The book thread

[Tzara]

This thread is, unsurprisingly, about books. Talk to us about books you've read and/or owned that were particularly important to you. These need not be poetry books, though given that this is the Poetry Forum, I would expect that often they may be. (Though I would also expect that just as often they may not.)

Tell us about the book you've picked and why it is important to you. Tell us, if appropriate, why we might like it.

We're not merely writers. We are all readers. Tell us what we ought to read, and why.

 

[Tzara]

My best book purchase, ever

I need to give some background for this.

When I was an undergraduate in college, I didn't live on campus. I commuted. Fairly lengthy boring drive, la la la. Not important.

What that meant though, was that in between classes, I didn't have a place to go. No dorm room. So I would sometimes hang in the library, or the Student Center, or just sit on the lawn. But—think of this—I was also very young. So often I went to the Mall.

I'd look at clothes, or stereos, or girls. Or clothes, or girls. Or girls. I looked at girls a lot.

But there was a bookstore, and being geek, I spent time there. There also (this was some time ago) was a book department in the department store—before it became a clothing store with appliances. I'd wander through it after checking out the grotesque fashions designers catered to us.

One day, there was a bargain table. I bought a thin book for nineteen cents. (I remember that distinctly. It's probably the least amount of money I have ever paid for a book. Even then it was cheap.) The book was Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. Used or remaindered copy.

One of the greatest books I have ever purchased in my life.

It is short stories, my favorite form of literature. May not be yours, though, so keep that in mind. Amazing stories that, to take one famous example, make you believe that a 20th century Argentinian is writing Don Quixote chapter by chapter without ever having read the original.

Trust me. It works. It's creepy.

This guy originated "Magical Realism." He's who Gabriel Garcia Marquez is imitating. It's the Real Stuff.

Probably cost you more than nineteen cents, though.

Unless you check your library.

 

[Liar]

I'll have to think about it twice before I contribute here, but for now, I'm with you on Borges. I stumbled upon some stuff of his in an anthology many years ago, and it changed my view of what fiction can be and how it works. Granted, my view was pretty narrow back then, but still.

 

[clutching_calliope]

I'll play!

.....

 

[wildsweetone]

i can't answer this one. every time i buy a book it is better than the last one i bought. (the latest was a recommendation by a friend and I've no doubt this one is THE BEST! lol )


(Hey Tzara, did you ever read the Snippettsville Group 600 word stories? You might like to check them out.

 

[Cockyfox]

Any Stephanie Plum novel........because they remind me to laugh and enjoy myself.

I also recommend an oldie: The Giver by Lois Lowry because it reminds me about the importance of love......real love and independent thinking.

Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend has always been a favorite, too.

 

[Tzara]

I'm sure that it is probably bad form to revive one's own dead thread, and particularly so with one that was stillborn, but, hell, I was formed bad and want to talk about a book and this seems to be the best place to do it. Put me on ignore if you don't like it. 's what the option's there for.

So. I was rummaging around in our basement stacks last night (yes, our home is like a library) and came across a novel y'all might be interested in called The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth. This was Seth's first book and he has since gone on to a reasonably successful career as a novelist. The Golden Gate is a pleasant book, kind of dated (mid-80s), and not especially memorable except for one thing—it is written entirely in successive rhymed sonnets. No other forms, no prose. The entire book, including the Acknowledgments, the Dedication, and the "About the Author" statement are in sonnet form. Even the Table of Contents:

1. The world's discussed while friends are eating.
2. A cache of billets-doux arrive.
3. A concert generates a meeting.
4. A house is warmed. Sheep come alive.
5. Olives are plucked in prime condition.
6. A cat reacts to competition.
7. Arrests occur. A speech is made.
8. Coffee is drunk, and Scrabble played.
9. A quarrel is initiated.
10. Vines rest in early winter light.
11. The Winking Owl fills up by night.
12. An old affair is renovated.
13. Friends meditate on friends who've gone.
    The months go by; the world goes on.

Anyway, if that at all seems your cup o' tea, it's still in print and your library probably has a copy. Not War and Peace, but quite fun.

 

[normal jean]

My favorite book of all time is/was my mom's Poe collection. She gave it to her mother and I never saw it again and now they are both dead. I still remember reading "The Gold Bug", wishing I could write like him.

