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Who knows why, but some people do ask. So here are the books I've been reading. Just my impressions, not literary criticism. As you will probably note, there's little rhyme or reason behind my choices and I'm often several years behind a trend. (What else is new?):

Summer 2010
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Why is this such a big hit? The writing is bad, the plot is a cliche. But it's a great title.

Border Crossing by Pat Barker - My first Barker book, and I thought it was excellent. The reviews were not great, which shows her stature. She's in competition with the best of her own work. The ending bothered a lot of people, but not me. There are people out there, like ticking bombs. You know it, but what can you do?

Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji - It's Love Story in Tehran. That bad.

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas - Loved it. Brief. Honest. Loving.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs - Very entertaining. Who cares if some of it is exaggerated?

The God of War by Marisa Silver - Really good. Tightly focused.

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn - Fantastic writing. Occasionally repetetive, often show-offy--I don't know what was up with Santa play--but a good memoir. Did he out himself enough? I don't know.

Invisible Eden by Maria Flook - Flook is a really unlikable narrator, but the P-town insider stuff was fun.

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall - I wasn't sure what this could offer that Big Love didn't, but I got caught up in it. There was enough weight provided by the bomb testing and other big issues to balance the farce. The ending wasn't what I expected or wanted, but it seemed right.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan - It's a page-turner, but ultimately unsatisfying. Too simplistic? Too familiar? I'm not sure.

Spring 2010
Pilgrims by Elizabeth Gilbert - Impressive. She has a real ear for dialog. A short story collection that did not feel as if I was reading the same story thirteen times.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson - Wow. The last line is devastating. He knocked it out of the park.

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux - What is it with male literary authors and little girls gone missing? I really wanted to like this book, but it dragged on and on. How many endings can there be?

Lit by Mary Karr - Not the kind of book I expected to like, but I loved it. And actually felt grief when it was over.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann - Somehow, for me, it was less than the sum of its parts, which were mostly exceptional. Maybe I'm weary of this "we're all interconnected" thing. In fiction, it feels forced.

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas - The kindest thing I can say about this book is that it should have been marketed as YA, if it was published at all.

Magic Seeds by V.S. Naipaul - A very strange book. There may be too much in it, or maybe there are too many pieces, but what I liked was that there was more content in each piece than in most whole books.

Half the House by Richard Hoffman - Spare and beautifully focused. The confrontation between father and son was hard to read.

The Killing Floor by Lee Child - To enjoy this one, you've got to like descriptions of heads being knocked and brains being splattered.

A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill - Really good. Especially enjoyed the rendering of his childhood in Brooklyn.

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh - I loved loved loved this book. It has it all: An exotic setting, interesting characters, dolphins (!), and my theme (idealism).

Winter 2009/2010
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood - You know what? I was bored. I think you have to have read Oryx and Crake to really enjoy this.

Love and Summer by William Trevor - Delicate. I didn't love it as much as I love most of his short stories, but I admired the depth of characterization.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer - Well, I'm glad I read it, even though the going was a little gruesome. The best parts were early on, when it was a memoir of food memories.
And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrison - There's little drama here. Just a difficult man and his ambivalent son ... and yet the evidence accumulates and you do understand, by the end, why the father's death is so cataclysmic.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - Entertaining and so full of life.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston - Beautiful and funny and fierce and thought-provoking. What more could you want?

A Private History of Awe by Scott Russell Sanders - Hated it. I agree with the author on issues of politics and religion, but I still found him to be smug, preachy, self-involved, and oblivious. How does someone his age take his 20-something self so seriously, look back at himself with so little irony?

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman - I was surprised by how much I liked this book. It's about growing up ... about ten years too late.

American Rust by Philipp Meyer - Loved it.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent - The tale of a family caught up in the Salem Witch Trials. The last half is an almost moment-to-moment description of abject suffering. For me, I needed a little more context to make that pay off, a better answer to why? and how? Which, obviously, was not the author's intent.

Notes from No Man's Land by Eula Biss - It's been a while since a book has so engaged me that I'd like to sit down and argue with the author. I loved some of these essays, liked a couple, and thought a few (especially "Land Mines") were too facile. But I'm thrilled that there's a book like this, which, like they often said on West Wing, will "raise the level of debate."

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See - What's interesting about this book is the historical research, which felt like it's raison detre. The characters are types, none more so than the daughter, who only has life breathed into her in the last 50 pages or so. The ending pays off, it's the lead-up that lacks.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - So enjoyable, and an interesting view of the life of immigrants at the turn of the last century. Loved the loving depiction of flawed parents.

Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann - In that weird category of autobiographical fiction/almost memoir. The stories do gain resonance as you go along. I especially liked the way the author outed himself. He's not just an observor, but a flawed observor.

Hotel World by Ali Smith - There's no question that the author can write, but extended interior monologues are among my least favorite kinds of writing. All in all, I liked it fine--not every book has to be a deeply felt masterpiece--but I wouldn't disagree with someone who called it "sing-song glibness" either.

Fall 2009
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama - I loved the first half of this book and then I got weary. Perhaps because it needed pruning, as the auther noted in his new foreword. This is a remarkable document of a man who will-- regardless of how things turn out--be important in history. Would it have resonated so much if he was still a senator? I'm not sure.

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin - Long linked stories about the characters on a crumbling feudal estate in Pakistan. These stories meander, spanning long periods of time, and so this feels more like a novel than most linked-stories. I learned a lot from this book.

Alex & Me by Irene Pepperberg - Slight, but compelling. I've always believed there was a "hidden world of animal intelligence," and reading this, I was afraid that I was going to have to become a vegetarian. Not yet, but soon, I think.

Muhammad by Karen Armstrong - Jeez, I'm embarrassed by how little I know about this man who has shaped half our world. Didn't even know that the hajj pre-dated him.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh - Much more complex than I remembered. The characters are each so well drawn. Charles's father is hilarious. Another re-read that surprised me in a good way.

