Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Best Books of the Year?
Tina Jordan over at Entertainment Weekly has proposed the question - what's the best book you read this year?
Reading articles like this does two things: (a) reminds of books that have been read and enjoyed/hated, (b) reminds of books still needing to be read. In spirit of Jordan's question, here are some of the books considered as being most enjoyable here at Let It Read:
Fiction:
Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Lisa Genova, Still Alice
Jennifer Weiner, Certain Girls
Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed
Non-Fiction:
Jen Lancaster, Such A Pretty Fat
Raj Patel, Stuffed and Starved
Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
There were numerous others, of course; some of which have been mentioned on the site already. It is just too hard to judge a book based on "goodness".
"It’s getting to be that time of year—the time for Best and Worst lists—and as I mull over EW’s, I’m thinking back over everything I’ve read since January.
It’s going to be a tough year to pick. On the nonfiction side, I loved Blake Bailey’s wonderful Cheever book, which, as I’ve said before, redefined biography for me. I could not get enough of the essays in A New Literary History of America. Almost a year after I read it, The Mercy Papers—Robin Romm’s searing account of her mother’s final three weeks—remains imprinted on my brain. There was the Dave Eggers book, Zeitoun; Andre Agassi’s memoir, Open; Dave Cullen’s Columbine; and the third volume of Mary Karr’s memoirs, Lit. Oh, and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided: How The Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.
In fiction, I loved Daniyeel Mueenuddin’s exquisite Pakistan-centered short stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and the latest Pete Dexter novel, Spooner. I could not put down Alice Munro’s latest book of short stories, Too Much Happiness. I bought a dozen copies of Jonathan Tropper’s dysfunctional family drama This Is Where I Leave You to give to friends and family. I was mesmerized by David Small’s graphic novel Stitches. And I still think about Stephanie Kallos’ Sing Them Home, Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, J. Courtney Sullivan’s Commencement and Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie."
Reading articles like this does two things: (a) reminds of books that have been read and enjoyed/hated, (b) reminds of books still needing to be read. In spirit of Jordan's question, here are some of the books considered as being most enjoyable here at Let It Read:
Fiction:
Stieg Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Lisa Genova, Still Alice
Jennifer Weiner, Certain Girls
Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed
Non-Fiction:
Jen Lancaster, Such A Pretty Fat
Raj Patel, Stuffed and Starved
Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
There were numerous others, of course; some of which have been mentioned on the site already. It is just too hard to judge a book based on "goodness".
Table of Contents: Life on the Refrigerator Door
Author: Alice Kuipers
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2007
Synopsis: Life on the Refrigerator Door is a poignant and deeply moving first novel about the bonds of love and frustration that tie mothers and daughters together. Told entirely in a series of notes left on the kitchen fridge—some casual, some intimate, some funny, some angry—it is the story of nine months in the life of 15–year-old Claire and her single mother. Preoccupied with their busy separate lives, rarely in the same room at the same time, they talk to each other in a series of short snippets that reflect the daily drama of school, boyfriends, work and chores that make up their days. Yet the mundane soon becomes extraordinary when a crisis overtakes their lives—a momentous change that will redefine their relationship and unfold in their exchanges on the refrigerator door.
What Others Have To Say:
Quill and Quire
"Kuipers’ novel begins as a lighthearted look at familial bickering, but is ultimately a disappointingly sentimental portrait of a typically dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship."
The Coast
"...Kuiper enables the reader to fill in the details with personal experiences and imaginings rather than spelling everything out."
CM Magazine
"Though published as an adult novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door should be a surefire hit with girls, and its contents will be readily accessible to weaker readers."
Extras:
HarperCollins Reading Guide
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2007
Synopsis: Life on the Refrigerator Door is a poignant and deeply moving first novel about the bonds of love and frustration that tie mothers and daughters together. Told entirely in a series of notes left on the kitchen fridge—some casual, some intimate, some funny, some angry—it is the story of nine months in the life of 15–year-old Claire and her single mother. Preoccupied with their busy separate lives, rarely in the same room at the same time, they talk to each other in a series of short snippets that reflect the daily drama of school, boyfriends, work and chores that make up their days. Yet the mundane soon becomes extraordinary when a crisis overtakes their lives—a momentous change that will redefine their relationship and unfold in their exchanges on the refrigerator door.
What Others Have To Say:
Quill and Quire
"Kuipers’ novel begins as a lighthearted look at familial bickering, but is ultimately a disappointingly sentimental portrait of a typically dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship."
