By Rube Ambler

You’d think we’d have Yankee Rose write this one, but I decided to jump in with my list (she did help me make it better though).  Lots of these lists, including this one and the other one we recently published are called “best of”.  It may be a little too much to point out that this is an entirely subjective process and this post probably should be called “Rube Ambler’s Favorite Books That He Actually Read in the Last 10 Years or So.”   But it’s not.  Just so you know.  Like Alex’s best of the decade record selections, these are in no particular order, well, except for the first one.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead 2007)

As a fan of Junot Diaz’s first collection of stories, Drown, our greatest regret about Oscar Wao is that we didn’t read it the moment it came out.  This 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner is one of best books I have ever read.  The tale of the Dominican fanboy growing up in New Jersey as told by his relatively more worldly amigo transcends any single experience by magically morphing so many influences: high art, low art, immigrant culture, American culture.  It simply speaks.  And it does so with a voice and authenticity that may be matched only by the great masters of American fiction.  It influenced one of my personal favorite posts on this little blog too.  I will read this book again and again…if only to zafa the fuku.

The Final Solution: A Story of Detection (P.S.) by Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate 2004)

The author is brilliant, but of course the Pulitzer committee already noted that for us.  This is the book of his that we recommend most often because it is both fairly short and possesses what we consider to be one of the hallmarks of great writing – the great chapter.  In this volume it’s chapter eight (see also chapter 4 of The Grapes of Wrath or chapter 13 of For Whom the Bell Tolls). Oh yeah, the book is about an octogenarian Sherlock Holmes, a parrot, and a mystery of course.

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis (Knopf 2004)

Joseph Ellis is among those great contemporary historians who have revived interest in the men of the American Revolution.  George Washington is the subject of thousands of biographies and studies, yet Ellis manages to deliver a valuable perspective on the man whose stature remains unmatched in our history.  Ellis makes it easy to marvel in the man’s physical constitution (surviving frigid winters in Western Pennsylvania), his good fortune (surviving massacres of his ranks on that same western frontier) and almost silently presiding over the Continental Congress by his mere presence.  If you’ve never taken the time to study the great man, start with this volume.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press 2004)

His ignominious death at the wrong end of a dueling pistol, long relegated Hamilton to the second tier of revolutionary figures.  In the hands of Ron Chernow, a well-regarded biographer of great capitalists like J.P. Morgan & J.D. Rockefeller,  popular interest in this brilliant if flawed father of the great American economy was resurrected.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Knopf 2001)

As the native of a small northeastern town, Richard Russo’s tale of the decline of a town and its people struck me quite directly.  The beautiful storytelling and the dramatic turning point (which honestly caught me by surprise) made this book a deserving winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize.

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen (Perfection Learning 2005)

Not all of my favorite books have won prizes.  I first read Hiaasen more than a decade ago and to be honest it didn’t stick.  I don’t even remember which title it was.  I gave him another chance in the double aughts and I am glad I did.  Skinny Dip has all the elements of a fun summer read: attempted homicide, bumbling criminals, and even cross generational romance.  Any of his other adult mysteries are also worth sticking in a beach bag for a good time in the sand.

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis (Harper 2007)

A thorough and intriguing biography of the greatest cartoonist of all.  I have more volumes by Charles Schulz than any other author – all paperback editions of collected strips preserved from my childhood.  This aptly titled books explains how Schultz and Peanuts transcended all around them and became icons of the 20th century.

All The Broken Pieces – Ann Burg (Scholastic 2009)

This free verse young adult novel is without peer.  Compelling enough to be read in a single sitting and sincere enough to prompt this author to write about it as soon as he finished.  Certainly one of our favorites of 2009.

Joe DiMaggio : The Hero’s Life by Richard Ben Cramer (Simon & Schuster 2000)

A fascinating portrait of a mythic American who was immensely talented, enormously popular, and yet strangely sad too.  Cramer’s coverage of Joltin’ Joe’s professional career and post-career personal life stand up equally alongside the reason many bought the book: insights into Joe’s life with Marilyn.

The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) by Aravind Adiga (Free Press 2008)

Yankee Rose made us read this one and we’re glad she did.  She said all that you need to know when she reviewed it earlier this year, but there is so much more that can be said.  This is a remarkable work filled with compassion, humor, and real insight into life in a world dramatically different that ours but seeking (or at least espousing) similar principles.  It works as a simple story but it won the Man Booker Prize because it transcends that framework to provide real commentary on life in a massive modern developing country.

