Philly Book Geek Forum

Another year is upon us, and so should be another list of great books.

Anyone got a new one to recommend (as in, one that came out this year)? 

I’ll kick off the thread with this recommendation:

THE UNNAMED by Joshua Ferris.  This is one of those books I just tore through, and now I’m sad that it’s over.  It’s about a lawyer named Tim Farnesworth who has an “unnamed” illness where he just gets up and starts walking, for miles and miles, until he eventually collapses from exhaustion.  This illness serves as the narrative’s axis point; with each bout of compulsive walking comes a revelation about Tim’s life — flaws in his marriage, his professional existence, etc. — which degenerates further and further as the book progresses.

http://www.amazon.com/Unnamed-Joshua-Fe … pd_sim_b_1

Ferris’s debut, THEN WE CAME TO THE END, was nominated for a National Book Award.  This guy can f**king write.  And he’s certainly eluded the sophomore jinx here.