Book Shopping

[queerbychoice]

I've been reading so much lately that my huge supply of unread books has finally actually begun to run low. No, not really low in the least, I just feel like it's gotten "low" anytime I get the stack down to fewer than 25 books. Heh. Anyway, I'm down under 25 books left now, so I promptly ordered a ton of new ones this evening from the Powells.com website. Behold my treasures!

• Paul Beatty: The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel (recommended to me by fightingwords last December-ish)
• Bruce Benderson: User (author recommended to me by Frank Aqueno two years ago, back when I was still speaking to Frank Aqueno; Frank used to live with this author)
• Caryl Churchill: Plays, Volume One (recommended to me by frankepi; I also already read one of her plays for a college class)
• Jeffrey Eugenides: The Virgin Suicides (author recommended to me by frankepi; Frank, Middlesex was only available in hardback so I'm saving it for later)
• Mary Gaitskill: Because They Wanted To (recommended to me by metacarp last summer)
• Peter Høeg: Smilla's Sense of Snow (recommended to me by theobscure; I also already read another of Peter Høeg's books already on the recommendation of theobscure)
• Peter Shaffer: Equus (recommended to me by Frank Aqueno two years ago; author recommendation endorsed by theobscure)
• Starhawk: The Fifth Sacred Thing (recommended to me by sapphiretrance)

Currently I'm in the middle of reading an actual nonfiction book for a change: it's a literary theory book called The Woman's Hand: Gender and Theory in Japanese Women's Writing, edited by Paul Gordon Schalow and Janet A. Walker. Paul Gordon Schalow's name is the reason I bought it, because his writings on and translations of the torrid male-male love affairs of 17th century samurai have very much delighted me for quite a long time. But mostly what I'm learning from the current book is how very many more Japanese women authors I need to go start reading now; I've read at least a dozen different Japanese male authors, several of them in extreme depth, but as for female authors, all I've read are The Tale of Genji (from 1000 years ago) and everything by Banana Yoshimoto (from the present day).

The following books are still sitting on my floor waiting for me to read them before the new ones arrive. Please advise me as to what I should read next.

• Sherman Alexie: The Toughest Indian in the World
• Margaret Atwood: Cat's Eye (I've already read one other book by her)
• Kirsten Bakis: Lives of the Monster Dogs
• Joan Didion: Slouching Towards Bethlehem (I've already read one other book by her)
• Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere (I've already read one other book by him)
• Jean Genet: Funeral Rites (I was already forced to read another play by him for a college class and I abhorred it, but in a long-ago moment of insanity I seem to have let frankepi talk me into trying another one)
• Derek Jarman: Modern Nature
• Barbara Kingsolver: The Bean Trees (I've already read several other books by her)
• Rick Moody: Demonology
• Marcel Proust: In Search of Lost Time, Volume I: Swann's Way
• Jane Rule: Memory Board (I've already read one play by her)
• Salman Rushdie: The Ground Beneath Her Feet (I've already read and adored just about everything else he's ever written)
• Leo Tolstoy: Walk in the Light, and Twenty-Three Tales (I've already read and adored his two famous novels)
• Edmund White: A Boy's Own Story (I've already read numerous other books by him)
• Jeanette Winterson: The PowerBook and The World and Other Places (I've already read eveyrthing else she's ever written, but I'm not sure why I keep reading them, because although I did adore Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Boating for Beginners, I really haven't that much liked anything at all that she's written ever since those two)
• Shawn Wong: American Knees
• Richard Wright: Native Son and Uncle Tom's Children

I can't believe I've actually started buying more when I still have that many left. Something really must be done about my book addiction.

Comments

[roses-rejoice.livejournal.com]

I don't read much fiction but the little of Joan Didion I've read, I've enjoyed. She's a bit of a period piece now, but a good one, like retro furniture. In fact, perhaps I'll read some more by her when I get through some more of my current non-fiction reading heap.

I do not know why you would want to read Native Son. We were forced to read that in school and it grossed me out more than it enlightened me. I'm still not sure what the point of it was, especially since many modern authors handle similar subjects with more subtlety.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I wanted to read Native Son because James Baldwin thought highly of it, and I think sufficiently highly of James Baldwin that I'd probably read his next-door-neighbor's 5-volume compiled daily grocery lists if James Baldwin recommended it.

