Best of 2011 Countdown: #5

TOP FIVE.  That's basically a guarantee that these books aren't crap, right?

Gianna:

The Storm at the Door
Stefan Merrill Block
Random House

Inspired by Block’s own grandparents (The Story of Forgetting was inspired by his family as well), this novel is in turns inspiring and heartbreaking.

In short, The Storm at the Door is about love, art, and madness. [...like Gianna's feelings for Liz.]  It is also about learning when to let go, and when to hang on. [When Moses was in Egypt land, let this Lizzie go.] It is the story of Katharine and Frederick. Katherine is completely taken by Frederick; he is talented, he is passionate. He thinks he will be a great writer. Yet their lives turn ordinary, and while Frederick’s drinking increases, so does his erratic behavior and inability to support his family.

He is diagnosed with manic depression (which he may or may not actually have) and placed in a hospital known for its famous patients (the hospital is based on McLean, where Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, John Nash, Susanna Kaysen, David Foster Wallace among others were all patients at one time or another – Lowell figures prominently in this book).

Stefan Merrill Block

My original blog about this book is here but I do want to mention again that The Storm at the Door is somehow better than The Story of Forgetting, which I never would have imagined I would say since I am so attached to that novel. But The Storm at the Door is more realized--a bigger, stronger, more mature book. I compared it a year ago to one of my favorite books, Revolutionary Road, and almost a year later I still feel it is good enough to be compared to Yates.

If you like Karen Russell, Kate Christensen, Chad Harbach and of course Richard Yates you must read Stefan Merrill Block.

HERE IS MY ORIGINAL POST:

I am not going to make a huge deal about this book. I am not going to make a fool of myself like I did with The Story of Forgetting. I mean, I really think people thought I lost my mind I talked about that book so much (by the way I totally lost my mind because of that book). Okay. Story of Forgetting was very good. It was excellent. This book is better. It’s more mature and the writing is better. It’s heartbreaking, in fact. Like Stefan’s first book this novel is based in part on his family (his grandparents' marriage), which makes it all the more interesting. Think Revolutionary Road. Yes, it is that good.

Liz:

Habibi

Craig Thompson

Pantheon

I appreciate graphic novels as a format that resonates with some readers.  I normally am not one of them.  My favorite books tend to be ones that I can lose myself within, beautiful writing that lingers with me for days and weeks afterward.  I'm a word person; I actually have a tendency to dream in prose rather than with voices and people (a sure sign that I'm mentally...not well, but you knew that, right?).  I like art, and I like the idea of graphic novels, but I always feel like I can read one in a couple of hours and be finished with it; they normally don't linger with me.  There are, however, certain graphic novels that shift my thinking and open my mind to the possibilities of this medium.  Persepolis was one.  Asterios Polyp was another.  And now there's Habibi, which may be the most accomplished literary graphic novel ever created.

Craig Thompson spent almost a decade creating Habibi, a book that draws from Arabian Nights and the Koran.  It is a story that's timeless and also current, a love story and a family story and a survival story.  A mystical story.  A story of language and beauty.  A story of hardship and sacrifice.

The artwork and script in Habibi is exquisite, and the author actually taught himself Arabic in order to create the book.  It's the story of Dodola, a girl sold into a marriage to a much older man, and Zam, a baby found in a basket in the rushes.  Dodola escapes from her husband when he dies, and the teenager finds Zam and rescues him. The two orphans find refuge in an abandoned boat in the middle of the desert.  Though both must sacrifice greatly for their survival, their love for each other doesn't falter.  The book transcends time to link the harems and adventures of ancient Arabia to the oil-funded urban sprawl of the contemporary Middle East.  "Habibi," by the way, means "my beloved," and that's sort of the way I feel about this wonderful book.  I implore you to find a copy and spend time with it.

30 More Days Book Challenge: Day 14

Well, we certainly ruffled some feathers with our overrated authors list.  I do enjoy a little literary sparring now and again.

Day 14: Favorite Books From (Relatively) Unknown Authors

Gianna:

I will finish with one or two writers that are relatively unknown who I am really high on, but I did want to mention a few others that I love who aren’t exactly household names (yet?).

