What I'm Reading, Pt. 1

I recently finished my 20th book of the year. As 20 is a nice round number, I decided I would share the books I've read thus far. I always love to know what people are reading (when someone is reading on the metro, I make a thinly-disguised effort to identify what book they're reading), and I figure other people feel the same way. So why not return the favor. 

(Note: I present the book descriptions in italics -- I did not write these; the descriptions were usually taken off the back of the book.)

(Note: Books are listed in the order I read them.)

1. A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore. (Fiction)

Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When at twenty she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a glamorous and mysterious family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed. Told through the eyes of this memorable narrator, A Gate at the Stairs is a piercing novel of race, class, love, and war in America.

The description seems kind of vague and generic, but after reading the book you realize how fitting the description actually is...the book really is a big discussion on race, class, war, and family. It's about a rich white family wanting to adopt a child -- class and race issues arise from this. And then it's about a white family raising a black daughter -- and the conflicts that arise from this. It's about family dynamics and how family members interact with each other. And how families deal with loss. Plus, it's right after 9/11 and war is approaching. Interesting subject matter.

2. Room by Emma Donoghue. (Fiction)

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the world. It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held since she was nineteen -- for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in that eleven-by-eleven foot space. But Jack's curiosity is building alongside her own desperation -- and she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Told in the poignant and funny voice of Jack, this book is a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child. 

When this book first came out I thought there was no way in hell I would read it. A book about a woman that was kidnapped and is being kept locked up in a room with her child (who is the product of her captor)? No, thanks. It sounded way too disturbing. But then I kept hearing a lot of great reviews about this book and it was shortlisted for awards. It was then that I realized the book was told through the innocent, naive point of view of the five-year-old child. So I started reading it at the bookstore, and found myself really enthralled with the book. Jack does not know that they are being held captive (his mom keeps it from him. His mother is a saint); to him, this is the only life he knows and he thinks this room is the world. He knows no other world. For instance, some nights the mom turns the lamp on and off, on and off -- hoping the flickering light will shine through the skylight (the one window in the room) and get someone's attention. But Jack thinks this is just a nightly routine, a game. He has no idea. It's interesting seeing this experience through the eyes of a five-year-old. I was also worried about how the issue of sex would be handled -- of Old Nick coming into the room. But, once again, it's told through the eyes of a naive five-year-old. Jack is put in the wardrobe and doesn't see anything, and the farthest it's described is Jack counts the number of squeaks the bedframe makes. It's not really graphic at all, which was my greatest fear. Eventually, Jack and his mom try to escape and what results is a page-turner story that I could hardly put down. The book is ultimately about how a five-year-old sees the world as a result of his quite unique upbringing. It's almost like a really interesting psychology/development book.  

3. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. (Fiction)

Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fuku -- a curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States and back again.

Lurking throughout this book is the brutal legacy of the Dominican dictator Trujillo, so you know there's plenty of hardships throughout this book and it's probably going to break your heart.  But it's still an amazing story.

4. Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica. (Non-Fiction)

According to The Waiter, 80 percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining 20 percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths. Eye-opening, outrageous, and unabashed -- replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen tidbits of human grace in the most unlikely places -- Waiter Rant presents the server's unique point of view, revealing surefire secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and ways to ensure that your waiter won't spit on your food. 

My waiter friends of course will love this book. But as someone that has never waited tables before, I found it really funny and informative. I love these inside-look books. Like Plane Insanity by Elliott Hester, where I got all the dish on the world of flight attendants. I love hearing what employees really think about their customers and co-workers. It's like shit-talking with a friend. 

5. Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann. (Fiction)

In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in this stunning portrait of a city and its people, connected in ways they don't yet even know.

There are such great and fascinating characters in this book. I love seeing how their diverse lives interconnect. It's also an interesting portrait of New York City in the 1970s and what a crazy time that was.