Last place I saw this one: Ed's. Next place I hope to see it: Yours.
Note: I could definitely pick more than one book in virtually all categories. It is still too hot out to contemplate which choice would have most impressed people. So deal, I guess.
One book that changed your life
Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
In tenth grade, I was looking for a novel about which to write a paper. "How about Jude the Obscure?" my mom said. "It's got a little boy in it who kills his brothers and sisters and then hangs himself." With an endorsement like that, how could anyone resist? But Jude is about so much more. A boy aspires to be a university scholar, and he fails. Some of the reasons are heartbreaking, others are utterly predictable. Absolutely no one in the novel gets what they really, truly want, and yet it's such a satisfying read. Jude the Obscure is, twenty years later, the reason a lot of popular fiction doesn't interest me at all, and probably part of the reason for my whining about King Dork earlier this week.
One book that you've read more than once
The Stand, Stephen King
Wait wait wait wait, let me explain. Imagine a young writer schooled in the ways of Kmart Realism. Imagine her looking for a summer read and picking this book up because it's longer and therefore worth the $8, and Stephen King generally doesn't suck (though it's only 1994 and still too early to shout on rooftops). Imagine her starting to read, getting sucked in by the dystopia, and being unfazed by the brief flashes of magic. Imagine her finishing it, and thinking holy shit, he killed 99% of the world's population and 75% of the principal cast! How in the hell did he pull that off? Now, imagine her starting it again to try and figure it out.
One book you'd want on a desert island
Any Norton anthology
If I was on a desert island, it would finally be time to pay the literature major piper.
One book that made you laugh
The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson
Before he was that nice fellow who wrote A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson wrote an American travelogue that is, in places, cruel in its humor. I discovered him via a Granta excerpt from this book, called "Fat Girls in Des Moines". Then, I made the mistake of mentioning him to a professor I had at the time, and got an earful about what a misogynist he was. Umpteen years later, I'll get mowed down by rude old people in public places and think of his line about the phenomena: "I consoled myself with the fact that she would be dead soon." After The Lost Continent, Bryson mellows incrementally with each book. I still think he's funny, even if he secretly does still hate everyone.
One book that made you cry
Dubliners, James Joyce
No, this isn't cheating. The end of The Dead. And Araby, and Eveline. Oh, shut up.
One book that you wish had been written
Change or Die, Jerome Badanes
I'm playing a little loose with definitions here, since this WAS written, and it stands on its own as a novella. It's terrific. But everyone who knew Jerry when he died, knew that he was working on his second novel. If this was written the way he would have wanted, there would have been more time. That's mostly why this is my choice.
One book that you wish had never been written
The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
I know, I know, beloved by many. I still can't figure out why. To me, it was boring and too derivative of, well, pretty much everything I'd read before it. If it'd never been written, I would have those hours of "maybe when they get to the next town SOMETHING WILL FINALLY HAPPEN" back.
One book you're currently reading
The Travelers' Guide to Latin American Customs and Manners, Elizabeth Devine and Nancy L. Braganti
Even before the etiquette genre was work-related, I loved to read it. It's a great variation on fiction, being able to immerse yourself in the minor details of human interaction. Plus, I think this alleviates my social anxiety a little. Knowledge is power!
One book you've been meaning to read
Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith
No, I haven't seen the movie. And every time I read Highsmith's work (Edith's Diary, all the Ripley books), I love it. A close second to this? Pretty much everything by Graham Greene that I haven't already read. His work keeps coming up in my day-to-day life in really random ways.
Recent Comments