The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012
Edited by Dave Eggars
(Mariner Books, $14.95, 432 pages)
Who is this author?
Or, in this case, authors. This book, the 11th annual in the series, presents 32 fiction and nonfiction pieces by some of the best, or most interesting, or most provocative or possibly (depending on your tastes) most annoying yet significant writers publishing today. The editor each year scans more magazines, journals, and websites than you can shake an anthology at and makes a long list of worthy inclusions. Some pieces are picked by high school students enrolled in the seven nonprofit writing and tutoring programs known as 826 Valencia and 826 Michigan that were cofounded by McSweeney’s editor, Dave Eggers, who is this year’s editor. In addition to founding his cutting-edge postmodern literary magazine, Eggars also is the author of, among others, “What Is the What,” “Zetoun,” “You Shall Know Our Velocity” and the work that first brought him attention, his memoir “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.”
So who’s in this non-required (but highly recommended) work this year? Such writers as Sherman Alexie, Kevin Brockmeier, Judy Budnitz, Junot Díaz, Louise Erdrich, Nora Krug, Julie Otsuka, Eric Puchner, George Saunders ,Adrian Tomine, Jess Walter, Rober Hass, Jon Ronson, Mona Simpson, Jose Antonio Vargas and others, some of whom you’ve read about in Under the Covers.
What is this book about?
It’s about what’s fresh and new from some of America’s finest writers, and it includes essays, fiction, nonfiction, minutes (from Occupy meetings) poetry, tweets, a palindrome, magazine journalism and more. Plus a thoughtful editor’s note and an introduction by Ray Bradbury, written shortly before his death. It’s not the typical compilation, which is pretty much the whole point.
Why you’ll like it:
Here in one volume is a crash course in contemporary American writing. It can sharpen your mind, enable you to fake your way through cocktail chatter of a literary nature and tip you off to writers whose work you’d like to explore more deeply. It’s a fine way to look back at memorable writing that appeared this year and a guidebook to its creators that may point the way to intriguing reading in 2013.
What others are saying:
Barnes & Noble says: “Dave Egger’s Best American Nonrequired Reading is not your grandmother’s idea of an anthology. …Perfect for a slightly offbeat audience.”
Publishers Weekly says: “Staying true to its mission of eclecticism, the 11th volume in this series makes room not just for magazine articles and short stories, but also comic strips, letters, text messages, tweets, and committee minutes. Given that those last mentioned items come from the Occupy Wall Street protests, however, this anthology shows more signs of earnest timeliness than might be expected from the title’s tongue-in-cheek grandiosity. Some of the 32 selections, once again chosen by high school students …venture to Russia and Japan in, respectively, Anthony Marra’s “The Palace of the People” and Nora Krug’s “Kamikaze.” Widely different corners of American immigrant experience, meanwhile, figure into short-form memoirs from Junot Díaz, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Wesley Yang. This year’s guest introducer, the late Ray Bradbury, wrote just weeks before his death. While in theory Bradbury’s presence should more than justify fantastical selections like Jess Walter’s trendily zombie-themed “Don’t Eat Cat” or Eric Puchner’s Harrison Bergeron–like “Beautiful Monsters,” Louise Erdrich’s and Mark Robert Rapacz’s harder-bitten fiction impresses more. Nonfiction from John Jeremiah Sullivan and Jon Ronson, meanwhile, more than measures up to the series’ essentially lighthearted spirit, also captured by this year’s cover illustrator, Brian Selznick.”
“An eclectic annual that will leave readers marveling over many of the discoveries…category-defying… All readers will find their own favorites that justify the collection as a whole,” says Kirkus Reviews.
When is it available?
It’s at the Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Park branch now.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Trial of Fallen Angels
By James Kimmel
(Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, $25.95, 384 pages)
Who is this author?
First, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
Debut novelist James Kimmel is a lawyer who specializes in cases involving spirituality and the law and is a Quaker and a former college teacher. He grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and still lives in that state, with his wife and children. According to his online biography, he is “the creator of Legal Ceasefire Day, a member of the organizing committee of Peace Day Philly, an advisor to the CURE Addiction Center of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Addiction Studies, the founder of the Nonjustice Foundation, and a co-founder of Peerstar LLC – a leading provider of services to individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system.”
What is this book about?
