(The Brits do an awfully nice job with this sort of thing;lists like these - made up of thoughtful and heartfelt recommendations - serve not only as guides but also as reminders that, hey, books really do matter.)
I am so wrapped up in Pillars of the Earth right now…I’m sleep-deprived. Maybe it’s my Scottish/Yorkshire blood that is stirred by this book! I’m enjoying it so much I bought another copy of Pillars and the recent World Without End to be included in ldgirl’s Christmas ‘book box’ present.
(Both kids have always received a box of books every Christmas. My husband and I labor over the selections and believe it or not, it is their favorite gift. They can’t wait to see what is in their book box…and usually ask to open it on Christmas Eve. So this thread has been INVALUABLE to us. :))
By the way, following up on various folks’ mentions a while back of Nabokov and Lolita, he had some really fascinating things to say about other works of fiction (including some by authors - Tolstoy, Proust, Austen - who have come up in this thread), and many of his college lectures on literature have been collected and published. I’ve found them (I’ve read some but not all of them) not only illuminating, but also a great pleasure to read. He’s not at all dry or academic, but full of energy and (often surprising) insights.
Per a recommendation here, I just finished reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Great book!!! It’s considered a book for young adults, so I read it to see if it would appeal to one of my kids. I highly recommend it for teens as well as adults.
I recommend “Woman” by Natalie Angier. She’s a staff science writer for the NY Times and this is a sumptious, playful, gorgeous discussion of the female body. It was a finalist a few years back for National Book Award and deservedly so. Younger D calls it my “perv book” and maybe it’s the menopause phase manifesting in me but I found it enthralling.
Yet another take on “the year’s most significant and interesting books” - this one from the London Review Bookshop (which, as its name suggests, is affiliated with the London Review of Books):
How many put The Kite Runner on this list? It was D’s favorite book in 2005 as part of her AP English class, and she’s been pushing me ever since to read it. Finally caught up (mostly because I want to see the film, but insist on reading the book first). Really (really!) good. Pretty easy read, and very interesting. I love historical fiction, so this fits in nicely.
Also just finished Middlesex which I thought was great.
Waiting for pickup at the library is Into the Wild.
Oh one more, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. True story about an Elle Magazine editor who had a massive stroke that left him with “locked in syndrome”. I couldn’t put it down. Bring tissues.
Also A Million Little Pieces. It was found to NOT be a “memoir” as promoted, but was so well written it was another I just couldn’t put down.
Diving Bell and the butterfly–beautiful book. I read it right after my FIL had a brain stem stroke. His didn’t lead to “locked in syndrome” though it almost was, for a while. but his damage was extensive, and his difficulties with communication were heartbreaking. The book really helped me understand his experience (as much as one who is abled can, of course.)
“The Archivist’s Story” by Travis Holland. Not a cheerful book by any means, but beautifully done.
“Sepharad” by Antonio Munoz Molina. I’m learning Spanish just so I can read this in the original language, as the English version has cut 25% of the novel.
I am currently reading “Water for Elephants,” as was recommended on this thread a while ago. I agree it’s wonderful! Thanks for the multiple recommendations of this very fine book.
I am currently re-reading one of my (and my H 's) all time favorite novels–Handling Sin, by Michael Malone.
Starts out as rollicking fun, turns into something more with all kinds of deeper tones. Lots of great “set pieces” along the way–the classic picaresque road trip. Can’t understand why it never became a movie. Probably would not be considered “great literature” but I think it’s just wonderful.
I just finished A Slave No More by David Blight (a Yale history professor). It contains two recently discovered first-person narratives by American slaves who, during the Civil War, struggled to find freedom on their own. It also includes extensive introductory commentary by Blight.
Reading these narratives, you can really hear these men speak. And their stories are fascinating, disturbing, and touching - often inspiring, too. This book brings to life, in a very personal way, a time in our country’s history that sometimes (particularly as I get older myself) doesn’t seem that very long ago at all.
And Blight’s contributions serve as a reminder that just because you’re an academic, that doesn’t mean you can’t write clearly and gracefully - even, at times, poetically.
For more info on this book, here’s the review of it that recently appeared in the New York Times: