Top 20 Books I Read in 2007

I've been posting book reviews in here for most of the year. Here's a compilation of my top twenty--fiction (12) and non-fiction (8). The titles are linked to their pages in Amazon.com.

Fiction

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002) was the best book I read of any kind in 2007 and one of the 10-20 best novels I've ever read. Eugenides' sprawling tale of the Greek immigrant experience as told by recovering hermaphrodite Calliope Stephanides is rollicking, insightful, fascinating and often hilarious. Calliope/Cal is the best fictional narrator I've met since John Irving's T.S. Garp.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (2007) was other than Harry Potter VII, probably the most eagerly anticipated novel of 2007. In my view, transplanted Afghani-American author Hosseini outdid his previous publishing sensation The Kite Runner in this touching story of life over 40 years in Afghanistan from the perspective of two women. Less sentimental and dependent on coincidence than The Kite Runner, Hosseini's new book provides a poignant and often harrowing look at the life of females in the Islamic world.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2006) was the most readable novel I encountered in 2007, averaging about one-and-half days per reader in my household. Gruen takes the reader under the big top of a Depression-era traveling circus for a show an order of magnitude more entertaining than Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's current version. Truth proves to be just as strange as fiction, as Gruen populates the story with vignettes discovered in her research about circus life of the era.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (1988) was this fine author's first novel and first of two stories (along with Pigs in Heaven) about Taylor Greer and her young charge Turtle. Kingsolver's writing is impressive in so many ways. As a trained biologist she handles the botany implied by the title effortlessly, as she does the touching relationship between adult and child. Her first-hand knowledge of Kentucky and Arizona, her two homes, also shines through. The Bean Trees is a wonderful book for readers of all ages.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns (1984) came to me via my ninth-grader's summer reading list. After being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, Ms. Burns wrote this novel about life in small town Georgia during the early years of the 20th century based on the recollections of her grandfather. The result is a warm and funny book that shimmers with authenticity of place and time.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (2001) is another debut novel from my daughter's summer reading list. (I'm impressed by the literary acumen of the high school English department.) Enger tells a story set in rural Minnesota during the 1960s about the fascinating Land family, spiritual father Jeremiah, asthmatic son (and narrator) Reuben, violent older son Davey, and precocious daughter Swede. A highlight is Swede's ongoing epic poem about the Old West. Peace Like a River is a well-written and touching novel about family and the nature of miracles--touching even to a reason-based UU like me.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (2007) was his much awaited followup to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Chabon's fabulous imagination is again the centerpiece of his Jewish whodunit wrapped in the alternate history of a US-leased Sitka District in Alaska inhabited by Jews who lost the Israeli war for independence in 1948. The world of an imagined Judeo-Eskimo community is a particular treat. Chess and a kosher Mafia fit into the story as well. Free your mind and enjoy the amazing talent of Michael Chabon.

On Chesil Beach by British author Ian McEwen (2007), more novella than novel, is an intensely personal story of the sexual intiation of a newlywed couple on their honeymoon in the U.K. of the 1960s. Almost uncomfortably intimate with his characters at times (but without becoming pornographic), McEwan makes an excellent point about the impact of communication or lack thereof in a relationship. For adults only.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2007) was my introduction to this celebrated author. His unadorned, almost free verse style fits well with a bleak story of a man and his son in the U.S. after some sort of apocalyptic event that devastates both the population and the landscape. About the same time as I read The Road, I watched the Italian movie Life Is Beautiful . While more comic in nature, the story arc and the relationship between Guido and Joshua in "Beautiful" took me back just a month to the story of father and son in "The Road." I highly recommend both the novel and the film.

The Company by Robert Littell (2002) provides a captivating look at the history of the CIA and KGB during the Cold War through the adventures of both fictional and historical characters. You'll recognize Kim Philby, the Hungarian revolt, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan among other historical characters and events. Fictional spies recruited from Ivy League colleges work their way through the ranks to play roles in all the mayhem. The Company is my favorite spy novel, though I haven't read many.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (2005) tells the story of Lily and Snow Flower, two "old sames" in 19th century rural China. This complicated relationship, akin to marriage between two women in parallel with traditional male/female marriages) carries on for 70-plus years. The two women communicate using the nu shu language (unknown to men) on their "secret fan." Ms. See writes both prose and poetry adeptly as she tells the story of this little-known aspect of Chinese history.