It’s a fantasy novel about Heaven, or more precisely, Heaven’s waiting room, a rather bureaucratic place here called Shemaya. That is where the protagonist, Brek Cutler, a murdered lawyer, wife and mother, suddenly finds herself. Her task: use her formidable legal skills as part of the Judgment Day team, the ultimate arbiters of whether a life has been naughty or nice and what happens next. To make it even more interesting, she now has the power to get inside the minds of people and experience their lives through their own eyes, and one such person is the white supremacist who killed her. Each case Brek handles in Shemaya is related to her life on earth, and as these stories play out there are lengthy and compelling discussions about justice, mercy, forgiveness and all the high ethical concepts that are easy to admire but hard to put into practice.
Why you’ll like it:
Already being likened to Mitch Albom’s works and “The Lovely Bones,” “Fallen Angels” will appeal to readers who are seeking moral guidance. It’s an intriguing mix of real life and metaphysical concepts, and while some reviewers found its philosophizing a dead weight on the story, others are praising it as an unusual vehicle that will take sympathetic readers on a spiritual journey.
What others are saying:
“In his first novel, Kimmel has created a thrilling and fantastic world, a heady combination of the movie “What Dreams May Come,” John Grisham’s best work, and Dante’s” Divine Comedy.” Sometimes dreamily lyrical and sometimes harshly realistic, Kimmel’s authorial voice is undeniably compelling. Raw, tender, and intelligent, “The Trial of Fallen Angels” is a fascinating glimpse into the judgment of lost souls and recovered memories,” says Booklist in a starred review.
Publishers Weekly says: “ A murder mystery becomes a lesson in forgiveness in this overblown spiritual tale by debut novelist Kimmel, who envisions a bureaucratic afterlife called Shemaya in which recently deceased Brek Cuttler, a lawyer on earth, is drafted “to make sure justice is served at the Final Judgment.” …As Brek absorbs experiences and navigates Shemaya’s courtrooms, she comes to terms with her own death and with what seems the unfair judicial process of heaven. Though a cluttered plot is eventually woven neatly together, any sense of suspense or momentum is stalled by bouts of weighty philosophizing….Kimmel, a lawyer, is a deep thinker whose intelligence shines through, but his first foray into fiction fails as both a theological treatise and a page-turner.”
“From the time she was a little girl holding mock court sessions with other neighborhood children, Brek Abigail Cuttler was destined for the law. As an adult, her life is good. She’s become a successful lawyer, new mother, and loving wife to a TV news anchorman. But suddenly she is sitting at a train terminal covered in blood and cannot recall what happened. Approached by a seemingly familiar older gentleman, Brek finds out she has died. Before she can fully move on, she has been assigned to represent other souls waiting for judgment. With each case, Brek finds connections to her own past life that will reveal the final choice she must make. VERDICT This powerful debut from lawyer Kimmel (“Suing for Peace: A Guide for Resolving Life’s Conflicts”) explores a myriad of spiritual concepts expressed in various religions. He deftly unveils each new character and cleverly balances the positive and negative aspects of their lives. Building upon the memories of multiple generations, Kimmel has written a stirring spiritual thriller,” says Library Journal.
Kirkus Reviews says: “Kimmel pays readers a supreme compliment here by inviting them to take seriously the theological question of the Last Judgment. Lawyer Brek Cuttler wakes up one day to find herself in Shemaya, the land of the dead… The circumstances of her death are hazy, even to her, but as the story unfolds, some dense and troubling images, as well as some kind and soothing ones from her past, assault her. She aches at the loss of her husband, Bo, a television reporter who’s recently been doing undercover work and has infiltrated a white supremacist organization, and she grieves her separation from her one-year-old daughter, Sarah. Kimmel’s narrative weaves together four generations of Brek’s family both in life and in death. Much of this theological and moral framework is provided by Luas, the High Jurisconsult of Shemaya and mentor of Brek in these shadow lands. Although occasionally overly discursive, Kimmel presents here an intriguing, intricate and metaphysical novel–not your typical fare.”
When is it available?
It’s on the shelves now at the Barbour, Blue Hills, Camp Field, Dwight and Mark Twain branches of the Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Fifty Writers On Fifty Shades of Grey
Edited by Lori Perkins
Smart Pop Books, $14.95, 304 pages
Who is this author?
The “have you read it yet’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy by British author EL (Erika Leonard) James, a not-very-well-written but brilliantly conceived triple-play of erotic romance fiction involving a submissive young woman and her sophisticated dominant lover, has sold a gazillion copies worldwide and was just named the popular fiction book of the year at the United Kingdom’s National Book awards. James, who began her flirtation with bondage-and-dominance stories with fan fiction inspired by the “Twilight” series, was listed in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” group this year, as well as being named Publishers Weekly 2012 “Publishing Person of the Year.” You may have adored or abhorred or ignored her books, but “Fifty Writers,” edited by literary agent Lori Perkins, gives you a whole new reason to consider reading them.
