Tom & Alissa

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union - Michael Chabon
Really fun. This isn’t my favorite Chabon book (that would be Wonder Boys), and probably not Pullitzer-worthy like Kavalier & Clay, but it is a great read. It’s part alternate history (what if the Jewish nation had settled in Alaska during World War Two, as someone suggested?), part hardboiled Raymond-Chandler-style detective novel. [4/5]

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality - Donald Miller
Well, I love this book. But this was a re-read. [4/5]

The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
Amazing, succinct, non-emotional yet heartbreaking account of the author’s husband’s death and her subsequent struggle with grief for the next year. The play is running on Broadway right now, starring Vanessa Redgrave, which made me interested in the book; it was well worth the read. [4/5]

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
Was so happy to locate this in a bookstore full of lousy books in an airport in Chicago. Really, really great. It’s the story of a child who lost his father in 9/11 and is looking for answers; it’s really about a whole lot more, though - family and guilt and second chances. [5/5]

Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Finally finished it! And it was one of the most lively “old” books I’ve ever read. One of the essayists in the footnotes said that Thackeray is the consummate satirist, and he’s totally right, but it’s so much fun to read. Technically, I “read” half of this on tape back in college, but the second half was over 400 pages so I think it counts as a whole book! [4/5]

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Really and truly strange premise, but otherwise a highly recommended book. It’s the epic story of a Greek-American family (with some serious issues) told through the eyes of the eventual hermaphrodite offspring. And in the midst of all that is the story of America in the twentieth century, especially Detroit. And it did win a Pullitzer. But it’s not for the faint of heart or constitution. [5/5]

Proof - David Auburn
Well, I read it. Good, but I think I need to see it performed to get it. [3/5]

Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Oh, I loved this. David Sedaris’ brand of humor is exactly my style, and he’s just so funny. His rants come off gently, instead of angrily. And his observations of Americans abroad (himself included) had me trying to swallow my giggles on the train. [5/5]

Which brings me up to 41 books so far this year. With five months left in the year, I think I’m in good shape to hit my 50-book goal for this year. ;) I’m not going to “up” it, but I am going to make an effort to read more in the literary journals and the New Yorker than I have been.

Right now, I’m in the midst of White Teeth by Zadie Smith, Wonderful Town edited by David Remnick, and The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (which may take a while to finish).

And as always, I’m tracking my reading here.