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Some books explore their subjects more deeply than you’d expect. Perhaps due to the mysteries of publishing schedules, we seem to have a lot of them due out in the month of April. Our recommended books this month include comprehensive biographies of James Gandolfini and Rosemary Woodruff Leary and pensive accounts of climate change and disease mitigation. They include a complicated family history and a gripping work of fiction — and a dugout-level view of the national pastime to boot. Here’s what we’re most excited about reading this month.
Jason Bailey, Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend (April 29)
Somehow, it has been almost 12 years since James Gandolfini died — leaving behind an array of great performances and a bittersweet sense of what might have been. This new biography is from the pen of Jason Bailey, whose previous forays into cinematic history have been impeccably researched and compellingly written. This is a captivating look at one of the most talented actors of his generation.
Andrew Forbes, Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living (April 15)
It could be the legacy of Moneyball or the recent changes to the minor league baseball system; one way or another, a growing number of writers are training their gaze on the lived experience of everyday baseball players. Books like Andrew Forbes’s Field Work and Will Bardenwerper’s Homestand (discussed in this space last month) take a candid look at the people for whom baseball is a way of life — even if you might never see their jerseys in Cooperstown.
Thomas Levenson, So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs — and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease (April 29)
It’s been five years since a pandemic began making its way across the globe, ultimately killing millions of people. Today, there’s a measles outbreak in Texas and cholera devastating Angola. In other words, if you’re thinking about germs right now, you’re hardly alone. MIT’s Thomas Levenson has chronicled the history of science in several books; with his latest, So Very Small, he takes on a subject that’s never not relevant, but is especially in the spotlight right now.
Mike Drucker, Good Game, No Rematch: A Life Made of Video Games (April 1)
Even if you don’t recognize Mike Drucker’s name, you’ve probably laughed at something he’s written — his career involves writing for shows like Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Bill Nye Saves the World and Saturday Night Live. He’s also spent a lot of his life playing video games, and in this new memoir he explores his interwoven loves of comedy and gaming, making for a candid and bittersweet read.
Susannah Cahalan, The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary (April 22)
A memorable biography can make a reader aware of the shape of someone’s life — whether that someone is a household name or a person who never got their due. Susannah Cahalan (Brain on Fire) opts for the latter with her new book, which chronicles the life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary. You may have encountered her name in connection with her onetime husband, psychedelic researcher Timothy Leary — but as Cahalan makes clear in this book, Rosemary has a powerful story all her own.
Matthew Specktor, The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood (April 22)
Across several acclaimed books, Matthew Specktor has explored the allure of motion pictures and his own familial connections to them. (If you haven’t yet read his 2021 book Always Crashing in the Same Car, it’s highly recommended.) Specktor’s new book, the memoir The Golden Hour, ventures even more deeply into his family’s history with the film industry and offers a candid look at storytelling, celebrity and art.
Katie Kitamura, Audition (April 8)
Katie Kitamura’s fiction regularly accomplishes the impressive feat of turning plots where minute details and ambiguities abound into wholly engaging, even thrilling reads. Her latest novel adds an inventive structure into the mix, one that makes for a haunting tale of human connection. Or, as Maggie Doherty wrote in her review for the New Republic, “Even in our most intimate moments, this novel suggests, we are always onstage.”
The Novel That Can Bridge the Gap Between Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z
On the surface, Holly Brickley’s “Deep Cuts” is an ode to indie sleaze. Underneath is a nostalgia bomb that spares no one.
David Gibson, A Force for Nature: Paul Schaefer’s Adirondack Coalitions (April 14)
In 2021, the nonprofit organization Adirondack Wilderness Advocates called Paul Schaefer “the most famous Adirondack conservation ‘hero’ of the twentieth century.” David Gibson’s new book A Force for Nature explores Schaefer’s life and legacy, and the impact that Schaefer made on the preservation of the Adirondacks — an effort that can still be felt today.
Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs (April 8)
This is probably stating the obvious, but still: there’s been a lot written about John Lennon and Paul McCartney, both as songwriters and collaborators. Are there still new things to say about the duo? If the reviews of this book are any indication, there certainly are. Writing in The Guardian, Anthony Quinn called it a “brilliant study of the Beatles’ music” and “an enthralling narrative of friendship, creative genius and loss.” Turns out that in the right hands, the familiar can still be made revelatory.
Malcolm Harris, What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis (April 15)
Malcolm Harris’s previous book Palo Alto has been in the spotlight a lot lately, given its comprehensive look at a subject on a lot of people’s minds right now: Silicon Valley. Harris’s new book takes on a much grander scale, opting for a pragmatic view of climate change’s effects and what humanity can do to reckon with them in our present moment. It’s an important look at one of the biggest issues facing us right now.
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