What is this book about?
“Fifty Shades” is not great literature, but that does not mean it cannot be subjected to literary criticism and analysis of all sorts. It’s legitimate to explore why a book about finding erotic joy through submission has such appeal to women today, despite (or because of?) the hard-won, or still not-won, battles of feminism. Is this some kind of backlash, or does it mean women are simply enjoying openly the freedom to be – or fantasize about – whatever they choose?
Here, 50 commentators, some who write romance or erotica or romantic erotica, others who work in the adult entertainment industry and others who actually practice bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism, weigh in on all the ways the enthusiastic acceptance of this book has changed things. For example, Sylvia Day, who writes erotic romance, discusses new opportunities opened for authors and readers; romance novelist Heather Graham says the books are sexually empowering and author Andrew Shaffer draws parallels to that long-ago scandalous best-seller, “Peyton Place,’ which seems Nancy Drew-ish compared to “Fifty Shades.” A “training chateau master” writes about Christian’s domination skills, and a matrimonial lawyer assesses the contract he devises. Connecticut author M.J. Rose and many others chime in on various aspects of this cultural phenomenon.
Why you’ll like it:
For those of you who have read the books, here is much food for thought about what they say and the deeper meaning of the “Fifty Shades” success. For those of you who would not be caught dead reading them (and you can count me among them), here is a way to “get” what they are all about without actually having to slog through James’ turgid prose. Everybody wins!
What others are saying:
Publishers Weekly
“In this fascinating examination of E.L. James’s “Fifty Shades” trilogy, edited by literary agent Perkins, 50 writers—including erotica and erotic romance authors, a matrimonial lawyer, an English professor, and BDSM practitioners—analyze the novel’s game-changing effect on the publishing world. Divided into seven sections—writing, romance, erotic fiction, sex, BDSM, fan fiction, and pop culture, along with a hilarious parody of the story in an “intermission” and an appendix with a suggested reading list—the book thoughtfully dissects the various aspects of the bestseller. ….The subject certainly inspires passion in its contributors: several praise the book for giving women permission to be sexual beings, while others castigate James for promulgating abuse and stalker behavior, and others examine hero Christian Grey in the context of Byronic heroes. Love “Fifty Shades” or hate it, this engaging and eclectic read has a little bit of something for everyone,” says Publishers Weekly.
Kirkus Reviews says: “A collection of essays from a variety of perspectives on the best-selling erotic romance series. The “Fifty Shades” trilogy, just like the “Twilight” series that inspired it, has created demand for books with similar themes. This book, edited by veteran erotica editor Perkins, is clearly an attempt to capitalize on this new, robust market. Several of the contributors make this shift in the publishing industry a theme of their essays. … Perhaps the most novel perspectives come from Cecilia Tan’s, Mala Bhattacharjee’s and Anne Jamison’s essays on the “Twilight” fan-fiction origins of “Fifty Shades” and Tish Beaty’s account of discovering and editing the manuscript. …the more thoughtful essays will provide food for thought for readers eager to learn more about the series and the lifestyle it depicts. …Gimmicks aside, the essays are mostly informative and intelligent.”
“Edited by literary agent Perkins (The Insider’s Guide to Getting an Agent), this anthology provides insight into EL James’s best-selling trilogy. …Most of the writers are enthusiasts of the trilogy. However, some point out the sociological and psychological issues surrounding protagonists Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele’s relationship, while others criticize James’s depiction of BDSM. VERDICT For fans of the trilogy and readers who enjoy erotica and erotic romance novels, and for those interested in pop culture,” says Library Journal.
When is it available?
You can bond with it at the Downtown Hartford Public Library now.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
The Middlesteins: A Novel
BY Jami Attenberg
(Grand Central, $24.99, 288 pages)
Who is this author?
Jami Attenberg, who is from Chicago (and really understands the place, as this novel demonstrates) now lives in Brooklyn (as so many authors do). She has previously published a story collection, “Instant Love,” and two novels, “The Kept Man” and “The Melting Season,” and it looks like “The Middlesteins” is her breakout book. She has written essays and criticism for The New York Times, Time Out New York, BookForum, Nerve, and other publications and also “fights crime in her spare time,” as this delightful entry from http://www.whatever-whenever.net/blog/ confirms.