The Coast
"...Kuiper enables the reader to fill in the details with personal experiences and imaginings rather than spelling everything out."
CM Magazine
"Though published as an adult novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door should be a surefire hit with girls, and its contents will be readily accessible to weaker readers."
Extras:
HarperCollins Reading Guide
Monday, November 9, 2009
Table of Contents: Lottery
Author: Patricia Wood
Publisher: Putnam
Year: 2007
Synopsis: Perry Crandall has an IQ of 76, but is not retarded, as he'll have you know: his IQ would need to be less than 75 for that, and he knows the difference even if others may not. Perry, the 32-year-old narrator of Wood's warm-fuzzy debut, has worked at the same marine supply store for half his life and lives with his wisecracking grandmother Gram, whose gems of folk wisdom help him along. But when Gram dies, Perry's selfish, money-grubbing family members swoop in and swindle him out of the proceeds from the sale of her house—and then come a-knocking again when Perry wins $12 million in the Washington State Lottery. Suddenly everyone is paying attention to Perry, but who can he trust? Even his friends from the marine supply store behave differently, and on top of everything else, Perry finds himself falling for convenience store clerk Cherry, who has problems of her own. Despite his family's shenanigans and sinister maneuverings, Perry holds his own and discovers abilities he didn't know he had.
What Others Have To Say:
View From Here Magazine
"The language is very carefully selected and used to enhance our understanding of the characters, reveal prejudices or make the reader laugh."
Guardian
"Lottery is no less simple-minded than its hero."
New York Magazine
"...suspense lies in watching him negotiate a suddenly complicated life."
Seattle Times
"What really works here is Perry and the way he sees things, from certain oddities of the English language to certain aspects of the behavior of those around him."
Paul Theroux, Author
“What I love about Lottery is that it is much more than a novel about a windfall affecting a simple soul - it's a book about a stupendous event affecting a great number of people, all the winner's friends, and especially the reader.”
Extras:
Read an excerpt!
Reading Guide
Publisher: Putnam
Year: 2007
Synopsis: Perry Crandall has an IQ of 76, but is not retarded, as he'll have you know: his IQ would need to be less than 75 for that, and he knows the difference even if others may not. Perry, the 32-year-old narrator of Wood's warm-fuzzy debut, has worked at the same marine supply store for half his life and lives with his wisecracking grandmother Gram, whose gems of folk wisdom help him along. But when Gram dies, Perry's selfish, money-grubbing family members swoop in and swindle him out of the proceeds from the sale of her house—and then come a-knocking again when Perry wins $12 million in the Washington State Lottery. Suddenly everyone is paying attention to Perry, but who can he trust? Even his friends from the marine supply store behave differently, and on top of everything else, Perry finds himself falling for convenience store clerk Cherry, who has problems of her own. Despite his family's shenanigans and sinister maneuverings, Perry holds his own and discovers abilities he didn't know he had.
What Others Have To Say:
View From Here Magazine
"The language is very carefully selected and used to enhance our understanding of the characters, reveal prejudices or make the reader laugh."
Guardian
"Lottery is no less simple-minded than its hero."
New York Magazine
"...suspense lies in watching him negotiate a suddenly complicated life."
Seattle Times
"What really works here is Perry and the way he sees things, from certain oddities of the English language to certain aspects of the behavior of those around him."
Paul Theroux, Author
“What I love about Lottery is that it is much more than a novel about a windfall affecting a simple soul - it's a book about a stupendous event affecting a great number of people, all the winner's friends, and especially the reader.”
Extras:
Read an excerpt!
Reading Guide
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Table of Contents: Rock On: An Office Power Ballad
Author: Dan Kennedy
Publisher: Books of Chapel Hill
Year: 2008
Synopsis:When New York writer Dan Kennedy is hired by a major record label, he thinks he's chanced upon a dream job in the world of full-blown gonzo rock and roll excess that has pockmarked his dreams ever since he was a suburban Southern California teen. The sobering reality: he's basically walked into a nine-to-five world that's equal parts Spinal Tap and The Office—and he's just in time for mass layoffs, artists being cut from contracts, and sales hitting an all-time low.
But in these tame and dying days of the record business, Kennedy's twisted wit offers up the absurd, funny, and oddly heart-breaking story of a stranger in a strange land. In an irresistibly weird way, it seems he has shown up at exactly the right time. (Rock On website)
What Others Have To Say:
The New York Times
"...a succession of gently mordant vignettes, with hilariously spot-on asides about media image-making, music-biz hierarchies and sensitive singer-songwriters. It’s also a coming-of-age story."
