Anne Tyler’s 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning Breathing Lessons charts one day in the life of middle-aged couple, Ira and Maggie Moran. The Morans have been married nearly 30 years and raised two children. On this Saturday, they are driving from their home in Baltimore to a friend’s funeral in Pennsylvania. Along the way, squabbles and incidents that any long-married couple could relate to plague their day, from minor traffic incidents to tiffs. Through smartly written dialogue and flashbacks, their married life is revealed, with both revealing their insecurities and memories—many good, some not-so-good. Maggie, always well-meaning, has a tendency to meddle in others’ affairs; she spends the day concerned with reconciling her son and daughter-in-law. Ira, strong and sturdy, wonders why she worries so about matters over which she has no control.

Another one of Tyler’s critically acclaimed novels, Breathing Lessons has excellent characterization. You’ll never feel as though any character is flat—in fact, characters drive the story here, since the plot progresses only after extensive flashbacks. It took me a while to get used to this novel’s flow. I appreciate the intimate manner through which Tyler portrayed the Morans’ loving marriage—one so ordinary but never dull.

Below are some titles I read and loved last year. I managed to keep track of all the books I read that year (which is one thing I hope to do with this blog) and I just rediscovered that list. Here they are…

• Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
• Tess of the d’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
• Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
• Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
• Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene
• Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn
• What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges
• Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy
• M31: A Family Romance, by Stephen Wright
• James Tiptree, Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, by Julie Phillips (bio)
• We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
• Mister Sandman, by Barbara Gowdy
• Then We Came To The End, by Joshua Ferris
• So Much For That, by Lionel Shriver
• Saint Maybe, by Anne Tyler
• The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates, 1973-1982, ed. by Greg Johnson
• The Odd Sea, by Frederick Reiken
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in Nighttime, by Mark Haddon
• A Widow For One Year, by John Irving
• This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
• The Giant’s House, Elizabeth McCracken
• Just Kids, by Patti Smith (memoir)

Anne Tyler wrote her first novel, If Morning Ever Comes, when she was only 23. Seventeen novels later, Tyler remains a popular and gifted portrayer of contemporary family life in America. She sets most of her novels in Baltimore, where she has lived the majority of her life, and imbues her novels with casts of convincing characters all facing some sort of crisis, usually involving their family. Tyler is often labeled a recluse; she rarely grants interviews, and does not travel to promote her books. 

The first book I read by Tyler, 1991’s Saint Maybe, remains my favorite of hers. Here, she deftly depicts the role religion plays in the life of Bedloe, who feels guilty after the death of his brother and sister-in-law, quitting his job to concentrate on raising his brother’s kids to fulfill the moral obligation he feels he has. She is perhaps best known for 1985’s The Accidental Tourist, which depicts a middle-aged travel guide writer finding love in the wake of his son’s death, and her Pulitzer Prize-winning Breathing Lessons (1988), describing the decades-long marriage of two characters driving in a car.

Tyler’s novels are comfortable; that word is the best I can conjure to mind to describe how it feels to cozy up with one of her books. Her characters are often conflicted, but never too conflicted—so far, she has not written from the perspective of a serial killer. Her characters are not too diverse, either. If I had to sum up her characters, I’d describe them as good-hearted, sometimes misguided individuals, who assume responsibilities in their family or environments but often find their best intentions thwarted.

This would be my one complaint against Tyler, who I do read and love: her characters’ problems are too cliche at times, and the plots tied up too neatly at novel’s end. I hope, one day, she writes of a gay man’s struggle for acceptance in his Midwestern conservative family, or a lesbian’s allegiance to her longterm partner who’s dying in the hospital. These plots would be well-handled in Tyler’s hands, and she is the author I would most like to see tackle such relevant topics.

Her style is simple; most of the books I’ve read by her are compulsively readable, which is, for me, why I read books. Below are the novels I’ve read by her; bolded titles are ones that were my picks.

