Enjoying a literary smorgasbord

Well, it’ll soon be time to head back to some serious reading. I recently gave myself a little break because of the weeks of disorganization that are part of moving to a new home, and as a little reward for having finished Geoffrey Ward’s 800-page biography of Franklin Roosevelt’s years as a young adult. Not that the latter was a chore, mind you--Ward does a fine job and offers real insights into FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. In fact, Ward, darn him, whetted my appetite to read at least four more books about the always-fascinating Roosevelts.

Giving myself “a little break” meant picking up the latest titles from a few authors who I greatly value mostly for their entertainment value. This time it was Lee Child, with his new Jack Reacher novel, and Carl Hiaasen with his funny satirical novel Star Island. The latter is worth the price of admission for one thing alone--the wacko character Chemo makes a return appearance and Hiaasen’s rendering of this lunatic is better than ever. (I should say that, while Hiaasen is one of our most entertaining novelists, he is also at the same time satirically skewering his targets, which include the overdevelopment of Florida, the exploitation of natural resources, nitwit pop stars, and our celebrity culture. Subscribers to our magazine can find our How I Write interview with Hiaasen at our website.)

Next up on the reading shelf are a collection of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories; David Finkel’s The Good Soldiers, a nonfiction account of his experience with U.S. troops in Iraq; Barbara Demick’s harrowing account of the trainwreck that is North Korea; and fat biographies of Darwin and Hitler. By the end of that group, I should be gasping for some light beach reading, and a beach.

--Ron Kovach, senior editor, The Writer

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