The Education of Hyman Kaplan by Leonard Q. Ross - Very funny send-up of immigrants in an ESL class struggling with the English language. I think I know Hyman's reincarnation. rendered so well.

Three Junes by Julia Glass - A re-read, and it definitely holds up. Rarely are family dynamics rendered so well.

The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell - Loved it, almost as much as Neruda's Book of Questions. The opposite of Life's Little Instruction Book, in a good way.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - Charming. If I hadn't for some reason thought this was a gothic romance, I would have read it many, many years ago. Surprising, for a hundred year old book, how much young girls' internal lives haven't changed.

White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway - Small and luscious.

The Good Son by Craig Nova - Great old-fashioned storytelling.

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker - An absolute joy.

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah - Searing.

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore - I've heard it said that the only reason TC Boyle or Joyce Carol Oates ever get a bad review is because they are compared with themselves. The same should probably be said for Lorrie Moore. How to follow Birds of America? Having said that, I sure wish this novel hadn't been set immediately after 9/11, because the narrator is so disconnected, so lonely, so self-absorbed that I just wanted to shake her. I know she's only twenty years old, but I wanted a whole lot more engagement with the world around her and a whole lot less description of the plants and sky.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - This is the darnedest book and not like I'd remembered. I'd forgotten (or never noticed) how it was put together, with the Joad story alternating with big picture, new journalism-like set pieces. But what stunned me is that he never goes into anyone's heads, never reports any character's thoughts. Purposefully, I think. And the ending, how did he dare write something so transgressive?

Summer 2009
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon - Couldn't stop reading it. Not that it's perfect: the characters are almost all cut from the same cloth and the way the story is put together is either clever or manipulative, I'm not sure which.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Beautiful, brief and still relevant.

Open Line by Ellen Hawley - I had high hopes for this book, because it's about time someone skewered the Becks and the Limbaughs and explored what makes talk radio so successful. But this isn't that book. It pales in comparison to the real things. The problem might be the POV, telling the story from the on-air personality's perspective. I couldn't help but compare it to Budd Schulberg's story/movie "Your Arkansas Traveler"/A Face in the Crowd. Schulberg was very smart to tell the story of Lonesome Rhodes from an observer's POV.

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen - What a stunning book. There's no narrative thread to speak of, so it's not one you rush through. It's more a book to be savored. Does it present colonial Africa too romantically? Maybe. But beautifully.

Jarhead by Anthony Swofford - Forced me to look at my own opinions, prejudices, etc., about having an all-volunteer army.

Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris - The Old Hollywood/New Hollywood discussion isn't exactly new ground, but by focusing on only 5 films--the best picture nominees of 1967--Harris gives it a fresh look. I would have liked a little discussion about why Cool Hand Luke was snubbed, but that's a nit.

Dispatches by Michael Herr - The hallucinogenic quality of the writing reminded me of Apocolypse Now and it's no wonder: Herr worked on that film.

The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller - Surprising. Half-way through I thought the narrative had lost its way, but it's actually as single-minded as a short story.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - A really enjoyable page-turner.

Torch by Cheryl Strayed - A novel that covers the same basic territory as a few of her essays. I prefer the nonfiction: much more fierce and uncompromising.

The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black - A lot of backtracking to events from the first book and the mystery fell a little flat, but I love his writing and the emphasis on character.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart - YA, but who cares? I really enjoyed it.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich - I got to this one way late, but it was still worth reading.

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber - He had me at The Decalogue. The coincidences got to be a bit much, but it's that kind of book.

Drown by Junot Diaz - As good as they say.

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black - Such tight writing. I'm going to have to give Banville another try.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller - An all-time favorite.

Spring 2009
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - I enjoyed it--especially the info about the channel islands. (However I'm a little sick of this Pride and Prejudice mania.)

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen - Compelling.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman - Really enjoyable.

Sideways by Rex Pickett - Great fun.

Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips - Wanted to love it, but didn't. However, I did admire it as a piece of conceptual art.

I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass - There was something wrong with the way this story was told. Maybe it should have been a memoir.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahari - Style never triumphs over story, and yet the stories are very slight. What she does so exceptionally well is slice open a character and show you who they are in the dark.

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill - This book is pretty much everything I usually hate. Set in New York: strike 1. Weird, sometimes hard to follow, sentences: strike 2. Odd fantastical characters, including an angel: strike 3. I loved it.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave - I hope this book about a Nigerian girl seeking asylum in the U.K. is read widely because it has something to say. It's also a tight, engaging read.

The Good Life by Jay McInerney - The best thing I can say about this 9/11 soap opera is that it might have been a good beach read.

Child of my Heart by Alice McDermott - A reread and better than I remembered.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski - I have a friend who saw The Lion King on Broadway and said it might have been interesting if someone had shot the lion. That's pretty much how I felt about this book--I just wanted them all to die already. Overlong, with incomprehensible character motivation ... File under: Admired by many but not by me.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan - So delicate.

Crazy in Alabama by Mark Childress - Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. I fell in love with these characters.

City of Refuge by Tom Piazza - I believe the author's intent was to write an accessible novel about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. But does accessible always have to be simplistic?

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Hallucinatory.

The Soul Thief by Charles Baxter - I'm a big Baxter fan, but this one--which is very self-consciously meta--wasn't for me.

Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark - This is either high-brow farce or pulp fiction, but I'm not sure which.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - I admired it more than I loved it. The class consciousness seemed (to me) to be almost reverse snobbery. But the ending was very moving.

Winter 2008/2009
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - A reread and just as compelling the second time around.

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout - Lovely. Reading this, you feel as if you've lived in this town and know all its secrets. This is what an omniscient narration should be.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl - Obviously more-is-more is the donnee, so that's where you start. But I do wish she'd dialed it back a bit, because I could have loved this book. It starts off slow then builds to a page-turner, albeit an annoying page-turner.

Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark - Loved it. Sharp and funny.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - Since when has a cycle of short stories been so hard to put down? I think it worked because the POV (and the voice, more or less) was consistent. And I did want to know how things would turn out for Olive.

The Spare Room by Helen Garner - Brilliant.

How to Live:A Search for Wisdom from Old People by Henry Alford - Entertaining, but in the end I was fatigued by the shallowness. The cat wisdom was too much, even for me, a cat lover. And I really could have done without the euthanasia scene: if you've done it, you don't need the blow by blow; and if you haven't, you really don't care.

Last Days in Babylon by Marina Benjamin - I'm glad I read this because I learned a lot about Iraq's history. Still, it was slow going. There was a little bit of memoir here, and a lot of dry narrative chronicling the political situation. Maybe the problem was my expectations: I wanted it to be more personal.

A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz - Thoroughly enjoyable reading, and the concluion really made me think: "Americans do not study history so much as shop for it." That explains a lot, I think.

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris - What I loved about this book is that it's easy to recommend to just about anyone. A literary detective story set in Saudi Arabia, it has a little something for everyone.

Towelhead by Alicia Erian - I really loved this book, because the parents are so bad. Not in a melodramatic way--she just doesn't let them off the hook.

The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham - Brilliant.

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez with Kristin Ohlson - Huh. I kept being reminded of the Gilderoy Lockhart (the Harry Potter character played by Kenneth Branagh in the movie).

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - This book is a two-fer: narrative nonfiction (or close to it) about the early Morman church and a murder mystery involving a modern-day polygamist sect. It's really long and I found myself heartily wishing it had been a one-fer.

The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta - Loved, loved, loved it. I spent years in the evangelical church and I think he nailed it, but with compassion.

Three Cups of Tea by David Oliver Relin - I'm glad it's so successful. The idea that the world can change if Muslim women have educational opportunities is something I firmly believe--and books like this that get the word out are really important.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand - Compulsively readable. A really good story, well told.

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder - A reread and it's just as good if not better the third time around. Interesting to read this so closely after Team of Rivals because it did make me believe, for a little while, that extraordinary individuals can change the world.

The Circus in Winter by Cathy Day - I really admired the first half of this story cycle. Her use of time, the maturity, the endings.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami - The title is appropriate. This feels like the kind of thing you'd hear if you sat down next to a long-distance runner and said, "Tell me about it." It's fresh, unpretentious, and occasionally boring.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin - Well, I had to read it--everyone's talking about it so much. Really long and really fascinating. I would have liked a political epilogue (how did Johnson's approach to reconstruction differ from what Lincoln would have done) in addition to the personal one. Which means, I guess, I would have liked it to be even longer.

Fall 2008
What You Have Left by Will Allison - Another book tainted by having read it (all) in an emergency room. Still, I did like the story about the couple who is trying to quit smoking.

Alan's War by Emmanuel Guibert - I loved the unconventionality of this graphic novel. It could be subtitled A Lifetime of Near Misses and Anti-Climaxes, but that's what makes it so fascinating.

Epilogue by Anne Roiphe - A really fantastic memoir. The subject matter--loss of a husband--is similar to Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, but this is just as worth reading. Beautifully written, delicately structured, and it felt truthful.

What It Is by Lynda Barry - An interesting guide to creativity that focuses on the image as the genesis of all stories.

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken - Interesting to read this just after the Homes memoir. They are both slim books and extended meditations on a single subject. Neither one of them really reveals a lot about the author's life. And yet this book felt complete and directed and in a way that the Homes memoir didn't.

The Mistress's Daughter by A.M. Homes - Homes has said that she doesn't like memoirs and it shows. So why write one?

The Blind Side by Michael Lewis - A compulsively readable nonfiction book about football and a young black man plucked from the streets of Memphis by a white family. I enjoyed it, but I also felt a little queasy afterwards. Worth reading if only for the questions it raises.

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - A great book that gets better with each read.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - I see the appeal, but way too sweet for my taste.

The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville - Loved it. The subtitle could have been "and the idea of self-consciousness," and in thinking about it, there is something interesting about the way the two are linked.

Summer 2008
The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard - Beautifully written and just plain charming. Usually historical fiction doesn't grab me, but Edgar Alan Poe was laugh out loud funny.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - She makes a compelling case for eating locally without being too draconian. And it's enjoyable reading.

At the Center of the Storm by George Tenet - Sure, it's defensive and self-justifying, and there are some big subjects--torture, FISA--that he refuses to debate, but this is also really fascinating reading.

Teacherman by Frank McCourt - I enjoyed this because it wasn't just a heartwarming teacher story. He talks about some of the things that people talking pedagogy don't focus much on: classroom chemistry and creativity.

The Bright Forever by Lee Martin - This is such a lovely book I don't know if it's fair to wish, as I do, that it had been about something else. How many lovely, delicate books about little girls gone missing do we need?

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes - Charming. Especially if you like to talk about houses and hear what other people had for dinner.

The Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke - At first I thought, Oh no, not another absurd story about a hapless hero. But then I was pulled in by the underlying exploration of what is memoir and what is fiction. Which may not interest someone who isn't wrestling with the problem, but it interested me.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - I had to read this to see what went wrong with the movie. What went wrong was they left out anything controversial. And the ending.

Spring 2008
Plan B: Further Notes on Faith by Anne Lamott - It's impossible not to like her, and I'm so glad she's out there testifying to the fact that not all Christians are, or need be, Conservatives.

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell - Part history lesson, part travelogue. As an anti-war novel, it wears its intentions on its sleeve but that's okay by me. One quibble: Since the core of the novel deals with the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference that redrew boundaries in the Middle East and created the nations of Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, a before and after map wouldn't have been amiss.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - The circus stuff was interesting; otherwise I was underwhelmed.

