Aravind Adiga

LISTcavage: 10 Books From 2008

Adam Vitcavage liked lists long before Buzzfeed figured out how to monetize them. Now he wants to share his love of lists with you. Each week, he’ll round up a list featuring anything anything pop culture related from literature to music to cool designers that you should buy prints from. Welcome to LISTcavage.

Each year, hundreds of books end up making a variety of “best of” lists across print and the Web (including Daniel Ford’s top 35 books of 2017). With each passing year, it seems like some of these amazing books get left on the bottom shelf in personal libraries covered in dust. Here are 10 fiction novels from a decade ago that are worth revisiting or reading for the first time if you missed them the year “High School Musical 3” hit cinemas.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008 Man Booker Award winner)

What’s the story? Balram is a poor rickshaw driver who uses his wit to climb India’s entrepreneurial and social ladder.

What did critics think then? “Balram's appealingly sardonic voice and acute observations of the social order are both winning and unsettling,” (The New Yorker); "Fierce and funny...A satire as sharp as it gets,” (The Seattle Times); “One of the most powerful books I've read in decades. No hyperbole,” (USA Today).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Out of the books I’ve read set in India, this one was one of two where I felt completely transported to the country. Adiga’s prose hits all five senses as he lets us navigate the world with Balram.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (2009 Pulitzer Prize winner)

What’s the story? Linked short stories reveal the life of the stern title character in a rural Maine town.

What did critics think then? “Funny, wicked and remorseful, Mrs. Kitteridge is a compelling life force, a red-blooded original,” (The San Francisco Chronicle); “Rarely does a story collection pack such a gutsy emotional punch,” (Entertainment Weekly); “Perceptive, deeply empathetic,” (O: The Oprah Magazine).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Interconnected short stories are fairly common, but Stout was able to write completely fresh tales that individually stand out while also having a tight cohesion others have failed at.

Home by Marilynne Robinson

What’s the story? An alcoholic returns home after two decades away as he begins to bridge the gap between him and his father, the town’s beloved reverend.

What did critics think then? “A literary miracle,” (Entertainment Weekly); “An exquisite, often ruefully funny meditation on redemption,” (Vogue); “Its last fifty pages are magnificently moving,” (The New Yorker).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Robinson’s sense of place in all of her work is top notch. She is a master of immersion and she’s at her pinnacle with this novel.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

What’s the story? Set in the 1940s Jim Crow South, the novel focuses on the racism and prejudice in Mississippi and what it means to be a man.

What did critics think then? “The novel's inevitable closing scenes are painfully violent, utterly memorable and surprisingly rich in cultural metaphor and well-wrought literary ploy,” (Rocky Mountain News); “A superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism,” (Publishers Weekly)

That’s great, why should I read it now? It was just made into a well-received Netflix film, but, like always, the novel is considerably better.

What’s the story? Part historical fiction, part biography, part science fiction. These genres are blended to reveal the hidden truth of Nikola Tesla’s life.

What did critics think then? “Full of vivid imagery, sounds, memories, and dreams, this novel is a sweet story of just how normal it is to be different,” (Boston Globe); “It is a rare thing for a writer to conjure belief and true understanding, but with The Invention of Everything Else, Samantha Hunt has accomplished exactly that,” (Philadelphia Inquirer); “Oddly charming and pleasantly peculiar,” (Booklist).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Hunt’s ability to take the normal and find something haunting and magical is a true gift. She discovers her talent here. It’s a true treat to see this novel compared to her most recent efforts of Mr. Splitfoot and The Dark Dark.

The Believers by Zoë Heller

What’s the story? After a man has a stroke, his wife discovers a secret that will change how she viewed her marriage and entire life. Then her children find out and everyone’s world gets turned upside-down.

What did critics think then? “Heller astutely delves into the deepest, most uncomfortable areas of human nature,” (Bookmarks Magazine); “This novel showcases her copious gifts, including a scathing, Waugh-like wit,” (The New York Times).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Heller is a masterful writer that should be studied. This might not be her greatest work, but every writer should read what works for an author as well as what falls a little flat.

