“Books open the world for us; they are an incalculable, immeasurable gift,” wrote Khaled Hosseini in defence of The Kite Runner, which joined a growing list of titles ‘under review’ or challenged by school boards in the U.S. On World Book Day I recommend several books that entertained and/or enlightened me this past year.
FICTION
- In the movie “Jerry Maguire” Renée Zellwegger says a now memorable line to Tom Cruise: “You had me at hello.” So too did Jann Arden (yes, the Canadian singer-songwriter) have me with her prologue to The Bittlemores (2023), a rowdy, original and funny story that resembles a fairy tale with clearly depicted villains, damsels in distress, and talking cows.
- The Personal Librarian (2021), co-written by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, is easy, informative reading about financier J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) and, more important, Belle la Costa Greene (1879-1950), a black woman passing for white in early 20th c New York society, who became one of the most prominent librarians in American history. She helped to build the illustrious Pierpont Morgan Library, now a public museum.
- Trust (2022) by Hernan Diaz is a brilliant novel, in its structure of a quartet — a novel, a partial memoir, a memoir of that memoir, and a journal — and its critique of the rich and infamous in New York City in the 1920s. From one reviewer: “a glorious novel about empires and erasures, husbands and wives, staggering fortunes and unspeakable misery… Trust is a literary page-turner, with a wealth of puns and elegant prose, fun as hell to read.”
- In The Measure (2022) all adults aged 22 and older find a box on their doorstep with an inscription, “The measure of your life lies within.” Eventually people realize the length of a single string inside their box forecasts the length of their life. Nikki Erlick examines the individual and societal implications of destinies foretold. For example, when short stringers face discrimination, a character equates their fight to the movements for civil, women’s and gay rights. Another character muses, “Did a patient receive less care because her string was short, or was a patient’s string short because she received less care?” This compelling morality tale addresses knotty issues of life and death while also asking how we may measure the quality of our lives.
- In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2012) by Rachel Joyce, a somnolent man in his 60s embarks, spontaneously, on a journey by foot across England. Through unusual experiences and encounters, he gains self-awareness and acceptance, as well as regains love.
- In The Dutch Orphan (2023), Ellen Keith explores the responses of ordinary Dutch people to the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam in WWII: join the Resistance or not, collaborate or not, risk your safety and your family’s to protect Jews or not. The experiences of two sisters dramatize the effects of the occupation. From Keith’s research, I learned over three quarters of Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. And Nazi leaders paid bonuses to Dutch bounty hunters for arresting Jews.
- Set in Vietnam, Dust Child (2023) by Que Mai Phan Nguyen tells the story of Phong, an abandoned child from a wartime union between an American soldier and a Vietnamese woman, and of the discrimination against dust children and their mothers in the ’70s and ’80s. A captivating opening: “Life is a boat,” Sister Nhã, the Catholic nun who raised [dust child] Phong, once told him. “When you depart from your first anchor — your mother’s womb — you will be pulled away by unexpected currents. If you can fill your boat with enough hope, enough self-belief, enough compassion, and enough curiosity, you will be ready to weather all the storms of life.”
- The House of Doors (2023). Tan Twan Eng transports us to 1921, to the expat community of Penang, Malaysia. He depicts an historic murder scandal and real individuals — “Willie” Somerset Maugham and Dr. Sun Yat-sen — in his “ambitious, elaborate fiction about fictions that beats back to the humid heyday of empire and instals the bestselling author [Maugham] as a flawed player in the drama.”
- In Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (2023) by Satoshi Yakishawa, 25 year-old Takako leaves behind her ordinary life to live and work at her uncle’s small bookshop. She learns about herself and the richness of literature in this wonderful tribute to reading and to a singular neighbourhood of Tokyo.
MYSTERY/CRIME/THRILLER
“Crime fiction occupies a unique place in the literary landscape,”says Ian McGillis, a novelist and books columnist for the Montreal Gazette. “It’s probably the only genre that straddles the categories of ‘popular’ and ‘critically lauded’; that is, people who take their reading very seriously will also find room on their shelves for a form that achieves a significant portion of its sales at airport bookstores.”