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt - The flap copy says "part family novel, part psychological thriller" and I liked that idea, but the two parts didn't come together seamlessly. There's more than one book in this book.

The Gathering by Anne Enright - I don't know what the word is. Ferocious?

Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat - Moving. I like it better when she sticks to her spare, plain style. When she got fanciful and imagined her dying father dancing "like a ballerina" I cringed.

The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard - Beautiful.

My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey - This book is plot-driven and masterfully put together. It's also joyful in its cruelty. I kept trying to think what it reminded me of, and then it came to me: what a perfect part McCorkle would have been for Klaus Kinski.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris - I liked this book much better than I thought I would, although I spent so many years in a cubicle I knew I would like it a little. What I loved about this book is that there is irony and heart.

Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo - I love this author--he makes it look so easy. It wasn't until I was about halfway through the book that I realized that if I ever met Lucy on the street I probably wouldn't like him. And isn't that what fiction's supposed to do: show us the inner logic of lives other than ours? Having said that, I wish the last paragraph of this book hadn't repeated a phrase that was used several times earlier in the book by a different character. It felt too much like the Author swooping down to tell us all what he meant. But really, who am I to quibble?

Winter 2007
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - Frothy. Which works when the verb is eat or love and less so when it's pray.

The Laws of Our Fathers by Scott Turow - A good read.

The Florist's Daughter by Patricia Hampl - This memoir is pretty much perfect. The prose is lovely and I admired the attempt to capture the essence of a St. Paul, and of living in the Midwest.

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin - What a legacy the white Zimbabweans have! It would be interesting to read this alongside Alexandra Fuller's Scribbling the Cat for a little yin and yang. This is a more journalistic view of what's happened and what's gone wrong. And instead of guilt, here there is anger. But also a whiff of British-style class consciousness that was, frankly, a bit annoying, as in "twenty, thirty, forty years ago, I considered that we were among the top ten percent or so of this country, socially, economically. ... I realize we are nowhere near that now. I mean there are people ... with houses worth fifty times what ours is ..."

Girls by Frederick Busch - This is what contemporary American literary fiction should be and so rarely is. I loved this book and not just because the second chapter is one of my most favorite short stories ever.

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro - What an odd book. There were times when I saw through the scrim and sensed brilliance. And there were also times when I was so annoyed I wanted to throw it across the room. The protagonist is so self-deluded--intentionally, I'm sure--that about half-way through he began to look, in my mind's eye, like Johnnie Depp's Willy Wonka.

Two Truths and a Lie by Katrina Kittle - An accomplished murder mystery. Set in Cincinnati, which made it an interesting treasure hunt for this reader from Ohio.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - This book wrecked me. It's been a long time since I've been so deeply affected by something I've read.

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin - Fun.

Animal Farm by George Orwell - Another book that was wasted on me in high school. Unfortunately it's timeless.

Fall 2007
Pastoralia by George Saunders - I liked the title story best. The diabolically disengenuous faxes from management are so spot on it's almost not satire. Or is that what makes it satire? Whatever. It's funny.

Everyman by Philip Roth - Painful. I don't know what possessed me to read this meditation on death and dying while I'm surrounded by so many sick people.

The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard - Great fun.

In the Night Season by Richard Bausch - Disappointing, because I am an admirer of Mr. Bausch's short stories. This one was a little formulaic.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley - Someone--I don't remember who--once said that a distaste for melodrama is a sign of great good fortune. There's melodrama here by the truckload, but I guess the fact that it's based on King Lear makes it acceptable, albeit out of fashion. Which is a shame, because I know families that are close to this tragic. A re-read, and I liked it as much, or better, the second time around.

Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky - Thought provoking. One of my favorite books of the year.

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard - Marvelous. Another writer who is simply the best at what she does.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - Too overcooked and humorless for my taste, but the title is great.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I've read this book many times and every time I notice something new. What a well-disciplined piece of work this is.

Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje - A lush and gorgeous memoir; terribly sad and terribly funny. A beautiful line from the last paragraph--one that only Ondaatje could write--explains (in an odd way) why some writers are this great: They are rising on their own poison.

Summer 2007
Infidel by Ayaan Hersi Ali - I thought I would hate this book because I count as friends so many of my Somali students. But it's beautifully written and there wasn't anything in it that rang patently false, based on my experience with the community. I was very taken with the first part of this book, which is her life story, but less so with the second part, which is essentially a political/religious argument. Not that we shouldn't take this woman seriously, especially her argument for integrating immigrants. But her railings against Islam sound, to me, too much like the pain of a disenchanted zealot, whis is to say another kind of fundamentalism. (I am a disenchanted zealot myself, so I resemble that remark.) I have come to believe, though, that it is in fact no help at all to tell a religious person that their scriptures have been devised by man. Faith in a higher power--in whatever form--isn't going to go away. So are her attacks against the very foundations of Islam really raising the level of debate, or helping to shut it down?

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux - I think you have to read this book as a long one-sided conversation with someone you don't always agree with. He's cranky and insightful and occasionally slipshod with his generalizations--but who can get everything right when the subject is as big as Africa?

Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller - I loved this book. In many ways it seems more mature than her first, because the questions are larger and more complex. But I also had the sense that the real story, or at least the rest of the story, is not on the page.

Half a Life by Jill Ciment - The word that comes to mind is breezy.

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp - Compelling.

The Mother Knot by Kathleen Harrison - First let me say that I think that the author is one of the best writers working today. But having read The Kiss, I wonder about teasing out this piece--which is essentially just a very long essay (82 pages)--and making it a book. I also wonder about the uplifting ending: perhaps it's too soon to tell if all is resolved.

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi - This is a gentle and generous book, a combination of memoir, literary criticism and social/political narrative. I plan to reread it soon--I liked it that much.

Spring 2007
Pretty Birds by Scott Simon - I really liked this book and am embarrassed to admit how little I knew (know) about the battle for Sarajevo.

