A reading list

A couple weeks ago my friend Erin asked me for some book recommendations. Since I don't really know her taste in reading matter, I made a wide ranging and long list of everything I like that I could remember offhand. Since I haven't posted anything here in awhile (curse you, Facebook!) I figured I might as well. So here it is:  

A reading list for Erin

Not chick lit but good writing by women:

Lorrie Moore -- especially Birds of America, a book of short stories

Alice Munro -- any of her books, almost all of which are stories

Andrea Barrett -- anything, though you should start with Ship Fever, also a book of stories

Jhumpa Lahiri – She has one novel, The Namesake, and two collections of stories, The Interpreter of Maladies and Unaccustomed Earth. All great.

Maggie O’Farrell -- most recent: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Emma Donoghue -- most recent: The Sealed Letter

Kate Atkinson – she has a trilogy of mysteries, though they’re really character studies: Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News

P.D. James -- slightly more traditional mysteries featuring Adam Dalgleish

Dorothy Sayers -- older mysteries that are good and well written, featuring Lord Peter Wimsy.

Scarlett Thomas – The End of Mr. Y – not really sure how to describe this book except that it verges on fantasy/surrealism. But I really, really liked it.

Alison Lurie – Foreign Affairs, The War Between the Tates and a couple set down here includes The Truth About Loren Jones and The Last Resort.

If you like mysteries, Swedish mysteries are kind of fun – I liked The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Erikssen. There are lots of others out there.

Narrative nonfiction

Ian Frazier -- Great Plains, Family or On The Rez

Tony Horwitz -- Confederates in the Attic, Blue Latitudes or A Voyage Long and Strange. I think Confederates is his best so far.

Sarah Vowell – best known from This American Life – her latest book, The Wordy Shipmates, is about the Puritan settlers in Massachusetts. Assassination Vacation is a historical travelogue with great interesting information about presidential assassins, especially the lesser knowns. Her other books are essay collections that deal with politics and popular culture, Take The Cannoli and The Partly Cloudy Patriot.

Calvin Trillin’s stuff is awesome and ranges from satirical poetry (which I skip) to reportage (U.S. Journal, Killings) to writing about food (Alice Let’s Eat and others). Also some heartbreaking memoirs, About Alice and Remembering Denny.

It depends on his subject matter by John McPhee’s nonfiction is pretty amazing, on everything from geology, living on the Alaskan frontier, being in the merchant marine and more.

Natural history for the nonscientist

Can’t do better than David Quammen, Song of the Dodo. He’s also got several collections of his columns for Outside and The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, a great recent biography.

One of my absolute favorites that is sort history of natural history is The Dinosaur Hunters by Deborah Cadbury, about the guys who found fossils in the early 19^th century and started to figure out what they meant.

Historical fiction that verges on brain candy

Sarah Dunant -- In the Company of the Courtesan, set in Venice

Tracy Chevalier -- The Lady and the Unicorn (medieval France, I think) and Burning Bright (Stuart England, with William Blake as a character) (she also wrote Girl With A Pearl Earring, Holland, Vermeer)

Alison Weir -- Innocent Traitor (about Lady Jane Grey)

C.W. Gortner -- The Last Queen (about the Spanish queen known to us as Juana the Mad, who maybe wasn’t or at least had good reason to be)

Vanora Bennet --  Portrait of an Unknown Woman, about the adopted daughter of Sir Thomas More

Geraldine Brooks -- Year or Wonders (set in an English village during the plague) and March (what the absent father from Little Women was really up to)

Sena Jeter Naslund – Ahab’s Wife (what was going on back on land during Moby-Dick) and Abundance (Marie Antoinette’s story from her point of view)

History for the nonhistorian

David McCullough – especially The Johnstown Flood and The Path Between the Seas (about the building of the Panama Canal).

Russell Shorto – especially The Island at the Center of the World, about Dutch Manhattan

Kate Summerscale – The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, which is historical true crime, about a murder in a Victorian family and The Queen of Whale Cay, about this early 20^th century Englishwoman who was a true eccentric – she drove ambulances in WWI, raced powerboats, created her own empire on a Bahamian island and carried around everywhere this weird looking doll that she named Lord Tod Wadley (the book has photos to prove it!).

General fiction:

MICHAEL CHABON – If you haven’t read him, do so right now. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is his first, a great coming of age college novel. He won the Pulitzer for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay and everyone I know adores it.

Nick Hornby – High Fidelity and About A Boy – it goes down easy but it’s not trash

Tom Perrotta – Little Children, Joe College, The Abstinence Teacher – see description of Hornby, only Perrotta’s American

John Irving – If you haven’t read him, my favorites are A Prayer for Owen Meany and Cider House Rules. The World According to Garp was his breakout book.

