Reader: Kelsey M., Boston
Book Challenge: I am a student who doesn’t have much time to read during the school year. Do you have any suggestions for when classes finish? Books I have loved include “Yalo’’ by Elias Khoury, “Catch-22’’ by Joseph Heller, “The Center Holds’’ by Jonathan Alter, and “Development as Freedom’’ by Amartya Sen.
Match Book: Prison, politics, inequality, and unconventional narrative structures — that’s a tough-minded list.
Let’s start with prison. If you read “Grey Is the Colour of Hope’’ by Irina Ratushinskaya, a prison memoir written by a poet, with a book about storytelling, “If on a winter’s night a traveler,’’ by Italo Calvino you can match some elements of “Yalo.’’
I nearly recommended another book by or about President Obama to go with “The Center Holds,’’ but based on the other books you mention I think that what jazzes you about Jonathan Alter is the way he exposes the nuts and bolts of an election. Try “Primary Colors’’ by Anonymous (Joe Klein) for fictional fun then move on to “Double Down’’ by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann for real-life political nitty, gritty.
Readers are fortunate that there are so many rich, recent compelling books about inequality. If you can handle Sen you can take on “Capital in the Twenty-First Century’’ by Thomas Piketty. “Evicted’’ by 2015 MacArthur fellow Matthew Desmond is a crucial examination of American poverty and more personal; it focuses on eight families in Milwaukee. Then read an older book, “Random Family’’ by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, from 2003 ; my copy is disintegrating from overuse.
NICOLE LAMY
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