Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

First edition of Tree of Smoke published by FSG in 2007

I'll start by saying that Tree of Smoke is one of my favorite books; it tells the sprawling tales of Skip Sands and the Houston brothers, among others, during and partially after the Vietnam war. Focused largely around the CIA's involvement in the war during its formative years, Tree of Smoke is told from many intertwining points of view, including Vietnamese intelligence officers, German assassins, and world-weary Colonels. Johnson's novel even has a complete, masterful recreation of the Tet offensive that is insanely gripping. Readers of his other work will remember the Houston brothers from his first novel Angels, which takes place later in time during the 1980's. Johnson's novel isn't particularly weird or rare, having won the National Book Award for 2007 and being a bestseller, but it is awesome, as is my copy he signed pictured below. This first edition hardcover also features great jacket art and design done by Susan Mitchell, which is increasingly rare these days. I strongly recommend picking up a copy especially seeing as they're not in short supply.

 

An inscription made out to me on the title page—note that he initially misspelled my name so there's an e with a dot over it

J R by William Gaddis

First edition of J R by William Gaddis

Published by Knopf in 1975, J R is one of the trickier books among the American canon of 20th century literature. Over 700 pages long (it has a small typeface) and written almost completely in dialogue not attributed to its speaker, J R is not easy to read; it is definitely unique though. It tells the story of an eleven year-old named J R who, after a school trip to the stock exchange, starts manipulating the value of penny stocks over the phone and builds a small fortune. J R is a satire and commentary on capitalism and American commerce, which actually isn't predominantly why I like the book. J R himself is funny and interesting, along with most of the scenes in the novel, and that is what is most enjoyable about it. As a reader you have to discern what is going on and who is speaking from the sounds everywhere and the people's voice and character—it is a book you have to participate in to read, which can be difficult but had never been done before. It won the National Book Award in 1975, twenty years after Gaddis' first and previous novel, The Recognitions, flopped. His other books employ a similar style, but none to the extent that J R does if that helps persuade future readers. The cover is also a pretty solid illustration in the theme of money, designed by Janet Halverson.