The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen

Jesse James is one of those “bad guys” you can’t bring yourself to hate.

For all of his downfalls, Hansen’s tragic hero demands the respect of both the reader and the other characters.

The story of James’ death is split into three parts. The first builds Jesse’s reputation. The second, sets into motion the betrayal by his friend, Ford. And the third, details the aftermath of Jesse’s death.

The book is historical fiction, so Hansen has obviously taken some liberties with the actual story. But he’s also well-researched and his story reads true. Hansen’s Ford is never very likable. He struggles to make a name for himself and when he can’t accomplish that by being an outlaw, his vanity leads him to betray the man he has idolized since childhood.

But instead of the fame he expects, Ford is shunned by much of the south and ignored by the north. The novel is as much a psychological treatise on Ford as anything else. While the murders James commits are unfortunate, I never thought while reading about them that James was a despicable person. However, when Ford shoots the king outlaw, I at once thought of the act as cowardly.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

I can’t say I wasn’t warned.

When I bought Faulkner’s classic, the store clerk shook her head and asked me to reconsider. She told me it would be the longest book I ever read, even though it was only a little more than 260 pages.

Well, As I Lay Dying wasn’t all that bad. But, it was definitely not a “casual” book.

The novel is set at the turn of the 20th century and concerns the Bundren family, who for reasons at once stubborn, selfish and noble, have decided to carry their matriarch’s dead body to a nearby town for burial.

Along the way, the family is followed by buzzards, some almost drown when they ford a river that has washed away a bridge and others are almost burned alive as they try to save animals in a barn set ablaze.

Faulkner’s stream-of-consciousness style can be difficult to read at times. I found that I could only read the novel when I could devote the time to concentrate without fear of a wandering mind. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing either. Being forced to take note of each and every word makes you appreciate the novel better. Despite it’s title and creepy  cover art, the novel isn’t all that somber. Instead, its laced with quite a bit of humor and if I hadn’t been forced to take it slow, I might have missed that.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Like Hosseini’s other book, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a personal history of war-torn Afghanistan.

The reader doesn’t get much of any broad swaths of politics. The how and why are rarely explored. Instead, the reader is treated to the sights and sounds of the people living through the upheaval, namely through the eyes of two women.

Laila and Mariam are worlds apart in terms of education, class and personality. But the women unwittingly find their lives intertwined and, despite their differences, develop a strong bond.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is an intimate epic, if there is such a thing. After reading (and enjoying thoroughly) Hosseini’s earlier success, I had high hopes for it and it didn’t disappoint.

Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren’t as Scary Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures From the Sky, Parents Who Disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Couldn’t Quite Finish, So Maybe You Could Help Us Out

This book, from henceforth known as “Noisy Outlaws,” drew my eye not just because of the long title, but because of the all-star cast of writers who contributed to it.
This collection of short stories was published by the amazing McSweeney’s and includes gems from Lemony Snicket, Nick Hornby, George Saunders, Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Safron Foer, among others.

Not every story lives up to expections, but there are an inordinate number of laughs within the book’s pages, nonetheless.

The aforementioned authors are all famous in their own rights, so having them all in the same collection made this book a must-have for me.

The stories have no real connection and include a variety of plots (as evidenced by the title). For instance: Gaiman writes of a group of foodies who head off to eat the legendary Phoenix, Saunders explores the decisions of an overprotective husband and Foer gives a brief history of a “forgotten” history of New York.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max

Max is not a nice guy. This book is a collection of Internet essays that span roughly 10 years and deals with Max’s dealings with alcohol, women and sex.

Max isn’t the worst human being possible, after all he doesn’t have sex with anyone against their will. But, he clearly doesn’t have the best interest of the women he does sleep with in mind. He objectifies them, insults them and then humiliates them on the World Wide Web.

Max’s gonzo-style writing has given him quite a following on his Web site (the original home of the essays). I can understand like-minded men following the site, but it appears as though he also has a female following. That I can’t grasp. Why would a woman seek out Max through his site after reading what he’s done to others?

Regardless, Max is a pretty good writer, even though his subject matter is controversial at best, perhaps even obscene to many. Unfortunately, his writing is quickly overshadowed by his objectifying commentary and the sickening (sometimes literally) antics that get old rather quickly.

The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

Nathan Glass, the narrator of The Brooklyn Follies is a lonely divorcee and cancer survivor who has moved to a small Brooklyn apartment to live out his retirement.

