Carolyn Hax's Advice On What To Read

Carolyn Hax is used to giving people all sorts of advice. Whether it's on marriage, child-rearing or friendship, she has a loyal following of readers for her nationally syndicated column, "Tell Me About It," in The Washington Post.

As part of our Summer Reader segment, Hax offers a different kind of advice: what to read.

'The History of Love' by Nicole Krauss

I recently finished reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. It was a wonderfully layered, literate tale with delightful twists to its plot. I'm recommending it to all my friends as a great summer read. My life shares little with the characters in its pages, yet love is universal, thus we are all the same.

— From Joan, who listens to KOSU in Oklahoma

Books 2005: Maureen Corrigan's Favorites

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan lists her favorite books of 2005, including novels by Mary Gaitskill and Kazuo Ishiguro, and memoirs by Joan Didion and J.R. Moehringer.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill: Gaitskill's second novel explores the unlikely friendship between two women: one ugly, middle-aged and dying, and the other young and beautiful.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: "I read [this] in a few stunned hours... Krauss is ambitious in her storyline and themes and has the gifts to carry out her big ideas," says Corrigan.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: Ishiguro's sci-fi-tinged novel about the students in an ususual British boarding school was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer: The journalist's memoir centers on his youth in his hometown pub in Manhasset, Long Island.

The Woman at the Washington Zoo by Majorie Williams: The late political journalist's writings were compiled by her husband, Slate contributor Timothy Noah.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion: Didion's acclaimed memoir, written in the period after her husband's death, won the National Book Award this year.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: This debut novel about Dracula created a bidding war in the publishing industry and was a listener favorite over the summer.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin: The high-profile historian examines Abraham Lincoln's political acumen.

The Tulip and the Pope by Deborah Larsen: Larsen recalls her experience as a young woman who decided to become in a nun in the 1960s. "Without disparaging or sentimentalizing the convent world that once was her life, Larsen conveys its drowsy power," Corrigan says.

Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild: Hochschild offers a compelling history of the abolitionist movement in Britain.

Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside: Classic crime fiction from the other side of the pond.

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter: Walter tells a tale of crime and redemption set in Washington State.

Four Favorite Books for Gifts — or Oneself

At a time of year defined by buying and exchanging presents, favorites both old and new demand attention.

Among the recommendations from book critic Maureen Corrigan: the novels The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips and The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. The books share a deep sense of place — but while one chronicles small miracles, the former details small-time disasters.

In nonfiction, Corrigan suggests considering the The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness by Joel ben Izzy, which details Izzy's own struggle with cancer and his family.

And finally, the short story "Tell Me a Riddle" by Tillie Olsen — a 1961 tale that has emerged as an American classic — has been packaged with some of Olsen's other work. And the introduction, written by John Leonard, imparts a welcome perspective on Olsen's work.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill: Gaitskill's second novel explores the unlikely friendship between two women: one ugly, middle-aged and dying, and the other young and beautiful.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: "I read [this] in a few stunned hours... Krauss is ambitious in her storyline and themes and has the gifts to carry out her big ideas," says Corrigan.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: Ishiguro's sci-fi-tinged novel about the students in an ususual British boarding school was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer: The journalist's memoir centers on his youth in his hometown pub in Manhasset, Long Island.

The Woman at the Washington Zoo by Majorie Williams: The late political journalist's writings were compiled by her husband, Slate contributor Timothy Noah.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion: Didion's acclaimed memoir, written in the period after her husband's death, won the National Book Award this year.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: This debut novel about Dracula created a bidding war in the publishing industry and was a listener favorite over the summer.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin: The high-profile historian examines Abraham Lincoln's political acumen.

The Tulip and the Pope by Deborah Larsen: Larsen recalls her experience as a young woman who decided to become in a nun in the 1960s. "Without disparaging or sentimentalizing the convent world that once was her life, Larsen conveys its drowsy power," Corrigan says.

Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild: Hochschild offers a compelling history of the abolitionist movement in Britain.

Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside: Classic crime fiction from the other side of the pond.

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter: Walter tells a tale of crime and redemption set in Washington State.

Excerpt: 'The History of Love' by Nicole Krauss

Then one day I was looking out the window. Maybe I was contemplating the sky. Put even a fool in front of the window and you'll get a Spinoza.

Read an excerpt from The History of Love:

When they write my obituary. Tomorrow. Or the next day. It will say, LEO GURSKY IS SURVIVED BY AN APARTMENT FULL OF S***. I'm surprised I haven't been buried alive. The place isn't big. I have to struggle to keep a path clear between bed and toilet, toilet and kitchen table, kitchen table and front door. If I want to get from the toilet to the front door, impossible, I have to go by way of the kitchen table. I like to imagine the bed as home plate, the toilet as first, the kitchen table as second, the front door as third: should the doorbell ring while I am lying in bed, I have to round the toilet and the kitchen table in order to arrive at the door. If it happens to be Bruno, I let him in without a word and then jog back to bed, the roar of the invisible crowd ringing in my ears.

