Congratulations to #48, Enyl! I’ve emailed you already. I hope you enjoy the book!

I’m actually kind of saddened to think that I read the best book of 2010 in January.

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris is about Tim Farnsworth and his wife, Jane. Tim is a lawyer, and Jane is a real estate agent, and when the book opens, they’re very successful and have a 17-year-old daughter. Tim has a strange disease that has re-emerged after being in remission for years.

This disease that Tim has causes him to walk: to walk away from wherever he is, and walk until he’s so exhausted that he lays down to sleep wherever he is. Tim walks and walks, and historically his walking has only lasted a few months, though one time it continued for a year. This time, though, how long will it last? How long can he survive being exposed to the elements, and how long can his marriage be considered a marriage as he takes off without warning and keeps his wife and daughter scared for his safety?

On the surface this is about marriage and love, and how long either can last when put to the test by an unnamed, unknown factor. Something affecting Tim affected the whole family, as Jane observes, “But this misfortune was not his and his alone!” Tim also realizes that with a family, he’s no longer an autonomous being: “He had to recognize that his sickness was not his alone.” How often we think that our actions shouldn’t or won’t or can’t affect others, but they do, particularly family members.

Digging a little deeper, Tim’s disease of having to walk could be representative of anything he desires to walk away from. He’s a high powered attorney with lots of pressure to succeed. How much of that pressure can a person bear before they just want to walk away? And who of us haven’t wanted to (at one time or another) walk away from our families?

This is a haunting and beautiful story. I loved seeing the sacrifices that Tim and Jane made for each other, because it’s in the hard times that those sacrifices actually mean something. I can’t argue that The Unnamed isn’t melancholy or sad, because it is. But I CAN argue that The Unnamed will make you wish all books were written so deftly.

This book is being released today, so please, I BEG YOU, do yourself a favor and go buy this book, check it out from the library, or steal it from the person sitting next to you on the subway. Kidding!

Rating: 100 out of 100

Other reviews:

Lev Grossman at Time.com

Giveaway: I’ll be going to see Joshua Ferris when he comes to Kepler’s Books on February 5, 2010. At that time, I will purchase a copy of The Unnamed to give to one person who comments on my blog. To enter to win, please leave a comment telling me whether you like to hike. This contest will close on January 31, 2010 at 11:59pm PST. The book will be shipped out on February 6, 2010, and the winner has the option of having the author personalize the book. Contest is open internationally. Good luck!

Book source: I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.

And one more thing? If you click on one of The Unnamed links and buy something from Amazon, I’ll make a commission! Mwahahahaha!! Maybe with the pennies I make I’ll be able to call someone who cares.

You can thank the FTC for this disclosure!

Well, it looks like this might become a regular feature! I’m trying to keep better track of books that are on my radar, and this seems like the perfect way.

The World More Full of Weeping by Robert J. Wiersema

Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Published September 15, 2009
104 pages

Eleven-year-old Brian Page spends every waking moment in the forest behind the house where he lives with his father. But forests are always deeper than anyone can know. Secrets are hidden in the eternal twilight of the trees. Those secrets emerge into light when Brian disappears in the forest, as his father did three decades before. His father, however, came home with no memory of the events in the depths of the forest. What has drawn Brian away? Will he emerge, shuddering and broken, as his father did, or will the forests close around him, as they have done so often before?

Sounds pretty good, right? Well, go read this post and see if you don’t rush out to buy it. Seriously, if this doesn’t make you want to pee your pants with excitement, then you’re crazy.

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst

Publisher: Doubleday
Published: June 15, 2010
320 pages

Bestselling novelist Octavia Frost has just completed her latest book—a revolutionary novel in which she has rewritten the last chapters of all her previous books, removing clues about her personal life concealed within, especially a horrific tragedy that befell her family years ago.

On her way to deliver the manuscript to her editor, Octavia reads a news crawl in Times Square and learns that her rock-star son, Milo, has been arrested for murder. Though she and Milo haven’t spoken in years—an estrangement stemming from that tragic day—she drops everything to go to him.

