The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss

This book was given to me as a holiday present from a friend, and at the time I knew the title and the author but had never gotten around to investigating the book for myself. Nicole Krauss is the wife of one of my absolute favorite authors, Jonathan Safran Foer. I was honestly a little afraid of reading the book. I made a snap judgement based on the title and cover of the book: I thought it looked sappy. I didn't want it to be sappy. I didn't want it to be like The Notebook. I didn't want my opinion of Foer to be tarnished by his taste in sappy women.

But you know something? Krauss turned out to be an amazing writer. This is not at all sappy (sweet, if anything), this is not at all like The Notebook (these characters are not beautiful people doing beautiful things), and the writing is incredibly well-crafted, funny, and lovable. I love her now as much as I love Foer, and intend to read the rest of her works in the future.

I instantly fell in love with the first introduced character, Leo Gursky. He's old, he's Jewish, he's tired, but he wants as much validation of his existence as he can get from other people. I love his relationship with his old pal, Bruno. They're just great together. (I'm beginning to notice that I have an affinity for stories about old Jewish men. Who knew.)

Then there's another set of characters that get intertwined, but I'm not going into a plot summary here because it's so well done and I don't want to ruin the surprises and complexities in a simplified explanation. I would recommend this book to anyone, absolutely anyone, who's up for a good fiction work. It's not enormous, it's quick but filled with incredible content, and it's really touching in a multitude of ways. I loved it and I will probably read this multiple times in my life, because it's just worth reading again.

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

I love David Sedaris. So far I've read all but two of his books, have listened to a great many episodes of This American Life on which he is featured, and frankly I can't get enough. He's sarcastic and he has a special way of taking a bad situation and pointing out its badness in a hilarious way. He looks on the dark side of things, he embraces fears, and I like this about him. Too much positivity just isn't realistic, right? Why add sugar and water to lemon juice when it can be so distinctly pure and tart on it's own?

Anyway, I had already heard or read some of the stories in Barrel Fever by the time I got to it, but I was happy to read them again. Some people I know dislike the way he tells a story and don't value the negativity that often comes through, but like I said-- I'm into that. As long as negativity has a purpose, I'm happy for it to be there. He tells stories as he experienced them, as he viewed them, and I think they're so genuine and funny as a result. I enjoyed all the different stories in Barrel Fever as I've enjoyed the different stories in his other works. I like that he's not afraid to be that person who complains when complaining feels right, and that he's not afraid to pick out the worst traits in people to describe them. But maybe I'm going a bit too far in highlighting his knack for blatant mockery and resentment; I definitely don't feel bogged down by Sedaris. Quite the contrary. I have a good laugh at his stories. I can picture clearly the things he describes because he's so good at pinpointing things, and I think that's one of the things that makes his humor so successful.

Anyway, I like it. I like the format of essays, I like its inhibitions, and I like its humor. Two thumbs up.