What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY’s picks for book lovers include Eligible, a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and a new bio of singer James Brown.
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld; Random House, 488 pp.; fiction
Put down your diary, Bridget Jones.
Make way for Curtis Sittenfeld, whose amusing if crass new novel Eligible is the latest “modern retelling” of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s beloved Regency romance.
Sittenfeld, witty author of Prep and American Wife, seems the woman for the job in the 21st century, as Bridget creator Helen Fielding was in the 1990s.
If you’re updating the adorably contentious love story of “Liz” Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy for 2016, you have to throw in texting, reality TV, hookup sex, start-ups, transgender politics and yoga, right?
In Sittenfeld’s rendering, all five contemporary Bennet sisters are eligible, and these spinster sisters are considerably older than their Austen counterparts. The eldest, Jane, is 39, with our heroine Liz, a New York-based magazine writer, nipping at her heels at 38.
Back home in Cincinnati as their father recovers from a heart attack, Liz and Jane meet Chip Bingley, a local doctor and the most recent bachelor on the hit TV reality show Eligible, and his snooty friend, the neurosurgeon Dr. Darcy.
USA TODAY says *** out of four stars. “Put aside your prejudice Janeites. Eligible is good for some giggles on the beach.”
Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul by James McBride; Spiegel & Grau, 232 pp.; non-fiction
A portrait of the Godfather of Soul by the National Book Award-winning author of The Good Lord Bird and The Color of Water.
USA TODAY says *** stars. “A feat of intrepid journalistic fortitude… Somewhere, even James Brown is probably saying thanks.”
Becoming Grandma: The Joys and Science of the New Grandparenting by Lesley Stahl; Blue Rider Press, 271 pp.; non-fiction
Stahl, 60 Minutes correspondent and “besotted” grandmother of two little girls, reflects on the special relationship between grandparent and grandchild.
USA TODAY says *** stars. “Readers will be hard-pressed not to get caught up in (Stahl’s) obvious zest for the topic.”
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson; Random House, 473 pp.; fiction
Young schoolteacher Beatrice Nash moves to the small town of Rye, England, for a new job the summer of 1914.
USA TODAY says *** stars. An “ultimately rewarding and moving novel.”
So As I Was Saying...: My Somewhat Eventful Life by Frank Mankiewicz and Joel L. Swerdlow; Thomas Dunne, 267 pp.; non-fiction
Posthumous memoir by Frank Mankiewicz, a son of old Hollywood who became a quintessential Washington insider.
USA TODAY says ***½ stars. “Breezy.”
Contributing reviewers: Jocelyn McClurg, Barry Singer, Sharon Peters, Ray Locker
