New books strongly recommended by Aaron Hamburger


Someday This Pain May Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron. A heartbreaking and funny portrayal of a young man who's too intelligent for his own good.

The Believers by Zoe Heller. A page-turning portrait of a family of liberal lions in crisis. I read this one in a day and was sad when it was over.

Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez, a beautiful faux-memoir about friendship,
finding yourself, and the sixties.

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart, a laugh out loud satire with bite about the
way we live now.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill, a powerful malestrom of a novel about love
and loss and fashion.


Other recent recommendations:

Clearcut by Nina Shengold: This sumptuously intelligent, emotional debut novel by playwright and screenwriter Nina Shengold plunges us into the gritty, grimy world of hardscrabble loggers in the Pacific Northwest. The setting, rendered in stunning detail, may seem an unlikely one for a romantic triangle, but the book's vivid characters win our attention and hearts. As the novel reaches its inevitable yet surprising tragic end, we're sorry to say goodbye to these characters, illumined by Shengold with engaging warmth.

Harbor by Lorraine Adams: A mesmerizing and often very funny fictional story of Algerian immigrants sneaking into the United States that raises important questions about the so-called War on Terror. Not only is this book a gripping read, but also it begs us to consider how the vast majority of this planet's population find their lives ruined by political situations over which they have no control.

You Are Not the One by Vestal McIntyre: A lovely first collection of stories that will make you laugh on one page and choke up on the next. A fine debut.

Zigzagger by Manuel Munoz: In this story collection about Chicano families in California's Central Valley, Munoz introduces us to an often ignored segment of America in the best way possible, by making us care deeply for his characters.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: an astonishing new novel that hurtles forward through time and back again to chronicle human greed and its damage to our planet as well as our selves. Besides the audacity of its structure and Mitchell's mastery of such vaired genres as science fiction, farce, and comedy-of-manners, what's so impressive here is the author's joy of storytelling. Already a classic.

Platform by Michel Houellebecq: I was interested in Houellebecq's first two books because his voice and point of view seemed unlike any other I had read in contemporary fiction. This book, his third, is by far his most accomplished, a full-blooded, mature novel that combines crackling social commentary with surprising poignancy. Written before September 11th, this book is essential reading about the way we live now.

An Almost Perfect Moment by Binnie Kirshenbaum: a heartwrenching, gripping, and funny read by a great writer at the top of her form.

Little Children by Tom Perrotta: the new novel by the author of the book that inspired the Reese Witherspoon movie Election. A brilliant anthropological dissection of suburban life that just happens to be a lot of fun.

The Sleeping Father by Matthew Sharpe: a startling new novel that consistently delights and surprises with its dazzling prose and sharp-eyed character insights.


The following is a list of books and authors whose works I find myself returning to for guidance, inspiration, and pleasure. These books are like old friends who continually remind me why I love words. Nabokov and Woolf are here for their cranky intelligence as critics as well as their astounding gifts as prose artists. W. G. Sebald and Tom Stoppard move me with their pitch-perfect use of elegiac tone. Few writers can match the wit and depth of characterization in the work of Austen, Dickens, and Forster. Chekhov's sublime wisdom has made him the essential muse for anyone attempting to write a play or a short story. D. H. Lawrence and Bruno Schulz have impressed me with their exuberantly inventive use of imagery to convey character. I rely on Orwell and Didion for their sharp-eyed insight into language, people, and politics. And for two masterpieces of modern minimalism, you can't do much better than Lorrie Moore's Birds of America and Evan S. Connell's Mrs. Bridge.

Jane Austen's Novels

Chekhov's Stories

Chekhov's Plays

Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

A Passage to India by E. M. Forster

Howards End by E. M. Forster

A Room With A View by E. M. Forster

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

Lectures on Literature by Nabokov

Lectures on Russian Literature by Nabokov

Collected Essays by Orwell

The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

The Emigrants by W. G. Sebald

The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf

Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence