2008 National Book Festival

(Top) British mystery writer Peter Robinson made his first appearance Saturday at the National Book Festival on the Mall in Washington, D.C. (Bottom) Also making his first appearance was writer Salman Rushdie.

Politicans can write books, but they can't sell'em

Politicians are more successful garnering votes than they are generating book sales as this story on Politico illustrates.

A very funny book card

Washington loses another independent bookstore

"I think there's probably a bigger profit margin in noodles these days."

That comments refers to a "noodle shop" that will soon be replacing a bookstore near my office in Washington, D.C. Sadly, Olsson's is closing another store, and it's easy to imagine more may follow.

Olsson's has always taken something of a backseat to Politics & Prose as Washington's premiere independent bookstore. Still, I've attending signings at this particular location by Tom Wolfe, Lilly Tuck and Frank McCourt, among others.

The complete story from the Washington Post is reprinted below.

Olsson's Braces For Chapter 11 Filing

By Anita Huslin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008; D01

Olsson's Books, one of the oldest independent booksellers in Washington, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, founder John Olsson said yesterday.

Pressed by creditors who have filed claims against the company's inventories and by rising overhead costs, Olsson's is closing at least one store and will evaluate its ability to operate its remaining five properties, an attorney for the company said.

"The book business is getting a little soft. It's not selling as much as it used to," Olsson said. "Our music sales went from 50 percent of our business to maybe 15. We lost a lot of revenue, and at the same time rents went up and real estate taxes went up. I don't know what we would have done differently. It's a killer."

Olsson's yesterday closed its Penn Quarter store, which opened 15 years ago. Olsson said rents and taxes had risen beyond affordability at the store and acknowledged falling behind on payments to booksellers.

Last week, two of its biggest publishers, Random House and Penguin Group, as well as Hachette Book Group petitioned the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Greenbelt to place Olsson's in involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which would force the company to liquidate.

Two other creditors hold claims on the company's book and music inventories, Olsson's attorney Richard H. Gins said.

Olsson, 76, began selling books and records in the District 50 years ago and has battled the economic forces of big-box competition and Internet sales. But ultimately his business is being strained by forces close to home.

"We sort of helped make the neighborhood what it is. And it's a great neighborhood, but we can't afford the rent," Olsson said. A few years ago, the store's rent in the renovated Lansburgh department store building was $30 a square foot. Now, it has risen to $50 to $60 a square foot.

A British noodle shop, Wagamama, will take over the space once occupied by the bookstore, Olsson said.

In their court filing, the publishers say Olsson's owes them $386,541. Gins said that Sony and Ingram Books also hold claims to Olsson's music and book inventories.

Gins said he plans to convert the Chapter 7 filing to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which will give the company time to reorganize its business and keep creditors at bay.

"It's hard to compete against megastores like Barnes and Noble," Gins said. "We're looking at it positively, and we're hoping to come out of it. It depends on how many stores we can have."

Over the years, Olsson's has battled to maintain profitability, selling alongside its books and CDs such impulse items as Beanie Babies.

It has also built a loyal local following with book signings, cooking events and other activities. Al and Tipper Gore, for example, have signed their books at the Penn Quarter Olsson's. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti signed CDs at the Dupont Circle store.

The closing leaves Olsson's with five stores, down from the nine the company operated around 2002.

"I think there's probably a bigger profit margin in noodles these days," Gins said.

January and February reading list

January
1. Slam, Nick Hornby. Fiction 1-2 309
2. Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison. Fiction 1-4 309
3. Halting State, Charles Stross. Science Fiction 1-7 351
4. A Free Life, Ha Jin. Fiction 1-13 660
5. People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks. Fiction 1-16 372
6. Big Red Tequila, Rick Riordan. Mystery 1-20 372
7. In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan. Food 1-21 201
8. Night Train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier. Fiction 1-24 438
9. The Widower’s Two-Step, Rick Riordan. Mystery 1-26 383
10. The Painter of Battles, Arturo Perez-Reverte. Fiction 1-27 211
11. Sword Song, Bernard Cornwell. Fiction 1-29 311
12. Brother, I’m Dying, Edwidge Danticat. Memoir 1-31 269

February
13. Humboldt’s Gift, Saul Bellow. Fiction 2-8 487
14. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay. Thriller 2-10 288
15. The Rivalry, John Taylor. Basketball 2-10 371
16. The Last King of Texas, Rick Riordan. Mystery 2-13 369
17. Bookless in Baghdad, Shashi Tharoor. Books on Books 2-13 277
18. Mr. Vertigo, Paul Auster. Fiction 2-16 293
19. Watchman, Ian Rankin. Thriller 2-18 258
20. One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson. Mystery 2-21 418
21. At Weddings and Wakes, Alice McDermott. Fiction 2-22 213
22. Shadow Men, Jonathon King. Mystery 2-23 258
23. Aftermath, Peter Robinson. Mystery 2-25 387
24. The Commoner, John Burnham Schwartz. Fiction 2-27 351
25. That Night, Alice McDermott. Fiction 2-29 184

What do the numbers mean? The first set (2-21, for example) indicate the date on which the book was finished. The second set (213) is the number of pages in the book.

