Staff Picks: Long & Worth It Titles
by emjane
I absolutely love to read (surprise, surprise), but sometimes when I pick up a book the size of a dictionary, I think, “Do I really want to dedicate my next x hours of reading time to just this one book?” These titles are definitely tomes, but they’re all ones that when I was halfway through, I thought, “Oh, gee, I’m glad there’s so much book left!”
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (512 pages) | Request Now
Set at a small college on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan, The Art of Fielding follows five characters: Henry (college baseball star facing the yips), his teammates Mike (team captain, guiding his star player) and Owen (Henry’s gay roommate), Guert (college president) and Guert's estranged daughter Pella (returning home after a failed relationship). Over the 500+ pages, these characters’ struggles and journeys to discover themselves unfold with the calm, slow pace of a game of baseball, with occasional bursts of drama and action. Knowledge and love of baseball is not required to enjoy the book, though I imagine basic understanding of the sport enhances it. Similarly, The Art of Fielding is woven with references to Moby Dick – familiarity with Melville’s work helps one appreciate those elements, but it’s not necessary to get something out of the book.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (531 pages) | Request Now
This book doesn’t need my help promoting it. A number one NYT bestseller and a PULITZER PRIZE winner, it's the book everyone’s mom, neighbor, and coworker was talking about back in 2014 and 2015. Because of that, I didn’t read it until YEARS after it was released, and I’m so glad that, even though this book doesn’t need me to talk it up, I finally got around to it. Believe the hype. This book is fantastic.
Set during World War II, All the Light We Cannot See follows the stories of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, a young German radio prodigy. The beauty of this book is not the plot, though following the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner and knowing they will intersect is compelling, but the way Doerr tells it. His gentle use of evocative language is literary without being stuffy, and his descriptions paint vivid images without bogging down the storytelling pace. Doerr is a master at managing a jumping timeline without confusion – you do not get Marie-Laure’s or Werner’s stories entirely chronologically, but I never found myself wondering, “What’s this going on?” Make sure you have plenty of reading time available before you start this one; you won’t want to put it down. (I can say just as many wonderful things about Doerr’s latest, very long, book Cloud Cuckoo Land. It’s a bit of a wait to get a copy, but why not jump in line now and be pleasantly surprised when it comes in for you!)
The Nix by Nathan Hill (625 pages) | Request Now
Samuel Anderson is an unfulfilled assistant professor and unsatisfied with his job, his students, his body, and his obsession with the online role-playing game “World of Elfscape.” Things aren’t going great for him, and it takes a turn for the worse when he receives a call from his mother’s appointed lawyer. Faye has been arrested for throwing rocks at a presidential hopeful, which is further complicated because of her past as a “sixties radical.” All this is news to Samuel – as far as he knows, his mom was a typical woman who married her high school sweetheart and behaved absolutely normally. That is until she’d abandoned the family when Samuel was a kid. With this, the reader is thrown into both Samuel and Faye’s shared and separate pasts. Though the first 200ish pages focus primarily on Samuel’s experiences and perspective, the real joy of the book (for me) was entering Faye’s point of view. Learning how this small-town girl ended up in Chicago during the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention and then found herself back playing the role as wife and mother was fascinating. If everyone in your book club has the time for 600+ pages, this book makes great discussion.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (684 pages) | Request Now
Joe Kavalier was smuggled from Nazi-occupied Prague to New York City in a coffin, emerging from the darkness to find the vibrant and overwhelming city and live with his aunt and cousin, Sammy Klayman. Sammy is uncertain about his foisted-upon roommate, but when he discovers that Joe is a talented artist, he reveals that his “professional name” is Sam Clay and enthusiastically partners with Joe to create comic books – the newly developing American media. Kavalier & Clay tracks Joe and Sam’s efforts throughout those early days of comic history. Author Michael Chabon expertly takes the reader into 1930s and 1940s Brooklyn, setting his fictional protagonists in a very real setting (with cameos from real historical figures, too!) Years after reading this book, it is those “cemented in real life” moments that stick with me, especially Joe and Sammy’s experience with the 1939 World’s Fair. With that in mind ... I think I'm due a reread! It's a world worth revisiting.
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