If You Liked…You Might Like…
Have you ever read a novel that transported you to a place you never wanted to leave? Did you wish another author offered a slightly different but equally absorbing take on that place? Well, jump aboard: “If You Liked…” pairs a book that plunges a reader into a fictive world with that of another author who does the same thing, but a little differently. Both are equally fascinating!
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
In Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds we’re initially thrust into colonial America, into a town that’s not only riddled with Puritan cruelty, but with contagious disease. When a servant girl seizes her chance to escape both, she must fend for herself in the wilderness. What combination of pluck, wits, courage, and pure luck must she draw upon in order to survive?
Isola by Allegra Goodman
Similarly in Isola, Allegra Goodman’s heroine Marguerite, a French noblewoman, travels to the New World in the 16th century only to find herself marooned on an island en route. She, too, must summon skills she didn’t know she possessed in order to live to tell the tale. Based on a true story, Isola foregrounds a young woman’s tenacity, intelligence, and compassion.
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Described as a “tree-mad” novel by Nathaniel Rich in The Atlantic, Richard Powers’ The Overstory is a sweeping epic about the imminent loss of our forests. A polemic, this book engulfs the reader in the lives of its five protagonists for whom trees really, really matter. The urgency, the importance of saving our forests comes to the fore through passion, violence, science, and mysticism.
The Wild Trees by Richard Preston
The Overstory is a novel, but The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, tells the true story of people who ascend into some of the tallest trees in this country to explore the ecosystems that are found only there. Little was known about the flora and fauna that live in the upper reaches of California redwoods until some of these intrepid tree climbers ventured upwards. This is armchair adventure at its best!
This Is Happiness by Niall Williams and This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
Here are two coming of age novels that treat a boy’s discovery of himself with love while never being treacly. Cranky as these times might make us, a plunge into rural Ireland might be a cure for what ails you.
In This is Happiness, Noel retreats to his grandparents’ cottage in the west of Ireland after a career setback. The villagers he finds there, his clumsy attempts to wend his way in the world as one of them, his willingness to see the sad, the lovely, the hilarious, and yes, even the bleakness, allows him to begin to understand the world in its complexity and thus his place in it. Happiness is reading this book.
Similarly and differently at the same time, Tobias Wolff’s memoir, This Boy’s Life, recalls his brutal boyhood with the clarity that time and age bring. Wolff doesn’t sugarcoat the awfulness of being the stepson of a psychopath, but he does allow us to root for his younger, smart, perceptive, always hopeful, and definitely delinquent self. A kid who was always at the mercy of adults who rarely had his wellbeing in mind, we marvel at the young Tobias’ resilience and resourcefulness.
