Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Favorite fiction
Day three of my favorite books. I have to tackle fiction eventually, so it may as well be right now. I'll include novels and some collections of short stories. Mark Helprin once said in an interview that a novel is the whole sprawling opera, while a short story can be, at its best, an aria. I paraphrase, but you get the idea. I think he went on to say that he hated operas, but loved arias. Ha. So, fiction - classic and contemporary. I don't read many mysteries, or much (any, really) science fiction, but I welcome suggestions for the neophyte (me) who wants to start with the best: novels and stories of all kinds that bring some comfort and understanding to the unsettled and often haphazard state of being human.
Persuasion – Jane Austen. Penguin, New York 1987 (1818). I could have easily listed Pride and Prejudice here instead, but the love story in Persuasion is sweeter to me because the heroine thinks her case is hopeless. Also, in Persuasion, Austen's character portraits are positively ruthless; she spares no one. Her best, in my opinion. Written at the height of her literary powers, and near the end of her life.
The Country of the Pointed Firs – Sarah Orne Jewett. Anchor, Boston 1989 (1896). A quiet book in which not much happens and we don't ever care, we are so lost in her gentle prose. A timeless time-capsule of a particular corner of my home state.
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald. Collier, New York 1992 (1925). Perhaps my favorite novel of the twentieth century, this story has it all. The narrator is my favorite character in the book, he watches the beautiful and the damned of the jazz age for us, the readers, and even gets out alive at the end.
Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian, the Aubrey/Maturin series, twenty volumes and a fragment. Norton, New York 1990 forward (1970 forward). I've read this series four times, and certain scenes always brought me to tears. The books get richer and richer with each re-reading. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but most certainly MINE. I have deep, deep love for these novels. See the Horatio Hornblower entry further down the list.
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens. Penguin, New York 2002 (1860). I read this as a teenager and I still love it, imagine that. My favorite Dickens novel.
In Search of Lost Time – Marcel Proust. Modern Library, New York 1992 (1913-1922). Ok, I'll come forward and admit that I haven't read it all. Halfway, then stuck, then sidetracked, just like the Pepys diaries. Still, I have the gall to list it here, simply because when I began to read it I was so shocked and delighted. I expected, for some reason, something impenetrable and dense like Joyce at his thickest, and instead I found a meandering, lush, romantic meditation on the beauty of the past and the timelessness of memory. No wonder Proust and Joyce had nothing to say to each other when they met.
A Soldier of the Great War and Memoir from Antproof Case – Mark Helprin. Harcourt Brace, New York , 1991 and 1995. I've shouted from the rooftops about Mark Helprin before this, so I'll just add that when someone comes into my shop asking for a great novel, these are what I talk them into reading. Well, a bit more: both novels use a narrative device I love, that of someone now grown old who is telling his life story to someone in particular, and hence also to us, the readers.
Spoonhandle and Candlemas Bay – Ruth Moore. Morrow, New York 1946 and 1950. She is the John Steinbeck of Maine, and I say that because she deserves much more than the usual phrase regional writer. Her novels, and these two in particular, deal with family relationships in small towns in coastal Maine. Her families always have one or two heroes, and one or two truly bad seeds, and like Austen, she doesn't spare them.
John Mistletoe – Christopher Morley. Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, New York 1931. I didn't list this with the memoirs yesterday, so I will add it here. The best of Morley. Lyrical, beautiful, this book means worlds to me.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John le Carré. Knopf, New York 1974. Something a bit different. Le Carré's anti-hero George Smiley is one of my favorite fictional characters. The whole trilogy, published in an omnibus edition called The Quest for Karla, is very fine. Spy fiction at its best. I still find it thrilling, even though I now know who the guilty mole is.
My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok. Knopf, New York 1972. I read this book when I was in school, and it remains one of the best novels I know of about what it truly feels like to be a visual artist. Asher is a teenage art prodigy and a Hasidic Jew who has to reconcile his gift with his family and his religion.
Happy All the Time – Laurie Colwin. Knopf, New York 1978. A perfect little novel, about two handsome best friends and the women they fall in love with. Laurie Colwin once said (again, paraphrasing here) that she wrote about rich, happy people because she'd been poor and unhappy herself and she hadn't found it very interesting.
Utz – Bruce Chatwin. Viking, New York 1989. More Bruce Chatwin. Another perfect little novel, about an obsessive collector of Meissen porcelain in Prague, and the ultimate fate of his collection. Should have won the Booker Prize, but they gave it to Salman Rushdie that year instead. I'm still fuming about this.
The Enchanted April – Elizabeth von Arnim. Macmillan, London 1922. I mentioned this yesterday, too, alongside her memoirs, and it's a wonderfully warm novel about two Englishwomen who decide to rent a villa in Italy for a real vacation, without telling their husbands. Rather like the British play/film Shirley Valentine, except in that story the heroine goes off to Greece. Anyway, both are about escape from the everyday and transformation through beauty.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses – Choderlos de Laclos. Doubleday, New York 1998 (1782). A fine portrait of the development of evil, better than the film versions. Plus I have a weakness for epistolary novels. And for the dissolute, aristocratic period leading up to the French Revolution. Off with their heads.
The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Orczy. Signet, New York 2000 (1905). More aristocrats during the French Revolution. My favorite swashbuckler and a fine beach book.
These Old Shades – Georgette Heyer. Dutton, New York 1966 (1926). Can I pretend that one of my favorite books isn't this one? No, I cannot. Not a book by Faulkner, or Joyce, or some Russian novelist, instead it's Georgette Heyer. I've read this at least ten times. There it is, a fact. The original romance novel, in my opinion. Pure escapism, and again, those aristocrats...
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier. Doubleday, Doran, New York 1939. Haunting. My favorite opening line in all fiction, just thinking of it gives me chills. Go look it up immediately.
A Room with a View – E.M. Forster. Vintage, New York, n.d. (1908). I also love A Passage to India, but really, give me a happy ending any day of the week. There's enough flat despair in the world without having to experience it again in one's leisure reading. I love everything about this book, from its chapter headings to its final sentences. And the ending of the book isn't quite so happy as the ending of the film.
The Far Pavilions – M.M. Kaye. St. Martin’s Press, New York 1978. A big, fat, sweeping epic of a romance novel, set in India. Usually found in two volumes. Kaye's memoirs about her childhood during the days of the British Raj are also great - the first one is called The Sun in the Morning, and come to think of it, I should have listed it with the memoirs yesterday.
Embers - Sándor Márai. Vintage, New York 2002 (1942). I have to add this, even though I just read it for the first time this spring. I know I was raving about it on this blog. I'm still trying to figure out how the author built and maintained the suspense so perfectly. This also gives me chills when I think of it.
The Lymond Chronicles – Dorothy Dunnett, 6 volumes. Vintage, New York 1997 (1976 forward). Rollicking historical series set in sixteenth-century Scotland, Europe, and the Mediterranean. The level of detail she achieves is truly stunning, it reminds me of a medieval psalter, its cover encrusted with rough gemstones and knotwork and metal, all to ornament the story within. Another series that had me completely engulfed for weeks.
Captain Horatio Hornblower – C.S. Forester, a trilogy, with sequels, and prequels. Little, Brown, Boston 1939 forward. Another series to get lost in. I am fascinated by the doings of the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and these novels (along with Patrick O'Brian's) allow me a vicarious experience - that of time travel. If past lives exist, this is my time. I feel it on a cellular level.
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh. Little, Brown, Boston 1945. I love the structure of this novel as much as the story. The soldier-narrator returns to Brideshead and remembers his old life, before the war. Reminds me in an odd way of The Great Gatsby: the narrator looking in, yet also part of the drama as it unfolds.
A Very Long Engagement – Sébastien Japrisot. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York 1993. Reading about World War I led me to this novel about a young wheelchair-bound girl searching for her lost lover in postwar France. A mystery surrounds the events of his death, and she becomes convinced that he is still alive. I liked this more than Birdsong.
