For the Book Lover:

text: anna klenke illustrations: rosa nevarez

Let’s talk about books: new, old, popular, obscure, fiction, non-fiction, whatever…just as long as they take us somewhere new.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (2008)

by Muriel Barbery

A French novel in English translation, this beautiful little book has been extremely popular over the past couple years. I’m proud to say that I read and loved it before it hit the bestseller charts, and I am so glad that the rest of the United States reading public seems to agree with my original assessment: outstanding. Paloma Josse is a precocious twelve-year-old with a passion for classical philosophy and dramatic suicide plans. When she befriends Renee, the concierge in her apartment building, the two discover that they have a lot in common — and a beautiful friendship is born. Many have criticized Barbery for the long philosophical tangents and passages focused entirely on worshipping Japanese high culture, but those elements just reinforce the fact that this is not your typical American novel. The Elegance of the Hedgehog has a distinctly European feel, draws us into the cerebral lives of characters we have never met before, and makes a concentrated effort to draw the reader’s attention to beautiful things in unexpected places. A wonderful read if you’re looking for something new.

Stone Butch Blues (2004)

by Leslie Feinberg

All Jess wants is acceptance — but acceptance isn’t easy to come by for a butch lesbian living in blue-collar Buffalo, NY in the gritty 1980s. This novel, based on author Leslie Feinberg’s own life, illustrates the shocking prejudice and violence leveled at people who dare to step outside society’s prescribed gender norms. We follow Jess as she seeks out people she can relate to in a butch-femme social group, finds love, undergoes breast reduction surgery and hormone therapy, and eventually comes to accept herself as she is — female, but with masculine qualities. Jess’s construction of her self-image costs her friendships and relationships and subjects her to police brutality on more than one occasion, but her determination to find a place for herself in the world allows her to overcome all these obstacles. Feinberg does a wonderful job of illustrating gender as a social construct that can be manipulated and controlled, allowing mainstream society a glimpse of life as transgender or gender-queer people experience it. Heartbreaking, enlightening, and hopeful, Stone Butch Blues is required reading for anyone interested in transgenderism, LGBT rights, or the resilience of the human spirit.

The Green Mile (1996)

by Stephen King

Anyone who thinks that Stephen King only writes horror is kidding themselves — and missing out on a few incredible books. Even if you’re not into genre fiction or thrillers or stories about prisoners on death row, you need to read The Green Mile. The narrator, Paul Edgecomb, is a guard at Cold Mountain Penitentiary’s death row facility who has sent seventy-eight inmates to death in the electric chair. He thinks that he has seen it all, but the newest inmate, an enormous black man named John Coffey, doesn’t fit Edgecomb’s idea of a cold-blooded murderer. Coffey supposedly killed two young white girls, but Edgecomb discovers the truth about the crime and resolves to help Coffey. King portrays each character with an extraordinary level of nuance, sensitivity, and compassion and ensures that Paul Edgecomb and John Coffey, along with all the other finely drawn characters, will stick with you long after you close the pages of this novel, which was originally written in serial form. While The Green Mile is not a new book, nor is King a new author, the emotional impact of this novel continues to be staggering sixteen years after its first publication.

Disobedience (2001)

by Jane Hamilton

Compared to the enormous popularity of Hamilton’s first two novels, The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, Disobedience has been completely overlooked by readers — but it is far and away my favorite novel by this talented writer. Told from the point of view of Henry Shaw, a seventeen-year-old high school senior, Disobedience takes a good hard look at the dynamics of a somewhat normal family — and finds that there is always more going on beneath the surface than you might expect. Henry’s sister, Elvira, is a dedicated Civil War buff who attends reenactions and dresses exclusively in period-era clothing. His mother, Beth, is having an affair, which Henry discovers when he accidentally logs on to her e-mail account one day. He follows the progression of Beth’s affair, and this secret knowledge of his mother’s life influences his own budding romance. Hamilton is one of my favorite authors, and Disobedience is a subtle, unexpected novel that leaves the reader wondering whether unknown family secrets have ever unwittingly colored his or her own life.

The Lonely Polygamist (2011)

by Brady Udall

Most men would say that one wife is one too many. Golden Richards, a Mormon fundamentalist, has four. And twenty-eight children to go along with them. Don’t be turned off by the strange subject matter: The Lonely Polygamist is essentially a family comedy, and the humor expands to encompass the large boundaries of Golden’s brood. The man often feels overwhelmed by his enormous family, struggles to remember his childrens’ names, and often ducks into a tiny storage closet to hide from the chaos and get a few minutes to breathe. The story is told from the alternating point of views of Golden, his eleven-year-old son, Rusty, and his fourth wife, Trisha. The alternating perspectives give the reader a good idea of what it might be like to be one of dozens in a loud, competitive, Mormon fundamentalist family. Things go from hectic to absurd when Golden becomes involved in some shady dealings at work, finds himself a mistress (who will eventually become his fifth wife), and is forced to protect himself and his family from the woman’s husband, who sends a hit man after Golden. The Lonely Polygamist is definitely a book about a man — don’t expect the female players to wow you in terms of depth or characterization. But if you’re looking for a good story about someone who bit off more than he could chew, this novel fits the bill perfectly.