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Auster, Paul. Timbuktu.
Henry Holt, 1999.
Auster can always be depended upon for unusual tales, and this brief novel is no
exception. The main character and the storyteller is Mr. Bones, the canine companion of
Willy G. Christmas. A poignant and affecting story.
Barnes, Julian. England,
England. Knopf, 1999.
If you were visiting England, how would you like to have all the historic tourist
attractions in one great theme park called "England, England"? With sharp wit
and humor, Barnes has imagined such a place in this very amusing novel.
Belfer, Lauren. City
of Light. Dial Press, 1999.
An exceptionally well written first novel that recreates the social and political milieu
of Buffalo, New York at the turn-of-the-century. Personal and public struggles, intrigue,
murder, and surprising plot twists make this an engrossing reading experience.
Bolger, Dermot, Editor. Finbar’s
Hotel. Harcourt Brace, 1999.
An entertaining collection of interlinked stories that take place in a Dublin hotel. Each
of the chapters is written by a different Irish writer, and the reader is challenged to
guess which writer contributed which story. The talented writers represented are Dermot
Bolger, Roddy Doyle, Joseph O’Connell, Jennifer Johnston, Colm Toibin, Hugh Hamilton,
and Anne Enright.
Booth, Martin. The
Industry of Souls. St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
Alexander Bayliss, a British citizen, is wrongly arrested for espionage in the l950s and
sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in a Russian gulag near the Arctic Circle. Eventually
freed, he makes his way to a small village where he becomes a revered member of the
community. On his 80th birthday he recalls his life in the gulag and the choice he must
make before the day is over. A finalist for the 1999 Booker Prize.
Brown, Carrie. Lamb
in Love. Algonquin Books, 1999.
Set in a picturesque English village in the 1960s, this is a charming novel with an
old-fashioned flavor. A stodgy postmaster in his fifties falls in love with a woman whose
first priority is the retarded young man she has taken care of for twenty years.
Buckely, Christopher. Little
Green Men. Random House, 1999.
A host of a Washington, D. C., talk show is abducted by aliens at his country club in this
hilarious novel.
Coetzee, J. M. Disgrace.
Viking, 1999.
This bleak, unsettling, and heartbreaking novel takes place in post-apartheid South
Africa. Disgraced, Professor David Lurie leaves Cape Town to live with his daughter on her
small rural landholding. Their relationship is a work-in-progress when a violent act
changes each of them in unimagined ways. A powerful and searing testament to the legacy of
racism. The right choice for the 1999 Booker Prize in fiction..
Grass, Gunter. My
Century. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book. Harcourt, Inc. 1999.
The Nobel Prize winner for Literature has written the story of our century with one
hundred short pieces dating from the first entitled "1900" to the concluding one
called "1999." A superb collection of stories by Germany’s brilliant
writer.
Haruf, Kent. Plainsong.
Knopf, 1999.
A novel without pretense and written in simple prose the apropos title suggests. Set in a
small town in Colorado, Haruf skillfully mixes a strong sense of place with well developed
and appealing characters. A finalist for the National Book Award.
Jin, Ha. Waiting.
Pantheon Books, 1999.
Winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1999. Set in China in the period from
1960 to 1980, the operative word in this novel is the "waiting" done by a
military doctor for his first marriage to be officially declared dissolved after eighteen
years of living apart.
Just, Ward. A
Dangerous Friend. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Reminiscent of Graham Greene’s The
Quiet American, this powerful narrative of American civilians working in Vietnam
in 1965 is an intriguing story of misguided motives, betrayal, and cultural ignorance.
McMurtry, Larry. Duane’s
Depressed. Simon and Schuster, 1999.
A very entertaining novel that completes the Texas trilogy that began with The
Last Picture Show. Duane Moore is now in his sixties and when he gives up driving
his pickup truck, his family and friends are convinced that he is in a precarious mental
state.
Mosely, Walter. Walkin’
the Dog. Little, Brown, 1999.
The memorable and philosophical ex-con Socrates Fortlow introduced in
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned returns in this excellent and gritty
sequel.
O’Nan, Stewart. A
Prayer for the Dying. Little, Brown, 1999.
A Job-like protagonist is the narrator of this powerful and harrowing novel set in a small
Wisconsin town after the Civil War .
Proulx, E. Annie. Close
Range: Wyoming Stories. Scribners, 1999.
Eleven stories authentic in character and tone make up this brilliant collection.
Saramago, Jose. Tale
of the Unknown Island. Harcourt Brace, 1999.
