Recent uncomfortably good reading. If I was to loosely group them, they all have a theme of ‘mild eroticism’ – just like pudding wobbling in a bowl…
1. The Bird Room: A Novel
by Chris Killen. I bought this book because I was looking for something contemporary and British; plus a few of the blogs I read keep yammering on about Killen’s literary prowess. Exuberant isn’t the word I’d use to describe The Bird Room. ‘Sexy’ and terse, perhaps. A recent interview with Killen can be found here – as you’ll see he comes from the Tao Lin school of irony.
2. No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
by Miranda July. As expected from July, there’s a lot of awkward moments, but I felt like I could relate to the characters. Everyone is adrift from normality sometimes, and who hasn’t fancied HRH Prince William? (And he did have more hair circa 2007). For the most part the stories are deft and satisfying – I definitely recommend this as bed time reading. Curious to try before you buy? Enjoy The Shared Patio free of charge.
3. Unlimited Dream Company by J.G. Ballard. Blake, a young man who has failed at being a medical student, Jesuit novice and pornographic writer, becomes obsessed with the idea of flying. He steals a plane and crashes into suburban London, which is transformed into a lush paradise. The exotic triumphs over the every day, inhibitions are shed, and dreams take over. Unlimited Dream Company is another fantastic novel from Ballard’s extensive dystopian back catalog.
Junky by William S Burroughs is an interesting tale, traipsing around New York and imbibing anything he could get his mitts on. It was good to read John Wyndam’s The Chrysalids in the Amsterdam sunshine, however I wish I had read it ten years ago though (its perfect for a dreamy teenager). I finally finished the last few pages of On the Road
by Jack Kerouac, the initial inspiration for the Book Club For Drunks.
My current read? Time Must Have a Stop by Aldous Huxely. I bought this in a Berlin market yesterday for 3 euros, and was given a free idea (“Like a fortune cookie, but no cookie!”) from the seller. It made me very happy…
As you can imagine I was swooning all over the place when presented with a fistful of colourful papers to choose from. This one called me, it roughly says: “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” – André Gide
An apt metaphor for all 4 books, and my trip.
Vogue Body and Beauty by Bronwen Meredith is my new favourite old book. I finally took the time to read this beast, and it’s fabulous. “This sumptuous yet eminently practical handbook gives the facts and possibilities about health and beauty honestly and without feeding women’s dreams and illusions.”
Great book, but I must say; seventies diets for health are outrageous… really, how many grapefruit can you eat in a week? There seems to be many copies of this floating round, so if you have the chance to get your elegant wee paws on it, do so. From the eating plans, to the DIY treatments, to the Vogue full-colour plates – it’s good in so many ways.
I love reading, and I love watching people read. Observing them drift into a state of deep concentration that sees them ignoring screaming babies, fires and once in a lifetime frisbee catches. It makes them forget that the cup of tea has gone cold and slightly soupy, and their toes are freezing despite 2 pairs of socks. They’re in another place, you can see it on their faces.
Of course, you need fuel to feed this fire. Here’s a list of alternative reading list suggestions – it could make for an interesting year…
- Read all the recipients of a major literary prize, e.g. every Booker.
- Read the top ten books from the year of your birth.
- Or if you don’t like you birth year’s selection, how about 1971?
- Exclusively read books set in tiny Portuguese villages.
- Exclusively read novels by Alaskans.
- Delve into the classic books of your country – they are waiting for you. Or another nation’s novels – France, Spain, Canada. (Thanks Mausumi!)
- Find a theme that unnerves you. Grief, sexuality, loneliness. Happiness.
- Ask ten of your friends for their favourite book titles. Start there.
- Then ask ten people who are at least 10 years older than you.
- My Form 2 teacher (that’s age 12) gave me this list he photocopied (from gawd knows where) of the supposed top 100 must read books. I made a start and have been carrying it around ever since. You can do better than me!
It’s the fourth of January. Time to wake up from that party haze, extract yourself from the food coma and dive into your New Year resolutions. (We all need a few days grace!)
If you’re anything like me, you will have put ‘read more’ on that list of things to do this year. I’m not going for any specific number or genre – although I wouldn’t mind getting through 2 novels a month. So while I’m fresh and eager, I thought I’d share ideas for a few decent books to put on our lists.
A concept for a “wall of knowledge” at the Stockholm Library, created by a team of students at the Architecture School of Paris La Seine.
The CFS New Year Reading List:
- How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff. Fifteen year old Daisy thinks she knows a lot about love and life – but oh, how she’s wrong. Sent to England to spend a summer with her cousins, everything deliciously and dramatically falls apart. A short, sweet, heartache for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
- Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie. Rushdie’s 1981 novel won the Booker prize that that year, then went on to win more accolade as the best of all Bookers in 2008. It’s a charming love-song to India’s history and independence, imbued with magic-realism and magnificent noses. Fact: In 1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi brought an action against the book in the British courts, claiming to have been defamed by a single sentence in chapter 28, in which her son Sanjay Gandhi is said to have had a hold over his mother by him accusing her of contributing to his father’s death through her neglect.
- The Gathering Storm, Robert Jordan. Number 12 in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. He’s dead but the story must go on! Hopefully one of my nerdy friends will lend it to me so I don’t have to buy it…
- Piano Player, Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a super computer and run completely by machines. His rebellion is a wildly funny, darkly satirical look at modern society.
- The Godwits Fly, Robin Hyde. The Godwits Fly is a New Zealand classic (I first came across it in my high school library, and er, now notice the copy I am holding now is the same one). Originally published in 1938, it concerns themes of growing up as a girl, love, heartbreak and the resulting poetry. It’s a beautiful, wistful peek into life in early-twentieth-century Wellington too.
- Dear Diary, Lesley Arfin. Arfin (who you may know as a Vice/Missbehave/Russh columnist) looks back into her personal diaries of her teenage years “with the perspective only rock bottom can give you”. I like the fact this is filed under young adult fiction at my local library. YA loves heroin addiction.
- Sabbath’s Theater, Philip Roth. I am a bit loathe to recommend this to you as I know you are all lovely, upstanding people who generally enjoy tulle and kittens. Roth’s 1995 masterwork is unpalatable and not safe for work nor the bus. However it is one of the finest pieces of characterisation I have ever encountered. Do read this review for a taster of what you’ll be getting yourself into – but as it says, Sabbath’s Theater, while outlandishly filthy, contains some of the funniest, freshest writing of our time.
- Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer. A humorous exploration of the fictional JSF’s journey into Jewish history of Ukraine. Translator Alex will win your heart with his ‘premium’ letters. My edition tells me Everything Is Illuminated won the Guardian First Book Award in 2002 and since has been published in 24 countries (perhaps, including Ukraine). Watch the 2005 film afterward – it stars Elijah Wood.
Happy reading. A decent starting list, non? Have you read any of the above? What’s on your agenda this year, dear bookworms?
