December 14, 2012: Fireside Reads, Part Five

[Earlier this year, I featured a series on AmericanStudies Beach Reads. But winter calls for something different—longer, denser works with which you can settle in by the fire for the long winter’s night. So this week I’ll be highlighting authors and books that fit that bill. Add your own nominees for Fireside Reads for the weekend’s crowd-sourced post and help us all stay warm and cozy, won’t you?]
On some worthy additions to the series from outside of our borders.This is an AmericanStudies blog, but good Fireside Reads can of course come from anywhere. So here are a handful of long, complex, and very fire-worthy novels by (for today) honorary AmericanStudiers:1)      David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (2004)2)      Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter (1999)3)      Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost (1998)4)      Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra (1975)5)      THIS SPACE FOR RENT! YOUR FIRESIDE READ HERE!Sorry to yell, but it’s true—I need your nominations for the weekend’s crowd-sourced post. BenPS. Do I have to ask again?12/14 Memory Day nominee: Margaret Chase Smith, one of the 20thcentury’s most prominent and influential political figures and voices, and the author of one of America’s most brave and important speeches.