Tom & Alissa

White Teeth - Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is nothing if not a story-weaving genius; how she comes up with such a densely populated book that seems all loose ends until somewhere in the middle, but keeps you interested, I know not. I do know that I really did enjoy this book, though it was very long. It’s sort of the story of a few middle-class families of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds in London; it’s also something more. If you tend to like books that I like (haha), then you’ll like this book. (4/5)

Wonderful Town - David Remnick (editor)
Thoroughly enjoyed this compilation of stories from the New Yorker about New York City. The authors ranged from Jonathan Franzen (yay!) to Lorrie Moore (double yay!) to Isaac Bashevis Singer, Woody Allen, J.D. Salinger, and many, many others, and spanned a period of 50 years. A lovely collection of short stories by some of the best writers we’ve got. (4/5)

Grub - Elise Blackwell
Borrowed and read on recommendation from Annie. It’s a re-telling of an older book, New Grub Street, and is a bit of a satire on the publishing industry. There were places that I felt the author could have used a better editor, and the characters were at times two-dimensional enough to be stereotyped; however, I think that’s exactly what the author intended, and she did it well and enjoyably. A good read, especially for writers. (3/5)

Birds of America - Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore is up near the top of my list of favorites. This collection of short stories isn’t my favorite overall (her novella Who Will Run the Frog Hospital is), but some of the stories were excellent. Still, if you haven’t read her, either start with Frog Hospital or Self-Help, another short story collection. (3/5)

On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Great stuff. It’s basically about a couple of families in which both fathers are professors of art, etc. at “Wellington College”, near Boston. They have wildly different ideas about politics, religion, culture, and beauty, and in its examination of their lives and their families’ lives, the reader gets to know the different permutations of views on beauty and what they mean, practically. There are some scenes that are a little too graphic for my taste, but they’re short and don’t color the book too much. Certainly excellent. (4/5)

Overall, I hit book #46 this month, which means I should cross the 50-book finish line in September, and I’ll just keep reading from there. I’m in the middle of two novels (Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, and The Crossing, by Cormac McCarthy), and still have a couple of non-fiction books slowly going.