Thursday, June 01, 2006
Book Worm
You will not always find me with head buried in books. In fact, you'll rarely find me this way. I'd rather watch a movie. Nevertheless I am totally in that groove lately. I have read three in quick succession and am looking for my next victim book. So I have a question for you readers. What should I read next? List a book that really amazes you. Paperbacks preferred since they make ideal subway time-passers.
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30 comments:
Blindness by Jose Saramago.
What were the 3 books you liked recently? (Yes, I'm nosy, but I thought the info might be instructive...)
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro - read this a couple months ago, and haven't been able to get it out of my head
The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright by Jean Nathan. It's non-fiction, reads like a movie!
The Queen and I by Sue Townsend: A British writer explores what if the Queen of England loses her power and became a regular citizen. Classic fish out of water storyline.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Tale of the Shipwrecked sailor is a true account on how a Colombian sailor survived several days in the open sea.
Matt Ruff's Set This House in Order. It's a romance (of sorts) between two people with multiple personality disorder; one has learned to live with it, the other doesn't even know she has it.
What? Is this true? My Nathaniel asking for book recommendations? Wait -and asking all of you before consulting me? I mean I'm sure that you're all amongst the literature cognoscenti, but really darling, you know I'm waiting breathlessly to force books upon you. Much like you love to drag me off to the cineplex to see Julianne once again desperately prove she's not meant to be a romantic comedy star. (Isn't one Sandra Bullock enough?) So... Eugenides' Middlesex is wonderful - and set in your homeland of Michigan. Saramago is dazzling and Blindness is as good a starting point as any. Ishiguro is a master stylist and Never Let Me Go is some of his best work. Talese is a brilliant writer. Huh, this is a fantastically brilliant crowd you've got here. So toss in some Cormac McCarthy, Ian McEwan, Proust (naturellement), and Houellebecq (just for controversial fun) and you've got yourself a delightful summer on the beach!
Hmmm. I was gonna suggest some Jacqueline Susann -- The Love Machine is a particular fave -- but maybe that's a little lowbrow...
Lamb: the Gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It's insanely funny and a quick read.
Why not pick up Nabakov's Lolita?
It's only my favorite novel of all time.
Perhaps this will be adding fuel to some fire about which I know nothing, but if I had a boyfriend that amazingly literate, I wouldn't ask anyone else for book recommendations. Ever.
Just sayin'.
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer. Usually I dont go for high-concept ideas (the book is about Max, who is born into the body of an old man, and ages backward physically while aging forward mentally) but Enterainment Weekly gave it a great review and raved about the heart-wrenching love story at the center, and i could NOT put it down. highly, HIGHLY recomended
Well I don't know much about your tastes in books and I don't know if you're just looking for fiction novels or what, but I've always loved Bill Bryson's books. They're very entertaining and funny and you also accidentally learn a lot from them. My favorite is 'In a Sunburned Country.'
Lamb by Christopher Moore is excellent.
Devil in the White City is a fantastic non-fiction read - it reads like a story.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. It's about music, a midlife crisis, and a guy who is horrible with women.
Sorry - I meant to leave my web address so you would know who I am. Oops.
Flesh & Blood by Michael Cunningham.
Just..wow.
Saramago and McEwan are very interesting contemporary choices (though has there ever been a film adaptation of Saramago? I'm off to the IMDB).
However, my recommendation is for a novel that would make a perfect movie. It is actually being made into a Hollywood film, and will undoubtedly be less than perfect.
'Out' by Natsuo Kirino.
On the one hand, it's a dissection of women's roles in Japanese society. On the other, it's a clammy, cold-hearted crime thriller with four women thrown together in a murder inquiry. It is gruesome and dark, yet humorous.
Something for everyone then!
It will also allow you to participate in speculation on the actresses that will be cast. In the book they're plain (even ugly) and this is essential to convey the 'everywoman' nature of the characters, without which there would be no shock factor.
I think that I've bored everyone enough now!
I second the Lolita recommendation.
Also one of my favourite books is "Wise Blood" by Flanner O'Connor - a very dark comedy about fundamentalist preachers in the Deep South
Also, I finally got around to reading Capote's "In Cold Blood" a couple of months ago and it still haunts me.
Anything by Banana Yoshimoto. If you haven't read her before, start with her first novel, Kitchen.
Houellebecq? I don't like him. I mentioned him to my French-Muslim roommate and he gave me a look like I was cheerfully discussing Hitler's policies with a concentration camp survivor.
Devil in the White City is a great choice. It should be made into an HBO miniseries.
josh t -middlesex i have been meaning to get to.
stinky -i didn't say i liked all 3 books. one was horrid.
caleb -that gay talese one looks interesting.
nick -i've always avoided 'Lolita' -dumb of me probably.
spants -i actually borrowed 'devil in the white city' from a friend and never opened it. i so crazy.
thank you all for your suggestions. i will definitely read some of these. (and report back?)
as to why i ask someone other than The Boyfriend. Let's just say that Proust and Houellebecq aren't my thing ;) we have different book tastes; ( not completely different. we both love michael cunningham and toni morrison and a few others. but still... )
if it will help anyone to know what i like --these are probably my four favorite books ever:
THE GREAT GATSBY
BELOVED
THE LITTLE PRINCE
INSIDE OSCAR
books i've read recently that i've loved
ANANSI BOYS & STARDUST -neil gaiman
and so far I like ATONEMENT by ian mcewan but i'm not finished.
for fun i also like fantasy novels (obviously there's a lot of crap there so if anyone can recommend actual good ones that'd be swell), and humorists like Carrie Fisher and David Sedaris, etc...
Ian McEwen's Atonement is great. And Howard's End I always recommend--I reread it often.
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, anything by Yasunari Kawabata
I was startled by how much I liked The Time Traveler's Wife. Also, Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and Gilead are both great. I liked Middlesex but didn't love it; Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang and/or Oscar and Lucinda are terrific (I'm so looking forward to reading his new one, Theft).
If you ever want to plunge backward to the Victorians, you might love Thomas Hardy--he's so very protocinematic.
the secret history by donna tartt
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