6. The Borrower, Rebecca Makkai
Two great books in a row!
The Borrower is a little bit Lolita, a little bit every children’s book ever, even a little bit Swamplandia!. It’s the story of a young librarian, Lucy, who kidnaps (or, more accurately, is kidnapped by) a ten-year-old boy, Ian, who frequents her library. They travel across the country, stopping in Chicago and Pittsburg and Vermont, running from their respective lives.
Lucy narrates her story much the way Humbert Humbert narrated his, presenting it as though to a jury. Her crimes aren’t sexual or predatory, there’s no premeditation to the kidnapping and she tells you right from the beginning that she wasn’t charged with anything. I subsequently tore through the book, trying to figure out how she wormed her way out of trouble.
But as much as it’s an adventure story, and a bit of a bildungsroman, The Borrower is a book about books. About the roles they play, the ways they can save your life. Lucy is a 26 year old librarian who’s terrified of falling into a librarian cliché. Ian is a flamboyant 10 year old with strict Christian parents. And they both love books.
The novel itself loves books, children’s books especially. Chapters flit in and out of the prose styles of Eric Carle, Margaret Wise Brown, Laura Numeroff… There are references to Charlotte’s Web and The Hobbit and Matilda and The Borrowers and Where the Red Fern Grows. The pages run over with these references, I’m sure there were plenty I didn’t catch. These aren’t the books that Ian’s mother would approve of (“books with the breath of God in them,” she requests), but the books that will give him a place to hide when the world won’t accept him the way he is.
It’s a beautifully written book, and very fast paced. It’s the sort of book that was torture to sit next to at work yesterday, knowing I had to wait before I could pick it up again. And that’s always a good sign.
Unlike last year, I don’t think I’ll be writing up every book I read in 2012. As you may have noticed, I sort of dropped off toward the end of the year—the last few books I read were only mentioned in my wrap-up post—and when I read things that didn’t really catch a hold of me I didn’t really feel like it was worth it to say anything.
So instead, this year, I’ll be dropping in only if I’ve read something outstanding:
5. The Coffins of Little Hope, Timothy Schaffert
I found this on a recommendation list that Nancy Pearl did for NPR several months ago, I think a summer books rec list, and then I forgot about it because it was only out in hardcover and I try not to buy too many hardcover books. But when I went to make my Christmas wishlist I remembered writing the title down and went looking for it again.
And I’m really glad I did! The book is narrated by Essie, an octogenarian great grandmother and obituary writer for a small town paper in Nebraska. It’s the story of a girl that may or may not have gone missing (the question is whether or not she ever really existed), Essie’s family adapting to the sudden return of a relative, and a town/world awaiting the release of the final book in a series of children’s books called the Miranda and Desiree books (think A Series of Unfortunate Events with the anticipatory excitement of Harry Potter).
It’s a book about books and a book about family and in some ways even a book about fandom. It’s set in the present day, but it feels a little timeless. The chapters are all very short and flip by at a nice clip. It’s easy to fall in love with the characters and the setting. You really start to wish the Miranda and Desiree books were real. (Actually, they a little bit are.) Oh, and if you like Willa Cather, there’s a fictional author who is mentioned again and again throughout the book and I’m pretty sure she’s meant to be based on Willa Cather. (Mary, what I’m saying is you need to read this book.)
Anyway, it’s lovely and heartfelt and last night, a few hours after finishing it, as I was falling asleep, I ended up on bn.com buying more of Schaffert’s books, because I wanted to fall into more of his worlds. It’s that sort of book.
What I Read in 2011:
I read 56 books in 2011, which makes it not my best year, but not my worst either. My Top 10 were:
- Swamplandia! - Karen Russell
- The Dud Avocado - Elaine Dundy
- St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - Karen Russell
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) - Mindy Kaling/Bossypants - Tina Fey
- State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
- The Three Weissmanns of Westport - Catherine Schine
- I Think I Love You - Allison Pearson
- The Magician King - Lev Grossman
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
- Digging to America - Anne Tyler
And a complete list behind the cut:
“Not many of my imagined conversations are with the duke. Most of them are with you.
I know what I would say if I were in Frell. I’d tell you at least three times how glad I was to see you. I’d speak more about Ayortha (and with fewer complaints), and I’d describe my trip here, especially our adventure when one of the packhorses shied at a rabbit and tore off. But then I might turn Ayorthaian and trail off into silence, lost in smiling at you.
The trouble is, I can’t guess at your response. You surprise me so often. I like to be surprised, but if I could supply your answers with confidence, I might miss you less. The remedy is obvious. You must write to me again and quickly. And again, and more quickly.”
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine (via elikapeka)
51. The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
finished November 23
This was one of those books I was supposed to read in high school. I read parts of it, but not enough for it to really stick. Sadly, my desire to actually pick it up for real this time was prompted by a recent massive Gossip Girl rewatch, but that’s unimportant.
I enjoyed the book. I can certainly see why it’s a classic, but it didn’t latch into me the way that Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë have in the past. I was mostly intrigued by the descriptions of New York City in the 1870s (from a 1930s perspective). It sounds so different from the city I live in now.
