerge from the holes in the walls and the floor. They run gaily over our beds, squeaking as they run. Mice across one’s face, mice tweaking your hair — mice! mice! mice!”
Ashes to Dust
by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Minotaur)
In Icelandic crime novelist Sigurdardottir’s newest work, Reykjavik lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir takes on the case of a Markus, a former resident of a Westmann Islands village buried in a 1973 volcanic eruption. He’s looking to stop an excavation of the buried village where all the resident had safely evacuated. But when Markus looks in the basement of his old house, he find three corpses and a severed head. Soon others from the Westmann Islands village are found dead in mysterious circumstances, and Gudmundsdottir’s client may — or may not — be the killer.
You Only Rock Once
by Jerry Blavat (Running Press)
Old-school deejay Blavat — “The Geator With the Heator, the Boss With the Hot Sauce” — owned Philly and the Jersey Shore back in the day. Starting out as a dancer on an “American Bandstand” predecessor, Blavat did TV, too, with the show “The Discophonic Scene,” and helped introduce artists such as Stevie Wonder to the public. Along the way, this son of a Jewish mobster and an Italian mom palled around with Sammy Davis and Frank Sinatra (who loved Ma Blavat’s cooking). A fascinating look at a fascinating life.
Tomey and the Caterpillar
by Sabrina Panfilo, illustrated by Massimo Mongiardo (Vantage Press)
This isn’t the first time a caterpillar has graced the pages of a children’s picture book. And while Eric Carle’s famous multilegged creature was very hungry, former Post reporter Panfilo brings us one who is very lonely. In her rhyming tale, Tomey, a red pony with its own issues, befriends the caterpillar who is sad due to, among other things, a lack of color. It offers simple lessons encouraging self-esteem.