From Posh D.:
king dork by frank portman
so, this book has been out for a while, and i think i wrote a review of it (but i can’t find it on this blog?). but i’m still going to recommend it to you, cos it is THAT GOOD.
i know i talk a lot about young adult books, and many of you may not be convinced that they are actual Literature. well, read this book and be AMAZED. the story centers on a teenager named tom henderson who is totally unpopular, wildly smart and obsessed with girls and bands… *his* band, in particular, which really only consists of himself, his one friend and lots of potential band names. one day, he finds a copy of his father’s “catcher in the rye,” a book he really really hates. but, since his father was a detective who died under mysterious circumstances, tom decides to comb through the book for clues– clues about his dad, his death, anything.
it’s hard to describe this book, actually, because it’s a weird mix of mystery and social satire and hilarity. the way tom plays his AP teachers and dreams about girls and hates on the jocks… i have *never* read a YA book with such a realistic male voice. i honestly felt like i was inside of a high school boy, which is uh really gross. but awesome.
anyway, if you’re interested in checking out some YA that is realistic, clever and well-written (did i mention hilarious? i did? ok good cos it’s HILARIOUS), read this book. i give it four out of four pants!
From MSW:
The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux
Kinda trashy but really fun (and oddly thought-provoking) beach read. I really read too much non-fiction for my own good, so when I take a break from it, I REALLY take a break.
Anyway, the book is about these three women who get together to celebrate their 40th birthdays, and they’ve all pretty much been screwed over by life. They then get a chance to change their lives, but in an unexpected way. Not to reveal too much, but The story got me to thinking about what change I would make in my own life if I could do it over again. It was compelling in a mostly fluffy but with a bit of food for thought thrown in. I think one of the things that appealed to me the most when I read it was that one of the characters is an author, and I was really intrigued by her creative/writing process and I wondered how Ms. Deveraux drew on her own life and experience for that character. I guess I’m a geeky writer-type that way. 
From Benjamin:
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
the best book i’ve read recently that no one has heard of– Laxness was an Icelandic author (like, the only Icelandic author) who won the Nobel Prize in the 50’s or 60’s. the book is a family epic that takes place around WWI; the family itself, a downtrodden group of Icelandic sheep farmers. the book has long descriptions of sheep and minute descriptions of blizzards, and as boring as that sounds, it is just the opposite. i think that is a masterpiece and everyone should read it. be warned that it is long, though. 500 pages.
From John:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
this book is an amazing and very moving story about the effects of British imperialism on indigenous African societies. That might not sound riveting but Achebe does an amazing job in presenting two sides to several of his characters. This book is probably going to appeal more to people who are interested in history and slightly more dry stuff, but I love this book. Love it love it love it.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Sticking up for a countryman here and recommending a ridiculously famous book, BUT the whole point is that a lot of people are intimidated by Joyce. Portrait of the Artist isn’t like that, it’s very readable and an excellent example of just how good Joyce was.
Ok, one more! Or rather, three trilogies more. Start with Stephen R. Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Fantasy for (very) grown-ups.
From Jessica:
“what is the what” by dave eggers
i learned so much about the conflict in southern sudan, but in novel form. it was really amazing.
From Erin C:
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susannah Clarke
this comes as a shock to absolutely no one, I am sure. Also I’m pretty sure everyone that reads this blog has read it already, and probably multiple times. But I was totally dismayed about the state of modern writing before I read that book, and it basically single-handedly restored my faith in post-70s literature. (Also if you love JS&MN, you should read “The Ladies of Grace Adieu,” which is her short-story collection.)
The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
TFNT is not the best thing Baldwin’s ever written (Go Tell it on the Mountain is), but it’s one of those collections I revisit as often as I can, because every time I read it, I come away with something new. It’s amazing that such a powerful, depressing book can cause me to walk away feeling more hopeful about the state of this world.
Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Gosh, I can’t imagine what would have me relating to a book about mentally unstable people and other people’s unrelenting desire to fix them. TitN is the only book I ever physically had to PUT DOWN because I couldn’t finish it. I won’t say it’s a pleasure to read, but it is a compulsion.
