the three books under reviewDavid Sedaris meets Moses in Devil in the Details, by San Francisco’s Jennifer Traig. Traig’s memoir is subtitled Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, and that’s the detail you need to know, because Traig’s story is concerned with what ailed her as a teenager: scrupulosity. Take obsessive-compulsive disorder, add a dash of religious fanaticism, and voila! Scrupulosity.

Traig’s story, funny and harrowing, is like no other memoir you’ve read, unless your shelves are full of books about Jewish teenagers who regularly spent an hour washing their hands before dinner and tried to keep kosher in the early 1980s, certain that traces of meat lurked in the oddest places—like ice-cream and frosting (who knew?). Traig’s greatest success is continually being able to laugh at herself. Because obsessive-compulsives are often aware that their behavior is odd, Traig knows that the joke is usually on her. Because she is unconcerned with placing blame (there is no blame to place when it comes to psychological disorders), you’re left with a book that’s witty, clever, strange—and impossible to put down.

Devil in the Details by Jennifer Traig (Back Bay Books, 2004, 246 pp. $14.95)

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Martha Sherrill had two key ingredients at her disposal to write a juicy memoir—she grew up in San Francisco in the 1970s, and her father was an inveterate bachelor with a string of beautiful girlfriends. But when she sat down to actually write the book, she had to confront the fact that a “tell-all” had the capacity to be hurtful to friends and acquaintances. What was a girl to do?

Change the names to protect the innocent, of course. The result is the rollicking and beguiling novel, The Ruins of California. It’s a family story—as our heroine, Inez, tries to make sense of her mother’s staid existence in Southern California as compared to her father’s romps in North Beach; it’s a coming of age story—as Sherrill perfectly captures Inez’ voice, showing how she matures amidst the ridiculous ’70s; and finally, it’s a love story—where to look for it and how to hold onto it once you find it. The Ruins of California is a beautiful book, finely nuanced, sprinkled throughout with pitch-perfect details evoking California’s past.

The Ruins of California by Martha Sherrill (The Penguin Press, 2006, 318 pp. $24.95)

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Need an idea for what to get Dad for Father’s Day? Then pick up a copy of Mostly Bob, a delightful animal tale by Northern California writer Tom Corwin. The book’s a perfect little package, barely bigger than a snapshot. Each page is mostly white space, with no more than one sentence—one lovely little idea—per page. The writing is so spare, it’s like reading impeccably crafted haiku.

With an amazing economy of words, you’re introduced to Bob—a dog who makes his own luck—you follow Bob, you fall in love with Bob, and then, sadly, you say goodbye. Poignant without being sappy, Bob will make even the gruffest father cry. And if the gift-giver is a child who can’t yet read, he can enjoy the fact that Mostly Bob is also a flipbook. Children and adults alike can follow Bob’s silhouette literally walk right out of the book. Mostly Bob is charming—one of those little books that you can’t put down; one that will have you thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading.about it long after you’ve finished reading.

Mostly Bob by Tom Corwin (New World Library, 2006, 288 pp. $12.95)