Talking in the Library

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars Listen up all you lovers of Divergent and The Hunger Games —read the The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake; The Year of the Flood; MaddAddam trilogy to understand why the master of all dystopian fiction (or as she calls it, “speculative fiction”) is Margaret Atwood . In the first volume, Oryx and Crake , we are introduced to Crake and Jimmy, teenaged friends who follow different paths in life because of, you guessed it, one went to a much better college than another. Crake is a mad genius who unleashes a deadly virus on the world so he can repopulate the planet with his peaceful, loving Crakers. However, some human live and this sets up the rest of the series. This book is one of my favorites of all time. The second installment, The Year of the Flood , tells a simultaneous story. I can’t describe it in detail now, because regrettably it has been a few years since I read it. Now the earthy, hippie-like Maddaddamites are intro

John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead My rating: 5 of 5 stars John Henry Days is a complex, sophisticated, heartbreaking and funny novel that explores themes of endurance, change through technology, and the meaning and implications of shared stories. We’ve all heard the story of John Henry, the steel driving man in West Virginia who challenged a steam drill, won and perished a hero immediately afterwards. Here the story is resurrected by placing it at the center of a present-day inaugural John Henry Days celebration in a town that is right next to the town where John Henry supposedly worked. You get the idea—the ownership of the story shifts depending on who tells it. The story is told by a grand cast of characters, current day and historical, including John Henry himself, J. (could his name be John?), a journalist going for a new record for uninterrupted all-expenses paid journalistic jaunts courtesy of being on “The List,” Pamela, the daughter of a Harlem hardware store owner who am

Herzog by Saul Bellow My rating: 5 of 5 stars Herzog. I was not prepared for the level of intellectual introspection throughout and had a hard time following Herzog's internal dialogue. Confession: I did a lot of skipping. But first, a description. Herzog is an academic in his late 40s who has reached a dead end emotionally, personally, professionally and philosophically. His academic career is on hold due to his failed second marriage which pulled him away from his work and into a devastating betrayal by his wife and best friend. Herzog struggles to connect to his current girlfriend who, like all of his "mistresses" (the way Herzog interacts with his love interests seems dated) is self-effacing, boundlessly supportive and worshipful of the great Herzog. He sees his children only on brief camp visits and spying on them through windows. While the internal dialogue is tough to follow, they are artful, subtle and meaningful. Herzog writes endless letters to people wit