- Locust Lane (2022) by Stephen Amidon kept me awake at night awaiting the revelation: who killed Eden Perry? Eden, a young woman from the “wrong” side of the tracks, is found murdered in a luxurious home after a night of revelry with three unlikely friends. The parents on the “right” side close ranks to protect their children from accusations of culpability. Told from multiple perspectives, the story pits a search for justice against the ills of affluenza in a small New England town.
- Defending Jacob (2012) and All That Is Mine I Carry (2023). A former assistant district attorney in Boston, author William Landay says he thinks “of crime novels as a prism to look at wider, more universal issues.” At the core of both novels — Apple TV adapted Defending Jacob into a riveting, eight-episode murder mystery — is Landay’s exploration of family dynamics. In All That Is Mine Jane Larkin, a mother of three children, disappears from home. With no explanation. No clues. And initially no suspects. Both a criminal and civil investigation occurs. From Landay: “The missing-woman story seemed like an interesting way to deal with the topic of losing people as we grow up — how we adjust to growing up and saying goodbye to people — and learning to live with the void they leave behind.”
- A friend introduced me to Anne Perry and her five mysteries set during WWI. In the first, No Graves As Yet (2003), Perry puts us right in the trenches alongside young British soldiers in a vivid re-creation of the Great War. Members of the Reavely family, each serving the war effort in their own way, get embroiled in an intrigue of government espionage and betrayal. And, given the genre, murder.
- Reputation (2022 ). Author Sarah Vaughan writes, “I’m interested in putting women in high-pressure situations and then seeing what happens.” As a Member of Parliament, Emma Webster regularly contends with insults, threats, trolling, while trying to do good works for her constituents. Her young daughter Flora contends with heartless bullying at school. When calamity occurs, their values, judgement, loyalties and reputations are put to the test in this psychological thriller/courtroom drama.
Please add your favourite books of the past year in the comments below. I — and others — appreciate your suggestions. •
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Catherine Mccallum says
I just read North of Normal by Cea Sunrise Person. Her own description of her autobiography states it is a memoir of her wilderness childhood, her counterculture family and how she survived both. I was shocked by the dysfunction of the family, the living conditions of the family in Canada wilderness and how one little girl came out the other side to a normal life. I couldn’t put it down.
Another good read is the Covenant of Water 2023 by Verghese Abraham. Set in South India it follows 3 generations of a family that suffer a similar affliction. One person in each generation dies by drowning. It offers humor, hardships, longing and loss.
Another interesting true story is The Children’s Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin, 2021. Taking place on the Prairies in the Dakotas it follows two sisters, both young schoolteachers in different locations, during the events that take place one day during a major blizzard. Their decisions lead one to be depicted as a hero and another to be ostracized.
Pam McPhail says
Thanks for your suggestions, Cathy. I read an earlier novel, Cutting for Stone, by Verghese but did not know of this latest. I also notice he has a memoir of sorts about a deep male friendship, The Tennis Partner, that looks interesting. Given our connection to the Prairies, I put a hold at the Library on Benjamin’s book.
Christine says
Pam, I love this! As you know, i joined a new book club in Mazatlan. Trust was one of our books. I’m going to share the comments with them. Through our love of reading, I made friends with lovely people and we learned so much about each other in a very short time. The Color of Water and several other books, are on my summer ‘reading list’! I can’t wait!
Pam McPhail says
Thanks, Chris. Having recently enjoyed The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, I will read this earlier memoir of McBride’s. It’s relevant to me!
Linda Richardson says
Thanks for these great recommendations Pam. I look forward to reading some of them. For your readers who are book club members, I wanted to pass on what our book group does each April, since it is National Poetry month. We each bring a poem, read it to the group, talk about the author and then discuss the poem. I haven’t read much poetry since my University days but have really enjoyed reading and hearing about all of these amazing and new to me, poets. This year I chose Kate Baer and her book of poems called “What Kind of Woman.” She writes about the joy, drudgery and anxiety that comes from being a wife, mother and a woman in general. I laughed when I read that as a mother of four and living in a small house, she was only able to write this book by escaping to a local “Panera” booth with free WIFI and good coffee!
Pam McPhail says
Linda, Several years ago, Janyne and I attended the Griffin Poetry Prize events in Toronto and listened to the poets read works aloud. What a marvellous experience to hear rather than read poetry. Your book club is onto a good thing!