[illscientist.livejournal.com]

I thought Black Boy was good! I mean, anything that's mainly evocative of an era, more than a technique or a style, but that I still find readable? I give that a thumbs up.

Otherwise:

1. Eugenides. I <3 Jeff Eugenides. I think both the Virgin Suicides and Middlesex are these deep soft comfortable novels that you can fall into like snowdrifts, but you walk out happy and dreamy instead of soaked.

2. We have that Alexie book at my store for like three dollars, and I read one of his stories and dug it. So I need to buy it. You reminded me.

3. Wait, Black Boy or Native Son? I liked both, but I liked Native Son better. Either way...

4. Hey! Gayle, did you read Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics? I don't know whether the graphic novel/comic book thing is really your scene, but I could see you really liking them. They're very literate.

5. Have I asked you that question [4] before?

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any Neil Gaiman comics at all. And I'm not sure if you've asked me that before . . . I know some people on LJ have asked me, but it's been a while and there are quite a few Neil Gaiman comics fans around here so I don't know if you're one of the ones who asked.

[honeyspy.livejournal.com]

I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan - novels and comics. Have you read American Gods? That's his newest one and it took me completely by surprise. I hope you enjoy Neverwhere - It's not my favorite by him, but it's still pretty good. Thanks for posting the list! Mmmm, gives me new things to hunt down. (Amazon.com is going to absolutely be the death of me though. I should buy stock the way I shop for books there.)

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

I haven't read American Gods, no. I'm not terribly sure what I have read by him, though.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Sherman Alexie! Sherman Alexie!

Just because I love his work so much. You are probably the best judge of what to read next... it all depends on what mood you're in, doesn't it?

[alysbowie.livejournal.com]

Starhawk is great. The Fifth Sacred Thing is one of my favourites. :)

What to read next

[tigermilkdrunk.livejournal.com]

Or at least, my comments on the ones I've read:

* Sherman Alexie: The Toughest Indian in the World - decent, although his first couple of books were better.
* Margaret Atwood: Cat's Eye - maybe my favorite of hers - read this one pretty damn soon.
* Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere - Have you read Stardust yet? I quite like that one.
* Jean Genet: Funeral Rites - You should read more Genet, definitely, but I'd start with Thief's Journal - it's a little more linear, perhaps, and, I don't know, more fun to read.
* Rick Moody: Demonology - Don't believe the hype
* Edmund White: A Boy's Own Story - If you've read his later stuff, you'll be familiar with pretty much every theme he brings up, but I still like this much more than a lot of his later stuff.
* Jeanette Winterson: The PowerBook and The World and Other Places - I gave up on Winterson after Written on the Body, but the people I know who have read these two have hated them.

Re: What to read next

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm confused as to which Neil Gaiman I read before. The book ought to be around here someplace, but I can't find it.

The Jean Genet I read before and abhorred was The Balcony. I hope nothing else he ever wrote bears any resemblance to that one.

Edmund White's books definitely all resemble each other in a lot of ways, but as is the case with James Baldwin, the single book he rewrites over and over is such a good one that it manages to be worth reading every new version of it.

[frankepi.livejournal.com]

Funeral Rites is a bitch, to be honest, but i stand behind my recommendation. it's really gorgeous if you can get through it.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Great, I'll probably be 45 years old before I ever dare attempt it. Better be planning to stick around quite a long time if you want to be thanked for that recommendation.

Re:

[frankepi.livejournal.com]

oh come on, now. several of your beloved books are considered difficult reads as well.... i consider Foucault's Pendulum to be fairly difficult as well and i know you liked that one.

--f

[ex-audient412.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've read the Sherman Alexie in question, but Sherman Alexie.

*checks*

No, I have The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. I just looked at the table of contents of the one you have on amazon.com and none of the titles are immediately familiar. Know what? Sherman Alexie.

I also haven't read Neverwhere, but I haven't known Neil Gaiman to suck.

I haven't recommended any books except cyberpunk/steampunk inspiration in a while. - -;

[exterra.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I've actually started buying more when I still have that many left. Something really must be done about my book addiction.

