Nonfiction offers big pictures, small lives

Life on the Midway

Simon & Schuster

Talk about a title ripe with juicy promise: Peter Fenton's "Eyeing the Flash: The Education of a Carnival Con Artist" (Simon & Schuster, $23) takes readers into the fascinating world of small-town carnies. Fenton is just 15 when he meets a classmate, Jackie Barron, whose parents own Party Time Shows, a traveling midwestern carnival. It's not clear why Jackie takes Peter under his wing, but he does, and Fenton leaves his own messed-up family for the family of carnies.

There are great images in "Eyeing the Flash," including one where Fenton buys out an entire liquor store's selection of Coke  — he's hunting for the rare defective bottle that is lopsided enough to give the house an advantage in a sideshow game. And in numerous scenes, readers are treated to a blow-by-blow account of Fenton working cons on hapless marks. Yet those marks are average Joes like you and me, parents and spouses and friends, and no matter how greedy they are, it's hard not to squirm while reading about them being cheated out of hundreds of dollars.

Fenton's not an irresistible narrator. You're never sure if you should like him, you know you would never trust him, but who can resist a chance to go behind the scenes in his mysterious, Technicolor land? Occasionally his choice of details seems random (he loves to eat steak fat, fried till black) but other times, the language is so rich you can almost smell the foot-long hot dogs.

You wonder how much of the book is actual memoir — Fenton did write for the National Enquirer, after all, and much of the dialogue seems recreated — but if any of the book is a con, it's a cheerful one.     —G.F.C.

Heaven for movie lovers

Broadway

It’s clear that Roger Ebert loves movies. He’s been a Chicago Sun-Times film critic since 1967 and sponsors a yearly festival that honors overlooked films. In his latest book of essays, “Great Movies II,” (Broadway, $29.95), Ebert examines 100 films. The movies range from mainstream fare such as “A Christmas Story” or “Say Anything” to more obscure films such as “Ugetsu” and “Rififi.” The films aren’t ranked and they aren't any better or worse than those in Ebert's earlier book, "Great Movies I." These are just movies that, as Ebert says in his introduction, he could not bear the thought of never seeing again.

Don't expect standard critical reviews. These are truly essays about each movie. In some cases, Ebert provides lively background about the film, as in his essay about 1938's “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” in which he talks about how the filmmakers originally wanted to cast James Cagney instead of swashbucling Errol Flynn.  In his essay about “Saturday Night Fever,” he talks about what drew his late friend, critic Gene Siskel to the movie  — Siskel actually owned the original John Travolta white suit. Other times, Ebert speculates on a movie's meaning, as in his essay on the original “Manchurian Candidate,” in which he talks about the possibility of Janet Leigh’s character being another operative.

As a movie-lover, it’s just plain fun for me to read essays that come from someone as passionate about movies as Roger Ebert. I found myself instantly making a rental list of films I hadn’t seen and wanting to re-watch those already on my shelf. A must for any film lover.    —P.N.

Putting pen to paper

Princeton Architectural Press

"Love Letters Lost" (Babbette Hines, Princeton Architectural Press, $20) was published in time for Valentine's Day, but this colorful book can be appreciated year-round, by those in love and those who wish they were.

Hines hunted eBay, flea markets and other sources to round up love letters of all stripes. Some predate the Civil War, others are from the 1950s; some are beautifully calligraphied, others hastily scribbled. For the letters that are faded or otherwise hard to read, Hines reproduces a part of the actual letter, but also reprints the text so it can be read. Mixed in are vintage photos of happy couples from years past, though that's a little confusing — a photo opposite a certain letter doesn't depict that couple, although it seems that it should.

Some of the letters are funny, some are bold declarations of love. Some will break your heart, especially the letters written from soldiers in the Civil War, World War II and Korea. Some apologize for a long-ago slight. But what shines forth from the majority of them is a quiet, bouncing happiness. Said one J.L. Slagle to Miss Ada in 1890 "Had I the eloquence of Cicero or the pen of Burns, it would be impossible for me to tell you half the love I have for you."  

You just did, J.L. You just did.     —G.F.C.

Love match

Simon & Schuster

A short-lived 2003 TV series starring Alicia Silverstone, "Miss Match," was based on the real life of NYC matchmaker Samantha Daniels. The show didn't last long, but Daniels has now poured her experiences into a book "Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern-Day Matchmaker" (Simon & Schuster, $23). The show was pretty predictable, but if only it had been based on Daniels' book, it might be a hit for years to come.

"Matchbook" starts blazing on page one and never lets up. Daniels dubs her clients "Desperados" and gives them all nicknames. "Brad Pitt Guy" constantly asks her if Brad Pitt would date the women she wants him to meet, while "Miss 39" is having a freakout as her 40s approach and she's still single.

While she's a professional matchmaker, Daniels is still single herself, so interspersed with hilarious accounts of the Desperados are tales of Daniels' own often-disastrous dates.  (Daniels would be a picky client for any matchmaker — she refuses to date one man because he has horrible cuticles, another because he has three tattoos.)

The book works so well because Daniels' own charm and sense of humor light up the pages. Instead of being snooty or pushy like "the Maries" (her name for New York's other matchmakers), she is learning as she matches, and isn't afraid to share her own insecurities, about both matching and dating, with the readers (though her clients never catch on). "Matchbook" is a happy story, as a whole. Although not everyone finds Mr. or Ms. Right in the end, we're reminded that there are good people out there looking. Daniels is a great guide to the weird and wonderful world of dating.    —G.F.C.

Lost romance
Much has been written about F. Scott Fitzgerald and his relationship with his wife Zelda. But even devoted fans of "The Great Gatsby" might not know about Fitzgerald's first love. "The Perfect Hour: The Romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ginevra King, His First Love," (by James L.W. West III, Random House, $25) is a slim volume that makes the most of slender material.

Fitzgerald and King did not have a long, drawn-out romance. After they met in January 1915 at a party on St. Paul's famed Summit Avenue, King returned to her East Coast boarding school and Fitzgerald to his sophomore year at Princeton. Yet the charming rich girl had made such an impression on the budding author that she later inspired numerous of his fictional characters, including Gatsby's lost love, Daisy Buchanan.

Readers are lucky that most of the romance was conducted on paper, in long (sometimes 24 pages) letters to which both King and Fitzgerald appear devoted. Fitzgerald's letters no longer survive, but King's offer a fascinating look into a vanished world. She used her letters to cajole and flirt with a literacy missing from what few letters we send today.

Fitzgerald and King both married others, of course. Neither led a charmed life. Fitzgerald's personal woes are well-documented —Zelda died in a fire after years in mental institutions, Fitzgerald struggled with debt and alcoholism and died young. King married a family friend she would later divorce; and their second son was born with Down syndrome at a time when such a condition was considered shameful.

Yet because their romance was conducted almost entirely on paper and in their minds, the two never forgot each other. Fitzgerald admitted that he'd based numerous characters on King, most often in short stories, but also in "Gatsby" and "This Side of Paradise." She remained forever a dream, the rich girl his poor boy could never have, the green light at the end of Gatsby's dock.    —G.F.C.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Books Editor. Paige Newman is MSNBC.com's Movies Editor.

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