Hornby's Slam a successful foray into "juvenile" fiction

Books now read in ’08: 1
Title: Slam
Author: Nick Hornby
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 1-2
Pages: 309

A new year, a new book.

Slam is ostensibly Hornby'ss first effort at juvenile fiction. I’m not at all certain what that means. Possibly his publisher believes this book will sell to the 15-year-old skateboarding crowd. More likely some 12-year-old.

In any event, it is an entertaining book. Sometimes wise and certainly wiseass. If one thing is true it’s that Hornby’s humor will appeal to the juvenile of any age. Sometimes I think he is perpetually 15. And I mean that in a good way.

This is the story of Sam, who is 15 when the story opens and 18 when it ends. He’s into skating and lives with his mom, who had him when she was 16. Sam goes down the same path and his mom – and the story is about all that befalls or can befall a 16-year-old prospective father.

What makes the book entertaining rather than preachy is Hornby’s humor and his way of looking at the world. Sam visits the future on at least three occasions and is given to taking fatherly advice from a post of skateboarder Tony Hawk. Yeah, it’s off-beat and good.

Can’t wait for the movie.

More on 2007 reading

Book of the Year – Fiction:

Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson
Norwegian writer Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses is wise and touching; spare, yet lyrical -- superbly written, superbly told -- it is a powerful novel of loss and self-discovery.

Book of the Year – Non-Fiction:

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
A difficult decision because I also liked Hampton Sides’ Blood and Thunder a lot. I chose The Omnivore’s Dilemma because I think it is an important work, bringing to mind Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle or Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The Omnivore’s Dilemma is really two books. On one level there is author Michael Pollan’s interest in food and in cooking, and his comparison of three very different meals. On another more important level is Pollan’s exploration of the industrial food network and the refreshing alternatives that have sprung up as an answer to it.

Best Books – Fiction:

• Finn, Jon Clinch – a brilliant re-imagining of a classic work of American fiction.
  
• The Gathering, Anne Enright – a challenging book that rewards the patient reader with a powerful story and insignificant insights into human nature
• Returning to Earth, Jim Harrison – a man and his family come to terms with his death. This ranks among Harrison’s best.

Best Book – Non-Fiction:

• Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides – an extraordinary history of the taming of the Southwest. Sides weaves a compelling narrative with the skill of a novelist and with an artist’s eye for detail.
• Dog Years, Mark Doty – a profound meditation on mortality as viewed through the loss of a dog.
• The Soul of Baseball, A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America, Joe Posnanski – Baseball reads, and there is no better example than this book. It is filled with marvelous stories of negro league baseball as well as of Buck O'Neil's experiences during his "tour" of America. Mostly, it is about O’Neil, who was a wise, kind man and whose personality shines forth in this book in unexpectedly powerful and poignant ways.

Fiction I recommend:

• Thirteen Moons, Charles Frazier
• Blood of Paradise, David Corbett
• The Pesthouse, Jim Crace
• Winterton Blue, Trezza Azzopardi
• On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
• The Children of Húrin, J.RR. Tolkien
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon
• Bangkok Haunts, John Burdett
• Blood at the Root, Peter Robinson
• Spook Country, William Gibson
• Glasshouse, Charles Stross
• Kentucky Straight, Chris Offutt
• Afterwards, Rachel Seiffert
• Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russo
• Cheating at Canasta, William Trevor
• Run, Ann Patchett
• Blonde Faith, Walter Mosley
• You Don’t Love Me Yet, Jonathan Lethem
• Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
• Secondhand World, Katherine Min
• The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett
• The Ministry of Special Cases, Nathan Englander
• Every Visible Thing, Lisa Carey

Note: The books by Walter Mosley and Peter Robinson are representative. I’d recommend any mystery by these two.

