It was a National Book Award Winner, and a bestseller, but I have only now caught up with Colum McCann’s superb novel Let the Great World Spin. The stories it tells describe a mosaic of contrasting yet interrelated lives in New York City,  framed by Phillipe Petit’s tightrope walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. Beautifully written and deeply touching, I recommend it highly. Thank you to Beth at Louie, Louie for suggesting it.

(It’s a small thing, I know, but in the they-always-get-the-details-wrong-when-it-comes-to-music department - shouldn’t someone have told McCann that he shouldn’t have his character Gloria attend the Metropolitan Opera on Sundays, as the house is dark on that day of the week? Or was that not the case in 1974?)