52. The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy
finished December 5
I’m at a point in the year where I’m starting to think about my top _____s of 20__ lists. Until today I thought for sure I would be listing Swamplandia! as my favorite book of the year (as read by me, not as released…not enough of what I’ve read this year was released in 2011), but now I’m completely torn. I found The Dud Avocado breathless and stunning and funny and just…amazing. I’m completely in love with this book. It’s the second time in 3 weeks that I’ve simultaneously gasped and burst into tears upon finishing a book (the first time being Swamplandia!). I think that’s a good sign.
“And then—oh gosh—I know all this next part by heart—I should, I’ve been over it so many times. And then I came out of the john and told Larry I’d lost my passport and he said, ‘No you haven’t, here it is, I found it after you left’ and he took it out of his jacket and slapped it against the palm of his hand a couple of times and asked me why on earth I carried it around with me. I said because I didn’t know where to put it down. Oh Lord, just saying these words even now makes me groan with boredom, when I think of how many times they’ve bounced off dead walls and deaf ears. Anyway, I said I didn’t know where to put it down because I was always losing things, even in my hotel room, or they were losing me, rather. It’s a gradual thing—I kind of slowly miss them—it’s as if they’re weaning themselves away from me. I’ve never known a fountain pen longer than a month and I’m lucky if a lipstick stays with me for three weeks. So, as I said, that was why I carried this passport around with me. Larry said, ‘O.K., O.K., it’s none of my business,’ took my bag, dropped the passport in, clicked it shut, and handed it back to me. And that, as I was later to say about a hundred thousand million times, was the very last I ever saw of that passport.”
The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy
I’m in love with this writing. It’s so…breathless.
(Source: elikapeka)
THE NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2011 LIST IS UP. →
I am psyched to peruse it.
I’m very behind on these and there’s no excuse. How about a quick summary of everything I’ve read since I last posted (which is not as much as it should be. I got bogged down in the fall TV season and a massive Gossip Girl rewatch and didn’t do as much reading as I normally would).
45. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Anne Tyler
finished September 11
I had actually read this one before, as a summer reading book in high school, and I liked it then and I liked it now. It’s not my favorite book, but I think Anne Tyler has a knack for bringing out individual personalities and for getting you invested in characters who aren’t necessarily likable.
46. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
finished October 6
I loved this book. It’s a bit sentimental and a bit pretentious, but it’s also beautiful and moving. I think it takes skill to tell a story from the point of view of a child and still make it compelling, and while Oskar is very precocious (and has the neuroses of a grown-up), he’s very much a child.
I also liked the shifting voices and the use of images.
47. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie
finished October 14
Meh. I don’t get the fuss.
48. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
finished October 29
There were some beautiful passages in this book, but overall l found it horribly, obnoxiously pretentious.
49. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns), Mindy Kaling
finished November 1
FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE. I love Mindy Kaling and I’ve been looking forward to this book since it was first announced about two years ago, so I’m thrilled that it’s out now and I own it and I’ve read it and I’ve even met the author/my imaginary best friend (see above). The book is funny and conversational and charming and a good reminder of just why Mindy Kaling is my imaginary best friend.
50. Swamplandia!, Karen Russell
finished November 16
This book actually is my favorite, in the sense that it’s probably the best thing I’ve read this year and might even supplant something on my desert island top 5 list. The writing is beautiful, the story is absorbing, the characters are fully realized. Even when you see where they story is going you want to see how it gets there. And Ava Bigtree is such a strong, fierce little girl, but so naive. It’s clear that Karen Russell spent a lot of time thinking about the affects that an isolated swamp life would have on kids and that that informed the characters. I cried when I finished the book because I was so sad it was over.
44. The Colorado Kid, Stephen King
finished August 30
I’ve always actively refused to read Stephen King (aside from On Writing, because it was required reading one summer in high school. And I occasionally read his column for EW, depending on my mood). But I got completely hooked on Haven this past weekend, so I bought this on my nook and read it on my commute today.
That’s the sort of book it is. Very short. Really more a novella than a novel. It’s only loosely connected to Haven (really only Vince and Dave and the Colorado Kid are connected, and they’ve all been changed for the show), and the book itself isn’t much more than a very long conversation between three people. The whole conceit of it is that the mystery of the Colorado Kid is unsolved and the book doesn’t change that. At the end you still don’t know exactly what happened to him.
But I enjoyed it. I don’t know that I’ll go out and read more Stephen King, but I can see the work that went into this book, short though it may be, and the skill in his plotting and his attention to detail. He has a habit, at least in this book, of interrupting his dialogue to tell you what the characters are doing. Not big stuff, just gestures, like taking a sip of a coke or moving in their chairs. That’s something I’ve noticed in my own writing.
And it’s nice to settle into a book that’s just people talking. There’s barely even a change in setting for most of the book. It’s a comfortable read.
43. Submarine, Joe Dunthorne
finished August 29
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. In some ways it possesses that same sense of humor that I love in Nick Hornby and David Nicholls. In others…this is a first person story about a very very weird kid in Wales in the late nineties and sometimes the weirdness is just a bit much for me.
But I did find myself laughing a lot and I’d be interested to see the movie (mainly because it was adapted by the IT Crowd’s Richard Ayoade).