What is this book about?
“Food was made of love, and love was made of food.” That about sums it up for Edie Middlestein, who, as they say, is digging her grave with a spoon and fork. A smart lawyer with a prickly personality, Edie is not so wise about her lifelong consuming passion, which is a passion for consuming. Married for many years to Richard, a pharmacist whose stores are not keeping up with the CVS’s of the world, and mother of cranky Robin, a teacher who drinks too much, and passive pot-smoking Benny, who is thoroughly whipped by his perfectionist wife, Rachelle, Edie eats and eats and eats her way up to 350 pounds, out of a job and into the hospital. Then Richard shakes up the entire family by leaving her, and Edie finds comfort in the unlikely attentions of a Chinese chef who is still mourning his deceased wife. Meanwhile, the plans for Benny and Rachelle’s twins’ elaborate b’nai mitzvah create their own consuming tsunami of stress.
Why you’ll like it:
Attenberg has created characters who in many ways beg you not to like them, but she does it with such skill that you find yourself taking everyone’s side in this group of contentious Chicagoans. Edie is fierce, but touchingly vulnerable. Richard, frustrated-beyond-fixing-things, does an ignoble thing, but Attenberg makes him sympathetic nonetheless. Robin is afraid of love but needs it, and her loyalties are as strong as Edie’s appetite. Benny is a good man who wonders why they all can’t just get along, and Rachelle’s intense need to control comes from her fervent wish to make life perfect for them all. This novel of contemporary life with a Jewish accent is a wonderful blend of funny and sad, wise and stubborn, familiar and unpredictable. You’ll eat it up.
What others are saying:
Amazon Best Books of the Month, October 2012 says: “At five years old, Edie already tipped 62 pounds. She’d clearly “surpassed luscious,” but how could her lioness of a mother–or her father, who’d starved all the way from Ukraine to Chicago, and so also felt “carnal, primal, about food”–resist feeding her? They all believed that “food was made of love … and they could never deny themselves a bit of anything they desired.” So Edie indulged for decades, expanding finally to 350 pounds, discovering (when Richard, her husband of 30 years, gave up trying to stop her and moved out) that food is “a wonderful place to hide.” Her adult children’s extravagant worry–mounting with each diabetic surgery and undistracted by her grandchildren’s choreographed, chocolate fountained b’nai mitzvah preparations–do nothing to dampen Edie’s enthusiasm to consume, and Attenberg describes Edie’s meals with a sensual relish that could verge on repulsive if it didn’t so readily trigger our own desires. The same story told with less compassionate humor could have easily been distasteful, but “The Middlesteins” has a light, tragicomic touch that lends it unexpectedly poignant heft.
…Attenberg writes with restraint and just a dash of bitterness. The result is a story that repeatedly tosses off little bursts of wisdom that catch you off guard…[She] is superb at mocking the cliches of middle-class life by giving them the slightest turn to make people suddenly real and wholly sympathetic…Attenberg’s success lies in miniatures; she mutes even the few potential moments of conflict, focusing instead on the inaudible repercussions. But with a wit that never mocks and a tenderness that never gushes, she renders this family’s ordinary tragedies as something surprisingly affecting,” says Ron Charles in the Washington Post.
“A panoply of neurotic characters fills Attenberg’s multigenerational novel about a Midwestern Jewish family. Shifting points of view tell the story of the breakup and aftermath of Edie and Richard Middlestein’s nearly 40-year marriage as Edie slowly eats herself to death. Richard and his brilliant but demanding and ever larger wife raised two children. Robin is intense and hostile; Benny lives an idyll with his wife, Rachelle, in the Chicago suburbs, sharing a joint after putting their twins to bed at night. Much of Rachelle’s time is spent assuring that the twins’ b’nai mitzvah extravaganza goes off without a hitch. When complications surrounding Edie’s diabetes precipitate Richard’s filing for divorce, the already tightly wound Rachelle becomes obsessed with the family’s physical and moral health. Soon the affable Benny’s hair is falling out in clumps. Attenberg (Instant Love) makes her characters’ thoughts—Richard and Benny in particular—seem utterly real, and her wry, observational humor often hits sideways rather than head-on. Edie’s overeating, described with great sensuality, will resonate, with only the obstreperousness of all three generations of Middlestein women (granddaughter Emily included) marring this wonderfully messy and layered family portrait,” says Publishers Weekly.
