Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan's award-winning fiction includes Snow Angels, The Speed Queen, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Songs for the Missing.

His new novel is Emily, Alone.

Late last month I asked O'Nan what he was reading. His reply:

Elegies for the Brokenhearted, by Christie Hodgen

Smart, tough, funny, sad, with such a natural yet surprising voice, this novel follows a young girl's rocky coming of age as she pays homage to five strange and difficult people who changed her life. Brilliant and moving work. I'd put this up for the Pulitzer, and up with Franzen's Freedom and Sam Lipsyte's The Ask as the best novel of 2010.

Learn more about the author and his work at Stewart O'Nan's website.

The Page 69 Test: Songs for the Missing.

--Marshal Zeringue