Books I Want to Buy
Too lazy to write an actual article this week, so I thought I'd just share with you my summer reading list (I know everyone is just itching to know). If I could afford to go to the beach, this is what I'd read on the beach. I can't afford it, so I'll read them on my deck (I will go shirtless, though).
The History of Love: by, Nicole Krauss. Okay, so I a) mentioned this book last week, and b) already own it, and c) have just a few pages to go before finishing it. And yet. If I could afford to, I would offer a money-back guarantee on this book to anyone who reads this post. I can't afford to. (I did make this offer to this girl at the coffee shop the other day, but she was way better looking and nicer than any of you.) Buy it or check it out from your local library.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: by, Jonothan Safran Foer. His first book, Everything is Illuminated, was great and I haven't really read too much about this one (so as not to ruin it for me), so I'm going on faith here that this will be a good book. (I assume there is tons of stuff about it on the web, though I haven't looked.)
Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land: by John Crowley. Another book I'll buy on faith. Crowley's novel Little, Big blew me away, even if I didn't understand everything about it. If I were smarter, I'd write a review of it, but I'm not. The bit I know about this novel is: Crowley's book is a book within a book. Or something. One of the books in the book is a book written by Lord Byron, except that it is really not -- it's Crowley's vision of what a Lord Byron novel might have been. Crowley's imagination is incredible, and I'm itching to buy this book (I'm stranded in Arkansas right now and it is nigh on impossible to find an actual copy of some of the books I want to buy, seeing as our bookstores suck [yeah, I said it: they suck]. And even on the odd occassions they have books I want to buy, Juvenal is busy buying the last copy said books, such as this one.).
1776: by, David McCollough. Pretty much just because I got to meet McCollough once and he reminded me so much of my grandpa that I feel some sort of loyalty to him. Plus, if he could make John Adams interesting, imagine what he can do with Washington.
A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby. I seem to just want to buy books from the writers I like. Hornby wrote the novels that eventually turned into the movies High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch. He is funny and doesn't take himself too seriously. He's probably one of the few writers who is a better writer than he thinks he is. Other than having a bad cover, I don't know much about this book. So again, I'm going on faith.
Gilead: by, Marilynne Robinson. Read great things about this book and the first few pages were great. That's as far as I got though, because I can't read in a bookstore for one reason or other.
Harry Potter. I don't plan to camp out dressed as Snape in front of the bookstore, but I am looking forward to the book.
The People of Paper: by, Salvador Plascencia. If you can find a copy of this book, pick it up and just thumb through it for a couple of minutes. The design of the book is worth a look. I hope it doesn't overshadow the content of the book. He's a friend of a friend, so there's also some loyalty issues in my buying this book, but I am interested in it regardless.
Saturday: by, Ian McEwan. Atonement, his previous book, is one of the best novels released in recent years, I think. Another faith buy.
I'm trying not to buy a book until I've finished reading whatever it is I already own. I'm not very good at this and usually cave in and buy a couple a week. Especially when people tip well (tip your servers, people!, we aren't all going to go straight out and buy drugs -- and plus-wise, we have extremely good memories, so if you don't tip well, hope you don't get the same server twice). It's one of my compulsions (buying books, in case that last parenthetical got you off course, as it did me).
Just thought I'd share.
The History of Love: by, Nicole Krauss. Okay, so I a) mentioned this book last week, and b) already own it, and c) have just a few pages to go before finishing it. And yet. If I could afford to, I would offer a money-back guarantee on this book to anyone who reads this post. I can't afford to. (I did make this offer to this girl at the coffee shop the other day, but she was way better looking and nicer than any of you.) Buy it or check it out from your local library.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: by, Jonothan Safran Foer. His first book, Everything is Illuminated, was great and I haven't really read too much about this one (so as not to ruin it for me), so I'm going on faith here that this will be a good book. (I assume there is tons of stuff about it on the web, though I haven't looked.)
Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land: by John Crowley. Another book I'll buy on faith. Crowley's novel Little, Big blew me away, even if I didn't understand everything about it. If I were smarter, I'd write a review of it, but I'm not. The bit I know about this novel is: Crowley's book is a book within a book. Or something. One of the books in the book is a book written by Lord Byron, except that it is really not -- it's Crowley's vision of what a Lord Byron novel might have been. Crowley's imagination is incredible, and I'm itching to buy this book (I'm stranded in Arkansas right now and it is nigh on impossible to find an actual copy of some of the books I want to buy, seeing as our bookstores suck [yeah, I said it: they suck]. And even on the odd occassions they have books I want to buy, Juvenal is busy buying the last copy said books, such as this one.).
1776: by, David McCollough. Pretty much just because I got to meet McCollough once and he reminded me so much of my grandpa that I feel some sort of loyalty to him. Plus, if he could make John Adams interesting, imagine what he can do with Washington.
A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby. I seem to just want to buy books from the writers I like. Hornby wrote the novels that eventually turned into the movies High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch. He is funny and doesn't take himself too seriously. He's probably one of the few writers who is a better writer than he thinks he is. Other than having a bad cover, I don't know much about this book. So again, I'm going on faith.
Gilead: by, Marilynne Robinson. Read great things about this book and the first few pages were great. That's as far as I got though, because I can't read in a bookstore for one reason or other.
Harry Potter. I don't plan to camp out dressed as Snape in front of the bookstore, but I am looking forward to the book.
The People of Paper: by, Salvador Plascencia. If you can find a copy of this book, pick it up and just thumb through it for a couple of minutes. The design of the book is worth a look. I hope it doesn't overshadow the content of the book. He's a friend of a friend, so there's also some loyalty issues in my buying this book, but I am interested in it regardless.
Saturday: by, Ian McEwan. Atonement, his previous book, is one of the best novels released in recent years, I think. Another faith buy.
I'm trying not to buy a book until I've finished reading whatever it is I already own. I'm not very good at this and usually cave in and buy a couple a week. Especially when people tip well (tip your servers, people!, we aren't all going to go straight out and buy drugs -- and plus-wise, we have extremely good memories, so if you don't tip well, hope you don't get the same server twice). It's one of my compulsions (buying books, in case that last parenthetical got you off course, as it did me).
Just thought I'd share.
posted by Michael Lasley | 3:10 PM
2 Comments:
I won't pretend to have heard of most of those books/authors, but I actually HAVE heard/read good things about Gilead and hope to read it before I die.
I'm reading Crowley's book right now. Ppppthhhblllt! It's actually a book within a book within a book. There are two -- count 'em, two! -- concentric frame stories around the imaginary Byron novel.
It's not as good as Little, Big, but, seriously now, what is?
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