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Author: Jermoe
Date: 12-22-11 09:35
After reading Christopher Coake's We're In Trouble (a set of short stories thematically united by the focus on death and its effect on relationships of all types) over the last couple of days, I've decided to ignore the stack of books by my bed and the 5-6 titles backlogged on my Kindle and revisit either Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy or Blood Meridian over the upcoming 4-day weekend. What could be more festive?
This time, however, I decided to pick up some sort of helpful guide to aid me with some of the more challenging historical and/or linguistic aspects. And look what I found:
http://www.amazon.com/Cormac-McCarthy-Literary-Companion-McFarland/dp/0786443103
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Author: MrFab
Date: 12-22-11 12:20
- Ry Cooder "L.A. Stories," all set in the 1940s, like his last few albums.
- A boxed set of Harlem Renaissance novels looks pretty intriguing.
Anyone gonna check out the dude from the Decemberists literary effort?
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 12-22-11 15:22
I'd really like to read Wildwood, actually. It's a young adult novel, but it looks intriguing. Some of the best work in fantasy is being done in that arena these days.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 12-22-11 18:40
I spent a few minutes considering Wildwood for my 10-year old nephew at the book store a few hours ago. Then I decided on a subscription to Runner's World (he's the rare 5th grade distance runner). The wife pointed out that some of the content in that publication isn't super kid-friendly...I guess I'd never noticed.
So, now it's an Sports Illustrated for Kids subscription. It's really hard to buy for kids between 9-13.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 12-22-11 19:37
Jermoe, I've been thinking about carving out some time to re-read McCarthy as well. . . If I can get a span of a few days to do some non-research-oriented reading. I've really wanted to dig back into the Crossing--there's fathoms to consider in that middle book.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 12-22-11 23:14
I guess Blood Meridian will be getting the short shrift this weekend.
Erik, I have yet to read your official commentary on any of this, but I have to ask what you feel you missed with The Crossing previously?
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 12-23-11 08:20
"but I have to ask what you feel you missed with The Crossing previously?"
I think the Crossing is one of those works--like Moby-Dick; King Lear; Absolom, Absolom; and, well, Blood Meridian--that you can pick it up every few years and enjoy it anew and uncover new perspectives. He really plumbs the metaphysical and ontological depths in some of those seemingly digressive conversations. (The last portion of the Cities of the Plain is like that as well.) I also just love the amazing use of the language, obviously; I often pick it up just to read the opening passages about the wolves romping around in the snow. I could probably muse about McCarthy for the rest of my life--and the writing of the companion was such that I needed to limit myself to a few thousand words on each book. But it was great to have an excuse to immerse myself in those works for over a year.
Post Edited (12-23-11 08:21)
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Author: breno
Date: 12-24-11 08:17
Okay, Erik. We now have roughly 360 days left until Jesus & Quetzalcoatl come riding a comet back to Earth to free the Midgard Serpent and screw us all. What are the ten American novels (or short story collections) we owe it to ourselves to have read before the Mayans get to laugh and say "told ya so"?
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Author: hoip chiggs
Date: 12-24-11 13:07
I'll take up that challenge.
False Memory - by Dean Koontz
Watchers - by Dean Koontz
Cold Fire - by Dean Koontz
Mr. Murder - By Dean Koontz
The Servants of Twilight - by Dean Koontz
Demon Seed - by Dean Koontz
Icebound - by Dean Koontz
Lightning- by Dean Koontz
Fear Nothing - by Dean Koontz
Hideaway - by Dean Koontz
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 12-24-11 13:15
Hoip's on to something there.
I take up this challenge, Brad. But I have to puzz my puzzler over it for a bit. A warning: There will be no Twain and Salinger on my list (despite having lived yards from the former's burial place during an early teaching gig).
And thank you for including short story collections in your criteria (John Cheever, with a bullet).