Non-Fiction I recommend:

• Calvin Coolidge, David Greenberg
• Gerald R. Ford, Douglas Brinkley
• Richard M. Nixon, Elizabeth Drew
• George H.W. Bush, Timothy Naftali
• Shakespeare, Bill Bryson
• The Tenth Muse, Judith Jones
• Falling Through the Earth, Danielle Trussoni

Note: The four Presidential biographies are part of Times Books’ American Presidents Series. It is uniformly good.

My 2007 Reading List

Here's my reading list for 2007. 125 books, 37,348 pages -- an average of 102 pages a day.

For those unfamiliar with my list, the first set of numbers (1-6, 11-20) indicates the month and day that the book was finished. The second set of numbers (417, 323) indicates the number of "readable" pages the book contained. Indexes, bibliographies, etc., are not counted.

January
1. Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore. Running 1-6 417
2. Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman. Speculative Fiction 1-7 355
3. Alexis De Tocqueville Democracy’s Guide, Joseph Epstein. Biography 1-10 205
4. Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart. Fiction 1-13 333
5. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen. Fiction 1-17 331
6. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt, Nick Hornby. Books on Book 1-20 153
7. Freud Inventor of the Modern Mind, Peter D. Kramer.
Biography 1-21 211
8. Thirteen Moons, Charles Frazier. Fiction 1-25 420
9. Calvin Coolidge, David Greenberg. Biography 1-26 159

February
10. The Oracle at Stoneleigh Court, Peter Taylor. Stories 2-5 324
11. The Family That Couldn’t Sleep, D.T. Max. Non-Fiction 2-6 256
12. Falling Through the Earth, Danielle Trussoni. Memoir 2-9 240
13. A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon. Fiction 2-11 354
14. Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties, Robert Stone. Memoir 2-13 229
15. When Madeline Was Young, Jane Hamilton. Fiction 2-20 274
16. Lords of the North, Bernard Cornwell. Fiction 2-25 314
17. Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides. History 2-27 402

March
18. Travels in the Scriptorium, Paul Auster. Fiction 3-1 145
19. Gerald R. Ford, Douglas Brinkley. Biography 3-6 160
20. The Flanders Panel, Arturo Perez-Reverte. Fiction 3-7 295
21. The Watchman, Robert Crais. Thriller 3-10 292
22. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan. Non-Fiction 3-15 411
23. All Aunt Hagar’s Children, Edward P. Jones. Short Stories 3-19 399
24. Paper Trails, Pete Dexter. Non-Fiction 3-21 289
25. Saul and Patsy, Charles Baxter. Fiction 3-23 317
26. An Unfinished Season, Ward Just. Fiction 3-27 251
27. Dog Years, Mark Doty. Memoir 3-28 216

April
28. Blood of Paradise, David Corbett. Thriller 4-1 406
29. Benjamin Franklin, Walter Isaacson. Biography 4-7 493
30. Moral Disorder, Margaret Atwood. Fiction 4-7 225
31. The Pesthouse, Jim Crace. Fiction 4-11 309
32. The United States of Arugula, David Kamp. Non-Fiction 4-18 364
33. Winterton Blue, Trezza Azzopardi. Fiction 4-19 271
34. The Soul of Baseball, A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s
America, Joe Posnanski. Baseball 4-21 273
35. The Sun Over Breda, Arturo Perez-Reverte. Fiction 4-22 261
36. Rollback, Robert J. Sawyer. Speculative Fiction 4-27 313
37. I Got Somebody in Staunton, William Henry Lewis. Fiction 4-28 202
38. On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan. Fiction 4-30 166

May
39. The Naming of the Dead, Ian Rankin. Mystery 5-3 452
40. A Writer’s Life, Gay Talese. Non-Fiction 5-4 430
41. The Children of Húrin, J.RR. Tolkien. Fantasy 5-6 259
42. The New American Story, Bill Bradley. Non-Fiction 5-11 343
43. Coriolanus, Shakespeare. Drama 5-13 156
44. Tomorrow, Graham Swift. Fiction 5-18 248
45. Up In Honey’s Room, Elmore Leonard. Thriller 5-20 292
46. Rereadings, edited by Anne Fadiman. Books on books 5-21 238
47. The Ministry of Special Cases, Nathan Englander. Fiction 5-27 339
48. Julia Child, Laura Shapiro. Biography 5-29 181
49. What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman. Mystery 5-30 373