One word: Libraries.*

*disclaimer of a hypocrite: who am i kidding, really? libraries seldom work for me. i inevitably check out a dozen books or more because so many look so good.... and then come the end of my 2 or 3 week period i'm lucky to have completed 1 of the books. i seldome get around to actually finishing a book unless i own it, have borrowed it, or have incurred great fines from the library.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

When I was in college I practically lived in the college library, but when I graduated and no longer had access to it, I tried to make do with the local public libraries and was absolutely appalled by the lack of selection. I even traveled all the way downtown to go to the biggest public library in the county, and I was still appalled. I continued going to it anyway, even though it took me well over an hour of travel time each way by bus (this was back before I owned a car) - but then once I accidentally left at home just one of the 25 or so books that I had meant to return, and had to return it the following weekend because that was the next time that I had 3 hours free to get to the library and back. Their late fees for this were so astronomical, and the unlikelihood of my ever being able to not occasionally be late in returning a book was so obvious, that I resolved right then to just buy all my books from then on instead of going to the library. It does cost me more money to buy them, but at least I'm getting something for the money, whereas the amount of money I would have ended up paying in library fees didn't feel sufficiently less to be worth putting up with.

I still miss my college library terribly; they never charged late fees unless a book was several months late, late enough where somebody else might have actually been wanting to check it out instead. I still consider from time to time whether it might be worth the price of joining the alumni association so I could use the college library again . . . but I'd still have to pay the price of parking in the college parking lots for every visit, and I really resent having to pay money when I don't get to keep the books. Particularly because I frequently end up wanting to buy and keep the books after I read them anyway.

[exterra.livejournal.com]

yeah, i miss well-endowed college libraries that don't charge astronomical late fees. i also liked the convenience of having a library within a few minutes walk from my house -- that way i didn't even have to check out books to read them, i could just read them *in* the library. the public libraries here aren't atrocious but they leave a lot to be desired. in addition, as the city cuts its budget to the bones, library hours and the # of days they're open have been cut back significantly in the last year. i currently have a really good book that i'm only 1/3 the way through and which is like a month overdue... by the time i pay the fees i could probably afford to buy the damned book (or at least half of it). *sigh*

[theobscure.livejournal.com]

Hee, I just recommended Smilla to someone else the other day. I am becoming a Peter Hoeg missionary.

I think you should read Native Son next, because I'm about to start Eight Men, and that would be cool. It would also be neat if you read the Sherman Alexie book, because I've always wanted to read some of Alexie's stuff and just have not gotten around to it, so I can live vicariously through you. Otherwise, Cat's Eye is excellent. I'd almost forgotten all about that one when I got all mad at Margaret Atwood the second time I read The Handmaid's Tale. Or yay for Proust, Rushdie, and Tolstoy.

I'm glad you're not asking for new recommendations at this time, because I can't think of anything else except Ulysses, which has eaten my life.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Oh, I read Ulysses when I was in college (not for a class, just on my own during the time I happened to be in college). Well, I read most of it . . . I remember skimming over some pages at a few points. I was both impressed and yet not quite connecting. I was glad that I had tried to read it, but I didn't really feel like it was quite my kind of book somehow.

[theobscure.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it's definitely not for everyone, of course. And I can see why I would have a much more powerful connection with it than you. (Not suggesting it's too hard, or anything, because I know damn well you're smart enough and enough of a literary geek to appreciate and understand it.) Yeah. My connection with Joyce is so emotional, I often feel like I'm cheating on it, because I don't even like his books for being insanely hard and studious. That's just s nice addition. I think after this reading, though, I’m going to have to put it away for a while and get my brain back.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Yes, I don't really relate to Joyce as a human being much. I can admire his literary skills but I never feel like he's my friend. You do? What makes the difference?

[theobscure.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, but not so much with James Joyce the person, specifically, as I do with some of his characters. Especially, like, Leopold and Molly Bloom, and how wonderfully endearing they are, despite all the strangeness they’re framed in. And I have this unhealthy identification with Stephen Dedalus, as a former Catholic boy obsessed with a religion that’s no longer mine, who also struggles with a negligent and absent father and the whole notion of paternity, and, most profoundly, the obsessive desire to be an artist, yet finding myself creatively impotent and bitter. Cheerful stuff. :)

books

[(Anonymous)]

hey i'm reading a lot this summer also. right now i'm reading the bell jar by sylvia plath and i have a whole bunch of other books that i want to read also. one of them is also the virgin suicides. my friend told me about the movie and i thought there had to be a book about that first. i dont have a journal but i might make one.