In the last few weeks I went from reading about six books to having only one or two I'm currently working on. I'm on the hunt for what to read next. Here are a few I've been tempted to pick up:
A Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Those have all been on my "To Read" list for a while and while I want to read them, I feel like I'm in the mood for something else. This time of year I really like books that take place in the wild. It's hard to explain why but I think it's a feeling akin to that described by Melville in Moby Dick:
Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
I for moral and practical reasons will not be slipping out to sea, as much as I would like to, so I would like a book that would offer a similar escape. Something survival oriented. Any suggestions? I might just re-read Watership Down or Into the Wild or some Jack London but I would prefer something new.
If you're curious, the books I finished recently were Anna Karenina, My Antonia, Confederates in the Attic, The Red Badge of Courage, the poem The Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner, Tennyson's Idylls of the King, Hamlet, and the play A New Coon in Town (Proud of me Brian? It only took me 3 months)
7 comments:
We usually go to the beach with Eric's family for Thanksgiving, and I really do love the sea in November. That's a great quote.
I just started Love in the Time of Cholera. Yep, doing the Oprah Book Club thing (and I'm not ashamed to admit it!)
I've heard some good things about a new translation of War and Peace. There was a bit about it on NPR the other day...
What about survival in a differenet sense... The Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri... survival in a new land. (one of my favorite books)
If it's wild you want, here are a few that Dean and I have enjoyed:
1)Shooting the Boh, Tracy Johnson
2)Distant Islands: Travels Across Indonesia, Charles Corn
3)Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey, Lawrence & Lorne Blair
4)Stranger in the Forest, Eric Hansen
5)Floreana, A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos, Margret Wittmer
6)Into the Heart of Borneo, Redmond O'Hanlon
Yes, there is a definite Indonesian theme...
Wow, Thanks for all the Great Suggestions! It's fun to get advice from other "readers."
Chelsea, I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez but I've never read Love in the Time of Cholera. Growing up we had it on the shelf and while I read 100 Years of Solitude and some of his short stories my dad kept telling me I wasn't old enough to read LITTOC. Maybe now I am? And I keep picking books and then Oprah picks them, so I guess I'm doing the Oprah book club thing whether I want to or not. Which is a little scary.
Aunt Mer, I loved The Namesake too! I keep buying copies and giving them away to friends I like it so much. I really enjoyed Interpretor of Maladies too. I can't wait for her to write more.
Aunt Joan, I have a suspicion reading those books will make me desperately want to go to Indonesia. Which could be a good time. I'm going to start working on hunting them down. I have a suspicion they won't be at the local Barnes and Noble.
I suggest The Woman Married to a Lion. I think that's what it's called. It's a book FULL of African stories. You know how in Roman/Greek mythology, adultery seems to be a theme in the stories? Well the theme of these stories seems to be bloodshed. It is Africa. I hope you find something good! Love Abbycin
If you want something wild, I'd suggest Rabelais, Goethe's Faust (especially Part Two), or Ibsen's Peer Gynt. Have you read any Sigrid Undset? I think you might like her writing.
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