5 Lesser Known Books You Should Add to Your Reading List
This weekend, after my late shift, I found myself chatting with a co-worker about what we were reading. Discovering we had very different reading habits, I found many of the books I hold in high regard were absent from her experience. So I’ve compiled this short list of books I love—which you, hopefully, haven’t heard of—so you can add some, if not all, to your reading list. Check them out. Seriously.
Justin Torres – We the Animals
I met Justin Torres at the Texas Book Festival in Austin last October, and after a long delay I finally got around to finish his debut novel, We the Animals. A coming of age story, this novel offers an insightful perspective on what it’s like to grow up with brothers. The writing is beautiful and powerful, heartbreaking and heart warming all at the same time. Yet another powerful voice to come out of the University of Iowa’s Writers Workshop, you won’t be let down.
Billy Lombardo – The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories
A Chicago writer who is quickly making a name for himself, I first read Billy Lombardo’s The Logic of a Rose as an undergraduate. This collection of stories follows Petey’s coming of age (I promise this is the last one) in the neighborhood of Bridgeport. Individually, these stories stand alone in a poignant way; as a whole, this collection offers a new take on urban life.
Mark Z. Danielewski – The Fifty Year Sword
A ghost story originally published in two 1000 print runs by a Dutch publisher, this novella is narrated by five nameless voices. It’s essentially an oral story about someone telling an oral story. I can’t really say much more about the book without spoiling the plot, but its important to note that due to Danielewski’s passion for telling new stories in completely original ways, this book is due for another U.S. edition in October 2012.
James Robertson – The Testament of Gideon Mack
This book came to me as a happy surprise one afternoon when I was browsing the stacks at a bookstore in Chicago. The Testament of Gideon Mack follows Gideon Mack, a Scottish minister who just happens to be an atheist. One day, he falls down a ravine. Presumed dead, he returns three days later with an unbelievable story: he has met the Devil. Framed between a prologue and epilogue from an editor, who claims the novel is the memoir of one Gideon Mack, you get the feeling that the events of this book could have really happened. I guarantee you will be thinking about this book long after you finish it.
K.L. Cook – Love Songs for the Quarantined
My last recommendation comes from my first residency of graduate school at Spalding University. K.L. Cook is on the faculty, and we read his collection as our book in common. From “Bonnie and Clyde in the Backyard” to “What They Didn’t Tell You About the Vasectomy,” these stories are a true delight.
Happy reading!
-Joey
