The Book of Other People

This collection of captivating and amusing short stories is so great that I think you will all read it in one sitting. Or standing up in the bookstore like I did. However you read it, you really must! Editor Zadie Smith, author of On Beauty and White Teeth (which you can find a great review of right here, thanks to Lisa), asked 22 authors and artists to invent a character. Seems a simple and obvious task for authors of fiction, right? Well, the resulting collection is far from predictable and ordinary; it is remarkable! The stories, each named for the invented character, are both familiar and surprising, hilarious and heartbreaking.

Most stories are wonderful but there are a few that I think are outstanding: Jonathan Lethem’s "Perkus Tooth," a critique of critics; Aleksander Hemon’s "The Liar"; Miranda July’s quirky "Roy Spivey" is just one of her new short stories that should not be missed; Jonathan Safran Foer’s "Rhoda," a very short, stream-of-consciousness monologue from a Jewish grandmother – it’s an absolute gem; "Gideon," ZZ Packer’s gut-wrenching story of loneliness; Zadie Smith’s sympathetic story of family and loss, "Hanwell Snr"; and Dave Eggers’ "Theo," a fairy-tale of a giant who falls in love.

There are many more stories and even a few graphic-short stories (Chris Ware, Nick Hornby, Daniel Clowe). Each author’s voice is unique from the next and each of their characters are extraordinary and flawed and endearing in a much different way from the character that came before. Most impressively, each author approaches “character,” personhood, and character development differently, which makes this collection all the more thoughtful, wise and fascinating.

Plus all proceeds of this book benefit 826 New York, a literacy/creative writing project for youngsters in urban schools – I’m a tutor in the Boston center and I tell ya, it’s a good cause!