Tag: Literary Fiction

  • Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

    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…

  • The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

    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…

  • Baumgartner by Paul Auster

    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…

  • The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut

    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…

  • Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee

    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…

  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

    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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis

    This was probably a lot more salacious in 1973, but I still find that somewhat hard to see. It’s a few weeks in the mind of a horny kid as he tries to seduce an ‘older woman’. It’s Amis’ first book. I read a bunch of Amis in the mid/late-2000’s and mostly loved it, so…

  • 1Q84 by Hiroki Murakami

    This is simply too much. It’s repetitive and unrewarding. Maybe if it had been published as 3 separate volumes, it would have worked better, encouraging readers to let some time pass between sections. As a single serving it was like trying to eat a whole roast alone — it doesn’t matter how good it is,…