Kevin Wilson - A New Favorite

My summer TBR recommendations came in and on the list was a book published at the end of 2019 called Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. Owing to my prodigious amounts of reading, I usually try to buy books used or find them in the library. I found a copy at the Buford location of 2nd and Charles along with a copy of Wilson's first book The Family Fang. 

I dove right into Nothing to See Here  and was done by the next day. I just couldn't put it down. This is mostly literary fiction with a single element of magical realism. I've always liked magical realism when it works. (It doesn't always) It worked quite well in this. Nothing to See Here is the story of a woman named Lillian who, despite a great deal of early promise, is expelled from her prestigious school when she takes the fall for her roommate's illicit drugs. She's angry and bitter but restless with her circumstances. When her old roommate writes her to beg for help with her husband's children from a previous marriage, Lillian finds herself wondering where the catch is. The catch is that those kids spontaneously burst into flame when agitated. I found I identified strongly with Lillian. Those poor kids really got to me and, while her relationship with Madison, the roommate, should be incomprehensible, it felt familiar somehow.  I think Wilson really nailed his writing of the kids, Roland and Bessie. Those kids felt real, damaged, dangerous, and sympathetic all at once.  

I was so happy with my experience that I picked up The Family Fang next. Unlike Nothing to See Here, this was straight literary fiction. This one is about Buster and Annie, the two children of noted performance artists, Caleb and Camille Fang. Caleb and Camille actively involved their children in their bizarre and sometimes disturbing artistic endeavors. As adults, Buster and Annie distance themselves from the deliberately chaotic lives of their parents, but find themselves returning home after poor choices put them in some difficult situations. The narrative moves between the two kids but also back in time to descriptions of the various performance art pieces. The whole thing is deliciously absurd, but it's also this amazing convoluted story about relationships and trust. It blew me away but I found myself slowing my reading pace down so that I could appreciate the craft more.

I loved these two books so much that Ryan hopped online and ordered me the remaining three books that Kevin Wilson's published so far. I haven't read them yet but Wilson has already earned a place among my favorite authors. 

July - A Big List

It really feels like I'm doing too much in the way of book lists. I'm going back to monthly lists. There's nothing wrong with the list posts really, but it's not what I intended to do with the space. I'm trying to really broaden my focus on non-YA lit. I like YA but it's not as stimulating somehow. So here's the list...more than half of which is not YA.

1. Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty
2. If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha (Finished 7/11/2020)
3. The Game of Lives by James Dashner
4. Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher (Nonfiction, Non-YA)
5. The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith (Non-YA)
6. Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison (Finished 7/5/2020)
7. The Good, the Bad and the Undead by Kim Harrison (Finished 7/6/2020)
8. The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson (Non-YA)
9. Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson (Non-YA)
10. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (Non-YA)
11. I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee (Finished 7/3/2020)
12. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (Nonfiction, Non-YA)
13. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
14. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
15. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
16. Seeing the Spectrum by Robert Rozema (Nonfiction, Non-YA)
17. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (Non-YA)
18. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell (Non-YA)
19. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
20. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
21. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
22. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
23. The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (Finished 7/2/2020)
24. Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson (Non-YA)
25. Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine by Kevin Wilson (Finished 7/9/2020)
26. Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson (Non-YA)