These are nail-biting times—marked by war, political rancor, and economic jitters—and plenty of new books rightfully address those important topics. But every so often it’s good to get off the dark ride of dread and focus on books that’ll lighten your mood. Maybe they’ll even bring you some joy.
You could do worse than start with Susan Orlean’s latest book, whose title reflects her spirited nature. In Joyride: A Memoir (Avid Reader Press, October 14), the author of such beloved bestsellers as The Library Book and The Orchid Thief looks back at her own life story. In relating her journey as a writer, she exhibits the same effervescence and good humor—and sense of wonder—that lift her accounts of other people. “Being a writer is so much fun,” she writes. “It’s Make-A-Wish for the curious, an excuse to do anything that seems interesting because there is always a story if you look for it.…I want to go to Bhutan, to a taxidermy convention, to Mount Fuji, to South Africa, to a dog show, to a cat show. I want to talk to everyone and tag along as they live their lives, and because I am a writer, I can.”
Tagging along is what one does in reading Rob Reiner’s A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster, September 9). Few movies have brought me as much joy as This Is Spinal Tap, and this book by the film’s director—written with its lead actors, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer—is a treat for any fan who’s been waiting for the faux rock documentary’s sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Among the book’s highlights are bits of subplots that never made it into the final cut of the film, as when Derek Smalls (Shearer) is going over the details of his divorce with his lawyer. “She can’t have the Lamborghini,” he says. “OK, she can have the Mini.”
Another behind-the-scenes delight is David M. Lubin’s Ready for My Closeup: The Making of Sunset Boulevard and the Dark Side of the Hollywood Dream (Grand Central Publishing, August 12). As Lubin writes of the classic 1950 film noir starring Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, Billy Wilder originally “wanted it to be a comedy with Mae West ‘as the faded glamour item.’” After meeting with the comic actor, however, the director “realized her acting style would turn the production into a ‘kind of Laurel and Hardy picture.’” There’s also a fair amount in the book about the great Erich von Stroheim, the director who plays Desmond’s butler in the film—and is often seen from behind. “Are you going to make up my ass?” von Stroheim complained to a makeup man. “Because that’s all that’s being photographed.”
Readers get to learn of another creative outlet of a musical genius in Barry Joseph’s Matching Minds With Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend (Bloomsbury Academic, September 18). When not composing and conducting, Sondheim dedicated much of his free time to games. “It’s a whole side of me nobody knows,” Sondheim once said of designing games. Happily, this playful book unravels that puzzle.
John McMurtrie is the nonfiction editor.