A lovely and simple fable by the Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1998.
Stout, Elizabeth. Amy
and Isabelle. Random House, 1999.
An emotional tug-of-war between a mother and her sixteen-year-old daughter. A competent
debut novel.
Thompson, Jane. Who
Do You Love? Harcourt Brace, 1999.
A National Book Award nominee for fiction--a collection of fifteen stories that are
realistic in their characterization of people in mainly unhappy circumstances.
Troy, Judy. From
the Black Hills. Random House, 1999.
A good, solid novel set in a farming community in South Dakota that deals with a decent
young man who suffers the consequences of an act of violence committed by his father.
Unsworth, Barry. Losing
Nelson. N. A. Talese, 1999.
A reclusive scholar is obsessed with the life and career of Horatio Nelson, the English
naval hero. Despite the wealth of historical detail in the plot, it is primarily a
psychological novel about a man who is so absurdly immersed in Nelson’s life and
personality that his own identity is obscured.
Vreeland, Susan. Girl
in Hyacinth Blue. MacMurray & Beck, 1999.
This lovely and elegant novel revolves around a single painting by Vermeer and the history
of its ownership since its creation by the artist. Beginning at the present, the vignettes
work backward in time with insightful images of life in seventeenth century Holland as
well as observations on art. A book to be savored.
Weber, Katharine. The
Music Lesson. Crown, 1999.
Very different in tone and atmosphere from a Girl
in Hyacinth Blue, this literary thriller involves a Vermeer painting stolen by
the IRA and now guarded by an Irish-American art historian in rural Ireland.
Clymer, Adam. Edward
M. Kennedy. William Morrow, 1999.
Clymer is the Washington correspondent for The New York Times and has extensively
covered Kennedy’s public and private life as background for this substantial
biography.
Cook, Blanche Wiesen.
Eleanor Roosevelt Volume 2: 1933-1938. Viking, 1999.
This concluding volume focuses on the emergence of Eleanor Roosevelt as a formidable
crusader for social issues.
Epstein, Joseph. Narcissus
Leaves the Pool. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
Epstein is one of the best contemporary essayists and his latest collection is a delight
to read. He covers a wide range of topics--napping, music, friendship, talent vs.
genius---with an effortless writing style.
Frankel, Max. The
Times of My Life: And My Life with the Times. Random House, 1999.
A fascinating account of the author’s boyhood in Nazi Germany, his immigrant
experience, and his amazing accomplishments at The New York Times.
Heat-Moon, William Least. River
Horse. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
In his first book Blue
Highways, Least-Moon traveled the back roads of America. In this book he shares
his experiences when he voyaged on thousands of miles of our inland waterways.
Hertog, Susan. Anne
Morrow Lindbergh. Nan A Talese, 1999.
This sympathetic biography is the result of several years of interviews with Anne Morrow
Lindbergh, and provides a different perspective on her public and private life.
Hahn, Edith. The
Nazi Officer’s Wife. William Morrow, 1999.
A remarkable memoir of a German woman who concealed her Jewish identity and married a Nazi
to whom she revealed the truth, but who nevertheless kept her secret.
Holland, Barbara. Wasn’t
the Grass Greener? Harcourt Brace, 1999.
A nostalgic look back at the way things were in the not-so-distant past before the advent
of e-mail, cell phones, and other wonders of our technological society.
Larson, Erik. Isaac’s
Storm. Crown Publishers, 1999.
The engrossing account of the catastrophic hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas in 1900,
killing at least 8,000 people.
McCourt, Frank. ‘Tis:
A Memoir. Scribner, 1999.
In this follow-up to the enormously popular Angela’s
Ashes, McCourt details his experiences as a newly arrived and awestruck
immigrant.
McMurtry, Larry. Walter
Benjamin at the Dairy Queen. Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Highly personal essays dealing with his parents and grandparents, Texas ranch life, and
other matters that are quite somber and melancholy in tone.
Maraniss, David. When
Pride Still Mattered. Simon & Schuster, 1999.
An atypical sports biography of the legendary Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers by
the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
Sobel, Dava. Galileo’s
Daughter. Walker & Company, 1999.
A superb book about the extraordinary relationship between Galileo and his eldest daughter
Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun. Sobel has masterfully interwoven actual translations of
her letters to her father within the text.
Tvedtken, Brother Benet. The
View from a Monastery. Riverhead Books, 1999.
For forty years the author has lived in the Blue Cloud Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in
South Dakota. With humor and affection he shares with us the legends and oral history of
the monastery and what it is like to be a monk in this time and in that place.
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