Six Favorites from 2011

As the 2011 publication year draws to a close, I thought I'd use this opportunity to champion a few titles from the past year that I particularly enjoyed.

Blood, Bones & Butter:The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef  by Gabrielle Hamilton

I was extremely impressed with this book by Gabrielle Hamilton, the owner/chef of Prune, a critically-acclaimed restaurant in NYC. Hamilton has written an exceedingly honest, heartfelt memoir about growing up too fast and too alone, about her circuitous path through higher education, about her hard work learning, observing, and surviving in restaurant kitchens. She writes of the grueling life of a restaurant chef and the seemingly impossible job of running a restaurant, raising a family and trying to sustain a marriage. The writing is excellent.

The audio version of this book is wonderfully read by the author. It feels right for memoir writers to read their own stories. The listener has the opportunity for an even more intimate “reading” experience with the added quality of the author's voice.

The Call  by Yannick Murphy

A large animal veterinarian narrates this unique novel set in rural Vermont. The structure of this story takes the form of a vet's call log. The logged calls provide the format and forward movement for the book, but the "log" is much more than a look at veterinarian's routine day. Through the log the narrator reveals his innermost thoughts and keen observations, which become particularly affecting when a hunting accident leaves the vet's twelve-year-old son in a coma. Joy, stress, anger, worry, and love of family are at the heart of this original novel.

The Buddha in the Attic  by Julie Otsuka

Using spare, poetic prose, Otsuka chooses to tell this beautifully written immigrant story in the first person plural, which gives this novel a very unusual voice. The story begins on a ship in the early 20th century as Japanese mail-order brides make their way from their homeland to America. They carry photos of handsome men and the hopes of a better life. On arrival, they discover men who look nothing like their pictures and confront the reality that their lives will, in most cases, be filled with backbreaking labor and hardship. The story follows these women’s lives until their removal to relocation centers just prior to WWII. Amazingly, this story is told in just 129 pages. After finishing this book, I immediately picked up Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine (2002), another poignant story about the experience of Japanese-Americans--this novel focusing on their internment during World War II.

Sister  by Rosamund Lupton

Twenty-one-year-old Tess is found dead in an abandoned park building, her death officially pronounced a suicide. Beatrice, Tess's older sister, doesn't buy the suicide verdict. Her knowledge of her sister runs so deep that Beatrice is absolutely certain her sister was murdered. Guilt and love push Beatrice to try and uncover her sister's killer.

Beatrice tells this story as one long letter...a love letter, really...to her sister, which reveals the series of events that led to Tess's death. This suspenseful, fast-paced, psychological thriller has a big surprise ending.

Domestic Violets  by Matthew Norman

A witty, fast-paced, humorous, yet thoughtful debut novel. Thirty-five-year-old Tom Violet feels stuck in his copywriter job with a corporation that seems to have no real purpose in the world. He really wants to be a novelist, but that's a particularly tough road for him to follow--his famous father has just won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The passion seems to have disappeared from his marriage, which worries Tom, as does the fact that he's far too distracted by the twenty-three-year-old copywriter who works with him. How Tom handles these mid-life crises is both funny and touching.

This book reminded me of Richard Russo's writing as I was reading it. Interestingly, in the back matter of "Domestic Violets", the author reveals that one of his influences was Russo's "Straight Man"--one of my all-time favorite novels.

Vaclav & Lena  by Haley Tanner

Vaclav and Lena meet as five-year-olds in an English as a Second Language class. Both are children of Russian immigrant families living in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. The two quickly become fast friends, their daily lives intertwined. The outgoing Vaclav is intent on becoming a famous magician, with shy Lena as his beautiful assistant. By the time the two children are ten, however, Lena’s unacceptable home situation forces Vaclav's mother to intervene…and Lena disappears from young Vaclav’s life. No magic can make her reappear. Vaclav is devastated, but he never forgets about Lena, nor she about him. On Lena’s seventeenth birthday, she vows to find Vaclav and the many missing parts of her life. Heartbreaking at times, this moving adult novel about love and loss may also find a strong audience among high schoolers.

This is a debut novel for Haley Tanner, whose own personal story is also heartbreaking and touching.