Tag: Literary Fiction
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Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
I was wrong to be daunted by this. All of the Julian Barnes I had read to this point were short novels that hit like a sledgehammer. They demand close, slow, attentive reading. I worried that 400+ pages of that would be overwhelming. I underestimated Julian Barnes. This is the (fictionalized) true story of Sir…
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The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The comparisons to Franzen (especially Crossroads) are fair, but I liked this much more than even The Corrections. Maybe it’s because Murray is Irish, and Irish fiction seems to connect with me. Maybe he writes women better, maybe he’s just better at building tension. I could not get enough of this book. The story revolves around a…
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Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Breathtaking. Literally: there were several times while reading this I realized I was holding my breath. Lynch’s book details a modern Ireland’s quick slide into a nightmare dystopia. It sees the world through the eyes of a mother trying to figure out how to keep her family together. It’s easily one of the top five…
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The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
This was pretty captivating, but a little long. I don’t think it’ll make any all-time lists, but it was a very good read. It’s a family drama that spans 70ish years. It’s broken up into ten parts, each beginning at a slightly different time or place. It’s very concretely rooted in the history of southern…
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Baumgartner by Paul Auster
The more you know about Paul Auster, the more interesting this book is. I didn’t know much going in (I’d read 4 3 2 1 and The New York Trilogy), but as I read it I also read about it — NY Times, Guardian, Wikipedia, El Pais. Which, if you’re going to read one thing, read the El Pais piece: All the Austers come together…
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The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut
I’d read a bunch about this book, but really, I had no idea what I was getting into. This is among the weirdest and best books I’ve read this year. Here’s what I wish I knew going in: Don’t be intimidated by the highbrow reviews — this isn’t some complex science/philosophical deep dive. It’s a…
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Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
McGhee first hit my radar with this piece in the Guardian on class and debt. The PR machine for this book zeroed in on me and for a few weeks it seemed like McGhee was everywhere on the internet. I was worried that this would be another debut by an MFA that didn’t live up to the…
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
My teenager was reading this for English class, and I figured I’d reread it — I bought it just after its publication 20 years ago (pour one out for Nicholas Hoare Books). For a few nights this week, my kid and I sat together and read the book separately, and I think it’s the beginning of…
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Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Here is another book that’s way outside my wheelhouse. Got it for $2 at a charity shop, didn’t know anything about it, but I knew it was very successful and had something to do with Shakespeare. Sometimes it’s best to go in blind. It’s basically a historical fiction of Shakespeare’s actual family, and how the death…
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Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
I’m not sure what I expected from this, but after a strong start, I gradually lost interest until it became a chore to finish. A lot of the stories follow a similar template — dropped into a scene with unfamiliar characters, shortly after something important has happened. It seemed to take some effort each time…