A few gems and some others that were just filler for my polyunsaturated cupcake of a brain.
"The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss started with an old man trying to make sure that he was noticed every day so that he wouldn't be one of those people that they say "I didn't even know he lived here" and then flashed back and forth through the last 60 years fleshing out his life and the lives of the ones he loved. At times funny and heartbreaking.
"Man Walks Into A Room" by Nicole Krauss the same author as the book above (once I read the first one it was good enough to pique my interest in her writing). Rumination on memory and the holes that are left when it fails. She's a good writer and this was a small story done well.
"The Diviners" by Rick Moody is by the same guy who wrote "The Ice Storm." The book is a "Player" style send-up of the entertainment industry. Readable but no big shakes. Save your money and go buy...
"Sacred Games" by Vikram Chandra is the best book I've read in a while. A fun, deep, telling biography of the city of Bombay (Mumbai) and its surroundings in the form of a crime thriller. The two main characters (aside from the city itself) are a mob kingpin thought to be out of the country who builds a nuclear bunker in the middle of the city (unbeknownst to anyone until the day he's found there locked inside and about to take his life rather than give up to the police) and a police detective tasked with figuring out why the kingpin was back in Bombay, in a bunker, and soon enough, dead. My sense while reading this book was that I was getting a backstage pass to the drama, passion, dysfunction, and ultimate humanity of the indian culture in all of its glory. One of those books you really wish would keep going for just a bit more.
"Lullabies for Little Criminals" by Heather O'Neill captures life on the streets for a young girl raised by her childlike drug addicted father. A rapid descent into all of the things we are warned about while growing up as told by a woman (girl) who knows what its really like. No pity, no bathos, just matter of fact, moment to moment, gut-wrenching storytelling.
"No God But God" by Reza Aslan is the only non-fiction in the group. It dissects (in an attempt to explain to the western world) the rise of Islam from early Meccan pilgrimages at the altar of gods through the life of the prophet (with his jewish, christian, and moslem wives) to the current struggle being fought within the community between extremists and moderates. It draws quite a few parallels to the internal struggles that beset the christian community during the reformation. Fascinating perspective on the evolution of a religion (and its mutations to fit the desires or whims of its leaders after Muhammad's death).
Heavy Rotation...
"Wincing the Night Away" by the Shins