Ken McLean says
Thanks again for your suggestions. Pam. Two of your “fiction” I have read, “Trust” and “House of Doors”. The latter moved me to check Maugham out and consider reading his The Razor’s Edge. OF Human Bondage I read some years ago, and recall it being excellent. (It was one of the 100 books that came with the first Kobos). I liked “Trust” once it reached the later sections, but did find the first a bit slow. I give my “Mystery” suggestions here and will follow with my “fiction” after more
pondering.
Mysteries
A Twist of the Knife (2022) Anthony Horowitz. The 4th in his Hawthorne and Horowitz series, in which he, in his own character (for example his experiences in filming “Foyle’s War”) partners with the retired London detective Hawthorne.
Greenwich Park (2021) Katherine Faulkner. Sometimes a friend, even one met at a pre- natal class, is not who you think they are.
The Searcher (2020) Tana French. The great Irish mystery writer author of the Dublin Murder novels, here has a different locale: A retired American police detective thinks he will be able to escape the pressures of his life in rural Ireland, until a young boy asks him to find his missing brother.
The Cold Dish (2004), Death Without Company (2006) and Kindness Goes Unpunished (2007) Craig Johnson. The first of his 19 Walt Longmire novels. Walt and his friend Henry Standing Bear and the great Wyoming setting make for compelling reading. Many of the novels were made into episodes of the show Longmire, but they read somewhat differently. Marie has listened to many of the audio books of later books in the series.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018) Stuart Turton. An undercover detective tries to solve a murder at a party in an old manor house, but wakes up every morning there as a different one of the witnesses, or are they suspects?. Not your ordinary mystery novel!
I also read a few more Peter Robinson and Michael Connelly.
Pam McPhail says
You’ve introduced me to new mystery authors, Ken. Thanks! Having read all the books (over 20) in the Inspector Banks series, I regret the untimely death of Peter Robinson (1950-2022), a favourite writer of mine!
Pam McPhail says
Ken, In my twenties, I read The Razor’s Edge twice. It spoke to me at the time! I’m curious to know what you think of this novel at our age.
Marie McLean says
Thanks for this, Pam. I will forward you the votes of my book club at the end of June. Outside of the book club reads, I listened to the audio book of 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster by Miranie Lee. It portrays the life of a North Korean spy (female) just after (and during) the Korean War and the extraordinary lengths she went to survive in that dangerous time and place. Ken and I both listened to Ann Tyler’s Breathing Lessons – excellent, as is the 1994 film starring Joanne Woodward and James Garner. A good “mystery” is The Good Mother by Sue Miller. A mother tries to defend her boyfriend from charges of assaulting her 4 year old daughter.
Pam McPhail says
Marie, I eagerly await your annual Book Club list with its ratings, often of novels I’ve not yet read. From one list, for example, I overcame my hesitation to read about AI in “Klara and the Sun” and absolutely adored it. Maybe this year I will try an audio book or two as you and Ken seem to enjoy that medium.
Ken McLean says
Fiction
I get most of my recommendations from the weekly “Guardian Bookmarks” column which appears on line every Sunday. It is free, though they do request donations.
1) “The Bee Sting” (2023) Paul Murray . As Goodreads puts it a “thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person” , the Family being Dickie and Imelda Barnes and their two children Cassie and PJ, living in small town Ireland.
2)”A Prophet Song” (2023) Paul Lynch. This Booker prize winning Irish novel is a dystopia set in near future Dublin, told from the pov of the mother of a family. Ireland has become a totalitarian state a la “”1984”. Particularly compelling is that this future is very much the present world.
3) “1984” (1948)George Orwell and “Julia”(2023) Sandra Newman. The latter is a partner to “1984” told from the pov of Julia the lover of “1984”s protagonist, Winston. It is necessary to either have an excellent recollection of Orwell’s classic work or to re-read it before reading “Julia” (as I did) because the latter retakes many of the scenes from “1984” retaining any dialogue verbatim.
4)”The Wren, the Wren” (2023) Anne Enright. The compelling story of the experiences of the wife, daughter, and granddaughter of a famous (fictional ) Irish poet. The rather unfortunate title is the title of one off his poems. In what I’m pretty sure is contrary to the author’s intentions, I found the brief section given to the poet himself to be the best part of the book.