• The Tin Can Tree (1965)
• A Slipping-Down Life (1970)
• Earthly Possessions (1977)
• Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982)
• The Accidental Tourist (1985)
• *Breathing Lessons (1988)
• Saint Maybe (1991)
• Digging To America (2006)
• Noah’s Compass (2010)

*Currently reading

Joyce Carol Oates, or affectionately coined “JCO” by critics and fans alike, is perhaps the most prolific writer in contemporary American literature today. She published her first novel, With Shuddering Fall, in 1964, and since then has published 55 novels (including some under two pseudonyms), 19 story collections, and numerous poetry and criticism collections. She has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize once and the National Book Award five times, winning once in 1970 for her novel them. Her novel We Were the Mulvaneys was featured in Oprah’s Book Club in 2001. She won the National Humanities Medal in 2010.

JCO has been long-rumored as a favorite to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. A number of her novels and short stories have proved controversial, as well. Her 1995 novel, Zombie, probed the mind of a serial killer (based on real-life serial killer Ted Bundy), and her 1992 novella, Black Water, fictionalized the Chappaquiddick incident involving future senator Ted Kennedy. Violence, especially against women and between family members, has long been a theme in her work, as well as themes of rural poverty, class tensions, sexual abuse and even the supernatural. A number of her works reflect her interest in the gothic and horror genres, including 1980’s Bellefleur and 1984’s Mysteries of Winterthurn.

First off, I am a fan of JCO. I remember discovering her novels as a teenager (hardly her target audience, I know) and really being impacted by both the themes recurrent throughout her work and her writing style. My own short stories were subtle mimics of hers for a while. That being said, it’s hard not to notice how some themes seem redundant. I remember thinking, as I read her last novel, “How many times has she written this same character and story?” The quintessential JCO character is a young woman in a lower to middle class family dealing with her own sexual awakening or any violence committed against or around her. 

Her novels can be long and, honestly, a bit tedious in parts. She is a master of creating atmosphere and utterly believable characters, and many of her short stories are perfect examples of how short stories ought to read. She has made an undeniable contribution to American literature, and deserves a wider audience and more critical acclaim than, I believe, she has earned so far.

Below are some of my favorites of hers. I haven’t read many of her works before the 1990s, however. The titles in bold are ones I particularly recommend:

• Black Water (1992)
• We Were the Mulvaneys (1996)
• My Heart Laid Bare (1998)
• Middle Age: A Romance (2001)
• The Falls (2004)
• Black Girl/White Girl (2006)
• The Gravedigger’s Daughter (2007)
• Little Bird of Heaven (2009)

Originally released in 1992, Wally Lamb’s debut novel, She’s Come Undone, came to wider public attention in 1998 when Oprah picked it for her book club. I remember having seen this book pretty much everywhere for years before I finally picked it up. 

She’s Come Undone is essentially the bildungsroman of Dolores Price, a morbidly obese young woman who survives, among other events, the abandonment of her father, the shunning by her classmates, sexual abuse and a ill-fated marriage, while maintaining a humorous while sardonic outlook on life. Dolores is one of the best narrators I’ve come across, and this book is so compulsively readable, I read it in 2 days. If ever I didn’t want a book to end, it was this one… it is laugh-out-loud funny, depressing at times, but always honest. 

This is the first of Wally Lamb’s four novels (released so far, and I hope he releases many more) but really showcases his ability as a writer to create flawed but completely believable characters, and to create quite dense but fast-moving plots. I may write a separate post on Wally later, but if you liked She’s Come Undone, check out 1998’s I Know This Much Is True and 2008’s The Hour I First Believed. 

When asked to do whatever when I was growing up (and even today), I always felt like saying, “No thanks… I’d rather read.” Because, the truth is… there’s precious little I’d rather do than read a good book. I enjoy vegging out in front of the TV, or watching movies, but nothing beats the inner serenity and total immersion felt when I curl up with a book that says something about myself or the world in general, or a book that introduces me to characters so vivid I feel as though I actually know them… the feeling’s not altogether common, so for me it’s about finding that book into which you just want to lose yourself completely. 

I love discussing books and authors, and so that’s what I’m going to do here. I may mention a TV series or film here or there, because beneath the rubbish that is reality TV and recycled dramas, there is some original/creative/compelling/meaningful stuff out there. 

Books will be recommended and discussed, and some of my favorite authors will also be profiled here and there. There’s so much out there to read, or even to watch, that if you actually had to consume all that media you’d go crazy. So here comes what I have found to be the best out there.

My humble opinion.