Spud by John van der Ruit (2007) was a publishing sensation in van der Ruit's native South Africa. He tells the coming-of-age-at-boarding-school story of young John "Spud" Milton, so nicknamed for the slow pace of his pubescent development, who develops in many other ways as he struggles to survive in a world of crazy classmates, sadistic upperclassmen, drunken teachers, from whom his only escape is the occasional weekend visit to the maniacal world of his parents and grandmother, Wombat. Mostly hilarious to non-boarding school veterans, and both hilarious and relevant to such graduates, Spud is a waiting joy for both teenage and adult readers.

Fiction Honorable Mention - What is the What by David Eggers, Jesus Out to Sea: Stories by James Lee Burke, Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, Landsman by Peter Charles Melman, Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult, The Master and Margarita by Michael Bulgakov, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan, Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, and Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver.

Non-Fiction/Biography

The Innocent Man by John Grisham (2006) - I've already posted a review of this important book in here twice and on Amazon.com. Here's a link to the dadlak review.

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss (2004) - I had trouble reading this excellent biography of the late baseball star and Puerto Rican icon, Roberto Clemente, because I knew it would end tragically. Near the end of his Hall of Fame career, a plane carrying both Clemente and relief supplies from Puerto Rico to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua crashed into shark-infested waters off the island. Maybe by delaying reading about his death I could somehow delay its reality, or at least its renewed emotional impact. Clemente helped me understand how a great baseball player, who was so much more than that, journeyed to his fateful and heroic end.

In The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth E. O. Wilson (2006) appeals to fundamental Christians (as one of which he was raised) to consider the commonality of their beliefs--that the miracle of creation, whether made by God in seven days, or evolved after the Big Bang over a period of billions of years, is something worth saving. He goes on to demonstrate how humans, the supposed lords of the earth, depend of the rest of nature for their continued existence. Whether you come at the subject from the scientific or religious perspective, or from somewhere in between, you'll gain a broad perspective on the issue of global sustainability and mankind's role in the struggle. Highly recommended to all readers--middle school on up--even a 5th or 6th grader with a strong interest in nature could enjoy and learn from Wilson's short but powerful book.

1 Dead in Attic by Chris Rose (2007) - The most personal book I've read about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans is this collection of newspaper columns from New Orleans Times Picayune writer Chris Rose. Proving that living somewhere involves more than occupying a house there, Rose seemingly suffers the trauma of all New Orleanians, even though his own house and family endure essentially no damage from the storm (other than a four-month relocation of wife and children to Maryland). The title refers to words painted on the side of a house as a message to recovery crews. More than a year after the storm, the words are still on that house. 1 Dead in Attic stands as a chronicle of the Katrina's impact on one man and his city.

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha by Sarah Erdman (2003) is a wonderful first-person account of a young Peace Corps worker's experiences in Ivory Coast in 2000 and 2001. She served as a health care worker, primarily trying to teach the village women about prenatal health and infant care. AIDS became an issue while she was there. Erdman shows maturity beyond her years in her efforts to relate with people of all ages and stations in a little village as remote from her private school upbringing as could be imagined. Both her work with the local people within their culture and her writing skills are inspiring, hopefully enough so to cause other young people to serve the world and themselves in similar fashion.

The Subway Chronicles: Scenes from Life in New York by Jacquelin Cangro (editor) (2006) - You'll recognize some of the authors in this entertaining collection of essays surrounding the New York City subway system--Calvin Trillin for sure, novelist Jonathan Lethem and others, but many of the essays result from Ms. Cangro's successful http://www.thesubwaychronicles.com/ website--launched after an idea born at Thanksgiving dinner with friends--and as such are written by hoping-to-be-published writers. Ms. Cangro has done an admirable job with the material--chasing the pace and style of the essays to keep the subject fresh for the reader. The book also offers a feel for the psyche of the urban dweller--folks who live their life without a car--an unimaginable state of being in the small town or suburban life (or even big city like LA or Houston) that has come to dominate American culture.

