Holidays on Ice
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Holidays on Ice has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. I have an uncanny ability to unintentionally pick up books about war and torture, which is problematic enough … Continue reading
Category Archives: Fiction
Jitterbug Perfume
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins Like a lot of nerdy and ungainly girls, I went through a Tom Robbins phase in high school. His playful love of women appealed to us earnest and hopeful types. … Continue reading
Half of a Yellow Sun (Nigeria)
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Story: In the 1960s, the southeastern provinces of Nigeria attempted to secede and form an independent nation called Biafra. Adichie tells the story of this civil … Continue reading
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck I’m going to tell you the plain truth: This book was so depressing that it took me two years to read. And I actually like depressing books. So … Continue reading
The Island
The Island by Elin Hilderbrand Okay, I love my Kindle, but there is just one little problem with it that only major snobs like yours truly will appreciate: it doesn’t really let you see the … Continue reading
This Is Where I Leave You
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper Story: Judd is a sad sack. He’s been dumped, humiliated, and stripped of employment. Needless to say, he’s at an all-time low—and his father has the … Continue reading
Little Bee
Little Bee by Chris Cleave Setting: Modern-day London and Nigeria. Story: Okay, I’m going to go along with the book’s marketing team on this one—I can’t really tell you. But the fulcrum of the story … Continue reading
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Okay, so you know how sometimes you just never read a classic book for years and years—because even as an English major you can’t possibly read all of them … Continue reading
A Single Man
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood Narrated by Simon Prebble Setting: Los Angeles in the 1960s Story: Gay English professor George has just lost his longtime partner. We follow him through the aftermath of the … Continue reading
The Shadow of the Wind (Spain)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Narrated by Jonathan Davis Setting: 1950s Barcelona Story: When protagonist Daniel is just a child, his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books—a vast … Continue reading
Shantaram (India)
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts Narrated by Humphrey Bower Well, it turns out that India is not merely a land of funtime singalongs. If you’re dying to delve into the underbelly of Bombay in the … Continue reading
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller In the first sentences, Miller writes: “This is not a book in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in … Continue reading
Re-read The Corrections
In Why We Read What We Read, we talked briefly about Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, using it to illustrate Oprah’s peculiar ways of reading literature. But we never really got to say what a wonderful … Continue reading
Three brief reviews of Chick Lit
…in order from worst to best. The two words that come to mind when I think of Family Trust by Amanda Brown are “frivolous” and “dumb.” Brown is the author of the Legally Blonde novel, … Continue reading
Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers 2007: James Patterson gets even more annoying
Okay, I’m serious now, people. Stop reading James Patterson! He’s just not that good. The numbers, alas, say otherwise: in addition to the four paperback bestsellers already mentioned in my earlier post, the guy has … Continue reading
Chick Lit, here I come
It’s been suggested by some readers here that I look into the chick lit phenomenon, a genre we skipped in Why We Read What We Read because it simply isn’t bestselling—at least not bestselling enough … Continue reading
Bestselling Mass Market Paperbacks, 2007
Here they be. 1. Blood Brothers. Nora Roberts. Orig. Jove (2,247,730) 2. Cross. James Patterson. Rep. Grand Central (1,831,296) 3. Angels Fall. Nora Roberts. Rep. Jove (1,655,329) 4. Judge & Jury. James Patterson & Andrew … Continue reading
The 2007 annual bestseller lists are here!
Okay, they’ve been here, it turns out, for almost a month. But Publisher’s Weekly has this sneaky way of burying each year’s numbers in its voluminous archives, hiding their presence even from its own search … Continue reading
Bestsellers that Count
This post is by John Heath. Yes, he deigned to write a blog post. Whatta guy. Unlike my chatty colleague in crime, it’s been several months since I spent focused time with bestsellers. Let’s call … Continue reading
Cloud Atlas
So here’s a cool idea. You start a story, get the reader into it, and then abruptly cut it off 4o pages later—in mid-sentence, no less. Then you begin a totally different story, one that … Continue reading