Library Journal says:
“…Attenberg finds ample comic moments in this wry tale about an unraveling marriage. She has a great ear for dialog, and the novel is perfectly paced. Her characters are all believable, if not always sympathetic, though Edie’s romance with a Chinese restaurant owner seems improbable. VERDICT Attenberg seamlessly weaves comedy and tragedy in this warm and engaging family saga of love and loss.”
When is it available?
The Downtown Hartford Public Library and its Blue Hills Branch have copies of “The Middlesteins.”
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
She Loves Me Not
By Ron Hansen
(Scribner, $25, 256 pages)
Who is this author?
You might not think of the stolid state of Nebraska as an author’s muse, but it surely has been that for Ron Hansen. The author of novels (eight) and story collections (three), Hansen is a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, and the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, where he studied with John Irving. His stories frequently appear in literary magazines, and he is the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., Professor in Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University in northern California.
What is this book about?
The book contains 19 stories: a dozen are new and seven were chosen from his earlier, much-praised collection, “Nebraska.” The stories are wide-ranging: one features Oscar Wilde traveling in Omaha in the 1880s, while others are set in contemporary times. Another recreates an awesome Midwest blizzard. The title story is told by a prison inmate who recounts his bungled disposal of his stripper-girlfriend’s hapless mate. A teenager with a disabled boyfriend gets involved with her self-absorbed cousin; a son dismantling his dead parents’ apartment is thrown by what he learns from their neighbor. The book is a fine collection of vigorous new work and much-admired earlier pieces.
Why you’ll like it:
Hansen has been called “part Hemingway and part García Márquez . . . an all-American magic realist in other words, a fabulist in the native grain.” He is a master of the telling small detail and of vivid depiction, and this collection gives those unfamiliar with his work a generous sampling of his latest and greatest stories in one volume.
What others are saying:
Says Publishers Weekly: “Hansen …is best known for historical novels so well researched and faithful to recorded fact that they’re barely fiction at all—and at first glance the stories collected here stick to the formula. In “Wilde in Omaha,” Oscar drops choice rejoinders on his American tour; the Polish priest of “My Communist” flees the cold war for sunny Palo Alto; “The Governess” and “The Killers” are knowing take-offs on Henry James and Ernest Hemingway. But in this edition, which draws on Hansen’s 1988 collection Nebraska, we’re treated to the full range of the author’s Midwestern pathos, from the fast-talking gear heads of “Mechanics” and the shocking cattle mutilations in “True Romance” to the title story’s unattainable showgirl, who presides over a grisly murder. Then there are the really strange pieces, like the prose poem “Crazy” and the masterful, sweeping “Nebraska,” as poetic a portrait of place as you are likely to read. Hansen turns out to be at his best when he’s free from the tent poles of plot, precedent, or even character. He deserves a collection like this to give readers the full vent of the desolation that lurches out of his landscapes and blows like a cold wind into the lives of his hapless Americans.”
“Hansen offers an eclectic collection of short stories mostly relating to Nebraska. Some of the more historical pieces, such as “The Governess,” about a new nanny in a Victorian manor, and “The Killers,” about forties-era gangsters, are purposefully enigmatic and fragmentary. Other stories, however, such as “The Sparrow,” about the death of a mother in a tragic accident; and “My Communist,” about a Polish expatriate priest during the time of the Solidarity movement, encapsulate a whole world, referencing a larger dimension with astounding economy. “Red Letter Days,” for example, written in an epistolary style, conjures the life of a retired Nebraskan judge with breathtakingly straightforward subtlety. The title story reveals the bumbling of an inept killer, capping off the collection with tragicomic hilarity. VERDICT: This collection extends the boundaries of the short story form while remaining centered on Nebraska and the human experience; enthusiastically recommended for all readers,” says Library Journal.
“A diverse, well-written collection from a writer in complete control of his material. This collection of 19 stories could be roughly divided into two types: Midwest realism and noirish entertainments. The title story is in the latter category. Writing in prison with the help of his cellmate, “the Professor,” the narrator recounts all he did to win a stripper’s heart. “Red-Letter Days” is in the former category. Diary entries of a retired, Nebraska-based, frustratingly forgetful, golf-obsessed former attorney note golf outings, the deaths of friends and his wife’s declining health. … An excellent collection. Hansen can write,” says Kirkus Reviews.
When is it available?
The Downtown Hartford Public Library has this book now.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Gone Girl
By Gillian Flynn
(Crown, $25, 432 pages)
Who is this author?
