Book Fever
By Marcia Loy December 19, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

My favorite fiction from 2007-2008

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. —Sir Richard Steele

To close out 2008, I thought I’d list the books I enjoyed most since I began this column. Today, Book Fever looks at fiction. Many people tell me they like the column but when they get to the library they forget which books I’d suggested. Here’s a list you can keep in your wallet. Most of them I’ve written about during the past year; some I haven’t. 

The first five are my top five best books. After that they’re in alphabetical order by author. A friend of mine recently told me her friend said she can’t find some of the books in the library. It’s possible a few books aren’t in the catalog but check the Gloria Grant room, which has paperback literary fiction and nonfiction. These books don’t show up in the catalog.


1. The Known World, Edward Jones.

2. Housekeeping, Marilyn Robinson

3. The Paperboy, Pete Dexter

4. The Road, Cormac McCarthy

5. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

6. In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez

7. Speak, Laurie Anderson

8. Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion, Jane Austen (or anything else)

9. The Birthday Boys, Beryl Bainbridge

10. Arthur and George, Julian Banks

11. The Wonder Spot, Melissa Banks

12. First Light, Charles Baxter

13. Love Invents Us, Amy Bloom

14. The Double Bind, Chris Bohjalian

15. The House in Paris, Elizabeth Bowen

16. The Guardians, Ana Castillo

17. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon

18. Fifth Business, Robertson Davies

19. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Kiran Desai

20. Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Michael Dorris

21. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford

22. The Old Gringo, Carlos Fuentes

23. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Marquez

24. Queen of the Tamborine, Jane Gardam


25. Bee Season, Myla Goldberg

26. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon

27. Empress of the Splendid Season, Oscar Hijuelos

28. The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

29. The Custodian of Paradise, Wayne Johnston

30. The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence

31. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Mariana Lewycka

32. Handling Sin, Michael Malone (or anything else)

33. The Emperor’s Children, Claire Massud

34. Atonement or Amsterdam, Ian McEwan (or anything else) 

35. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Kidd Monk

36. The Bird Artist, Howard Norman

37. Seven Types of Ambiguity and Three Dollars, Elliot Perlman

38. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl

39. Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, Tom Robbins

40. American Pastoral or The Human Stain, Philip Roth (or anything else)

41. Empire Falls, Straight Man or The Risk Pool, Richard Russo (or anything else)

42. Small Ceremonies, The Republic of Love or Larry’s Party, Carol Shields (or anything else) 

43. The Last Time They Met, Anita Shreve

44. A Far Cry From Kensington, Muriel Spark

45. The Little Friend, Donna Tartt

46. The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey

47. The Terrorist, John Updike

48. The Englishman’s Boy, Guy Vandergaeghe

49. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Mario Vargas Llosa 

50. Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell

Next week Book Fever looks at a list of nonfiction books. Happy reading!

New photo book reflects the sumptuous city
By John Edwards

Colors of San Miguel de Allende, a new book of lush photographs of our city taken by several photographers, is dedicated not to a family member or human muse but to “the five senses, which keep us falling in love anew with San Miguel de Allende, and to the sixth sense, which always brings us back.”

The overarching thematic organization of the visual presentation is color, and each section, which blends seamlessly into the next, is prefaced with a montage of the images that follow, a foreshadowing of the predominant palette that unfolds as the pages are turned.

The images are vibrant, well-organized and beautifully framed in silver borders; taken together, they help tell the story of the life of the city and its people. The talented photographers who contributed to the collection include Tabitha Davis, Tanya Jill Brockelman, Doug Landreth, Ari Maldonado Espay, Gayle Rieber, John Sholtis, Whitney Brandon, Patrice Wynne, Camie Fenton Sands and Lander Rodriguez. Sands acted as the project developer and Rodriguez as creative director.

Newly released, Colors of San Miguel de Allende is available at El Tecolote, Sollano 16, Galería Atenea, Lagundis, La Deriva in Fábrica La Aurora and La Tienda at the Biblioteca Pública. A portion of the profits from the book will be donated quarterly to San Miguel-based charities.

Buy a pie! Make a pie!

Bake sale
San Miguel Teen Writers’ Workshops
Tues, Dec 23, 10am–2pm
Biblioteca Publica
Insurgentes 25
Pies 120 pesos

Help support the San Miguel Teen Writers’ Workshops by buying or making a pie, a cake or gingerbread men. The last sale, before Thanksgiving, was so successful that all pies were sold within one hour.

All proceeds go toward providing 30 scholarships to Mexican high school students to attend creative writing workshops taught by Betsy James, an award-winning author of books for children and teens.

If you would like to contribute a dessert, please confirm with Dianna Aston, director of The Oz Project, at ozprojectfestival@hotmail.com or by calling (415) 101-6527. We need your help!

The teen workshops will run in conjunction with the San Miguel Writers’ Conference Feb. 20-24, featuring keynote speaker Erica Jong, (Fear of Flying). Visit www.sanmiguelworkshops.com/ conference for more information.

The Teen Writers’ Workshops are sponsored by the San Miguel Writers’ Conference, The Author’s Sala, The Oz Project, the Biblioteca Pública and Atención San Miguel.