Forget cleaning your closet. Nothing, and we mean nothing, brings more joy than the subtle crack of a new spine. No, we don’t mean a visit to the chiropractor. We mean that moment, that orgasmic ahhhh of sitting down with a new book. The anticipation of learning something new, from someone who has studied or lived a subject intensely or slowly soaking into a world created by someone else’s imagination is off the charts exciting. We are not sure that anyone has calculated testosterone hits to the brain during the first moment’s of new book discovery but we are guessing the spikes to be high – perhaps not quite as high as doing the Sunday puzzle in ink in under 5 minutes, but certainly right up there with winning the Super Bowl. Following are the books on our reading list of the moment. And while so much dinner talk is about what we’re all watching, how about a re-direct to what we are reading? Ahhhhhh.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Oh boy are you in for a treat. Have not yet finished this thrill ride because a.) we are busy and b.) we don’t want it to end. The story of a woman convicted of shooting her husband in the head 5 times then never speaking another word and the therapist committed to unlocking her secrets. Early praise for this debut novel is building into a frenzy.
Evening In Paradise by Lucia Berlin
More stories of dark wit and human insight by departed and now beloved, Lucia Berlin, made more elegiac by the fact that she was largely “un-read” in her lifetime. Any one of these stories is a treasure.
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
A literary gift by the gifted novelist Sigrid Nunez. While mourning the loss of a dear friend, a writer inherits the friend’s Great Dane. Fiction lovers and dog worshipers will discover more than they can imagine in this meditation on loss and love.
Stoner by John Williams
It’s not new (first published in 1965) but because more people have been thanked for recommending what has been billed as the “great American novel you’ve never heard of.” The prose is spare and this story lives in our hearts, forever. You can thank us later.
From The Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey Stein
This book was a delightful surprise with insights on obsessive office romance that just happened to take place in the Obama White House. The day to day of running a presidential press corps is a page-turning romp of a memoir.
Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz
A fizzy, frothy collection of essays by former LA It Girl Eve Babitz, the stories will have you nostalgic for a different time and wishing for the beach. The writing is so funny and casual that you almost don’t notice how fantastic it is. Come for the name dropping, stay for the biting point of view of a woman who was never taken seriously enough for her talent.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
The Pulitzer-Prize winning author is back with a trilogy even more ambitious than his award-winning novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. His new book is an epic historical fiction that’s already being hailed as an African Game of Thrones. This is for anyone with a soft spot for fantasy and can’t wait for the HBO show to return.
Hold Still: A Memoir With Photographs by Sally Mann
Sally Mann, self-taught, renowned and well-collected photographer is still known mostly known for the controversial series of nudes she took of her own three children. Mann wrote this exquisitely told memoir of her life, her family her work and mostly the South and some might say she is a better writer than photographer. We might sheepishly and somewhat apologetically, agree.
Close To Om By Andrea Marcum
Well, we blew “dryuary” but are feeling awfully good about having embraced this book about yoga, Marcum, a lovely yogini who takes the time to explain why we bend and breath and live better when we begin at the beginning of yoga and take our time.
There Will Be No Miracles Here by Casey Gerald
A memoir so sharp and beautiful and exquisitely written that you will cry, laugh and learn as author Casey Gerald tells you the story of his life. From his time as a boy idolizing his famous father to playing football for Yale University, Gerald tells the story of himself alongside the story of the America we’re living in today. Combining the political and personal, it is truly a work of art.
