What We’re Reading

Dear readers, the long, cold winter months are nearly upon us. Perhaps you are looking for a gift for the person who has everything. Or perhaps you just want a nice book to curl up with, by the fire, with some hot chocolate, your pet snoozing at your feet, a peaceful glow radiating throughout the room…  Well, get out there and start chopping logs for the hearth, because you have happened upon the second edition of “Workman Reads.”After reading this post, you certainly won’t need to wonder about what spine to crack next! All you’ll need to do is start the fire.

And for those of you who hunger for more recommendations, be sure to pick up one of our Book Lover’s calendars for 2011. Many more books wait to be discovered therein!

First, from our reviewers, in their own words:

 

An Object of Beauty, Steve Martin

Steve will always have a place in my heart because of movies like The Jerk. The fact he can also write fiction so well is just inspiring. If you’ve read any of his other novels, or are just looking to see him in a different light, I highly recommend picking it up. – Randall

 

The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A deliciously gothic novel set in post-war Barcelona, The Shadow of the Wind tells the story of a bookseller’s son who unravels the mystery of a one-of-a-kind novel he discovers in “The Cemetery of Forgotten Books.” This story is packed with dark corners, lost loves, murders, a haunted house, and a touch of humor. The perfect autumn read. –Andrea

Something for Nothing, David Anthony (coming in June 2011)

The last book I read that I raced to finish was Something for Nothing, by David Anthony, coming from Algonquin next June. The comparisons to such movies by the Coen brothers as Fargo and Blood Simple are accurate, which is saying a lot. But the really amazing thing about this novel is the way our sympathies build for an initially unsympathetic main character, until by the end we’re cheering heartily for his redemption. As our sympathies grow the plot picks up speed until the final pages move like lightning. A great noir read.—Bob

Skippy Dies, Paul Murray

I’m not even halfway through Paul Murray’s hefty (672 pages! available in a three-volume box set!!) sophomore novel Skippy Dies, and it’s already secured a place on my short list of all-time favorites. The narrative moves between the bizarre and complex lives of several students and staff members of Seabrook College, a fictional private boys’ school in contemporary Ireland. At once funnier and more tragic than anything I’ve read in a long time; it’s no wonder it was long-listed for the 2010 Booker Prize. –Avery

Pictures of You, Caroline Leavitt (soon to be in stores!—January 2011)

I gave this book, about a woman who falls in love with a man whose wife she killed in a car accident, to my roommate, who gave it to her boss, who sent it to her friend in Washington DC. It’s irresistible—like reading a highbrow Lifetime movie. –Emily P.

Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly

A Brooklyn high school student discovers a Parisian teenager’s journal from the French Revolution. Completely must-continue-reading-late-into-the-night addictive. –Krestyna

Second, The List:

Something for Nothing, David Anthony

The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can’t Do Without It, Philip Ball

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Worth Dying For¸ Lee Child

The Passage, Justin Cronin

Coltrane on Coltrane: The John Coltrane Interviews, edited by Chris DeVeto

Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression, Morris Dickstein

Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly

Room, Emma Donoghue

Look at Me, Jennifer Egan

Freedom, Jonathan Franzen

Frida, Hayden Herrera

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver

The History of Love, Nicole Krauss

Pictures of You, Caroline Leavitt

The Ask, Sam Lipsyte (The reader would like to give it 10 stars.)

An Object of Beauty, Steve Martin

The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford

A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore

Skippy Dies, Paul Murray

Coal Black Horse, Robert Olmstead

A Blessing on the Moon, Joseph Skibell

When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want You to Read! Selected, edited, and with commentary by Jim Trombetta

The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

–Liz, whose ardent love for Barbara Kingsolver grows with every page of The Lacuna.