The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike

What’s the story? A sequel to the famed Witches of Eastwick that takes place three decades later.

What did critics think then? “Ingenious . . . This isn’t writing. It is magic,” (The New York Times Book Review); “Here’s a bet his work will keep fresh for generations, inciting laughter, wonder and sensuous shivers,” (Los Angeles Times).

That’s great, why should I read it now? It’s Updike’s last novel released prior to his 2009 death. Give the man some respect.

Lush Life by Richard Price

What’s the story? A crime novel in Manhattan’s Lower East Side that starts off straightforward, but quickly sprawls into a modern social commentary.

What did critics think then? “Richard Price knows how crime sounds and smells,” (Esquire); “One of the best writers of dialogue in the history of American literature,” (The New York Review of Books); “Deftly written… beautifully expressive,” (Los Angeles Times).

That’s great, why should I read it now? If you’re a crime suspense fan, this is a case study for the ages. The dialogue in particular proves Price still has it after decades in the business.

What’s the story? One of those stories where three lives unexpectedly come together to transform the trajectory of their future.

What did critics think then? “Meticulously plotted and affecting thriller,” (Miami Herald); "Uncategorizable, unputdownable, Atkinson's books are like Agatha Christie mysteries that have burst at the seams-they're taut and intricate but also messy and funny and full of life,” (Time).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Atkinson knows how to keep readers guessing about what happens next. Her two most recent releases overshadow this book, but it should make its way onto your bookshelf; especially if you’re a fan of those two bestsellers everyone seemingly has read.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

What’s the story? A historical coming-of-age story about a young woman during the infancy of the slave trade in the 1600s.

What did critics think then? “A poetic, visionary, mesmerizing tale,” (Vanity Fair); “A masterpiece of rewarding complexity,” (The Sunday Times); “Perhaps the greatest pleasure of the book lies in drawing one in so completely; there are no places where faulty construction hurls us back into reality,” (California Literary Review).

That’s great, why should I read it now? Morrison’s near dozen novels have explored race, politics, gender, and feminism. This was her last one to receive critical acclaim across the board before producing two receptively mixed-reviewed novels in 2012 and 2015.

16 Books That Should Be On Your Radar: February 2017

Every month, the Writer’s Bone crew reviews or previews books we've read or want to read. This series may or may not also serve as a confessional for guilty pleasures and hipster novels only the brave would attempt. Feel free to share your own suggestions in the comments section or tweet us @WritersBone.

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran

Gary Almeter: To call this book a miracle is somehow an understatement, but it does achieve something miraculous. Sekaran has written a novel about immigration, the adoption of illegal immigrants' babies, the excesses of Silicon Valley, the Asian and Mexican immigrant experiences, marriage in the 21st century, and prison.

Even with the enormity of all that, the most compelling aspects of this novel are the simple love story and one immigrant mother's odyssey. Through it all, there are no heroes and no (well, maybe a few) villains. Everyone's hat is a shade of gray, and everyone elicits some sort of sympathy. I read this awaiting the ending—knowing that a happy ending was as close to metaphysically impossible as could be. The structure of that novel goes back and forth from Soli's story to Kavya's but the cadence never becomes repetitive. The author surprises you now and again and the writing is just too good to ever not be compelling.

What's also miraculous is the way Sekaran navigates all the worlds—the dusty village in Mexico, the sorority kitchen in Berkley, the Indian wedding, the Internet company's CEO's office. You walk through all these terrains as if you're really there.  And you find yourself questioning for whom you are cheering and why.

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Daniel Ford: Days Without End is a splendid novel from Irish author Sebastian Barry (who has twice been nominated for the Man Booker Prize). The novel follows Thomas McNulty as he comes of age in a violent era in American history. After surviving a harrowing journey from Ireland in the 1850s, Thomas finds himself signing up for the U.S. Army with his brother-in-arms John Cole.

