Some good fiction

I've hit a lucky streak with fiction lately and thought I would follow Tripp's "favorite books" post with a few recent highlights. I received multiple copies of Jeffrey's Ford's Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque for Christmas a few years back (one of the perils of telling everyone you just want books) and unfortunately it did not merit multiple reads. Good but not great, Charbuque sets out with a great premise and backstory but Ford can't quite bring it home (although any novel featuring a trip to the "turdologist" can't be all bad). His follow-up, The Girl in the Glass, more than redeems him. Set in 1920s Long Island, the story involves an aging con artist and his two confederates as they scam rich folks with phony seances. Everything goes swimmingly until the con sees a real ghost during one of his put-ons. The story takes off from there. Fans of The Alienist will love this one.

Jonathan Carroll's Outside the Dog Museum is his usual strong work, although I'm beginning to wonder if he can do more than write variations on the same story. Very well done, thought-provoking, extremely enjoyable stories, but all shades of the same color nonetheless. I think I will put him aside for a bit.

Two others, Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and Atwood's Oryx and Crake, need little introduction but I will say they are every bit as good as advertised. I have to disagree with Mel's dim view of Ishiguro - I can't think of another writer who builds so carefully and precisely to the pay-off in his books, and in such varied settings. I guess I figure most anyone can tell a decent story. It is the writers who control their stories and their readers who really impress me.