Rick Moody, The Four Fingers of Death (predominantly sci-fi, outrageous plot). I'm not that into sci-fi, but this is surprising me. It's a lot of fun. I'm part of a book club of exactly two, and this was my friend Joseph's Voth's pick, so here and I am with this 700-page novel. (It's possible you've had Voth since he taught at MCC for a long time).
Joan Didion, Blue Nights (absolutely one of my favorite essayists; this chronicles the death of the beloved writer's only child, daughter Quintana) Didion wrote The Year of Magical Thinking about her husband's sudden death (he died shortly after Quintana fell ill . . . she is now 76, bereaved of both beloved husband and daughter).
Just finished: Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot (it follows Brown English major Madeline's academic trajectory as she deals with the "marriage plot" as it's been conceived in fiction thus far and her romantic relationships). I liked, didn't love this -- it's hardly his breathtaking-in-scope Middlesex: ""I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal." Eugenides also write the best-known The Virgin Suicides, which was made into a film starring Kirsten Dunst.
I also finished Jonathan Franzen's epic Freedom. I loved this on so many levels. Definitely worth a read. He's fabulous at chronicling modern suburban ennui and family dynamics.