Pop Zap
"It’s snarky, fun, clever, and accessible: you don’t have to know much about labels to appreciate the overall office humor, although your reading experience will be greatly enhanced if you know a thing or two about (rock) music."
Art Voice
"Rock On takes us into the bowels of the recording industry and dredges up its ugly incompetence."
Extras:
Read an excerpt from the book!
Publisher: Books of Chapel Hill
Year: 2008
Synopsis:When New York writer Dan Kennedy is hired by a major record label, he thinks he's chanced upon a dream job in the world of full-blown gonzo rock and roll excess that has pockmarked his dreams ever since he was a suburban Southern California teen. The sobering reality: he's basically walked into a nine-to-five world that's equal parts Spinal Tap and The Office—and he's just in time for mass layoffs, artists being cut from contracts, and sales hitting an all-time low.
But in these tame and dying days of the record business, Kennedy's twisted wit offers up the absurd, funny, and oddly heart-breaking story of a stranger in a strange land. In an irresistibly weird way, it seems he has shown up at exactly the right time. (Rock On website)
What Others Have To Say:
The New York Times
"...a succession of gently mordant vignettes, with hilariously spot-on asides about media image-making, music-biz hierarchies and sensitive singer-songwriters. It’s also a coming-of-age story."
Pop Zap
"It’s snarky, fun, clever, and accessible: you don’t have to know much about labels to appreciate the overall office humor, although your reading experience will be greatly enhanced if you know a thing or two about (rock) music."
Art Voice
"Rock On takes us into the bowels of the recording industry and dredges up its ugly incompetence."
Extras:
Read an excerpt from the book!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Table of Contents: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
Author: Tiffany Baker
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Year: 2009
Synopsis: Massive from birth, growing into a 400-pound giant, Truly Plaice strives to be normal in a world in which she literally and figuratively does not fit. Truly's strength of virtue comes out when she steps into the role of surrogate mother to her estranged sister's young son. She endures daily verbal abuse from her egotistical brother-in-law, the town's only doctor, in order to provide a loving home environment to her growing nephew. In the doctor's home she uncovers a quilt that contains the key to the folklore rumors that have rested with the townsfolk in her rural upstate New York community. The knowledge the quilt contains gives Truly the power of life and death and leads her to discover her own inner strength and dignity.
What Others Have To Say:
South Florida Sun Sentinel
"Baker mixes real-world and folk medicine, contemporary issues and timeless legends, bitterness and sweet romance as she brews her story. The characters are outsize in many ways, but the spell she casts keeps the reader engaged in this very promising debut."
The Washington Post
"Baker knows how to spin an alluring plot, and she tells this emotional story in a lush voice that's spiked with just a taste of self-pity. She has a good sense of the dark comedy of melodrama, too, even if Truly's words of wisdom are sometimes a little too -- forgive me -- heavy-handed..."
Christian Science Monitor
"Baker has crafted a book big enough to hold her title character, and few readers would be churlish enough to begrudge Truly a happily-ever-after."
USA Today
"kind of book you find yourself stealing time from workday chores to read."
Chicago Sun-Times
"One of the beauties of Little Giant is that Baker never reveals how big Truly really is — her weight and height are not given. So Truly shrinks and grows in the reader's imagination, like a genie in a fairy story."
Extras:
Q&A with the author
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Year: 2009
Synopsis: Massive from birth, growing into a 400-pound giant, Truly Plaice strives to be normal in a world in which she literally and figuratively does not fit. Truly's strength of virtue comes out when she steps into the role of surrogate mother to her estranged sister's young son. She endures daily verbal abuse from her egotistical brother-in-law, the town's only doctor, in order to provide a loving home environment to her growing nephew. In the doctor's home she uncovers a quilt that contains the key to the folklore rumors that have rested with the townsfolk in her rural upstate New York community. The knowledge the quilt contains gives Truly the power of life and death and leads her to discover her own inner strength and dignity.
What Others Have To Say:
South Florida Sun Sentinel
"Baker mixes real-world and folk medicine, contemporary issues and timeless legends, bitterness and sweet romance as she brews her story. The characters are outsize in many ways, but the spell she casts keeps the reader engaged in this very promising debut."
The Washington Post
"Baker knows how to spin an alluring plot, and she tells this emotional story in a lush voice that's spiked with just a taste of self-pity. She has a good sense of the dark comedy of melodrama, too, even if Truly's words of wisdom are sometimes a little too -- forgive me -- heavy-handed..."
