(spine and cover devoured by hungry puppies)

Dec 16, 2008 at 6:42 PM
19 comments

Here's a look at the books I've acquired but haven't gotten around to reading yet. I've got it narrowed down to a dozen. That's good for me. The annoying thing is that I don't feel like reading any of them. I'm just not in the mood for any of these books. I guess I could wait until Christmas for the fancypants edition of The Magic Mountain that I'll certainly get, but I'd like to read something between now and the holiday.

Do you feel like being my literary puppet master? Do any of these books jump out at you as being things I should or shouldn't read? If so, I would appreciate your help. I am horrible at making these decisions. I will sit in front of my shelf for hours and never decide.

Books to Read Shelf

The books in question are (from l-r):

You Shall Know Our Velocity--Dave Eggers
A Rage to Live--John O'Hara
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower--Marcel Proust
Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford
The Braindead Megaphone--George Saunders (spine and cover devoured by hungry puppies)
The Bostonians--Henry James
The O. Henry Prize Stories: 2003--A.S. Byatt, T.C. Boyle, Alice Munro, Denis Johnson and others
Constance--Lawrence Durrell
Hawksmoor--Peter Ackroyd (spine and cover devoured by hungry puppies)
In Persuasion Nation--George Saunders
So Long, See You Tomorrow--William Maxwell
The Lottery and Other Stories--Shirley Jackson

19 comments

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sometimes i just stare at m...

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I think you should finish your CD sorting project first.

For the distracting pre-holiday time I'd go for the Shirley Jackson stories. They capture an unusual mood and are easy to read.

You are not helping.

Thank you for the suggestion. Not only did you answer the question asked (unlike some people), but you gave a logical reason for your choice. A collection of easy to read short stories makes sense. I'm not sure how far I'd get into one of the more difficult books. I'd have to keep putting it down to spread Christmas cheer and whatnot.

Proust!

Because I'm not sure if I want to read him yet; I would, if you don't mind, like to use you as my literary guinea pig. (And I mean that in the nicest way.)

If not him, well, any book chosen by hungry puppies can't be all bad. Try for a Saunders/Ackroyd combination.

I already read and enjoyed the first book in the series (Swann's Way). Unfortunately, I have forgotten all the character names and what happened in it. I'm either going to have to start all over or find a detailed synopsis of the first book before I start in on the second.

Your hungry puppies combo is very interesting. I will have to consider it.

I highly recommend The Braindead Megaphone. It's very good, and the essays (much like the good recommendation above - the short stories) make for very easy and fun reading. It's also great armchair traveling...some of the best essays are ones where he travels somewhere to report for a magazine.

I could be wrong here (I often am when it comes to these things), but I think I found out about The Braindead Megaphone on one of your monthly book posts. I'm not sure I'm in the mood for essays right now, but I guess if anyone could make non-fiction interesting, it would be Saunders.

At least you still have the elephant bookend!

I second the short-story suggestion, though I might choose the prize-winners. I never think to read short stories until I read them, and then I spend the entire time of my reading wondering why I don't read more short stories. Strange.

I was walking down the street a couple years ago and found a preschool spelling flashcard that said "E is for Elephant". A few minutes later I walked by a sidewalk sale and found that elephant bookend for $2. I took it as a sign and bought the thing.

I decided to go with the Shirley Jackson collection and The Braindead Megaphone. As soon as I get tired of the short stories I switch over to the essays (and vice versa).

Excellent choice(s). I am also casually reading The Braindead Megaphone between fiction.

Only elephants with their trunks up, or so they say.

I vaguely recall liking "The Lottery" when I was made to read it in school.

That was the last story I read yesterday. I thought it was a good story, but it was obvious how it was going to end when all the kids started picking up rocks at the beginning. I'm sure it was shocking when it came out, though.

I was sad to see that my magazine wasn't on your list. Did you like any of it? Since you're more of a prose kind of guy, I think you would like Nate Jordan's Solitary Secret and Shawn Huelle's pieces. Also, you very luckily got one of the last Nepalese covers--guard it with your life!

I got The PR well after I wrote this post. I haven't read it yet, but I'll include it in my monthly "reviews" post when I get to it. (Sorry, lots of new books.)

Well I'm glad it finally reached you. Do you like the cover? It's really special to me because it was printed on an old printing press by my mentor from The University of Michigan... I was also sad because my dad didn't like this issue because he didn't get any of the poetry even though I explained that a lot of it is contemporary avant garde poetry. It's hard when you have parents who don't appreciate what you do. sigh.

(spine and cover devoured by hungry puppies)

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