As it turns out, John is more than just a friend or a close battlefield compatriot. Thomas and John are lovers, and their romantic bond is central to the novel rather than being vaguely alluded to or dismissed out of hand. In a recent interview (which ran in “Friday Morning Coffee”) Barry told me that his son coming out was a big inspiration for Thomas and John’s story. That influence shows in the tender and moving way he describes their love for each other. It’s made all the more poignant by Barry’s decision to tell the tale from McNulty’s point-of-view in a stream of consciousness that makes the novel’s events all the more immediate and crushing.  

Barry puts these two men through the ringer. They see all manner of death and destruction during the Indian Wars and the Civil War. However, there’s also a wealth of dark humor and empathy that permeate these pages. Days Without End deals with issues and themes that are set in the past, but are still relevant today in the United States and around the globe.

Selection Day by Aravind Adiga

Adam Vitcavage: Selection Day, the new novel by Man Booker Prize-winner Aravind Adiga, is the perfect novel for the post-2016 Election world our new President has created. Instead of shunning diversity, we should be embracing it. Agida’s novel takes place in his native Mumbai and explores a young boy’s life and how it is consumed by cricket (a sport we Americans know nearly nothing about). It’s not a sports novel by any means, but instead a witty social commentary on a corner of the world that has often been perceived in a cartoonish way by Westerners. The fascinating realism the writer provides for the setting makes this coming-of-age novel a richness that readers should welcome with open arms

Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham

Stephanie Schaefer: Reading this book was like grabbing coffee with an old friend—filled with laughs, advice, and plenty of sarcasm. I’ll admit that I was a late bloomer to “Gilmore Girls” fandom. Having only seen a few re-runs in high school, I started binge watching the series on Netflix just a few months ago in anticipation of Netflix’s reboot (I have since finished all 7 seasons + “Gilmore Girls: The Year in the Life “and am anxiously awaiting an announcement that they’ll be future installments *fingers crossed*).

Although it took me a while to jump on the Stars Hollow bandwagon, I instantly fell in love with Lauren Graham’s acting on NBC’s “Parenthood” (if you haven’t seen the show before, go watch it, but make sure you grab a box of tissues). I enjoy how Graham can effortlessly switch between comedy and drama in both beloved series. She doesn’t take herself, or Hollywood, too seriously, which is evident in her memoir (essentially, she’s the anti-Gwyneth Paltrow). In a world filled with political drama, I think Talking As Fast As I Can is just what we need: a lighthearted, unpretentious book to make as laugh and escape the tension of the last few months, if only for a few blissful chapters.

The Good Girls Revolt by Lynn Povich

Daniel: The Good Girls Revolt (the book that provides the basis for the Amazon television show) is essential reading for anyone with a judicious and rebellious heart. However, some of the early stats pioneering journalist Lynn Povich includes are shocking. She writes, “Until around 1970, “women comprised fewer than 20 percent of students in medical school, 4 percent of law school students, and only 3 percent of business school students.” Esh. 

The world began to change in the late 1960s and early 1970s in large part because of the women's movement. Povich, one of the women of Newsweek who sued the magazine for equal rights in 1970, spins a captivating narrative that details all of the obstacles women in the workplace attempted to vault over both legally and culturally. Based on myriad interviews with former Newsweek staff writers and editors, The Good Girls Revolt features one badass female writer after another, some of which never got to fully reap the benefits of the lawsuit they won. “When I found out the working conditions were illegal," Povich said in a recent interview with Writer's Bone, "I thought, oh my god, it’s a moral imperative that we do something.” 

The turbulent 2016 Presidential campaign and the conservative administration that resulted prove that the country has a long way to go in how it treats and values women. However, the size and fervor of the crowds during the Women’s March following Trump’s inauguration gives me hope that the ideals fostered by the women in Povich’s book are alive and well, and will give us all something to emulate and rally around in the days to come. 

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Daniel: It’s imperative we embrace all immigrant narratives during the next few years, but especially those as well written and sweeping as Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (out Feb. 7). Lee’s novel follows generations of one Korean family, beginning in 1900s Korea. The narrative’s exquisite prose and well-crafted characters perfectly match Lee’s themes of family, love, and faith. The opening line sets the tone, both for the novel and our times:

“History failed us, but no matter.”