Gillian Flynn, a novelist who lives in Chicago, was making a pretty good name for herself with her best-selling “Dark Places,” which was named a New Yorker Reviewers’ Favorite, Weekend TODAY Top Summer Read, Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009, and Chicago Tribune Favorite Fiction choice; and “Sharp Objects,” which won a Dagger Award and was an Edgar nominee for Best First novel, a BookSense pick, and a Barnes & Noble Discover selection. But her career has really taken off with her new thriller/mystery account of a marriage gone really, really bad, “Gone Girl,” which is garnering breathless reviews that all seem to quote that old cliché, “you can’t put it down.”
What is this book about?
The story opens on the fifth anniversary of uneasily married Amy and Nick, both of whom lost their New York City jobs as writers due to the rotten economy and have semi-reluctantly moved to small-town Missouri, which Amy loathes, to help care for Nick’s fading father. Nick and his twin sister, Margo, open a bar and are muddling along when suddenly, inexplicably, terrifyingly, Amy disappears. And Nick, increasingly revealed as far from the perfect husband (just as Amy is shown to be a deeply flawed wife) soon becomes the focus of suspicion for everyone from the neighbors to Nancy Grace-like TV hosts. We’ve all seen enough “Law and Orders” to know that the husband did it. Or did he? That’s where Flynn shines: she gives her story enough twists that the reader is kept guessing right up to the last pages, when she uncorks a chilling denouement.
Why you’ll like it:
Few reads are as satisfying as those in which you really don’t know what is coming next, but trust the author to get you there honestly and with panache, as Flynn does in this book. Besides being a terrific thriller, “Gone Girl” also is a biting portrait of a deteriorating marriage and an indictment of these parlous economic times. Professional and amateur reviewers alike praise this book for its sharp insights and tricky twists. Here is what Flynn told Amazon.com about the way she writes:
“You might say I specialize in difficult characters. Damaged, disturbed, or downright nasty. Personally, I love each and every one of the misfits, losers, and outcasts in my three novels. …But it’s my narrators who are the real challenge.
“In [the] first two novels, I explored the geography of loneliness–and the devastation it can lead to. With “Gone Girl,” I wanted to go the opposite direction: what happens when two people intertwine their lives completely. I wanted to explore the geography of intimacy–and the devastation it can lead to. Marriage gone toxic.
“…Nick and Amy Dunne were the golden couple when they first began their courtship. Soul mates. They could complete each other’s sentences, guess each other’s reactions. They could push each other’s buttons. They are smart, charming, gorgeous, and also narcissistic, selfish, and cruel.
“They complete each other–in a very dangerous way.”
What others are saying:
“Ice-pick-sharp… Spectacularly sneaky… Impressively cagey… “Gone Girl” is Ms. Flynn’s dazzling breakthrough. It is wily, mercurial, subtly layered and populated by characters so well imagined that they’re hard to part with — even if, as in Amy’s case, they are already departed. And if you have any doubts about whether Ms. Flynn measures up to Patricia Highsmith’s level of discreet malice, go back and look at the small details. Whatever you raced past on a first reading will look completely different the second time around,” says Janet Maslin in The New York Times.
“An ingenious and viperish thriller… It’s going to make Gillian Flynn a star… The first half of “Gone Girl” is a nimble, caustic riff on our Nancy Grace culture and the way in which ”The butler did it” has morphed into ”The husband did it.” The second half is the real stunner, though. Now I really am going to shut up before I spoil what instantly shifts into a great, breathless read. Even as “Gone Girl” grows truly twisted and wild, it says smart things about how tenuous power relations are between men and women, and how often couples are at the mercy of forces beyond their control. As if that weren’t enough, Flynn has created a genuinely creepy villain you don’t see coming. People love to talk about the banality of evil. You’re about to meet a maniac you could fall in love with. A.” says Jeff Giles in Entertainment Weekly.
The New York Times Book Review says: “What makes Flynn so fearless a writer is the way she strips her characters of their pretenses and shows no mercy while they squirm…Flynn dares the reader to figure out which instances of marital discord might flare into a homicidal rage.”
Says Kirkus Reviews: “A perfect wife’s disappearance plunges her husband into a nightmare as it rips open ugly secrets about his marriage and, just maybe, his culpability in her death. …Partly because the evidence against him looks so bleak, partly because he’s so bad at communicating grief, partly because he doesn’t feel all that grief-stricken to begin with, the tide begins to turn against Nick. Neighbors who’d been eager to join the police in the search for Amy begin to gossip about him. Female talk-show hosts inveigh against him. The questions from [detectives] get sharper and sharper. Even Nick has to acknowledge that he hasn’t come close to being the husband he liked to think he was. But does that mean he deserves to get tagged as his wife’s killer? …One of those rare thrillers whose revelations actually intensify its suspense instead of dissipating it. The final pages are chilling.