June
50. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon. Mystery 6-5 411
51. Bad Luck and Trouble, Lee Child. Thriller 6-6 377
52. The Overlook, Michael Connelly. Mystery 6-7 225
53. Why Bring Them Back From Heaven?, Clifford Simak.
Science Fiction 6-10 191
54. Einstein, Walter Isaacson. Biography 6-11 551
55. Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson. Fiction 6-13 219
56. Richard M. Nixon, Elizabeth Drew. Biography 6-14 151
57. Bangkok Haunts, John Burdett. Fiction 6-17 290
58. Eat the Document, Dana Spiotta. Fiction 6-20 290
59. Everyman, Philip Roth. Fiction 6-21 182
60. Opening Day, Jonathan Eig. Baseball 6-23 275
61. Terrorist, John Updike. Fiction 6-27 310
62. Close to Home, Peter Robinson. Mystery 6-30 389

July
63. A Thief of Time, Tony Hillerman. Mystery 7-1 209
64. Baltimore Blues, Laura Lippman. Mystery 7-2 324
65. Coyote Waits, Tony Hillerman. Mystery 7-3 292
66. Bleeding Hearts, Ian Rankin. Mystery 7-4 374
67. Sacred Clowns, Tony Hillerman. Mystery 7-5 305
68. Skin Tight, Carl Hiaasen. Mystery 7-8 318
69. The First Eagle, Tony Hillerman. Mystery 7-9 278
70. Blood at the Root, Peter Robinson. Mystery 7-11 309
71. Double Play, Robert B. Parker. Mystery 7-12 288
72. Red Square, Martin Cruz Smith. Mystery 7-15 418
73. The Maytrees, Annie Dillard. Fiction 7-17 216
74. First Among Sequels, Jasper Fforde. Fiction 7-20 395
75. The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Joyce Carol Oates. Fiction 7-29 582
76. A Good Hanging, Ian Rankin. Fiction 7-30 253

August
77. The Tin Roof Blowdown, James Lee Burke. Mystery 8-2 373
78. Black Dogs, Ian McEwan. Fiction 8-5 149
79. Enduring Love, Ian McEwan. Fiction 8-8 262
80. The Zero, Jess Walter. Fiction 8-12 326
81. Foreign Affairs, Alison Lurie. Fiction 8-16 291
82. Saving Daylight, Jim Harrison. Poetry 8-19 121
83. Spook Country, William Gibson. Fiction 8-20 371
84. Friend of the Devil, Peter Robinson. Mystery 8-24 424
85. Skeleton Man, Tony Hillerman. Mystery 8-26 241
86. Death of a Writer, Michael Collins. Fiction 8-31 307

September
87. Edith Wharton, Hermione Lee. Biography 9-1 762
88. The Accidental Time Machine, Joe Haldeman. Science Fiction 9-3 276
89. Can I Keep My Jersey?, Paul Shirley. Basketball 9-12 323
90. Finn, Jon Clinch. Fiction 9-16 283
91. Glasshouse, Charles Stross. Science Fiction 9-21 335
92. This Shape We’re In, Jonathan Lethem. Fiction 9-21 55
93. Kentucky Straight, Chris Offutt. Fiction 9-23 167
94. Afterwards, Rachel Seiffert. Fiction 9-25 321
95. Machiavelli, Philosopher of Power, Ross King. Biography 9-26 238

October
96. Oh What A Slaughter, Larry McMurtry. History 10-4 161
97. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson. Fiction 10-6 614
98. Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russo. Fiction 10-16 528
99. Julie & Julia, Julie Powell. Food 10-19 307
100. Interred With Their Bones, Jennifer Lee Carrell. Mystery 10-21 416
101. Cheating at Canasta, William Trevor. Short Stories 10-26 232
102. Run, Ann Patchett. Fiction 10-31 295

November
103. C.C. Pyle’s Amazing Foot Race, Geoff Williams. Running 11-4 303
104. The Gathering, Anne Enright. Fiction 11-6 261
105. Shakespeare, Bill Bryson. Biography 11-10 196
106. Blonde Faith, Walter Mosley. Mystery 11-11 308
107. Then We Came to the End, Joshua Ferris. Fiction 11-14 385
108. Away, Amy Bloom. Fiction 11-18 335
109. Fieldwork, Mischa Berlinski. Fiction 11-21 314
110. You Don’t Love Me Yet, Jonathan Lethem. Fiction 11-23 224
111. Like You’d Understand Anyway, Jim Shepard. Fiction 11-27 211

December
112. Ralph Ellison, Arnold Rampersad. Biography 12-1 566
113. Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson. Fiction 12-2 258
114. Varieties of Disturbance, Lydia Davis. Fiction 12-6 219
115. The Power of Experience, ed. Jeremy Janes. Fiction 12-6 221
116. Returning to Earth, Jim Harrison. Fiction 12-12 280
117. American Creation, Joseph Ellis. History 12-13 243
118. Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon. Fiction 12-14 204
119. Secondhand World, Katherine Min. Fiction 12-16 274
120. The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett. Fiction 12-18 120
121. The Tenth Muse, Judith Jones. Food 12-22 282
122. Every Visible Thing, Lisa Carey. Fiction 12-24 306
123. George H.W. Bush, Timothy Naftali. Biography 12-25 176
124. Sacred, Dennis Lehane. Mystery 12-26 288
125. Man Gone Down, Michael Thomas. Fiction 12-31 428

On building The Felsenfeld Collection

On August 6, I had a post about the potential for a Felsenfeld Collection.

