Brief Notes on a Couple Books

I am working my way through two books right now. One is a Pulitzer Prize winner from a few years ago. The other is a highly acclaimed novel from last year. Both are magnificent and filled with language and character and story.

One is the earlier book by Michael Chabon that won him the Pulitzer Prize- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Chabon's use of language, his ability to string words together into powerful, emotion-filled, yet accessible sentences and paragraphs is remarkable. You get absorbed in the story-telling and the lives unfolding before you. What an amazing author.

The other book I am in the midst of is the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Diaz is no less remarkable and adept than Chabon. But his language is the language of the Latino culture connected with the Dominican Republic. It is a rich tapestry of English, Spanglish, and Spanish that pulls you in and along. You can hear and feel the characters rich and colorful lives. You know you are in the presence of a great writer.

One of the problems, by the way, with libraries is that they are often so, so good at providing the addicted reader with more possibilities than there are hours. Then when one borrows books from ones daughter or buys more than he can ever read in one month- well, you end up jumping from one to another as the library reserve comes in.

What a wonderful problem.