Books Read (2012)

[cosmic_celery]

Here's my reading list. I've also been keeping track over at Good Reads - follow me there if ya like. That's a great place if you like ratings and charts and such things. Last year I read 26 books and 20 of them were EDAs..so maybe more normal books this year. And more books in general. :)

So a question for all of you: What's your favorite book?

Comments

[cosmic_celery]

I have not read Flatland, but I know the story more or less? Not sure if that counts. I hadn't known it was Victorian though! I'd thought it was a bit more recent.

(Also, you are allowed to recommend me billions of books, I was just curious what has made it to people's favorites)

[cosmic_celery]

I've actually read the first few pages of Dubliners a few times because I tend pick it up in bookstores while browsing and then end up with a different book. MAYBE THIS YEAR WILL BE THE YEAR I FINALLY READ THE REST.

[elliptic_eye]

I don't do well at the "one and only favorite book" game, but I do have strong opinions about what books you should read that I'm happy to inflict on you!

Tom Pynchon: either Inherent Vice or Gravity's Rainbow. Against the Day is also very lovely and has Tesla in it, but is in excess of 1k pages long.

Vlad Nabokov: Pale Fire. You will not regret this decision.

While I wouldn't say that they're exactly similar (or much similar at all), I still feel that if you liked Sirens of Titan, you'd enjoy some or all of these. Ignore me of course if these titles are old hat to you.

Oh! And this rec is based on nothing in particular, but have you read any Neal Stephenson? Cryptonomicon is lovely (and doubles as a door-stopper), and Snow Crash is way fun and a quick read.

Right, what was the question? Oh, favorite books. As established, I don't have favorite books, but I do have a favorite author: P.G. Wodehouse. Whom you may very well have already met, but if not, I'd recommend starting with either the Jeeves short stories or Right

[cosmic_celery]

You've just recced me a bunch of things that I've been meaning to read for forever. (I have read some Wodehouse, but not nearly enough imo) XD

On the subject of Pynchon: Oddly enough, I've got both Mason & Dixon and V. on my shelf, but I haven't made my way all the way through either. I was thinking of giving one of them another go. Are you familiar with either of those/would you recommend one more than the other? Or would I be better off starting with something like Gravity's Rainbow?

[elliptic_eye]

Embarrassing true confession: I've read only a few pages of M&D while waiting for someone once, and V. not at all. M&D is supposed to be superb, though; have heard some folks call it his greatest novel. Really, I'd say it's all down to what you're in the mood for. All of his stuff is quirky and funny and convoluted, but by far the lightest in character (that I know of) is Inherent Vice, which is also the only one that's anything like short. Its protagonist is a hippie PI in LA in 1969, so, well, yeah. Gravity's Rainbow is set during WWII, so, while it's very often very funny, it's definitely darker. Against the Day is light in tone, but in a very different way than Inherent Vice and extremely long and again with an incredibly labyrinthine plot.

There's a lot to be said for having a book on hand. I dunno, why not crack open M&D and see how you like it? If you love it, then your next step is prob. to plow through V. and then hightail it to the library for more. If you hate it, well, he's a guy who's pretty open to experiment,

[cosmic_celery]

No, no, that totally helped. Thanks :)

I think perhaps I will go ahead and add Mason & Dixon to the endless to-read pile.