The post referred to a Talk of the Town article in the July 30 The New Yorker about Brooklyn classical composer Danny Felsenfeld showing up as a character in several recent novels.

I wrote:

Now here’s how I think: This is a great opportunity to assemble the Felsenfeld Collection, a small, but intriguing collection of novels featuring characters all based on the same individual. It would be an especially nice collection if all the books were signed by Felsenfeld.

A few months later that post generated this response:

Were you to assemble the Felsenfeld collection, you might be the only one--though apparently this is not a done deal: there may be more.

But if you get it together, I will happily sign it!

Thanks for your post; got a big kick.

Best,
Daniel Felsenfeld (a.k.a. "Inspector")

I can now report that I have assembled first editions of three of the four books now in print featuring Mr. Felsenfeld: Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Lisa Carey’s Every Visible Thing and Katherine Min’s The Secondhand World.

Felsenfeld is also a character in At the Feet of the Divine by Benjamin Anastas. That book has not been published in English, and I have not yet determined exactly how I will let a German bookdealer know that I need an “Erste Auflage” of Anastas’ book.

BTW, here are the references to Felsenfeld in each of the three books I own:

In Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union where he appears as Inspector Felsenfeld. The first reference comes on page 22:

“Speaking of rumors," he says, "what do you hear from Felsenfeld?”

Felsenfeld is Inspector Felsenfeld, the squad commander. "What do you mean, what do I hear from him? I just saw him this afternoon," Landsman says. "I didn't hear anything from him, the man hasn't uttered three words together in ten years. What kind of question is that? What rumors?"

In Katherine Min’s The Secondhand World by Katherine Min he is a high school teacher, who appears to be OK with students’ displays of public affection. Here’s the reference form page 115:

“ . . . and at least once a day a teacher tapped us on the shoulder and said, “PDA” – sometimes with a smile, like Mr. Felsenfeld, who wanted to show that he personally was cool with it but must reluctantly enforce school policy . . .”

He makes a very brief appearance in Every Visible Thing by Lisa Carey. On page 110, she writes:

“Suspecting that Dr. Felsenfeld had already had a conversation with Danny’s mother, Owen has no choice but to follow the tide of children toward the lunchroom.”

There’s no other reference I could find, although The New Yorker describes Felsenfeld’s character as a pipe-smoking, high school principal.

Close out the year with four good books

Books now read in ’07: 121
Title: The Tenth Muse
Author: Judith Jones
Genre: Food
Date Completed: 12-22
Pages: 282

Books now read in ’07: 122
Title: Every Visible Thing
Author: Lisa Carey
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-24
Pages: 306

Books now read in ’07: 123
Title: George H.W. Bush
Author: Timothy Naftali
Genre: Biography
Date Completed: 12-25
Pages: 176

Books now read in ’07: 124
Title: Sacred
Author: Dennis Lehane
Genre: Mystery
Date Completed: 12-26
Pages: 288

Something for everyone in the final days of 2007. I recommend all four books.

Don’t expect Knopf editor Judith Jones to dish on the various cookbook authors she’s worked for through the years. She’s far too polite, too mannered, for an eat-and-tell book. Instead, this is an extended riff on the food and friends she’s enjoyed through the years.

Jones, of course, deserves credit for recognizing that Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking was a work of genius and that the timing was right for American cooks to embrace Child and her masterpiece.

The Tenth Muse comes complete with recipes. It’s a tasty, full-course meal.

Lisa Carey’s Every Visible Thing is a story of profound loss, and the universal desire for connection. The Furey family has been in a tailspin since the oldest son, Hugh, vanished. The parents are indifferent to their remaining children – Lena and Owen.

Lena sets out to try and find out more about Hugh’s disappearance, but, in the process, she ceases to attend school and becomes hooked up with a small-time drug dealer. Owen is wrestling with his sexual identity and his best friend’s betrayal.

Owen believes Hugh is dead, but he also believes his older brother is still part of their lives as a guardian angel.

