Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands

His quirky imagination, rich vocabulary, and ability to convey a sense of loss even in the midst of funny situations make me wish I’d picked him up years ago. Many people are probably most familiar with his work through the film Wonder Boys, which starred Michael Douglas and Toby McGuire, but Chabon’s writing has only improved since Wonder Boys was first published in 1995. With books like The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (which won the Pulitzer Prize), The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, and Gentlemen of the Road, Chabon has explored the growth of the comics industry, a completely imagined Jewish homeland in Alaska, and the trials of a pair of mercenaries in tenth century Kazakhstan.