New Year, New 30 Day Book Challenge

We haven't suffered through one of these Facebook-style list projects in over a year, which means that Gianna is getting complacent.  We can't let that happen. Plus, Gianna loves list projects. They keep her on her toes and give her regular opportunities to make crass comments about my nonexistent social life.  And I need the abuse lest I become too well-balanced.  So here we go.  Want to play along?

Day 1: The Best Book You Read Last Year

Gianna:

I don't know why I agree to do these lists. Liz enjoys making me crazy, and I guess I feel the need to make Liz happy. Maybe 2014 will be the year I refuse to do these Sophie's Choice type of lists but for now...here we go. We will be doing one question a day for the next 30 days.

favorite book of 2012

I really did love Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, but if pressed (and I do feel pressed) I would have to say that Jeanette Winters memoir, Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?, edges it out ever so slightly. I actually kind of feel guilty about it.

2nd favorite book of 2012...

I know Boo’s book is big, bold, and important [just like me!--Liz], but there was something so personal in Winterson’s memoir that my gut reaction is going to pick it as my year-end favorite. That’s it, not going to go back and try to change this later. I’ve made my choice. I guess. 

I will say without hesitation however,  Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? is the best title of the year. It refers to a heartfelt question that Winterson's mother asked her and in fact, I think it's a question that many parents of gay and lesbians used to wonder (or maybe still do). Normal...no thanks. 

Jeanette Winterson...not "normal"

Liz

What can I say? I am a sucker for the John Cheever-esque family saga. Families broken open in the midst of their American dream lives satisfy my fiction loving soul.  Thus, I'm picking In Between Days by Andrew Porter as my favorite book of 2012 (followed closely by Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son because I also can't get enough of the crazy that is North Korea).  Andrew Porter's first novel is terrific.

Andrew Porter

Living in the middle of Houston (America's center of urban sprawl?), the Hardings are a family starting to unravel.  Patriarch Elson was supposed to be a major player in the architecture community, but by mid life he hasn't lived up to his promise, and he's recently separated from his wife, Cadence.  Their older child, Richard, has just graduated from Rice, but instead of following his writing aspirations, he is lingering at home and working a food service job while attending parties at a professor's house at night.  And then there's Chloe.  Attending school in the East, Chloe is sent home unexpectedly and won't talk to the rightfully concerned members of her family.

This is a story of family, modern life, the rot under surface of "the good life." It's a book about unfulfilled dreams.  Best of all, it's a literary novel with terrific writing that doesn't bog down.  It's a book that's stuck in my head.

Best of 2012: Day 4

Right about now, I'm trying to figure out what Gianna is giving me for Christmas.  I am sure she's debating between Zorro related first aid accessories and a trip to Banff National Park.  It's a tough choice.  Anyway, here are a few more of our favorite books of the year.

Gianna:

Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen

Kristen Iversen

The term "full body burden" refers to the amount of radioactivity which can be safely tolerated by a human body through its lifetime.  These are the things you learn when you live downwind from a top secret nuclear weapons plant, as Iversen did. This is a fascinating account of Rocky Flats, the plutonium factory just outside of Denver.

I love talking about this book; it's an absolute page turner and completely riveting. It's what I like to call a ‘holy shit’ book. "Wait, there were barrels of plutonium sitting outside the plant for years and years…and they were leaking? Holy shit! Wait, there is literally tons of plutonium missing? Holy shit!" See?  [Look! Gianna bought Liz a first edition of Mrs. Dalloway, signed by Virginia Woolf in her signature purple ink? HOLY SHIT!]

This book has everything: government cover ups, nuclear accidents, plant fires, poisoned water, birth defects, and cancer. Don’t worry though, all ends well; Rocky Flats is now a wildlife refuge. You can camp there. Have fun.

The Plain in Flames by Juan Rulfo

Juan Rulfo

While not a new book by any stretch of the imagination, it is a new translation with two original stories restored in this version.

I’ve written about this book a bit, but I think it's worth repeating that I had never read Rulfo before, but this short collection is one of the best I have read in years. This book immediately went on my all time favorite list.  