Amy Bloom has a wonderful book of stories, A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, that I sometimes will go back to and re-read one or two stories from. Blind is a good starting place if you haven’t read her. If you prefer a novel, the book Away is excellent.  [Bloom is one of my favorite authors for her psychologically astute writing.  It should be; she's a trained psychoanalyst.]

Daniel Woodrell was recommended to me by our late and greatly missed friend David Thompson. I first read the novel Red Tomato, then Winter’s Bone – both are fantastic and original. Winter’s Bone is a good start (and yes it is the novel that the movie was based on). [Winter's Bone always sounds like a "That's what she said" joke.]

Gillian Flynn is such a fun and creepy read. I love recommending her. She only has two books; start with Sharp Objects.

Why isn’t Aimee Bender super-famous? [She gets lost among the dozens of Kardashians?] Start with her best, which is her latest, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, but An Invisible Sign of My Own is excellent too.

Adam Haslett is truly gifted – You Are Not a Stranger Here is one of the finest collections I have ever read. In fact it is probably the best book in the post. [Gianna has no idea which books I'm going to discuss, so assume this comment is directed to her side of the post.]

Rebecca Hunt, Paul Murray and Suzanne Rivecca are all up and comers who are really original. And you all know how I feel about Gail Caldwell, Dan Chaon, and of course Tea Obreht. I won’t bore you by writing about them yet again. But seriously read The Tiger’s Wife.

There are two young writers who most have not heard of that I am sort of in love with. The first I will mention briefly because I have written about her novel in an earlier blog I believe: 28 year-old Haley Tanner’s Vaclav and Lena. I just think she has written a really lovely, fully realized, commercial novel. A great summer read actually.

My favorite young sort of unknown writer working right now is Stefan Merrill Block. He has written two novels – both based on his family. What I love about Block is he that wrote a really wonderful first novel and then came back with a completely different but really excellent second book. His first book was beautiful and touching, his new book is heartbreaking and dark. The Story of Forgetting and The Storm at the Door … you’ll be happy you discovered him.

Liz:

I feel like there are numerous books I love which fly under the radar and yet not a day goes by without someone walking into a bookstore and complaining that s/he can't find any "good" books.  I feel like I'll never have enough hours in the day to read all of the good books out there.

No book was more beloved by the Random House sales force its season than Thomas Trofimuk's Waiting for Columbus.  Unfortunately, this terrific novel was lost amidst the most incredible fall season I've witnessed since I've worked in books, and with such huge names publishing that year, the unknown author's special book was overshadowed.  The good news is that it's not too late to pick up a copy of Waiting for Columbus, and it's not too late to recommend it to your book group either. 

The story is lovely and mysterious.  A man washes up on short from the Strait of Gibraltar and is taken to a Barcelona mental hospital after he insists that he is Christopher Columbus.  While in the institution the therapists are confounded by Columbus (who also won't wear clothes; I do love nudey head cases), but he begins to tell his story to one of the nurses.  Columbus meets with the Queen, and Columbus falls in love, and eventually Columbus reveals his actual story.  It's a great book.



German children's classic
Struwwelpeter



There's a book that came out several years ago, and I've never actually met anyone else who actually read it.  98 Reasons for Being by Clare Dudman is a brilliant novel of psychological depth...and I don't think it's even still in print.  It's a shame.  The novel focuses on a historical figure, the head of a Frankfurt asylum, and a young Jewish woman committed to his care for nymphomania (Gianna would relate to that....).  In the 1850's treatment for mental disorders involved peppy methods like the application of leeches, but after these conventional treatments fail, the doctor, lacking other options, talks to Hannah.  The reader hears Hannah's thoughts through an interior monologue, and the hospital staff and patients also play roles in the story and doctor/patient relationship.  The doctor, by the way, was an actual person, psychiatrist Heinrich Hoffmann, and he is best known for writing a children's book called Struwwelpeter (Shock-Headed Peter), and Hoffmann's own troubled past and book weave into Hannah's story.  I loved this book.