AWAIT YOUR REPLY by Dan Chaon

A 'literary thriller,' disturbing, beautifully written... but not a page-turner. Took me forever to finish... something about the careful pacing, the finely drawn, quiet agony of the characters who mostly live inside their own heads... it was a slow read. Nice payoff at the end, but happy to move on...

THE CELLIST OF SARAJEVO by Steven Galloway

Set during the siege of Sarajevo, chapters alternate between the POVs of three different natives of the city, and revolve loosely around a cellist who puts himself at risk to snipers, to play the same piece every day in a public plaza. I loved the first half of this book, its poignancy, its spare, elegant prose. But as I got further along, I found it somewhat repetitive... umpteen descriptions of the characters waiting in the shadows for the right moment to dash into the open and across the street, and not enough characterization to distinguish one POV or character from the next. The two male voices in particular were hard to distinguish from one another. Nevertheless, a highly worthwhile read with critical themes and ideas.

Story Cycles

Reading Colum McCann's LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN a few months ago, kicked off a run of other story cycles (WHERE THE GOD OF LOVE HANGS OUT and OLIVE KITTERIDGE and THE IMPERFECTIONISTS). I read lots of short stories (especially when someone bestows their back copies of The New Yorker on me), and lots of novels. This roll of reading has offered a happy blend of the two, after a fall and winter with too many disappointing reads. (I was so excited about Lethem's CHRONIC CITY that I bought it in hardcover, and finished only the first few chapters; Mary Karr's LIT, which I also bought in hardcover? I'm a huge Karr fan, but this one is preachy and pedantic. She found God and got sober. HALF-BROKE HORSES by Jeanette Walls is not nearly as compelling as her stellar debut, THE GLASS CASTLE.) Anyhoo, the linked stories got me thinking that some of my all-time favorite books have been story cycles (or linked short stories or novel-in-stories or whatever you want to call them). Two that come immediately to mind are Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING, which I first read in maybe 10th or 11th grade (thanks, Paul O'Rourke), and got me thinking about point of view for the first time, and Tim O'Brien's THE THINGS THEY CARRIED. Since I'm on a bender here, I'd welcome other reading (or rereading) suggestions.

READING THE OED by Ammon Shea

I absolutely loved the conceit. Shea, who reads dictionaries for fun, read the entire twenty-one volume Oxford English Dictionary in one year, clocking ten hours a day of squinting at fine print. He read it, he says, "so you don't have to." In twenty-six chapters, he describes the process, and selects his favorite words for each letter of the alphabet. His commentary on the project, on language, on humanity and on himself is as acerbic as leaky battery fluid, brilliant and laugh aloud funny. The word entries are fascinating, as is the look into Shea's uber-bibliophilia. But the majority of this book is a lexicon, and I admit to skimming some of the entries. Not everyone likes reading dictionaries, as passionate as we may be about words.

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman

A novel in stories about the expats who put out a once somewhat venerable, now dying English language newspaper in Rome. Nicely crafted, lots of fun, good writing, fun, quirky characters. Liked a lot, but didn't adore. I wonder if this is because I've read several really stellar story cycles recently. Would nevertheless recommend this as an appetizing summer read.

MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor Frankl

While teaching MAUS, Art Spiegelman's brilliant graphic memoir about his father's experiences in the Holocaust, I had this idea that I should reread Frankl, which I hadn't read in many years. I still found Part One, in which Frankl documents his time in the camps, an achingly humanizing account. I still found Part Two, Frankl's theory of Logotherapy, something I felt compelled to slog through in tribute to the author. That said, this book is essential reading, though Frankl is a better idea man than writer. I find Primo Levi's THE DROWNED AND THE SAVED the most eloquent and potent work on this subject.

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann

I read this one a few months ago and forgot to add it to this blog. Stellar! These linked stories are a paean to the edgy New York of the 70s (in which I came of age). Keen, unusual structure that works perfectly for the material, graceful characterizations, compelling story lines, caffeinated pace.