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama (2006) - As an almost lifelong Democrat, I was a ready-made candidate to enjoy Barack Obama's second book. Obama's comfortable writing style almost makes you forget that you're reading a policy outline, though he does provide a good deal of background about his views on the Constitution and about his personal experiences. What's especially encouraging is his even-handed approach to issues--carefully considering and respecting where those who might oppose his position are coming from. I encourage people from all political backgrounds to learn more about Senator Barack Obama. The Audacity of Hope is a good place to start.

The Cold War and the Color Line by Thomas Borstelmann (2001) focuses on the presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson during the U.S. civil rights era. Borstlemann describes how America's racial segregation, and support of European colonial powers and the segregationist regime in South Africa hampered it as third world countries as they chose between capitalist/democratic systems and the Communist model. Bortelsmann also notes that the presidents doing the most in support of civil rights were those who grew up in the South--Truman desegregated the military; Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act, and both Carter and Clinton took a strong interest in the rights of both African-Americans and blacks in Africa. On the other hand, the presidents raised outside the South (Eisenhower in Kansas, Kennedy in Massachusetts, Nixon in California, Reagan in Illinois and Bush in Connecticut) viewed racial equality as a secondary issue at best, or in some cases even worked to reverse past gains. Highly recommended to students of history and race relations.

Non-Fiction Honorable Mention - Bagels and Grits by Jennifer Moses, Breach of Faith by Jed Horne, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.

December Book Reviews - Grisham non-fiction (reprise), Kingsolver novel, French philosophical novel, Katrina columns, Pakistani debut, Jewish memoir

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

I reviewed this one in December, but once again, here's my review from Amazon.com.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

The phrase "Grisham book" and word "important" aren't often found in the same sentence, but John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book, "The Innocent Man", allows me to state that Grisham has now written the most important book of his mega-successful career, and one of the most important I've read by any author.

The book recounts two murders in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma. Both victims are young women. In both cases, the local and state police investigating the case are stumped. But with a toxic blend of extremely circumstantial "evidence", shocking crime scene photos, junk science, inexpert experts, jailhouse snitches and critical "dream confessions" induced by near-torture tactics, the police pin the murders on four young men of the area, two per murder.

The "innocent man" of the title is 30-something ne'er-do-well Ron Williamson, a schoolboy baseball star whose dreams of playing in Yankee Stadium dissolve in the low minors in a mix of arm injuries, booze and the onset of mental illness. By the time of the murder that consumes most of Grisham's tale, Williamson has washed up back home in Ada, and deservedly earned a reputation as a loudmouth loose cannon of sorts. Still his worst crime is passing a $300 phony check.

Skipping forward quickly, Williamson becomes the focus of the police's investigation and ultimately finds himself on death row in an Oklahoma criminal justice system whose aim seems to be to continuously reduce the amount of respect shown to death row inmates until it reaches zero. Shrewd detectives that they are, the police "know" that there's a second killer because of a misspelled warning message written in catsup at the scene, "dont chase us or ealse." Enter suspect two, single father Dennis Fritz, whose main crime is to be a friend of Williamson.

I'll stop here regarding the "plot", even though this is a news story and you could look it up. While novelistic in format, "The Innocent Man" reads more like a newspaper report, or like a lawyer dispassionately recounting the facts of a case. (Well after awhile not so dispassionately, as the injustices against the accused and then convicted men pile up.) The issues raised by the case and brought to light by Grisham cover the gamut of criminal justice - abuse of police power, single-minded focus on particular suspects and deliberate ignorance of others, near-torture-induced confessions, prosecutorial arrogance, lack of resources provided to defendants, mishandling of evidence, coercion of expert witnesses, use of junk science to dazzle a jury, the general and mistaken belief by the community that the police only arrest guilty parties, and most compellingly in Williamson's case, the inability of the criminal justice system to recognize and deal humanely with mentally ill prisoners.

