Good Books I've Read Recently:

The Eleventh Day by Anthony Summers-- a new, comphrensive history of the origins of al-Qaeda, the September 11th plot and attacks, and the government's response in the days, weeks, months, and years to follow.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan -- winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize; a story told, in alternating chapters, from the perspectives of a number of people, all of whom have a shared past or present. The best book I read all summer.

The Privileges by Jonathan Dee -- a novel for our times; the story of a married couple whose rapid climb up the social ladder during the economic boom of the 90s brings them (and their children) dangerously close to ruin in the decade to follow.

Hellhound on His Trail: The Extraordinary Account of the Largest Manhunt in American History by Hampton Sides -- probably the fastest-paced piece of non-fiction I've ever read; this book tells the story of James Earl Ray and his assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. It also paints a vivid picture of King's struggle to keep the Civil Rights movement alive in the late 1960s, and offers a history of race relations in the South, especially the city of Memphis.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides -- a bit of everything: the immigrant experience, the burning of Smyrna, Prohibition, the Nation of Islam...oh, and a hermaphrodite narrator.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides -- the haunting tale of a neighborhood of teenage boys infatuated with the mysterious Lisbon sisters. Creepy-good.

April 1865 by Jay Winik -- the story of the last month of the Civil War shown from the perspectives of Lee, Lincoln, Grant, Booth, Sherman and more.

The Beatles by Bob Spitz -- a massive, exhaustive bio. of the Beatles that reads like a novel. Perfect for reading in bits here and there.

Pictures at a Revolution -- a history of the five Best Picture nominees of 1967.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper -- funny and true, if not all that "literary."

Other Books Worth Your Time:

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Beloved by Toni Morrison

White Noise by Don DeLillo

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

Saturday by Ian McEwan

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Dubliners by James Joyce

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis

Falling Man by Don DeLillo

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway