Jess Walter, BEAUTIFUL RUINS

The cover is sort of scripty and features a sort of dated painting of the coast of Italy ... and I will admit I am so clueless I thought Jess Walter--the name of the author, written in a pretty yellow script--is a girl--he's not. (I haven't read his other books, but I will.) (Soon.) So I'm thinking something like A SAPPY ROMANCE meets A NOVEL FEATURING A HOT ITALIAN DUDE. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book is powerful, heartbreaking, haunting, and ultimately lovely and even (dare I say) forgiving and sweet. I wouldn't miss this one. It has all the power of ART OF FIELDING (5 stories, 5 wounded people, wound together) and CINEMA PARADISO. When is the last time you saw a novel with Richard Burton as a character? Hands down, one of my favorites of the year. (And I can say that ... now that we're more than half way through November, holy X*%#$.)