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 12-24-11 17:33
I'm not Erik (allowing for a margin of error), and "ten American novels (or short story collections) we owe it to ourselves to have read" is a different list then, say, "10 Best English-language" or "hey you gotta check this out". And assuming "American" precludes Marquez, Flaubert, Celine, Dumas and Forster, here's a list of classics that I immediately thought of and proffer:
GREAT GATSBY - F. Scott Fitzgerald
CATCHER IN THE RYE - J.D. Salinger
ON THE ROAD - Jack Kerouac
AUGIE MARCH (or RAIN KING if you prefer)- Saul Bellow
SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE (or pick Breakfast of Champions, etc.) - Vonnegut
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN - Henry Miller
TOM SAWYER - Twain
SOUND AND FURY (or ABSALOM! ; you get to pick) - Faulkner
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS - Hunter Thompson
IRONWEED - William Kennedy
NP: Ween - White Pepper
Nick Cave - Henry's Dream
Post Edited (12-24-11 17:35)
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 12-24-11 21:38
I thought my list would be unique in that I would include Augie March and Ironweed--but here comes Paganizer before me with the good stuff. William Kennedy actually lives down the road from me, and my wife has worked with his son a lot. It's a small rural community outside of Albany, but to see a Pulitzer Prize winner pawing through the tomatoes at the Grocery or getting gas at the bread and butter shop kind of keeps one's ego in check. Besides those two books, I also agree with Paganizer's Gatsby choice and the Faulkner choices. (It's always a toss-up between the two.)
Here's mine:
1) Moby-Dick (there's worlds to consider in these pages)
2) Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
3) Absolom, Absolom / or Sound and the Fury
4) The Short Stories of John Cheever
5) Ironweed, by William Kennedy
6) The Sun Also Rises
7) Nobody's Fool, by Richard Russo
8) The Great Gatsby
9) The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow
10) Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
Post Edited (12-24-11 21:40)
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Author: breno
Date: 12-24-11 23:04
Thanks Erik! I've read exactly half of those (Moby Dick, Blood Meridian, Sound and the Fury, Gatsby and Sun Also Rises), so now the other five are at the top of my reading list for the coming year.
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 12-25-11 16:38
e,
the question is, which couple of choices did you struggle with?
I considered Moby Dick and also Bukowski (thus filling the SS req).
Conspicuously missing: Heller and Steinbeck (But I personally find the Steinbeck/Hemingway style tedious). I respect Moby Dick more than I think I enjoy it but have read Gatsby 3 times. Catch-22 is arguable but to me it just casts an unpleasant pall of nastiness - sort of like Ginger Man - not that classics have to be a fun read necessarily (friends have learned not to mention/tease Ulysses sorta like REM/U2). edit:: oops, I thought Brave New World was written in the States - guess not.
What say you about:
Cancer v. Capricorn
Lolita (written in America, anyway)
Mockingbird
Ellison - Invisible Man
Gone w/Wind
Sun v. Farewell
As I Lay Dying v. (the others)
Nobody's Fool v. Empire Falls
Mailer
Vidal
Sawyer v. Huck
Post Edited (12-25-11 17:57)
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Author: nosepail
Date: 12-25-11 22:58
Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow
Dos Passos - 42nd Parallel
James Farrell - Studs Lonigan
Hemingway - The Short Stories
Warren - All The Kings Men
Philip Roth - Portnoys Complaint
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 12-26-11 12:53
Quote:
Sawyer v. Huck
Huck!
Sawyer is to Huck Finn as The Hobbit is to Lord of the Rings.
HUCK!
4 out of 5 dentists who favour Beefheart over Zappa recommend The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for their patients who chew Mark Twain novels.
HUCK!
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Author: blasmo
Date: 12-26-11 19:31
Also Dos Passos. Re-reading the USA Trilogy. Not the orig., with the illustrations, but the all-in-one Lib. of Congress edition.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 12-27-11 08:43
Paganizer, It's a subjective list, and I did struggle a bit with Heller, but chose to give David Foster Wallace the nod instead. Sinclair Lewis and Edward Abbey also crossed my mind before exiting.
As to the others. . .
