My Top Books of 2013

It wouldn't be overstatement to say I got lost in December. I got busy doing things I needed to do instead of things I want to do, like this mess of a blog. However, since there have been inquiries as to my whereabouts and to my top book recommendations for the past year, well, here goes:

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Battleborn by Clare Vaye Watkins

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

NW by Zadie Smith

Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I Shudder by Paul Rudnick
Ready, Steady, Go by Shawn Levy

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Answer to the Riddle is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia by David McLean

Three striking fiction debuts (Watkins, Marra, Miller), two brilliant YA novels (Green & Zusak), Saunders at what could be the peak of his career (though I hope not), and Smith making certain I don't forget how great she is. 

In non-fiction, Rudnick made me roar with laughter, Hillenbrand made me feel despair and triumph, Levy thoroughly entertained me, and McLean scared the shit out of me (the book pubs January 14th so go buy it). 

In all, I finished 35 books and read some or most of another 15. There were some books I read that I never posted about--some were good enough and others were disappointments. A few made me angry for wasting my time and others I'd re-read if I could find the time because they gave me such joy. Looking over my blog and my master list, it was a fiction-heavy year and my choices lean just a little more heavily that way. 

You can read more about all these titles on the blog. I hope you manage to avoid the post-holiday doldrums but if you don't, the titles here may help get you through. 

As always, special thanks to friends in the book biz who still keep me in the pipeline, to authors who have been kind enough to contact me after reading my posts, and to you, my regular readers. Happy new year. 

No Country For Old Men?

Among the abundant charms and gifts my wife possesses is a sincere appreciation of old men. Unlike most of us who, if we see them at all, see them as they are now, Mrs. Next has a rare ability to see them as they likely were: strong, healthy, vibrant, virile, each with a story to tell and a past lit by their youth. 

Years ago, when she waited tables, these grandfathers and widowers were her favorite customers. Sure, they could be parsimonious with their tips and run her like crazy or talk her arm off when she had a full section and needed to check her other tables but she managed to give them her time and her attention and they loved her for it. She was especially fond of my people, the old Jews. I told her to remember that because one day down the road, she would have an old Jew of her very own.  (In fact, he is showing up with increasing regularity these days.) The unlikely hero of Derek B. Miller's charming new novel, Norwegian By Night, is just the kind of man Mrs. Next would fall for.  

Retired, recalcitrant, and recently widowed, Sheldon Horowitz has uprooted himself to live with his granddaughter, Rhea, in Oslo, Norway, along with her Norwegian husband, Lars. Rhea, whom Saul raised as his own daughter after her father, Saul's, death in Vietnam, is trying hard to make him feel at home in a country that is absolutely foreign to him.  It isn't the US, it isn't New York, it isn't the Berkshires where Sheldon was raised, and it certainly isn't Jewish. Worse, Rhea fears he is suffering from dementia. So begins our story.

Trouble arises when violence erupts in the apartment upstairs. As an argument between a man and woman in another language becomes more heated, the woman runs with her son to the presumed safety of the apartment below. Here she finds Sheldon, who somewhat sanctimoniously shelters the pair. However, instead of calling the police, he hides with the boy while the mother is brutally killed. Sheldon and the boy, whom he calls Paul, flee to safety but they will be hunted for the rest of the novel.

Ok, an interesting premise for a novel but there's something more. Not since Leo Gursky from Nicole Krauss' The History of Love have I been so taken with a character. We are treated to a most compelling chase and, because the boy remains silent, the contents of Sheldon's head and that's what makes Norwegian By Night much more than the thriller or police procedural as it might have been written. Instead, we get a tale of a man facing the end of his life, his long memories, his many regrets, especially his immense guilt over his son's death, and his unique perspective. Often, within the same sentence, Sheldon is both tragic and hilarious. And just who in hell is he? Was he really a well-trained sniper in Korea as he purports or a Marine desk clerk like he told his family? Is Sheldon at fault for his son re-upping for the second tour of duty that ultimately killed him? Is he losing his marbles or is he just cagey and playing the Old Man card?  Read on.

There are only a few weaknesses. About half way through, it seems like everyone--the police inspector, the thugs, the family--is just a little too smart for this to remain believable but I was able to forgive this because I grew to love Sheldon and wanted to see him safely through this terrifying ordeal. The author writes well and there are some real pearls scattered throughout the book but it is the story itself and the strength of Sheldon's personality that carries us through, much like the child he is trying to protect.

Norwegian By Night is as thrilling a romp and as touching a tale as I've read in ages and deserves your full attention. Sheldon is a singular character that will stay in your heart long after you've finished the book.