Great Books - Archive

The Screwtape Letters
By C.S. Lewis

This is an inspired satire by the author of The Chronicles of Narnia. Writing for grown-ups this time, Lewis creates a series of letters written by a middle-management demon, coaching his nephew who has just joined the ranks of temptation and torment. It's a sobering view of all the "random thoughts" and "coincidences" that lead us away from the life we really want to live, but so brilliantly executed that I closed the book filled with hope that I might not fall for every trick in the book from now on. If you only read one book with an ugly cover this year, The Screwtape Letters is a worthy pick.

The Dive From Clausen's Pier
by Ann Packer

I loved and hated this book. The main story - a young woman's reactions to her fiance's tragic accident - is compelling, but her thoughts and choices are so mind-numbingly selfish that I wanted to shake her. It struck me as odd how in a setting like this midwestern town, where she and her friends went in and out of each others' lives and homes like family, she could become so self-absorbed and oblivious to everyone else overnight - I'm not sure I buy it. But the writing is beautiful and I'll check out other books by this author.

Love You, Mean It
by Patricia Carrington, Julia Collins, Claudia Gerbasi, and Ann Hayes

This is a memoir by four 9/11 widows who became friends in the aftermath of that tragedy. It's poignant and beautiful and I want to hand it out to all the strident feminists from my past who insisted that women were FINE without husbands, if not better off. I'm not sure I've ever read a book that so captures what we gain when we're linked up with the right man, or what we miss when that's gone. If you're single right now, I suspect this story will inspire you to hold out for the right guy, not settle for whoever asks you out next. And if you're married, I suspect that an hour or two reading these chapters will prompt you to pick fights veeerrrry carefully, and appreciate the little stuff that makes life so good.

Blind Submission
by Debra Ginsberg

The writing in this book started out so strong that I settled in happily for what I was sure would be my new favorite book ever. Unfortunately, this is essentially THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA set in a literary agency. There is a mystery element that did it's job and kept me reading, but grew increasingly annoying as the plot became more and more unreal and I just wanted the book to be over. That said, however, the author is a fabulous writer; I suspect her non-fiction might be more up my alley.

SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
by Steve Salerno

Salerno pulls no punches, which makes this a compelling read. I love how he points out the giant elephant in the living room, almost yelling, "Hey - has anyone noticed that this stuff doesn't work???" I'm not sure I agree with his chapter on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA has helped millions of poeple, free of charge) but overall Salerno does a great job of pointing out the underside of this industry, encouraging us to look in the mirror and ask, "Why do I keep spending money on this stuff when my life isn't getting any better?"

Limbo
by A. Manette Ansay

This Ansay's memoir of the years where an undiagnosed nervous system disorder ended her piano career and put her in a wheelchair barely able to function. Somehow, though, it's not grim. Her word choices are gorgeous, and her descriptions of the events that shaped her and led her to write novels captured my attention in a way that literary writing rarely does. I'm usually not a fan of overlong descriptions of scenery, but her words transported me - to her grandmother's farm, the piano practice room at her conservatory, downtown as she withstood the awkward stares of her neighbors. The added benefit for me as I read was knowing that she is healed now, her books are bestsellers, and she's living (from what I can tell at least) quite a nice happily-ever-after. I like it when that happens :)

London Is The Best City In America
by Laura Dave

The title drew me to this book, but the story more than delivered. The main character is stuck in life, hiding out from a relationship that didn't work, pursuing a project that doesn't matter but allows her to believe she's doing something meaningful with her life. The author does a great job with the characters here, especially the brother-sister relationship as both struggle with big life choices. Well worth the reading time.

How To Be Good
by Nick Hornby

I know I'm late jumping on this bandwagon, but man can this guy write. The story is rather dark and awful - Hornby nails the inexplicable, relentless compulsion each of us has to be a "good person" (whatever that is) and the lengths we'll go searching for a life that might make that feel like enough. But in the midst of all this grim self-realization (and preposterous behavior) Hornby crafts some of the finest sentences I've seen. If you're a writer, read this book.

A Hope In The Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League
by Ron Suskind

I read this on the heels of Oprah's admission in her monthly magazine that she has given up helping disadvantaged teens in Chicago's housing projects because everything she tried failed. Now she's off to Africa. Reading this book helped me to understand why one of the richest women in the world couldn't make a difference in the generations of hopelessness these kids are born into. The book didn't give me much hope (although it is an amazing story of what this one young man accomplished) but it calmed my moral "How can she just give up like that?" outrage and made me see that we are a nation in need of a miracle.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter
by Kim Edwards

This book has been EVERYWHERE this year. Curiosity finally got the best of me and I picked it up. I'm glad I did. It's not a happy book by any stretch of the imagination, but the story development is a HUGE wake-up call to a reality we frequently ignore: that when we try to avoid risk and make choices that are "safe," we choke the life out of everything around us. I have a friend who is writing a book about how risk keeps us alive; reading THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER makes me want to tell her "Write faster!"

