I've never understood people who can't find anything to read (what, are you crazy?!?!) If you're that kind of person, I'm very sorry but I just simply do not understand you. Please come talk to me and I guarantee I will be able to help you find something to read. Maybe you can help me understand Jersey Shore.
There's a downside to being a bibliophiliac though, besides the sagging bookshelves and beady eyes: your self-imposed required-reading list always stretches out ahead of you for miles. And sometimes you buy a book and don't find your way into its pages for years. And it gets worse when you're with someone. When you're in a couple, you read something really astonishing, something just really meaty and amazing and you want the other person to sink their teeth into it too so that you can talk about it... but the thing is, they've got 457 books on their own list they've got to read first.
In Panama alone, this is what we're dealing with (I'm telling you, People, I packed light):
This is the shelf of books I've finished since I've been here. Of these ten books, I've wanted Tim to read all of them, but I've earnestly suggested that he should read three and a half. And I read half of one of them out loud to him on a car trip, so now he HAS to read it (haHA!). If you're doing the math here, that's three novels I've annoying just added to his to-read list (3.5 - the half I read out loud, see?).And these are the novels I want to try to finish before I leave in three weeks. That's a joke.
The ones on the top shelf are Tim's (and I read two of those too), but you get the point. I have a lot of reading to do, and so does Tim and by being in a relationship it MULTIPLIES, because you're constantly recommending things to each other. So last night, we came up with the an essential list just to get things under control.The Top Five Books I Would Ask You to Read, Pretty Please, For Me.
First, Tim's Top Five, because he's more interesting than me (except what is with all the colons in the titles, history people?).
- A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman (judging from observation, this is Tim's favorite author)
- Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang
- Guns, Germs and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond
- Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's, by Fredrick Lewis Allen
- Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, by Daniel L. Everett (I'm going to go ahead and take some credit for this though, because my grandmother recommended it to him)
- Bonus: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann
- Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (If you haven't read this, why? Do it. Then call me.)
- East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
- Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey
- Contact, by Carl Sagan
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll
Top Five Books That Tim Has Already Read, Making Me Love Him Forever:
- Farewell to Manzanar, by Jean Wakatsuki Houston
- A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
- The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay
- A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
- The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding (Tim had already read this before we met, but if he hadn't, I would have made him, because I couldn't talk to him like a human.)
- Bonus: The Giver, by Lois Lowry (same as Lord of the Flies)
Sigh...this post warrants an email. Full disclosure: #2 on Tim's list made me chuckle. Very immature of me, I know.
ReplyDeleteWild Swans is an incredible feminist perspective on the last 100 years of Chinese history as lived by 4 strong, independent, intelligent women who have struggled and suffered for their place in modern Chinese society. I recommend it to every women I've talked about books with AND NONE OF THEM WILL READ IT! C'mon, ladies. Show some solidarity with your eastern sisters.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to read Wild Swans, but never got my hands on an english version before I left. I think that, having seen this, that goes on the list of things to Amazon before I go back.
ReplyDeleteLioy
Besides _Don't Sleep, There are Snakes_ which really just looks like an amazing book, that's the one I plan to read first... uh, when I'm done with grad school. I'm totally fascinated by the of history the Chinese in America, but if I've got read about proper China, that's a way more interesting perspective (I think).
ReplyDeleteAlso, that's not Hyperbole, I've heard Tim recommend that to every woman who looks at his bookshelf. Amber, I'm talking to you, here.
You should love me forever--_The Giver_ is my all-time favorite book ever in the history of reading. Also, I finally (because Kacie made me) read _Lolita_. I must be the worst-read English major of all time. Anyway, the only book I've ever been able to get Abram to read (and only the 2nd book he's ever ACTUALLY read) was _American Psycho_, because I would read aloud to him the less-sick murderous acts, thus whetting his curiosity about how truly horrific it could become. He claims to have read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ in high school too, but I don't believe him.
ReplyDeleteI DO love you forever!!!! _The Giver_ is the book I always said was my favorite book ever, until I read Lolita. I think it's my favorite *book* and Lolita is my favorite *novel*. Does that make sense? Have you read the whole series? Because I actually haven't.
ReplyDeleteI thought about putting _American Psycho_ on the list to make Tim read, because I think it's FRIGGIN BRILLIANT, (I made him read one chapter that made me vomit in my mouth--no really) but I don't know.
Has Abram really, really never read anything else? LOL. Everyone *thinks* they read TKAM but they just skimmed it and watched the movie.
If you want an interesting look at Modern China Woman, read _Factory Girls_. Part of the reason I enjoyed it was, probably, that the research was done really close to where I lived. But even outside of that, it gives a thoughtful account of women trying to go on their own in rapidly industrializing China.
ReplyDeleteRoxie, that's what I think too--I think he *might* have read the first chapter or two, and called it a day. If you count comic books as "reading a book," then he has also read _The Watchmen_, but seeing as it took him two days to complete it, I don't think it counts. Even if it IS awesome.
ReplyDelete--Jess
P.S. _The Giver_ is a series?!?
You should read _The Magicians_ by Lev Grossman. It's like Harry Potter written for grownups - a magic school but with drinking and swearing and humping. We listened to it on the way to Lafayette for Evan's wedding and it's AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to read _A Reliable Wife_ but can't seem to get through the damn thing. I've been working on it for months. I bought it because it had interesting blurbs on the cover and praise from NY Times. But I don't like it. I'm still going to finish though, because I hate not to finish a book. Except that time we read _Water for Elephants_ which I threw across the room because I hated it.
I think I'll have to add some of these to my list; however, Tim's recommendations seem a bit dry for my taste. :) Is there at least one on his list that might hold my interest?
ReplyDeleteOnly Yesterday is written in a very conversational style, and it is just a guy reflecting on the recent past in much the same way there were a million "top ten of decade" stories in magazines at the end of last year. It just happens to be a really interesting decade.
ReplyDeleteDont sleep there are snakes is one of the stranger than fiction books that's constantly leaves you dropping your jaw. Everything that you think is basic to culture and language is not. Words for numbers? family members? singular or plural? holidays? belief system? hierarchy? ritual? organization? sleep? Not necessary. After getting to know a little of them, you will see why the author went native.
Kris--I almost bought _The Magicians_ this summer, but I bought _Let the Great World Spin_ instead. I will definitely read it now though. I know Jessica B. really liked it too.
ReplyDeleteJess--I didn't find out that _The Giver_ was a series until I heard Louis Lowry speak last summer. Idk, I kind of don't want to read the other books.
Marcus--All I can say is, everyone in my family read DLTAS and went nuts about it. Uhhh, maybe it will help you understand your ELLs? (That was partly serious, but mostly picking.)