Part of what I am doing with my reading this year is trying to think about the books in their initial publication context. So if I happen to read something like Anne Tyler’s Breathing Lessons, published in 1988 and winner of the Pulitizer and finalist for the National Book Award, it’s hard not to look through the nominees and winners of those awards and look for the contrast of styles and picks. Anne Tyler beat Raymond Carver’s Where I am Calling From — his greatest hits collections, […]