Reading for Pleasure

[29wordsforsnow]

Books I read over and over but never get to the end.

• Mowing the Lawn - no wait that's a task not a book

Weeelllllll...you could buy a 'short erotica story' for your kindle with exactly this title...and one those little gadgets keeping the grassy parts neatly trimmed.

 

[Angeline]

Tzara funny you should mention Vikram Seth. I love reading fiction that helps me learn about different cultures. East Indian cultures especially fascinate me. I've been meaning to read Seth's A Suitable Boy for years. It always eludes me as I get caught up with other books, but I've heard he's a terrific writer. I also love A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (he has a few other books published and they're all good. And Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the story of a Mumbai "undercity" by Katherine Boos (which won the National Book Award for nonfiction around 2012), is riveting and reads like good fiction.

So many books and so little time!

 

[Tzara]

Science Fiction

I don't read much science fiction, but I really liked these books and have read them multiple times. Though I suspect that Angie, our OP, is probably not someone who reads science fiction, her originating post is not just about books she might like, but rather "[n]aming a book you love and explain why you love reading it." So here goes:

• Crash by J. G. Ballard. One might argue that this isn't really a science fiction novel, I suppose, though that is the genre Ballard is most associated with. Crash is, mostly, a kind of metaphor for the decay or degratation of modern society, where sex and violence merge in the protagonists' fetishization of car crashes. I know that sounds creepy. It is.
  
  David Cronenberg made an excellent movie version starring James Spader and Holly Hunter. Other excellent books by Ballard include Concrete Island and High-Rise.
  .
• Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. This short novel shared the 1967 Nebula award. My fascination with it is due to its theme, which is based on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language determines cognition. As a novel in the literary sense, Babel-17 isn't very good--it's basically standard 60s SF.
  
  It does, though, have some other points of interest, especially regarding queer sexuality. Delany at the time, though self-identified as gay, was married to the poet Marilyn Hacker (who self-identified as Lesbian), and they shared their home with another young man with whom Delany had a sexual relationship. This "triad" concept bleeds into the novel, along with themes of body modification and discorporate entities.
  
  See also Delany's magnum opus, Dhalgren, which is a kind of Joycean uber-epic which seems at times deliberately obscure.
  .
• Solaris by Stanisław Lem. Psychologist Kris Kelvin travels to the odd planet Solaris, wholly covered by a mysterious and sentient ocean. Living in a hovering laboratory, Kelvin and the other members of the research team encounter apparently physical "guests," manifested from their memories (or, perhaps, fantasies).
  
  Solaris has been filmed twice, the first version by the great Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky (long, philosophical, confusing), and Stephen Soderbergh (shorter, clearer, less philosophical, but includes George Clooney). Lem has written many novels and story collections and I would recommend all of them, but particularly his The Cyberiad, ironic stories where the robot constructors Trurl and Klapaucius compete in building machines to perform ridiculous objectives.

I've read other science fiction that I liked--some of Arthur C. Clake (non-existent characterization, though brilliant scientific speculation), Neal Stephenson, and, of course, Philip K. Dick. But the three I mentioned are the ones I would recommend.

 

[Angeline]

You're right Tzara I'm not really into sci-fi or fantasy as genres but I'd probably read a lot more if I found individual books I liked. I love the Harry Potter series and think the world Rowling created is brilliant. I've read them all many times-- my kids were way into them to the point where we went to book release parties with my kids waving wands around and casting wacky spells on me. My oldest child is a huge Philip K Dick fan. And my youngest reads everything but loves manga. I guess it's just a matter of finding the right book. Genre always takes a back seat to good writing, interesting characters, etc., imo.

 

[Angeline]

I forgot to add that I loved the film Crash. I'm going to read the book. So thank you.

 

[Tzara]

I forgot to add that I loved the film Crash. I'm going to read the book. So thank you.

Just to make sure, there are at least two films with the title Crash--the 2004 Oscar-winning film about various aspects of race relationships and the 1996 film featuring an "underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce," that is the one based on Ballard's book.

Both a good films, but they are very different.

 

[Angeline]

Just to make sure, there are at least two films with the title Crash--the 2004 Oscar-winning film about various aspects of race relationships and the 1996 film featuring an "underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce," that is the one based on Ballard's book.

Both a good films, but they are very different.

Thanks. I misunderstood. I saw the film with Don Cheadle, about race and LA. But I had heard of the other film, probably read it mentioned in some article about the former. I think I remember confusing them then, too.

 

[Piscator]

1996 film[/URL] featuring an "underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce," that is the one based on Ballard's book.

Both a good films, but they are very different.

Directed by David Cronenburg - a Canadian

 

[Stillrandy]

Guess I am one for reading non-fiction and sometimes serious books. Have just started Shelby Foote's 'Civil War: A Narrative' trilogy. He is such a folksy and engaging writer. I enjoyed his commentary in the Ken Burns Civil War documentaries.