Strangers and Neighbors
by Maria Poggi Johnson

This is a memoir about a Catholic family living in a neighborhood of Orthodox Jews. The author does a great job describing the very real boundaries that their different spiritual traditions create, as well as the understanding she's gained living in this world where they can't just sweep all their differences under the carpet and have a big multicultural party. I totally recommend this book if you're into spiritual differences - I learned a lot and the author is unexpectedly funny.

Oh The Glory Of It All
by Sean Wilsey

Wilsey can write, and he's certainly had quite a life. But this book feels like three books rather than one - it's just too long. By the end, I'd lost track of where he'd been and how it connected to where he ended up.

My Sister's Keeper
by Jody Picoult

I liked this book so much more than I thought I would. My friend Swishy recommended it, but I was leary - it's tough to imagine how a storyline about a child created for the sole purpose of providing bone marrow and other transplants for her dying older sister could have the "happily ever after" wrap up I like. And it doesn't. But it's a fabulous story that makes you think and feel and care, and it doesn't end SO badly that I couldn't function the next day. A good recommendation - thanks, Swishy :)

The Good Life
by Jay McInerney

I didn't just read this book, I consumed it (And yes, I know that sounds a tad pretentious, but I started reading this book at 2:00 yesterday afternoon and couldn't pull myself out. I slept for a few hours, then dove back in this morning and read through til the end. Actually, now that I think of it, perhaps this book consumed me?) Anyway... If you love character-driven stories, this is a work of art. McInerney does such a good job revealing motivation, catching nuance, describing important gestures and circumstances without over-describing. And I feel like I received a 24 hour tutorial on writing dialogue. It's not a happy story, but it's also not as terrible as you might expect, given the setting. I am so glad I read this, and I'm endlessly grateful to McInerney for breaking my long book funk.

At Home in Mitford
by Jan Karon

After you read the reviews below, you'll understand why I needed the super sweet, guaranteed happy ending only Mitford can provide. Laugh if you will, but Father Tim and his town of wacky characters put a smile to my face and joy in my heart. I'll need a new copy for Christmas, though, because I dropped mine in the tub.

Lucky: A Memoir
by Alice Sebold

When I grabbed this at the bookstore, the clerk looked me straight in the eye and said, "This book will destroy you."
I'm happy to report that it didn't, but make no mistake, this is not a lighthearted read. It is, however, a compelling page-turner. Be warned that the author doesn't ever bring the happy wrap up I was waiting for. She leaves you when she's addicted to heroin and sleeping with a random guy. I found it very helpful to remind myself, "She is now happily married and a bestselling author - things turned out okay!"

Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
by Martha Beck

Beck is a fabulous writer - she accomplishes the difficult task of taking a fairly grim story of betrayal, family strife, and loss of faith and including enough funny moments to keep me turning the pages. That said, however (and I mentioned this on my blog) it's pretty disturbing that she makes a living coaching other people, as the events and choices she chronicles in this book left her ostracized from her entire family and almost every community she's ever lived in, both Mormon and non. I totally enjoyed her writing style, but the substance of her story made me wonder if she might be better served by investing her time in rebuilding her life. And when she does, I will wait in line to buy the memoir!

Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels
by Hella Winston

The Hasidic community described in this book reminded me of the Amish I read about in RUMSPRINGA (see below), only the Hasidic men and women seemed to get a lot less joy out of their faith. I found myself wanting to ask questions about what connected them to God and what they loved, but this book focused more on the strain between the desire to experience the outside world and the limitations placed on that exploration by this very insular community. Still, this was a really interesting book.

God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church
by Caroline Fraser

This book wasn't the memoir I expected. The author started out with tales from her unorthodox childhood, but then transitioned into a detailed history of the church created by Mary Baker Eddy. It was fascinating reading, and a bit disturbing. The author did a great job of sorting out a rather complicated history filled with contradictions, and it definitely kept me turning the pages.

Blue Windows: A Christian Science Childhood
by Barbara Wilson

This book was a memoir, but again, not what I expected. The author attributes her favorite characteristics about herself - her lesbianism and her militant quest for justice - to the influence of the Christian Science church and seeing strong women in leadership positions. But the bulk of the book details the myriad ways the practice of this faith ruined her life, her family, and almost everyone they knew, reducing her to decades of angst, guilt, and unhappiness. She never reconciled (or maybe she did and I missed it) how she could be so inspired by these women when what they taught brought such misery. I was incredibly glad when this book was over.

Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement
by Lauren Sandler

Oh my gosh, this book infuriated me. I'm into Jesus now, but I wasn't as a "youth," and I don't think I would have fit so well into any sort of an evangelical movement even if I had been. So I was really curious when I saw this book. Unfortunately, the author doesn't report on any movement so much as search for extreme anecdotes to support her theory that Christianity = Supression of Women (and, therefore = The End of America). Now it's true, she encountered some true wing-nuts in her travels, but lets be honest - you can find that in almost any city in America. What upset me is that when she met sincere, intelligent people, she asked them questions but didn't listen to the answers. Maybe she didn't want to know, but I did. It's taken me two weeks to review this book without resorting to entire lines of $%##$ symbols.

Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle
by Nancy French

Even from here in the heart of the Blue states, I found this book hysterical. Nancy explains a lot of things about the "fly over" states that I never understood before, as well as slipping in some heartfelt anecdotes about her first year of marriage, the challenge of moving with a young family, and why she's so patriotic. Her writing has won a place on my "books that make me happy" shelf.

The Solace of Leaving Early

by Haven Kimmel

I almost didn't finish this book because the main characters were so unlikeable. Imagine the most insuffereable and obnoxious you could ever be, then multiply that to the seventh power. (The woman reminded me of Angela from this season of Project Runway.) But I DID finish the book, and I'm glad. There aren't many authors who can take a crew of unlikable people in dire straits and give them a believably happy ending; somehow Haven Kimmel pulled it off. This book is worth the effort.

Singing With The Top Down

by Debrah Williamson

I didn't think I could take another book about kids with negligent parents, but this one took a great turn for the better early on, and I soon fell in love with the way the author weaves together unlikely characters to make a family. This book makes you want to wander out into the world and love people.

Born Again

by Kelly Kerney

This is a good story, but not for the reasons implied on the cover. It considers a young girl's crisis of faith as she questions the bizarre fundamentalist Christian world she was born into. Her real crisis, though, is less about Darwin and more about her pain-filled family. The author does a great job with this material - the characters are compelling. But the Darwin passages feel a bit gimmicky. By the end of the book I found myself skipping them to stay with the real story.

The Ragamuffin Gospel

by Brennan Manning

This book is controversial (I found out after I fell in love with it) because Manning claims that according to the Bible, God loves us and wants to help us out even when we've screwed up royally...again. Nay-sayers have spent the past decade up in arms about how Manning's theology will result in us all being lazy gluttons, but near as I can tell, that hasn't happened. (To whatever extent I'm lazy and gluttonous, it's not because God loves me...) If you're feeling like your hopes in life are hopelessly beyond reach, this is a good book to read.

To Feel Stuff

by Andrea Seigel

It's been awhile since I read a ghost story, but this one drew me in. Seigel's characters are in grim circumstances, but she gives them normal aspirations - connection, love - that makes this book enticing.

Devil In The Details: Scenes From An Obsessive Girlhood

By Jennifer Traig

This book made me laugh so hard that I made that squealing noise (you know the one where your lungs can no longer process air) and my husband rushed in to make sure I was okay. "She left the edges of the lawn unmowed!" I gasped, as if that explained everything. "You know, so the poor could glean..." Old Testament laws aren't known for their humor, but pair them up with an OCD girl in the 1970's and the whole game changes. Read this book :)

Once Upon Stilettos

By Shanna Swendson

This is the second book in an ongoing series, an adorable tale of a young girl in the big city using her super-powers to fight evil (think Harry Potter meets chick-lit). I love that her "power" is that she's immune to magic - which allows her to see past the facades of slimy guys to their true nature. Brilliant!

Once Upon a Day

By Lisa Tucker

A surprising story about the things we do to protect the ones we love. I couldn't put it down. Tucker does a fabulous job building the characters, both in terms of motivation and how they interact. She got me thinking of how much of a "quick diagnosis" society we are now, with all our self-help and pop- psychology. Sometimes (most times, perhaps) it's just not that simple. This is one of those books I look forward to re-discovering someday in the future, when I'm wandering through my bookshelves looking for something to read.

You Made Me Love You

By Joanna Goodman

The gorgeous cover on this caught my eye (I seem to be on a bit of a pink and green kick) but the story inside made me glad I grabbed it. Goodman captures how much we want to impress the people around us, particularly our parents. Her characters were so believable as they made disasterous romantic choices - it was a bit like watching a series of slow-motion car accidents for 200+ pages, hoping the air bags would all deploy. Still, I loved it.

Dear Zoe

by Philip Beard

Loved it, loved it, loved it. How a forty-something man can write a teenage girl so convincingly is beyond me, but he nails it. And it was FABULOUS to see a mixture of good and bad in the main character's life, rather than the typical, "she starts out miserable and ends up worse." This is a great blend of disappointment and excitement, and (in case I haven't mentioned it) I loved it.

To Hell With All That

by Caitlin Flanagan

This book was supposed to be a Very Big Deal in feminist/anti-feminist circles. I'm not sure why. The author's most radical position (forgive the pun) is that she has sex with her husband whenever he wants. Tough to stretch that out for 200+ pages. It might have been more interesting if she explored WHY she approaches life the way she does. But for now all I can say is, Congratulations Mr. Flanagan!

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

It's been a long time since I stayed up into the wee hours of the night because I couldn't put a book down. And if you'd told me that the next one would be about a Christian/Islamic/Hindu Indian boy stranded in a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger for seven months, I would have thought you were crazy. Amazing.

Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death

by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

I received a review copy of this from the publisher, and it's hysterical. This may be because my parents have been joking about their deaths for as long as I can remember ("That's the last time I'll have to shop for a refrigerator!" my Dad declared triumphantly fifteen years ago. My Mom wanted her ashes scattered alongside her favorite island, but that was before it was renamed in honor of George Bush. Now she wants to be scattered in the driveway so no one will slip on the ice.) I'm not sure who the target audience is, but I can honestly say I've never read anything like it.