To the few who read this, my humble apology for such a long gap between posts. I had a serious run-in with pneumonia in April that put me in the hospital. It took a long time to recover. During the recovery, we moved, and even though the new house is beautiful, the move was a LOT of work.
One of the joys of moving was that I got to unpack and reset my library. That meant lots of rummaging through boxes, getting reacquainted with my "old friends". Recently, I came across a NY Times article about someone writing a book based on asking various "famous" people what ten books they can't live without. I thought about that some, and it's an intriguing question. NOT, what ten books do I want on a desert island, and NOT what are my ten favorite books.... rather, what ten books can I NOT live without? Holy cow! When you think about it, it's a hell of a question.
While ruminating on that, here's what's been on the night table in the bedroom, side table in the sun room, on my desk, etc.... "Seeing Further", edited by Bill Bryson, is an amazing book compiling essays by first-rate scientists and science writers giving their take on the "royal society", which may, or may not, depending on the way you think, be responsible for the development of modern science as we know it. Great stuff about Boyle, and Huygens, and Locke and Wren and Newton and Leibnitz, and so on. Early enlightenment thinkers are one of my favorite areas of interest,so I am geeking out on this book. Finished the latest Reacher novel by Lee Childs, called "Personal", it wasn't very... I think Mr. Childs is cashing checks rather than continuing to develop what was once a most fascinating character. Knocked off "Memorial Day" by Vince Flynn in about three days. Almost done with "Transfer of Power" by the same author. Mr. Flynn writes thrillers about political espionage featuring a recurring character, Mitch Rapp. If you've watched a season of "24" then you know all the plots in the Mitch Rapp series. They are beyond predictable. However,the guy does write really good action scenes. Utlimately, that's not enough, and I'm done, at least for a while, after this one. Also finished "Wait for Signs" by Craig Johnson, one of my most favorite writers. It is a short story collection about the beleaguered sheriff of Asharoka County, Montana, one Walt Longmire. Mr. Johnson writes economically, but also beautifully, rendering interior dialogues of characters and the natural settings of the West, in magnificent fashion. He sprinkles his stories and dialogue with wit and humor. Can't wait for whatever he writes next. Finally, I just read the Hangman's Daughter, it's a German novel, written by Oliver Potzsch, issued in America in translation, and it's the first of three in a series he's written. It is fresh, dark, scary,and funny. Mr. Potzsch has an original voice and he certainly knows his history. The setting is medieval Germany (then actually Bavaria) and it is a time of superstition, hangmen, corrupt barons, and nosey children. He handles these elements in unpredictable ways. I could not stop turning the pages.
Okay, here, not in any particular order, are the ten books I can't live without (for today, tomorrow the list might be different,nyah!):
1) The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - this jewel has every word Conan Doyle wrote about the mercurial Mr. Holmes. Don't see how I could live without the kooky, clever goings on at 221B Baker Street. How boring would life be without an occasional peak into the mind of the world's greatest detective?
2) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien - even though it's three books, Tolkien wrote it as one, so it's not cheating to count it as one selection, and if it is, I once again say nyah, cause after all this is my blog. Anyway, not every day by any stretch, but every once in a while, I have to relive the adventures and relationships of Sam, Frodo, Gandolf, the Bal-Rog, etc... Simply the most entertaining "alternative world" creation of them all. I think the scenes with Shelob, the giant spider are the most terrifying, and the first time I read it, I really did think the fate of Frodo was in doubt. It seemed entirely possible that Tolkien would kill off his main character, and that's the mastery of it. He wrote a story wherein anything was possible and you just had to read it to find out.
3) The History of Philosophy by Will Durant - I know, NOT his history of civilization? But again, it's books I can't live without and that is a bit different from favorites. I need to review what I think I know, and mostly what I don't know about the world's great thinkers from time to time, and here in one volume, are the most concise and readily understandable summaries of what they thought. There are even moments when I think I have a clue as to what the hell Hagel is talking about, thanks to Durant.
4) The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote -three volumes I know, too damn bad, it's one book. Anyway, I can't live without an accurate, lively civil war book, and Foote's is not necessarily the best, but it may be the best written. He tells a terribly well known piece of our history in a most engaging, entertaining and thought provoking way.
5) The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry - how do I include Eliot, Stevens, Moore, Yeats, Carlos Williams, Alan Duggan,et al, without using all of my picks on poets? That's what anthologies are made for, and what a great one this is. Thorough and inclusive, the pages are bent, the binding is cracking, and it is filled with underlining and notes from many years of enjoyable reading. Great book.
6) Victorian Prose and Poetry -yet another anthology, but I must have the amazing, inventive poetic monologues of Robert Browning, yes, he did invent the form. There's no living without Tennyson or Herbert or Chapman either, and the essay's of Pope and Carlyle, etc... it was a wonderful period of writing that speaks to the contemporary heart and mind. Least, it does to mine.