My wife read the almost 450-page paperback version in one day. She then bugged me to read it for several days until I interrupted my second attempt at Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer: A Novel and dove in. Even while sick, I finished it in a day-and-a-half. After his disappointing novella "Bleachers", I'd pretty much written off Grisham (never have considered him much better an airplane read in the first place), but I'm deeply grateful to him to recognizing the power of this story and bringing to the attention of so many people with this fine book. I also salute him for sticking to the non-fiction format, resisting the novelist's urge to fictionalize the story and embellish it with tie-ins to the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and the like. "The Innocent Man" may not stand up as literature to recently-deceased Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, but it's still a great book--the best true-crime story I've read with the most important messages about America's criminal justice system and its generally unrecognized threat to innocent men and women everywhere (and especially in Ada, OK where the DA that prosecuted the cases is still in office).


Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Natural Passion

Published in the year 2001, this novel is surprisingly the last one Ms. Kingsolver has written, as she's since shifted to writing essays and non-fiction. In Prodigal Summer, she combines her training as a biologist with her experience living in Kentucky to tell three stories about people and nature in Appalachia.

In the first story subtitled "Predators", Deanna is a forest ranger living in virtual isolation in the Zebulon Mountain. In an opening chapter that kept me away from this book for about five years, she falls for animal bounty hunter Eddie Bondo. Lust ensues, then conflict as predator-protector Deanna and predator-pursuer Eddie compare notes. I learned a lot more about the delicate balance between predators and prey than I did about the relationship of lovers from this story.

Story two, "Moth Love", involves city girl Lusa, another trained biologist (the kind who studies moths), less comfortably situated as the new wife of a rural tobacco farmer with four overbearing adult sisters. Tragedy turns her already unsettled life upside down. Lusa's creative efforts to find both herself and her way among mountain folk are revealing, surprising and entertaining. Kingsolver's knowledge and compassion for country folk and her skill with scenes involving adults and children shine in this section.

The third story, "Old Chestnuts", features two neighboring antagonists, who, like Deanna and Eddie, are set in conflict by opposing views of the relationship between man and nature. 80ish widower Garnett Walker believes in the chemical destruction any and all pests, despite his more life-affiming work trying to save a nearly-extinct form of chestnut tree. Miss Nannie Rawley, a Unitarian of all things, takes a more holistic view of nature that is endlessly annoying to Walker. Kingsolver charmingly depicts the thawing of their relationship.

For the most part standing on their own, but told in an alterning manner, by their end the stories tell us of long-standing relationships among the characters--relationships that help shape their destinies.

Put off for years by the "lust in the moss" opening chapter, but despairing the wait for Kingsolver's next novel, I came back to this book. I'm glad I did, as Kingsolver's knowledge and love of nature combined with her skilled storytelling make for another special reading experience.

Four stars for both adult and teenage readers, especially those with a love of the natural world.

The Power of Flies by Lydie Salvayre

A Foothold in the Void

Author Lydie Salvayre, daughter of refugees from the Spanish Civil War (an experience so well conveyed in the amazing film Pan's Labyrinth), explores the metaphysical nature of murder and madness in the short, but startling book, "The Power of Flies". The protagonist, trying to maintain "a foothold in the void" as he awaits sentencing on a murder charge, "explains" his actions and his life to an audience of judge, lawyer, psychologist and others in a rambling monologue that owes heavily to the French philosopher Blaise Pascal. Among other dichotomies, he and Pascal claim that both great evil and great good can exist, and one doesn't have to choose between the two. The main character's prejudices, by turns humorous and disturbing, keep him from being very sympathetic, but he's always interesting, right to the last page as he works his way around to the crime that put him in his current predicament.

Four stars for adult readers for a challenging read, but not too challenging given that the book is only about 150 pages long.