Carey writes with great insight as she explores the rocky dynamics of this dysfunctional family.

George H.W. Bush is part of Times Books’ American President Series, which has proved uniformly superb. Naftali’s brief biography of “41” is no exception. For many of us this book reads more like current events than history. It is an even-handed and thoughtful examination of the presidency of the first George Bush.

Sacred is an early work by Dennis Lehane. It’s not on par with Mystic River, but few books are. It is an entertaining read with a couple of memorable characters. Anyone fond of the genre is certain to enjoy this.

Post features Norwegian writer

The Washington Post carries an article this morning on Norwegian writer Per Petterson and the success of his most recent novel, Out Stealing Horses. I won't make you read the entire article (although it's fascinating) to reach the good news. Graywolf Press will publish his book, To Siberia, next year.

The Uncommon Reader uncommonly good

Books now read in ’07: 120
Title: The Uncommon Reader
Author: Alan Bennett
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-18
Pages: 120

Bookstores in Washington are reporting that Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader is flying off the shelves. That should come as no surprise. It is an entertaining book about the British monarchy, a source of fascination to a sizeable number of Americans.

Bennett’s conceit, in this novella (the book runs 120 pages) is what would happen if, at the age of 80, the Queen suddenly became a voracious reader? Initially the Queen, who has stumbled into a library book van, resists the lure of reading.

The Queen hesitated, because to tell the truth she wasn’t sure. She’d never taken much interest in reading. She read, of course, as one did, but liking books was something she left to other people. It was a hobby and it was in the nature of her job that she didn’t have hobbies. Jogging, growing roses, chess or rock climbing, cake decoration, model aeroplanes. No. Hobbies involved preferences and preferences had to be avoided; preferences excluded people. One had no preferences. Her job was to take an interest, not to be interested herself. And besides, reading wasn’t doing. She was a doer.

Eventually, the Queen does succumb. “What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do.” Yes, I know that feeling.

One final quote: “Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met with in the pages of their novels, and as much creatures of the reader’s imagination as the characters in their books.”

The Queen’s advisors aren’t at all comfortable with the idea of the monarch as reader and there are subtle efforts to discourage her. The Queen’s passion for reading does finally wane, but with results no less unsettling to her advisors.

Bennett has given us a delicious read. Not so much laugh out loud funny as designed to evoke a grin of delight or recognition. As an animated pitchman might say, The Uncommon Reader is uncommonly good.

Books now read in ’07: 119
Title: Secondhand World
Author: Katherine Min
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-16
Pages: 274

I came by this book through a circuitous route; a route that had nothing to do with the book’s author or its contents.

Because of Danny Felsenfeld (more on Mr. Felsenfeld in a future post), I stumbled onto this novel replete with both great pain and wisdom. Secondhand World is the story of Isadora Myung Hee Sohn, the American-born daughter of a Korean couple. The novel begins and ends when Isa is 18, and is largely focused on her final years of high school.

Secondhand World is about alienation and acceptance; not only the alienation we experience at the hands of the larger world – especially if we are a Korean child who does not resemble anyone else around – but the alienation that can take place within the confines of our own family.

Isa feels isolated from her parents. As a toddler, her younger brother, was killed in a senseless household accident and, through the years, her parents continue to be haunted by their loss. Isa feels that she is a poor substitute for her dead brother. A feeling eloquently expressed at the novel’s close:

“It’s a secondhand world we’re born into. What is novel to us is only so because we’re newborn, and what we cannot see, that has come before – what our parents have seen and been and done – are the hand-me-downs we begin to wear as swaddling clothes, even as we ourselves are naked. The flaw runs through us, implicating us in its imperfection even as it separates us, delivers us onto opposite sides of a chasm. It is both terribly beautiful and terribly sad, but it is, finally, the fault in the universe that gives birth to us all.”

The pain Isa experiences both inside her family and out, even the loss of her brother, are only echos of other tragedies – in her father’s past and in her present (when we first meet Isa she is a patient on a pediatric burn unit). As Isa finds life so I found Secondhand World – terribly beautiful and terribly sad.

New books by Harrison, Ellis and Chabon are not to be missed

Books now read in ’07: 116
Title: Returning to Earth
Author: Jim Harrison
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-12
Pages: 280

Books now read in ’07: 117
Title: American Creation
Author: Joseph Ellis
Genre: History
Date Completed: 12-12
Pages: 243

Books now read in ’07: 118
Title: Gentlemen of the Road
Author: Michael Chabon
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-14
Pages: 204

Three books. All highly recommended.

