Getting Lost in a Good Book (or 21)

I’ve always been a reader, from my childhood on, and the allure of getting lost in a good book has never released its grip on me. Since my retirement in June 2022, I’ve been reading a lot. Here are some of my favorite books from the past year; let me know your thoughts about these or others!

Fiction

100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez – Márquez’s fantastical epic about the Colombian Buendia family is one of the greatest books I’ve read.

Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier – Outstanding literary novel about a wounded Civil War soldier’s desertion and return to home. Beautifully written prose.

Age of Vice, Deepti Kapoor – Great fictional account of a poor Indian boy’s introduction to the Indian mafia, his rise and fall within, and his ultimate redemption.

The Slope of Memory, José Geraldo Vieira – A cerebral tale of a Brazilian writer that is like a mashup of a D.H. Laurence novel and the philosophical dialectic of Plato’s Republic (but much more entertaining than I’m making it sound). Vieira is considered among the greatest Brazilian writers; his grandson, a friend of my brother’s and an academic heavyweight, recently translated it from the original Portuguese to English.

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway – The unparalleled story of unrequited love between a wounded World War I veteran and a baroness. Hemingway’s ability to expose with dialogue complex relationships between multiple characters is incredible.

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes – This 400-year-old parody of stories of knighthood, such as Le Morte d‘Arthur, is fun and timeless, but very long.

Rabbit, Run, John Updike – The first of the great author’s novels that track Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom through his aimless life of quick gratification.

Couples, John Updike – An examination of couples in a small New England community as they explore the sexual permissiveness of the early 1960s.

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr – Set in World War II Europe, this excellent novel depicts the relationship of a blind girl and her anti-fascist father as they try to evade the Nazis.

Diamond Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver – An update to Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, this tale looks at the challenges of overcoming rampant drug dependency and economic hardship in rural western Virginia.

Harlem Shuffle, Colson Whitehead – This contemporary writer who has won two Pulitzers has a slick, slangy writing style that reminds me of a Black hip J.P. Donleavy.

The Crook Manifesto, Colson Whitehead – Like Harlem Shuffle, this is another in a series of Whitehead’s novels that follow protagonist Ray Carney through his balancing act between straight businessman and criminal.

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead – This Pulitzer Prize winning work is a fictional account of a real event in a Florida camp for troubled boys in the 1960s.

Slough House, Nick Herron – The first installment of a series centered around British spy River Cartwright and made into an entertaining Apple TV series called Slow Horses.

Dead Lions, Nick Herron – Another installment in the River Cartwright series but not as good as the first.

The Ginger Man, J.P. Donleavy – I first discovered the brilliant Donleavy in college, with A Fairy Tale of New York. The Ginger Man is a comedic story about a scoundrel who leeches his way through Ireland, using and alienating everyone in his orbit.

The Lady who Liked Clean Restrooms, J.P. Donleavy – A different type of story from Donleavy, this novella replaces the frenetic, Joycean style of his other works for a more placid presentation. The main character isn’t quite as despicable, either.

Non-fiction

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, Rick Atkinson – One of my favorite narrative historians, Atkinson paints a vivid picture of the beginnings of the Revolutionary War in this, the first of a planned trilogy on the subject.

The Islander, Tomas O’Crohan – A memoir by a native of Great Blasket Island off Ireland’s west coast. The island consisted of a single village of fishermen and their families, untouched by modern civilization, that survived until 1955.

On an Irish Island, Robert Kanigel – This linguist and playwright spent many years visiting Blasket to learn the pure dialect of the people. The account tells of his relationships to the various characters there.

A Short History of the 1916 Rising, Richard Killeen – A short version of Ireland’s insurrection against its British overseers that ultimately led to the Republic’s independence in 1922.