Every time my old writing professor comes to town, I ask him to recommend a book or an author. This last time, he recommended Brian Morton. I got A Window Across the River, and I couldn't put it down. It was so sharp and funny, the characters were interesting and in trouble and the story flowed really naturally... I went out and got the rest of Brian Morton's oevre yesterday. Previous recommendations from this esteemed prof include: Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land (very funny, loved it), Geoff Ryman's Was (very impressive and creepy at the end- poor Dorothy!), Stephen Wright's Going Native (very creepy- makes you paranoid that someone random is going to kill you for no good reason), Lydia Davis's The End of the Story (turns around on itself a lot, funny, but makes you a little crazy), Alan Lightman's The Diagnosis (depressing, but beautifully written- makes you feel like you're seeing the world with your eyes dialated).
