If you're looking for a great read, here's a list of my favorites.
Finding the words to describe how deeply moving this story is is beyond me. Beautiful prose, amazingly wonderful characters, and a narrative with the perfect mix of tension and tenderness. I absolutely loved it! And I am so grateful that Chloe Benjamin found these words and shared them with us. - randy
This is a terrific read that hides almost nothing from start to finish. Filled with vibrant prose that carries you through a deceptively simple plot, Wash's story will grab you and not let go. Washington Black is understandably a NYT's Top Book of 2018. - randy
Master storyteller that he is, Saunders again proves how wonderful his skills are with this great fable. Fox 8 has learned to speak and read “yuman”. He is in awe of our abilities and creations until one day he witnesses our bad side. Why are we this we? Fox 8 wants to know. - randy
Tommy’s parents and sister are brutally murdered leaving him and his brother, Billy, looking for revenge. I enjoyed the story but what I really loved was the development of Tommy’s character. Older than his 14 years, he is constantly being confronted by the evils of the Australian Outback in 1885. And Howarth does a wonderful job describing the beauty found amongst all the sparseness and harshness of the desert. A great debut novel! - randy
A wonderfully beautiful allegory reminiscent of Mohsin Hamid's Exit West with a touch of "Meet Joe Black". As a young girl, Mary becomes friends with Lanmo, a jewel-eyed, golden snake who is obviously unlike any other snake. He comes in and out of Mary's life over the next several years, finally helping her make her way to a new city when hers is no longer safe. A perfect tale exploring both the lack of and abundance of empathy in our world. - randy
Francis has all the attributes - loyalty, compassion, strength, defiance, love, etc., of someone we should all want in our lives. Unfortunately, in his world, they are not always valued. With a devastating narrative, Chariandy creates a story that burrows in deep and will stay with you for a long time. It's absolutely beautiful! - randy
Totally disgraced, middle-aged, self-absorbed hedge fund manager abandons his family and takes a Greyhound bus cross-country in search of his college sweetheart during the 2016 election? Ridiculously funny. And per usual, Shteyngart has his thumb on the often ludicrous and always true pulse of our times. - randy
If you live in Missouri or have ever lived in Missouri, this is a must read. Some of the most beautiful prose ever written, Stoner is the moving story of a University of Missouri professor who deserves more than he gets. And, even if you’re just visiting, this is one of the best books you’ll ever read. - randy
A real gut punch. Almost twisted and quirky does it no justice (and is probably an offense). I am having trouble with the feeling that in face of all evidence suggesting otherwise there is a hidden subtlety, Yes, redundant, but a great reason to revisit sooner than later. I loved it! - randy
An emotionally rich story about surviving not only the early death of a father to leukemia but also the suicide of an older sister under unknown circumstances, The Invisible Circus is a coming of age story wrapped in the American and European counter culture of the late '60's and early '70's. It avoids most of the genre's cliches and deftly handles the rest. Egan is one of America's greatest writers-past or present, and you understand why as this story ends. - randy
Becky Shaw is on a hike with her family when she disappears. This is the story of her family and the townsfolk in the months leading up to what may be a crime or may not. It’s a wonderful job of setting the mood in a small English village and introducing many characters that could be responsible for her disappearance. I couldn’t put it down! - randy
As tragic as parts of this story are, you can always feel the bright yellow light that binds Ellis and Michael together. Beautiful and well written, Tin Man is a great read. - randy
A man slips out to sea with his father's ashes leaving only a note that says "Pick salad x". As a storm approaches, he's caught too far from shore and is struck by lightning. Suddenly, he finds himself adrift with no land in sight, he has no idea how long he's been unconscious, and he can't feel his arms. Intense, harrowing, beautiful, and great! - randy
One of my favorites. The tension contained, barely contained, in this beautiful prose is just about overwhelming. Florence and Edward are trapped by the rules of a society at the precipice of a major change. Bound by duty and tradition, theirs is a love destined to die with history or flourish in the coming sexual revolution of the 1960's. I absolutely love this book! - randy
You find yourself locked in quarters. Your body is screaming for alcohol. You're several months from port. You just killed your only friend and everyone wants justice. You probably deserve it. A dark, twisted tale of a friendship and alcohol. Two thumbs up! - randy
Fleeing the threat of death in Central America, thousands of undocumented children seek asylum each year. In this essay, you will see how dangerous their journey through Mexico is and that this is only the beginning of their ordeal. As an immigrant and court translator, Luiselli is able to share their stories. She also challenges us to take responsibility for our role in creating such dangerous circumstances instead of simply building a wall. - randy
Sheila has always been ambivalent about her family. On a trip home to visit friends, she sets out to surprise her mother only to witness the most awful death you could imagine - her mother's suicide. And that's just the prologue. How do you deal with grief and PTSD at the same time? You set up a camera and film the slow, physical deconstruction of your home. One of the most moving books I've read. - randy
As the weird world rolls on.
