Books!

I'm fully engrossed in a wonderful book at the moment, one which spent a lot of time on the NYT best seller's list and which I am woefully behind on reading: The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I've wanted to read it for ages, but it always seemed to be checked out at the library, so when the Friends of the Library table at West Fest had a copy for sale for a buck, I snapped it up. And wow, I'm so glad I did.

It seems like some of the most beautiful prose I've read has been from Spanish and Portuguese authors, whose lyricism stands up even through translation. I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Jose Saramago, and TSotW is similar in its gorgeous descriptive language. It got me thinking about some of my other favorite literature and I put together a little list:

1. Franny and Zooey. My favorite book, one which I recommend to everyone, and which was instrumental in my development into who I am today. It was my introduction to non-Catcher in the Rye Salinger, and I've since read every published short story, novel, and biography concerning Salinger there is. Franny's disillusionment with her peers and their priorities echoed my own, although I never experienced the breakdown she suffers (thank God). In fact, this is where I learned of one of my other favorites,The Way of a Pilgrim.

2.The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly: Another beautiful magical realism masterpiece. It's pretty dark, dealing with death and loss, the disappointment of love and aging, and the horror of war, but its story is hauntingly gorgeous.

3.The Way of a Pilgrim, Anonymous: A cornerstone of Orthodox religion, its the story of an unnamed pilgrim who learns the Jesus Prayer, a method of praying without ceasing.

4. Rumi: a Sufi poet, who wrote absolutely beautiful things about love, God, and living well. I like Coleman Barks' translation best.

5. The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran: I love this so much that Sloan and I had a part of one of his essays on love inscribed inside our wedding rings ("love is sufficient unto love").

6.The Phantom Tollbooth (which I recently successfully convinced Sloan to read): my introduction as a child into mathematical logic, grammar, and paradoxical ideas. Plus really funny puns that hold up as an adult!

7.The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander: My sister and I devoured these when we were younger. The most well known is The Black Cauldron, because Disney, but there are several other books in this series, and to be honest, the lesser known volumes are stronger. These are heavily influenced by Welsh mythology, and featured a strong female character named Eilonwy who was always smarter, more resourceful, and funnier than the male protagonist, Taran.

8. The Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper: Arguably the inspiration for Harry Potter (I'm being charitable; there was a lawsuit brought because JK Rowlings' series seems to be heavily, um, influenced by this series. It was settled out of court IIRC, but you can draw your own conclusions...) another series heavily steeped in British mythology and concerns a young boy finding out he is an ages-old wizard with the task of saving the world from the forces of the Dark.

9. His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman: Ugh, the movie didn't do the first novel justice. They're wonderfully written, imaginative books with another strong female protagonist and--warrior bears!--great supporting characters as well.

10. A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson: I mean, it's in the title. His writing style is so engaging that I read the whole thing on the plane to Alaska and then was bored the whole time waiting around the airport without anything to read.

11. Eugene Onegin, by Alexander Pushkin: Most definitely the Nabokov translation is my favorite, as it preserves the style and meaning of the verse without slavishly maintaining the rhyme. Onegin is brooding, disillusioned, and bored, and destroys several lives (including his own) by succumbing to an ill-advised obsession with Tatyiana after blowing her off years earlier. Incredibly Russian and incredibly sad, but so beautiful.

12. Fargo Rock City, by Chuck Klosterman: I also love hair bands and metal, so CK's autobiographical story of his favorite bands, which includes extensive histories of the bands and their escapades, was informative and awesome, all at once. He's totally a hipster, but at least he's got good taste.


I apologize if you've read all of these and the list didn't bring anything new to the table, and I am always open to suggestions for new things to read. Anyone have any?