On
hold while I read books for class:I love books. Ever since I was very little, I've loved to read. The appeal of reading for me has always been in a book's ability to take me to a different place, and to introduce new ideas. I rarely find a book that does neither of these things, so I am rarely disappointed. I'm always on the lookout for good books I haven't heard of. One of my greatest joys is to have a book I can't wait to get back to: one I dive for every spare moment.
I'll list some books here with some thoughts. Since I don't believe in negative criticism (every work of art has something good about it), I include an "If you liked... then you might like this" bit.
You can buy any of these books at amazon.com by clicking on the picture of the cover. I'd sure appreciate it. Also, if you're thinking about buying a book or anything else at Amazon, use the search box at the bottom of the page. I get credit for that. Thanks!
On
hold while I read books for class:
Zen
and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
A gift from Luke, this book explores rationality,
science, technology, and philosophy, all from the jumping off point of motorcycle
maintenance. Although, as the introduction says, it is not all that factual
about motorcycles, it has inspired me to know my bike better. This is not an
easily digestable book and I'm surprised that so many high school students read
it (at least they did when I was in high school). If you read this before you
were 20, I strongly recommend that you revisit it. The travel portions read
much like William Least Heat-Moon's Blue
Highways, another excellent book for the summer and to inspire road
trips.
Books I'm currently
reading: Books for Class
For some of these books, we're only reading selections. Those will just be text
links and even shorter descriptions/reviews. Since the pace is fast and furious
in an eight week course, this probably won't always reflect what I'm reading
at the moment, but I'll try to add the books I've completed (like The House
on Mango Street below).
Eight
Men, Richard Wright
I couldn't wait to get started on this, my first foray into Wright, so I read
"The Man Who Lived Underground," not knowing the only assigned story
would be "The Man Who Went to Chicago." No matter, it never hurts
to get a little more perspective from the whole book. "The Man Who Lived
Underground" is one of eight stories in the book, each detailing some figure
of African-American manhood (which doesn't mean the book is exclusively about
that). "Underground" reads quite a bit like Ralph Ellison's Invisible
Man (which I'm pretty sure Wright's story predates in writing, if not in
publication) , and I think this is an interesting point on the continuum begun
by Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground.
Chicago
Storie, James T. Farrell (ed. Charles Fanning)
From the author of Studs
Lonigan Trilogy is this book of short stories, set mostly on the pre-World
War II South Side. Most of the stories we read described the harshness of growing
up and living in poverty and ignorance so close to wealth and enlightenment.
Although the ethnicity of the average Southside resident has changed, the life
itself seems to have remained much the same, as the final story "Kilroy
Was Here" examines. Reading these stories, the narratorial voice reminded
me of Saki. The authors subjects
coincide in youth, but diverge in class and country. I couldn't back it up,
but I'll hypothesize that Farrell is something of an American Edwardian author.
Previous three books:
The
House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (read for class)
This is the book that made Cisneros famous and assured her place in the canon.
Yet I can't help feeling that it somehow pales in comparison to Woman Hollering
Creek. Others may argue that the unity of voice here creates a more powerful
effect and it does do an incredible job of showing the trauma of growing up
Latina in Chicago. I may be a little bitter about Cisneros's comments on Chicago.
This is a quick read if you don't look too deeply, but I'm sure it could be
revisited again and again for additional meaning. As my professor points out,
it's one of the few books that can be effectively taught at all levels of education.
I don't have anything to compare this to, but if you're growing up or if you've
ever grown up, you'll want to read this (I know that means everyone).
Imaginative
Qualities of Actual Things, Gilbert Sorrentino
Whew! This one took a while (I actually read Watchmen in the middle of
this one). This book is vehemently not a novel. Sorrentino, as author and frequently
intrusive narrator, describes characters from the literary, arts, and music
community in '50s and '60s New York. Though it is unclear if these characters
are based on real people, one aspect that impressed me most is the durability
of character. The narrator lays bare the (often arbitrary) decision-making that
goes into creating a character. That the characters may be based on real people
makes this process all the more interesting and upsetting. This book has been
described as Calvino meets David Wallace (though it predates much of Calvino's
work and all of Wallace's work). If you like either of these authors, or if
you're just interested in the writing and/or creative process, you should read
this book. The point seems pretty well made about two-thirds of the way through,
which is maybe why I found finishing such a chore.
