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Now, by St. Paul, the work goes bravely on.

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.  I wanna go back!

Great Writers and Good Books

The Bible Ah, the Good Book.  The Word.  What can I say?  Therein lies the source of so much life, so much meaning, so much darn frustration (!).  You read it reverently and searchingly.  Sometimes, you just shake your head wondering what some esoteric passage means and in more heavy moments, you wonder why He acts in the ways that only He can.  You humble yourself, steel yourself for whatever you might find, and you jump right back into the mix.  It is the Word of God... but we don't need to pretend it is either simple or clear.  And alas, like a many-layered onion, it can move you to tears (of  joy, repentance, and frustration).  Onion analogies are tricky.

 

Chris Furman The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.  Well, never judge a book by its cover.  Don't let the whimsical comic book cover let you turn your bourgeois reader's nose up with condescension.  <smile>  This book is perfect for a free afternoon or two.  It isn't horribly long and it is infinitely readable.  No, it isn't about the current Catholic scandal over priests.  It is the story of Catholic boys growing up, rebelling, coming of age.  Though Furman may not be the greatest writer per se, he writes a good book that will leave you strangely shaken/moved by its end.  And unless you're a humourless bore, you should find yourself laughing and shaking your head all throughout.  A strange blend of gravity and levity.  Recently made into a movie starring Jodie Foster; I haven't seen it so I can't vouch for it.

 

Margaret Atwood The book is Alias Grace and it is such a good one.  It is essentially the story of Grace Marks - one of the more celebrated criminals of her time.  Accused of murdering her master and her mistress, she barely escaped hanging through the work of concerned clergy and activists.  But those are the dry facts.  The book is scintillating.  With a writing style that alternates between various viewpoints and the changing tone of voices, Atwood pulls you right into Grace's life and mind.  You'll soon find yourself hoping for her innocence but all the while, you'll find the facts very hidden.  The overlapping narratives pull you closer to the truth while leaving you hoping for just a bit more.   A charismatic, sensual story that will linger with you days past the final page... it haunted me.  The psychological insight, the detailed historical context, the perfect development of character... ah, you can't escape this book!  Atwood writes of feminist themes but don't let that turn you away (if you're so inclined)... she's not a feminist writer, she's just a gifted writer of feminist themes.  Big difference!  Next on the agenda: The Blind Assassin (for which she won the Booker Prize).  And that one is supposed to be off the charts, baby!  

F. Scott Fitzgerald The man near-well changed my life!  More on that later.   Amory Blaine is me... well, he was taller.  And he was white.  Minor differences.  <smile>  Then again, perhaps This Side... is a lot like The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) in that every male reader thinks the book was written especially for them.  Only I truly understand this book.  <crazy twitching eyes>

You need to look past The Great Gatsby as something you read in high school.  With that mindset, what if you'd read the Bible in high school?  Would you so easily consign it to the junk heap of the mind (two inches left of the medulla oblungata)?  <smile>

 

Albert Camus I'm a far cry from being an atheist or a full-blown existentialist.  You need not worry (but thanks!).  Just thinking of Camus brings a strange resonance somewhere in the head/heart.  Well, I'm speaking less of Camus the Writer and more of Camus the Man.  Regardless of your position on faith and life, this book should give pause to think.  Speaking of The Stranger, the text is a strange blend - his spare prose is appropriate for such heavy subject matter.  Of course, his point is that such topics need not be so grave.  Read The Plague but if only one, The Stranger.  Just like reading Nietzsche, you'll find that existentialism is but a short hop (and a skip) from Christianity - those few feet being all the stuff of Faith.  And so I'm drawn to Camus.  Read him over Sartre.  

Anybody read The Myth of Sysiphus ?  I'm working on it now but if you've read it, let's talk.       

."...the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."

 

Stephen Pressfield

About the battle of Thermopylae.  Intense and well-written.  If you're a history buff, this could be the next on your list.  You may watch a movie like the Two Towers and feel a chill during the massive, beautifully-rendered battle scenes.  But Pressfield takes the cake when it comes to evoking the epic, blood-spilling, testosterone-pounding nature of war.  These days, valor and honor are virtues almost foreign but - oh my - how this book will make it all mean something!  Far from hokey, it is a well-written good read.  Read this book and you will be shaken and moved.  And ne'er does the pace really slow down throughout the entire text. 

--a book for anyone but an especially good choice for guys who don't particularly enjoy reading... 

 

 

Sinclair Lewis Golden-tongued preacher rises to the top.  Scruples vacillating from one steeple to the next, Elmer Gantry typifies the opportunistic man of God.  Of course, this book was quite the scandal when it first came out but Christians would do well to consider Lewis' insight into religious fervor in an insulated church sub-culture.  Now, I'm no fan of Mr. Gantry; he's a scoundrel and a cruel womanizer but he's also a complex figure.  He isn't evil.  Just so bad.  But sometimes good?  Throughout the book, you'll ask, does this man have any faith?  And the answer isn't so clear.  Can good things happen through bad people and dirty motives?  Sure.  That's Grace.  A landmark on the vast plains of American literature, Lewis' book is worth recommending.  A few chapters were just a little too out there and that's where the book loses a bit on quality but overall, this book should leave you shaking your head and a bit wiser(?).  This book jarred me like a hard slap upside the head.  You'll see the very human side of your own faith.  And that's humbling.  And humility is always a good thing.  <sigh... smile>

 

 

John Steinbeck  

John Steinbeck for President.  Wait, he's not alive anymore but anyhow, I'm a real fan.  When asked to list my favorite books or authors, Steinbeck always jumps to mind.  Perhaps it is a reflection of who I am but I'm drawn to his view of humanity and life.  If you've ever read Of Mice and Men or Cannery Row, you'll note his love (or is it...) for the common man.  Frankly, he subtly romanticizes - to heroic proportions even - the life/death/struggle/simplicity of the down-and-out.  Sure, some critics love to drop flying elbow attacks on his posthumous head but oh well, I guess I've got my sappy streak (under this hard masculine shell of course). Read Travels with Charley for some great, honest non-authorial insight.  If you're willing, try The Winter of Our Discontent for something with a different Steinbeck sound & flavor - for one, it is much darker.

