Knopf 100--Day 21

Before we get to today's picks, I'd like to point out that this is the 500th post we've made to this crappy, half-assed book blog. I think that the only proper celebration would be for Gianna to bring me brownies. 500 brownies. It's okay if that many brownies makes me vomitous; this blog does as well. Bring on the books!

77. Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru, originally published in 2012. This book has some of my favorite things...like possible aliens, and national parks, and multiple, interconnected plot lines. The novel begins with an autistic child disappearing while he and his parents--at their wit's end with raising a disabled child--are on vacation in the Mojave Desert. The Pinnacles, the rock formation where the child vanishes, are a focal point for the book and site for native legends, a desert cult, a rock star, a bunch of weird occurrences. Hari Kunzru is probably a genius.

78: Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montifiore, originally published in 2004. Oh Stalin, be still my heart! I love (biographies of) totalitarian dictators and I love Russian/Soviet history. Throw in that Montifiore writes great histories that aren't in any way dull. Stalin is fascinating reading, from power plays and eliminating one's rivals to controlling one's country's popular culture on every level. I love this book and Joe's bushy mustache.

79. Find a Way by Diana Nyad, originally published in 2015. Diana Nyad is the woman who, at age 64, swam from Cuba to the United States in open ocean. I read her memoir Find a Way expecting it to be cheesy, but I wanted to know why the hell anyone would want to swim 100 miles nonstop in the ocean. Or anywhere. It's a crazy endeavor. What I didn't expect was how much I'd love this book. Nyad is truly inspirational without taking for granted anything in her life. From an abusive childhood she found peace in open water swimming and became the first woman to swim around Manhattan. In her 20's she attempted the Cuba swim several times, but each time she failed. After a successful broadcasting career, in her 60's Nyad realized that she'd left a dream unfulfilled. Most of this book is the story of her impossible quest, the failed attempts, the people who carried her through jellyfish and sharks and fatigue and pain, and the strength of following one's dreams. It's not cheesy at all and I now consider Nyad one of my heroes.

80. Mating by Norman Rush, originally published in 1991. Mating is another book I borrowed from my boyfriend once upon a time. Unlike Gianna, though, I never stole any of these borrowed books. Here's the thing about Mating: I'm an educated person with degrees in English and History. I read constantly. And I've never needed to look up as many vocabulary words as when I was reading this book (luckily the boyfriend had a dictionary on hand). Set in Botswana, Mating is the story of a woman with an anthropology thesis in progress that's going nowhere when she meets the head of what seems to be a utopian society on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. She is lustful and this novel is a unique, literary tale of romance and the exotic erotic.

Best of 2012: Day 5

Chris Ware's Building Stories. Better than Jane Seymour's jewelry.

I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that anything we've featured on our Best of 2012 lists would make a better gift than any item from Jane Seymour's Open Hearts collection of jewelry.  How can I be so bold?  These books are original works that offer a variety of perspectives on the world and tell stories that need to be told...and they don't stink up a joint like the world's worst celebrity trite crap.  On a related note, guess what I'm getting Gianna for Christmas?  Anyway, here's the wrap-up to our week of favorite books.

Gianna:

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo,
National Book Award winner.

 This is my favorite book of the year, in any category. The writing alone is simply gorgeous. Like Mountains Beyond Mountains or Cutting for Stone, ultimately this book is inspiring. Boo, not satisfied with the cliché exotic descriptions of a quickly changing India, wanted a more realistic portrayal--a gut check of sorts--of how this nation was changing the lives of the poor.

Boo spent over three years following residents of Annawadi, a Mumbai slum of 3,000 people just outside of the Mumbai International Airport. While India’s fortunes are certainly changing for some, Boo focuses on the lives that go unchanged for the most part. The hustle of the slum is unimaginable; nuns at an orphanage selling expired donated foods to poor women, who then in turn resell it at roadside stands. Abdul, who you will come to love, is a trash picker who supports his entire family, and he dreams of a better life. You won’t forget him.

Mumbai slum.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I know you’re tired of hearing about it. I know. It took my own girlfriend a year to finally decide to take me up on this recommendation, so I get it…but come on, don’t you want to be better than my girlfriend?

This is the novel that you will read, and then immediately want to talk to someone about, and then you call that someone and they haven’t read it and you realize…you can’t talk about the book without giving it away. And then you get pissed off at your friend for not having read the book. See, books divide friends and family.  They are evil!

