AN ARSONIST’S GUIDE TO WRITERS’ HOMES IN NEW ENGLAND by Brock Clark

This book surely has one of the all-time attention-getting titles of recently written books. It is a strangely entertaining, off-beat, comic psychological mystery narrated by a man named Sam Pulsifer who, as the story begins, has just gotten out of prison having been convicted of setting Emily Dickinson's house on fire and accidently killing two people who happened to be in the house. One by one, homes of famous authors in New England are burned down, and Sam finds himself blamed (framed, perhaps) for the arson events. Sam attempts to find out who is behind the new blazes and also finds something out about himself. A very well written, clever, funny and unusual book.

Click here to read a review of the book from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/review/Bowman-t.html

THE LAZARUS PROJECT, by Aleksandar Hemon

The Lazarus Project is a remarkable novel by the Bosnian-American emigree writer Aleksandar Hemon, who is sometimes compared to writers like Nabokov (although it's hadly a perfect fit) and Pamuk. The story is very cleverly taught via parallel narration in which the story of a late 19th century Moldovan immigrant to Chicago who is implicated as an "anarchist" and killed by police, is embedded in the present-day story, narrated by an aspiring Bosnian writer living in the US named Vladimir Blik. Lazarus Averbuch, The name of the presumed-anarchist subject calls to mind the biblical Lazarus, whose story functions as a symbolic device throughout the book.  Blik suffers from a combination of culture shock and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom, not to mention serious identity problems and depression, etc. He is married to a successful neurosurgeon, a solid, typically optimistic and self-assured American. It is a troubled relationship, as you can imagine. In the course of researching Lazarus Averbuch, Blik journeys to Ukraine and the trip has profound consequences on his consciousness. A powerful, brilliantly written, harrowing, sad, funny, searing book.

click here for a review of the book from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/books/review/Schine-t.html?pagewanted=all

EXTINCTION, by Thomas Berhard

Thomas Bernhard is an enjoyable writer that may take some getting used to for some readers. Extinction is his last book and is a typical example of his late works that are extremely critical diatribes aimed at his homeland of Austria, its culture, politics, history, people, etc. In the story, a man named Murau, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Rome for a number of years, unwittingly inherits the rural estate of his family when his parents and brother are killed in an auto accident. He returns to the estate to participate in the funeral and dispose of the property. That's about all the plot. The book consists of an  unbroken, unparagraphed rant against his family, and by exention, all things Austrian.  As strange as it sounds, the book is very witty and highly reflective, and as the character of the narrator, a complex and disturbed man,  solidifies beneath his narrative, the book offers many psychological and socio-cultural insights. Very entertaining. Not only that, the book is frequently hilarious!

Click here to read a review from the Vienna Review: http://www.viennareview.net/vienna-review-books/point-extinction-5196.html