Christian Science Monitor
"Baker has crafted a book big enough to hold her title character, and few readers would be churlish enough to begrudge Truly a happily-ever-after."
USA Today
"kind of book you find yourself stealing time from workday chores to read."
Chicago Sun-Times
"One of the beauties of Little Giant is that Baker never reveals how big Truly really is — her weight and height are not given. So Truly shrinks and grows in the reader's imagination, like a genie in a fairy story."
Extras:
Q&A with the author
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Table of Contents: The Delivery Man
Author: ."Joe McGinniss Jr.
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
Year: 2008
Synopsis: Chase is a struggling artist who couldn't hack NYU and moves back to Vegas, where he is reunited with his adolescent flame, Michele. After being fired from his teaching job for beating up a student, Chase plans to hook up with his girlfriend, Julia, in California, but instead spends his summer as a chauffeur for Michele's call-girl business. Michele has plans for herself (buying a house, getting an advanced degree in women's studies), but for the time being is running the call-girl service out of a suite in the Versailles Palace Hotel and Casino with her boyfriend, Bailey. Girls too young for the job, readily available cocaine, untrustworthy business partners, memories of a family tragedy and glammed-out Vegas goons make Chase's summer more stressful than he had hoped for as he attempts to finish a few paintings for a group gallery show.
What Others Have to Say:
The New York Times
"...occasionally the prose runs hot, and McGinniss manages to whip the yearning and confusion of the woefully inarticulate Chase into dramatic, even gripping fare."
The Washington Post
"...the novel is, after all, about a group of people destined to go nowhere. And McGinnis charts that aimlessness with insight and dexterity."
Houston Chronicle
"...a solid novel about shaky people, a better novel than its characters deserve
Extras:
Author profile in USA Today
Film rights sold!
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
Year: 2008
Synopsis: Chase is a struggling artist who couldn't hack NYU and moves back to Vegas, where he is reunited with his adolescent flame, Michele. After being fired from his teaching job for beating up a student, Chase plans to hook up with his girlfriend, Julia, in California, but instead spends his summer as a chauffeur for Michele's call-girl business. Michele has plans for herself (buying a house, getting an advanced degree in women's studies), but for the time being is running the call-girl service out of a suite in the Versailles Palace Hotel and Casino with her boyfriend, Bailey. Girls too young for the job, readily available cocaine, untrustworthy business partners, memories of a family tragedy and glammed-out Vegas goons make Chase's summer more stressful than he had hoped for as he attempts to finish a few paintings for a group gallery show.
What Others Have to Say:
The New York Times
"...occasionally the prose runs hot, and McGinniss manages to whip the yearning and confusion of the woefully inarticulate Chase into dramatic, even gripping fare."
The Washington Post
"...the novel is, after all, about a group of people destined to go nowhere. And McGinnis charts that aimlessness with insight and dexterity."
Houston Chronicle
"...a solid novel about shaky people, a better novel than its characters deserve
Extras:
Author profile in USA Today
Film rights sold!
Table of Contents: The Opposite of Love
Author: Julie Buxbaum
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2008
Synopsis: Emily Haxby is eager to break through the emotional and professional ties that bind. She is all about self-destructing and blowing apart all her relationships with friends and family. Emily soon finds out that the opposite of love is not hate but loneliness and emptiness.
What Others Have to Say:
Washington Post
"One of the pleasures of Buxbaum's novel is her manipulation of the conventions of "Sex and the City" and its literary ilk."
Buzz Sugar
"The best part: it's funny. Not fall-down-guffawing funny, but wry and self-aware and silly and sarcastic."
Trashionista
"My eyes were stinging with emotion right towards the end, then bizarrely, I also found myself skipping little bits."
Extras:
Interview with the Author
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2008
Synopsis: Emily Haxby is eager to break through the emotional and professional ties that bind. She is all about self-destructing and blowing apart all her relationships with friends and family. Emily soon finds out that the opposite of love is not hate but loneliness and emptiness.
What Others Have to Say:
Washington Post
"One of the pleasures of Buxbaum's novel is her manipulation of the conventions of "Sex and the City" and its literary ilk."
Buzz Sugar
"The best part: it's funny. Not fall-down-guffawing funny, but wry and self-aware and silly and sarcastic."
Trashionista
"My eyes were stinging with emotion right towards the end, then bizarrely, I also found myself skipping little bits."
Extras:
Interview with the Author
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