Returning to Earth is Jim Harrison’s newest book, and one wonders if it will not be his last. It certainly reads as if it is Harrison’s effort to come to terms with his own mortality.

It is the story of Donald, a middle-aged man of Chippewa and Finnish descent, who is dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Much in tune with his Indian ancestry, Donald determines to end his life.

In the four sections, Harrison tells us Donald’s story, that of his wife and other family members as they come to terms with his death. It is a powerful and insightful book – with echoes of Louise Erdrich – and certainly must rank among Harrison’s best.

American Creation examines key historical moments in the founding of America – beginning with Washington’s decision to engage the British in protracted struggle rather than a conventional clash of armies and concluding with Jefferson’s decision to set aside his opposition to an imperial presidency and purchase the Louisiana territory from Napoleon.

Ellis’ strength is two-fold. He is an engaging writer who avoids a plodding academic style sometimes adopted by historians. He is also balanced and fair-minded; crediting Jefferson, for example, with boldness in concluding the Louisiana purchase, but in being blind to the opportunities the purchase offered to abolish slavery in America.

It’s an intelligent and provocative work.

Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road is the most enjoyable of the lot. Chabon dedicates the book to British writer Michael Moorcock and, indeed, his character Zelikman owes much to Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone.

Gentlemen of the Road is a delightful adventure yarn. Chabon tosses in sword play, elephants, a bit of artful thievery and a foul-mouthed youth of royal blood trying to regain his rightful throne. It’s irresistible.

The Power of Experience is Jeremy Janes' lovely legacy

Books now read in ’07: 114
Title: Varieties of Disturbance
Author: Lydia Davis
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-6
Pages: 219

Books now read in ’07: 115
Title: The Power of Experience
Author: Jeremy Janes (ed..)
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-6
Pages: 221

Varieties of Disturbance was one of five books short-listed for the 2007 National Book Award for fiction. It is described, on the back cover, as “fifty-seven rule-breaking short stories.”

The count may be correct. Rules have been broken. But these are not short stories. I am not at all certain what they are. Some are amusing in a trifling way. Some cute in an annoying way. Most are boring.

I think it’s someone’s idea of joke.

Jeremy Janes, editor of The Power of Experience, was a co-worker and friend. Jeremy lived in Madison, Wisconsin. I lived in Topeka and later in Washington, D.C. He was a Brit and had that charming accent Brit’s have. He was also a kind and gentle man and something of a bibliophile.

Jeremy died in 2006 without ever having seen The Power of Experience. I remember his excitement that the Publications team at AARP (where we worked) had agreed to publish his book, subtitled “Great Writers Over 50 on the Quest for a Lifetime of Meaning.”

Jeremy did a terrific job with this anthology, tapping a variety of sources and writers. Anne Tyler is here. As is Amy Tan. Robert Stone. Elmore Leonard. Frederick Busch and Richard Russo.

It’s a good read and a terrific legacy of a life well-lived.

Petterson's Out Stealing Horses is 2007's best book

Books now read in ’07: 113
Title: Out Stealing Horses
Author: Per Petterson
Genre: Fiction
Date Completed: 12-2
Pages: 288






At some point during our youth we come to understand that our parents have lives beyond that which we know; that there is a complexity to their lives that we did not previously recognize and that their lives are not limited to home or to their children or their spouse.

Such a realization comes to Trond, the narrator of Norwegian writer Per Petterson’s superb Out Stealing Horses, the summer he is 15. World War II has been over only a few years, Trond has been reunited with his father and, now, in a few brief months he has the rare opportunity to spend time alone with his father and to work alongside him.

Trond discovers that his father was part of the resistance during the war – something his father has never talked about – and that he has a romantic relationship with a farm woman, who aided him in his efforts against the Germans. The woman is the mother of Trond’s closest friend.

Trond looks back on this summer from the perspective of some 50 years. He has taken himself to a remote part of Norway – where the novel is set – to heal from wounds suffered during an accident that claimed the life of his wife. His wounds are far more emotional than physical. Trond is clearly seeking to grasp life more firmly, and is determined to do so in his own way and with little assistance.

Events occur that remind Trond of that distant summer. In looking back it was clearly a summer of loss – a summer in which he was to see his father for the last time; a summer in which he was to lose his best friend and in which that friend was to lose much, much more.

Yet in looking back, Trond also comes to realize that in their brief time together his father taught him lessons about life that can offer him a source of strength and healing and consolation in his time of present need.

Petterson makes few judgments about his characters, instead he recognizes that life takes us down pathways that we would not have chosen for ourselves, but which we must now find the strength to endure.

