Feb 14 2007
A Few Favorites Part 1.5 : Books Again
When I wrote the first in this series, I was tired and didn’t feel like getting up to dig around in closets, and pulling book titles from thin air is not easy for me.
During my time earning an English degree, I was handed syllabi with a wide variety of literature — some old, some new. Some sucked, some blew. I’m really, really sorry I just wrote that, but not sorry enough to delete it.
It’s a shame how many great works I read but had ruined for me by the repeated picking apart of everything my professors and my classmates inferred. Still, some of those works shine through.
After college, assigned reading behind me and no longer taking up all my spare time, I determined that I was going to read whatever felt good. As a result I read lots of entertaining but forgettable fare. I have read several books each by Michael Crichton, John Grisham, and Patricia Cornwell. All were fairly good at developing characters and could spin a good yarn, but they didn’t usually reveal anything about people or the human condition that made me mark the pages.
Before college, and a little bit after, there was Stephen King. I still consider him one of the best at creating believable and interesting characters. His novella The Body, the story for the film Stand by Me spoke to many levels of my male brain. Other standouts were The Green Mile, the medieval fantasy tale The Eyes of the Dragon, and The Stand. His early work as Richard Bachman, refreshingly devoid of the supernatural, features searing looks into society’s problems and where they might lead us. I heard he pulled Rage off the shelves after the Columbine High School incident and other school shootings made it hit a little too close to home. The Long Walk is chilling, too.
Unlike the other writers mentioned above, I never get the feeling King is writing to the movie. I hope everyone understands what I mean by that.
Having said all that, the manner in which I’m writing my latest online stories smacks of movie-style storytelling. That comes from publishing as it’s written, with very little if any thought given to the direction of the story before sitting down to type the next chapter. Maybe it’s also because I don’t have anything particularly deep or meaningful to convey to readers, or am just too chicken to put it out there.
My former Cornwell habit shows in a book I wrote during National Novel Writing Month 2002. Parts of that influence, and my love for cops and lawyer shows, come through in my online novelette, Wall. If you are inclined to click that link, please read the short story “Talk with a Killer” first (it holds a special place in my heart and establishes a major character).
Now, here are a few more books that stand out as good reads.
Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
The only Vonnegut novel I’ve read, it made me realize why he’s a big name in modern literature. I enjoyed this book so much that I’m completely bewildered as to why I didn’t pick up more of his work. Hilarious, moving, thought-provoking.
The Planets by James Finney Boylan
I picked up the hardcover of this book, which is not a science fiction tale, in a $1 bin at a Burlington Coat Factory store. Compared to Vonnegut by some, Boylan tells a funny, touching tale set in Centralia, Pennsylvania, where a mine fire that shut down the town’s industry has been burning since 1962. On another note, Boylan has had a sex change and now writes under the name Jennifer Finney Boylan.
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts
I would like to read more of Letts’ work. She creates an air of mystery and deceipt in this #1 New York Times bestseller, wrapped up in characters of small town Oklahoma. A man returns to the place of his birth and uncovers a riveting story that unfortunately entangles him within hours of his arrival.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Known later by its film name, Blade Runner, this book showed up in my “Film in American Literature” class, wherein we read a book and then watched the movie, and then picked apart both. The title alone gets points from me, but the story and the ideas build it up even more.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
I still find it hard to believe that a man wrote this book. I have not seen the movie, and Golden’s writing left me perfectly happy with that. Although criticized by some as not being exactly accurate, this is a poignant tale of one girl’s survival after being sold by her father to a Geisha house.
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
The inspiration for countless private eye books and movies, this novel was Chandler’s last in his Detective Philip Marlowe series and of his career. Real literature meets hard-boiled private investigation. This one was assigned by my “American Postmodernism” professor.