Liz:

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Sometimes good things happen to good people.  The Random House world was buzzing about Cheryl Strayed's memoir of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail--the anti-Eat Pray Love--months before it was released, and booksellers seconded our enthusiasm.  What we didn't know at that time was that Cheryl had been writing the "Dear Sugar" advice column for The Rumpus anonymously, and that what started as a standard advice column would become wise, compassionate ruminations on love.  We didn't know that Sugar would be revealed as Cheryl, that Vintage would publish the "Dear Sugar" essays as Tiny, Beautiful Things, and we didn't know that Oprah would restart her book club and select Wild as her first pick.  We certainly didn't know, either, that Cheryl would be relentless in her desire to meet readers and sign books.  I think she toured for about a year, all told, and she's hitting the road again when Wild comes out in paperback in 2013.

Cheryl Strayed

What we didn't know is Cheryl, but many of us had the opportunity to meet her in person, and many, many more readers had the opportunity to meet her through her writing.  As detailed in Wild, Cheryl hit rock bottom after her mother's sudden death (a rapid decline from cancer), the break-up of her family support, dead-end jobs, dead-end relationships, and self-medicating.  On a bit of a whim, she decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Arizona to Oregon, alone.  Through mishaps and pains and the drudgery of placing one foot in front of the other, she begins to pull herself back from the edge.  Along the way, she sees beautiful landscapes and meets other hikers and comes to terms with her demons.  And the Cheryl in Wild is, from what I can tell, the real Cheryl--tough, wise, compassionate, and an author for whom we all cheer.  She's good people.

In Between Days by Andrew Porter

I love this novel.  I love this novel so much that I've written about it, like, three times before on our little blog.  Here's what I said one of those times:

Set in Houston (how often can you say that about literary fiction?), Porter's novel is the story of a family imploding.  Long married parents have split, the older son--a recent college graduate who wants to be a poet--is working food service and attending reckless parties at night, and the younger daughter, Chloe, has been asked to leave her college under mysterious circumstances.  The story gets rolling with Chloe coming home and refusing to discuss why she's no longer welcome at school.  Here is a classically told, great novel along the lines of a Raymond Carver or John Cheever, and I'm willing to state it here: one day Andrew Porter will win a Pulitzer or National Book Award.

Andrew Porter

Andrew Porter is a literary writer on the ascent, and my fervent hope is that he'll continue writing so that I can continue raving about his work.  I also sort of hope that he wins major awards so that reputable sources of information discover that we harassed him with our Generally Horrible Questions.  I want a writer to give an interview with Barbara Walters and state that his/her biggest regret wasn't the sex tape, it was the foolish decision to choose between Liz and Gianna (and the correct answer is still "Liz").

Liz and Gianna's Bad Ass Book Fall Preview, Part 2

For part two, I, Liz, am highlighting the titles from the portion of Random House that I sell.  To say that there are some great books this fall is an understatement.  I love these books.  These are books that I'm adding to my collection so that years from now I can look back and recall how much I love them.  Or, you know, in the post-apocalyptic future, it will be helpful to have reading material to pass the time until the virus claims me too.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (out now)
This first novel is one of the most buzzed about books among the booksellers I call upon, and for good reason.  This is not just another post-apocalyptic novel.  It's the story of Hig, a pilot in Colorado, his dog Jasper, and his gun-toting neighbor who lacks social graces.  It's the story of a desperate man listening for signs of life over the radio and hoping for more than just the reality he sees out his window.  But two things really distinguish The Dog Stars. 1. The writing.  Peter Heller's prose is poetic, and there are some truly beautifully written sentences here, even though you could view this book as an adventure story. 2. The nature.  Heller has previously written two non-fiction books, and has worked for the likes of National Geographic.  The Dog Stars captures the beauty of the woods and mountains and animals in a way that makes you want to go fishing (not that I fish), or hiking through the woods with your pooch (not that Zorro is a dog or is allowed outside).  One of my colleagues at Random House described The Dog Stars as "The Road meets A River Runs Through It."  That sums it up nicely.

In Between Days by Andrew Porter (out now)
Andrew Porter was foolish enough to answer our generally horrible questions, but in spite of the author's poor judgment, I'm still a crazy fan of his work and this book.  Set in Houston (how often can you say that about literary fiction?), Porter's novel is the story of a family imploding.  Long married parents have split, the older son--a recent college graduate who wants to be a poet--is working food service and attending reckless parties at night, and the younger daughter, Chloe, has been asked to leave her college under mysterious circumstances.  The story gets rolling with Chloe coming home and refusing to discuss why she's no longer welcome at school.  Here is a classically told, great novel along the lines of a Raymond Carver or John Cheever, and I'm willing to state it here: one day Andrew Porter will win a Pulitzer or National Book Award.