Watchmen,
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
As an occasional (read: every 3-4 years) reader of graphic novels, I feel that
I've once again managed to view only the cream of the crop. I picked this up
on a recommendation (and loan from my friend Gabe. As he put it, the setting
of the story -- an America poised on the verge of armageddon -- informed many
of his sensibilities as an adolescent and as an adult. Though I obviously didn't
read this when I was younger, I can see where it fits in. The story centers
on a group of aged "masked adventurers" (comic book superheroes as
real-life people) getting together to solve a series of murders that may be
part of a larger conspiracy of global proportions. The book's comic book self-awareness
seems ahead of its time, but fits well in the company of more recent works such
as "Unbreakable." If you were ever into comics or even picked up a
copy of X-Men, you should really read this. Even beyond that, if you liked Art
Spiegelman's Maus
(and Maus
II) or Frank Miller's Sin
City, this is a worthy graphic novel. Recommended listening while you
view: Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut."
Favorite Books:
If on a winter's night a traveler...,
Italo Calvino
Infinite
Jest, David Foster Wallace
The
Complete Saki, Saki
I wrote my high school senior research paper on Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) after
falling in love with his absolutely marvelous story "Sredni Vashtar."
The story tells of a sickly young boy whose wishes come true in the form of
an avenging polecat ferret, whom he worships as a god. Saki's appeal for me
lies in his frequent subjects: children and animals. The theme of oppression
by adults and occasional triumphs of freedom throughout these stories speaks
not just to children (though if you ever felt confined as a child, many of these
stories will affect you) but to anyone who doesn't feel completely free today.
Saki makes surprising narrative turns, often for the macabre. As I wrote in
my paper, "If Saki had written 'Little Red Riding Hood,' the woodsman would
not have made it to grandmother's cottage, Red would have been eaten, and the
wolf would have lived happily ever after." Saki's death came as if from
one of his stories; in the trenches of World War I, he scolded a trenchmate
to "put that bloody cigarette out!" (opposing snipers would use the
light of the ember to target). They were Saki's last words before a sniper's
bullet found his head.
Recommendations:
Civilwarland
In Bad Decline, George Saunders
World's
End, T. Coraghessan Boyle
Blue
Highways , William Least Heat-Moon
After losing his job and his wife, Heat-Moon decides not to write a bad country
song, but to embark on a three-month tour of the United States. He determines
to travel almost exclusively along the so-called "blue highways" (non-interstate
highways, usually represented on maps by blue lines). What emerges is a discovery
that even toward the end of the 20th Century, there may be something good in
America's heart. This is fantastic road trip reading and may very well change
the way you think about car travel. And like so many road novels, the author/narrator
makes some discoveries about himself along the way. I'm particularly awed by
Heat-Moon's ability to extract meaning from the apparantly ordinary.
Books read since beginning this page
Brief
Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
A collection of stories (including the title interviews distributed throughout)
by the author of one of my favorite books (possibly the most important novel
of the last 10 years), Infinite
Jest. If you like postmodern fiction, but are tired of endless irony,
Wallace's sincerity will feel like a shower after a mudbath.
The
Blue Sword, Robin McKinley
First in a young adult fantasy series. In the last 8 months I've read a lot
of juvenile literature following my rapid consumption of the Harry Potter books.
Some were good books I'd read before and wanted to revisit. This was a new one,
recommended by my friend Bessie. If you liked The Dark Is Rising sequence (Susan
Cooper), The Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander), or Piers Anthony's fantasy
stuff, you'll dig this.
White
Noise, Don DeLillo
One of the masters of modern American fiction presents a middle-aged college
professor with an obsessive fear of death. DeLillo also provides situational
comment on American society. If you like any American literature from the last
20 years (esp. Thomas Pynchon, T. C. Boyle, George Saunders), it's a good bet
you'll like this.
(Several editions available, some with criticism)
Cryptonomicon,
Neal Stephenson
I read Snow
Crash (by Stephenson) several years ago, and was interested in Stephenson's
foray into "big books" (Crypto is over 900 pages). It tells an intergenerational
story of various strains of math geeks, some involved in World War II cryptography,
others in the modern information technology business world. If you like techno-novels,
but are too embarassed to read Tom Clancy, or if you'd like something more challenging
than Michael Crichton, you'll like this.
Last updated 8/8/01 by Ben Timberlake