Books

a'ight loons

I am about to embark on a three week trip w/ multiple flights….

anyone read any good books lately?

bonus points for paperbacks - trying to travel light

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I'm reading Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," and thus far its great. Won the Pulitzer - very easy to read and entertaining.

via kosmette

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (Virgin Suicides)
anything by Bill Bryson
Sarah Vowell's stuff
David Sedaris' stuff
Lamb: the Gospel according to Biff;
Everything by A. S. Byatt is always at the top of her list, but it might be a chick thing…

I second "Middlesex" - and it ain't discussing a city in the UK either…it'll keep you thinking and engrossed (or just grossed out) for a LONG time. ;)

Scott Heim - Mysterious Skin
Donna Tartt - The Secret History

The last one makes you addicted, so I'm warning you. ;-)

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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
via kosmette

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (Virgin Suicides)
anything by Bill Bryson
Sarah Vowell's stuff
David Sedaris' stuff
Lamb: the Gospel according to Biff;
Everything by A. S. Byatt is always at the top of her list, but it might be a chick thing…

Kosmette has good taste. Middlesex was definitely one of my favorite books in 2003. I love Sedaris' books - always a good laugh but it seems to be so much better when he reads (eg. audiobooks). Alot of the jokes come across better that way. The absolute best is when he imitates his redneck hip-hop brother. Or when he sings TV commercial jingles in the style of Billie Holiday. :)

If you like dark humour, then I would heartily recommend Chuck Palahniuk. The man is a genius. Choke is my favorite.

I'm a big fan of Richard Russo (he won the Pulitzer for Empire Falls and deservedly so). Empire Falls and Straight Man are my favorites. Russo writes about small towns in the NorthEast. What attracts me is that his protagonists are usually the kind of people we would see hanging out in the local watering hole - decent people with fatal flaws. There aren't happy endings in the stereotypical sense. Issues resolve themselves in the way that real life tends to, for better or worse.

If you like mysteries and want something more substantial than the usual brain candy (ie James Patterson or Johnathan Kellerman), try The Alienist (Caleb Carr) or The Dante Club (Matthew Perl). The Alienist is almost like Silence of the Lambs but set in turn of the century Manhattan, a time when the concept of forensic psychology was barely in it's infancy. The Dante Club is a murder mystery for literature buffs. Murders are committed and the common link is that the manner of death is copied from Dante's Inferno. Literary giants of the day are enlisted to help solve the crime. Both books use historical fiction to the max.

That's my two cents worth. Your mileage may vary.

Middlesex is phenomenal. I personally don't care for Palahniuk; I think he uses the same narrative voice in all of his books - basically, everybody narrator is analagous to Jack in Fight Club (Ed Norton's character). Nihilistic and cynical. And Palahniuk seems to have a need to be shocking for the sake of being shocking, without having any real purpose - he loves extremely violent images that border on sadistic without really making a point for using them.

Nick Hornby has a new book out that has gotten some mixed reviews; that could be worth looking into.

Also, if you haven't read the English Patient, its unbelievable - I never saw the film, but the book is great. Michael Ondaantje (I think this is how you spell it).

already read it - yes, its very good

Originally posted by callat703:
I'm reading Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Kavalier &amp; Clay," and thus far its great. Won the Pulitzer - very easy to read and entertaining.

Richard Russo was boring to me; I couldn't get through Empire Falls. I thought he was kind of trite; he tried to be witty and didn't pull it off.

I really liked the Secret History….in fact I think it was my contribution to a Secret Santa forum gathering a few years ago

Originally posted by HomesickAlien:
Scott Heim - Mysterious Skin
Donna Tartt - The Secret History

The last one makes you addicted, so I'm warning you. ;-)

Just finished this – should be right up your alley, brennser:

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Middlesex seems to be emerging as the early favorite, although the Dupek book on undercover Brits might be good as I will be roaming the border between N. and Rep Ireland

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one of the best modern novels i've read … it's a great book full of big ideas and disturbing imagery

kosmette would also like to point out she is reading lots of young adult books these days. and says the Bartimaeus trilogy is great fun if your into that type of thing…

Originally posted by callat703:
And Palahniuk seems to have a need to be shocking for the sake of being shocking, without having any real purpose - he loves extremely violent images that border on sadistic without really making a point for using them.

While not being true for all of his works, his new book Haunted certainly fits this description. He seems to have taken astray with his intentions to shock. But I still like him. To brennser I recommend Chuck's novel 'Survivor' about the last living member of a cult who is dictating his life story to a black box in a plane he hijacked. It is Chuck's best novel, with some truly hilarious moments and characters.

It might be that I need to give him another chance; I read <i>Lullaby</i> and was really turned off by it. But perhaps I've spoken too soon, or just read the wrong book.

Originally posted by callat703:
It might be that I need to give him another chance; I read &lt;i&gt;Lullaby&lt;/i&gt; and was really turned off by it. But perhaps I've spoken too soon, or just read the wrong book.

I didn't much care for Lullaby either. Chuck shouldn't try to do horror. But check out 'Choke','Survivor', and 'Invisible Monsters'. They're all excellent reads.

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My wife said it's pretty good, I haven't had a chance to start it just yet.