Monday, December 31, 2007

A Year in Reading

As 2007 draws to a close and a new year (and a new reading list) begins, I'd like to look back at some of the books I read this year, culminating in some small essays about the six books that stood out most for me, the six that I would assume will be among my favorites for years to come. But first, some other housekeeping:

Most Overrated Novel: An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, by Brock Clarke. I read a book near the end of the year that said one of the reasons why American book reviewing is so unhelpful is that just about everything gets recommended. This novel is Exhibit A. It is to literature what "Juno" is to cinema: A nice effort that tries way too hard.

Most Underrated Novel: Colson Whitehead's Apex Hides the Hurt is a bitingly funny little satire about the nature of advertising and nomenclature. Trust me, it's a lot better than that description.

The Most Pleasant Surprise: I picked up Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Station thinking it'd be a dispensable suspense thriller, something to breezily read during my move to South Orange. I was treated instead to a surprisingly memorable story, as well as one of the funniest. I later learned that Wambaugh is one of the great mystery writers of the last 30 years, so maybe I'm the only one who was surprised.

Best Debut Novel: About a month into my position as library assistant at the South Orange library, I stumbled on What You Have Left, by local author Will Allison, and I was glad I did. As Allison himself told us when he came to his own book club discussion (something that has to be just a little bizarre), the novel comprises a series of previously-published short stories that he then threaded together. As such, it's an unassuming book, definitely a first novel, but is a wonderful little read.

Saddest/Most Sobering Book: Tested, Linda Perlstein's year-long examination of a Baltimore inner city school, isn't perfect, but it will leave you frustrated, angered, and/or resigned with how education is legislated in this country.

The Annual Summer Epic: Every year for the last decade or so, I've blocked out two or three weeks during the summer to tackle a huge novel, those imposing doorstops that take up so much space on my bookshelf and often supply me with my only exercise. This year's was Don DeLillo's Underworld. Having read (and admired) DeLillo before, I knew what kind of a commitment I was making, beyond its 827-page length. I suspect it's a novel that will grow in stature upon re-read, but if you want a sampler of what DeLillo's all about, read the prologue, a sequence of about 60 pages centering on the 1951 Shot Heard 'Round the World that truly is an awesome display of writing.

Other Writers You Should Be Reading (a short list):

Laura Lippman -- Baltimore mystery writer. What the Dead Know was my third Lippman novel, and it's by far the best.

Richard Price -- A friend of mine had to read Price's Freedomland for her book club a couple years back. From what she told me, nobody liked it. At all. I was sorry I couldn't have been there to be its lone defender. Price's novels are always riveting, they reek of authenticity, and few authors write dialogue better. Ladies' Man, while much smaller in scope, was still a terrific read.

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan: I've posted about their novel Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist at least twice on this blog, so I won't repeat myself, other than to say you should check it out.

Cormac McCarthy: I know it's been Oprah-fied and it won the Pulitzer, but The Road would have been a must-read even without those lofty endorsements. New readers to McCarthy might be thrown by his spare writing style, but eventually, they'll get sucked in to his desolate and violent morality plays.

Other Notable Stuff I Read:
Harold Pinter's play Betrayal. Upon learning that the infamous backward episode of Seinfeld was a direct homage to Pinter's 1978 play, I spent part of an afternoon reading it. Very well done, if a total theater philistine does say so himself.

Robert Coover's "The Babysitter." If someone asks you what postmodern fiction is, hand him this story and he'll begin to understand. Basically a babysitter comes over to watch two kids while their parents attend a party, her boyfriend wants desperately to come over, and she tries to steal some time to watch TV. Then she accidentally kills the baby. Or the father has sex with the babysitter. Or the boyfriend and his shady friend try to rape the babysitter. All of that happens, among other things. Or none of it happens. Who really knows.

Richard Yates's "Doctor Jack O'Lantern." A quietly devastating short story about a new kid trying to fit in at school, and the naively optimistic teacher who tries to do right by him. This sounds like a cliche, but it's not. More on Richard Yates is forthcoming.

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