The Writer’s Coin

So I’ve had a bit of a tough run lately when it comes to books, so I’m happy to report that my current read, Interpreter of Maladies, is going great. So far I’ve read about four of the short stories and two of them have been fantastic. The title story was very good, and “A Temporary Matter” was even better. That’s the best short story I’ve read in a while and it got me all fired up to get myself writing too. That’s the thing about reading great literature—not only does it entertain, but it also motivates your creative side to get cracking.

Anyway, in an effort to help out other writers out there, I wanted to take a minute and highlight some of the books from my Amazon store, which are all books I highly recommend. These are the best of the best and so this list means the books I’m highlighting are the best of the best . . . of the best? Something like that.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Whenever I’m looking for a great novel to read, I always tell people I want to read “a Middlesex.” If they’ve read the book, they know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s been a while since I read it, but I still feel very strongly about it. It’s one of those epics that covers a lot of time without bogging itself down at all. The writing is great and it also includes some really interesting scientific tidbits that show Eugenides really researched the hell out of the book. It’s all interesting, which is the best part, even if you never thought the science of being a hermaphrodite was anything exciting.

Halfway House by Katharine Noel

I love recommending books that people haven’t heard of but are fantastic, and this is one of those books. I mentioned it offhand once before but never really gave it the space it warranted. Until now. That almost sounded like a trailer for a blockbuster summer flick. But this book really is a blockbuster, no matter if you’ve never heard of it or the author. I got to see her read the first chapter and just based on that reading, I went out and bought the book the next day. This does not happen often. The language is so rich and the analogies really jump off the page. There’s one about the girl’s smile being jagged like broken glass. That shit jumps right out and takes you under, which I love. The story is good but the writing carries this book. She is really, really good and I can’t wait to see what she has coming next.

Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

I’ve talked about this book before, but it also falls under the category of “unknown” to a lot of people, despite all the awards listed on it’s page on the store. I was reading this when I saw one of the many articles saying that novels were dead—no one wanted to read them anymore. I held the book up and was like, “No they aren’t.” Lots of people kind of look at me funny when I tell them that the book is about a 16-year-old kid in love with a 20-something guy in Italy (was it Italy?). Regardless, it’s a love story, and we all like those. This is another one where the writing is just crackling with energy and emotion. The only qualm I had with it was that some of the really raunchy scenes (there were a couple I think) had some language that didn’t fit in with the eloquent voice used throughout. All of the sudden some vulgar words get dropped and I remember thinking “Why is this here now, all of the sudden?” Still, this is probably the best novel I’ve read recently besides Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia

I can’t believe I’ve only mentioned this book once (and very briefly). I really have to get on those book reviews. For starters, this is a beautiful book (the hard cover, anyway). That’s the first thing you’ll see when you touch it and open it up—it’s from McSweeney’s so you know they put a lot of thought into it. This is a novel that starts out being pretty straighforward—it has a cool, family storyline to it and features a small town with personality. Sprinkle a little bit of the ol’ immigrant experience and you’ve got a good novel, right? Sort of. The book is meta-fiction at it’s best, with one character sneaking out of the book at one point and into the author’s room. If that sounds like total bullshit to you, I understand. The book may not be for you. But he still manages to tell us a great story while telling us the story of himself and how he’s gotten to the point of writing a novel. It’s brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I wish I would’ve written something this good and this clever. I assume that’s what The Raw Shark Texts was trying to do. That book was OK (it was original, that’s for sure), but not even in the same league as The People of Paper.

Hardball Moneyball by Michael Lewis

I’ll admit, this isn’t really “literature” in the traditional sense. But simply because it’s a sports book doesn’t mean it isn’t beautifully crafted and researched. Forget about all the controversy of OBP vs. Scouting, Michael Lewis put together a book that millions of people read and loved—and he brought OBP to the masses. If you don’t really care about baseball then you might try his fantastic “sort-of bio” of Michael Oher in The Blind Side. Either way, you can’t go wrong with Michael Lewis.

Anyway, that was fun, I’m surprised I haven’t talked more about some of these books that I like so much. Stay tuned as I’ll be adding more books to my Amazon Store and probably being a little bit better about my reviews. Also, if none of those books strikes your fancy, check out some deals at Amazon and let me know when you find a good one. I’m always open to great recommendations for new books to check out.

Tags: Andre Aciman, call me by your name, Halfway House, Hardball, interpreter of maladies, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jhumpa Lahiri, Katharine Noel, Michael Lewis, Middlesex, The Blind Side, The People of Paper