Jess' Picks

Strength in What Remains

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strengthinwhatremains by Tracy Kidder

This is a terrific audio recounting a very young man's escape

from the racial wars in Burundi and his acclimation to the new and

perplexing world of NYC. I ended up with the same feeling I had after

reading What is the What, and The Road. We are blessed, absolutely

BLESSED with the world we live in here. I cannot imagine recuperating

from the horrors that this young man observed. I also can't imagine how

one would reconcile their escape and safety with those left behind. As

with the Indian community in A Fine Balance, humor, of all things,

endures. Sometimes it's his own intrinsic humor, but often it is his

perceptions as he tries to make sense of our world. Such an innocent

outlook after such sobering and maturing experiences.

This is a terrific audio recounting a very young man's escape from the racial and ethnic wars in Burundi and his acclimation to the new and perplexing world of NYC. I ended up with the same feeling I had after reading What is the What, and The Road. We are blessed, absolutely BLESSED with the world we live in here. I cannot imagine recuperating from the horrors that this young man observed. I also can't imagine how one would reconcile their escape and safety with those left behind. As with the Indian community in A Fine Balance, humor, of all things, endures. Sometimes it's his own intrinsic humor, but often it is his perceptions as he tries to make sense of our world. Such an innocent outlook after such sobering and maturing experiences.

Little Bee

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littlebee by Chris Cleave

Wow, what a

ride and what great writing! This is one of those novels that goes back

and forth between two characters, and starts in the present and refers

back periodically to the past, until everything that transpired becomes

clear. It all involves Little Bee who escaped from Nigeria, and Sarah

who had the misfortune to vacation in Nigeria with her husband. Their

paths crossed and formed what will turn out to be a profound bond.

There are wonderful characters, including Sarah's son who insists on

dressing as Batman, and who we discover is fighting more 'Baddies' than

it appears to be at first. Again, we experience that wonderful African

humor and innocence in regarding the new, modern world they find

themselves in. It turns out that in her tiny village there actually was

a screening of "Top Gun", of all movies, whereupon she remarks, "About a

man who was in a great hurry, sometimes in jet planes and sometimes on

motorbikes and sometimes upside down"!

I highly recommend this one. It's intricate, beautiful, illuminating,

depressing and yet, we all survive it to swim in the ocean so to speak.

Wow, what a ride and what great writing! This is one of those novels that goes back and forth between two characters, and starts in the present and refers back periodically to the past, until everything that transpired becomes clear. It all involves Little Bee who escaped from Nigeria, and Sarah who had the misfortune to vacation in Nigeria with her husband. Their paths crossed and formed what will turn out to be a profound bond. There are wonderful characters, including Sarah's son who insists on dressing as Batman, and who we discover is fighting more 'Baddies' than it appears to be at first. Again, we experience that wonderful African humor and innocence in regarding the new, modern world they find themselves in. It turns out that in her tiny village there actually was a screening of "Top Gun", of all movies, whereupon she remarks, "About a man who was in a great hurry, sometimes in jet planes and sometimes on motorbikes and sometimes upside down"! I highly recommend this one. It's intricate, beautiful, illuminating, depressing and yet, we all survive it to swim in the ocean so to speak.

Blame

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blame by Michelle Huneven

This is an

interesting story of a woman who drank in her youth and was responsible

for the death of two people in front of her house as she was arriving.

It follows her in jail, then through her release, as she makes amends

with those in her life and herself especially. There's a twist in the

end. Very enlightening as to the drinker's mind. Well read by Hillary

Huber.

This is an interesting story of a woman who drank in her youth and was responsible for the death of two people in front of her house as she was arriving. It follows her in jail, then through her release, as she makes amends with those in her life and herself especially. There's a twist in the end. Very enlightening as to the drinker's mind. Well read by Hillary Huber.

Outliers

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outliers.sm by Malcolm Gladwell

Oh how I loved this audio!!! Love the way he reads (lickety-split - just the way I like it), and LOVE the way he can encapsulate our society and culture! I'm always trying to, but can never pull it off. This addresses conclusions about what makes some people successful - (a little teaser: in has something to do with that old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall!). There are chapters that will stay with you forever, like the one addressing plane crashes and conclusions drawn from black boxes about pilot and co-pilot relations. The first chapter is about how important birth dates turn out to be when one really tracks the success of Canadian hockey players.... Makes you think. He does his hours of work that's for sure. Love him.

The Sparrow

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thesparrow by Mary Doria Russell

A really interesting blend of religion and space travel. This is a unique novel. I'd first heard of it from customers talking about the actor who has purchased the rights. I'd like to see this movie... it wouldn't be able to address quite the philosophical issues the novel can ... as it involves a Jesuit (yes - Jesuit!) inspired expedition to find the source of the 'singing' they'd discovered coming from Alpha Centauri. "How about four Jesuit priests, a young astronomer, a physician, her engineer husband, and a child prostitute turned computer expert?". Really a good ride. The encounter with the planet and species is worth it.

Under the Dome

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underthedome by Stephen King

As much as I love King, I really resisted this one as it's 1070 pages! I ended up basically swept up in this town's freaky predicament - a huge, clear dome is neatly plopped down right over them. It's nice and high, and slightly permeable, so there's time for the town to basically go crazy, and for the strong (good or bad) to seriously threaten the 'weak'. It turns out that the cause of the dome is truly fascinating. - think the very end of "Men in Black" with the marbles. The end justified the means in this book for me, and actually was the conduit for a little more sci-fi reading afterwards!

Tinkers

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Tinkers by Paul Harding (Belleview Literary Press, '09, $14.95).

This is a small gem, a magnificent novel for anyone who appreciates beautiful, insightful, poetic writing. It's endorsed on the front cover by Marilynne Robinson (Housekeeping, Gilead, Home) and considering the quality of Harding's writing - that's appropriate. This is his first novel, and I'm thinking any student he had who read this now fears that they haven't got a chance!! This is the sort of book that you stop just to look out into space and take it all in.

Wolf Hall

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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt & Co., 2009, $27.00).

Phew! and Wow! Since it's the Booker Prize winner this year, I decided to give this a try despite it's doorstop physique! This fine historical novel is an AP class in English History 1500 - 1535, the time period of Henry VIII's fight with the Catholic church. It follows Thomas Cromwell as his staunch supporter, in confrontation with Cardinal Wolsey and later Thomas More. Anne and Mary Boleyn are there, but believe me, it makes The Other Boleyn Girl look like People magazine! It's like reading Faulkner in it's depth and like nothing I've ever read before in it's detail - I felt like I was THERE.

The Financial Lives of the Poets

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The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter (Harper, 2009, $25.99)

I read great reviews of this book and remembered because the title is just so odd! Then in reading the first page, I knew I was in for a great ride. It's another one of those men-falling-apart books... a la Mark Sarvas' Harry Revised and Joseph O'Neill's Netherland. If you liked those, you'll love this. Also, it's extremely cogent as our hero Matthew Prior is a terminated journalist, a failed dot.com starter, and is facing a balloon payment his wife has no idea of. She's busy upstairs online reconnecting with an old lover, and the kids are basically fending for themselves. VERY funny, good writing and really a pleasure to get engrossed in. Read it before the economy recovers further!!!