Book of the Day 5/18-5/20/2008

LOVE GODDESS

“Love became her terrible habit, something hopeless to resist, impossible to get right,” Lee Server observes about one of Hollywood’s sexiest movie goddesses. The book is full of great stories and lurid gossip—think of her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and most famously Frank Sinatra, not to mention her relationships with the likes of Howard Hughes and Ernest Hemingway. New material is provided from interviews with friends and colleagues who have not previously spoken for the record. This is a great Hollywood read that will absolutely not disappoint.

AVA GARDNER: “LOVE IS NOTHING,” by Lee Server (St. Martin’s Press, 2006)

“Merlis’s insight into human nature and his ability to find and articulate grace in the ordinary process of human exchange is remarkable . . . a stunning standout.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

An Arrow’s Flight is quite simply a brilliantly original piece of fiction. To say that it is about Pyrrhus, a go-go boy and hustler who also happens to be the son of Achilles (and therefore one-quarter divine), misleads one into thinking it is merely a flippant take on gay life, ancient and modern. But Merlis has greater ambitions than that, and in the end, his book is truly moving.

AN ARROW’S FLIGHT, by Mark Merlis (Stonewall Inn Editions, 1999)

THINK FAST!

What a seductive title. Thinking without thinking sounds vaguely like losing weight without exercise. Still, Gladwell has a point: The first impression, while not infallible, can very often be very right. He explores this premise with compelling stories such as the follow-the-rules generals beaten by a quick-thinking maverick during war games. Gladwell covers the bad side of “blink,” too, as in the case of Amadou Diallo, who was killed because of the mistaken snap judgment of police officers. He believes that the ability to make good quick judgments can be enhanced and developed through training and experience. It’s an intriguing premise and an exceptionally entertaining book.

BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING, by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, 2005)