The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin (September)
The third branch of government is a source of constant fascination for me, and as far as I'm concerned, no one writes about the Supreme Court better than Jeffrey Toobin.  Toobin would be on the shortlist of authors with whom I'd like to dine.  Or kidnap.  The Nine chronicled the Supreme Court during the Rehnquist years, and to an extent The Oath picks up where it left off, following the ascent of John Roberts as Chief Justice and the changes that came to the Court when the political slant of the Court turned right.  Here, also, is the story of Barack Obama's ascent to the Presidency, and the relationship between Democratic White House led by a pragmatist politician and, to borrow a phrase, the legislation from the bench that has occurred since the balance of power in the Supreme Court fell under Roberts's control.  What I like about Toobin is that he treats his readers like intelligent, curious people, and makes complex court cases accessible and fascinating. I consider both The Nine and The Oath required reading.  Consider these books your continuing education in American civics, taught by the type of professor whose classes are standing room only. I love this book so much that I wore Yankees attire for a week just to glimpse the early manuscript.

The Phantom by Jo Nesbo (October)
Harry Hole!  My favorite detective is back!  Yes, I love Nesbo's detective in part because he's named Harry Hole and I like to say "Harry Hole," but I'm sure that Harry Hole doesn't sound so dirty in Nesbo's native Norway.  Nesbo's character is a guy to root for, and his mysteries are well-paced police procedurals of the first order.  If you read last year's The Snowman, you'll recall that Harry finally was happy, in a committed relationship with a woman and learning to love her son, Oleg.  If you read The Snowman, though, you'll know that Frosty drove them apart.  In The Phantom, Oleg is back, and in trouble.  Fans of Stieg Larsson will love Jo Nesbo, and dive right in.  This series doesn't have to be read in order.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe (October)
This memoir is incredible.  Will Schwalbe is a veteran in the publishing biz, the former Editor in Chief at Hyperion.  He is possibly the nicest guy in the world.  I'm not kidding.  This book is the story of Will's mother, an incredible woman who was, among other things, the first female head of admissions at Harvard and a lifelong advocate for education.  She made Will into the nicest person in the world, and a wonderful book nerd.  And then she is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Will begins to accompany his mother to the endless treatments and doctors' visits, and anyone who's ever faced cancer as either a patient or loved one of a patient knows this experience.  The treatment of cancer is a whole hell of a lot of hurry up and wait, and wait, and wait.  Instead of watching TV, or bemoaning the situation, or wallowing, Will and his mother form a two person book group and read together.  They read books they've always intended to read, and then in the doctors' offices and cancer wards they discuss the books they are reading.  Those books become entry points for bigger conversations about life, and the relationship between mother and son, and the fears that we all will face at the end of our lives.  Yes, this is a book about death, but it's also a book about love and life.  And it's a book for lovers of books, from The Hobbit to Crossing to Safety to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  This memoir is incredible.

Building Stories by Chris Ware (October)

If you like cool, structural, graphic, and intricate, you like Chris Ware.  The top dog in the world of graphic literary fiction, this newest "book" is a collection of artifacts and bookish lore inside a box the size of a board game.  Here Ware weaves together the lives of the residents in a three story apartment building in Chicago to create a masterpiece.  I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on this book.

The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham (October)
I consider one of my Random House colleagues to be a literary soul mate, so when he calls me and recommends a book, I pay attention.  That's exactly what he did with The News from Spain, a collection of short stories that left me moved and spellbound.  Who is Joan Wickersham?  Why haven't I been reading her work before now?  Because I love this book.  Every story is titled "The News from Spain," and that phrase links them together and serves as catalyst (though none are, you know, actually set in Spain).  These stories explore love as a theme, the need for people to relate to others, and they are straight-forward, beautiful, and moving.  The one that sticks in my mind involves a paralyzed woman longing for her husband but in the care of a home health worker.  To deal with her loneliness, they together compose stories around the life of her cat, and in the end it is the home health worker who provides her the care she needs emotionally.  These stories--definitely something special.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan (November)