The Dream-Detective – Sax Rohmer. Dover, New York 1977 (1926). My mother gave me this Dover copy when I was a young teenager and I still love it today. A collection of mystery stories about an investigator of occult occurances, Morris Klaw, and his vampish daughter Isis. At this age I wanted to be an archaeologist, and was reading books about Howard Carter and Egyptology, and this fit right in. Kitschy, campy, Egyptian-revival, reminiscent of Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries.
Cathedral – Raymond Carver. Vintage, New York 1984. The king of short stories. Blunt, tough, beautiful. I'll leave it at that, in honor of the original minimalist (Hemingway be damned).
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain – Robert Olen Butler. Holt, New York 1992. Pulitzer-winning short story collection about Vietnamese families in New Orleans, and the echoes of the Vietnam War. Lush and beautiful.
The Lone Pilgrim: Stories - Laurie Colwin. Knopf, New York 1981. I think I've read this collection four times. The first story is my favorite, read it and see why (hint, books...).
A Dove of the East and Other Stories – Mark Helprin. Knopf, New York 1975. I can't pick my favorite story in this book. They are all very beautiful; they are like little shrines to beauty.
Ellis Island and Other Stories – Mark Helprin. Delacorte, New York 1981. Again, I love them all, but especially "The Schreuderspitze."
The Pacific and Other Stories – Mark Helprin. Penguin, New York 2004. I can pick one favorite in this collection: "Monday." Helprin writes about the things I am interested in for the long haul: beauty, hope, loss, redemption, love. Big themes, but he also has a sense of humor, which tempers any sense of too-bigness.
I could go on all day in this category. But really, I can't - I've got a lot to do before I close up shop tonight. Can I really add all those Mark Helprin books at the end of this list, all willy-nilly like that? It's my list, so yes, yes I can! I can't choose just one or even two of them. Even if I can choose only one Jane Austen novel to start the list. Well, who says I have to be consistent. I know as soon as I post this, I'll think of ten books that I should have added. Like Virginia Woolf's Orlando. And something by Jack London, whom I love, perhaps The Star Rover, or even better, Martin Eden. And how about Nancy Mitford's two books, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate? I can see that I'll have to continue this at some unknown future date. A new list tomorrow, a different topic.
Persuasion – Jane Austen. Penguin, New York 1987 (1818). I could have easily listed Pride and Prejudice here instead, but the love story in Persuasion is sweeter to me because the heroine thinks her case is hopeless. Also, in Persuasion, Austen's character portraits are positively ruthless; she spares no one. Her best, in my opinion. Written at the height of her literary powers, and near the end of her life.
The Country of the Pointed Firs – Sarah Orne Jewett. Anchor, Boston 1989 (1896). A quiet book in which not much happens and we don't ever care, we are so lost in her gentle prose. A timeless time-capsule of a particular corner of my home state.
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald. Collier, New York 1992 (1925). Perhaps my favorite novel of the twentieth century, this story has it all. The narrator is my favorite character in the book, he watches the beautiful and the damned of the jazz age for us, the readers, and even gets out alive at the end.
Master and Commander – Patrick O’Brian, the Aubrey/Maturin series, twenty volumes and a fragment. Norton, New York 1990 forward (1970 forward). I've read this series four times, and certain scenes always brought me to tears. The books get richer and richer with each re-reading. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but most certainly MINE. I have deep, deep love for these novels. See the Horatio Hornblower entry further down the list.
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens. Penguin, New York 2002 (1860). I read this as a teenager and I still love it, imagine that. My favorite Dickens novel.
In Search of Lost Time – Marcel Proust. Modern Library, New York 1992 (1913-1922). Ok, I'll come forward and admit that I haven't read it all. Halfway, then stuck, then sidetracked, just like the Pepys diaries. Still, I have the gall to list it here, simply because when I began to read it I was so shocked and delighted. I expected, for some reason, something impenetrable and dense like Joyce at his thickest, and instead I found a meandering, lush, romantic meditation on the beauty of the past and the timelessness of memory. No wonder Proust and Joyce had nothing to say to each other when they met.