Cancer v. Capricorn [I just don't like Henry Miller]
Lolita (written in America, anyway) [Didn't think of it as American]
Mockingbird [unnecessarily canonized by HS teachers]
Ellison - Invisible Man [probably would end up in my top 25]
Gone w/Wind [erm, no]
Sun v. Farewell [the writing in Sun has this amazingly impressionistic quality that outdoes Farewell, despite Farewell's clearly better plotting]
As I Lay Dying v. (the others) [As I Lay... is an amazing book, but Fury and Absolom are monsters]
Nobody's Fool v. Empire Falls [Despite its at time broad humor, Nobody's... is a better book IMO. I think Empire gets a boost from Car Wheels... syndrome. Russo writes better about the blue-collar post-industrial funk of upstate NY, where he's from, than Maine, where he lived as a professor]
Mailer [English lit student: "What do you think about Norman Mailer?" Charles Bukowski: "I don't think about Norman Mailer."]
Vidal [not even in the running]
Sawyer v. Huck [clearly Huck is the better book, but I'm not a Twain person. I think he really benefited from the advent of a mass media and the uniquely American creation of "fame" in its nascent--but recognizable by today's standards--form. Melville (who comes a bit earlier) died while relatively anonymous and wrote a much better book, but he didn't commercialize his own persona as effectively as Twain did his. I used to teach at Elmira College where they have the Twain Studies center. This kind of thinking was taboo there. . . ]
Post Edited (12-27-11 18:48)
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 12-27-11 10:22
I had to put aside The Border Trilogy after receiving Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding for Christmas. I'm about 450 pages in, and enjoying it quite a bit–there's a good deal of Melville stuff in it, too.
Now, to throw my Koontzless hat in the ring (in no particular order after #1):
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
Without Feathers – Woody Allen
Nine Stories – J.D. Salinger
Cities of the Plain – Cormac McCarthy
Wonder Boys – Michael Chabon
Charlotte's Web – E.B. White
Collected Stories – Raymond Carver (this may be considered a cheat, but I couldn't pick one of his collections without feeling like something was getting omitted)
The Southpaw – Mark Harris
White Noise – Don DeLillo
Rabbit, Run – John Updike
Nothing before the 1950s? I guess not. They may not be the very best of the best (no Flannery O'Connor, no Saul Bellow, no Herman Melville, no Toni Morrison, no Thomas Pynchon, no Philip Roth, no F. Scott Fitzgerald, no John Steinbeck, no John Barth), but each of these books knocked me for a loop within the first 10 pages and they've stuck with me for years.
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 12-27-11 20:20
e,
wow. love it.
Agree with points and recs (except for Miller: Capricorn tops my list whereas most people go with Cancer* - though I don't not understand when people don't like the style; that's the way it is with literature) so the only debate I can sink my teeth into is Sawyer over Huck and love of Twain**. I'm familiar with the other thing, too - know people from Elmira C.
btw- What I don't understand in the NY system: Most states (out west if not most others) have a state system that includes the ""UNI of..." and the "State Uni" but New York has the SUNY system. Which is the flagship? Is it Buffalo? I always assumed it was Albany but I know the big stadium and campus are Buffalo?
*My argument goes: the style was much refined on Capricorn (and more concise) and the NY experience was more focused than Paris. It's basically Cosmodemonic Telegraph versus Anais!
**FWIW, Huck is among my least favorite Twain and although I always recommend Sawyer my faves are Innocents, Roughing It, Puddinghead and CT Yankee. Haven't been to the Elmira center but did see the stuff in Virginia City due to Roughing It.
In brief - there are three sequels to Tom Sawyer: Huck, Tom Abroad, Detective. One argument: Can't judge til u read the set. All are episodic. Best episodes: the original; most depressing and slowest: Huck
Post Edited (01-20-12 03:54)
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Author: Aitch
Date: 01-11-12 19:23
Just past the halfway point of Jack Grisham's An American Demon and it's pretty fucking annoying, actually.
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