books, books, books

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:26 pm

Can we see a link to this? Interesting about Roth. I've ground to a standstill with my reading, not cos of my dog, just cos of life in all its manifestations, but I'm dying to tear into it. I liked Carver when I read him a good while ago. Unfortunately most of the other things here are unknown to me (Rabbit I've read, one of the McCarthys. Underworld sits on the shelf defying me to find a few months). I'm doing a course at the mo'which in theory requires 8-12 hours per week, so with that and the world cup, we're looking at mid-July! Got my wife Housekeeping recently, had never heard of it, but the plaudits were so extremely full-on on the cover, I thought it had to be worth it. Is Jesus' Son inspired by VU's Heroin to some degree, I wonder. I've always loved that line.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:20 pm

alexv, I saw that article, bored me to tears. Enough with the lists already! Sheesh! I'm talking to the whole world! Enough with the bullshit ranking of impossibly subjective stuff!

Or maybe I'm just gagging on the testosterone of the list...

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:57 pm

Roth too testosteroney for ya, lady?

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:08 am

Well at least #1 on the list is by a woman.

I think most of the great female novelists of our generation are from Britain. Zadie Smith, for instance.

In any case, I like lists because they are a good way of exposing people to something they might not have heard of. Not one of those lists like the NME wank-a-thon that put Pete Doherty high up, but things like Mojo's 100 Soul Albums You Need To Hear from a while back. A lot of the albums on that list are not albums I would necessarily think of, and subjective as it may be to rank them, if there's something high up that I haven't even heard of that's usually a good hint that it's worth checking out.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:08 am

Blue, I agree with you on that, in that I love those end of the year top ten lists of books and whatnot, because otherwise, things are just too overwhelming. But this list is a bit Mojo-y for me--in fact, my sister and I were talking about how this list reminded us of those "All-Time Greatest Rock Bands" lists that invariably list the Beatles as #1 and the Stones as #2. No matter what you think of the bands themselves, you just want to cry with boredom.

alexv · Post by **alexv** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:32 am

I see your points, MBA. For me the list was interesting for what is said about Roth's late career achievements which are truly astounding, and for recognizing a couple of books I would recommend to our group (the Halprin and Rush books). But you are right, a lot of these authors are sort of iconic by now in a Mojoee sort of way. Kind of makes sense if you are doing a responsible look back over 25 years. It would be great if we could review the list 100 years from now and see whether any of the authors are still (1) read, and (2) considered iconic. Literary reputations don't generally have long shelf lives.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:55 am

Cry with boredom is exactly right. Just cause it's books and just cause it's the New York Times, doesn't mean it's any less trivial and meaningless. When did a love of music and books and films become something to rank? I just don't get it.

I received Zadie Smith's book On Beauty for Christmas; I was hugely underwhelmed by it. It may very well be cause it's set at Harvard and plays on the foibles of same, and I'm so familiar with those foibles that it all seems terribly obvious, almost a roman a clef that any undergrad could've penned over the summer. As you read it you're like, Oh, that's Cafe Algiers, and Oh, that was the living wage campaign, and Oh, that's Charles Fried, and that's Laurence Tribe, etc. She took some battles that were going on in the Law School primarily, and set them in the Art department instead. Which is a laugh since Harvard couldn't give a shit about art.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:05 pm

Haven't read On Beauty, mug, but I recommend White Teeth, her first novel.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:08 pm

Mechanical Grace wrote:almost a roman a clef that any undergrad could've penned over the summer.

...or plagiarized, a more likely scenario.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:19 pm

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:24 pm

He's talking about the theoretical undergrad novelist, not ZS-- in ref to a story about a Harvard frosh whose published novel was just exposed as being absolutely soaked in plagiarism.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:26 pm

Oh, right - I forgot about that.

Hey, I'm all for this kind of discussion... it's amazing what passes for fiction nowadays.

Dean Koontz, here I come!!!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:28 pm

Yes, sorry Blue. Didn't mean to imply that ZS was a plagiarist. Bit more on the Harvard plagiarist story here...

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles ... _canceled/

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:38 pm

Mechanical Grace wrote:I received Zadie Smith's book On Beauty for Christmas; I was hugely underwhelmed by it. It may very well be cause it's set at Harvard and plays on the foibles of same, and I'm so familiar with those foibles that it all seems terribly obvious, almost a roman a clef that any undergrad could've penned over the summer. As you read it you're like, Oh, that's Cafe Algiers, and Oh, that was the living wage campaign, and Oh, that's Charles Fried, and that's Laurence Tribe, etc. She took some battles that were going on in the Law School primarily, and set them in the Art department instead. Which is a laugh since Harvard couldn't give a shit about art.