A Soldier of the Great War and Memoir from Antproof Case – Mark Helprin. Harcourt Brace, New York , 1991 and 1995. I've shouted from the rooftops about Mark Helprin before this, so I'll just add that when someone comes into my shop asking for a great novel, these are what I talk them into reading. Well, a bit more: both novels use a narrative device I love, that of someone now grown old who is telling his life story to someone in particular, and hence also to us, the readers.
Spoonhandle and Candlemas Bay – Ruth Moore. Morrow, New York 1946 and 1950. She is the John Steinbeck of Maine, and I say that because she deserves much more than the usual phrase regional writer. Her novels, and these two in particular, deal with family relationships in small towns in coastal Maine. Her families always have one or two heroes, and one or two truly bad seeds, and like Austen, she doesn't spare them.
John Mistletoe – Christopher Morley. Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, New York 1931. I didn't list this with the memoirs yesterday, so I will add it here. The best of Morley. Lyrical, beautiful, this book means worlds to me.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John le Carré. Knopf, New York 1974. Something a bit different. Le Carré's anti-hero George Smiley is one of my favorite fictional characters. The whole trilogy, published in an omnibus edition called The Quest for Karla, is very fine. Spy fiction at its best. I still find it thrilling, even though I now know who the guilty mole is.
My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok. Knopf, New York 1972. I read this book when I was in school, and it remains one of the best novels I know of about what it truly feels like to be a visual artist. Asher is a teenage art prodigy and a Hasidic Jew who has to reconcile his gift with his family and his religion.
Happy All the Time – Laurie Colwin. Knopf, New York 1978. A perfect little novel, about two handsome best friends and the women they fall in love with. Laurie Colwin once said (again, paraphrasing here) that she wrote about rich, happy people because she'd been poor and unhappy herself and she hadn't found it very interesting.
Utz – Bruce Chatwin. Viking, New York 1989. More Bruce Chatwin. Another perfect little novel, about an obsessive collector of Meissen porcelain in Prague, and the ultimate fate of his collection. Should have won the Booker Prize, but they gave it to Salman Rushdie that year instead. I'm still fuming about this.
The Enchanted April – Elizabeth von Arnim. Macmillan, London 1922. I mentioned this yesterday, too, alongside her memoirs, and it's a wonderfully warm novel about two Englishwomen who decide to rent a villa in Italy for a real vacation, without telling their husbands. Rather like the British play/film Shirley Valentine, except in that story the heroine goes off to Greece. Anyway, both are about escape from the everyday and transformation through beauty.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses – Choderlos de Laclos. Doubleday, New York 1998 (1782). A fine portrait of the development of evil, better than the film versions. Plus I have a weakness for epistolary novels. And for the dissolute, aristocratic period leading up to the French Revolution. Off with their heads.
The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Orczy. Signet, New York 2000 (1905). More aristocrats during the French Revolution. My favorite swashbuckler and a fine beach book.
These Old Shades – Georgette Heyer. Dutton, New York 1966 (1926). Can I pretend that one of my favorite books isn't this one? No, I cannot. Not a book by Faulkner, or Joyce, or some Russian novelist, instead it's Georgette Heyer. I've read this at least ten times. There it is, a fact. The original romance novel, in my opinion. Pure escapism, and again, those aristocrats...
Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier. Doubleday, Doran, New York 1939. Haunting. My favorite opening line in all fiction, just thinking of it gives me chills. Go look it up immediately.
A Room with a View – E.M. Forster. Vintage, New York, n.d. (1908). I also love A Passage to India, but really, give me a happy ending any day of the week. There's enough flat despair in the world without having to experience it again in one's leisure reading. I love everything about this book, from its chapter headings to its final sentences. And the ending of the book isn't quite so happy as the ending of the film.