1 Dead in Attic by Chris Rose

A Man and His City

The most personal book I've read about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans is this collection of newspaper columns from New Orleans Times Picayune writer Chris Rose. Proving that living somewhere involves more than occupying a house there, Rose seemingly suffers the trauma of all New Orleanians, even though his own house and family endure essentially no damage from the storm (other than a four-month relocation of wife and children to Maryland). The title refers to words painted on the side of a house as a message to recovery crews. More than a year after the storm, the words are still on that house.

Along with chronicling Rose's personal journey, the book serves a second purpose of telling the stories of dozens of other New Orleanians and "The Thing", as Rose calls Katrina. Among my favorites is the guy who collects magnets off the thousands of abandoned rerfigerators to cover his truck. Rose waxes poetic and fantastic along the way. You'll love "Refrigerator City" and maybe even his rants about Mayor Ray Nagin's "Chocolate City" comment (the column about breakfast with God and Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of a kind.)

This second edition is a combination of the popular shorter first edition and a second book initially intended to be published separately as "Purple Upside Down Car" (a phrase taken from Rose's young son noticing one of the many destroyed cars around the city).

My only complaint with the book is with its somewhat haphazard organization. The book is organized into several subsections and is for the most part chronological, but often not. Still, the columns within each subsection don't necessarily fit together that well. It's a minor complaint, since each column is so interesting that the reader is pulled along from one to the next. The book ends with Rose's year-end column from 2006, more than a year after the storm.

Four-and-a-half stars for the personal story of a storm's impact on a man and his city.

Bittersweets by Roopa Farooki

True Lies

Ms. Farooki's first novel has a clear theme--the power that lies can have over people's lives and the ultimate redemptive power of the truth. Though the story is set in Bangladesh and London, the story could be told in any setting. For at least the first half of the book, Ms. Farooki seems to hopscotch through the story--a little more depth might have helped the reader understand the characters better and give the story more continuity. When the final generation of characters is established and set in motion, the story tightens and improves, though the subplot of a son's sexual exploration seems a little drawn out and even superfluous. Some readers may find the ending to be a little too "sweet", but it's welcome after the "bitter" angst suffered by so many characters. "Bittersweets" has its charms, but doesn't quite measure up to the similar The Namesake: A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and lacks the scope and depth to compete with the brilliant writing about the subcontinent middle class by the incomparable Rohinton Mistry, author of A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club).

Just three stars for a book I spent a month trying to finish.


Bagels and Grits: A Jew on the Bayou by Jennifer Ann Moses

Book Better Than Title

I know the author, whose twin children go to high school with my daughter, and have read many of her columns on religious issues in the local newspaper. The unfortunately-titled "Bagels and Grits", which sounds more like a book on comparative cooking and culture between the Northeast and south Louisiana, made me feel like I know Jennifer Moses a lot better, as I've now read the story of her religious journey from a secular Jewish teenager in Virginia to a woman who teaches Hebrew at her synagogue and writes columns on religious issues.

Her journey and the book are inspired by of all things, volunteering a half-day a week in her new hometown of Baton Rouge, LA at an AIDS hospice. So many of the terminally-ill patients find comfort in their Christian faith, that Ms. Moses begins to consider how a deeper spirituality might improve her own life. Her longstanding Jewish identity prevents her from going all the way to Christianity, but a new rabbi at a local synagogue helps her find her way to a deeper understanding of Judaism. She even becomes a bat-mitzvah, completing studies in Judaism and Hebrew that Jews generally do while teenagers.

I found the story of Moses' rediscovery of Judaism in Baton Rouge (the "grits" part of the title) to be much more fascinating than flashbacks to her upper middle class upbringing in Virginia and young adult life in New York City (the "bagel" part). Still, Moses is a talented writer with a willingness to share quite personal information, making her book a quick read. One warning--if you're a big fan of "Tuesdays With Morrie" you might want to skip over Moses' two capsule reviews of that book. In her view, Mitch Albom's spiritual awakening doesn't quite measure up. I empathized more with Morrie's story than Mitch's, and didn't have such a negative reaction to the book, no matter its sentimentality.

Four stars for a well-written, serious and informative account of one woman's spiritual journey that will probably be best enjoyed by those of us in the Baby Boomer generation.