When is it available?
Get on the list for “Gone Girl” at the Downtown Hartford Public Library or its Goodwin and Mark Twain branches.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Astray
By Emma Donahue
(Little, Brown & Co., $25.99, 288 pages)
Who is this author?
Emma Donoghue, 43, was born in Ireland and now lives in Canada. She has published fiction, literary history, anthologies and plays and has a Ph. D in 18th-century literature. She is probably best known to American readers for her international bestseller, “Room,” a harrowing novel whose story is told by a 5-year-old boy who has known no other world than the backyard shed in which he and he kidnapped – and repeatedly raped – mother live, trapped by the sadist who abducted her and fathered him. It was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes.
What is this book about?
In “Astray,” Donahue takes snippets of actual historical fact and spins stories that illuminate them. Each story is followed by the news account that inspired it All the protagonists have crossed borders of some kind, whether geographical or sexual, racial or legal, even the line between sanity and madness. A vengeful Puritan on Cape Cod, a fortune-hunter in 17th century New York, a Victorian prostitute in London, a pre-Civil War woman who wants to run off with one of her slaves, a poor woman forced to give up her child, a woman in New York in the 1900s who finds out the person she thought was her father was actually female – the subjects of Donahue’s 14 stories could easily have a whole novel to themselves.
Why you’ll like it:
Donahue has great empathy for her characters, and a treasure hunter’s eye for the golden nugget of historical fact that can spark a wonderful story. The little boy narrator of “Room” was utterly believable, and “Astray” gives readers a new group of compelling voices. Here is what Donahue has said about her penchant for finding great stories in historical records:
“What draws me back to the past, over and over, is its combination of the universal and the deeply strange; one minute you’re feeling that the narrator of a story set in the 1700s is more or less like you, but the next minute, you’re startled by the fact that their mindset (on, say, marriage or war) is a world away from yours. Something else that makes the past fertile ground for a writer is that the stakes are high: before the twentieth century, decisions were often literally life-or-death. My new collection, “Astray,” is all about travel – not tourism, but life-or-death journeys. In my mind’s eye all the different characters (from a Puritan of the 1600s, to a runaway slave in the Civll War, to a toddler adopted out West in the 1890s) file past me with the weary but strong-hearted look of migrants in any era: nothing, but nothing, is going to get between them and a better life. It’s the American dream, and a timeless human dream; that by changing place you can change everything, including who you are. Some of the research I did for “Room” was into how refugees cope with transitions …and that’s the theme that runs through “Astray” too: the extraordinary challenge of adaptation to a new world.”
What others are saying:
The New York Times Book Review says: “The type of historical fiction in which an author takes actual people…and puts thoughts into their heads and words into their mouths can seem presumptuous, especially when the author is less intelligent and interesting than the person whose thoughts he is trying to imagine. This is not the case with Donoghue: her work…is sensitive and intuitive, and her narrative voice moves fearlessly between centuries and between genders…Donoghue displays a ventriloquist’s uncanny ability to slip in and out of voices…”
“Readers looking for the visceral power of “Room” will find tastes of it, but in small, snack-size packages…Donoghue slips into various periods with a costumer’s agility. But what is most impressive about these stories is her ability to plumb historical footnotes for timeless emotional resonance and reanimate “real people who left traces in the historical record,” says Heller McAlpin in the Washington Post.
“Donoghue’s affinity for yesteryear’s untold tales is charming, and her talent for dialect is hard to overstate, which is why it’s the first-person stories in ASTRAY that shine brightest….Each and every one of Donoghue’s characters leaves an impression,” says Time.
“…Donoghue’s characters face struggle or loss with determined grace; their situations are inherently dramatic, but the writing is smartly underplayed, refusing to hit hysterical high notes. What’s equally intriguing is that each story concludes with the account that inspired it, which lets readers see the leap from fact to fiction. VERDICT: Working in a different vein from the wrenching “Room,” Donoghue has created masterly pieces that show what short fiction can do,” says Barbara Hoffert in Library Journal.
Kirkus Reviews says:
Fourteen tales of people cut loose from their roots–voluntarily or not. …The short story can be a precious, self-enclosed form, but in Donoghue’s bold hands, it crosses continents and centuries to claim kinship with many kinds of people. Another exciting change of pace from the protean Donoghue.”
When is it available?
If it has not gone astray, this book is available at the Downtown Hartford Public Library.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
Hallucinations
By Oliver Sacks
(Knopf, $26.95, 352 pages)
Who is this author?
Oliver Sacks is a brainiac, in every sense of the word: he uses his own magnificent intelligence as a brilliant explorer of the human mind, in his work as a neurologist and educator and in his books. Dr. Sacks was born in London in 1933 and is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, as well as Columbia’s first University Artist. He is the author of many books, including “Awakenings” (which became a movie), the wonderfully titled “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” and “Musicophilia.”
What is this book about?
Each night as I fall asleep, I hear – or seem to hear – snatches of conversation or music, as though I were quickly changing stations on the radio dial. They are fleeting and fascinating and gone in an instant. They are called hypnagogic hallucinations and are quite common — and, I am happy to say, not a sign of insanity. Such phenomena are what Sacks writes about in “Hallucinations.” He says they can arise from sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, such as fevers, or injury. Migraine sufferers may see bright, wavering light patterns. Mourners may experience “visits” from the deceased. Some hallucinations take the form of religious ecstasy or out-of-body feelings. As we know, people seek out these experiences with the help of psychedelic drugs or religious trances. In his book, Sacks explains how and why the brain produces these weird and sometime wonderful, sometimes terrifying, effects.
Why you’ll like it:
Sacks has the rare and enviable ability to make complex scientific research accessible to the ordinary reader. He tells personal anecdotes, relates the experiences of real people, makes brilliant comparisons and writes with sympathy and humor: a blend that makes the most difficult concepts understandable. Here is what he told an interviewer who asked about the connections he makes between hallucinations and literature:
“Since you mention novels, there’s a wonderful description of a hallucination in “Great Expectations.” I’d read that when I was about 15, and only when I was writing [Hallucinations] did I suddenly remember that amazing scene when Pip sees Miss Havisham hanging. Dickens is full of wonderful clinical descriptions: the fat boy in “The Pickwick Papers” who’s always falling asleep—I mean, we now call that Pickwick syndrome. And a novelist has to be a good clinical observer, as well as everything else. But I would also say that a physician should have something of a novelist in him, although it will be a nonfiction novel.”
What others are saying:
“Sacks’ best-selling nonfiction stories based on his practice of clinical neurology constitute one shining reason for thinking that we’re living in a golden age of medical writing… Sacks defines the best of medical writing,” says Booklist.
Library Journal says: “Hallucinations don’t belong wholly to the insane. Illness or injury, intoxication or sensory deprivation, or simply falling sleeping can cause anyone to see (or hear, or smell, or sense) swirly, twirly things that aren’t there. Everyone’s favorite neurologist is back to explain types of hallucinations, what they tell us about the brain’s workings, and how they have influenced art and culture. Who knew medicine could be so much fun.”
From Barnes & Noble: Neurologist Oliver Sacks… became a bestseller author with his accessible, personal, yet cutting-edge insights into how our minds work. Those talents shine luminously in his new release. His subject is a topic that no ER worker or moviegoer can ignore: our mind’s uncanny ability to see things that aren’t there. As Dr. Sacks notes, hallucinations arrive in nearly innumerable varieties and can be sparked by a myriad of causes: physical or emotional exhaustion, mental illness, sensory deprivation, intoxication, epilepsy, failing eyesight, migraines; perhaps even grief…. A most entertaining education.
“We think of seeing—or hearing, smelling, touching or inchoately sensing—things that aren’t there as a classic sign of madness, but it’s really a human commonplace, according to Sacks’s latest fascinating exploration of neuropsychiatric weirdness. …He also studies how people live with their hallucinations; some recognize them as just diverting figments while for others they constitute an inescapable unreality as malevolent and terrifying as a horror movie. As always, Sacks approaches the topic as both a brain scientist and a humanist; he shows how hallucinations elucidate intricate neurological mechanisms—often they are the brain’s bizarre attempt to fill in for missing sensory input—and examines their imprint on folklore and culture. …Writing with his trademark mix of evocative description, probing curiosity, and warm empathy, Sacks once again draws back the curtain on the mind’s improbable workings,” says Publishers Weekly.
When is it available?
I may be hallucinating, but it should be at the Downtown Hartford Public Library now.
Do you have something to say about this book, this author or books in general? Please post your comments here and I will respond. Let’s get a good books conversation going!
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