The Camera My Mother Gave Me by Susanna Kaysen - It's hard to know what to make of this odd little memoir about a "sick" vagina. It's both brutally honest and coyly unrevealing.

Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters - A remarkable biography of a "chaotic" homeless man. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

Heat by Bill Buford - I'm not a foody, but this was a fun read.

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen - I have a new rule: if a book has an epilog it just isn't for me.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I couldn't read this book objectively because I kept thinking about all the unimaginably bad student prose it will spawn. My nightmare. Papers strewn with savage fragments. Shards of apostropheless contractions in the floor.

West with the Night by Beryl Markham - Someone at a writers' colony once told me that this book was in her top ten, and I can see how that might be so. It's not on my top ten, though, because I was so often put off by the elevated language, sentences like: "It was a world as old as Time, but new as Creation's hour had left it."

Winter 2006/2007
What is the What by Dave Eggars - Really terrific. Since I work with African refugees the story of Sudan's Lost Boys is familiar, and yet I was still hooked. Admitedly, it is in need of some editing, but the import of the story makes the rush to press understandable. Cool retro cover.

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud - I had problems with this book on so many levels--not that NY literati don't deserve a good skewering--but I'll leave it at this: It is way too long.

The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer - Interesting look at two people born in the wrong countries. Unfortunately, it's not the same as having the wrong job.

The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez - Mesmerizing. I'm still thinking about it.

Born in the Big Rains by Faduma Korn - Another interesting memoir by a Somali woman.

The Accidental by Ali Smith - Okay, so it was a little clever. But I liked it.

Fall 2006
The Doctor's Daughter by Hilma Wolizer- You probably have to be a writer, or a wannabe, to like this book, which I did. Very much. And who else reads literary fiction anyway?

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman- The true story of a Hmong child and her doctors. Fascinating, thorough and compelling.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls- I couldn't put it down, even though I've read a lot of books about life with crazy parents. This one has a keen sense of place and something important to say.

Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman- A book I've meant to read for years now--and I'm glad I finally did. It's a really charming bunch of anecdotes about teaching English in China during the 80's. What it lacks in weight it makes up for in unpretentiousness.

The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick- A writing craft book, and a thought provoking one. I'm intrigued by the number of people who are making the argument that memoir/narrative nonfiction is the form of the day. Gornick believes: "modernism has run its course and left us stripped of the pleasures of narrative: a state of reading affairs that has grown oppressive. For many years now, novels have been all voice: a voice speaking to us from inside its own emotional space, anchored neither in plot or circumstance." This has, she argues, left the storytelling impulse in the hands of those writing nonfiction. I'm almost convinced.

Lying by Lauren Slater- Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham- This book was a movie before it was a movie.

Summer Crossing by Truman Capote- Of more interest as an artifact than novel, but oh my he was talented.

Our Lady of the Forest by David Guterson- I loved the Pacific Northwest setting, but overall I found this to be bloated and unsatisfying.

Kindred by Octavia Butler- Marvelous. This tale of a modern-day black woman who time-travels to the antebellum South is near perfect.

Desert Flower by Waris Dirie and Cathleen Miller- The first of three books by the former supermodel from Somalia. Covers some dark topics, including FGM.

Desert Dawn by Waris Dirie and Jeanne D'Haem- My favorite of the three, although it is a retread of some material from the first book.

Desert Children by Waris Dirie and Corinna Milborn- A nonfiction account of FGM in Europe.

The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah - It's an expat-builds-a house book, so of course it's charming. But there are brushes with Muslim extremism, post 9/11, that give this story added weight.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - Thorougly enjoyable, even though it could have used a little pruning.

Miami by Joan Didion - She's simply the best at what she does.

The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich - This is a preachin'-to-the-choir sort of book, and as such isn't going to convert anyone. But for me, walking through what was known when was food for thought. I don't think Mr. Rich has much, if any, grasp on red-state mentality, though. When he cites Cindy Sheehan's sit-in as one of the events that exposed the administration for what it is, it's clear he just doesn't get it.

Digging to America by Anne Tyler - I'm glad to see Ms. Tyler leap into the cross-cultural waters. And nobody writes family gatherings better than she does.

Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck - I love this book. I can't imagine the other white guys I had to read in high school--Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Salinger--writing about being continually lost while wandering around the country with their dogs. It warms one's heart.

Summer 2006
Aman: The Story of a Somali Girl as told to Virginia Lee Barnes and Janice Boddy - Barnes and Boddy have captured "Aman's" (not her real name) oral account of coming of age in Somalia. This is not the story of a traditional Muslim woman--she is very rebellious--but it has the feel of a story told with honesty and integrity. And the afterword by Boddy gives helpful background. It was accidental that I was reading this when I watched the Australian film, Somersault, but the two made for good side-by-side comparison of runaways--from separate parts of the world--with more in common than you would think.

Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion - Here in the Midwest I have friends who would like to see California slide into the ocean and reading this won't change their minds. But I can't stop thinking about it, and about how and why Didion has said she sees her protagonist as a woman of strength.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - A beautiful book, set in volatile Nigeria. The narrator is a shy fifteen-year-old girl, and the portrait that she paints of her noble, violent, enlightened and bigoted father is riveting.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - I love the way graphic novels, with their imposed artificiality, can often go deeper than prose. This story of a girlhood in Iran is a case in point. Very powerful.

Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux - A thinking person's adventure story. Allie Fox may have been crazy, but I often found myself agreeing with him, particularly about our short-sighted environmental policies. As in "I won't be here in the future. There's America's epitaph. That's criminal. That's monkey talk."

Links by Nuruddin Farah - A very cerebral look at post-Black Hawk Down Mogadishu. Characters with guns--lots of them--juxtaposed with long discussions about pronouns (we or they) and the U.S.'s misguided foreign policy. This is by one of the most lauded African novelists (he was born in Somalia), and should be of interest to anyone who wants to hear another side of the story.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt - A terrific book. Strong characterization, carefully plotted ... now I see what all the fuss was about.