It’s in that failing that we discover who we are and who we care about. Lee’s novel may have been set from a Korean family’s point of view, but it could be any of our families. Familial bonds have a tendency to shape our identity and worldview, both for good and for ill, and Lee captures that tension and connection beautifully throughout Pachinko. I look forward to sitting down with the author to discuss her structure and character development later this month. 

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

Adam: It’s easy for a psychological thriller to get lost in its own mystery. Some writers push plot twists down readers’ throats without worrying about much else. However, Emily Ruskovich’s debut is a high literary affair with lyrical prose and shifting perspectives that will live a lasting impression on its readers. Idaho is set in...well, Idaho. It explores a family torn apart by the murder of a child while another disappears. Fans of Smith Henderson’s Fourth of July Creek will experience a similar haunting feeling as these characters fall into the depths of despair. While the plot is extremely riveting, it is Ruskovich’s dedication to making her words leap off the page in a beautiful way that stands out. The juxtaposition of the horrors you’re reading and how breathtaking the prose makes this an early frontrunner for a future “Best Novels of 2017” list.

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

Gary: The ‘80s were big for a host of reasons: big hair, big cell phones, big escapist television shows like "Dynasty," big concept albums like Paul Simon's "Graceland," big fears about Russia. But paradoxically, the decade was still small insofar as people still shopped in small stores on village main streets and people's obsessions were limited to that which could be covered by three networks and a finite number of media outlets; news spread slowly and stuck around for awhile.  When everyone talked about something, everyone talked about it for a long time.

Enter Vanna White's appearance in Playboy in May 1987. It was the only thing a 14-year-old boy could think or talk about for a month. Fourteen-year-old boys like Billy, Alf and Clark in Jason Rekulak’s The Impossible Fortress. The novel is the story of how they try to get a copy of that issue of Playboy so they can see ogle the “Wheel of Fortune” star. Rekulak does a spectacular job of recreating the ‘80s in all of its bigness and in all of its smallness. He does an even better job of recreating the world of a teenage boy—how they are simultaneously omnipotent and insanely vulnerable, and how their limitless dreams are limited by the logistics of adolescence. 

The writing is grand and filled with details that evoke a teenager’s mind: “Both of his parents worked—his father hung wallpaper and his mother was a secretary in a Realtor's office—so they were rolling in dough.”  Most importantly, Rekulak has created characters that are authentic and likable, which makes the book about much more than stealing a magazine to see Vanna’s hoo-hoo.  

Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson

Adam: Kevin Wilson broke out onto the literary scene with a heartwarming and quirky family comedy. In Perfect Little World, he brings his sharp literary prose to a story with a plot that sounds like sci-fi: a commune where you live with your children, but they don’t know who their parents are. It’s clear that the author’s obsession with family is something he’ll continue to explore. Perfect Little World feels fresh every step of the way, at once breezy and thought provoking. His story is offbeat and wholly original. Even when the traditional tropes come into play, he puts an unorthodox spin on it that never makes them feel stale. In an interview with “Electric Literature,” the author expressed how important it was trying to avoid copying The Family Fang in Perfect Little World.

The Seventh Plague by James Rollins

Daniel: A missing archeology professor wanders out of the desert. His body is in a semi-mummified state and laden with clues about his disappearance. However, he unleashes an unknown, and possibly ancient, plague that threatens the globe. That’s the thrilling set up for James Rollin’s most recent Sigma Force novel, The Seventh Plague.

Readers are treated to mysterious assassins, a wise-crackin’ Kowalski, and Biblical mayhem in what should be yet another Rollins best-seller. His adventurous blend of science and history never fails to disappoint, and knowing the effort and dedication the author puts into his craft makes following Sigma Force all the more enjoyable. In our current political state, it’s also nice picking up a thriller that embraces and champions facts rather than cowers from them.

Oh yeah, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla make an appearance and prove integral to the plot! We’re currently prodding Rollins to write a standalone buddy comedy featuring the famed author and inventor.