The “last chapters” of Octavia’s novel are layered throughout The Nobodies  Album—the scattered puzzle pieces to her and Milo’s dark and troubled past. Did she drive her son to murder? Did Milo murder anyone at all? And what exactly happened all those years ago? As the novel builds to a stunning reveal, Octavia must consider how this story will come to a close.

Universally praised for her candid explorations of the human psyche, Parkhurst delivers an emotionally gripping and resonant mystery about a mother and her son, and about the possibility that one can never truly know another person.

DUDE. I KNOW.

It’s going to be so awesome!

Here’s the details:

The book blogger convention is happening on Friday, May 28, 2010 in New York City. It’s happening right after BEA, so I don’t even NEED to tell you why you should be at the convention.

Please! Come join us! You can get all the information you need (including how to register!) at the book blogger convention website.

Have you ever known a book was coming out and wondered how you’d possibly be able to pass the time until the book came out? That’s how I’m feeling about these two books:

Faithful Place  by Tana French

I’ve been anticipating Tana French’s new book ever since I finished The Likeness  back in 2008. It’s been almost a year and a half! But only 6 months more, since the book will be published July 13, 2010. Can I wait that long?? Here’s the synopsis via Amazon:

“The course of Frank Mackey’s life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He’s cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie’s suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he reevaluate everything he believes to be true.”

If you haven’t read In the Woods  or The Likeness  yet, GET THEE TO A BOOKSTORE NOW. I promise, you will thank me.

This other book has got me in a tizzy because of Michele, an events coordinator at RiverRun Bookstore. She’s been talking up this book on Twitter, and I’m hooked!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

According to a New York Times article, The Passage  is “the first book of a planned trilogy about vampires born not of bat bites, but of medical experiments gone awry.”

Sounds good, right? But wait. Guess who’s blurbed this book and who I’ve learned to trust almost implicitly? Stephen King.

“Every so often a novel-reader’s novel comes along: an enthralling, entertaining story wedded to simple, supple prose, both informed by tremendous imagination. Summer is the perfect time for such books, and this year readers can enjoy the gift of Justin Cronin’s The Passage. Read fifteen pages and you will find yourself captivated; read thirty and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night. It has the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. What else can I say? This: read this book and the ordinary world disappears.”

The Passage  will be published on June 8, 2010.

Any books that’re making you pee your pants in anticipation?

I wanted to let you know about this cool thing I’m participating in and even hosting a little bit!

Myself, Jen from Devourer of Books, Michelle from Galleysmith, and Heather from A Capricious Reader (and Beth from Beth Fish Reads, though she won’t be participating until 2011) have started a book club! The book club will read classics, and we’ll read four books a year, or one book per quarter. I’m sure you’re wondering why this is so awesome (Because it is. Awesome.). Let me tell you!

Lots of us want to read more classics! This is a way to do it!

One thing I want to do this year is try to delve into books more and try to get the message, the point, the author’s purpose in writing the book. I want my reading to go beyond, Oh, that was entertaining. The way the Classic Reads Book Club is set up, you’ll be able to do that because we’ll be discussing it in little chunks. You won’t have to worry about remembering things from too far back, because we’ll be discussing it as we go.

Since we’re discussing the book over 3 months, you can dip in and out of the book. You don’t have to worry about having to devote a week or two to one book. Instead, read the assigned portion, and then move on to another book!

There are so many benefits to the way we’re doing the Classic Reads Book Club. I hope you’ll join us!

You don’t need to do anything to join; all you need to do is read the book and join in on the discussion!

Our first book is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Here’s the schedule:

January 25th – Section 1 (Chapters 1-11)
February 8th – Section 2 (Chapters 12-22)
February 22nd – Section 3 (Chapters 23-33)
March 8th – Section 4 (Chapters 34 – end)

Join us to discuss East of Eden at

http://classicreads.wordpress.com/