Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she decides to leave her London flat to her twin sister’s daughters, who also just so happen to be twins. The catch is that her inseparable twin nieces, Julia and Valentina have to spend a year living in the flat which overlooks Highgate Cemetery.  Throughout their year living in the flat, Julia and Valentina encounter the building’s unusual neighbors including Martin a crossword-making, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder suffering genius and Richard, an expert on Highgate Cemetery, who just so happens to be Elspeth’s former lover. Perhaps the most interesting inhabitant of the building is Elspeth’s ghost, who just refuses to leave. Through a series of events, the twins are forced to see just how far their bond will go.

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

In All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr has written a World War II novel with some elements of the fairy tale: a motherless blind girl whose father has given her a (possibly) magic talisman and an orphan boy with a special gift. Marie-Laure is a French girl living in Paris with her father, a locksmith for the Museum of Natural History. Werner Pfennig is a German boy living with his sister in a home for orphans. Curious and intelligent, he has a gift for building and repairing radios, a rather new technology. Because of this talent, Werner is sent to an elite school which trains elite German soldiers. After the war begins, he travels through Germany and Russia, using radio frequencies to track down pockets of resistance fighters. Meanwhile, Marie-Laure and her father flee the war in Paris to St. Malo, a town on the Atlantic coast. Here they take refuge with Etienne, Marie-Laure’s great uncle. Here they hide a valuable diamond (or a replica) from the Museum, a stone believed by some to have magical powers.  And here, after the American invasion, the two stories briefly cross. Etienne has an illegal radio transmitter for which Werner and his patrol are searching. This leads him to Etienne’s home. Thus, Marie-Laure and Werner both shelter in the house when the American bombing begins. During a lull in the bombardment, the German boy helps the blind French girl run to safety. Then they go their separate ways. The meeting is brief and Werner’s gallantry during the attack does not affect the outcome of the war, or even the battle. However, it will prove to be of great importance to future generations.

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The 40s: The Story of a Decade by The New Yorker

            When current events seem overwhelming, it can be instructive, even comforting, to read about the courage and resilience of previous generations. In The 40s: The Story of A Decade, The New Yorker has collected many articles from that dire decade when The Great Depression persisted and the entire world went to war. Begun in 1925 as a magazine of humor and local interest, The New Yorker became, during the decade of the 1940’s, a national powerhouse of reporting and opinion, employing the greatest writers of the time. These writers lived in London during the blitz, landed on Iwo Jima with the Marines and crossed the Channel on D-Day. Other well-researched articles cover subjects familiar to all Americans today: John F. Kennedy and his PT boat; the Monuments Men; and the Berlin airlift. John Hersey’s famous work, Hiroshima, about six survivors of the atomic bomb, was first published on August 31, 1946, and occupied nearly the entire issue.  

            But The New Yorker articles were not devoted solely to matters of historical and political importance. The best of the movie, book, music, fashion and theater reviews have been reprinted in this book. Alas, no cartoons! Here also are the best poetry and short stories of the 1940’s. Shirley Jackson’s famous The Lottery was first published in The New Yorker. As in many modern magazines, there were articles about celebrities of the day. Such diverse personalities as Walt Disney, Eleanor Roosevelt and Walter Winchell were featured in various issues.  Human interest articles have not been omitted. Of particular interest to all readers might be the report on the 1949 Miss America contest. The simplicity of the contest and contestants stands in stark contrast to the sophistication of the current event. Three of the forty-eight states did not send contestants. All contestants were required to compete in donated Catalina swimming suits, Catalina being a pageant sponsor. In a parade rolling down the boardwalk, each contestant, wearing an evening gown, sat on a float pushed by a couple of men.  As for talent, there was the usual singing, acting and musical instrument playing. However, Miss Nevada’s talent was raising purebred Herefords. She had wanted to bring one of her cows, but pageant officials would not allow it. And the lackadaisical Miss New York State, the contestant featured in the article, gave little thought to her talent. “Her act, as she planned it, was going to consist of getting up in her nurse’s uniform and making a little speech about her nursing experience…All I know how to do is give a good back rub.” Who would not root for this young woman!

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Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

On August 7, 1974, a tightrope walker, Philippe Petit, walked across a high wire rigged between the newly-built Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 1350 feet above the ground. The stunt was unauthorized and a surprise to all who saw it.  In Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann uses this event to unite the stories of various New Yorkers: prostitutes and the Irish priest who ministers to them; the priest’s brother who works as a bartender; a group of mothers who have lost sons in the Vietnam War; a judge and his wife; an immigrant nurse; two artists visiting from upstate and various other New Yorkers whose lives intersect in surprising ways. This is a character driven novel. More than ten different voices tell the story of strangers drawn together by a trial, an automobile accident, and a death. Lurking in the background are the defining anxieties of the early 1970’s: the Vietnam War and the resignation of President Nixon. Petit kept his balance while walking between the towers. The same could not be said of some who watched him from New York’s streets. Lives fell apart. People died. “NOBODY FALLS HALFWAY,” read a sign Petit kept on his wall.  This was as true of the ordinary people in the book as of the acrobat. And those who kept their balance throughout life put their own sorrows aside and stepped up to help friends and strangers deal with theirs. A book that celebrates the generosity of the human spirit, Let the Great World Spin a heartfelt look at a city and its citizens.

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Agostino by Alberto Moravia

Originally written in 1940’s Italy and rejected by Fascist censors, Agostino by Alberto Moravia has been retranslated and republished by the New York Review of Books. Despite being set in a different country and different time, it tells a timeless and universal story of isolation and loss of innocence. Thirteen year old Agostino is vacationing at a beach with his attractive and newly widowed mother. An only child, he has basked in his mother’s attentions all his life. So, when she seems to enjoy the attentions of a handsome young man on the beach, Agostino begins to feel jealous, confused and rejected.To avoid his mother, he hangs out with a gang of tough working class boys, boys with whom he has nothing in common. They steal and vandalize property. They communicate each other with insults and physical blows. They humiliate Agostino emotionally and physically. Nevertheless, driven by curiosity and a desire to leave behind his childhood(and his attachment to his mother), he seeks them out daily. He comes to realize that he no longer fits into either world.

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