What parts of our lives are fated and for what parts do we own responsibility? With crazy great prose, Auster packs a lot into this little book. So many stories spread throughout the narrative, and they are all wonderful and with great purpose. Entirely enjoyed, and really, I loved this book! - randy
Not just another escape to New York to avoid your life story. Solid prose and I loved the characters. Kate becomes involved with both Inez, a 19 year old prescription drug dealer, and Bill, a writer with only one, very successful title from some 20 years earlier. I really liked this story, and the ending is not quite expected. - randy
K is an escort with a heroin addiction who has just returned to New York after working for 7 years in Dubai. In what will be her one last year, she seeks out clients in the world of high finance, she falls in love with a veteran, and she remembers her time spent with the Sheikh, a bomb maker for hire. I was floored by the raw emotion evoked by the directness of Faw’s prose. And the last 5 pages are jaw dropping! - randy's December Staff Pick, 2017
With prose that eloquently meanders through the unnamed narrator’s memories, Shepard shares with the reader the experience of becoming more and more reliant on loved ones in the final days of life. Moving throughout, this novella is near perfect. - randy
This is a great read. I found myself totally entranced by both the characters and the scenery. And the writing is beautiful. I'm stilling mulling over Vivien at the end. Does she know Danny will take off after his sister or is it just a convenient way to explain why Danny takes off looking for Cathy? I love having something to think through after finishing a story! - randy
Wow! Here is a collection of stories that are at times funny, often moving, and all are really, really good, if not great. Welcome to Mars is perhaps my favorite. It’s Kirk’s 19th birthday and he joins his father to go surfing in what turns out to me a defining day in his life. And then there’s Alan Bean Plus Four which is a hilarious telling of a journey 4 friends take to the moon. Read it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by Tom Hanks as a writer. -randy's November Staff Pick, 2017
With incredibly well-developed characters and an absorbing story that often reads like a thriller, Manhattan Beach is amazingly beautiful. Anna works in the Brooklyn Naval Yard as a diver during WWII. She’s lost her father, and as she becomes entangled with Dexter, a club owner, her mother moves back to the Midwest. She is fiercely independent and is one of the best characters I’ve read in a long time! There’s a reason Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer. - randy
One of the most lyrical novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Nadia and Saeed are falling in love during the final throes of a civil war. They decide to leave. In doing so, they have to deal with all they are leaving behind and all they will encounter as they cross the globe. It was no surprise that it is a finalist for the Man Booker Prize. It’s my favorite to win! (Ok. I can't really complain that Lincoln in the Bardo won. It was pretty awesome, too.) - randy
It’s All Souls Day and the spirit of Marcus Conway is revisiting his life. I was totally absorbed by the depth of the connection between the corporeal and visceral in his memories of his family, his work, and his home. This is a story I felt much deeper than what I was able to see on the page. A really beautiful read that has been long listed for the Man Booker for a reason! - randy
Such an engrossing read. Fifteen year old Linda forms a strong bond with Paul and his mother Patra as they hurdle towards a family tragedy. Set in the northern woods of Minnesota, Linda is navigating the world on her own and is marked for life by the choices she makes as well as the choices of others. A great debut novel! - randy
One of the most ambitious novels I’ve listened to, this is a creative and a wonderful imagining of the day of and the days following Willie Lincoln’s death. During a couple of visits to Willie’s tomb, Lincoln causes a great stir amongst the many souls living in a sort of purgatory and trapped in the cemetery. A very moving story about accepting the harder times in life and very apropos of the challenges Lincoln faced as president. With a wonderful cast, Saunders first novel is a great listen! - randy
At its core, Stephen Florida is a coming of age story. Losing his parents at 14, Stephen goes to live with his grandmother. Orphaned again when his grandmother dies of heart disease, he promises her that he’ll go to college and win a national championship. Stephen is an obsessive and Habash puts us in his mind and takes us for a wonderful, bumpy ride through his final season - a final season where family, love, and friendship begin to take their proper place in Stephen’s life…maybe. - randy
Set against the burgeoning art scene of New York, this is a story about boundless possibilities interrupted by great personal loss. James has synesthesia. His words are alive with color and taste and feeling, making him a gifted and respected art critic. Raul, an orphan from Argentina, refusing to deal with the emotional void opening between himself and his sister, flees to the city he was born in where he discovers his talent. With flowing, rhythmic prose, Prentiss tells a very real and moving story. Simply brilliant! - randy
A heart-warming, straight up tearjerker! There's no other way to describe it except to say it's a great introduction into a little known part of WWII - the occupation of Guernsey off the French coast. - randy
Beautifully written, Ghachar Ghochar is a wonderful novella with moments of familial affection as well as shocking moments of meanness. What happens when a family’s fortune turns for the better? Of course, there’s the better house in the better neighborhood, the better prospects for marriage, and the better job which isn’t really a job at all. But there’s also a shift in the family dynamic that muddies the water and leads to a disastrous ending. - randy