Lightwood by Steph Post

Daniel: One of the best things about interacting with as many up-and-coming authors as we do is seeing their work improve with each novel or short story collection. Steph Post’s debut novel A Tree Born Crooked was a lot of fun, but you could see how much potential she had to do even more with her prose and characters. She didn’t disappoint with her sophomore effort Lightwood!

Her main character, Judah Cannon, walks out of prison and right back into his family’s criminal enterprise. After a lucrative robbery goes sideways, Judah finds himself caught between his hillbilly king pin father, a disgruntled biker gang hell bent on recapturing its past glory, and a tyrannical, corrupt “lady preacher” who would be right at home on an episode of “Justified.”

Post is a natural fit for the “sunshine noir” genre, and Lightwood is getting great buzz from the crime fiction crowd. Don’t be surprised if Post is a household name by book three!

Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith

Daniel: We do what David Joy says around here. (I also can’t wait to read this book!)

Author’s Corner

By Rory Flynn

The short days of a Boston winter call for compact, streamlined novels that can be read quickly, before it gets dark. We could turn on the lights, but that costs extra and thrifty New Englanders don’t splurge on lights or heat or food. Those are for libertines.

A short novel has to work like a little machine, with all the gears in place. But they also have to have enough depth to make them emotionally engaging. Here are some that do both.

The Devil in the Valley by Castle Freeman, Jr.

Castle Freeman Jr.’s deceptively simple retelling of the Faust legend, grafted to a flinty Vermont town, is a joy to read. He captures more in a few lines of dialogue than most writers can in several pages. While he may be best known for Go With Me, the cult classic favored by dark writers and readers, Freeman excels at capturing the darkness in broad daylight, the streaks of sin that run through even the most upright citizens. Confession: This novel is dedicated to me, and I couldn’t be more proud of it.

Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgway

Not all fictional cops act like real cops. And that’s good for readers, otherwise we’d live in a world of grinding procedurals. If you want to immerse yourself in cop reality, I suggest lighting a car on fire and waiting around to get arrested. You’ll get your fill of cops soon enough. That’s not a problem with Keith Ridgway’s twisted London cops, Hawthorn & Child, who seem as floaty and pleasantly surreal as an afternoon on codeine. Legendary bookseller Tom Wickersham recommended this one, and he’s never steered me wrong. I’m halfway through and this subversively absurd novel just keeps getting better.

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift

Look out. It’s literature. No cops in sight here in Graham Swift’s earthy gem of a novel. I loved Waterland, his weirder and slightly longer novel. But Mothering Sunday is a textbook study of beautiful writing, indelible characters, and precise delineation of a lost era. I actually forced myself to stop reading so that the book would last longer. I went to one of Swift’s readings about a decade ago and he read so fantastically well that he restored my faith in bookstore events.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Deserved winner of the 2016 Pulitzer, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer (which checked in at #2 on Writer’s Bone’s “Best Books of 2016” list) could very easily have been a compressed novel in the style of The Quiet American. Saigon falls. The defeated Vietnamese decamp to California. Dissent in the ranks leads to murder and a return to Southeast Asia and new disasters. Most of these historical plot points are explored well in the many, many fine Vietnam-era novels, memoirs, and histories. (Dispatches, A Bright Shining Lie, et al). But luckily, Nguyen goes long, spinning out the story in vast swaths of smart, beautiful writing—the kind that makes even the most jaded reader notice. Though the end of the novel is telegraphed on the first page, I wanted to know how it all happened, even if it meant reading a longer novel.

Rory Flynn is the author of the Eddy Harkness series (the most recent entry, Dark Horse, is out in paperback from Mariner Books this spring), and a longtime friend of the Writer’s Bone podcast.

#NovelClass

Daniel Ford and Dave Pezza recently introduced #NovelClass, a new “Friday Morning Coffee” segment that features an in-depth discussion about a novel chosen by Writer’s Bone’s social media followers.

The first installment features Kevin Morris’ All Joe Knight, which was published December 2016 by Grove Press. (Be warned, this discussion contains spoilers.) 

To recommend their next read, email admin@writersbone.com. 

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