MADreads

May and June are the big months for summer publishing, with most top-selling authors getting their works out just as school vacation begins and leisure reading begin in earnest (at least in theory). But April serves as a kind of sweet spot for publishers—early enough to avoid overshadowing by the big name authors, but still close to the golden summer sales period to establish buzz and perhaps snag a spot on the bestseller lists. Here are the highlights:

Melissa Rivers and Scott Currie compiled this phenomenal tribute book to Joan Rivers. It's a massive tome, coffee-table-sized, 336 pages, and approximately five pounds full of the queen of comedy's memorabilia organized by decade. Scrapbook style, with photographs of joke cards, letters, scripts, and even a report card from first grade, this book is a wonder to me as a fan and librarian.  

Bear lives alone, and that's just the way he likes it. But when a family of pesky rabbits moves in next door, knock knock knocking on bears door... his whole life is about to change. Fantastically told, Ciara Flood pairs her minimal text with illustrations that add layers to bear's grumpy responses to his neighbors. Bear tells the rabbits he is "too busy to help them chop wood!" when in the next page turn we see him snoozing in front of the fire while all the rabbits work together just outside his window.

Eve Babitz is a woman who will not be pigeonholed. A fixture of the 1970s Los Angeles scene, she was an infamous party girl and muse. She was also an intellectual, artist, journalist, and novelist, whose talent was often overshadowed by her buxom stature and a hedonistic appetite for men, booze, and food. Now an elderly recluse, Babitz is receiving a righteous rediscovering, with a steady reissuing of her works over the last few years.