Montana : 1948 by Larry Watson
I started this book while staying on North Padre Island with family. The house owner encouraged us to take paperbacks home. The short, serious novel is an intense peek into one family’s brush with death and racism. From the point of view of a 12-year-old boy the reader gets a vivid image of the violence and hatred that we can only hope could never be so easily swept under the rug today.
Space by James Michener
The only Michener I’ve read, this tome covers the American space program, following the fictional leads from their days fighting in World War II to leaving the Earth’s atmosphere and helping establish the space shuttle program. He seems historically accurate on the space program itself, right down to how America got pivotal scientist Werner Von Braun from the Nazis. Although it came after Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff, it still stands on its own.
Hmm… you’ve reminded me of some books that have become movies or such…
Contact (the book was way better than the movie)
Independence Day (way better ending in the book)
Cosmos, by Carl Sagan. One of my all time faves along with
A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking. (I’ve read this a dozen times, and each time, I get something new from it).
I’ve also read a few (true) war stories, like The War of the Rats, about the war between Germany and Russia, and my all time fave war type book,
Marine Sniper. The story of Carlos Hathcock. I extremely highly recommend this book, as Carlos was the every first, Marine Sniper, who did multiple tours of Viet Nam, and won national marksmanship tournaments for years.
Wow.. the memories come flooding back…
I haven’t read any of those you just described, but I do have a paperback copy of King’s The Eyes of the Dragon somewhere. Maybe still back at my mother’s house. From back in the day when ALL I would read was sword and sorcery fantasy and I wanted to see what King could do with it. I seem to recall really enjoying it at the time.
Your sex change line caught me off guard there. Who’da thunk?
A few of my own:
A Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnett
A fictional Scottish noble set in historically accurate 15th century Scotland. Escaped from slavery but still a pariah among his own family, he rises back to prominence by dint of his unyielding character and ruthlessly charismatic leadership. The first of six books, it stands nicely alone and has more good one-liners than a single author ought to be allowed to pen.
The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay
A fantasy based on the Spanish Reconquista, with one character modeled after the heroic El Cid, the two men and one woman at the centre of this tale find themselves on opposite sides of nations in turmoil and must battle inner conflict while witnessing the death of a civilisation.
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
I am so going to to have to get more of his books. This one has a man, Shadow, at its heart. He gets caught up in the struggle for dwindling power, fought on the fringes of awareness by gods who are now little known by the people who worshipped them. Good stuff.
The only one of these I’ve read is Space, and that was back in junior high.
But now I can write my own blog entry on ten favorite books. :)
I hoped I would jog some memories or at least get folks in the mood to share their own favorites.
Dave - I liked Contact, too. My wife managed to enjoy the movie, I think mostly because she hadn’t read the book. I enjoyed reading The Hunt for Red October, which had a beautiful human story in addition to the cool submarine stuff. The movie was well done, too. That’s about all the military books I’ve read. In the espionage category, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of Ludlum books I’ve read — The Osterman Weekend and The Bourne Identity.
That one about the sniper in Vietnam must be a sometimes disturbing, but eye-opening read. Maybe I’ll check it out.
Simon - Those sound good, and I think someone on the SoS comment thread recommended Gaiman, too. You’ve mentioned GGK so many times now that I won’t be able to put it off much longer. ;)
I agree that the literary version of Giesha was much better than the film. The movie was beautiful to look at, but it didn’t transport you the way the book did. Also, good call on Phillip K. Dick. I haven’t read as much of him as I should, but I love what I have read. Insightful in a clunky sort of way.
I may need to follow Si’s recommendation for American Gods. I love Gaiman’s work on Sandman but couldn’t get behind his Stardust novel. It’s more of a fairy tale, so I should judge American Gods by it, but I’ve found it difficult to grab more of his literature.