The Far Pavilions – M.M. Kaye. St. Martin’s Press, New York 1978. A big, fat, sweeping epic of a romance novel, set in India. Usually found in two volumes. Kaye's memoirs about her childhood during the days of the British Raj are also great - the first one is called The Sun in the Morning, and come to think of it, I should have listed it with the memoirs yesterday.
Embers - Sándor Márai. Vintage, New York 2002 (1942). I have to add this, even though I just read it for the first time this spring. I know I was raving about it on this blog. I'm still trying to figure out how the author built and maintained the suspense so perfectly. This also gives me chills when I think of it.
The Lymond Chronicles – Dorothy Dunnett, 6 volumes. Vintage, New York 1997 (1976 forward). Rollicking historical series set in sixteenth-century Scotland, Europe, and the Mediterranean. The level of detail she achieves is truly stunning, it reminds me of a medieval psalter, its cover encrusted with rough gemstones and knotwork and metal, all to ornament the story within. Another series that had me completely engulfed for weeks.
Captain Horatio Hornblower – C.S. Forester, a trilogy, with sequels, and prequels. Little, Brown, Boston 1939 forward. Another series to get lost in. I am fascinated by the doings of the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and these novels (along with Patrick O'Brian's) allow me a vicarious experience - that of time travel. If past lives exist, this is my time. I feel it on a cellular level.
Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh. Little, Brown, Boston 1945. I love the structure of this novel as much as the story. The soldier-narrator returns to Brideshead and remembers his old life, before the war. Reminds me in an odd way of The Great Gatsby: the narrator looking in, yet also part of the drama as it unfolds.
A Very Long Engagement – Sébastien Japrisot. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York 1993. Reading about World War I led me to this novel about a young wheelchair-bound girl searching for her lost lover in postwar France. A mystery surrounds the events of his death, and she becomes convinced that he is still alive. I liked this more than Birdsong.
The Dream-Detective – Sax Rohmer. Dover, New York 1977 (1926). My mother gave me this Dover copy when I was a young teenager and I still love it today. A collection of mystery stories about an investigator of occult occurances, Morris Klaw, and his vampish daughter Isis. At this age I wanted to be an archaeologist, and was reading books about Howard Carter and Egyptology, and this fit right in. Kitschy, campy, Egyptian-revival, reminiscent of Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries.
Cathedral – Raymond Carver. Vintage, New York 1984. The king of short stories. Blunt, tough, beautiful. I'll leave it at that, in honor of the original minimalist (Hemingway be damned).
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain – Robert Olen Butler. Holt, New York 1992. Pulitzer-winning short story collection about Vietnamese families in New Orleans, and the echoes of the Vietnam War. Lush and beautiful.
The Lone Pilgrim: Stories - Laurie Colwin. Knopf, New York 1981. I think I've read this collection four times. The first story is my favorite, read it and see why (hint, books...).
A Dove of the East and Other Stories – Mark Helprin. Knopf, New York 1975. I can't pick my favorite story in this book. They are all very beautiful; they are like little shrines to beauty.
Ellis Island and Other Stories – Mark Helprin. Delacorte, New York 1981. Again, I love them all, but especially "The Schreuderspitze."
The Pacific and Other Stories – Mark Helprin. Penguin, New York 2004. I can pick one favorite in this collection: "Monday." Helprin writes about the things I am interested in for the long haul: beauty, hope, loss, redemption, love. Big themes, but he also has a sense of humor, which tempers any sense of too-bigness.
I could go on all day in this category. But really, I can't - I've got a lot to do before I close up shop tonight. Can I really add all those Mark Helprin books at the end of this list, all willy-nilly like that? It's my list, so yes, yes I can! I can't choose just one or even two of them. Even if I can choose only one Jane Austen novel to start the list. Well, who says I have to be consistent. I know as soon as I post this, I'll think of ten books that I should have added. Like Virginia Woolf's Orlando. And something by Jack London, whom I love, perhaps The Star Rover, or even better, Martin Eden. And how about Nancy Mitford's two books, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate? I can see that I'll have to continue this at some unknown future date. A new list tomorrow, a different topic.