I often wonder who will be the last person to see me alive. If I had to bet, I'd bet on the delivery boy from the Chinese take-out. I order in four nights out of seven. Whenever he comes I make a big production of finding my wallet. He stands in the door holding the greasy bag while I wonder if this is the night I'll finish off my spring roll, climb into bed, and have a heart attack in my sleep.

I try to make a point of being seen. Sometimes when I'm out, I'll buy a juice even though I'm not thirsty. If the store is crowded I'll even go so far as dropping my change all over the floor, the nickels and dimes skidding in every direction. I'll get down on my knees. It's a big effort for me to get down on my knees, and an even bigger effort to get up. And yet. Maybe I look like a fool. I'll go into the Athlete's Foot and say. What do you have in sneakers? The clerk will look me over like the poor schmuck that I am and direct me over to the one pair of Rockports they carry, something in spanking white. Nah, I'll say, I have those already, and then I'll make my way over to the Reeboks and pick out something that doesn't even resemble a shoe, a waterproof bootie, maybe, and ask for it in size 9. The kid will look again, more carefully. He'll look at me long and hard. Size 9, I'll repeat while I clutch the webbed shoe. He'll shake his head and go to the back for them, and by the time he returns I'm peeling off my socks. I'll roll my pants legs up and look down at those decrepit things, my feet, and an awkward minute will pass until it becomes clear that I'm waiting for him to slip the booties onto them. I never actually buy. All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen.

A few months ago I saw an ad in the paper. It said, NEEDED: NUDE MODEL FOR DRAWING CLASS. $15/HOUR. It seemed too good to be true. To have so much looked at. By so many. I called the number. A woman told me to come the following Tuesday. I tried to describe myself, but she wasn't interested. Anything will do, she said.

The days passed slowly. I told Bruno about it, but he misunderstood and thought I was signing up for a drawing class in order to see nude girls. He didn't want to be corrected. They show their boobs? he asked. I shrugged. And down there?

After Mrs. Freid on the fourth floor died, and it took three days before anyone found her, Bruno and I got into the habit of checking on each other. We'd make little excuses—I ran out of toilet paper, I'd say when Bruno opened the door. A day would pass. There would be a knock on my door. I lost my TV Guide, he'd explain, and I'd go and find him mine, even though I knew his was right there where it always was on his couch. Once he came down on a Sunday afternoon. I need a cup of flour, he said. It was clumsy, but I couldn't help myself. You don't know how to cook. There was a moment of silence. Bruno looked me in the eye. What do you know, he said, I'm baking a cake.

When I came to America I knew hardly anyone, only a second cousin who was a locksmith, so I worked for him. If he had been a shoemaker I would have become a shoemaker; if he had shoveled s*** I, too, would have shoveled. But. He was a locksmith. He taught me the trade, and that's what I became. We had a little business together, and then one year he got TB, they had to cut his liver out and he got a 106 temperature and died, so I took it over. I sent his wife half the profits, even after she got married to a doctor and moved to Bay Side. I stayed in the business for over fifty years. It's not what I would have imagined for myself. And yet. The truth is I came to like it. I helped those in who were locked out, others I helped keep out what couldn't be let in, so that they could sleep without nightmares.

Then one day I was looking out the window. Maybe I was contemplating the sky. Put even a fool in front of the window and you'll get a Spinoza. The afternoon passed, darkness sifted down. I reached for the chain on the bulb and suddenly it was as if an elephant had stepped on my heart. I fell to my knees. I thought: I didn't live forever. A minute passed. Another minute. Another. I clawed at the floor, pulling myself along toward the phone.

Excerpted from The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, Copyright © 2000 by Nicole Krauss. Excerpted by permission of W.W. Norton and Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill: Gaitskill's second novel explores the unlikely friendship between two women: one ugly, middle-aged and dying, and the other young and beautiful.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: "I read [this] in a few stunned hours... Krauss is ambitious in her storyline and themes and has the gifts to carry out her big ideas," says Corrigan.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: Ishiguro's sci-fi-tinged novel about the students in an ususual British boarding school was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer: The journalist's memoir centers on his youth in his hometown pub in Manhasset, Long Island.

The Woman at the Washington Zoo by Majorie Williams: The late political journalist's writings were compiled by her husband, Slate contributor Timothy Noah.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion: Didion's acclaimed memoir, written in the period after her husband's death, won the National Book Award this year.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: This debut novel about Dracula created a bidding war in the publishing industry and was a listener favorite over the summer.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin: The high-profile historian examines Abraham Lincoln's political acumen.

The Tulip and the Pope by Deborah Larsen: Larsen recalls her experience as a young woman who decided to become in a nun in the 1960s. "Without disparaging or sentimentalizing the convent world that once was her life, Larsen conveys its drowsy power," Corrigan says.

Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild: Hochschild offers a compelling history of the abolitionist movement in Britain.

Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside: Classic crime fiction from the other side of the pond.

Citizen Vince by Jess Walter: Walter tells a tale of crime and redemption set in Washington State.