Has anyone out there read Dhalgren by Samuel Delany? It is my personal Mt Everest. Some battle Moby Dick…I battle Dhalgren. I’ve never finished it because it taxes my brain to read it. But the language is stunning and I WILL read it one day. It’s the only book I’ve carried to each of my nomadic homes, but still it waits. It was assigned to me in college by a professor who had been carrying it around with him for years just as I do now. His goal was to force himself to read it by putting it on his syllabus. It worked for him…but not for me. Anyone? …Dhalgren?
MG - Never heard of Dahlgren or Delany. Sounds like a chore. I’ll have to go find out what it’s about.
I just thought of another great one, assigned to me in one of my upper-level sociology courses in college. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It takes the reader through a harrowing day in a 1950’s Soviet labor camp. Gripping.
Marine Sniper is outstanding Mark, I highly recommend it. It’s an absolutely true story of an incredible man.
Please find it if you can and read it. (there’s a sequel to it too)
Moksha, I’ve never read Dahlgren, but I’m a little intrigued by it now. I, too, will have to look into it. (Just did some googling on Sam Delany and it seems that much of the book is a reflection of his own bisexuality?)
Mark, it is my goal to convert as many people to readers of Guy Kay as possible. The LIONS book I mentioned is a great one to start with. TIGANA is also utterly fabulous.
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but I can only recall not finishing one book in my life. It is called “A Void” and was originally written in French by Georges Perec. I forget who did the English translation, but it’s a murder mystery type of thing. The REALLY neat part is that both the original and the translation were written under the same restriction: that of the entire 250+ pages being completely devoid of the letter “E”.
I still have the book on my shelf and I plan to re-start and finish it someday.
Si - Yeah, Delany’s bi-seuality does factor into Dhalgren, but it’s not the main issue. The book is this odd and logically circular construct that deals with the art of creation, of writing and the place of the author within their constructed universe. So yeah, there’s a lot of Delany in the story…but it’s not really about any one aspect of Delany, more the Delany-ness of Delany and how that affects the story.
I remember this one scene where Kid, the main character is walking by a display window and catches his reflection, but it’s not his reflection rather a large black man (Delany). That image has stuck with me.
I have also not yet been able to finish “Blindness” by Jose Saramago. It is beautifully written, but one of the most wrenching stories I’ve ever read. I will finish it because it deserves to be read…but it’s tough.
The only Michener book I’ve read was Covanent - about the history of South Africa. Having been there, I had to read it. Fantastic book!
As for Contact… I’ll have to disagree. I liked the movie better. I barely made it through the book…
I cant remember 1 single book Ive read in the last, say, 3 years without looking at my bookshelves. Will be back later. I know one thing, I must read a whole nother genre of literature; I know a lot of these authors, but only a couple of the books and havent read one of them.
Simon and MG - You guys are going to get me some interesting hits on Google.
Curt - You reminded me of a good one I read called “Horn of Africa.” Nothing to do with South Africa, but a good read. Dave, I expect you would like it, too.
Linda - I had that problem, too, which is why I had to do a 1.5 post on this part of the series.
By the way, folks, around here the parts of a series don’t always appear back-to-back.
Translation: Don’t expect the next part to be next.
Amanda just reminded me that I don’t read books just as I was starting this comment, which prompted her to say, “You don’t even read books. What are you going to say?”
However, I have read the story of Carlos Hathcock, who is from….drumroll please…Little Rock, Arkansas. He is recognized as the best sniper in US history, and that book is one of the most riveting things I’ve ever laid hands on. Awesome.
Charles - That’s cool. Now I’ll be needing to read it for sure (although I already respected Dave’s opinion enough to do so).
I must write the following, because nobody else has (I’m very disappointed, guys). I mean no disrespect to the sniper soldier.
“Hathcock, will travel.”
Darn it, every time I think to check out the books, PD is asleep in the bedroom. Guess it will happen later again.
“old- new, sucked- blew” I laughed….
I know you didn’t write “Hathcock, will travel.” LOL
I’ve missed your constant mid-sentence puns during our last few visits. I hope you up your game the next time we get to hang out.