Jane Smiley – My favorites are Moo and Horse Heaven; she’s probably best known for A Thousand Acres, King Lear in Iowa, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

Patrick O’Brian – The Aubrey-Maturin series is famous for being really really well written (and well researched) historical fiction; even if you’re not into sailing, military history or history in general, they’re great. The first is Master and Commander, though the plot of that book bears little resemblance (OK no resemblance) to the movie they made based on O’Brian’s characters.

Ian McEwan – I really liked Amsterdam, Enduring Love was good too, and people say Saturday was great. I’ll admit here that I haven’t read Atonement yet.

Jeffrey Eugenides – I haven’t actually read Middlesex but everyone who has says it’s great.

Graphic novels

I’m not a huge reader of these but everyone everyone everyone should read Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, a memoir about growing up in her family’s funeral home – with her closeted gay father. It’s fantastic.

Eric Shanower’s series on the Trojan War, The Age of Bronze, is great so far (I think he’s on vol. 3 or 4).

I haven’t read it but Mark really loves Jimmy Corrigan, Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. And The Watchmen* made all kinds of lists as a great novel, not just a great graphic novel – and it’s about to be a blockbuster movie!

Books for kids and others:

The Harry Potter books are great reads if you haven’t read them.

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy are great books, period – The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Really great books.

Bibliothrillers

I hate hate hate Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code guy) but there are some better written books along those lines:

Michael Gruber – The Book of Air and Shadows – about a newly discovered Shakespeare folio

Ross King – Ex-Libris – I actually can’t remember what this is about but it was good.

Arturo Perez-Reverte – The Club Dumas, a thriller that was made into a silly but fun movie starring Johnny Depp called The Ninth Gate.

An accounting, and a warning

I wish my obsessive-compulsive tendencies were in the housecleaning vein, but unfortunately they are limited to useless tasks like carefully keeping track of what I have read. And why? Am I supposed to be earning gold stars from someone? I don't know why I do this. But I do -- and this year, I kept more careful track than ever, with each book noted by fiction vs. nonfiction, if it came from a library, whether I read it for review, etc. etc. I can only blame this on working in a library, where our job is to keep track of things, and classify them. It turns out I like cataloging. The good news: I read almost twice as much this year as last. That, too, is probably due to my new job. Not that I read on the job -- a common but mistaken belief about working in a library -- but being surrounded by books all day and learning about lots of newly published books probably inspired me. Not to mention having a job that truly is limited to 40 hours a week most of the time, unlike any job in journalism.

I read 62 books in 2008, compared to 34 in 2007. Twenty-nine of this year's were nonfiction; I didn't deliberately set out for an even split but it's interesting it turned out that way. Thirteen were from the collection of the Monroe County Public Library. Thirty-three were from the Florida Keys Community College Library (like I said, access helps). Seven were via interlibrary loan, six of those from FKCC and one from MCPL. I keep meaning to write an ode to ILL, a wondrous service I have often heard praised but never, until this year, took advantage of.

Fifteen were by writers coming to the upcoming Key West Literary Seminar -- starting with The Name of War by Jill Lepore in February and winding up in the week between Christmas and New Year with Blindspot by Jane Kamensky and ... Jill Lepore. Very different books (one nonfiction, one fiction and different in other ways, too) but both excellent and highly recommended especially for those who are interested in Colonial New England and our nation's foundations. For the Seminar I read some old favorites, like Andrea Barrett, and made some new discoveries, like John Wray, Samantha Hunt and Calvin Baker.

I reviewed 10 books for publication, three in The Miami Herald and the rest in Solares Hill.

I read five books that you would call graphic novels, although three were actually nonfiction -- and one of those was one of the best books I read all year, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. It's harrowing, for sure, but extraordinarily well done in every aspect.

I "read" one audiobook, Lady Macbeth, which was OK and meant to read more but then this David Baldacci thriller got stuck in my car's CD player and now I'm afraid to put anything else in there. The new year will have at least one audiobook, as March by KWLS keynoter Geraldine Brooks is currently keeping me sane through a painting project.

I found myself reading a lot of historical fiction even by writers who are not going to be at the Seminar -- most notably Dennis Lehane's latest and, I suspect, best so far, The Given Day. I've always liked historical fiction -- who doesn't? -- but now I'd have to classify it as a minor addiction. I finally read a couple of Swedish mysteries (Sun Storm by Asa Larsson and The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksen) and I suspect I'll read more of those in the near future.

Very few of the books I read this year were chores to get through -- I think I'm pretty good at choosing my books, because once I start I tend to finish though I'm thinking more and more about Nancy Pearl's counsel on this subject (her rule: give every book 50 pages except when you're more than 50 years old, then you subtract your age from 100 and that's the number of pages you're required to give it). My rule has always been: I'm not going to let some crappy book defeat me, even if it is torture to finish. The worst this year was probably The Linguist and The Emperor, a slim nonfiction volume that took forever because it was my lunchtime reading at work (OK OK I read at work but only in the half hour when I'm NOT BEING PAID) and because it was terrible. It jumped all over the place, AND it was badly written. A bad combo. Too bad because the premise was interesting. (Napoleon's forays into Egypt and the guy who figured out the Rosetta Stone.)

So that's my year in reading, my accounting. What's the warning? Just this -- on the odd chance there are any regular readers of this blog I must warn you that it is about to get even more irregular. I'll keep it up because 1) I never know when I feel like publicly spouting off 2) it's free and 3) I like the list of links I've assembled and being able to access it from anywhere. For people looking for a more reliable resource on books and reading, I can recommend Literary License and Philobiblos, both excellent blogs listed in the blogroll to your right, both of which I found via the excellent LibraryThing, another fine source for books, especially in its discussion groups and reader reviews. You can find me there, by the way, as Keywestnan. Literary License has more general fiction and links to news about the publishing industry, Philobiblos focuses on history as well as including excellent links to news reports about the rare book and historic document trade. And while I like to think of myself as an avid and relatively fast reader, both of these bloggers put me to shame -- and inspire me to spend less time on Facebook and more time with real books.

Thanks for those of you who do read -- this blog and more importantly books. And remember, support your local library and your local independent bookstore!

Looking for a place to stay in DC for the inauguration?

Here's a way to get a place in Washington for the inauguration -- and support the Monroe County Library at the same time! Just received this email from Christopher at Voltaire Books: Give the gift of history this holiday season.  The owners of Voltaire Books are auctioning off their guest room in Washington, DC, for a lucky couple who wants to attend the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States (Tuesday, January 20, 2009).  100% of proceeds benefit Friends of the Key West Library. • Washington, DC, guest room available for January 19th – January 21st   (two nights, three days, limit two people) • Located in Chevy Chase Circle, DC, (near Military Road and Connecticut Ave., in upper NW) • Walking distance to Friendship Heights Metro Station • There is a golden retriever puppy in the house • Does not include Ball tickets or reserved Mall tickets

  • Bidding NOW OPEN at Voltaire Book (330 Simonton St. at Eaton) • Auction closes: Monday, December 29th, 5 PM (ET) • Bidding begins at $250 • All bids require $25 increase • Pictures of the house are posted in the store • Gift is not tax deductible

How do I love my local public library? Let me count the ways.

The great, smart, public spirited, hardworking people at the Monroe County Public Library aren't letting budget blues or holiday overload get them down -- instead they're keeping up great public service, like this online display of books by writers who will appear at the upcoming Key West Literary Seminar (spaces still open for the second session! free Sunday afternoon sessions both weekends!). My man Christopher, owner of the increasingly essential Voltaire Books, just stopped by and told me they have books by all the seminar writers -- what a great Christmas gift! And if that's not enough reason to love this library, here's another: Saturday is the season's first book sale in the Palm Garden. Woo hoo! Lord knows I don't need more books in my house but these are still irresistible bargains for any bibliophile (and you never know when you might find, say, a signed first edition Elizabeth Bishop in there). It has happened. As a weekday gal, it's also good to see these events back on Saturdays.

I'm baaaack.

Yes, yes I've been neglecting the blog. So sue me. Or cut my blog pay in half. Does that feel better? Besides you should really use this blog the same way I do -- as a handy set of links to the more responsible bloggers in the blogroll. That said, I have been reading -- quite a bit. Not as much as I hoped over the Thanksgiving break, but something. I read "The Last Queen," a historical novel about Juana of Spain, sometimes referred to as Juana the Mad, known to us devotees of Tudor Trash as the older sister of Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. It wasn't great art but it was a good read and provided a plausible explanation for why she never really inherited the throne she should have inherited.

But the best reading I've done recently has all been set in the 19th century -- The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue, another work of historical fiction using real people as characters. The novel centers on a scandalous divorce and it pulls off a nice trick -- multiple perspectives, all of them plausibly providing the individual characters' motives and feelings.

The Sealed Letter is in the collection at the FKCC Library and they've got it at the Monroe County Library too.

The other thing I've been doing is Christmas shopping and this year I'm trying to do as much as possible at my local independent bookstore, Voltaire Books. I'm sure Amazon will get some traffic in my family -- those wishlists are awfully handy for faraway relatives -- but these days anything we can do to keep the remaining indies with us is well worth it.