Everything That Rises Must Converge, Flannery O’Connor
Hello, I am from Mississippi. O’Connor and Eudora Welty were like my cranky old grandmas. Except my actual cranky old grandmas dropped the F-bomb more.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
If I could crawl into a book and spend all my time exploring it, I’d do it with this one. (Or Jonathan Strange, cause, magic!)
From Becky:
Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
We read it two months ago at my school book club and it was pretty good. Otherwise all I ready is trashy romance novels, so I’m thinking only Talena really wants my recommendations…
From Olivia:
The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa el-Aswany
It’s a pretty recent book set in Egypt, and was made into a movie (an Egyptian movie), and it’s really capturing a whole slice of society and people’s relationships, somewhat convincingly from what I’ve read, and yet it’s not too long or too full of itself to be beautiful and human. The writing is good, and the ending is good, which is more than I can say for many books. It drags I think in the third quarter of it, but really picks up at the end. Would like to have debates with other people who read it about the convincingness of characters.
First runner-up for the Olivia recommendation would be
The Good Soldier Svejk, by Jaroslav Hasek
It’s like a WWI, Czech version of Catch-22. It’s amusing and was originally 4 books but is now all in one English edition. It’s actually quite a funny book, although not as laugh-out-loud funny as Absurdistan, but more subtle in its criticism of countries at war and political dictatorships.
From Josh:
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart
It’s a hilarious social satire about…well, Russian culture, the attitudes of the wealthy towards the poor, former soviet republics, American liberal arts education, and the role of globalized American oil/infrastructure/defense corporations in the political events of the third world. And the principal character is the hefty, sensitive, hip-hop loving son of a Russian mafia kingpin whose nickname is Snack Daddy.
It gets 9.5 out of 10 chic fil a chicken nuggets. (That’s right, I rate things on a nugget scale)
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Another recommendation that probably fits the “summer reading” category - Irving kinda grew into a weepy airport-novel writer later in his career, after he realized that overwrought sentimentality = movies made out of your books = $$$. But A Prayer for Owen Meaney is spectacular because it sticks to the key novel formula: create an engaging, original character, and then let the story tell itself.
Along the same lines, if anyone hasn’t read Middlesex by Geoffrey Eugenides, you probably should. That is, if you like awesome books.
From Meredith:
For something fun and shallow, The Andy Warhol Diaries.
This book is mammoth and it’s the diaries he recorded, edited and typed by his longtime assistant. Filled to the brim with juicy, scoopy, 60s-70s gossip. SO GOOD.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
an absolutely perfect book. Well, perfect in the sense of perfectly weird, perfectly dark, perfectly uproarious, perfectly gripping. Not necessarily perfectly plotted, but eh.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Although most people, I feel, have probably read this book, I can’t let a list go by without recommending my favorite book of all time. Just from the title you can tell this will be the most lyrical book you’ve ever read. I can’t go a month without turning to the first page and re-reading the opening lines as I mouth along: “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.” Siiiigh. Beat THAT, television!
From Celina:
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
I had to read this for a Magical Realism class in grad school and absolutely loved it. It was written during 1930s Stalinist Russia. Basically, Satan comes to Moscow and brings his minions with him to wreak havoc, including a talking cat who wears a top hat and a monacle. There are very Faustian themes in this book and a lot of surprising twists which I always appreciate. I also like it because it does the whole “narrative within a narrative” thing. That is all.
From Jonathan:
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
I love every one of Robertson Davies’s novels. If I have to recommend one book in particular, I’ll start with The Rebel Angels, which is book one of the Cornish Trilogy, with the expectation that the person following my recommendation will go on to read the other two, very different, and differently wonderful, books in the series.
It’s sort of a satire on academia. Well, sort of. It’s *set against* a satire of academia. It, like all of Davies’s novels, is about humanity and relationships and how best to conceptualize one’s own life experiences. It’s also devastatingly funny for those of us who live and breathe the university.
I saw this post right before Chris and I went on vacation (perfect timing). I bought King Dork and couldn’t even wait to get to the beach to start reading it. It was so good, I made Chris read it after I finished it. We both loved it and sometimes answer each other’s phone calls with “oh thank god.”
I KNOW, RIGHT?!! i’m so glad you read it (and enjoyed it). i can’t wait for frank portman’s next book.