It was a brave act, even for a writer hailed for his compassion: When Colum McCann saw a woman being attacked last month on a New Haven, Conn., sidewalk, he ran to her aid.
For his trouble, the prizewinning author of “Let the Great World Spin” was beaten so badly he was hospitalized.
“The irony of it all is that I was at a conference on ‘Empathy’ at Yale University with a nonprofit I’m involved in,” says McCann, who suffered a concussion, a broken cheekbone and some broken teeth. (Police say they’ve since arrested his attacker.) “[But] there are others who suffer far worse violence,” he continues. “We need to speak out against this sort of thing.”
His novel, “TransAtlantic,” recently came out in paperback.
Here’s what’s in his library:
Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje
This is a book that wakes me up every time I turn a page. It’s the story of Buddy Bolden, an early 20th century musician who goes mad playing in a New Orleans parade. It’s one of the great jazz books of all time. I can close my eyes and hear the trumpet blare from over a century ago.
The Meadow by James Galvin
This is one of those books that, when you discover it, you want to buy a hundred copies to give to your friends. It’s the history of a Wyoming meadow and the people who have lived there. It’s an alternative history of America, too. It reads like a poem. I can step into the book and through the grass, and away, back through time.
Ulysses by James Joyce
It sounds pretentious to some people who find this book daunting, but I wouldn’t be without it. It’s a vast compendium of human experience . . . and funny, raucous and revolutionary. Every June 16, I help organize a reading of it in downtown New York. Even the bankers stop for a moment to forget about life in their expensive loafers.
Underworld by Don DeLillo
“He speaks in our voice, American, and there’s a shine in his eye that’s halfway hopeful.” So begins one of the great contemporary novels, a masterwork of invention and style . . . [It’s] nothing short of a meditation of what Faulkner called the human heart in conflict with itself.