7) The Bible - from a literary standpoint, most everything written by western civilization was stolen or adapted or copied from the Bible. The Torah, the Psalms, the Book of Job, etc... religious significance aside, it is a treasury of great literature. Ezekiel? C'mon, one of the great angry rants in the history of literature. God telling man I WILL SMITE THEE WITH MY MIGHTY SWORD. Gotta love that. We think twice about that. It's not quite the same thing as the cowardly lion in the forest saying, "C'mon, put 'em up, put 'em up", now, is it?
8) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving - not a ton of fiction on the list, it's not as re-readable as non-fiction is, however, this is the best North American novel of the 20th century. It is a masterpiece of writing. There are writers, that every once in a while, write a sentence, that makes me say, I wish I could write like that. Irving fills books with paragraphs that make me say that. Themes about identity and perspective and faith and family are intertwined in this coming of age novel about two New England boys. Maybe I identify because of being adopted and questions of family and identity have always run deep in my head. It mystifies me that this is not Mr. Irving's most popular book. I can, and have read sections of it over and over.
9) Dracula by Bram Stoker - of course a gothic novel had to make the list. Tough call, love "The Monk" by Matthew Lewis, but I can't live without revisiting the great gothic tale of the Count with a taste for other than wine.... Much informed by hollywood, the modern reader has a surprise waiting in this book, which is a taut, pyschological thriller, and a bit different from the movie versions. For a famous novel, it strikes me as being vastly underrated.
10) The Riverside Shakespeare - can't possibly live without the bard from Stratford-on -Avon. It's all here, every word he's ever written, all the plays, all the sonnets, with great introductory essays and useful annotations throughout. Like the Norton Modern Poetry, this is full of notes and underlining. If he's not the greatest writer that ever lived, it's hard to make a sensible argument that leaves him out of the top three. And if you're reading something and the plot wasn't taken from the Bible, it was taken from Shakespeare. Who, by the by, borrowed quite a few of his plots, but that's a story for another time.
So these are the ten books that, for today, I can't live without. I'm curious, what are yours?
One of the joys of moving was that I got to unpack and reset my library. That meant lots of rummaging through boxes, getting reacquainted with my "old friends". Recently, I came across a NY Times article about someone writing a book based on asking various "famous" people what ten books they can't live without. I thought about that some, and it's an intriguing question. NOT, what ten books do I want on a desert island, and NOT what are my ten favorite books.... rather, what ten books can I NOT live without? Holy cow! When you think about it, it's a hell of a question.
While ruminating on that, here's what's been on the night table in the bedroom, side table in the sun room, on my desk, etc.... "Seeing Further", edited by Bill Bryson, is an amazing book compiling essays by first-rate scientists and science writers giving their take on the "royal society", which may, or may not, depending on the way you think, be responsible for the development of modern science as we know it. Great stuff about Boyle, and Huygens, and Locke and Wren and Newton and Leibnitz, and so on. Early enlightenment thinkers are one of my favorite areas of interest,so I am geeking out on this book. Finished the latest Reacher novel by Lee Childs, called "Personal", it wasn't very... I think Mr. Childs is cashing checks rather than continuing to develop what was once a most fascinating character. Knocked off "Memorial Day" by Vince Flynn in about three days. Almost done with "Transfer of Power" by the same author. Mr. Flynn writes thrillers about political espionage featuring a recurring character, Mitch Rapp. If you've watched a season of "24" then you know all the plots in the Mitch Rapp series. They are beyond predictable. However,the guy does write really good action scenes. Utlimately, that's not enough, and I'm done, at least for a while, after this one. Also finished "Wait for Signs" by Craig Johnson, one of my most favorite writers. It is a short story collection about the beleaguered sheriff of Asharoka County, Montana, one Walt Longmire. Mr. Johnson writes economically, but also beautifully, rendering interior dialogues of characters and the natural settings of the West, in magnificent fashion. He sprinkles his stories and dialogue with wit and humor. Can't wait for whatever he writes next. Finally, I just read the Hangman's Daughter, it's a German novel, written by Oliver Potzsch, issued in America in translation, and it's the first of three in a series he's written. It is fresh, dark, scary,and funny. Mr. Potzsch has an original voice and he certainly knows his history. The setting is medieval Germany (then actually Bavaria) and it is a time of superstition, hangmen, corrupt barons, and nosey children. He handles these elements in unpredictable ways. I could not stop turning the pages.
Okay, here, not in any particular order, are the ten books I can't live without (for today, tomorrow the list might be different,nyah!):
1) The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - this jewel has every word Conan Doyle wrote about the mercurial Mr. Holmes. Don't see how I could live without the kooky, clever goings on at 221B Baker Street. How boring would life be without an occasional peak into the mind of the world's greatest detective?
2) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien - even though it's three books, Tolkien wrote it as one, so it's not cheating to count it as one selection, and if it is, I once again say nyah, cause after all this is my blog. Anyway, not every day by any stretch, but every once in a while, I have to relive the adventures and relationships of Sam, Frodo, Gandolf, the Bal-Rog, etc... Simply the most entertaining "alternative world" creation of them all. I think the scenes with Shelob, the giant spider are the most terrifying, and the first time I read it, I really did think the fate of Frodo was in doubt. It seemed entirely possible that Tolkien would kill off his main character, and that's the mastery of it. He wrote a story wherein anything was possible and you just had to read it to find out.