Well, I wasn't in touch with any of that stuff, and I was also underwhelmed. I just didn't really like anybody, especially the main guy. Were we supposed to sympathize with him at all? He was a total asshole, right down to his dogmatic views on art.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:41 pm

Perhaps he's an antihero.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:46 pm

I hate antiheroes. Have you ever tried to date one?

Anyway, Blue, I forgot to say that I totally agree with you on White Teeth. It's just that she hasn't written anything as good since.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:59 pm

miss buenos aires wrote:I hate antiheroes. Have you ever tried to date one?

I think he was supposed to be an anti-hero, but I like your response better! The whole thing just screamed I-got-a-grant-and-here's-my-book. If that makes any sense.

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:16 pm

'Beloved' chosen top U.S. novel since 1980

From United Press International
May 12, 2006 6:07 PM EDT

NEW YORK, May 12, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Toni Morrison's "Beloved" has been named the best U.S. novel in 25 years by 124 literary experts surveyed by the New York Times Book Review.

Morrison's 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel received the most votes from award winning authors, critics and editors who were asked to name the best piece of American fiction since 1980, the Times said in a news release. There was no list to choose from and no guidance was offered.

Author Philip Roth amassed the most votes with six of his novels among the 22 that collected multiple votes. His book, "American Pastoral," was among the top five.

The other novels finishing in the top five were Don DeLillo's 1998 "Underworld"; Cormac McCarthy's 1985 "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West"; and the 1995 "Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels: Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest" by John Updike.

The entire survey along with the list of the 22 novels and collections that received multiple votes will appear in the New York Times Book Review's May 21 all-fiction section.

URL: http://www.upi.com
Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat May 13, 2006 6:52 pm

I really enjoyed White Teeth. Fresh, zippy, smart, now. I haven't tackled The Autograph Man cos I know I won't like it as much. On Beauty seemed to get praised, but not here!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Thu May 18, 2006 2:01 pm

As I may have mentioned one or a dozen times, I'm dealing with my adorable new puppy. I really enjoy the National Geo Channel's show The Dog Whisperer, and the book is really good as well. Not sure if the book would be enough on its own, but if you like the show, the book gives you info that's a bit deeper and better organized.

Millan is a good guy, too-- you'll really enjoy his story-- wanting to be a Hollywood dog trainer when he was growing up in Mexico watching Lassie and Rin Tin Tin; using his entire savings ($100) to pay a 'coyote' to cross the border into the US; working as a dog grooming assistant in San Diego, etc.-- which is woven into the book. A quick (3 sittings, tops) and encouraging read for anyone who's got a pooch.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:46 pm

Love the Weimaraner. That's got to be my second dog, though second in a succcessive not simultaneous sense!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Tue May 23, 2006 5:06 am

I mentioned this in another thread, but another book I read recently is Malcolm Gladwell's follow-up to The Tipping Point, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. A fascinating and easy read about the neuroscience behind intuition and snap judgments.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue May 23, 2006 6:07 pm

Is that the one with a report about observing loadsa married couples and being able to predict with 97% accuracy or so if they would split up or not? My boss was reading and telling me about it. Sounded interesting.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Tue May 23, 2006 6:21 pm

Yup, that's one of the things in the book. What I found more interesting (maybe cause the subject of busted marriages is half painful and half boring to me!) was the one that opens the book, about the Kouros (sp?) the Getty Museum in L. A. purchased. Before buying it, they did all kinds of sophisticated scientific testing, as well as a detailed checking of provenance, to make sure it was authentic, and it all added up. However, the two or three art historians who are the definitive experts on that particular specialty each looked at it independently (sadly after the purchase) and knew instantly it was a fake.

Lots of other interesting stuff as well.... it'd make a good read for a long-ish plane trip.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:34 am

I recently read two novel/novellas, different as night and day-- The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime, which I think was already discussed here(?) and this:

I loved both of them. The Marquez book reminded me a bit of this beautiful and crazy book (it's all one sentence) which I would never have read except that I was assigned to review it, back when I did such stuff:

Hrabal also wrote Closely Watched Trains which was made into an apparently brilliant film, though I haven't seen it.