Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Help Me Not Be So Dumb
I need some help. I need advice. I need direction.
Between now and the end of the year, my plan is to become a measurably more literate person. My starting point is being someone who has been stuck reading Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton for at least the last four weeks. I read about three pages a night.
I do occasionally read really good stuff but not unless it’s on the New York Times Bestseller List and then I’m a few years back because I swore off buying books. Well, I bought the Sue Grafton book but she had just died and I have always felt such a deep affinity for Kinsey Millhone. Kinsey is a private detective. She is single and lives in a renovated garage, has only one dress-up dress which she keeps rolled up in a bag, keeps notes on index cards, is unlucky in love, and always finds the culprit. I swear, every time I eat a QP with cheese, which is embarrassingly often, I think of her. And she’s a fictional character. It’s almost pitiful.
Anyway, I need to amp up my intellect. The last really literary thing I read was Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead which I thought was extraordinary in writing and imagination. The last amazing academic/issue work I read was Evicted by Matthew Desmond. If I could go out and come back in again, I’d want to be someone who could do an incredible piece of research like Desmond’s on the genesis of homelessness and include such humanity and compassion. Admiration/envy – it’s a fine line.
So tell me, please. What should I read? What are the best things you read this year? What would a truly literate person read right now? What books moved you this year? What books changed how you see the world? I’m serious. Leave a recommendation in the comments. Make me smarter.
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
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“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
You’re one of the smartest women I know. You might want to change the title of this post.
You’re nice. Dumb might not be the right word – maybe Lazy or Random. I admire people who actually think about what to read next – much like people who pick out wine for reasons other than the label art – but I am probably not going to change.
Don’t look at me. I’m an anhedonic, jaded, half-deaf curmudgeon who no longer has the patience to watch people’s ideas develop on paper, much less hear someone drone on and on in an audio book, which would just distract me from what I’m doing because I can no longer multi-task.
I figured you needed an opposing POV. : )
I tried the audiobook idea (which I’ve done in the past but quit) and it works pretty well with nonfiction (Hillbilly Elegy) but not with fiction (can’t remember). It does take me even further out of the hearing world than I tend to be already so walking around with it feels like I’m in a phone booth.
I know what you mean. If you recall, I’m in the same hearing boat you are only mine can’t be aided with CE. Also, I like the idea and feel of a book in hand, turning the pages, being quiet.
As for a serious answer to your question, have you read “The End of Your Life Book Club” or “Books for Living” by Will Schwalbe? If not, Google him and the books. You might be interested.
I don’t read. I listen. To audiobooks. I love that I can listen to a book, drive a car, make meatballs, or process photographs — and my poor, tired eyes say thank you thank you. Not everybody loves audiobooks as much as I do, but some of us are just born again listeners.
I’m sure you’ve read thousands of books at this point, so I can’t believe you seriously believe you have anything to prove to yourself or anyone else. If you’re reading a book and you can’t make progress in it, find something else. I know a lot of people have a thing about having to finish a book they started, but I’m not one of them. As far as I’m concerned, this is entertainment. If I’m not enjoying it, I dump it and find something I like better. I never could get into Sue Grafton’s books. I know lots of people like her, but that’s what makes a bookshelf. You like this, I like that. If you really LIKE mysteries, try Gretchen Archer. I love her books and helped (a little bit) edit the second one. She has now written seven of them. We keep in touch.
If you like time travel, try ANY of the time travel books by Jodi Taylor. She’s British. She can make you laugh while exploring world history in a pod that looks like a mud hovel. Start with the first one. They are inexpensive as audiobooks and Kindles. Also, if you buy the Kindle, the audiobook is cheaper.
Join Goodreads. Check out the Pulitzer prize winners or National Book Award winners or even their runners up. There are so many favorites lists. Every time you hear of a book you think might be interesting, check out the summary on Goodreads. You can read or listen to a preview to see if it’s your cup of tea. If it is, put it on your ‘To-Read’ list. Too many times, things get forgotten. Maybe make note of whether it’s historical fiction, memoir, non-fiction, mystery, literary fiction but only if they’re useful for you. I’m trying to incorporate more non-fiction into my reading and I need a reminder. There are so many good books out there! When I go to the library I bring a ‘shopping’ list based on my ‘To-Read’ list. I’ll get a few off that and then I’ll browse the stacks just for fun.
Reading should be a pleasure and it’s as personal as the food you like to eat. Different books satisfy different parts of our minds – fit our different moods. Right now I’m falling in love with Fredrik Backman. His characters are awkward and endearing. Kent Haruf’s books all center around the lives of people from the same Colorado small town. Marilynne Robinson (Gilead series). Try some poetry – like Mary Oliver. Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane – E.L. Doctorow. Mary Doria Russell – Margaret Attwood, (Maddadam series). Stephen King, (the Dark Tower series). Lisa See (Shanghai Girls series) – Joyce Maynard – Rohinton Mistry (A Fine Balance) – Jose Saramago (Blindness). Okay – I’ll stop. I need to go read for a while.
