By Fiona Stevenson — Columnist
The New York Times Book Review released its 100 Best Books of the 21st Century this summer, chosen by various literary worthies. Lists like this make us bookish types curious and a little show-offy (look how many I’ve read!) but anxious (see how many I haven’t).
Reading a title because it’s “the Best” can miss the serendipity in choosing a book that calls out to the reader, “I’m the One for you!” That type of chance encounter often brings our most favorite books to us. It affirms our democratic right to read — and like — what we individually want. Some of us are also suspicious of deeming certain books canonical while excluding others — often entire genres such as romance or mystery. The NYT has been criticized for including so few female Hispanic authors (so here’s your chance to read “How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” by Julia Alvarez), a general lack of poets (please try Anne Carson before she wins the Nobel Prize) or not having more graphic works (“Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel is like no other memoir).
Ultimately, the NYT has provided a terrific resource, but it’s just another list. If you haven’t read W.G. Sebald or Ali Smith or Jesmyn Ward, have at it. There isn’t an author on the list that doesn’t deserve to be (and that includes Stephen King and Kate Atkinson). But please keep reading your favorite author or genre or fanfiction writer even if they haven’t a hope of appearing on any list but yours. In that spirit, I made my own Books I Put on a List for The Concord Bridge.
Best Heist Book: I finally read “Blacktop Wasteland” by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron), a gritty noir about a man pulled into one last robbery against his better judgment. There’s no author better at packing humor and social commentary on contemporary America than Cosby, while guns blaze, cars backfire, and lives go up in smoke. And it’s on former President Barack Obama’s summer reading list!
Best Historical Thriller: “Ash Dark as Night” by Gary Phillips (Soho Press). Phillips introduced L.A. crime photographer and occasional private eye Harry Ingram in “One-Shot Harry.” The second entry in this historical series opens in August 1965 during the Watts riots. Harry, one of two Black freelancers recording in the streets, can’t escape trouble and police brutality.
Best Buzzy Book of the Summer: I read Liz Moore’s “The God of the Woods” (Riverhead Books) in one gulp. It’s a tale of children disappearing from a 1970s Adirondacks summer camp. Ultimately there were too many narrators and red herrings, and I maintain the ending doesn’t make sense. But if you know the world of summer camp — surrounded by trees, water, and secrets — it will be an absorbing read. Of course, it’s going to be made into an AppleTV adaptation (as well as appearing on the Obama list).
Contemporary Thriller: “The Nature of Disappearing” by Kimi Cunningham Grant (Macmillan). Too often in action novels, the characters seem a bit flat amidst the violence. I was surprised by how entertained I was by Grant’s taut account of two young women whose friendship has gone bust but who are still connected by their relationship to the American wilderness. When one embarks on a perilous journey into darkest Idaho to find the other when she goes missing, the landscape has more surprises than the bears or mountain lions. The women are smart, sassy, and capable, but who knows what dark secrets lurk in the hearts of men?
Science Fiction/Romance/Time Travel/Colonial Takedown Blend: “The Ministry of Time” by Kaliane Bradley (Avon Reader). Imagine a future where a clerk in the aforesaid government ministry has to mind a Victorian explorer in present-day London. It’s dashing and silly and surprisingly touching. I was reminded of why I used to love “Doctor Who.” (You never forget your first Doctor — mine was Jon Pertwee, the third one.)
Science: “Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark” by Leigh Ann Henion (Algonquin). Get away from screens and blue light, learn about fireflies, night traveling salamanders, and plants that bloom under moonlight like bioluminescent mushrooms. Then watch “Saving the Dark” on YouTube, Sriram Murali’s documentary on what light pollution does to our environment. It made me feel a little better about losing so many streetlights around town.
History: “Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna and the Secrets of the Modern Mind” by Frank Tallis (St. Martins). I’m a fan of Tallis’s “Vienna Blood” series and the PBS Mystery show about a young psychiatrist in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Time, neuroscience, therapy, and feminism have not supported some of Freud’s theories nor convinced us that psychoanalysis is always a reliable cure for what ails us. But can you think of another person more influential on our culture? If you’re craving to spend time in a Viennese cafe, which was one of Freud’s favorite pastimes, head to Tatte Bakery & Cafe in Belmont. There’s a staggering array of choices, but the cinnamon and walnut coffee cake, the pear tart, Linzer cookie or chocolate-rose brioche will transport you to prewar Europe.
Graphic: “Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up With the Universe” by Ken Krimstein (Bloomsbury). A graphic work seems a great way to grasp Einstein’s genius and to discover that Einstein was in Prague figuring out relativity while Kafka was struggling with his own questions about the meaning of life. This is a cool read, especially in this year of TikTok Kafka girls.
Cooking: “Cook As You Are” by Ruby Tandoh (PenguinRandom). Can you believe “The Great British Bake Off” just finished its 14th season? One of our favorite contestants was Tandoh, an academically inclined foodie who is now the author of several cookbooks and a writer for The New Yorker. Her newest book is full of mellow charm and accessible recipes, with a firm message of forgiveness if things don’t turn out the way they do on the Bake Off. Series 15 is due in September, so we’ll see what variations on Victoria sponges are still left to create. Mary Berry’s recipe will always be the most delicious, if only because it’s what my nana made.
Audio: “James: A Novel” by Percival Everett (Random House Audio). Dominic Hoffman gives a heroic performance reading the unabridged work by Everett, truly one of the great American novels published this century. Its exclusion from the NYT list already shows how fast life outpaces lists.
Shamelessly Begged-for Book from the Publisher: “We Solve Murders” by Richard Osman (Viking). A detective and his bodyguard daughter-in-law solve murders all over the world. If you were sad to see the end (for now) of the Thursday Murder Club series, this new Osman will console you. And there’s the upcoming small-screen adaptation of the Thursday books to look forward to. We all knew Helen Mirren was going to play Elizabeth, but Pierce Brosnan as Ron? I have no worries about Ben Kingsley as Ibrahim or Celia Imrie as Joyce, based on the first cast picture released.
Concord Must-Read: “Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson” by James Marcus (Princeton).
One of my resolutions is to visit places that will be overrun with tourists next year with Concord 250 looming. I’ll start with Emerson’s home at 28 Cambridge Turnpike, where he and his wife, Lidian, lived for 47 years, raised four children, planted 100 trees, and hosted the stars of the Transcendentalism movement. Book your tour here.
