summer reading
Recently read books: The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta, An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender, after the quake by Haruki Murakami, Birds of America by Lorrie Moore, and I finally finished the last 30 pages I had to go in Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.
I’m currently reading Conversations with Woody Allen: His films, the movies, and moviemaking by Eric Lax, but I like to have a fiction novel as an alternative to switch off with a non-fiction book (a newer habit). There are plenty of books on my list of books to read, but any suggestions?
July 14th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
the believers by zoe heller – very fast, interesting, fun read about dysfunctional leftist family. just finishing girl with curios hair stories by dfw and am blown away page by page. the story here and there was especially stunning and awe-inspiring. i am currently on the last story, about half way through it, though it is over 100 pages and a crazy story plus metafiction commentary thing all wrapped in one – very dense. i’m working my way toward finally finishing IJ someday.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Hmm…I could suggest any of the 12 books on my reading list. I picked up The Remains of the Day and On Chesil Beach at the library today. I’ll say that you should read Tender is the Night because I suggested it on our finer things blog.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Erin, I love The Remains of the Day. We’ll have to have a post-reading discussion. Tender is Night and On Chesil Beach are both great options. I knew you’d try to push more Fitzgerald on me.
Laura, oh yeah, I forgot about The Believers. I remember reading an article on it in the NY Times and it piqued my interest. Infinite Jest has been on my must-read list for years. It’s just so large and intimidating. The novel is based structurally on a sierpinski gasket (as I learned from a podcast interview between DFW and Bookworm’s Michael Silverblatt – I miss KCRW), which further intrigues me.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I should also add that I enjoyed and would recommend all of the books that I recently finished.
Please Kill Me is such a fun, fascinating, and quick read. So many juicy and insane stories!