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Ahhh, Persuasion. There is no book I love more. I cannot improve on such a wonderful list, except for adding My Antonia by Willa Cather. I read this book when the world seems particularly dark and mad. It is like going to a still place.
# posted by 
: 7:40 PM
: 7:40 PM
I spoke too soon! I must add the Poldark series by Winston Graham to the ever growing list. Great historical fiction full of romance and adventure and set on the wild coast of Cornwall. What more could you want?
# posted by : 7:45 PM
: 7:45 PM
Well,fiction is my favorite genre so I'm like a kid in a candy store here:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen-Persuasion is my first JA love but MP has been growing on me for quite some time now. Fanny Price is one of the most misunderstood heroines in literary history,IMO.
The World According to Garp by John Irving-I consider this the first"grown-up"novel that I ever read. I can't count how many times I've reread it and still love the realm of T.S. Garp.
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot-I've tried to read Middlemarch dozens of times but it just doesn't hold me for long. Deronda,however,captivated me right away.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nieffenegger-a beautiful love story that isn't bogged down by it's sci-fi premise.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott-"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents!"-that's right up there with the opening line of P&P to me.
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund-Another good opener:"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last."
Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber-If you love the Victorian period and don't mind abit of spice,this book is tailor made for you!
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens-I love Aunt Betsey;she's my role model for getting older.
There are way too many more that I could list but I'll just drop a few names: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon,The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer,House of Mirth by Edith Wharton,All Is Vanity by Christina Schwarz,No Angel by Penny Vincenzi and Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman.
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen-Persuasion is my first JA love but MP has been growing on me for quite some time now. Fanny Price is one of the most misunderstood heroines in literary history,IMO.
The World According to Garp by John Irving-I consider this the first"grown-up"novel that I ever read. I can't count how many times I've reread it and still love the realm of T.S. Garp.
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot-I've tried to read Middlemarch dozens of times but it just doesn't hold me for long. Deronda,however,captivated me right away.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nieffenegger-a beautiful love story that isn't bogged down by it's sci-fi premise.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott-"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents!"-that's right up there with the opening line of P&P to me.
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund-Another good opener:"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last."
Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber-If you love the Victorian period and don't mind abit of spice,this book is tailor made for you!
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens-I love Aunt Betsey;she's my role model for getting older.
There are way too many more that I could list but I'll just drop a few names: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon,The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer,House of Mirth by Edith Wharton,All Is Vanity by Christina Schwarz,No Angel by Penny Vincenzi and Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman.
I have another pal who is crazy about Poldark - she re-reads the series when the going gets rough and she really needs to escape. And Vicky, I have to be honest and say that Willa Cather is one of those authors I've always *intended* to read, but *never actually have* to my shame. I will start with "My Antonia."
L.T., I loved "Middlemarch" and haven't read anything else she wrote, so I will hunt for a copy of "D.D." next! Thanks for your additions...
L.T., I loved "Middlemarch" and haven't read anything else she wrote, so I will hunt for a copy of "D.D." next! Thanks for your additions...
I'm right with you on Pointed Firs, Aubrey/Maturin, and Great Expectations. Here are a few of mine:
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins. There are historical reasons for reading this (arguably the second detective story, after Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue), but it’s great fun.
Human Being, Christopher Morley. This is my favorite novel by Morley (though I haven’t read John Mistletoe yet).
Fiery Particles, C.E. Montague. This is a collection of stories by Montague, all dealing with the First World War and written with the common soldier in mind. The longest, Honours Easy, illustrates one of his themes in Disenchantment- the hypocrisy of those who did no fighting but arranged to get a share of the glory. There are some very funny stories and Montague’s love of Shakespeare shines through them.
The Barsetshire novels of Angela Thirkell. These were written in the early 30’s through 1961 and are set in Trollope’s Barsetshire. In fact, some of the characters are descendants of his and they will occasionally talk, usually erroneously, about their ancestors. I love these books for Thirkell’s humorous asides,and her biting remarks about characters whom she likes but sees with a clear eye. There are recurring characters and references to events in previous stories, but it’s not necessary to read them in order. The books fall into three periods- pre-WWII, the war novels, and post-war. I think the strongest ones are the war novels, but enjoy them all. My favorites are The Old Bank House, Northbridge Rectory, Cheerfulness Breaks In, The Brandons, and whichever I’m reading each month.