Holy crap, it's a new Ian McEwan novel!  It's terrific too!  In Sweet Tooth, McEwan is playing with the spy novel genre, and it's a book where you just trust that you're in the hands of a genius and go with it.  "Sweet Tooth" is the code name for a project at MI-6, and we're in the early 70's, the middle of the Cold War.  Serena Frome has a short affair in college that leads her down the path to becoming an intelligence officer, and when she joins Sweet Tooth her mission is to recruit novelists to combat communism on a cultural level. Why not?  The communists are writing propaganda, right?  Serena finds Tom, an up-and-coming writer whose stories she loves, and she convinces Tom that he has won a literary grant that will allow him to write full time.  Serena and Tom fall in love.  This being Ian McEwan, though, there are twists and there are half-truths and their are the repercussions of those lies.

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks (November)
I have semi-regular hallucinations.  For real.  As a migraine sufferer, I know a headache is coming when I suddenly get this visual aura; my vision blurs into a bright, crystalline world that jiggles back and forth.  Imagine standing behind one of those clouded glass shower doors, then having someone shine a giant floodlight through it while you shake back and forth like a metronome.  That's sort of what I see.  In his new book, Oliver Sacks explores the world of hallucinations, from the insane to the ill, the sensory deprived, the intoxicated, the sleepy, the drugged.  Sacks is the legend of brain science who wrote Musicophilia and Awakenings, among his many books, and this one promises to be fascinating.

Dear Life by Alice Munro (November)

Every time Gianna and I talk about favorite writers, Alice Munro's name will come up.  Is there anyone else writing today who merits such praise and has become a literary giant by strictly sticking to the short story format?  Alice is the master.  Period.  Allow me to quote from the publisher's description of Dear Life: "Suffused with Munro's clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, these stories (set in the world Munro has made her own: the countryside and towns around Lake Huron) about departures and beginnings, accidents, dangers, and homecomings both virtual and real, paint a vivid and lasting portrait of how strange, dangerous, and extraordinary the ordinary life can be."  Gianna and I ate breakfast together this morning (migas, Diet Coke for me, ice tea for her), and the conversation of course turned to books.  And I knew before she even said the words that she would ask for a copy of this book.  Every Alice Munro book is a collection to savor and cherish.

Generally Horrible Questions: Andrew Porter

A couple of years ago, I (Liz) discovered a short story collection called A Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter.  I was hooked.  In Theory, I discovered an incredible writer, an old school writer in the best sense.  It didn't hurt at all when I learned that the author lived in Texas, and that one of my publishers, Vintage, picked up the paperback rights to Theory.  Jump forward a year, to sales conference and a dinner with editors at which I sat beside Andrew Porter's editor.  She began to tell me about the novel Knopf would be publishing, and I was bouncing around giddily (if internally).  That novel, In Between Days, lived up to my expectations.  Set in Houston and centered on a family in crisis, it's a marvel of a classic, literary novel--wonderful prose, well-written characters, and a gripping plot.  The parents have split after years of marriage, and their older child has just graduated from college and is searching for himself and his voice as a writer.  His younger sister, Chloe, has been in college in the Northeast, but she is sent home from school and isn't talking about the reasons.  Her arrival sets the novel in motion.  In Between Days went on sale this week, so now seemed like the perfect time to submit Andrew Porter to our horrible questions (might as well harass 'em before they are too big for us and they realize they can say no, right?).

Here you go--generally horrible questions for Andrew Porter:

1. You won the Flannery O’Connor Prize for Short Fiction for your short story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter. What exactly is the prize? Did you win a peacock? What’d you name your peacock?

Skippy is a lovely name for a peacock.

No, I didn’t get a peacock, but I got the next best thing. After winning the award, the University of Georgia Press (who sponsor the contest) flew me to Flannery O’Connor’s hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia to give a reading and visit her farm. The property itself is enormous and pretty amazing. You can see the barn where that famous scene in “Good Country People” takes place, the small house where the immigrant couple in “The Displaced Person” lived, and, of course, you can also see a bunch of peacocks! [...So...you stole the peacock?  That's excellent.]

