Even More "Even Less Than Mini-Reviews"

Yes, once again I return to the mini-review (or less than such) and promise (to all three of you clamoring for them) to get to posting some full length reviews soon. The following have been read since my July 22nd post of mini-reviews:

51.  Alive and Dead in Indiana by Michael Martone - 4 stars

His debut story collection, and with it he quickly sets up both the style with which one would come to recognize, and the regionalist aspect of his writing.  A solid debut effort I discovered back in 1988 thanks to an MQR issue with a survey of (at that time) contemporary authors about books they were excited about - TC Boyle listed this one amongst his short list (or Madison Smartt Bell did - I honestly do not remember which any longer).

52.  Seeing Eye by Michael Martone - 4 stars

An interesting story collection - it is broken into three different sections - the middle section is entitled, Pensees, and is a series of narratives that are from the mind of Hoosier, Dan Quayle.  Perhaps not so surprisingly, he doesn't come across as all that bright.

53.  Safety Patrol by Michael Martone - 4 stars

Possibly my favorite of Martone's straightforward story collections.  I think this is the one that he most closely walked the line between fiction and true facts, and in doing so may have paid even closer attention than his usual (pretty high) level to the individual words he used.

54.  The Flatness and Other Landscapes by Michael Martone - 4.5 stars

This collection of essays that Martone has put together, all about various aspects of the Midwest, could very easily have come across as mundane, but Martone breathes life into them with his slightly offbeat viewpoint and his own brand of writing.

55.  Unconventions by Michael Martone - 4 stars

A collection of essays, speeches, prefaces, and introductions that Martone had written or given over the years.  Each is led into with a little introduction by Martone - why it was written, what the circumstances were, etc.

56.  The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead - 4.5 stars

The debut effort by this incredible writer - he now has three novels and a collection of essays about New York City.  Somehow I avoided his writing up until a couple of months ago and the only positive about that is I don't have to wait for the next one, at least not until I plow through the other three titles.  Whitehead has a great ear for dialogue, and interesting characters and a twisting plot (not to mention one that I don't see other writers coming up with - it involves elevator inspectors) and pulls it all together really well.

57.  The Sicily Papers by Michelle Orange - 4 stars

The soon to be published, debut effort from Hobart's new Short Flight/Long Drive mini-books division, is a series of letters written by the narrator to a friend/lover back home as she travels through Italy.  The book also has hand drawn pictures, scratch-outs, typos, and other little oddities to further its uniqueness.

58.  Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell - 5 stars

I know, you've heard about this a few times, but it's out now, so I'll state it in a little more detail (and look forward to writing a full review of it).  Woodrell mines the Ozarks once again, though this time with a very strong female protagonist.  He looks at family codes, drugs and the law, and does so with a clarity that you might not expect from somebody who is so efficient with his word usage.  Not many pack this much into short novels, but Woodrell has done so consistently.  The frightening thing is that he keeps getting better each time out.

59.  Smonk by Tom Franklin - 4.5 stars

This one comes out next month and I get the feeling that Franklin sat down and started typing and came out of the room a week later, manuscript in hand.  The book is a page turner with one of the creepiest protagonists you'll ever come across.  Set in the wild west, it might remind you a bit of HBO's Deadwood, though more due to the violence than the language.  Add in some odd plot points and some funny as hell characters and you've got a bit of a cross between Percival Everett's God's Country and William Gay's The Long Home.

60.  Big Lonesome by Jim Ruland - 4 stars

A solid collection of stories by the host of the Vermin on the Mount reading series in California.  Ruland treats his readers right by not filling the book up with mediocre efforts to go with a couple of stunners.  Instead, it's full of very good to great efforts full of big hearts and big humor.  I look forward to finding more of Ruland's work soon.

61.  The Things Between Us by Lee Montgomery - 4.5 stars

A memoir about the year her father was dying from cancer and its refusal to quit spreading throughout his body.  Montgomery does a great job of examining the family dynamic and the roller coaster of hopes and crashes that one goes through during this process.  Not my general cup of tea, but once I started, I didn't set it down until I was done.

62.  Twilight by William Gay - 4.5 stars

This, his third novel, will be published by MacAdam/Cage in October.  The most frightening thing about it might be the fact that it was all in Gay's head at some point.  This tale involves a bit of necrophilia, some grave robbing (or at least digging up), and a community of people living in a forest that confuses the hell out of those that are outsiders.  Gay writes with his usual aplomb - combining words into new words, long rambling sentences, and dark honors and humors.  Look forward to this one.

I'll be back soon with looks at new novels from David Long, John McNally, and Tom Drury, plus more titles from Magnus Mills, Colson Whitehead and Laird Hunt, plus the new Adichie and Litzanburger novels.  It just never stops.  Thank goodness.

Comments

[patti abbott]

Woodrell book is the best I've read this year. Tender, tough, hearbreaking. The guy can't write a bad sentence.

[Justin]

I'm only on book #22!

BTW, the Colson Whitehead is The Intuitionist not The Illusionist. A great first novel. I love his second, John Henry Days, even more. Looking forward to seeing what you make of it...

[Dan Wickett]

Thanks Justin, another emailed that and the change has been made. I've been told by many that I'll love JHD even more - and so, look forward to it. Who knows what I'll call it when I review it though!

[Carolyn]

Everyone is ahead of me, too! Go on Dan, read Barchester Towers or something.

[Dan Wickett]

Hell, Mr. Champion is on book 89 and I don't even want to ask Lauren Baratz-Logsted what number she's on considering today's the 228th day of the year, I'm sure she's floating over 200 already. And I can't say the Amazon description of Barchester Towers looks all that exciting - "...nineteenth-century novel about clerical politics read by Flo Gibson in her nineteenth-century voice ..." though they do call it a joy. Maybe I'll slide it towards the bottom of that third TBR pile.