These 13 stories take place in the fictional Cross River, MD. A largely black town formed in the early 19th century following a slave revolt. My favorite story is “Juba”. On his way to a job interview with an accounting firm, the narrator is mistaken for the infamous drug dealer, Juba, and is arrested. He is released and decides to track Juba down and finds that Juba doesn’t just deal drugs but plays an important role in conserving the culture of Cross River. What starts out with a frank, in your face, scene becomes a very transforming story that I loved! - randy
This book is wonderful. The story is compelling which is enough reason to love it but it's also a well crafted commentary about a darker side of humanity written with simply beautiful prose. You will love it! - randy
Set in 1930's Russia, Mikhail and Margarita is a story about love and trust and survival in the Moscow literary community. A community closely watched by Stalin himself. Ostensibly, this is about a love triangle, but its true strength and pleasure comes from how well each character's own story stands alone. I loved it! - randy
This is the story of a separated couple and their unborn child who also happens to narrate. It's mother is having an affair and planning the murder of it's father. The characters are richly developed, the perspective is totally original, and it is wonderfully quirky! - randy
It’s impossible to heap too much praise on John Darnielle! After Wolf in White Van, I tempered my expectations for his second book. Shouldn’t have! Someone is splicing graphic images into VHS tapes at the Video Hut. Stephanie wants to know who’s doing it and Jeremy, hesitantly, agrees to help her find out who. Darnielle’s writing creates a perfectly pitched tension that puts you in the story from the get go. And once he has you, his most beautiful prose carries you through to the end. - randy
There are a lot of books about moving to New York to make it. Sweetbitter fits this description, however, it’s refreshing to have a protagonist who isn’t looking to “make” it. Tess just wants to start her life. And, of course, her first job is in a restaurant. She falls into many of the cliches of restaurant work but she knows it and that’s what makes Sweetbitter so fun and Tess a wonderful character. Read it. You won’t be disappointed. - randy
Frances heads to Norway looking for some space. She’s just been dumped, graduated from college, and can’t bear the idea of moving back to the one bedroom, Manhattan apartment she grew up in. Yasha heads to Norway to honor his father’s last request - to be buried as far north as possible. Of course, they meet and fall in love but that’s a small bit of the story. They’re looking for their own piece of the world and there is no better place to start than the boundless sunshine and wide open space of Norway in the summer. - randy
Wolf in White Van is Sean's story. Disfigured at 17, he lives a solitary life supplementing his insurance checks guiding people through Trace Italian, a role-playing game played through the mail that he created while in recovery. When two players take the game a little too seriously, Sean is held to account. As we move forward through Sean's experience, we're taken further back to the night that changed his life. John Darnielle does a masterful job weaving the present into the past. Another title long listed for the National Book Award that I love. - randy
Typically, I stay away from historical fiction unless it's about the 20th century. I'm very happy I overcame my bias. Margaret Cavendish was shy, a bit insecure, loyal, creative, brave and many more wonderful things. Dutton's prose is beautiful and I fully enjoyed the creative way she tells Mad Marge's story. A definitive recommend. - randy
Set against the backdrop of Philippe Petite’s amazing high-wire jaunt between the Twin Towers, Let the Great World Spin is a look into the lives of a disparate group of New Yorkers in the early 1970’s. Rich or poor, saved or damned, black or white, American or immigrant - McCann does a wonderful job of showing the connection we all have with one another. - randy
Daron (or D'aron or Da'ron depending on who's speaking) never feels comfortable in Braggsville, Georgia, so he heads to the University of California - "Berzerkley" where he joins an assorted group of personalities who refer to themselves as the "4 Indians". Daron finally finds a place that feels like home. And then they all decide to return to Braggsville for spring break to protest the annual Civil War reenactment. Johnson's satire is pitch perfect as he tackles the all to common stereotypes of the grand ole US of A. This book is funny. This book is unsettling. This book is important. -randy
Sadly, Treasure Island!!! is currently not in print. It's a terribly funny story about becoming an adult (or failing to do so!). And there's a murder at which you can't help but laugh a little and it's okay. Go find a used copy now! You won't regret it.
What a great introduction to someone we all need to know more about. From dancing in 1920’s Paris to adopting children from cultures all around the world to speaking at The March on Washington, Josephine Baker made her way in the world by her rules and left it a better place. - randy
Two reasons to read this - solid survey of Hitler's adult life and great manga . I recommend this to anyone interested in learning about the major points of Hitler's adult life but doesn't have time for a 1,000 page biography. (It took me a couple of hours and I'm not the fastest of readers.) I also enjoyed reading it in the traditional manga style - from right to left. It helped me to better digest what I was reading and to better appreciate Mizuki's art. - randy
Lincoln's final response to Stephen Douglas, The Cooper Union speech is one of the most important pieces of oratory in our history. In the winter of 1860, Lincoln traveled east to court the abolitionists whose support he would later need to win the Republican nomination for President. The first stop of many on his visit to New York and New England, at Cooper Union he solidified himself as everyone's second choice ensuring the nomination would be his. Holzer gives us a tangible feel for Lincoln's oratory skills that would later give us his first and second inaugural speeches and of course The Gettysburg Address. - randy
The first and most crucial operation of D-Day took place at Pegasus Bridge where a small group of British airborne troops landed in wood gliders and took the bridge. But that was just hour one. Now they had to wait for the landings and keep the Germans off the beaches. Fascinating story! - randy