3) The History of Philosophy by Will Durant - I know, NOT his history of civilization? But again, it's books I can't live without and that is a bit different from favorites. I need to review what I think I know, and mostly what I don't know about the world's great thinkers from time to time, and here in one volume, are the most concise and readily understandable summaries of what they thought. There are even moments when I think I have a clue as to what the hell Hagel is talking about, thanks to Durant.
4) The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote -three volumes I know, too damn bad, it's one book. Anyway, I can't live without an accurate, lively civil war book, and Foote's is not necessarily the best, but it may be the best written. He tells a terribly well known piece of our history in a most engaging, entertaining and thought provoking way.
5) The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry - how do I include Eliot, Stevens, Moore, Yeats, Carlos Williams, Alan Duggan,et al, without using all of my picks on poets? That's what anthologies are made for, and what a great one this is. Thorough and inclusive, the pages are bent, the binding is cracking, and it is filled with underlining and notes from many years of enjoyable reading. Great book.
6) Victorian Prose and Poetry -yet another anthology, but I must have the amazing, inventive poetic monologues of Robert Browning, yes, he did invent the form. There's no living without Tennyson or Herbert or Chapman either, and the essay's of Pope and Carlyle, etc... it was a wonderful period of writing that speaks to the contemporary heart and mind. Least, it does to mine.
7) The Bible - from a literary standpoint, most everything written by western civilization was stolen or adapted or copied from the Bible. The Torah, the Psalms, the Book of Job, etc... religious significance aside, it is a treasury of great literature. Ezekiel? C'mon, one of the great angry rants in the history of literature. God telling man I WILL SMITE THEE WITH MY MIGHTY SWORD. Gotta love that. We think twice about that. It's not quite the same thing as the cowardly lion in the forest saying, "C'mon, put 'em up, put 'em up", now, is it?
8) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving - not a ton of fiction on the list, it's not as re-readable as non-fiction is, however, this is the best North American novel of the 20th century. It is a masterpiece of writing. There are writers, that every once in a while, write a sentence, that makes me say, I wish I could write like that. Irving fills books with paragraphs that make me say that. Themes about identity and perspective and faith and family are intertwined in this coming of age novel about two New England boys. Maybe I identify because of being adopted and questions of family and identity have always run deep in my head. It mystifies me that this is not Mr. Irving's most popular book. I can, and have read sections of it over and over.
9) Dracula by Bram Stoker - of course a gothic novel had to make the list. Tough call, love "The Monk" by Matthew Lewis, but I can't live without revisiting the great gothic tale of the Count with a taste for other than wine.... Much informed by hollywood, the modern reader has a surprise waiting in this book, which is a taut, pyschological thriller, and a bit different from the movie versions. For a famous novel, it strikes me as being vastly underrated.
10) The Riverside Shakespeare - can't possibly live without the bard from Stratford-on -Avon. It's all here, every word he's ever written, all the plays, all the sonnets, with great introductory essays and useful annotations throughout. Like the Norton Modern Poetry, this is full of notes and underlining. If he's not the greatest writer that ever lived, it's hard to make a sensible argument that leaves him out of the top three. And if you're reading something and the plot wasn't taken from the Bible, it was taken from Shakespeare. Who, by the by, borrowed quite a few of his plots, but that's a story for another time.
So these are the ten books that, for today, I can't live without. I'm curious, what are yours?
About a week or go I wrote my own similar list in response to a NY Times piece with a similar title (some women's choices - I never heard of her). Neither of us could live only with ten books. I chose -
ReplyDelete"Loeb Ed. The Iliad
Loeb Ed. The Odyssey
Landmark Ed. Herodotus' Histories
The King James Bible
The Library of America Lincoln Bi-centennial box set (sorry, counting the box as one book)
The Portable Thoreau
The Snow Leopard
Durant's The Story of Philosophy
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in one volume (really, no one else for Amazon's Greatest book of the millennium? Too bourgeois for you)
Le Carre Karla 3 in 1 vol."
But then I added:
"I'm kidding myself. I don't think I could do it. I'd make a raft of coconuts and bring back at least need Durant's The Story of Western Civilization and the entire Flashman corpus (and if you haven't read them and love historical fiction - start there). I think I need The Three Musketeers too."
As for your choices, obviously we agree on a number of them. You were always an Owen Meany guy and I thought Garp and Setting Free the Bears were his best, although you've definitely read more than me of him, particularly the last couple of decades. I did read Meany though and I thought parts were brilliant. It just didn't grab me the same way. I also remember thinking that he did not handle the way children speak the way he does adults.
Dracula is a great book, but as a gothic novel, I would take Frankenstein and The Monk before it. Sherlock is a great choice too, although if I had to make cuts, I probably would with that. If I had to pick one, it probably be The Hound of the Baskervilles. The poetry books - that's for you, not for me. If I had to pick one, I'd rather gather my own from the internet. Like be some Doctor Seuss in it.
Glad you are back.