Despite his gruff exterior, which at times serves to alienate both is ex-wife and his daughter, Glass proves to be a very likable character. Through a series of seemingly random events, Glass and his long lost nephew, Tom Wood, are both thrown from their daily routines.

During the course of the novel, Glass finds several long lost family members and renews his faith in love and marriage. Meanwhile, Tom finds the purpose in his life that was missing and in the meantime also adds a wife and finds his sister.

You wouldn’t know it from Auster’s style, but Follies is chock full of action. From art fraud to cross-dressing lip syncing to southern religious cults who refuse to speak once a week, there are few pages that don’t have some absurd image lurking.

Glass references his own book in progress throughout the story. That book too is about human follies, but on a grander scale. While Glass tries to capture the absurd happenings that befall all of mankind on a daily basis, Auster shows that while that while those acts may be seemingly random, they can work together to steer one’s life in new and exciting directions.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

Ferris’ hilarious debut novel is part Heller’s Catch-22 and part Office Space. Set in a Chicago ad agency at the end of the .com bust, his motley crew of characters are absurd in their stereotypes.

There’s the office couple, the nut job, the gossiper, the drama queen and a whole cast of other characters. The story is mainly written in a plural first person tense that is at once the voice of all the agency’s workers and none of them.

Intertwined with the office pranks and other antics, is the more somber story of one of the agency’s partner’s battle with cancer. Even in the face of such a serious subject, Ferris succeeds in finding the lighter part of life, eliciting laughs at nearly every turn.

I don’t work in a traditional office, but the 9-5 life described herein compares favorably to the head-scratching tales I’ve heard from others as inter-office romances, feuds and power grabs devolve into madness both within the novel and out in the real world.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This story centers on Fermina and the two men whose lives revolve around her.

A romantic novel set in the Caribbean during the late 1800′s/ early 1900′s, Love in the Time of Cholera is as much a tale of unrequited love between Fermina and Florentino as it is a story of the bumpy marriage of Fermina and Dr. Juvenal Urbino.

Florentino’s love is shunned while he and Fermina are still very young, but while Fermina moves on to marry a successful doctor, Florentino waits for the day that Fermina may return his affections.

That day doesn’t come until the good doctor dies suddenly, providing Florentino the opportunity to renew his courtship of Fermina, even though each are well into their 70′s.

Marqez’s story is very detailed and, at times, navigating it can be a long and arduous task. But the basic premise is simple enough. After all, everyone has experience some degree of love that wasn’t returned.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Balram Halwai is one of the smartest boys in his Indian village, a distinction that earns him the nickname of white tiger in reference to an animal that is said to appear just once a generation.

Halwai and his family have big plans for his life, although they differ in that Halwai’s family expects him to support them and Halwai has other plans. But Halwai’s attempts to break out of his country’s caste system are thwarted when he is pulled from school and forced to go to work.

Adiga’s first novel is written in the form of a series of letters in which Halwai describes what it’s like to be an entrepreneur in India, details the county’s caste system and outlines differences between the two India’s, one poor and one rich. Halwai also makes a stunning confession in the opening pages, but I won’t spoil the story here.

The novel serves as a blunt critique of the Asian nation’s outdated caste system, with familiar themes of oppression, rigged voting and bribery.

Halwai’s story may start in a poor village, but it ends in one of the country’s fastest growing cities, with Halwai the owner of his own business. But in order for the son of a rickshaw-puller to climb the country’s economic ladder, he has to make some decisions that may leave some readers questioning if it’s worth it at all.

He may have thrown off his own limitations, but at what cost? At what does it say for Adiga’s India if the only way to get rise out of corruption is to become corrupt yourself?

Mine All Mine by Adam Davies

Otto is a “pulse.” That means it’s his job to sit next to something valuable and sound the alarm if and when someone comes to steal it.

Basically, he’s the last line of defense for priceless artifacts in museums. Also, he’s pretty damn good, maybe even one of the best in the business (keep in mind that “business” means sitting still and doing nothing but pressing a button).

So, imagine his surprise when his unblemished record gets demolished after the same thief hits him repeatedly. The thief, known as the Rat Burglar, isn’t just stealing the artwork Otto is supposed to be protecting, he’s returning it to its country of origin. Otto can’t explain it and neither can the authorities, so, suddenly Otto finds himself a suspect in the thefts. As his life spirals out of control, he even loses his girlfriend, an art professor who is a big proponent of the Rat Burglar.

Mine All Mine follows the bumbling Otto as he tries to solve the mystery of who the Rat Burglar (his nemesis) is and tries to get his life back on track.