Out Stealing Horses is wise and touching; spare, yet lyrical -- superbly written, superbly told -- it is a powerful novel of loss and self-discovery.

It is the best book of 2007.

Wahsington Post lists its best book of 2007

In today’s Book World, the Washington Post lists its top 10 books of 2007.

The top five works of fiction are:

• Finn, Jon Clinch
• The Last Cavalier, Alexandre Dumas
• On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
• The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolano
• Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson

I am thoroughly pleased to see Finn on that list. It is a terrific re-imagining of a classic work of American fiction. I also can’t quarrel with On Chesil Beach as one of the year’s best novels. Author Ian McEwan is the best writer in the English language today.

The book by Dumas is exactly the kind of quirky choice the Post would make. I’m not familiar with Bolano’s book and, again, didn’t much care for Tree of Smoke.

The best non-fiction, according to the Post:

• Edith Wharton, Hermione Lee
• FDR, Jean Edward Smith
  
• Ralph Ellison: A Biography, Arnold Rampersad
  
• The Unnatural History of the Sea, Callum Roberts
• The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story, Diane Ackerman

I didn’t like Hermione Lee’s book one bit. Rampersad’s biography of Ralph Ellison was reviewed in these pages yesterday. It is an impeccable work of scholarship, and highly readable.

Books now read in ’07: 112
Title: Ralph Ellison
Author: Arnold Rampersad
Genre: Biography
Date Completed: 12-1
Pages: 566

And so we enter the final month of reading in 2007. Why do I feel as if 112 books just isn’t enough?

Arnold Rampersad is a splendid biographer as he demonstrated in 1997 with his biography of baseball pioneer (and book of the same name) Jackie Robinson and again 10 years later with Ralph Ellison.

I confess that I have not read Ellison’s groundbreaking novel, Invisible Man. Rampersad’s thorough and thoroughly readable biography has not necessarily moved me to do so, but – should I read it – I will know a hell of a lot about the author.

Ellison was a complicated man. (He evokes Whitman for me: “I am large. I contain multitudes.”) He was not necessarily a likeable man. In the vernacular of the time, Ellison was excessively enamored of the Establishment. He embraced LBJ, any number of Establishment appointments, commissions and boards and jealously guarded his status as the sole “Negro” (a word he preferred) representative thereof.

Perhaps most distressingly, Ellison did little – hell, he did nothing – to advance the cause of young Black writers, who he always found lacking. His disregard, for example, of Toni Morrison is but one example.

Rampersad’s strength is in his balance. He demonstrates Ellison’s greatness as a pioneering Black novelist, but does not hesitate to display his shortcomings as a man and, especially, as an African American.

From the publication of Invisible Man until Ellison’s death, Rampersad also makes clear that the single, inescapable tragedy of Ellison’s life – and I do not think that to strong a word – is his failure to write a second novel. He worked continuously (more than 35 years) on a second novel, but was never able to complete it; in part, Rampersad suggests, because Ellison’s standards were to high.

Most instructive (and illustrative of my thinking as I read this biography) is Rampersad following observation:

Perhaps it is therefore both a touching memento and a mocking suggestion of what might have been if Ralph had managed his career differently. One or two books of autobiography, two or three collections of short stories, his two published books of essays, and his masterpiece Invisible Man, even without a second novel, might have given his career a sense of wholeness and removed his burden of failed expectations. (p. 556)

I am not a fan of lengthy biographies, preferring the shorter version (less than 200 pages) of Penguin Lives and the current Eminent Lives series, but I liked this work. It is readable, balanced and superbly researched.

New book by Stegner generates controversy

Interesting story in today’s Washington Post about a conflict between the estate of the late Wallace Stegner and a consortium of oil companies that recently published a new book by him.

Discovery! The Search for Arabian Oil was published in September by Selwa Press. Stegner’s agent, Carl Brandt, and his son, Page, both contend the book should not have been published. Representatives of the oil company say they’ve done nothing wrong.

Times announces its 10 best books

The New York Times announced today its 10 best books of 2007 -- five fiction and five non-fiction works. Among the best books, according to the Times, are National Book Award winner Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, which was shortlisted for the National Book Award.

I admired what Johnson was attempting, but thought the book fell short. I didn't think Ferris' book was especially notable. I liked two other shortlisted books better -- Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski and Like You'd Understand Anyway by Jim Shepard.

Also, among the Times' best fiction of the year is Out Stealing Horses by Norwegian author Pers Petterson. I'm 60 pages into that book and will definitely let all 12 of you know what I think of it.

Can't comment on the non-fiction. I have not read any of the Times' selections.