Mailbox Monday: The all type, no talk edition

So, I still have no voice.  This has gone beyond mere annoyance, as it's been nearly three weeks now.  But it led to a very funny interlude this past week.  I commented to a co-worker that I'd spent the entire weekend in silence.  She looked at me very skeptically.  I said, "As much as I read, don't you realize that I spend most of my life outside this office in silence?"  Her response was, "I always picture you reading aloud.  And gesticulating."  I laughed until I cried.  Everyone who has heard this quote shrugs and says, "I could see that."

And on that note, let's start this week's list with the swarm of books I picked up in the Audible.com "Paperback" sale.  I've said it before, I can't resist the cheap audiobooks.  One of the things I love about them, is that while I have little time to reread books, sometimes I'll pick up an especially beloved book in this new format, and it feels a little less like revisiting the same territory.  It's also a way to fit in older books I've been wanting to read--books I don't owe reviews on.  Or new books I didn't receive review copies of.  It's a little easier to squeeze the audiobook in while I'm shopping, cooking, stitching, or otherwise multi-tasking.

Still Missing
by Chevy Stevens

This was a hot debut thriller last summer, and I considered reading it then.  Her latest thriller is now sitting in my house.  I already "read" this one while walking around New York.  Enjoyable.  The first half was very reminiscent of Emma Donaghue's Room.  I liked the second half a lot better. 

Alas, Babylon
by Pat Frank

I've always wanted to read this classic of apocalyptic fiction.

A Visit From the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan

I think everyone here knows I'm a big fan of Jennifer Egan and this year's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.  For five bucks, I couldn't resist adding the audiobook to my collection.

Fever Dream
by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I'm a decades-long fan of Doug and Linc's, but I'm a rare fan who feels that a little Pendergast goes a long way.  A few years ago, I just got Pendergasted-out, and I stopped reading the books.  But, I started to feel a little nostalgic recently.  The latest Pendergast book is out in a couple of weeks, so I decided to re-enter the series with last year's offering, the first in a trilogy.  I've already listened to it, and I had an epiphany.  Pendergast's courtliness is 100% Doug Preston.  An example... Me: Doug, I've lost my voice.  Doug: What a shame, you have such a lovely voice.  He's like that all the time.

Then Came You
by Jennifer Weiner

Technically, I purchased this brand new title with my Audible.com credit.  This is another one I've already listened to.  Enjoyable and interesting, but not funny like her typical work.  I missed the humor.

Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn

It must be 20 years since I've read this cult classic, and yet I think of it so often.  It deserves a reread after all these years.  I loved this book, and hope that I still do.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle
by Shirley Jackson

I have heard too many raves about the book and audiobook to ignore.

Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett

In a perfect world, I would have every book I read in paper, Kindle, and audiobook formats, as I like to switch back and forth, and frequently listen and read at the same time, etc.  Now that I do have this monster in all three formats, I'm running out of excuses not to read it. 

The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield

This is another popular title that's been sitting on my bookshelf that I've been meaning to get around to reading.

Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami

Simply put, Nicole would never forgive me if I passed up a Murakami.  I'm reading my first Murakami now, and while I don't understand it, I'm enjoying it immensely.

People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks

One of these days I'll actually read a Brooks novel.

Shut Up and Dance: How to Stop Leading and Follow Your Man Into a Happier, Sexier Relationship
by Jamie Rose
Source: Paper galley from publisher

I don't think this is for me...

The Winters in Bloom
by Lisa Tucker
Source: Paper galley from publisher

I keep acquiring Tucker's novels and not reading them.  I need to break this cycle!  Has anyone else read Lisa Tucker?  Thoughts?  I shall try to get to this one.

The Search for Philip K. Dick
by Anne Dick
Source: Finished trade paperback from publisher

This is a new biography of the troubled writer, written by his wife.  Sounds interesting!

They're Watching
by Gregg Hurwitz
Source: Picked up at book club

I enjoy Hurwitz, and I missed this one last year.  Thanks, Maya!

The Finkler Question
by Howard Jacobson
Source: Picked up at book club

The Jewishest Booker Prize winner ever.  The only question is, why haven't I read it yet?  Thanks, Steve! 






Books finished this week:

Killing Kate by Julie Kramer
The Magician King by Lev Grossman
Machine Man by Max Barry

How painfully obvious is it that I will never catch up on my review writing?  I'm like 20 behind now.  *hangs head in shame*

Currently reading:

Dominance by Will Lavender
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
and snippets of too many other books to even mention


So, what books have you acquired lately?  What have you been reading?

VINDICATED!

I hate to say I told you so, but...

Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction today!  I'll merely remind you that I was raving about this book before it was even published.  You may revisit my review HERE.  And now I will no longer have to write blog posts like, "Why isn't Jennifer Egan a household name?" 

Per the Pulitzer website:

For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Awarded to "A Visit From the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan, an inventive investigation of growing up and growing old in the digital age, displaying a big-hearted curiosity about cultural change at warp speed.

Congratulations, Jennifer!

Why isn't Jennifer Egan a household name?

So, Jennifer Egan's latest novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, went on sale on June 8th. I wrote a rave review on this blog several weeks ago which is currently the top review on the book's Amazon.com page. (Feel free to go vote it "helpful.") Print reviewers between here and Timbuktu have been tripping all over themselves to see who can praise this novel most highly. It's a good freakin' book.

