Barbara: As the time for
holiday downtime is fast upon us (no matter what you celebrate, most of us get to at
least enjoy the off-hours), I thought I’d offer up some of my favourite
reads from this year.
My daughter recommended this
one and it is awesome: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. It is fast-paced, intensely vivid, and
often heartbreaking. Tragedy and curses lace the story, sort of like a hip,
modern-day 100 Years of Solitude. But
there is an undeniably beating heart at its core. The end took my breath away.
And it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008, so how’s that for a recommendation?
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is probably on lots of people’s
lists right now. It’s a biography of the World’s Fair in 1893 Chicago, but with
the intertwined stories of one of the worst serial killers in American history
and the epic efforts of big city dreamers and schemers, it reads very much like
page-turning fiction. Larson does write a bit melodramatically at times, but
that doesn’t detract from a really satisfying read.
Like the above book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston was on my Book Club list this
year. And it is a remarkable, amazing, poignant, brave, and singular story.
Written in 1937 when women’s lit was still trying to be taken seriously, never
mind that by African American women, this book captures time and place like few
others I’ve read. She uses dialect through much of the book, which can be hard
to read at first, but this only gets you closer and deeper into her visceral
experience. It is so captivating, a great timeless read by any standard.
Any good holiday books on your shelf???
Any good holiday books on your shelf???
