Book Recommendations from Culture Correspondent Justin Bogdanovitch
Here is a new list of five authors to check out, and two to grow on.
The evening mist is over the pond. The air is cold.
Winter waterborne storms have shed a lot of their ferocity off the Pacific Northwest coastline. These maelstroms hit us hard earlier this season. The sun is peeking out for a stretch of days. The chilly air at night is perfect, though, for a roaring fire in the fireplace, a warm drink, and a great novel.
This list is not another long list of what books to read since I like saving that for warmer weather and vacation time; but in some ways it’s more encompassing than that. Here is a short list of authors. I believe in their work. After reading their writing, I recommend that you search them out too, preferably at your local independent bookstore; find a story perfect for the end of the rainy season (I live north of Seattle and tiny buds are appearing on some of the trees). Some of these authors are better known, while others are new to the craft (sadly, one writer is no longer with us). Either way, they know (knew) how to turn a brilliant phrase into magic, or make you see a situation from a fresh perspective. Fall into their created worlds with a quenchable appetite for wondrous short stories and disarming novels.
1: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria. She is the author of Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Her first short story collection is also out: The Thing Around Your Neck. She is a talent worth seeking out!
2: Paul Murray’s first novel, An Evening of Long Goodbyes, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize back in 2003, and he followed that novel with a whopper of a novel, Skippy Dies, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Jess Walter wrote: (Skippy Dies is) “Dazzling . . . It’s the Moby-Dick of Irish prep schools.”
3: Ehud Havazelet has written three books: two of them the short story collections What Is It Then Between Us? and Like Never Before, and the novel Bearing the Body. The last two books were New York Times Notable Books. He has won California and Oregon book awards, the Wallant Award, and is the recipient of several writing fellowships. His stories continue to amaze me.
4: Jess McConkey’s Love Lies Bleeding, a debut novel under Shirley Damsgaard’s pseudonym, is a bare bones, psychological novel about a past that comes back to haunt her characters.
5: Ken Grimwood, the last author on my short list here is no longer with us, having passed away in 2003, but he is considered a master of dark and speculative fiction. He published five novels under his name, Breakthrough, Elise, The Voice Outside, Replay, Into the Deep, and Two Plus Two using the pseudonym Alan Cochran. His most famous novel, Replay, is worth finding first. I’ve read Replay two times now, the last in one all-day sitting on a flight home to Ohio, where I then passed my copy onward to the nice couple who sat next to me. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It’s a time-travel classic that asks the question: “What if you could live your life over again, knowing the mistakes you’d made before?” If you admire Ray Bradbury’s canon or the early work of Dean Koontz, give Grimwood a try.
Feel like cozying up by a fire on a wintry day with a book that will really make you think? Try one of these five authors if you haven’t already made their acquaintance.
I’m off to find another hidden gem of a book, discover a new author, or poetry collection at my local bookstore, Watermark Book Company, in Anacortes, Washington. The owner recommended I read Skippy Dies so I trust her picks completely. Her next two recommendations are The Vices by Lawrence Douglas, and Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam, which are on my bedside table’s ever growing stack of to-be-read-next novels!
Best to everyone out there hankering for the next creative inspiration.
Enjoy,
Justin
Watermark Book Company
Please telephone: (360) 293-4277
Special Orders Gladly Accepted
email: watermarkbookcompany@frontier.com
Justin Bogdanovitch
San Juan Islands, Washington
justinbogdanovitch.com
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