The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick

The Puttermesser Papers is really strange. Not the strangest book I have ever read, don't get me wrong. It just comes at you all at once, and all at once means a tyrannical Golem, a tyrannical Russia emigre, a flaccid lover, an idyllic Paradisaical New York City, hoisted on its own petard or its catenary, which is a more painful thing to be hoisted upon, I would suspect. Then while catching, or trying to, my breath, the flighty, tragic, amazing and completely unhealthy life of Puttermesser comes to a ...., but dear reader, I have told too much, or too little. This book won the National Book Award (actually it was just a finalist). Read it if you like being stung by a small bee, while reading your own obituary.

Affinity by Sarah Waters

I chose Affinity to read on the plane during my vacation because so far, when I read Sarah Waters, the whole world falls away and I can't stop reading! Before this, I read The Little Stranger and Fingersmith, and I thought both of them were totally fun and almost pitch-perfect Victorian novels that include things that actual Victorian novels don't touch.

In Affinity, a wealthy young woman, Margaret Prior, begins volunteering at a women's prison as a "lady visitor." She's there, ostensibly, to provide an example to the criminals and to give them the chance to speak to someone: they aren't allowed to talk to each other and spend most of their days in silence. Margaret's motives and past are unclear from the start. What she doesn't tell us about herself emerges when she develops a fascination with one prisoner, a medium convicted of false spiritualism.

I was a little disappointed by Affinity-- in a lot of ways, it seemed like a version of Fingersmith written before the actual finished object, as though Waters was testing out ideas. This, plus awkwardly-included Foucaultian theory and a very lagging middle part narrated by an increasingly wimpy protagonist (same thing happened in the Little Stranger!), would have ruined the book for me, but the last 75 pages or so had amazing momentum.

Staff Picks This Week: Jolie

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Narrated by two closet intellectuals - Renee, the 50-year old widowed concierge who tries to keep up the appearance of a concierge while secretly enjoying Tolstoy and fine cuisine - and Paloma, the precocious 12-year-old who's decided life's not worth living for insightful and hilarious reasons. They are finally brought together by M. Ozu, who recognises their talent and potential as no others do. Both narrators despise and mourn the class-concious inhabitants of the building and offer their takes on life. Despite the two narrators though, the book's spotlight is inevitably by Renee, who - after reading the book - really makes you turn around and look at people twice.

Barbery is a great writer, and as a professor of philosophy, she incorporates some really interesting stories and thoughts into her books. The staff all really loved this book, as did I - and I'm really looking forward to reading Barbery's newest, Gourmet Rhapsody.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Enzo the dog is the narrator of this story. He's picked out as a puppy by his loving owner, race car driver Denny Swift. This completely loveable dog likes watching the TV and Denny's old racing videos, and travels with Denny throughout his life through marriage, children, love and loss. Anyone with a dog can appreciate the loyalty Enzo shows, as well as his occasional hilarious outbursts of anger at not having opposable thumbs - lashing out in one chapter, for example, at monkeys, who are too stupid to have been given the joy of having thumbs. By the end of the book, I felt I had really gotten to know Enzo, and I never wanted the book to end. This is a great read.