summer reading list
my list is always 20 books long and i usually get through about 11. i did a little better this summer, so that's nice.
1. The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene - It's a self-help book that helps you learn how to manipulate people at their most basic emotional level. Fun stuff!
2. Jenny and the Jaws of Life: Stories by Jincy Willett - This writer is a recent discovery for me and this is now one of my all-time favorite story collections.
3. Cruising Paradise: Tales by Sam Shepard - It's Shepard! 'Nuff said!
4. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion - Her voice is impenetrable and oh so resonant. The first essay blew me away.
5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - You should read it if you haven't yet.
6. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson - The most overlooked literary debut in history, I think. Gilead, her second novel, won the pulitzer in '05 I think, but I couldn't even get through fifty pages (Hempel called it the greatest waste of talent she'd ever seen). Housekeeping, though, is unparalleled.
7. Oblivion: Stories by David Foster Wallace - His talent is tremendous. And so are his vocabulary and footnotes.
8. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett - Decided to follow Chabon's lead and do some research into genre fiction, and noir seemed a great place to start. This explains the next choice as well. Both books were quick reads, and entertaining, though I should have read them further apart because now the plots have begun to blend together in my head.
9. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
10. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Hilarious. Mindless entertainment with the occasional passage of philosophical relevance. Still haven't seen the movie.
11. American Pastoral by Philip Roth - HOOOOWWWWLLEEEEE SHIIIIIT. Roth had me at 'Goodbye' but this is clearly his masterpiece. The guy writes for seven hours a day STANDING UP. His family has resented their portrayal in his writing so much, he is virtually alone. And I admire the hell out of him. Though, I will say, I think after this one he starts to fall off (career-wise).
12. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - This is his first novel, and he spent ten years on it (you can tell by how well-researched it is). His only other book is a short story collection called Drown, which is also incredibly on point. I dig his Joyceian tendencies toward releasing books once a decade. It shows discretion. (And his footnotes rival DFDub's).
13. The Known World by Edward P. Jones - Another shining example of how well a book can be researched. Rich with history and side stories, it plays with a Faulkner sense of time, fitting for the mysterious, convoluted, and somewhat bewitched past of the south. Beauuutiful.
14. Slow Learner: Early Stories by Thomas Pynchon - The introduction is invaluable for anyone interested in composing fiction, and it actually gives some insight to the puzzle that is Pynchon. The stories are pretty good, and considering his age at the time of writing them they are REALLY FUCKING GOOD.
consider it a list of recommendations.
1. The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene - It's a self-help book that helps you learn how to manipulate people at their most basic emotional level. Fun stuff!
2. Jenny and the Jaws of Life: Stories by Jincy Willett - This writer is a recent discovery for me and this is now one of my all-time favorite story collections.
3. Cruising Paradise: Tales by Sam Shepard - It's Shepard! 'Nuff said!
4. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion - Her voice is impenetrable and oh so resonant. The first essay blew me away.
5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - You should read it if you haven't yet.
6. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson - The most overlooked literary debut in history, I think. Gilead, her second novel, won the pulitzer in '05 I think, but I couldn't even get through fifty pages (Hempel called it the greatest waste of talent she'd ever seen). Housekeeping, though, is unparalleled.
7. Oblivion: Stories by David Foster Wallace - His talent is tremendous. And so are his vocabulary and footnotes.
8. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett - Decided to follow Chabon's lead and do some research into genre fiction, and noir seemed a great place to start. This explains the next choice as well. Both books were quick reads, and entertaining, though I should have read them further apart because now the plots have begun to blend together in my head.
9. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
10. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Hilarious. Mindless entertainment with the occasional passage of philosophical relevance. Still haven't seen the movie.
11. American Pastoral by Philip Roth - HOOOOWWWWLLEEEEE SHIIIIIT. Roth had me at 'Goodbye' but this is clearly his masterpiece. The guy writes for seven hours a day STANDING UP. His family has resented their portrayal in his writing so much, he is virtually alone. And I admire the hell out of him. Though, I will say, I think after this one he starts to fall off (career-wise).
12. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - This is his first novel, and he spent ten years on it (you can tell by how well-researched it is). His only other book is a short story collection called Drown, which is also incredibly on point. I dig his Joyceian tendencies toward releasing books once a decade. It shows discretion. (And his footnotes rival DFDub's).
13. The Known World by Edward P. Jones - Another shining example of how well a book can be researched. Rich with history and side stories, it plays with a Faulkner sense of time, fitting for the mysterious, convoluted, and somewhat bewitched past of the south. Beauuutiful.
14. Slow Learner: Early Stories by Thomas Pynchon - The introduction is invaluable for anyone interested in composing fiction, and it actually gives some insight to the puzzle that is Pynchon. The stories are pretty good, and considering his age at the time of writing them they are REALLY FUCKING GOOD.
consider it a list of recommendations.