2. Describe your literary odyssey—how did you become a writer?
Well, that’s probably too long a story to tell in detail here, so I’ll give you the short version. Like a lot of writers, I caught the writing bug in a college fiction workshop. Soon after, I abandoned my dreams of becoming a filmmaker, pursued an MFA at the University of Iowa, and then spent the next eight years or so looking for ways to support myself financially (mostly through teaching) while I finished my first book. It’s not an uncommon path these days, and it certainly wasn’t an easy path, but that’s the one I took.

3. I’ve never read _____________ and I’m so ashamed.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. My students reference this book constantly in class, and I always feel embarrassed that I haven’t read it. I know it’s a short book, and having read a lot of his other novels, there’s really no excuse other than the fact that I have an eleventh-month-old daughter now and not nearly enough time to read.

For shame!

4. I’ve read ________________ and I’m so ashamed.
I’m going to plead the fifth here! [New rule in Book Land: "the fifth" is code for Fifty Shades of Grey.]

5. Your new novel, In Between Days, is set in the Houston neighborhood of Montrose. What is your connection to Houston and this neighborhood?
I lived in the Montrose area of Houston for one year on two separate occasions in the late ‘90s. I have a deep affinity for that area of Houston, in particular, and still think of my time there, and the city in general, very fondly.

6. On a sales call, we heard from your editor something to the effect that you actually lost your work and gave up writing for awhile (sorry I’m fuzzy on the details—it’s been months since I heard the story). Tell us about it?
During my second year in Houston, my apartment was robbed, my computer and back-up disks were stolen, and I lost the vast majority of everything I’d written up until that point in my life, including a nearly completed manuscript of my first book. I came very close to throwing in the towel at that point, but fortunately stuck with it and (eight years later) finally published my first book. [Recently my house was burgled and the thief/thieves ignored everything except my TV and Wii.  Did you have a note on your computer case that said "the good stuff's in here?"  I'm insulted that my thieves ignored my books and such.]

Andrew Porter

7. You teach at Trinity University in San Antonio. Liz attended Southwestern University in Georgetown. The two schools are rivals to the extent that Division III schools can be rivals. Why does Trinity suck so much?
Well, for Liz’s sake, I wish I could say that it does, but the truth is I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent at Trinity. Sorry, Liz! [I'm reworking my best book of the year list based entirely on this answer.]

8. The action in In Between Days is set in motion when the daughter of a family is sent home from college under mysterious circumstances. Did you start writing knowing what the issue would be, or did it come to you while in the process of developing the characters?
I actually made a conscious decision not to decide why Chloe was sent home from college until I was about ¾ of the way through the novel. I figured that if I knew the answer to this question I’d inadvertently give it away to the reader, so, the truth is, the moment the reader finds out what happened at her college is the same moment I found out myself.

Wrong Grail.
Prepare to age horribly.

9. Liz or Gianna? (This is a question we ask everyone, and the catch is that there is a correct answer. Choose wisely. Imagine you’re Indiana Jones and one of us is your Holy Grail.)
That’s like asking me to choose Lennon or McCartney, Gilbert or Sullivan, Bogie or Bacall. Can we call it a tie? [No.  The correct answer is always "Liz."  You have chosen poorly.]

10. What book(s) changed your life?
Where I’m Calling From (the collected stories of Raymond Carver), The Collected Stories of John Cheever, Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Crime and Punishment, Drown by Junot Diaz, The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek, and, most recently, all of Maile Meloy’s books. [We love everything about this list!]

11. What book do you think is woefully under-read, and why?

Great pick!

One of my all-time favorite short story collections is Sweet Talk by Stephanie Vaughn. For over a decade it was out of print, but fortunately it was republished last February by Other Press. Everyone who loves short stories should read that book! [And this is a great pick.  Are you trying to make up for liking Trinity?]

12. What do you think distinguishes Houston as a setting for stories?
Personally, I’ve always been fascinated with the history of Houston, in particular the oil boom of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s and of course the subsequent crash. I think the prosperity and tragedy of those years really defined the city in certain ways and also greatly affected many of the people who lived through them. So, as a backdrop for fiction, Houston (and that period of time in particular) has always appealed to me. On top of that, I think the city, in general, is incredibly diverse, and as a fiction writer that gives you a lot of freedom to explore a lot of different types of characters from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds living in pretty close proximity to each other. Of course, there are many other reasons, but those are just a few.

13. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “I don’t follow baseball and therefore don’t understand the question” and 10 being “I’m so outraged that I’m in the midst of a hunger strike,” how upset are you about the Astros’ switch to the American League next year? (We’re big baseball fans, so we often ask baseball related questions. Gianna roots for the Cubs and therefore will be in therapy for many, many years trying to come to terms with her unending disappoint, and Liz is a lifelong Astros fan.)
Though I’m a lifelong Pirates fan, and therefore (like Gianna) constantly heartbroken, I do have a fondness for the Astros and strongly believe they should stay in the National League. So I’ll say an “8.” [According to our scale, 8 equates to "Bud Selig is the Anti-Christ."  That's acceptable.]

14. What are you working on presently? Care to give us a sneak peak? I (Liz) am your number one fan! Misery references are deliberate, Mr. Man.
I’d love to give you a sneak peak, but everything I’m working on right now is pretty rough. To be more specific, though, I have the beginnings of a new novel project and also a couple of new short stories in the works.

Don't be surprised if you meet Liz and she looks
like this!  

Thanks so much for the questions and your interest in my work. This has been a lot of fun!

Thank you!  Texas people--Andrew Porter is going to be reading and signing at BookPeople in Austin on Monday, September 10, at Brazos Bookstore in Houston on September 12, and at The Twig Bookshop in San Antonio on September 22.  We don't think it would be inappropriate to dust off the VW van and follow him around like he's the Grateful Dead.  I'm sure he likes tie-dye.

Sale Conference, More Awkwardness from the Land of the Socially Inept

Liz again here.  I returned from Florida and the Random House sales conference late on Sunday, and then have tried to recover and soothe the raving, blood-thirty beast (the cat).  Gianna says that I should post some more thoughts about sales conference.  I'm too scared of her not to follow her directions.

What's sales conference like?

Dr. Seuss hats for all!
Dignity for none!

• There's a lot of sitting in uncomfortable chairs, and for a conference at which books are discussed round the clock, there's never any time to actually read.  
• The bar in the hotel is designated as a hospitality suite, and if you wear your name tag you can drink as much as you want.  There are always a few people who think that gettin' sloppy with the colleagues is a great finish to a day...and there are always a few people who think that spending time in the hospitality suite is its own ring of hell.  
• Every company has its inside jokes and jokesters.  Some are actually funny.  More are not.  
• I always feel sorry for the tourists who are staying at the resort and are surrounded by hundreds of Random House employees.  That said, these people have the pool all to themselves all day.  I did have a view of the pool from my hotel room...so of course I took a bunch of pictures of the people with the man boobs testing the theory of water displacement eight floors below me.  
• Sonny Mehta is there.  Sonny is the Editor in Chief of Knopf.  We follow him into the bookish abyss with reckless abandon.
• Oh yeah, and we talk about a bunch of books, some of which are truly exciting.  

Here's an early tease for a book coming out this fall:

Andrew Porter teaches at Trinity University in San Antonio, and though Trinity is the hated rival of my alma mater, Southwestern University, I set aside petty rivalries of liberal arts institutions with Division III NCAA status (no scholarship athletes) for local authors.  Andrew wrote a brilliant short story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter, a couple of years ago, which ended up winning the Flannery O'Connor Award.  Now he's delivered his first novel, In Between Days.

Andrew Porter

In Between Days echoes John Cheever or Richard Yates, and I mean that as the highest compliment.  Much fiction these days either is post-apocalyptic or else off-putting-ly clever (clever for the sake of cleverness), and while I admire some narrative manipulation, it can also become tiresome.  Andrew Porter simply writes beautiful sentences about normal people in normal times...if one can claim that these are normal times.  His novel is set in Houston and is centered on a family coming apart.  The father, Elson Harding, an architect, has divorced his wife of 30 years, Cadence.  Their son Richard is adrift, still living at home after graduating from college and dabbling at writing poetry.  He's full of angst, naturally.  Their daughter Chloe suddenly has to come home from her East Coast college, though, and the circumstances around her arrival pitch the family into turmoil.  There's a tension here, as well as an attention to detail without getting lost in the details, that makes In Between Days one of my favorite upcoming novels.  I know it's very early, but jot down this title for the fall.  You'll thank me.

That's it from Florida, but here's one last picture for you:

Moobs.