Oh, my! It so depends on what you like! If it has taken you that long to progress through a Sue Grafton book I’m guessing mysteries are not the right thing. (Or, perhaps, that reading books is one of those things you think you should want to do, more than really wanting it. I used to feel that way about reading the newspaper, until I finally understood that even though other people lived by it, I didn’t actually want to read it.)
Anyway, here’s a very random list, just what I can remember based on looking at my library records (I’m one of those people who goes through about a book a week, some fabulous, some mediocre). I’m excluding memoir, though that’s a category I love, and also other non-fiction, which I don’t read too much of. In no particular order:
Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is beautiful. Or, if you’d prefer to read short stories, try her collection The Color Master.
Lisa Genova writes very interesting novels about people with neurological disorders. Her “Still Alice” (about someone with Alzheimers) was of course made into a movie; her others are pretty good too.
Fredrik Backman ‘s books are lovely, sweet tales about human frailty. “And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer” is pretty short (despite the title). I really liked his A Man Called Ove, which is about a real curmudgeon.
Elizabeth Berg, The Story of Arthur Truluv has some other interesting characters and is a great story of community
If you want mysteries, Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache mysteries are great. They’re set in a small town in Quebec and aside from fun plots, they lend fascinating insight into the Quebecquois vs English/Canadian perspective. Start with the first one, Still Life.
Emma Donoghue’s “Room” is outstanding. Possibly not as compelling if you’ve seen the movie, but I don’t know because I usually avoid movies made about books I like. her “The Wonder” is also good.
I have loved everything I’ve read of Geraldine Brooks. Her novels always have a historical base. Caleb’s Crossing is about the first Native American to graduate from Harvard (in 1665). March is about the absent father in Little Women (what he was doing in the war while they were all at home). She has others as well.
That’s a start, anyway. Have fun and remember, reading is supposed to be pleasurable, not obligatory!
Of all the books I’ve read this year, Black Rabbit Hall has been my favorite. She is a beautiful writer (I kept pausing to ask myself, how did she do that?) and it’s a great plot. It’s a mystery so an easy segue from Kinsey (whom I love) but decidedly more literary. Good luck on your quest!
I have a very long list of books I could recommend. I tend to challenge myself in reading, because, as a writer, it helps me up my game. So here are my standard recommendations: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, and The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan. Each challenging reads in their own way, but the writing is outstanding in all cases.
It’s an old book but Paradise in Hell by Rebecca Solnit changed my life and gave me hope. It’s about how real people actually respond to disaster, which is not as others say they will. And a second vote for Grass.
First, I love Kinsey Millhone, too. I wanted to live in her cozy little apartment next door to her sexy octogenarian landlord. I think I have read through Q, and need to read the remainder.
I’ve gotten into a sci-fi l/fantasy reading cycle, but there are some terrific, thought-provoking books in that genre mix.
“New York 2140,” by Kim Stanley Robinson, deals with global warming and politics in a drowned New York City. Surprisingly upbeat and weighty at the same time.
Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s “Children of Time” is really good. It deals with human nature in some interesting ways. It got a little ponderous in places, but it was a book I kept finding a need to talk about to complete strangers.
“Grass” by Sheri S. Tepper was interesting. A lot of folks are praising it as the ultimate sci-fi novel. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it is deep.
And if you want a fun book that will make you think and cringe, how about John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War?” I LOVED this book. Picture 70-Year-olds who get brand new bodies while retaining all their knowledge in exchange for going to war for the human alliance.
Read Barbara Kingsolver.. Start with Pigs in Heaven because it is really entertaining. It actually has a prequil but I like reading pigs first. Then read everything else she’s ever written. Get audible so you can listen to books while doing other things.. driving, dishes, falling asleep. When you have finished that assignment I’ll give you another. Now, mind!!!
OK..I just stubbed my toe on the coffee table so hard I thought I broke my big toe…you are in much better shape than I am. I read these things when I want to reconnect..To Kill a Mockingbird, Shogun, Jane Eyre, The Secret Garden….but today.. I’m not so sure…tell me what you read. 🙂
“Mockingbird”. Is always a good fallback. Wherever you leave it each day or night, you’ll be in an upbeat mood. Harper Lee was, perhaps, our collective babysitter.
I am juggling. ‘Earth Abides’. On advice of my Wife. I am also reading Bob Schieffer’s. ‘This Just In’. Which is a parallel trip through the years of my own career in TV News. It’s a reminder of the good, the bad and the ugly that I covered over 40 years. I’m still an optimist — even now in the worst of times.
I read a lot of indie stuff, because the bestsellers don’t need my help, and I’m a firm believer that “literary” doesn’t always mean better 🙂 I’d recommend The Dark Before Dawn by Jaima Fixsen (historical mystery/intrigue in Vienna, 1814), The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King (a retired Sherlock Holmes takes on a young intellectual woman as an apprentice in the shadow of WWI), our mutual friend Angela Amman’s Garden Boulevard (short stories about the private fears and worries of fifteen women), and Wicked by Gregory Maguire (so much more relevant a political allegory than it was when it came out!), for starters 🙂
Fiction–The Night Circus was a great read. Smart and different. And I’m reading Adam Grant’s nonfiction–Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. Many interesting tidbits in that book . . .