Someone...

I haven't recommended a book lately, but there's one I would love for you to read. It's by Alice McDermott and it's called Someone.

There is an elegance and beauty to Alice McDermott's prose that is hard to describe. And this novel is about very ordinary people. It begins between the two world wars in Brooklyn and seldom leaves that borough. Marie, the first person narrator is an unremarkable child when the novel begins and remains rather unremarkable as she grows up, has a family, grows old. But the story she tells is as remarkable as any I've heard lately. And full of grace and humor and deep, deep sadness.

The way Someone is told is as remarkable as the story itself. It is told in concentric circles, arching out to the deep future and then back to the past and passing through the present in both directions. It is not linear and yet it is so layered and so faithfully told and so rich and poignant and rare that I think it  has moved into my favorite novels of all time.

Treat yourself--but don't forget some Kleenex and your laughter....