Aznavour by Aznavour

Charles Aznavour's autobiography, published in 1970, covers some fascinating ground. The child of Armenian immigrants to Paris, born in 1924, he came to show business early, performing in plays and music halls as a child. The section on how he and his family survived during the German occupation in World War II is full of compelling day-by-day detail. But the highlight of this volume must be his account of his time with Edith Piaf as her assistant and all-around doormat. There was true affection there on both sides, but Piaf was notoriously difficult. Much of the first half of the book is taken up with his songwriting rather than with his singing. Until he made his triumph as a singer, selling songs to other singers was his bread and butter. There's not much on Aznavour's film career, disappointingly, and nothing about his work starring in the Truffaut film Shoot the Piano Player. 

Me Tanner, You Jane

Lawrence Block goes wild in this installment of the Evan Tanner spy series. The sexual exploits would not pass muster in today's world, but the pacing will keep a reader eagerly flipping pages.

So Big

Edna Ferber's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel asks the question, How do you live a meaningful life? The main character, Selina DeJong, is a memorable and sincere seeker after beauty and meaning. (On her first trip to a farm, she finds the cauliflower beautiful, which sets the farmer to laughing.) Selina is skeptical of material success, which leads to a split with her son when he becomes a successful bond salesman. There is no whiff of cynicism or facile cleverness in this deeply felt and deftly expressed novel.

Tanner's Tiger

Lawrence Block's Evan Tanner – "the world's most unusual spy" – travels to Montreal and the '68 Expo to try to penetrate and defeat a scheme by Communist Cuba. It goes down smooth and leaves little aftertaste.

The Years

This is Annie Ernaux's longest and most comprehensive look into her life, starting at childhood and taking her to nearly 60. With the personal come commonplace observations about the world around her. Although I admire and respect all of the books I have read since hearing her name for the first time when she won the Nobel, I am about done with Madame Ernaux.

Giant

Edna Ferber's bestselling novel from the 1950s is an exploration and condemnation of the conquest of Texas by white families. The repeated "we do things differently here" theme gets a bit tiresome, and Ferber has a tic in which she strings together items in a series without commas, but overall this is a fine old-fashioned novel of manners with a splash of social criticism.