Wednesday, September 28, 2016

I'll only buy a book for the way it looks.

I realize that it's been a little while since I've done a What Jackson Is Reading post, but I can't remember everything I've read in the Last Five Years (gratuitous use of an amazing version of "Still Hurting" by Tony winner Cynthia Erivo from a fundraiser earlier this month at Town Hall for the Brady Center) (or click here for the Anna Kendrick version from the movie, which I love). So here's a few that I've read or re-read recently. In no particular order ...

1. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.



Set in New York in the days of Watergate and crime and decline, McCann uses the amazing exploit of Philippe Petit, the French acrobat who in 1974 walked across a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, as the event uniting the stories of a series of New Yorkers -- a disaffected Irish priest, his bartender brother, a prostitute, parents who lost children in Vietnam, etc. Amazing and moving and extremely well-crafted.

2. Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo.


If I were pressed, I would probably say that Richard Russo is my favorite author. It helps, of course, that he is from a town within shouting distance of The Ancestral Homeland, but it is really about the characters he creates. In his latest book, we get a chance to visit once again with Sully and Rub and the rest of the gang in North Bath. It's a worthy sequel, but if you haven't read any Russo, you really should start with Nobody's Fool (which was made into a very fine movie starring Paul Newman as Sully) and Straight Man first.

3. May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes.


I mentioned to one of my Imaginary Friends that I think of this book as the Great American Thanksgiving Novel. In it, Homes explores the family dynamic, suburban life In These Times, redemption, lust, and a host of other issues. I can't give too much away, but if you're still reading after the first 50 pages or so (a plot development bothered some people I recommended this book to, but don't listen to them), you are in for a treat. Bonus points if you like @dick_nixon -- our hero is a Nixon scholar.

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