Warriors by Gerald Hanley - A British officer's experiences among the Somalis during WWII. Like Hemingway, but better.

Beyond the River by Ann Hagedorn - This book, about the underground railroad in Ripley, Ohio, made me proud to be an Ohioan. It's meticulously researched, and a little dry in places, but well worth dipping into.

Spring 2006
The Last Camel: True Stories of Somalia by Jeanne D'Haem - Written by a former Peace Corp volunteer, this is a window into a hidden--and now vanished--world. The women's stories are particularly strong and heartbreaking. It's unfortunate that this is out of print and difficult to find outside of libraries, because it's some of the most compelling reading I've done in a long time. Truly stories that had to be told.

Whites by Norman Rush - A great collection of stories. His work is not only enjoyable but essential as a glimpse of ex-pats in Africa.

Niagara Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken - Fantastic. Nobody does quirky characters better. (Except maybe Anne Tyler.)

Paradise by A.L. Kennedy - My respect grew with every page. I couldn't imagine a right ending to this story, and yet when it came it was perfect ... how did she do that? Still, it's a frank and brutal look at alcoholism, and reading it exhausted me.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - I bought my copy of this book at a library book sale when I was in high school, and it's taken me this long to get around to reading it. If I'd read it when I bought it, though, I might not have recognized what a really a terrific piece of work it is.

Jewel by Bret Lott - I liked the first half of this book very much, but the second half seemed like a sequel of itself ... something was wrong with the energy. Or perhaps something was wrong with my energy.

The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank - There is something real here about the way relationships--and female friendships especially--change or wither as we move out of our 20s.

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner - What a strange, uncompromising book. I didn't read it under the best of circumstances (hospital waiting rooms, mostly), but throughout I kept asking myself what kept me turning the pages. I really don't know, but the payoff did come at the end, at least for me.

Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo - I'm awestruck by his ability to build believable, complex characters.

White Noise by Don DeLillo - An all-time favorite, and that's saying a lot, because postmodern irony doesn't impress me much (too glib, too hip, too easy).

Dog by Michelle Herman - Loved it.

Endless Love by Scott Spencer - It sure was endless.

Twilight of the Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg - I really enjoyed this collection of long short stories, especially the title piece.

Big Fish by Daniel Wallace - Wonderful. Greater than the sum of its parts, in the way that a really good book can be.

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder - An enjoyable way to get a quick survey of Western philosophy. Like a spoonfull of sugar.

Winter 2005/2006
Shopgirl by Steve Martin - Not great.

The Kiss by Kathryn Harrison - A memoir of incest and its roots. Devastating.

The Truth About Celia by Kevin Brockmeier - A charming book about a child who disappears, with a stunning turn-of-phrase on nearly every page. I liked it better than The Lovely Bones, but can't help but think that the proximity of pub dates wasn't a help here.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - I'm hardly the first to say it, but what a classic! The whole time I wondered how such a familiar theme--suburban emptiness--could still be such a good read. Maybe it's the hard-to-pin-down tone: not generous, but not completely ironic either. What I liked best, though, is that an oblique solution is offered: get back to our revolutionary roots.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - I loved the kite-fighting image and the information about the recent history of Afghanistan. I did cringe a little at the improbable plot twists, though.

Men in Black by Scott Spencer - So enjoyable.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - I read this compulsively and maybe that's because a friend of mine is dying. But it's also a very, very good book.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith - What fun this book was ... for the first 200 pages. Then all that cleverness and the oh-so-contrived plot got on my nerves.

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro - Maybe you have to be Alice Munro to get away with it, but what I liked best about these stories was their oddly-placed knobs and protuberances.

Answers to Lucky by Howard Owen - My library card was blocked again, so I pulled this off my bookshelf. It's a political novel (circa 1996) that doesn't hold up well at all--the plot pales in comparison with current events.

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - Liked the movie much better.

Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere by Jan Morris - Strange that such a lovely book should be so put-downable. Some of her thoughts are so beautiful, especially the idea of the Fourth World, made up of people who "share with each other, across all nations, common values of humor and understanding. When you are among them you know you will not be mocked or resented, because they will not care about your race, your faith, your sex or your nationality, and they suffer fools if not gladly, at least sympathetically ..."

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - I liked this better than Interpreter of Maladies. It's the same unassuming prose--barely a simile in sight--but in the longer form you can really get to know the characters.

Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart - One of those books I want everyone to read. The authors make a compelling case for redesigning the way we live and the way we make the thing we live with ... and eventually throw away. And did I mention that it's made of some sort of recyclable plastic, which means you can read it in the bathtub?

March by Geraldine Brooks - This novel, about the adventures of the absent father in Little Women had me wishing I belonged to a book club again. There were so many things in it I wanted to discuss. I was fascinated by this character, this radical, inconstant dreamer, and I love the subgenre of novels based on minor characters of other novels. But this book raised so many questions--Does it stand alone or do you need to have read Little Women? Is it okay to manipulate timelines and facts, even when the original took certain liberties ...

Other People's Children by Joanna Trollope - It's hard to imagine a more thorough fictional look at the subject of blended families.

Fall 2005
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman - Odd and interesting, but also a bit like reading the text of a very poetic Nova episode.

Poison by Kathryn Harrison - Historical fiction isn't my thing, but I did like this one.

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler - An extraordinary political novel. The back cover of my 1968 edition says it "asks questions about ends and means that have relevance not only for the past but for the perilous present." Well, the present is still perilous and too much of this book felt uncomfortably familiar. To wit, Rubashov's Party line: "It is necessary to hammer every sentence into the masses by repetition and simplification. What is presented as right must shine like gold; what is presented as wrong must be black as pitch. For consumption by the masses, the political processes must be colored like gingerbread figures at a fair."

Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley - Probably a real treat for hard-boiled-mystery fans.

Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler - Surprisingly, the most well-known story in this collection, "The Smoker," is not really representative of much of the rest of the book, which veers toward fable and fairy tale.

The Metal Shredders by Nancy Zafris - I read this because it's set in Columbus, Ohio, and only a handful of books can claim that. If I hadn't really wanted to read it, though, I never would have made it past the confusing, character-clogged prologue.

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith - Can I admit that I didn't want to like this book? Mr. McCall is so successful and so prolific that I wanted to think of him as a commercial sellout. But this is a very special book. The mystery is pretty marginal, but the real story is Isabel. She will stop anything and muse, and her musing is so engaging--and so challenging--that it was perfectly okay with me.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - Very funny, but I think I would have liked this better if I hadn't waited so long to read it.

Clearcut by Nina Shengold - I liked this book a lot. Focused writing and an atmospheric setting (the Pacific Northwest). Early Ritter is an unlikely member of a menage a trois, but I believed it. Still, I wish the ending hadn't hadn't been so dramatic; I would have been more interested in an organic unravelling (or ravelling) of this threesome.

The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich - When I was a teenager I used to read Salinger's Franny and Zooey when I was lonely--those fictional people were my friends. This is one of those books. I loved these characters and I loved every minute I spent with them. Erdrich is one of our country's best writers and this is one of her best books.

The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich - Another good one from Erdrich.

The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre - I'm a big--no, huge--Le Carre fan. If I could invite three authors to dinner, he would be one of them. Still, Quayle (the protagonist in CG) is no Smiley. I miss that intricate, layered, nuanced, brilliant, characterization. Not that I don't recommend this book; I do.

Black Boy (American Hunger) by Richard Wright - This is Wright's full autobiography, including The Horror and the Glory, the posthumously published second part that deals with his experiences in the North. Very, very powerful.

In a Sunburnt Country by Bill Bryson - He's such a gifted writer he can make anything interesting. And somehow, from a tourist's POV, using odd bits of almost-trivia, you do get a sense of place (Australia in this case).

Heir to the Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick - Such elegant prose. There's a lot in this book and I'm not sure if I sorted it all out, but I'm glad I went along for the ride.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenedes - The phrase that comes to mind is joie de vivre. A wonderful, wondrous book.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - An epistolary novel about three generations of preachers, heavy on Christian apologetic. It's better than it sounds, but the extent of the critical praise surprises me. The form, the content, the pacing must have been really, really hard to pull off--and maybe that's what wowed the critics. Or maybe it's because we're in desperate need of some Christian apologies ... (I should probably note here that Ms. Robinson is exceedingly smart and I'm crazy about her nonfiction, especially the essays she's been writing lately.)

The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin - I enjoyed this collection of longish stories (50+ pps). "The Accountant" is particarly strong, and tonaly similar to Death of a Salesman.

Saturday by Ian McEwan - A day in the life of a mild-mannered British physician. Work, family, hobbies and the Iraq war. If, as one critic put it, Gilead suggests that grace is to be answered with gratitude, then Saturday suggests that privelege is to be answered with grace. Both are ideas worth thinking about.

Summer 2005
The Paperboy by Pete Dexter - A great read in the classic sense, which is to say a good story well told. A very engaging writer who can do the dance between tragedy and comedy. There's a haunting father/son theme here that reminds me of Norman MacLean's work.

Fat Girl by Judith Moore - This story of being fat (and thin) is so dark and harrowing that it seems most people hate it, or at the very least won't recommend it. It is hard to read, but if you're interested in the subject of body image I don't know how you can ignore it. There's no deathbed conversion here, no coming to terms with the wounds, no humor. But it's powerfully written, and a reminder that little children with a weight problem are already dealing with an issue that adults find hard to handle.

The Task of This Translator by Todd Hasak-Lowy - This is a wildly ambitious collection of stories, so snaps for that. On the other hand, the author's ambitions are so naked, and his hard work is so obvious, that I felt the chain the whole way through.

The First Desire by Nancy Reisman - This is a wonderful novel, delicate and luscious at the same time. The author has such a deft hand with sensuality; Jo, the sexually confused sister, is especially well-drawn. I loved this book for its language and for its insight.

The Unquiet Grave by Palinurus (Cyril Connelly) - Current "experimental" writing looks cowardly compared to works like this. Not that I loved it, but I sure did admire it. A collection of quotes and musing from a fictional character's POV (Palinurus), it's captivating, thought-provoking and pretentious, a little like My Dinner with Andre in book form. As Connelly states in the introduction to the 1981 edition I read, this is a "war book" (specifically, WWII). What I keep thinking about is how this fragmented structure may suit war-times. A subject I'd like to explore.

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham - A "novel" told in three genres/parts: ghost story, thriller, and SF. I liked this a lot, although I have to side with the critics who wished Walt Whitman hadn't been integral. (Having said that, I thought it worked well in the second, thriller, section. It seems entirely plausible that a cult could rise up and use something like Leaves of Grass as its scripture. It's the tidiness of tying the book together with a Whitman thread that ultimately annoyed me.) It's good to see genre treated with some respect, though. Plus it's always good to be in the hands of an author with such a generous heart.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - A terrific book, maybe even Atwood's masterpiece. It contains a story within a story within a story, putting Atwood's intelligence and experience on full display. No wonder she's the darling of graduate students. Structure-wise, this reminds me a lot of the British television series The Singing Detective.

Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle - I still like his short stories better.

The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty - A novella-length monologue narrated by a quintessential southern character: a somewhat silly, pompous, yet practical and ultimately endearing spinster. What a voice.

The Innocent by Ian McEwan - A Graham Greene-ish spy novel. Why do the British do these so much better than the Americans?