My favorite's by Poe arethe Raven and the Tell-Tale Heart, when I was 9, wasnt all that interested in the poetry

 

[wyckdwench]

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I volunteer for a child advocacy group that assists the court system with providing the best interests of the child. I have discussed it with my Mom and she handed me this book called "Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold.

It is a tear jerker for certain and deals with the sexual abuse and murder of a 14 year old girl. I think this review puts it best: "The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings." --Brad Thomas Parsons

Definitely a book worth the purchase and the time to read - you won't want to put it down.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I recommend anything by Barbara Kingsolver - but don't start with The Poisonwood Bible, it will put you off. She's a poetic writer and speaker if you're ever lucky enough to hear her give a talk.

 

[bogusbrig]

Vibrator by Mari Akasaka. A sort of Japanese road movie but brilliantly written. Its very short, approx. 120 pages in all.

The Air Loom Gang by Mike Jay. Its a factual book about James Tilly Matthews, a famous psychiatric case, him being the first recorded person to think he was being controled by a machine. It reads like a novel but is very informative and a wonderful book about delusion.

 

[flyguy69]

Brink Road by A. R. Ammons. A spellbinding collection of 150 of his poems, including the mesmerizing "Summer Place."

Sorry I never noticed this thread before-- great idea, Tz!

 

[pte_arg]

The Wheel of Time Series-Robert Jorden-Great character deveolpmentm and the story line is really planed out

1984-George Orwell- Failure of Humanity, authoratative government, got to love it


The Invisble Men,Island of Doctor Monroe-H.G Wells-Again human failure but also dealing with extremly inteligent people

A Modern Utopia-H.G Wells- A great thesis on the posibilty of how mankind could deveople

The Prince-Niccolo Machiavelli-Cool,Calculating,Planing, human nature at it's best

Of Mice and Men-George Stienbeck-Human failure,are you people starting to see a theme

 

[clutching_calliope]

The last excellent book I read was A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. The last awful book I read was The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

I'm sure there'll be more of each.

 

[Angeline]

When I was a kid my uncle gave me a beautifully illustrated hardback edition of Anderson's Fairy Tales. I read that over and over, along with A.A. Milne's House at Pooh Corner.

I suppose those two somewhat ameliorated my father reading to me from Damon Runyan's Omnibus at bedtime.

Fast forward a few years and I was captivated by the Madeleine L'Engle books (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet).

In eighth grade I read (and did a book report on) A Catcher in the Rye. Big teenaged angst influence. I was also then very into reading anything by Patrick Dennis, who wrote Auntie Mame and a bunch of other books. Very New Yorkie-ish writer.

In eighth grade I also read Dickens Great Expectations. He became my favorite writer for years (and still is up there on the list for me).

Also read To Kill a Mockingbird and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (among other stuff by him)--both were big influences.

In college (where I totally fell in love with Shakespeare and poetry, poetry, poetry), I did a two year honors study on Dickens and mid-Victorian culture. I've read and loved most (but not all) of his novels. I love other writers from around that time too, especially Zola and (the very underrated, imo) Mrs. Gaskill.

I also remember getting a copy of Eliot's The Wasteland with Ezra Pound's edits. It fascinated me and got me thinking about the influence of editing on poetry.

And being so close to NYC, I read the beat poets and saw many of them read at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery. That's where I grew to love Ted Berrigan.

And almost everything by Chaim Potok, but especially the Asher Lev books (My Name is Asher Lev, The Gift of Asher Lev) are among my all-time favorites. Potok wrote with great wisdom and warmth.

There's lots more, but this post is way too long already and half of you are probably snoozing from it. Suffice it to say, I read A LOT and am influenced by most of it.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I don't think there are life-changing books - well, it can happen, I guess, but most often than not it would be by force of circumstances than by the book itself - but some books can help shape some aspects of who we are. There was one book that helped change my perspective on literature and made me want to write: Glamorama, by Bret Easton Ellis. I had already read other works by the same author and had enjoyed them, but when I came across Glamorama, it hit me like an atom bomb. The attention that goes into language is from out of this world, but that's nothing new. Borges and Garcia Márquez have the same attention, on an entirely different record. What grabbed me was the structure, the way it trapped me and then collapsed under its own weight, taking me down with it. The gall to take what seemed like a relatively simple narrative and turn it inside out, into a surrealistic nightmare, without ever losing me.