 

[Piscator]

Richard Powers The Overstory


Redwoods abide

 

[Piscator]

Tzara funny you should mention Vikram Seth. I love reading fiction that helps me learn about different cultures. East Indian cultures especially fascinate me. I've been meaning to read Seth's A Suitable Boy for years. It always eludes me as I get caught up with other books, but I've heard he's a terrific writer. I also love A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (he has a few other books published and they're all good. And Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the story of a Mumbai "undercity" by Katherine Boos (which won the National Book Award for nonfiction around 2012), is riveting and reads like good fiction.

So many books and so little time!

I'd definitely add Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children

 

[Piscator]

• The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel. There are a lot of characters in this book--a young woman bartender named after Edna St. Vincent Millay, her wannabe musician brother, a financial superstar, a shipping executive, and several others. The book twines all of these lives together in various settings--a luxury hotel in the wilderness of northern Vancouver Island, the financial district of New York City, life on international cargo boats. It's kind of a mystery, but more like a novel of how characters' lives intersect. Mandel has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Giller Prize (yep, Piscator, she's Canadian), and Barack Obama named this book as one of his favorites for 2020.
  
  Read it over the summer but I remember more of Station Eleven perhaps because I read it at the beginning of covid. THe story ends but I;m less sure about covid.

 

[Tzara]

Richard Powers The Overstory


Redwoods abide

Richard Powers is a good recommendation.

 

[Tzara]

The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel.

Read it over the summer but I remember more of Station Eleven perhaps because I read it at the beginning of COVID.

That was the book that really made her name, but I haven't read it yet. It's currently in my multistory sculpture of Books I Intend to Read.

Your recommendation might move it a bit closer to the top of the stack.





Thanks, Fishy.

 

[Piscator]

That was the book that really made her name, but I haven't read it yet. It's currently in my multistory sculpture of Books I Intend to Read.

Your recommendation might move it a bit closer to the top of the stack.
Thanks, Fishy.

Thanks I know the situation all too well, although my stacks are more a jumble, perhaps comparable to a not to scale Leaning Tower of Pisa rather than a sculpture.

 

[oggbashan]

Shakespeare: Plays and Sonnets

Chaucer: Canterbury Tales

Ellis Peters: Cadfael stories

Sapper: Bulldog Drummond and his WW1 works (despite incorrect racism)

H Rider Haggard

John Buchan (despite incorrect racism)

Raphael Sabatini

Baroness Orczy: Scarlet Pimpernel etc.

Some Zane Grey

Some Louis L' Amour especially The Sacketts.

Alastair McLean

James Clavell: Shogun

Tom Clancy (earlier works only)

Jack Higgins

Ursula Guin: Earthsea

Ernest Bramah: Kai Lung

Russell Thorndyke: Dr Syn

Thorne Smith: Topper et al.

C J Dennis: Australian Poetry

Richard Powell: Pioneer, Go Home! and Don Quixote, USA

and many more...

 

[Angeline]

Shakespeare: Plays and Sonnets

Chaucer: Canterbury Tales

Elis Peters: Cadfael stories

Sapper: Bulldog Drummond and his WW1 works (despite incorrect racism)

H Rider Haggard

John Buchan (despite incorrect racism)

Raphael Sabatini

Baroness Orczy: Scarlet Pimpernel etc.

Some Zane Grey

Some Louis L' Amour especially The Sacketts.

Alastair McLean

James Clavell: Shogun

Tom Clancy (earlier works only)

Jack Higgins

Ursula Guin: Earthsea

Ernest Bramah: Kai Lung

Russell Thorndyke: Dr Syn

Thorne Smith: Topper et al.

C J Dennis: Australian Poetry

Richard Powell: Pioneer, Go Home! and Don Quixote, USA

and many more...

I'm just about finished rereading Shogun (for the third time). Such great storytelling! I enjoyed the various sequels, but thought none as good as Shogun.

Have you read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry? I see you have both Zane Greg and Louis L'Amour on your list. Lonesome Dove is, imo, the best novel to date of the American West. McMurtry is equally good at writing and storytelling and it makes for an irresistible read.

 

[oggbashan]

One author I forgot and should be ashamed of:

Jeffrey Farnol: solve all problems and save the girl with boxing skills.

 

[NC_Coastal]

I have several but one I will mention is "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt. I adore the wide variety of Southern eccentrics that pepper the book. It reminds me of one of the more gracious things about the living in the South. I usually reread before homecoming at the church aka a family reunion.

To quote Dixie Carter, “This is the South and we’re proud of our crazy people. We don’t hide them up in the attic, we bring them right down to the living room to show them off," Makes my cousin that drives around with a billy goat in the back of his pick-up seem almost too tame to mention.

So true.
I was an English major at Carolina (North) and I read "The Sound and the Fury" a few times, just to understand it. I wrote more than one thesis on it.
Anyway, I read it again a few years ago and didn't feel anything. I think the times have finally rendered Faulkner moot. I think the past is finally the past. We can now tell the story of the South without all the angst.