[favorite] favorite books
Submitted by Nick Vane on Thu, 10/24/2002 - 12:51
Tags:
- Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman
- Animal Farm - George Orwell
- Baseball: An Illustrated History - Geoffrey C. Ward
- The Beatles Anthology - Paul McCartney, et al.
- Bill James Statistical Abtract, 1989 edition - Bill James
- Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
- The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
- Complete Poems of... - Emily Dickinson
- The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
- Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
- The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
- The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
- If Chins Could Kill - Bruce Campbell
- Lord of the Flies - William Golding
- Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
- Our Band Could Be Your Life - Michael Azerrad
- Plenos Poderes - Pablo Neruda (translator: Alistair Reid)
- Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
- The Tommyknockers - Stephen King
- The Trumpet of the Swan - E.B. White
- Underworld - Thomas Pynchon
- White Noise - Don DeLillo
I've read 10 of these, and agree wholehearted with several of them (Fahrenheit 451 and To Kill a Mockingbird especially...) but just don't get the fascination so many people have with Egger's book. I actually disliked most of it. What makes you like it so much? (just curious)
Several of the other books on here I haven't read since I was assigned them in school so can't really say I trust my memories of them (Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Grapes of Wrath, Great Gatsby...)
Eggers' book was something that I could relate to enjoy on a couple levels. his enjoyment of inner games and self-flagellation resounded with me. I'm also a sucker for his novelty introduction, and all its games with myself as reader.
sure, his ironic anticipation of our reaction to his use of self-awareness in the introduction was a little cloying. but I could sympathize with a guy raising his little brother with no parental guidance. the scenes of "Toph" berating his older brother about all manner of personal weaknesses were painfully hilarious.
also, I enjoyed the dark humor of the book. there were a number of ways Eggers could have dealt with the events of his life, and I think that humor was the healthiest. I think he struck a fine balance bewteen dwelling on private troubles and highlighting his unique single-guy-city-dweller experiences (the magazine, trying out for "The Real World", seeing President Clinton). And he did so in such a way that it works; it doesn't break up the narrative. By the end of the book, I saw a complete human being, not a superhuman transformed by adversity. He doesn't take himself too seriously, so neither do we.
it's a book full of details, none particularly important, but details that nevertheless comprise a real life. For me, "Genius", like "Choke", resonate because of their first-person honesty and their surreal elements.
geez....sounds like I wrote a bad high-school AP essay. anyway.
I think his ego got in the way of my enjoyment. If I hadn't read the introduction I think I'd have liked the rest of it better.
fair enough.
but I think more than his ego, the intro showed his overeagerness to shield his ego.
yeah, he's a bit fragile. but if you squint, it looks like neurosis, which people tend to cherish more in their writers anyway.
The Postman book is great. Just curious but did you have that assigned for a class?
no, my roommate did this semester. I'd originally found it in a library in high school, and was drawn to it by the dire title and the headless family watching TV on the cover. but it was fascinating. I'd never thought about the consequences of television, or of new modes of entertainment/communication.
but when I saw my roommate bought the book a couple months ago, I had to refresh my memory. now I shoot suspicious glances at Peter's big screen, plotting my idiocy in the living room.
oh my, i adore trumpet of the swan by white! amazing taste :)