Philip Roth, The Ghost Writer. NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979.

At the end of Anne Frank’s diary, we learn that the girl died in a concentration camp not long before the end of World War II. But a diary is not a strictly factual account, and the story requires an ending that can’t, independently, be verified as true. What if Anne Frank had actually lived?

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Roth has been willing to take on controversy [Portnoy’s Complaint is about masturbation; The Breast is about, well…a man who becomes a mammary gland] and make grand claims, like naming his baseball book The Great American Novel. The Ghost Writer, though, seems like a deeply personal meditation, devoid of provocation, at first blush.

Adhering to strict Aristotelian formal requirements of time and place, The Ghost Writer is a middle-aged writer’s recounting of, and reflection upon, a long-ago meeting with his literary hero. The action is confined to the rural estate of Lonoff, an established short story artist who has invited the young, aspiring author Nathan for a chat. While the winter weather is frightful, things go very well for Nathan—until he sees the young woman sorting through Lonoff’s papers on the floor in the next room.

Tension immediately begins to build as Nathan tries to learn who she is. What he discovers during the long, sleepless night stays with him for twenty years and provides a loose frame for this entirely predictable, but utterly engaging, little book.

Anne Fine, Return of the Killer Cat. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003

Fat orange tabby cats always seem to get into trouble: the adventures of Heathcliff and Garfield have been staples of the funny pages for years. Tuffy is another cat in this vein—Return is his second book, following Diary of a Killer Cat. This time, Tuffy’s family is going on vacation and recruits the local minister to cat-sit. Reverend Barnham, though, doesn’t appreciate Tuffy’s dietary needs, or his extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, the neighbor is desperate for a pet “just like Tuffy”—and offering fresh cream and tuna, three times a day.

So Tuffy does what any cat would do, even though it means abandoning his gang and dressing up as “Janet”. Trouble, naturally, ensues in this delightful tale for young children reading short chapter-books.