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Year in Review

 What a year! We are deep in the "child-proofing" trenches.


For months, Josh would happily accept a change: If you removed a dangerous object from his hands, he would shrug and then sally forth. Now, there is a major meltdown. Sometimes, a phrase pops up behind my eyes, and it's: squealing like a stuck pig.


Anyway, next week, the New York Times will announce its annual "Best Books of the Year" list, and Charles Yu and Sigrid Nunez will almost certainly receive attention. I predict some buzz for Sue Miller, and for "Hidden Valley Road," as well.


A part of me always resists these lists, and especially the critics' insistence on separating kids' lit from "adult lit," so I'm going to gush, here, about a few titles that will almost certainly fail to make the cut:


*A Song for the Dark Times (Ian Rankin). Dependably gripping mystery, partly about the strange relationships that formed in and around Scottish internment camps during WWII.


*Lilly and Friends (Kevin Henkes). The books are great, but then there's also Henkes's sweet, perceptive essay about his own career. Henkes traces fictionalized events to their real-world inspirations. He describes the joy of narrating "ordinary" tales: the encounter with the bully, the day I lost my blanket, the argument with my teacher. Finally, Henkes describes a writer's impact on the world: how you can stand in line at the grocery store and overhear a mom asking her kid...."Why are you being SO WEMBERLY today????"


*Turner Classic Movies: West Side Story. Rita Moreno disliked Natalie Wood's accent. George Chakiris turned to jewelry sales when his career dried up. Wood defended Jerome Robbins even after he had been fired. I could eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.


Happy reading to you.....

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