You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore (Harper Collins 2004)

Finally, we couldn’t get out of here without a nod to A-List favorite, Christopher Moore.  While his finest works (Coyote Blue, Lust Lizard of Meloncholy Cove) were published in the 1990s, he did hit the mark more than once in the latter years of decade.  You Suck heralded a return to form for Mr. Moore and was recognized as such my sources more credible than me.  Christopher Moore was onto the vampire thing way before it was cool (which I guess it is now) with his twisted perspective on reality and typical sense of humor.  If this is the first Christopher Moore book you read, you will surely want to go find Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story to find out how you got here and will anxiously await (like me) the release of Bite Me: A Love Story this spring.

That’s all I’ve got kids.  I think there may be more than 10 in there but you might want to go back and check.  Maybe Yankee Rose will throw something in the comment box if she disagrees.  You can feel free to do so too.

Okay, we’ll admit it, some of you might not be checking up on us for the books.   It started out light, some humor, some music related reads, maybe a graphic novel or two (okay we never actually reviewed any of those, but we thought about it).  Then we go adding book groups to your event calendar and talking about poetry nights and literary honors.  Don’t be scared!  We’re still fun (sorta).

The Man Booker Prize is not some old stuffy award given to a book that will make high schoolers (or college freshman) moan for years to come (well, maybe).  Started in 1969, the Man Booker Prize is awarded to one contemporary fiction novel each year.  The catch is it must be authored by a writer from the United Kingdom Commonwealth or Ireland (which of course leaves us off the short list).

The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga, was the 2008 winner of the Man Booker Prize, and man, that book blew this A-Lister away [Me too - Rube].   Other winners include Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (2002), The Blind Assassin, by Margret Atwood (2000), and The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy (1997).  This year’s prize will be announced on October 6th, and the short list is:

The Children’s Book, by A. S. Byatt

Summertime, by J. M. Coetzee

The Quickening Maze, by Adam Foulds

Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel

The Glass Room, by Simon Mawer

The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters

Remarkably, this year’s short list contains two prior Man Booker Prize winners.  J. M. Coetzee‘s The Life and Times of Michael K won in 1983, and his follow-up Disgrace won in 1999.  Summertime is his third book in the trilogy, and if it wins he will be the only author to have received the prize three times.  A. S. Byatt, who’s The Children’s Book is on my personal reading list (that is, haven’t read it yet but will), won in 1990 for Possession.

The Man Booker prize list is more than a geeky excitement over the best British books of the year, but also a great place to start for anyone looking for a great fiction read.

by Yankee Rose

Aravind Adiga is an Indian born, American and British educated journalist who has written for Financial Times, Money, Time and The New Yorker, although that list is far from exhaustive. His first published novel, The White Tiger, took the literary world by storm by winning the 2008 Booker Prize and achieving distribution in sixteen countries. The White Tiger has a simple enough concept, the story of a poor small town boy making something of himself in the big city. What makes this book so remarkable is not the story, but the fantastic prose tangled with soft undercurrents that force the reader to think.

Adiga uses the tension between China and India as the setting to the book, with his narrator telling the story in the form of a series of letters to China’s Prime Minister. His characters explore the change from a caste system to a class system, a transition that allows him to describe India’s poverty in harrowing detail. Below the central theme of the caste system, Adiga touches on the religious struggles of Indian Muslims, the modern day slave trade resulting from families being unable to feed their children, the healthcare disparities that we cannot imagine as Americans, and the lack of free journalism. Somehow, a light fiction read is converted into a captivating introductory course in modern Indian culture.

Adiga tells this tale in a way that keeps bringing the reader from Bangalore and Delhi back to rural India. Moving between the two worlds, “into the darkness” as Adiga says, is a jarring reminder of how democracy has failed India. Elections are bought, people are uneducated, and familial obligations and expectations make upward mobility impossible. It is despite these challenges that our narrator is able to escape the abject poverty he was raised in. Although the steps he had to take to achieve success were often malevolent, I found myself cheering for him the whole way.

This book was an intriguing read that left me with so many real questions. How could Asia’s largest democracy fail 500 million people by leaving them in debasing poverty? How can the India that most Americans think of, the one where anyone can go to school and become a technology expert, a doctor, or an entrepreneur, be such a small part of the real India? Why is it so easy for us to turn a blind eye to India, even as we are addressing human rights violations in other Asian countries?

The White Tiger was an excellently written, provocative, compelling read. I would recommend it hands down to any fan of truly good fiction.

Just in case you need one more reason to crack the cover, Bound To Be Read Books will be discussing it Thursday evening, August 20, at 7:00pm. Read the book. Come to book club. Share your thoughts.