JAN ASCH

A booklover since the womb (her parents read Thomas Wolfe to her), Jan retired from City University of New York and moved to New Orleans almost six years ago.
In her dotage, she may have found her dream job at Maple Street: books, people, and part-time.

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman (fiction)
This small, spare novella traces the spiritual journey of a cloistered Carmelite nun living in a convent in contemporary Los Angeles. In straightforward, simple language, Salzman tells a profoundly deep story of the role of obedience, faith, doubt and human connection in the search for connection with the Divine. This is a grace-filled little gem of a book.


Margaret Mead Made Me Gay by Esther Newton (essays)
A collection of essays by a cultural anthropologist who did pioneering work on the areas of feminism and gay and lesbian studies, this book spans the decades from the 1960s to the present. The changes in understanding are astonishing. The title, while clever, does not do justice to the intellectual depth, honesty, and courage of Newton's work.

Jan Asch

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (fiction)
This raucous, exhuberant first novel by a twenty-four-year-old woman was critically acclaimed and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. A multigenerational saga of three multicultural families set in present-day London, this is a stunning debut. This may be the best first novel I've ever read.