Noah's Compass

by Anne Tyler

I am a huge Anne Tyler fan. She is one of my absolute favorite authors. I love how she writes about the mundane things of life. She develops such real, such flawed, such utterly un-spectacular (is that a word?) characters. Reading her books is like stepping into someone else's life for a few hours.

Noah's Compass, her latest book, doesn't disappoint. It's about a 60 year old 5th grade teacher who gets downsized out of the job he stumbled into after never finishing his dissertation in philosophy. He moves into a new apartment to save money. He goes to bed the first night in his new apartment and wakes up in the hospital, having been attacked. He remembers nothing about the attack, which he finds troubling, despite everyone's assurances that it's for the best.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it wasn't one of my favorite Anne Tyler books. Digging to America, Saint Maybe, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant spoke to me a little more.