Favorite books you read this year
homeland by sam lipsyte - a determined loser’s unprintable dispatches to his high school alumni bulletin. lipsyte is a very gifted writer, and he creates the perfect balance of hilarity and pathos in the ramblings of this sharp-witted loser.
oracle night by paul auster - redemptive story about love, chance and loss; poetic, visceral, hallucinatory. auster is a master of plain and fluid prose.
extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathan safran foer - much ballyhooed sophomore novel by foer. narrated by a precocious 9-year old who’s father was killed in the world trade center on 9/11. a somber, emotional, quirky, humane, funny and touching book.
a confederacy of dunces by john kennedy toole - no explanation required.
that’s all for now.
I read [U]Oracle Night[/U] too. My favourite things about it were the way Auster finds just the words to make something as elusive as an emotion vivid and concrete while managing to keep his prose clear and simple. I think the main guy (Sidney?) has a very satisfying character arc.
[U]No Pockets in a Shroud by Horace McCoy[/U] - As hardboiled writing goes, this is everything you'd expect, sharp dialogue just this side of cheesy, sparse prose and a fast-paced narrative. While I was reading it I barely felt time pass, great stuff.
[U]Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West[/U] - Another short novel, sad and hilarious.
[U]Therese Raquin by Emile Zola[/U] - Amazingly creepy, haunting tale of two lovers who plan and execute (if you will) a plot to murder the woman's husband, and their mental state in the aftermath. Brilliant and disgusting. I also read [U]Au Bonheur Des Dames [/U]this year, still relevant as a comment on capitalism today, but mostly just fun to read, like a lot of Zola's work the message is ambiguous, he lets you make up your own mind which isn't something that recent authors are wont to do.
[U]The Rainbow and Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence[/U] - it's really hard to put my finger on why I liked these books so much. I didn't even realise it at first but I barely put the books down while I was reading them and after I'd finished I found myself thinking about them more often than I usually would.
Honorable mentions: [U]Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and The End of the Affair by Graham Greene[/U].
Dishonorable mentions:
[U]Watch Your Mouth by Daniel Handler[/U] - Just shut the fuck up and go count your Series of Unfortunate Events earnings.
[U]That shitty diceman sequel by diceman guy[/U] - You can fuck off as well.
[QUOTE=Vendetta]Dishonorable mentions:
[U]Watch Your Mouth by Daniel Handler[/U] - Just shut the fuck up and go count your Series of Unfortunate Events earnings.
[U]That shitty diceman sequel by diceman guy[/U] - You can fuck off as well.[/QUOTE]
ian mcewan's latest book 'saturday' was so dull that words to describe it escape me. i tried getting into jeffrey eugenides' 'middlesex' a few time this year, couldn't get past 200 pages without feeling like i'd rather poke my eyeballs out with a knitting needle than continue on.
[QUOTE=Balthazar]ian mcewan's latest book 'saturday' was so dull that words to describe it escape me. i tried getting into jeffrey eugenides' 'middlesex' a few time this year, couldn't get past 200 pages without feeling like i'd rather poke my eyeballs out with a knitting needle than continue on.[/QUOTE]
That's a trip because I loved [b]Saturday[/b]. It's like I could tell it was boring-ish as I read it, but I just enjoy his writing so much, the way he uses language, his characters, his insights that I just ripped through it. It's kind of like listening to a friend that talks really, really slowly, but tells great stories. Kinda.
[b]Atonement[/b] (his previous book) is in my top 10 favorite books of all time.
I'll get back on topic later. I read some great books this year.
Fast Food Nation is awesome.
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
American Gods by Niel Gaiman
The Loved One by Evelyn Vough
22x2 by Ray Bradbury
One Flew Over Th Coockoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
I read The Loved One this year too, should have given it an honorable mention but I'd already name-dropped Brideshead Revisited, I didn't want it to look like I was kissing Evelyn's ass! Oh, he wouldn't have liked that. Anyway, it was great. It's one of those writer-in-Hollywood novels written in the '30's as a response to writers being invited to Hollywod to write for movies and all the youngsters coming in from around the country expecting movie stardom and pretty much just getting screwed over. The Englishes have a wry take on the subject but the Americans (shockingly) take the whole thing very seriously. You should check out After Many a Summer Dies The Swan by Aldous Huxley for similar subject matter, which is good despite the Thoreau-esque character who pops up every now and then for a tiresome monologue.
Score, I really like Vough. He's one of my mom's favorite writers and she bought me a shitload of his books, so I have a stack yey high ::Motions with hands up to chin::
[I]A Choir of Ill Children[/I] by Tom Picirili was my absolute favorite this year.
[I]Diary[/I] by you-know-who.
[I]Angel Dust Apocalypse[/I] by Jeremy Robert Johnson.
[I]Digital Leatherette[/I] by Steve Beard.
