BEST READS OF 2007

-1-
The Savage Detectives
Roberto Bolaño
A meditation on love, loss, and lawlessness in 1970s Mexico. It has been described as a Mexican On the Road, but that is really unfair to both books. It is a mixture of genres, with a puzzle at its middle, that is solved at the same time that it collapses in upon itself.


-2-
Dark Back of Time
Javier Marías
A book that defies description. This is a novel that describes events surrounding the publication of an earlier Marías novel, with peeks into other lives, including that of his brother who died as a toddler. It was the perfect accompaniment to a time in my own life filled with death and dis-ease.


-3-
TIE

What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng
Dave Eggers
The fictionalized story of Deng's flight from the civil war in Sudan and resettlement in the United States. Eggers really breathes life into a harrowing story. I was also able to hear Deng tell some of his story in person as well as meet and speak with him. He is one of the humblest people I have ever met.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah
A memoir of a young boy caught up in the civil war of Liberia. His tales of life as a child soldier forced to engage in battle or die as a civilian casualty, along with the attendent death and drug abuse, brought me to tears several times.

[My favorite film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader, usually picks at least one tie during his "best films" list of any particular year. They usually share a theme as both of these books do. Therefore, I felt safe doing this, especially as both books are so well written.]


-4-
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Home in New England
Brock Clarke
What is truth? What if everything you believe is a lie? What if you are culpable in creating and/or sustaining those lies? What if you have the opportunity to redeem yourself and make the best of a bad situation?


-5-
Voyage Along the Horizon
Javier Marías
A tale of murder on an "expedition" cruise to the Antarctic. The plot would have been boring in less capable hands, but Marías keeps the tension in place. I couldn't unclench my teeth for a week!


-6-
The Gift of Stones
Jim Crace
A coming-of-age story that takes place at the advent of the Iron Age. The main character is someone marginalized due to a handicap that keeps him from being a "productive" member of society until he discovers his gift of storytelling. Is he the savior of his people or a false prophet?


-7-
Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead
Alan Deniro
Mutant dwellers of an underwater city, a Dungeons and Dragons style "game" gone awry, the call of cuttlefish, and the neighbors of giants inhabit the same universe of short stories. These stories are funny, sad, occasionally quirky, but all well done. Our world as reflected in another.


-8-
Last Evenings on Earth
Roberto Bolaño
Most of these short stories are concerned with the theme of exile. Many border on violence without being explicit. The danger is always kept just at short remove, which is ultimately unsettling and satisfying.



-9-
Poor People
William T. Vollmann
Vollmann is my favorite author. This is one of his minor works, only because his body of work is so spectacular. It is not minor in its passion or its unflinching look at poverty throughout the world, though. Vollmann specializes in reportage that puts himself in the midst of danger and engagement with The Other. He is willing to ask questions that others will not, even if he is unable to get those questions answered. He is also willing to "get messy."


-10-
Jamestown: A Novel
Matthew Sharpe
A surreal retelling of the story of John Smith and Pocahontas set in post-apocalyptic Chesapeake Bay and New York City. I love the mixture of history and speculation. The language is sometimes highbrow, sometimes gritty, but always poetic.