Failed Genius
Dave Eggers's parents died from cancer within a month of each other when he was 21 and his brother, Christopher was seven. They left the Chicago suburb where they had grown up and moved to San Francisco. This book tells the story of their life together. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is also, although perhaps less successfully, about being young, hip and out to conquer the world....
Books: Like a Virgin
Some books are very complex little gems. I think of the Psmith books by P.G.Wodehouse, or period pieces by Gwen Raverat. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day is a book similar to this. Perhaps it is the time period that it was written in; it was originally published in 1938. Perhaps it is the long narrow line drawings of people by Mary Thomson; the women tapered by ornate dresses, their hair elegantly waved, the men tailored to swooning point, all of them with doll-like little button eyes and noses. Perhaps it's Miss Pettigrew. ...