And a couple more modern novels:
American Gods, Neil Gaiman. America is a land of immigrants, many of whom brought their gods with them. What happens when the gods are no longer worshipped or even remembered? Hint- gods are slow to die and you’ve gotta make a living somehow. This is a story of mythology and adventure and mystery, broad in sweep and captivating.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke, tells the story of these two men and their quest to restore “English Magic”. Clarke spent ten years writing this 782 page first novel, and it shows her care. It is presented as a history of English magic, complete with footnotes and side stories.
Dan
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins. There are historical reasons for reading this (arguably the second detective story, after Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue), but it’s great fun.
Human Being, Christopher Morley. This is my favorite novel by Morley (though I haven’t read John Mistletoe yet).
Fiery Particles, C.E. Montague. This is a collection of stories by Montague, all dealing with the First World War and written with the common soldier in mind. The longest, Honours Easy, illustrates one of his themes in Disenchantment- the hypocrisy of those who did no fighting but arranged to get a share of the glory. There are some very funny stories and Montague’s love of Shakespeare shines through them.
The Barsetshire novels of Angela Thirkell. These were written in the early 30’s through 1961 and are set in Trollope’s Barsetshire. In fact, some of the characters are descendants of his and they will occasionally talk, usually erroneously, about their ancestors. I love these books for Thirkell’s humorous asides,and her biting remarks about characters whom she likes but sees with a clear eye. There are recurring characters and references to events in previous stories, but it’s not necessary to read them in order. The books fall into three periods- pre-WWII, the war novels, and post-war. I think the strongest ones are the war novels, but enjoy them all. My favorites are The Old Bank House, Northbridge Rectory, Cheerfulness Breaks In, The Brandons, and whichever I’m reading each month.
And a couple more modern novels:
American Gods, Neil Gaiman. America is a land of immigrants, many of whom brought their gods with them. What happens when the gods are no longer worshipped or even remembered? Hint- gods are slow to die and you’ve gotta make a living somehow. This is a story of mythology and adventure and mystery, broad in sweep and captivating.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke, tells the story of these two men and their quest to restore “English Magic”. Clarke spent ten years writing this 782 page first novel, and it shows her care. It is presented as a history of English magic, complete with footnotes and side stories.
Dan
# posted by : 12:11 PM
: 12:11 PM
Oh, yes, The Moonstone is a wonderful book to read and read again. I also love The Woman in White which is more gothic than The Moonstone.
Hmmm... Angela Thirkell may be just what I need. I read Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire novels this spring and I was loath to leave that world and all the great characters.
The best modern novel I have read this year is Small Isalnd by Andrea Levy. Levy tells her story through multiple voices and she is a gorgeous writer and lush storyteller.
Hmmm... Angela Thirkell may be just what I need. I read Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire novels this spring and I was loath to leave that world and all the great characters.
The best modern novel I have read this year is Small Isalnd by Andrea Levy. Levy tells her story through multiple voices and she is a gorgeous writer and lush storyteller.
# posted by : 12:16 PM
: 12:16 PM
I'm almost convinced I need to read Angela Thirkell... And I have a copy of "Fiery Particles" somewhere, somewhere, but where could it be?? It'll turn up and I'll read it, after that great capsule description. I have a large collection of WWI fiction and memoirs, mostly about Sassoon and friends, and am always looking for additions.
I check in at Neil Gaiman's blog from time to time - I have yet to read a single novel. I've sold many copies at the shop... ditto Jonathan Strange. I took a look at it and thought "Not today, but someday!"
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I check in at Neil Gaiman's blog from time to time - I have yet to read a single novel. I've sold many copies at the shop... ditto Jonathan Strange. I took a look at it and thought "Not today, but someday!"
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