Celebrity navel-gazing

Perhaps nothing is more indicative of summer reading than diving into celebrity autobiographies and memoirs. More often than not, they’re quick reads, great poolside companions and just lighthearted enough to keep your mind off the oppressive heat. Here’s a look at some of the more recent offerings:

Isabel Allende’s family informed latest novel

Writing her new novel was a different kind of challenge for Isabel Allende. “Maya’s Notebook” is not based in historical research, nor is it a tome reliant on big doses of magic realism. The story reads like a crossover to young adult fiction. It’s Allende’s first novel set in the present time, written under the influence of her grandchildren, who were all teenagers at the time she was working on the novel.

‘VJ’ tells of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll at MTV

Long before Snooki, there was music. It seems quaint to remember a time when Americans didn’t have cable TV, before music videos and reality stars, but the original MTV VJs describe the beginning of one of the most influential media experiments of all time in “VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave.”

Review: ‘Joyland’ by Stephen King

Stephen King is really trying to prove he’s as much a master of Americana as horror. A small North Carolina beach town and its resident amusement park is the setting for “Joyland,” King’s newest title. Clocking in at just under 300 pages, it seems short for a guy responsible for epics like “The Stand” and “It.” Instead, the novel is a tight and engrossing slice of life starring a college kid trying to get over the pain of first love gone wrong.

Best sellers 06.16.13

Publisher’s Weekly’s top 10s for the week of June 16.

Literary listings

Local book signings and literary events, June 14-30.

An expert debunks myths about where babies come from (and go)

After extensive scientific study of primates, the Field Museum’s Robert D. Martin knows a few things about sperm, breastfeeding and potty training.

Authors in young-adult market go on the road to teach teens

Pay it forward. This is the phrase that keeps coming up when talking to young adult authors Erin Bowman and Kat Zhang, who along with Susan Dennard and Sarah J. Maas are the brains behind the Young Authors Give Back Tour.

Early in their careers, …

Best sellers 06.09.13

Publisher’s Weekly’s top 10s for the week of June 9.

Literary listings

Local book signings and literary events, June 7-22.

In the Dells, Wally’s House of Embers stays in the family

Supper clubs are as Midwestern as cheese curds and prime rib. In an excerpt from his new release “The Supper Club Book,” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Dave Hoekstra visits an institution known for old-fashioneds, ribs and an intimate room named for Omar Sharif.

Summer reading: Chicago Lit

Our recommendations for summer reading titles set in Chicago and/or written by Chicago authors.

Best sellers 06.02.13

Publisher’s Weekly’s top 10s for the week of June 2.

Summer fiction: Time-traveling serial killer in Chicago

More than a decade ago, Lauren Beukes spent about six months living with friends in Chicago before heading back to her South Africa homeland to pursue a career as a journalist and writer of science fiction. Years later, when she began to develop an idea for what would become her new novel, “The Shining Girls,” about a time-traveling serial killer, she set in the Windy City. The result is one of the scariest and best-written thrillers of the year.