Well, I bought ten or so books in New Orleans and only made it halfway through Graham Greene's "The Comedians" (also highly recommended)... Actually, I recently read "The End of the Affair", also by Greene, and wasn't as impressed, but it still built on some worthwhile themes.
As for other recommendations, be sure to check out Calvino's "Invisible Cities", which seemed more engaging than "If..." which I was too fickle to stick to... If you like the detailed descriptions, I always thought Arundhati Roy did a good job in "The God of Small Things" which leads to two other book recommendations, neither of which fit your personality, but will be made for completeness - "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", a children's book by Salman Rushdie and "Golden Gate" by Vikram Seth. Both indulge in a great deal of sometimes frivolous wordsmithery and the latter is written totally in verse (iambic tetrameter sonnets!). On which note I'd recommend the Rabbit Tetralogy, four books written over four decades by John Updike. If you enjoy critical treatments of America, you should enjoy Norman Mailer... But I think I recommended "Cadillac Desert" to you, and you were excited about reading that... That should keep you busy, right?
In defense of my voracity during the roadtrip, driving for much of the day does tend to sap your energy, and I far prefer sitting down and binging on a book instead of pecking at bits and pieces.
As for other recommendations, be sure to check out Calvino's "Invisible Cities", which seemed more engaging than "If..." which I was too fickle to stick to... If you like the detailed descriptions, I always thought Arundhati Roy did a good job in "The God of Small Things" which leads to two other book recommendations, neither of which fit your personality, but will be made for completeness - "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", a children's book by Salman Rushdie and "Golden Gate" by Vikram Seth. Both indulge in a great deal of sometimes frivolous wordsmithery and the latter is written totally in verse (iambic tetrameter sonnets!). On which note I'd recommend the Rabbit Tetralogy, four books written over four decades by John Updike. If you enjoy critical treatments of America, you should enjoy Norman Mailer... But I think I recommended "Cadillac Desert" to you, and you were excited about reading that... That should keep you busy, right?
In defense of my voracity during the roadtrip, driving for much of the day does tend to sap your energy, and I far prefer sitting down and binging on a book instead of pecking at bits and pieces.
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