Naked by David Sedaris - Very funny, of course--and a little sad.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris - Why did it take me so long to break down and read Sedaris? I resisted and restisted for some reason; how can someone so popular be good I asked myself. Well, he can. I particularly liked the essay "Repeat After Me," in which he confronts the issue of using his family as fodder.

Hindsight: A Novel of the Class of 1972 by Barbara Rogan - Somehow, I've managed to read most of what this author has written. This one may be the last. The marketing on this one has me puzzled; it's a whodunnit masquerading as a novel, but it's not much of either.

Jaws by Peter Benchley - I had to read this because I was asked to comment on its relationship to the film. It's a solid page-turner, but not very inspired writing. Well put-together, though, in the traditional three-act fashion. The problem is set up, explored and resolved.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - Wow! I came to this book as a non-McCullers fan, having read her short stories and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and not liked them much. But masterpiece may not be too strong a word for this book. And more astonishing yet, she was 23 when she wrote it, a fact that makes me believe in something cosmic: muses or angels or old, reincarnated souls. It's also a very political book, something that I'm admiring these days.

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth - It was coincidental that I read this just after McCuller's book, but nice timing. They're both set in the same depression/Pre-WWII years, but with very different styles. As with McCullers, I've never been a Roth fan, but I liked this book very much. It could have been a great set-up that fizzled, but he made it work with sheer technical mastery. A good literary page turner, and who doesn't like those?

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell - I'm torn. This book, told in 9 parts, with 9 POVs had me alternately highly-engaged and bored. For me, some of the narrator's stories were more compelling than others. The real struggle I have is that I'm not sure if 1) I'm smart enough for this book; 2) or if I just don't want to work hard enough to figure out all the interconnections of this interwoven, convoluted plot; 3) or I don't think it will be worth my time because it will all resolve in some sort of cosmic conspiracy theory. On the other hand--yes I am torn--I admired the paratactic structure and the global freneticism. And the writing is really fine throughout.

Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian - I'm mixed on this one, too. I guess I'm predisposed to like a book that deals with the issues of animal rights and gun control. And I liked the depth of characterization. There are a lot of good readers who will like this book better than I did: although the characters are flawed, everyone acts with dignity. Frankly, I found this admirable, but uninteresting and less than believable. And I did find myself wishing it was a little less tidily written, especially at the end. We get everything neatly tied up, even told from a crow's POV, and then there's an epilog!

On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction by Karl Iagnemma - I liked this collection a lot; it's strong and varied, but the stories work together. The setting (often the frigid midwest) and the scientific backbone to many of these stories were different and often surprising. Especially welcome was the fact that these stories about love were not all contemporary. This guy seems to have the goods.

Spring 2005
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt - She can certainly milk an incident for suspense. Rich characters and unabashed plotting. But while I admired a lot of things about this book, there was something very unsatisfying about the ending. Which is a curious feeling to have: that the final two pages stained a 500-page novel.

Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen - Never sloppy, it felt to me like short story quality prose throughout. Often laugh-out-loud funny. A coming-of-age book for people like me, who don't like coming-of-age books.

Burning the Days by James Salter - I don't read a lot of memoirs, so I've little to compare it to But his prose is so clean and compelling that it was a joy to read, even when I was annoyed with him as a person.

Claire's Head by Catherine Bush - Not readily available in the U.S. (Bush is from Canada). But worth seeking out. An unusual novel about pain, and migraines in particular.

Samuel Johnson is Indignant by Lydia Davis - I'd read much of this before, but this time I sat down and read it cover to cover. It's not for everyone, but it's so smart.

Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn - I read this in preparation for meeting and working with Jessica at the Atlantic Center. (She is a lovely person, BTW.) I admired the collage construction and the pacing, but it's a short book with many, many characters, so ultimately it's a series of glimpses. Not unlike being a tourist in a foreign place, I wanted to know more about what was really going on with these people.

The American Woman in the Chinese Hat by Carole Maso - Because of its circular narrative this won't be for everyone, but I loved it. It's one of those books you surrender to and let it take you where it must.

Defiance by Carole Maso - Just as finely written as American Woman, but the subject is much darker (a woman on death row for the murder of two students). I admired it, but didn't love it.

Three Junes by Julia Glass - I loved this book, and the first two sections in particular. So rich and layered, with interesting and complex characters. I wish there were more novels like this--it's so full of life.

Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen - I read this because of its status as a classic. I still love the lead story "I Stand Here Ironing," but the rest felt ungrounded to an uncomfortable degree. Goes in the category admired-by-many-but-not-by-me.

You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon - I liked this book, and especially liked the fact that he's written about a type (class) of people that aren't often addressed in fiction. Also, the non-linear structure really works.

Living Past Midnight by Lee K. Abbott - His prose is absolutely identifiably his and no one else's. The novella is fabulous and the easter eggs that are planted throughout are great fun to find. Every story built on the last, so I didn't feel that I was reading the same story over and over, as in many collections But it's one of those books where I longed for a little sloppiness.

Mating by Norman Rush - Absolutely brilliant. I'd started it several times over the years, but couldn't get past the narrator's vocabulary. (I think that's what the problem was.) But it's worth pushing forward. I know it's on some best-of-the-century lists; and for what it's worth, it's also on mine.

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg - I liked this a lot and wasn't bothered by the shift that seemed to occur about halfway through (as many were). It strikes me as a book that might have gotten too wide a readership (such a problem!)-- it's a little darker and more complex than your average coming-of-age novel.

The Last Dance by Tim Gatreaux - A fine writer, but I didn't like this one.

Oh! by Mary Robison - I loved Why Did I Ever, so I thought I would like this. And I did, sort of. But now I see where her detractors are coming from: it felt overly clever and coyly ambiguous to me.

Winter Birds by Jim Grimsley - Lovely prose and an unusual second-person POV. A little gem.

The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda - I cried.

©Stephanie Harrison
Updated 12/3/06