Top 5 Books
“Chronic City,” Jonathan Lethem (Doubleday)
“War Dances,” Sherman Alexie (Grove Press)
“Generosity: An Enhancement,” Richard Powers (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)
“Ruins,” Achy Obejas (Akashic Books)
“Inherent Vice,” Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press)
—Tom Lynch

Top 5 Local Books
“Ruins,” Achy Obejas (Akashic Books)
“Her Fearful Symmetry,” Audrey Niffenegger (Scribner)
“How to Hold a Woman,” Billy Lombardo (OV Books)
“The Way Through Doors,” Jesse Ball (Vintage)
“The Adventures of Cancer Bitch,” S.L. Wisenberg (University of Iowa Press)
—Tom Lynch Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

Richard Powers’ fascination with the possibilities and idiosyncrasies of the advancement of technology—and the convergence of science and art—continues with “Generosity,” his stimulating, if brisk, follow-up to the National Book Award-winning “The Echo Maker.” The author lays the foundation for his work in a fictional, slightly surreal Chicago, where familial streets travel in unfamiliar directions, a talk-show host named Oona is described as the most powerful woman in the world and Russell Stone, a frumpy writer and evening-class college instructor, becomes fascinated with one of his students and her beaming optimism. Thassadit Amzwar, a Berber Algerian who lost her family in the Algerian civil war, possesses an unflinching, unwavering happiness that captivates all she encounters. The “hyperthymia” term is tossed around, while elsewhere, a geneticist works doggedly to isolate, and understand, specific genes. Narratives entwine, and Powers quickly reaches his central question: what if there were a gene for happiness?

Powers is as perplexed and intrigued by Thassa as his characters are; he tests her limits by cursing her with a tragic past and, in the present, has an overwhelmed classmate attempt to rape her. Thassa’s unending cheerfulness brings the world to her—a science journalist has her dead in her sights as she gains strange celebrity as the happy girl. She attracts fans that send her emails with odd requests.

Powers’ unique use of language works, as it has throughout all his books, as both his crutch and his pitfall. Read the rest of this entry »

Granta, the literary magazine founded by Cambridge University students in 1889, has a long and storied history of publishing political material as well as the work of several writers. It was relaunched in 1979 as a platform for new writers, and reworked again in 2007 with new editor Jason Cowley. Alex Clark, the magazine’s first female editor, took over for Cowley after he left, and when Smith stepped down, the magazine’s American editor, John Freeman, a frequent Newcity contributor, took her position.

Granta’s fall issue, number 108, is Chicago-themed, and the marvelous collection features entries from Aleksandar Hemon, Alex Kotlowitz, Neil Steinberg, Richard Powers, Sandra Cisneros, Stuart Dybek and more. Don DeLillo offers a brief introductory essay to a Nelson Algren piece, and Chris Ware did the issue’s cover. A photo essay by Camilo Jose Vergara is included and provides an intermission to the text. This collection serves as a packaged insight into what Chicago means—how it feels to live here, be from here, exist within a city sometimes difficult to love yet impossible to resist. I chatted with Freeman over email to get some of his thoughts on the upcoming issue. Read the rest of this entry »