Books review

7.11.10

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson. (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $14.95.) A hacker and a journalist investigate the disappearance of a Swedish heiress.THE FINKLER QUESTION, by Howard Jacobson. (Bloomsbury, $15.) A mugging prompts a quest for self-discovery in this tale of anti-Semitism, friendship and wisdom; winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize. ExcerptLITTLE BEE, by Chris Cleave. (Simon & Schuster, $14.) The lives of a British woman and a Nigerian girl collide.CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese. (Vintage, $15.95.) Twin brothers, conjoined and then separated, grow up amid the political turmoil of Ethiopia. ExcerptHALF BROKE HORSES, by Jeannette Walls. (Scribner, $15.) A re-creation of the life of the author’s grandmother in the Southwest. ExcerptTHE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein. (Harper Paperbacks, $14.99.) An insightful Lab-terrier mix helps his owner, a struggling race car driver.SARAH’S KEY, by Tatiana de Rosnay. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $13.95.) A contemporary American journalist investigates the roundup of Jews in Paris in 1942.FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, by Ntozake Shange. (Scribner, $9.95 and $12.) A "choreopoem" about race and gender, first published in 1975.THE ALCHEMIST, by Paulo Coelho. (HarperOne, $14.99.) A Spanish shepherd boy goes to Egypt in search of treasure.UNLOCKED, by Karen Kingsbury. (Zondervan, $14.99.) Bullied at school, an autistic 18-year-old is befriended by a classmate with problems of her own.THE SHACK, by William P. Young. (Windblown Media, $14.99.) A man whose daughter was abducted is invited to an isolated shack, apparently by God. (†) ExcerptWORST CASE, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. (Grand Central, $14.99.) A New York detective raising 10 children investigates a string of killings.TINKERS, by Paul Harding. (Bellevue Literary Press, $14.95.) A dying clock repairman recalls his impoverished New England childhood; a 2010 Pulitzer winner.NEVER LET ME GO, by Kazuo Ishiguro. (Vintage International, $15.) At a school in the English countryside, children are trained for a terrible destiny.A RELIABLE WIFE, by Robert Goolrick. (Algonquin, $14.95.) Complications ensue when a wealthy Wisconsin widower in 1907 advertises for a spouse.THE LACUNA, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Harper Perennial, $16.99.) A young American growing up in Mexico becomes friends with artists and radicals.LET ME IN, by John Ajvide Lindqvist. (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Griffin, $15.95 and $15.99.) A schoolboy is fascinated by a neighbor who comes out only at night; originally published as "Let the Right One In."THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE, by Orhan Pamuk. (Vintage International, $15.95.) A privileged Istanbul resident describes his lifelong obsession with a shopgirl.SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT, by Beth Hoffman (Penguin) BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square) MAGIC HOUR, by Kristin Hannah (Ballantine) REMARKABLE CREATURES, by Tracy Chevalier (Plume) THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2010, edited by Richard Russo (Mariner) THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial) Buy From Amazon

These lists are an expanded version of those appearing in the November 14 print edition of the Book Review. Rankings reflect sales, for the week ending October 30, at many thousands of venues where a wide range of general interest books are sold nationwide. These include hundreds of independent book retailers (statistically weighted to represent all such outlets); national, regional and local chains; online and multimedia entertainment retailers; university, gift, supermarket, discount department stores and newsstands. An asterisk (*) indicates that a book’s sales are barely distinguishable from those of the book above. A dagger (†) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders. Among those categories not actively tracked are: perennial sellers; required classroom reading; text, reference and test preparation guides; journals and workbooks; calorie counters; shopping guides; comics and crossword puzzles. Click here for an explanation of the difference between trade and mass-market paperbacks.

