This Week’s Recommended Books…

NOTE: I’m fed up with the Amazon affiliate pogram and have switched my allegiance to Powell’s. Powell’s is a legendary independent bookstore in Portland with a respected online business. Should you be interested in purchasing the books I mention here, Powells will handling your needs as well as Amazon.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
( Vintage, $13 in paperback, 311 pp.)

I recommended this one not too long ago because friends and people I admired had been raving. I finally promised a couple of them that I would read MB in exchange for them shipping a boxload of used books I had picked up on my last trip to Baltimore (you see how the addiction feeds itself…).

I finished it up a few days ago and while I can’t say reading it was unfettered joy, it is nonetheless, funny, sweet, brilliantly conceived, and way way worth it. My friend who recommended it finished reading it in a day. It took me longer (as it always does) but you might rip right though.

The premise: Private detective with Tourette’s Syndrome investigating the murder of his mobster mentor who took him in as an orphan. Think Raymond Chandler remade by the guy behind Welcome to the Dollhouse.

I’ve been told by more than friend that this is an unabashed “guys book”, if that sort of thing matters to you–guns, hoods, late nights and flinty one liners. Decide for yourself. It’s a great ride.

Red Ant House by Ann Cummins
(Mariner Books, $12 in paperback, 179 pp.)

I was assigned this debut short story collection for review and finished it pretty quickly while in New York. Cummins has had a bunch of stories published in McSweeney’s. Dave Eggers is an admirer.

Her stuff is mostly set in the blanched out Southwest, on Indian resevations and in boarded-up mining towns. Most of the narrators are kids, who seem better at living than the adults. It reminded me a little of a magnificant film called George Washington which deals with these same themes and you get on DVD at most good video stores.

There’s a few rocky patches in this one (as in Motherless Brooklyn…A theme!) but I never feel too bad about skimming in a short story collection. Overall, Cummins writes with a kind of simplicity that only gestures toward the rather large stockpile of creativity she seems to have at her disposal. The wierdness of the stories (and there is plenty) is played straight , which makes this a mature read as well as a fun one. Put another way, the weirdness made me want to read more instead of groan.

The Dive From Clauson’s Pier by Ann Packer
(Vintage, $14 in paperback)

Packer’s book set the lands on fire when in came out last year, winning over critics and readers alike. One of the morning chat shows made it a book club pick. It was a New York Times Notable Book of 2002. Now it’s out in paperback which makes it the ideal time to pick it up since the hardcover, while well designed, was simply massive and cost a pretty nickel.

Carrie Bell, the protagonist, is 23 and has led a stable existence in Wisconsin as in engaged to Mike, her first boyfriend. After Mike is paralyzed in an accident, she begins to question the choices she made and what she owes those her life versus what she owes herself.

I haven’t read this one although I’m mighty curious, even after just writing this little summary. Low plot/high character novels like this stand or fall on their execution. How much to you care about the characters and if the answer is “not much” then how intrigued are you by them? I’m not super familar with Packer’s work but those one is sitting on a table in my living room, tempting me. I have faith it won’t let me down.

As opposed to Motherless Brooklyn, DFCP would probably be considered a “girl’s book,” having a female protagonist, being about character and lacking in much gunplay. I find those descriptions pretty silly and point to the cover of any fiction book before I begin with one command “Tell me a good story.” This looks like a good story.

• Category: Reading and Books