Thank heaven for small mercies, the election will soon be over. By the time you're reading this, it probably will be. So what to do now? Perhaps it's time to sit back and relax with a good read. Being a lifelong fan of fiction, and in the spirit that everyone could use a solid recommendation every now and then, I thought I'd post a very short list of recent personal favorites. Seven books that I found either immensely enjoyable or important in the way that great fiction is one of 'the great teachers'. (Sometimes the two are mutually exclusive.) Without further ado, here in no particular order are seven books I've read in the past few years that have stayed with me:
1) Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi
2) Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flannagan
3) A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
4) The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
5) American Pastoral by Philip Roth
6) Eating Stone by Ellen Meloy
7) What is the What by Dave Eggers
Honorable Mention: Here Comes the Sun by Joshua M. Greene
That's it. Hope you get a chance to pick up one or two of these. Please feel free to leave your own recommends as well.