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Paperback Advice

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6.11.10

Paperback Trade Fiction

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Hardcover Fiction

This WeekLast WeekWeeks on ListTHE CONFESSION, by John Grisham. (Doubleday, $28.95.) A man who committed a despicable crime but allowed another to be sent to death row in his place now wants to admit his guilt, but must convince the authorities he’s telling the truth.WORTH DYING FOR, by Lee Child. (Delacorte, $28.) Jack Reacher can’t let go of a decades-old case of a missing child.AMERICAN ASSASSIN, by Vince Flynn. (Atria, $27.99.) In the wake of the Lockerbie bombing, Mitch Rapp takes on his first antiterrorist assignment.SIDE JOBS, by Jim Butcher. (Roc, $25.95.) A collection of stories about the Chicago wizard Harry Dresden.IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS, by Jan Karon. (Viking, $27.95.) In Ireland, the Episcopal priest Tim Kavanagh finds an old journal that could solve a crime.FALL OF GIANTS, by Ken Follett. (Dutton, $36.) Five interrelated families from five countries are caught in the upheavals of World War I and the Russian Revolution.SAFE HAVEN, by Nicholas Sparks. (Grand Central, $25.99.) The arrival of a mysterious young woman in a small North Carolina town raises questions about her past.FREEDOM, by Jonathan Franzen. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28.) A family of Midwestern liberals during the Bush years. ExcerptTHE REVERSAL, by Michael Connelly. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) The defense lawyer Mickey Haller and the L.A.P.D. detective Harry Bosch join forces against a child-killer.SQUIRREL SEEKS CHIPMUNK, by David Sedaris. (Little, Brown, $21.99.) The humorist looks at human nature through stories with animals as characters.THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. (Amy Einhorn/Putnam, $24.95.) A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s ?Mississippi.DON'T BLINK, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) A reporter finds himself involved in a war between the Italian mob and the Russian mafia.OUR KIND OF TRAITOR, by John le Carr?. (Viking, $27.95.) A British couple are caught up in Russian intrigue.ROOM, by Emma Donoghue. (Little, Brown, $24.99.) A mother’s prison is her young son’s entire world.THE TWELFTH IMAM, by Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House) WORLD OF WARCRAFT: THE SHATTERING, by Christie Golden (Gallery) CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIDAY HARBOR, by Lisa Kleypas (St. Martin’s) NAKED HEAT, by Richard Castle (Hyperion) THE TEMPLAR SALVATION, by Raymond Khoury (Dutton) CHASING THE NIGHT, by Iris Johansen (St. Martin’s) CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER, by Tom Franklin (Morrow) PROMISE ME, by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster) PAINTED LADIES, by Robert B. Parker (Putnam) GETTING TO HAPPY, by Terry McMillan (Viking) GAUNTLGRYM, by R. A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast) CALL ME MRS. MIRACLE, by Debbie Macomber (Mira) EIGHTEEN ACRES, by Nicolle Wallace (Atria) AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING, by Stephen R. Donaldson (Putnam) LEGACY, by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) CRYOBURN, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen) MINI SHOPAHOLIC, by Sophie Kinsella (Dial) A DOG'S PURPOSE, by W. Bruce Cameron (Forge) BAD BLOOD, by John Sandford (Putnam) Buy From Amazon

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25.9.10

A Novel of the Vietnam War (Hardcover)

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

Matterhorn is a great novel. There have been some very good novels about the Vietnam War, but this is the first great one, and I doubt it will ever be surpassed. Karl Marlantes overlooks no part of the experience, large or small, from a terrified soldier pondering the nature of good and evil, to the feel and smell of wet earth against scorched skin as a man tries to press himself into the ground to escape withering fire. Here is story-telling so authentic, so moving and so intense, so relentlessly dramatic, that there were times I wasn’t sure I could stand to turn the page. As with the best fiction, I was sad to reach the end.
The wrenching combat in Matterhorn is ultimately pointless; the marines know they are fighting a losing battle in the long run. Bravo Company carves out a fortress on the top of the hill so named, one of countless low, jungle-coated mountains near the border of Laos, only to be ordered to abandon it when they are done. After the enemy claims the hill’s deep bunkers and carefully constructed fields of fire, the company is ordered to take it back, to assault their own fortifications. They do so with devastating consequences, only to be ordered in the end to abandon Matterhorn once again.Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
Against this backdrop of murderous futility, Marlantes’ memorable collection of marines is pushed to its limits and beyond. As the deaths and casualties mount, the men display bravery and cowardice, ferocity and timidity, conviction and doubt, hatred and love, intelligence and stupidity. Often these opposites are contained in the same person, especially in the book’s compelling main character, Second Lt. Waino Mellas. As Mellas and his men struggle to overcome impossible barriers of landscape, they struggle to overcome similarly impossible barriers between each other, barriers of race and class and rank. Survival forces them to cling to each other and trust each other and ultimately love each other. There has never been a more realistic portrait or eloquent tribute to the nobility of men under fire, and never a more damning portrait of a war that ground them cruelly underfoot for no good reason.
Marlantes brilliantly captures the way combat morphs into clean abstraction as fateful decisions move up the chain of command, further and further away from the actual killing and dying. But he is too good a novelist to paint easy villains. His commanders make brave decisions and stupid ones. High and low there is the same mix of cowardice and bravery, ambition and selflessness, ineptitude and competence.
There are passages in this book that are as good as anything I have ever read. This one comes late in the story, when the main character, Mellas, has endured much, has killed and also confronted the immediate likelihood of his own death, and has digested the absurdity of his mission: "He asked for nothing now, nor did he wonder if he had been good or bad. Such concepts were all part of the joke he’d just discovered. He cursed God directly for the savage joke that had been played on him. And in that cursing Mellas for the first time really talked with his God. Then he cried, tears and snot mixing together as they streamed down his face, but his cries were the rage and hurt of a newborn child, at last, however roughly, being taken from the womb."
Vladimir Nabokov once said that the greatest books are those you read not just with your heart or your mind, but with your spine. This is one for the spine. --Mark Bowden

