Favorite New Novels of 2006, in order

Favorite New Novels of 2006, in order

Favorite New Novel...

A. B. Yehoshua

Harvest Books, 2007

A Modern Classic!

+ The Bookschlepper definitely recommends
+ The Resouce Manager's Mission

Yulia Rageyev was a Soviet immigrant to Jersualem, Israel. She was married and divorced mother of a troubled teenage son. Not much is known about her because she was an unidentified victim of a suicide bombing in Jersualem, her adopted hometown. A journalist and a bakery manager are on a mission to ...

Breakable You

Brian Morton

Harvest Books, 2007

Haunting and unforgettable story

+ A New York story
+ Great read

Maud and Samir became so real to me that I felt as if they had left the book and inhabited my life. Their love affair was cryptic and beautiful and its tragic ending transcended an ordinary plot twist to give me a sense of the inescapable nature of our mortality. Yes, we can die or lose a loved ...

Cripple Creek: A Novel

James Sallis

Walker & Company, 2007

"Farther along we'll all know about it..."

+ Good writing. Ending leaves you wanting more

This is American writing about as good as it gets - a bittersweet little novel served raw. James Sallis may be Faulkner reborn, his homespun wisdom and beautifully warped passages may play of Cormac McCarthy; his "Turner" may recall James Lee Burke's moody Dave Robicheaux and rotting Gulf coast ...

Old Filth

Jane Gardam

Europa Editions, 2006

Gardam's "Loss," Our Gain?

+ Death of an Empire
+ Reply to Midwest Book Review
+ Stunning

The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai

Grove Press, 2006

Ultimately disappointing

The Inheritance Of Loss by Kiran Desai is a magnificent, impressive novel that ultimately is disappointing. As a process, the book is almost stunningly good. As a product, it falls short. The book's language, scenarios and juxtapositions are funny, threatening, vivid and tender all at the same ...

The Amalgamation Polka (Vintage Contemporaries)

Stephen Wright

Vintage, 2007

Both The Real Thing and A Merciless Parody

+ Excellent book on context of Civil War
+ An Awe-Inspiring Masterpiece

"Wright's title refers to a racist editorial cartoon of the period, which depicted "an amalgamation polka," where whites and blacks dance together in genteel costumes. This was meant to suggest, one presumes, that other mutually enjoyable physical activities might occur between the races later in ...

One Good Turn: A Novel

Kate Atkinson

Back Bay Books, 2007

Great read!

+ A perfect piece of literature!
+ Convoluted mystery, told in a compulsively readable fashion.

I love Kate Atkinson, and this book does not disappoint. This is just an all around great read - great story, great pacing. It would be good to read Case Histories first so you can meet the characters, but the book stands on its own, as well, which I appreciate.

Theft

Peter Carey

Vintage, 2007

4.5 out of 5: Part love story, part family saga, part crime thriller

+ Brilliant roller coaster ride
+ Love and Mystery

This is the story of an aging, out-of-style artist, his idiot savant brother, and a femme fatale they both fall for. Part love story, part family saga, part crime thriller, this book has something for everyone. The alternating narrative voices (the artist and his brother) are pitch perfect, not ...

The Club of Angels

Luis Fernando Verissimo

New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2002

"Hunger is the only recurring desire...sight, sound, sex, and power all come to an end."

+ all desire is the desire of death!!
+ Quirky & unexpected

The first of Brazilian author Verissimo's novels to be translated into English, The Club of Angels is a fascinating, carefully detailed, and darkly humorous study of ten deaths, the deaths of ten gourmands following their favorite meals. The men have been friends for more than twenty years, ...