Onward, onward
2009’s reading list, a work in progress:
On the Line by Eric Ripert and Christine Muhlke - awesome, if you’re at all interested in seeing how a top-notch restaurant is run.
Empire Falls by Richard Russo - I have no desire to know what life is like in a small town in Maine. This book painted that life in painstaking detail.
Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn - An interesting read, though a little dated.
Falling Man by Don Delillo - Excellent.
The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss - I don’t know why I read this, really.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Greatest American novel for no other reason than its simple Americanness.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - A great book on mindful living and good eating.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - I love Chabon’s prose. He’s one of the kindest writers I’ve ever read.
Serena by Ron Rash - The bear falling on Pemberton is some of the best prose I’ve ever read.
Down in the Flood by Luke Whisnant - A nice collection of quirky, oddly successful stories
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - Just a great book and much more complex than the movie, particularly in relation to the civilizing influence women have on men.
An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life by Ann Hood - Ann Hood is a prolific and widely published writer. Some of these stories were a little domestic for my tastes, but each can be studied as a fine example of structure and craft.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - Amazing, beautiful prose that blunts some of the violence and relentless lanscape.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson - This is a marvelous book and chronicles the end of The American Dream as envisioned during the 1960s. The book’s central theme is best exemplified (spoiler alert!) during the absurd exchange in the all-night diner as manager and waitress believe The American Dream is a now-defunct nightclub. Indeed, when Thompson drives to the club’s location, he finds it’s burned to the ground.
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner - Faulkner’s best work.
Close Range by Annie Proulx - Proulx may be one of the finest prose writers ever.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - I should have read Pale Fire instead.
Into the Great Wide Open by Kevin Canty - A fine book. Canty’s a solid writer, but I really think he excels at short stories.
The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo - I finished this book at lunch today. I’m not sure how I feel about it.
I started Dean Koontz’s The Taking because a student loaned it to me and gushed about Koontz. I think I suffered through fifty or so pages before giving up. I just couldn’t do it. At semester’s end I’m gifting the student The Great Gatsby and The Shipping News, the two finest books I’ve ever read.