5) “Foster” (2010) and “Small Things Like These”(2021) Claire Keegan. If you are looking for powerful short fiction, here it is. The first deals with the positive experiences of a young Irish girl with her foster family (, yes, positive, in an Irish novel) and the second with what a coal merchant comes upon at the local Catholic orphanage.
6) “In Memoriam” (2023) Alice Winn. English “public” school boys 1914, then the trenches. Focuses on two of these boys who discover that they are in love with each other.
7) “My Friends”(2024) Hisham Matar. A Libyan student in London in 1984 is persuaded to join a protest against Quaddafi’s harsh regime, Staff in the embassy open fire on the protesters with a machine gun. This actually happened ! The novel focuses on this student and two of his Libyan friends, a writer and another who was present at the protest.
8)”Hello Beautiful”(2023) Ann Napolitano. A young Midwesterner falls in love with a woman in Chicago, one of four sisters. Yes, the author does bounce off “Little Women” to some extent, but refigures the earlier classic very effectively.
9)” In Ascension”(2023) Martin MacInnis. Starts with a young woman in Rotterdam who overcomes a tough child hood by her interest in marine biology, which takes her to the exploration of a deep trench off the coast of South America, and then onto a space craft. Asks the basic questions about the origin of life on earth.
10)”My Father’s Tears”(2006) John Updike. I stumbled upon this posthumous collection of stories and found it to contain some of Updike’s best. Many focus on older protagonists, and their revisiting of their pasts. Settings range from his usual Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, to Florida, Morocco, Spain, Italy and India.
11) “The Other Name”(2019) Jon Fosse. This is the first of the “Septology” trilogy, considered to be the masterpiece of this most recent Noble Prize winner. The reader needs to be willing to enter what Alice Munro called the “sacred vein of the ordinary” in this story of two men with the same name and their neighbour living on the coast of Norway. I heard it read rather than read it and I think it was the more compelling that way. For example I was unaware in listening that apparently in the written text he uses no punctuation or paragraph breaks.
12) “The Sea, The Sea” , “An Unofficial Rose” and “A highly Honourable Defeat” all by Iris Murdoch, which I also listened to
Pam McPhail says
Ken, I signed up yesterday to receive “Guardian Bookmarks” so will encounter some of the same good titles as you. Thanks for your recommendations, of which I’ve only read a few. I confess to abandoning “The Wren, The Wren” after about 40 pages. Too literary? Too serious? And yet I absorbed Claire Keegan’s serious fiction.
I look forward to meeting new authors from your list.
Ken McLean says
The Wren, The Wren starts with the most difficult section. Since the granddaughter has never even met her grandfather, I don’t know why the novel starts with her. After her section it becomes far better,hence my recommendation.
Ian Wallace says
Dear Pam,
I feel very remiss in not having contributed anything to your recent post on notable books, apparently out of inertia, but mostly because I am unsure if any of my books would be of Interest to your erudite readers. Also, you presented so many excellent books, I felt there was nothing more to add!
Thank you for your encouragement to contribute, so here goes:
Roger Martin du Gard. Les Thibault. 3 vols. The author is a Nobel Prize Literature laureate and this vast work portrays the lives of two Paris families in the last years before WWI. (I still have a volume and a half to go…)
Daniel Finkelstein. Two Roads. Hitler, Stalin, and my family’s miraculous survival. A London journalist, the author relates his family story in the years before and after WWII.
Fossum, K. Don’t Look Back. Ms Fossum is a popular Norwegian crime writer and this book is a real page-turner. Not recent, though. My copy is a library discard.
Dimbleby, J. Ravenous. A chilling account of how our modern diet is having devastating consequences on our health, and also helping to destroy the planet.
Morris, D. This is Your Captain Speaking. Everything you ever wanted to know about commercial aviation, and what it is like for us in the sky, the passengers!
Pam McPhail says
Thanks for adding your suggestions, Ian. I will follow up on Karin Fossum, especially as yours is one of 13 in her series featuring Inspector Sejer. A few others are too serious (could I ever enjoy food again after reading Ravenous), but I admire your quest for knowledge.