Book three: The Submission by Amy Waldman.

There are a lot of post-9/11 novels around and I may have even read one or two but for the most part I shy away from what has almost become its own genre.  However The Submission by Amy Waldman had an intriguing premise that interested me. The book starts with a group of people trying to decide the winning design for a 9/11 public memorial.  Submissions for the memorial are all anonymous.  When it comes time to open the winning envelope, the panelists discover they have awarded the prize to an American Muslim.

As the architect's name is leaked to the press, the controversy heats up.  It's within this pressure-packed environment the book gets good.  Waldman crafts her characters with immense precision and care which allows you to believe the choices many of them make, even if those choices are brutal.  And the backdrop also allows Waldman to explore many of the ideas and concepts that seem to be tearing at the seams of America.  I also liked that this had references to reality considering Maya Lin (an Asian American) was anonymously awarded the design for the Vietnam Memorial, creating a similar controversy.  So while we might like to believe that issues of race and religion don't affect our current reality, this book seems remind us otherwise.