Sunday, July 5, 2009
More Summer. . . and Fall Reading
Newsweek published a list of "Fifty Books for Our Time." I love lists like this. I scanned through it, and am sad to say that I haven't read any of them and haven't even heard of most of them. Here's the thing: I'm thinking about working this into my reading time, and going for the challenge. Why not, right? Certainly some of them will be duds, but what's a better use of my time than this.
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4 comments:
We own "God: A Biography" but I haven't read it. I think Dave did, though.
We also have "Gilead" which is right up your alley, Noah. It's a tough read, but so very very interesting, too.
Want to borrow them? I'd be happy to send them to you!
Emily: thanks for letting me know about "Gilead." I'll put it next on my list. Thanks for the offer to borrow them, but I'm a book-marker, so you might get them back witih a lot of underlines and things written in the margins!
Here's the few I've read:
The Bear (Can't call yourself a Southerner if you haven't read Faulkner, although my absolute favorite is "The Unvanquished," followed by "As I Lay Dying." The Snopes trilogy is also very good.)
Predictably Irrational (Great book on the motivations behind human behavior; I want to use excerpts for the Research Methods class.)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find (See comment one above--O'Conner is a definite Southern favorite. I've also recently added Carson McCullers to my list.)
Leaves of Grass (Had to read it in college. I'm not really a Whitman fan for reasons beyond his writing...)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick is one of those tragedies of modern literature--very talented, a little insane, and never really had a larger following until after his death. You may recognize the title "Bladerunner" before "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Very good story, but my all-time favorite PKD book is "Through a Scanner Darkly". Darkly hilarious...)
Frankenstein (A classic for many reasons. If you're not into 19th century Lit, it can be cumbersome.)
Year of Wonders (honestly, I didn't finish it. It moves pretty slowly and the mc didn't grab me. I DO recommend her other book "March"--excellent.)
Things Fall Apart (Another college assignment, but a great book. In our rapidly moving technological age, it's still a valid commentary on society.)
What? No John Irving? No Pat Conroy? No Stephen King (yes--seriously, he's much more than a horror writer--try out "Hearts in Atlantis sometime--beautiful book.)
Another favorite of mine is Russell Banks' "Cloudsplitter." Beautifully written.
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