[B]Craig Clevenger[/B] -[I] Dermaphoria[/I]
[B]Lenny Bruce[/B] - [I]How to Talk Dirty and Influence People[/I]
[B]Will Christopher Baer[/B] - [I]Hell's Half Acre[/I]
[B]Will Christopher Baer[/B] - [I]Penny Dreadful[/I]
[B]Will Christopher Baer[/B] - [I]Kiss Me Judas[/I]
[B]Bret Easton Ellis[/B] - [I]Lunar Park[/I]
[B]Philip K. Dick[/B] - [I]Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said[/I]
[B]Denis Johnson[/B] - [I]Jesus Son[/I]
In no particular order....
My Friend Leonard -- James Frey (wow....)
House of Leaves & Fifty Year Sword -- Mark Z. Danielewski (read both twice!)
Tumble Home & Dog of the Marraige -- Amy Hempel
Contortionist's Handboom & Dermaphoria -- Craig Clevenger
Haunted -- Chucky P
Fabric of the Cosmos -- Brian Greene
last book of the year for me was The Stranger by Albert Camus, which i really liked
plan to start off the year right with Confederacy of Dunces
lunar park - bret ellis
haunted - chuck palahniuk
the beach - alex garland
of mice and men - john steinbeck
tales of ordinary madness - charles bukowski
[I]Roman[/I] by Roman Polanski
[I]The Holocaust Industry[/I] by Norman G Finkelstein
[I]My Moab is My Washpot[/I] by Stephen Fry
[I]Public Property[/I] (poetry) by Andrew Motion
american psycho (5th time)- brett easton ellis
geek love-katharine dunn
the slaughterhouse five- kurt vonnegut
the beach- alex garland
the tesseract- alex garland
[B]BEST NOVEL[/B]: [U]The Shadow of the Wind [/U]by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
[IMG]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0143034901.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg[/IMG]
This was a surprise. I picked it up in airport based on a few recommendations, and it blew me away. Very beautiful writing, an interesting and original plot. This is a book about the love of books, the love of literature. Just an all around great read.
[B]BEST NON-FICTION:[/B] [U]The End of Faith[/U] by Sam Harris
[IMG]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0393327655.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SS260_.jpg[/IMG]
This might be the most important book I've read in a long time. Regardless of your religious beliefs, I think the arguments made here are worth considering by [I]everyone[/I]. This book is a bold and concise call to arms against any and all religions. Harris gives credible evidence that most, if not all, of the political and social problems in the world today and down through history are due to religion - no surprise there. But he pins the blame, not on religious fanatics, but rather on 'religious moderates'. If you believe that other people are entitled to their own religion, and if you believe that everyone has the right to their own religious beliefs, then you are just asking the fanatics to take over. Most religions, by there very fundamental definition, are NOT tolerant of other people or beliefs, so there will never be any true peace as long as religions exist on this earth. But if you claim to be “moderate”, "tolerant" and "accepting" of others, you are only allowing those who are intolerant of you to gain more power, more control and more weapons in their attempt to either convert you or exterminate you. I give Harris credit for trying to be equally harsh against the history of Christians, Muslims and Jews. My brief summary can do no justice to the complex themes expressed. Please read this book.
[B]DISHONORABLE MENTION:[/B] [U]The Historian [/U]by Elizabeth Kostova.
The first 100 pages hooked me, and I was looking forward to an exciting modern-day Vampire story. But then the pace just hit a huge wall and it was a task to finish this book as the story dragged on. Supposedly she took 10 years to write this, and I think that might have destroyed her continuity.
:cool:
"Staring at a blank page and trying write the best thing ever is a guaranteed way make sure the page stays blank." - Trent Reznor
pretty much everything i went through this year was good, the only two standout disappointments were the da Vinci Code and Agent of Evolution the Bill Hicks biography
the first i was kind of expecting to stink the other was a surprise turd
By "this year", i'm also counting 2005.
[U]The Razor's Edge[/U] by W. Somerset Maugham. This is now my favorite book.
[U]Rabbit, Run[/U] by John Updike. This was reccomended by my favorite English teacher.
[U]Dubliners [/U]by James Joyce. A compilation of interesting short stories about life in Dublin.
[U]Atonement[/U] by Ian McEwen. This book gets much better after it's slow introduction. Apparently John Updike liked it too.
this thread title isnt year-specific, are we allowed to post what books we favorite-ized in ought-six ?
Well currently my favorite book I've read in 2006 is [U]Invisible Monsters[/U]. Although I'm still reading it now.
my favorite book that i read last year was dermaphoria or postsecret.
My favorite book I'll read in 2006 will be chuck's published book under his pseudonym Alfred Xavier Faust. It is going to be titled Dubliner's Down
[QUOTE=UbikRex]My favorite book I'll read in 2006 will be chuck's published book under his pseudonym Alfred Xavier Faust. It is going to be titled Dubliner's Down[/QUOTE]
huh? please explain further. Also i changed my mind the best thing ive read this year was As i Lay Dying by william faulkner.
I am re-reading the Orson Scott Card Ender Wiggin Series of books and I see why I liked them when I was younger. This dude is pretty friggin creative. These are the best of the year for me, even though they aren't new to me this year. Or maybe it's because I am desperate and they are helping me to redevelop my sense of self and moral bearing ... either way. Yeah.