A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks takes place in 2007. The narrative moves smartly among a large cast of characters whose lives are affected by the subprime mortgage mess. Don’t worry if you’re not up on the terminology of the finance industry. Faulks walks you through it without making you feel as though you’re subprime for not already knowing it.
In Capital, John Lanchester offers a panoramic view of London society—high and low—through the experiences of a variety of characters, all affected by the financial crisis in 2008.
Anthony Trollope used much the same technique in his novel The Way We Live Now, set in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, we’re introduced to Sherman McCoy, who has it all: a hot career on Wall Street, as well as a wife and a mistress, until a bad decision takes it all away from him.
And for excellent (and very readable) nonfiction on the financial industry, check these out:
Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker is an account of the author’s three-year stint at Salomon Brothers, the prestigious New York investment company. And don’t miss his The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
Fool’s Gold: The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St. Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe, by journalist Gillian Tett of Financial Times describes the events leading up to the financial crisis of 2008. (This is a good choice to read with John Lanchester’s Capital.)
About the Author
Frederick G. Dillen is a Greenwich Village native who spent his formative years in a New England boarding school. He went on to graduate from Stanford University, putting his degree to minimal use at odd jobs in Palo Alto, Lahaina, Taos, and Los Angeles. He persisted at writing the entire time, and his short fiction appeared in literary quarterlies and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His debut novel, Hero, won Dictionary of Literary Biography’s best first novel of 1994. Dillen and his wife, Leslie, are parents to two grown daughters and three dogs. After stints in California, New York, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts, they have settled for good (they hope) in New Mexico.
About Nancy Pearl
Nancy Pearl is a librarian and lifelong reader. She regularly comments on books on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Her books include 2003’s Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason, 2005’s More Book Lust: 1,000 New Reading Recommendations for Every Mood, Moment and Reason; Book Crush: For Kids and Teens: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest, published in 2007, and 2010’s Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers. Among her many awards and honors are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal; the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association; the 2010 Margaret E. Monroe Award from the Reference and Users Services Association of the American Library Association; and the 2004 Women’s National Book Association Award, given to “a living American woman who… has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation.”
About Book Lust Rediscoveries
Book Lust Rediscoveries is a series devoted to reprinting some of the best (and now out of print) novels originally published between 1960–2000. Each book is personally selected by Nancy Pearl and includes an introduction by her, as well as discussion questions for book groups and a list of recommended further reading.
Fool (Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Rediscoveries) Page 28