This Is Your Summer Homework

Every year about this time, I expect one of those magazines will come to me to find out what I think the world should read and that my choices will be much debated and that, at some point, some writer will call me out on my picks and I'll have to defend them...as I did to Vince Passaro about a year ago...and damn if Vince didn't write me and tell me why he'd made the picks he'd made and made convincing arguments all around. So, instead of telling you what to read, I'm going to tell you what I've got lined up, both old and new:

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell. Bless the publicists of the world. Bless them. I mean no bit of sarcasm here: Woodrell is an American original. There is simply no one like him writing today and I cannot wait to crack this book open.

The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford. Again, I love publicists. They are good and decent people. I have this book sitting on my desk right now and it's all I can do to get any work done at all. I love Richard Ford in an unnatural way that borders on the criminal. I'm really kind of trying to figure out if I want to see if I can review this for someone or if I should just read it for the pure enjoyment I hope to get from it. I'm also a little scared: what if it sucks? Since I'm such a huge fan of Ford's, this is something I fear each time I read something new by him, that it will be the literary equivalent of the last Jane's Addiction album.

The End of California by Steve Yarbrough. I'm a huge fan of Steve's, too, and I've intentionally done very little reading about this book because I just want to be surprised by it.

The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies. One of the few novels by Davies I've never read, this is another book I've sort of been holding for the pool.

Infidelities by Josip Novakovich. A collection of war-themed stories by another writer who doesn't get the attention he deserves. This collection originally came out in 2005 and it's been sitting on my shelf mocking me ever since.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. One of my favorite crime novels of the last ten years was Winslow's terrific California Fire & Life -- I read the first 100 pages of this in hardback, lost the book, and then just got it again in paper.

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. It's a pretty good thing Amy didn't make it out for the book festival in LA a few months ago as was originally planned, because I would still be kissing her feet. 

What about the rest of you?

Comments

[Clair]

I have the new Richard Ford on my pile, too -- picked it up at BEA -- and haven't read it yet because I feel that same superstitious dread: what if it's not as good as I expect it to be?

So when you read it, let us know.

[Dan Wickett]

Great list Tod - The Woodrell and Yarbrough will not disappoint you in any way whatsoever. And I agree with your high praise of publicists as well.

I also have Infidelities somewhere in one of the many stacks of books lying about.

Some other titles to get excited about either just out, or headed our way:

John McNally - America's Report Card (just hit stores - his prior works have been great)

Tom Franklin - Smonk, coming in early fall

William Gay - Twilight, due in October

Lee K. Abbott - All Things, All at Once: New and Selected Stories. I keep reading where this guy is the King of the short story.

[rob roberge]

Lee K Abbott is really good...not sure about king, but he can write...

I just finished Steve Almond's and Julianna Baggott's WHICH BRINGS ME TO YOU, which is pretty fabulous and worth checking out...

And am now reading ONE OF A KIND, the biography of the doomed poker genius/gambling and drug adict Stu Ungar...what an amazing character...

[Glenn Hefley]

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow was simply amazing to me. I know that he spent over five years doing the research for that book, but unlike many novels based on real events, he doesn't let it bog down with those events. On top of that the book spans something like 25 years, and still the pace and energy are maintained.

Don Winslow has a website now at www.donwinslow.com and I'm really on the edge waiting for his new book Winter of Frankie Machine.