Fiction Essentials
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Owner of a Lonely Heart
by Beth NguyenI put this on my library hold list because of the rave reviews at Book Marks. Even still, after I picked it up I was reluctant to start reading it. I didn’t expect it to hit home like it did. I watched television the way I read books: studying, memorizing, looking for clues. As if every…
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Farewell, My Lovely
There are so many quotable lines in this book. It’s no wonder that Chandler’s writing helped set the template for an entire genre: I was sitting on the side of my bed in my pyjamas, thinking about getting up, but not yet committed. I didn’t feel very well, but I didn’t feel as sick as…
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The Bean Trees
This took me by surprise — Kingsolver’s first book, published in 1988, and every bit as relevant today. She targets white privilege, racism and how society treats the poor, the racialized, women. But overall it’s about how family finds you, even if there’s no blood relation. And it’s terrific. It’s a much smaller story, but…
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8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster
by Mirinae Lee“…the biggest deception of all, and the kindest there is, is to be deceived. That could mean invaluable comfort to the other.” The only criticism I have for this book is that it was too short. In the hands of another author this would have been a monster 900-page generational epic. Mirinae Lee isn’t here…
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The Poisonwood Bible
I like to read about the books I read, when I like them or feel like there is more to them than I’m picking up. This is one of those books. But it was published in 1998, which is a weird time for culture. There’s a gap in the 80s and 90s that a lot…
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Biography of X
Just astonishing. This book is the most ambitious and layered thing I’ve read in a long, long time. The style of writing is kind of like Rachel Cusk, meditative and conversational, kind of highbrow, but often shockingly direct. It’s full of ideas about history, politics and art, identity, relationships, and a whole lot more. At…
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Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes never really crossed my radar until recently. In the Sutherland House newsletter (essential reading IMO) Ken Whyte described something as “What Julian Barnes would call a nickel fucker.” Which resulted in me buying this book. It’s great, if you’re a certain demographic. It’s full of things like this: …this may be one of the differences…
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Birnam Wood
I had no expectations for this book and I think that’s the right way to approach it. I’d seen that it received some good press and it was available at the library so I dove in. What an outrageously good surprise. This is kind of a crime thriller, but way smarter. The author uses the…
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Infomocracy
by Malka OlderThis sure isn’t for everyone but it absolutely was for me. This book is like a collaboration between William Gibson and John King (the CNN election map guy). It’s really tough to get into – Older has effectively imitated Gibson’s sink-or-swim narrative style. The subject matter is incredibly current, and I kept wondering how the…
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A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor TowlesI could have read a thousand more pages of this. Opening this book was like curling up with a dog and a blanket and a warm beverage. It was so warm and charming and comforting. Towles can write. The story itself was somewhat small in scope, but it didn’t matter. Almost every page had a sentence…
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The Deluge
This book stressed me out more than any fiction I’ve read in recent memory. It’s ambitious, bold and frankly genius. The book is confusing for a long time – not only are there a half-dozen different stories being told in alternating chapters, there are news collages and magazine articles included. Markley does an incredible job…
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
by Ray BradburyThis seems like the book that Stephen King has been trying to write for 50 years. It’s a short book, but it packs heat. And the ending is super satisfying. The writing is so beautiful I read most of the book out loud to myself. Will’s dad’s speech in the library is one of those…