A wife goes missing, the husband lies to the police (don’t ever lie to the police), his lie is revealed, and he is now the suspect. Just when you think you know who did this woman in…well, just read the book.  

Starring in the movie of Gone Girl

Liz:

Building Stories by Chris Ware

Is it possible that the most accomplished work of fiction this year is a graphic novel?  Yes.  Usually I don't go for that "a picture is worth a thousand words" saying.  I'm a word person.  I actually frequently dream in type, where instead of speaking, conversations are typed like manuscripts.  I'd rather have a thousand words that express nuance and beauty and turmoil.  In the case of Chris Ware, he is capable of detailing the slightest twinge of emotion in every illustration panel.  This book is a masterpiece.

Chris Ware

Consider Building Stories like a short story collection of interconnected narratives.  These are stories that together form a larger tale about the residents of a three story Chicago apartment building.  The women of this building live lives of quiet desperation with occasional moments of beauty and humor.  And the bee that lives outside offers a different perspective on the world they all inhabit.  Ten years in the making, Building Stories is the most innovative, creative, beautiful book of the year.

Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

The upside of a book coming out in the spring is that it isn't as packed with holiday titles and mega hits, so a book has a better chance of getting noticed.  The downside is that sometimes the spring releases are forgotten when the critics compile their annual lists.  Gods Without Men was a March title; human embryos have gone to term and squirted into the world since this title went on sale.  Nonetheless, it's a 2012 release and one of my favorite books of the year.

It's no secret that I'm a David Mitchell fan, and when I read Gods Without Men, I remembered how much I loved Cloud Atlas when I first read it.  Hari Kunzru's novel weaves together multiple stories across decades, geographically centered around a rock formation called The Pinnacles, in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  It's a sacred site for Native Americans, a gathering place for hippies and new age spiritualists, and a tourist attraction inside a national park.  

Hari Kunzru

Gods Without Men starts with a family hoping for a miracle in the desert.  On vacation, Jaz and Lisa are hoping to save their marriage.  Their relationship has been strained by the public outbursts of their autistic son Raj, and one morning they hike to The Pinnacles with Raj.  And then Raj disappears.  What starts with the disappearance of a child in the wilderness snakes back to the religious group that worshiped at the site during the 60's, and to the people who live in the area in the present day.  It weaves in drug dealers with Coyote the Trickster legends.  I love this book.

Happy Paranormal Day!

Oliver, our youngest fan,
 with his Pete the Cat doll.
Both are too cool for this blog.

According to the nifty internet holiday calendar that Gianna emailed to me, today is auspicious.  Sure, there's National Day of Prayer; that's fine.  Also, today is National Two Different Colored Shoes Day, but I don't think I could post an entire piece about Pete the Cat.  I like Pete, but let's be honest...he's a bit juvenile.  Therefore we're going with Paranormal Day, and I'll spare you the wisecracks about the irony of the paranormal  and the praying on the same day.

Gods Without Men.  The latest book from super-talented Hari Kunzru is a revelation, a declaration of great literary promise arriving on the scene full force.  Fans of David Mitchell or Adam Johnson's acclaimed The Orphan Master's Son (which I declared the best book of the year back in January because I'm ballsy like that) must read Gods Without Men as well.

Hari Kunzru

Kunzru, like David Mitchell with Cloud Atlas, manages to blend several stories into a single, powerful narrative of time and place.  Gods Without Men follows the story of a family in crisis, a mother and father at odds with each other, a relationship strained by the birth and years of raising a severely autistic son.  Desperate, they head West on vacation and hope that the change of scenery will provide respite.  While walking through Joshua Tree National Park, the couple suddenly realizes their son is no longer by their sides.  Call the National Guard.  Add to this the Native American coyote legends with a decidedly modern--coyote makes meth--twist.  Ooh, and then there's a 60's hippie cult preparing for the aliens.  (See? I am loosely connecting this stuff to Paranormal Day.)  Leaving San Francisco to live life more fully, a young woman joins the group heading for Joshua Tree to prepare for the UFOs.  All of the stories, and a sense of the freedom and wildness of the American West, mesh into a compelling narrative.  And Hari Kunzru has serious literary chops.  The guy can write.

I think Gianna might be an alien.  She freaks me out.