I'd like to point out some fantastic options for fiction reading that I have come across over the years. I'm avoiding my obvious favorites (The Fountainhead, Danny, Champion of the World, Martian Chronicles--all of these will be omitted here because of DUH). I'm avoiding the ones that have influenced me the most as a writer, a person, a woman, etc.
These are simply amazing books that I highly recommend picking up.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
"His mind has become a refuge for old thoughts, idle, indigent, with nowhere else to go. He ought to chase them out, sweep the premises clean. But he does not care to do so, or does not care enough..."
This book sneaked up on me. Surprised me with its thoughtfulness. I haphazardly fished it out of a lonely-looking bookshelf at the library two years ago because it had a large gold medallion on it, professing a Nobel Prize for Literature. Fair enough, I thought, and broke it open. I always enjoy a book where the main character isn't particularly likable--it shows the author's dedication to honesty. Professor David Lurie is a professor in South Africa who is dismissed after a passionless affair with a student. He journeys to his daughter's farm to take refuge there, and learns difficult life lessons about death, welfare, compassion, violation, and humility. The author also tied the entire story up with a parallel to opera and song-composing that had me in tears.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
"I turned around and walked to my room and closed the door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be..."
This book is written as a series of letters from Charlie, a odd and quiet teenage boy who befriends Sam and Patrick, a set of senior siblings who introduce Charlie to the world of open-minded, eclectic hard-partying. It is written in a refreshing, easy-to-read manner--borderline stream-of-consciousness. This book is full of quotes that people have tattooed all over their bodies, and there's a reason for it: the author managed to somehow capture that 90s teenage angst in a truthful manner without being overly obnoxious about it. There are some wonderfully written sentences in this book.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
"A person isn't a bird. You can't cage a person."
Ah, this book. I read it as a sixth-grader (like its target audience) and have re-read it every year since. Sal is thirteen years old, traveling with her grandparents to find her mother, who disappeared a year earlier. During the long, anxiety-ridden road trip, Sal tells a story to pass the time about her old friend Phoebe. This book is a simple read, but full of wisdom. The grown-up in you will ache to read some of the sad passages. The child in you will marvel at the beauty of the Native American culture displayed in this story. And all of you will be floored by the ending.
Midwives: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian
You may look at the title of this novel and think, "Hmm, sounds boring." But honestly that couldn't be further from the truth. This book is splayed out as a courtroom drama as gripping as Twelve Angry Men. The story is about Sibyl Danforth, a hippie-like midwife who performs an emergency C-section on a dead mother to save her baby... and is then charged with murder, because the state isn't certain that the woman was dead when Sibyl cut her open with a kitchen knife. Told from the point of view of Sibyl's teenage daughter, this book is one you CANNOT put down. And if you do choose to read it, please, do not read the last chapter a la When Harry Met Sally! A twist awaits you that will ruin the entire book. I wish I could go back and re-read this for the first time.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
"What greater gift could you offer your children than an inherent ability to earn a living just by being themselves?"
Okay, I know I've raved about this on here before. Or in person to you. Believe me, I'd rent an airplane to skywrite this message: read this damn book. But it deserves a warning label: not for the faint of heart. Just listen to this synopsis, okay? This is the story of the Binewskis, a circus family circa 1900 who breed their own freaks. That's right, the mother would use radiation, pills, alcohol, and other insane methods to insure her children would have birth defects and earn their spot in their traveling freak show. Too much? Then don't even skim a page of this. But know that you are missing out on a hell of a book, a daring story with compelling characters, told by an author who manages to take such a dark, twisted concept and bring lightness to it. Every reviewer who has read this says the same thing, and I will say it again: I can't even describe this book. Just read it.
Stay tuned for part two!
You may look at the title of this novel and think, "Hmm, sounds boring." But honestly that couldn't be further from the truth. This book is splayed out as a courtroom drama as gripping as Twelve Angry Men. The story is about Sibyl Danforth, a hippie-like midwife who performs an emergency C-section on a dead mother to save her baby... and is then charged with murder, because the state isn't certain that the woman was dead when Sibyl cut her open with a kitchen knife. Told from the point of view of Sibyl's teenage daughter, this book is one you CANNOT put down. And if you do choose to read it, please, do not read the last chapter a la When Harry Met Sally! A twist awaits you that will ruin the entire book. I wish I could go back and re-read this for the first time.
"What greater gift could you offer your children than an inherent ability to earn a living just by being themselves?"
Okay, I know I've raved about this on here before. Or in person to you. Believe me, I'd rent an airplane to skywrite this message: read this damn book. But it deserves a warning label: not for the faint of heart. Just listen to this synopsis, okay? This is the story of the Binewskis, a circus family circa 1900 who breed their own freaks. That's right, the mother would use radiation, pills, alcohol, and other insane methods to insure her children would have birth defects and earn their spot in their traveling freak show. Too much? Then don't even skim a page of this. But know that you are missing out on a hell of a book, a daring story with compelling characters, told by an author who manages to take such a dark, twisted concept and bring lightness to it. Every reviewer who has read this says the same thing, and I will say it again: I can't even describe this book. Just read it.
Stay tuned for part two!
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