17.9.10

Tom Rachman on The Imperfectionists

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Tom Rachman on The Imperfectionists

I grew up in peaceful Vancouver with two psychologists for parents, a sister with whom I squabbled in the obligatory ways, and an adorably dim-witted spaniel whose leg waggled when I tickled his belly. Not the stuff of literature, it seemed to me.
During university, I had developed a passion for reading: essays by George Orwell, short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, novels by Tolstoy. By graduation, books had shoved aside all other contenders. A writer--perhaps I could become one of those.
There was a slight problem: my life to date.
By 22, I hadn't engaged in a bullfight. I'd not kept a mistress or been kept by one. I'd never been stabbed in a street brawl. I'd not been mistreated by my parents, or addicted to anything sordid. I'd never fought a duel to the death with anyone.
It was time to remedy this. Or parts of it, anyway. I would see the world, read, write, and pay my bills in the process. My plan was to join the press corps, to become a foreign correspondent, to emerge on the other side with handsome scars, mussed hair, and a novel.
Years passed. I worked as an editor at the Associated Press in New York, venturing briefly to South Asia to report on war (from a very safe distance; I was never brave). Next, I was dispatched to Rome, where I wrote about the Italian government, the Mafia, the Vatican, and other reliable sources of scandal.
Suddenly--too soon for my liking--I was turning thirty. My research, I realized, had become alarmingly similar to a career. To imagine a future in journalism, a trade that I had never loved, terrified me.
So, with a fluttery stomach, I handed in my resignation, exchanging a promising job for an improbable hope. I took my life savings and moved to Paris, where I knew not a soul and whose language I spoke only haltingly. Solitude was what I sought: a cozy apartment, a cup of tea, my laptop. I switched it on. One year later, I had a novel.
And it was terrible.
My plan – all those years in journalism--had been a blunder, it seemed. The writing I had aspired to do was beyond me. I lacked talent. And I was broke.
Dejected, I nursed myself with a little white wine, goat cheese and baguette, then took the subway to the International Herald Tribune on the outskirts of Paris to apply for a job. Weeks later, I was seated at the copy desk, composing headlines and photo captions, aching over my failure. I had bungled my twenties. I was abroad, lonely, stuck.
But after many dark months, I found myself imagining again. I strolled through Parisian streets, and characters strolled through my mind, sat themselves down, folded their arms before me, declaring, "So, do you have a story for me?"
I switched on my computer and tried once more.
This time, it was different. My previous attempt hadn't produced a book, but it had honed my technique. And I stopped fretting about whether I possessed the skill to become a writer, and focused instead on the hard work of writing. Before, I had winced at every flawed passage. Now, I toiled with my head down, rarely peeking at the words flowing across the screen.
I revised, I refined, I tweaked, I polished. Not until exhaustion--not until the novel that I had aspired to write was very nearly the one I had produced--did I allow myself to assess it.
To my amazement, a book emerged. I remain nearly incredulous that my plan, hatched over a decade ago, came together. At times, I walk to the bookshelf at my home in Italy, take down a copy of The Imperfectionists, double-check the name on the spine: Tom Rachman. Yes, I think that's me.
In the end, my travels included neither bullfights nor duels. And the book doesn't, either. Instead, it contains views over Paris, cocktails in Rome, street markets in Cairo; the ruckus of an old-style newsroom and the shuddering rise of technology; a foreign correspondent faking a news story, a media executive falling for the man she just fired. And did I mention a rather adorable if slobbery dog?