Fiction

Henry, Himself by Stewart O'Nan. I'm now rereading Emily, Alone, same author.

O'Nan is a vastly unappreciated author. He never seems to show up on any kind of best of lists, which is a shame. The Good Wife, which has absolutely nothing to do with the TV series by that name, is one of the best books I've ever read. A has been robbing local residents, with a friend of his. One robbery goes horribly wrong, and a woman dies. The friend turns state's evidence, says the other man did it, and he gets sentenced to 25 years to life. His wife, pregnant at the time with their first child, stays with him, even though her family says she should divorce him and get on with her life. Her devotion, her raising of their only child, her visiting him -- made difficult when he's transferred to a facility at the other end of the state -- her working whatever jobs she can get to keep things together, are all the story. It's incredible and you won't regret reading it.

O'Nan tends to write about ordinary people and their ordinary lives, and he's extraordinary at it.

The first book of his I ever read was The Circus Fire, about the Hartford circus fire July 6, 1944. I am terrified of and fascinated by fire, and have read any number of books about fires. To Sleep With the Angels, about a Catholic school fire in Chicago in 1958 is also amazing and fascinating.