Still, it has yet to appear on the New York Times bestseller list. I keep crossing my fingers and hoping next week. But more disturbing is this: no one I know has ever read Jennifer Egan. I'm not sure if anyone but me has even heard of her.

How is this possible? I mean, her 2001 sophomore novel, Look at Me, was a National Book Award finalist. That was the first one I read. I'm fairly certain the hardback was handed to me at some publishing trade show or other. I'm thinking it was the Northern California Independent Booksellers' Association Trade Show, and I can't believe that was back in 2001! Seriously, where does the time go? But note to publishing marketers: I read the book you gave me for free, and have been a dedicated reader and evangelist for this author ever since.


The second novel I read was The Keep, her follow-up to Look at Me. It was completely different. I loved it even more. A Visit from the Goon Squad is her best yet. Do you see a trend? I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep reading Jennifer Egan, and keep trying to spread the word. (Incidentally, I do have a signed, first edition hardback of her debut novel, Invisible Circus. I'll probably read it some day, but there's no rush.)

So, Jennifer Egan came through San Francisco on her book tour last week. I didn't realize it, but this is her hometown. She lives somewhere back east now, but grew up here. And still has people. I think I may have been the only person at Books, Inc. that was neither friend nor family.

She read the entire chapter where Scotty goes to visit Bennie. It was funny in my head when I read it, but much funnier hearing her read it aloud. The book works well for these tour readings, as each chapter is essentially a fully contained short story. The novel is made up of intricately linked stories. I asked her, "What gives a novelist the idea to write a chapter in the form of a PowerPoint presentation?" Her answer was interesting: She wanted to try to write in as many styles or ways as she possible could. First person, third person, even second person. Past, present, future. One chapter is a magazine article. And, yes, one is a PowerPoint presentation.

In my review, I commented on the theme of traveling from point A to point B, and commented on how the motif is repeated a few times, and that even the two parts of the book that might be Part I and Part II in another book are A and B in Goon Squad. It's so obvious, but it never occurred to me until she said it that the two halves, A and B, are labeled like the sides of an LP. (Many of the characters work in the music business.) D'uh.

The other thing I thought was pretty interesting was her response when someone asked her how she decided what order to put the stories in. She said, she just tried to think of what someone would be in the mood to read after finishing the story that proceeded it. A subjective (but effective) method, as it turned out.

She referenced her next project several times during the evening. It'll be a period novel set during WWII, I think she said. It's about the women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She is reinventing herself yet again. This is a writer not content to rest on her laurels. The subject is of no particular interest to me, but you can count on me grabbing a copy the day it goes on sale. (Well, hopefully I can snag a review copy.) I hope the wait is not too long.

Meanwhile, my advice is to go out and grab a copy of A Visit to the Goon Squad. Please buy it from your local independent bookseller. (And I didn't tell you this, but if you're really, really poor, it's 45% off at that evil online retailer I write reviews for.) Read it, and comment here and tell me what you think. Have I over-hyped Jennifer, or just enough? Have you read her? Heard of her? If not, it's time to give her a try!

What happens between A and B?

A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan

After reading a few chapters of Jennifer Egan's latest novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, I'd determined it was really a collection of linked stories more than a novel. Reading further, however, I saw the larger themes and the cohesiveness of the whole. It is, indeed, a novel, and an excellent one at that!

The book opens sometime in the recent past, and kleptomaniac Sasha is recounting a story to her therapist. Her former boss, record producer Benny Salazar, is mentioned in passing. The next chapter takes place several years earlier. Here Sasha is still Benny's assistant, and now it is he that is the first person narrator. Benny's just trying to get through a visit with his pre-teen son while mentally stifling a lifetime's worth of shame. He reflects, in passing, on his old high school gang, and in the next chapter we're back in San Francisco, circa 1980, with them. Benny wants Alice, but Alice wants Scotty. Scotty wants Jocelyn, but teenage Jocelyn is seeing Lou, a record producer more than twice her age. Don't worry, he'll get his chapter.

They all get a chapter or two or three. The story skips back and forth in time and place. The voice moves from first person to third person and even to second. Asides or characters that seemed tangential become central. And eventually several themes become apparent. The main one is not even subtle, as the traversing between points A and B is referenced several times in various ways. Scotty at one point asks, "I want to know what happened between A and B." An aging rock star's comeback album is entitled A to B. Even the two sections of this book, which might have been labeled "Part I" and "Part II" in another book, are here "A" and "B."

Another theme is the passage of time. The novel, as I mentioned earlier, moves back and forth freely along the timeline of characters' lives. Ranging from around 1980 to some point in the 2020's, we see the (often ravaging) effects of time.

One character states, "Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?"

Another responds, "I've never heard that. 'Time's a goon?'"

"Would you disagree?"

"No."

The episodes that Egan spotlights are all, in some way, transformative for her characters. And let's talk about those characters. Reviewers like me will often extol "richly-drawn characters." It isn't until I read a novel like this--with insight so deep that you feel you know everything it's possible to know about these people based on brief snippets of their lives--that it really hits home what characterization is all about. Egan is THAT good.

Plus, there's the language. Her prose is truly a pleasure to read, no matter how absurd or at times unpleasant the subject matter. Egan's pointillistic novel roams from the New York music scene to an African safari; from the affluent suburbs to life on the edge in Naples, Italy; from a dictator's palace to our collective future. And in careening from place to place, time to time, and character to character in these linked lives, Jennifer Egan takes us from point A to point B.

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