 

Richard Yates Hey, wadda y'know!  Here's a Pretentious Statement   ...Richard Yates is one of the better writers of the last 50 years.   I was introduced to this genius of human emotion (usu. the darker end though) in Harper's.  A few years back, they presented a previously unpublished short story, Bells in the Morning.  A short 23-paragraph snapshot of two men sitting in a miserable foxhole.  A sad story for sure but, strangely touching and pretty.  His great use of contrast and narrative shifts (seamless) are pretty gnarly.  Read Revolutionary Road or buy a collection of his short stories (a comprehensive anthology on paperback is finally out).  His drawing power is strange;  as melancholy as he might be (No.  Contrary to popular wisdom, the hills are not alive...), he keeps you reading.  Lots of stories about small people hoping to be, thinking they are, or sad they're not big people.  He paints a pathetic picture but it isn't really ugly... it just is.  It is as if he's saying, guess what, this is life, it surrounds us (and is us, to whatever extent)) whether we like it or not.  A realist more than a cynic.

 

Revolutionary Road

 

Leo Tolstoy The best book I've ever read?  Well... yes.  With a few qualifying remarks.  I know the book is long.  That's understatement.  <smile>  If you enjoy books, it is more than worth the time and effort.  I caught myself laughing out loud in public places reading this.  His observations on man and society are amazing and funny.  The most ambitious book you'll read, it covers everything and actually succeeds.  

Tolstoy was - depending on your perspective - either an eccentric or a man of deep, singular convictions.  Why not both.

For a compact summation of his beliefs, pick your brain over The Death of Ivan Ilych.

 

 

Ann Patchet Bel Canto?  A beautiful, beautiful book.  With terrorists and all... the book is actually very romantic.  Not sappy, mind you.  Just romantic: love, longing, wistfulness, hope-for-something-different.  I won't give away much but the book starts slow and casual.  And it builds with subtle momentum that really envelops you midway.  Patchet's writing style is by no means deep or overwrought and that's to her credit.  Considering that the bulk of the novel takes place in one home, I was impressed with her ability to keep things moving even though... well, nothing moves.  <smile>  Terrorists and guns and beautiful music (a beautiful woman) combine in the strangest of ways.

Changes in scenery always keep an author busy describing this tree and that house and the weather (darkandstormynight)... but that can be a cheap ploy (I'm guilty).  Anyhow, this book would make for a difficult film to direct but that's why I'd want to see someone try.

Winner of the Pen/Faulkner and Orange Awards. National Bk. Critics Finalist.

 

 

Arundhati Roy The God of Small Things.  Well, here's a book I recommend with a shivered spine.  Just thinking of it moves me to some weird place.  It took me two tries to get through it.  The first time, well, I really hated it.  I thought the writing was pretentious and a bit too flowery.  I put it down after about 40 pages and left it for dead.  But reading is about moods and circumstances in life.  Ahh, and so the hands of fate led me back about a year later and what a difference.  Suddenly, it was beautiful.  Never have I read a story so hauntingly fantastic.  Roy's language is poetry akin to Salman Rushdie's (similar themes too).  Layers upon layers of symbolism and imagery... a book to be read multiple times.  The language is sensual, whimsical and I'd say, perfect.  But through it all, it is a powerful story of regret, resignation, hope, and death.  An ambitious book that moves from plot to society to history to philosophy to plot.  With highest recommendation...  And did I mention the language?!?  Read it.

The God of Small Things (HarperPerennial)

 

Time to update... 

Joseph Conrad This book is classic a primer on better grammar and style.  But (I've already broken a rule!) it's actually a fun read.  You'll find it engaging.

Of course, grammar rules are always in flux but you can never go wrong if you follow the advice of Strunk and White.

Joseph Conrad Feeling Guilty.

I know everyone hated this back in high school.  I liked it though.

Charles Frasier Uhhhh...  More later.  

I'm sure you've all heard a lot about this one.

Bernard Schlink Mor elater

A disturbing, beautiful book.  You'll close the cover, not knowing what to think.  

William Maxwell Just a solid, simple, moving, well-written book.  Sad and matter-of-fact... speaks to you with the wisdom of ages.  Not much wasted space in this one.  Considered a writer's writer for a reason.  More later.

Orson Scott Card I'm not particularly fond of science fiction novels.  Usually so campy.  But following a professor's recommendation, I checked this one out.  Wow.

More later.

Eugen Herrigel Oh, I'm a Christian by all means.  But I learned a lot from this book.  And it did shape the way I am now.  More later.

Randall Ballmer Honest thoughts on faith.  Destined for the pulpit, Ballmer became a professor at Columbia instead.  His struggles revealed openly.  More later.

Ellen Langer Should change the way you think.  We limit ourselves everywhere.  A book to be read by everyone.  More later.

Gary Larson Probably wasn't healthy for a 3rd grader to be reading this stuff.  Muhuhahaha.

Once again,  more later.

Bill Watterson I could never leave Watterson out of the picture.  Come on!

Sorry,  more later.

Mort Walker I may be the only here on this one.  But I grew up reading Beatle Bailey.  Was bored on a camping trip when I bought a book at a gas station in the boonies.

Not necessarily haha-funny but I love it for familiarity and its representation of all sides of human (particularly male) nature.

 

                                    There's no place like home... There's no place like home...