Rachel's Random Recommendation #15: Dreiser

Sister Carrie (1900) by Theodore Dreiser

You know that book that you've read a million times, underlined until the pages are raw, discussed and analyzed until you've gone over every last word with a fine-tooth comb?

Yeah, Sister Carrie is that book for me.

And while I couldn't for the life of me tell you what I ate for breakfast yesterday, I CAN tell you every step in my Dreiser journey. I first picked up Sister Carrie at a used book store while on vacation with my family. I was around 15. It sounded interesting, and I had never read any Dreiser before, so I gave it a shot.

Review: Tennyson by John Batchelor

Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find by John Batchelor (Pegasus Books, 2013, 448 pages)

Sitting next to my desk, as it has for years now, is a plain 8 x 10 frame, and in that frame is a print-out of "Ulysses" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

I had loved this poem upon first encountering it, but something really clicked when I studied it in my Victorian Lit grad seminar several years ago. The timeless voice of the narrator, alternating between determination and resignation, is hypnotic and tender. The lyricism of the poem's shimmering imagery and melodious language made it what I like to call "memorization-worthy" (a high honor bestowed on few poems). What joy to be able to walk around with a poem like this in your head, and call it up at any time like a favorite piece of music!

Of Biographies and Bob Dylan

“biography”: the story of a real person’s life written by someone other than that person
 
I’ve been thinking a lot about biographies lately. For several years now, I’ve been reading and listening to one after another, trying to understand how great historical figures (musicians, presidents, scientists, artists) are products of/influence their times. With each book I’ve wondered, “what does it mean to be so amazing that books are written about you long after you’ve died? What does it mean when a single person’s life spawns twenty competing biographies?”

Rachel's Random Recommendation #14: James Weldon Johnson

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) by James Weldon Johnson

Johnson first made his appearance on my literary radar while I was furiously reading for my grad school prelim exams ("American Literature: 17th c. - WWII"). I had heard his name in passing, usually in association with W. E. B. Du Bois and early-20th century African American literature and culture. Never, though, had a book of his crossed my desk.

AND THEN.

A Totally Practical Game-Plan for Reading All the Books

from Hyperbole and a Half

I have this problem. It’s that I’m already in my 30s and I have not yet begun to scratch the surface of The Great Unread (i.e. all those wonderful books out there screaming for me to read them). The Great Unread haunt me constantly.

Yes, I know that I’m only human, but that won’t stop me from trying as hard as I can to read as much as I can. And I’m not even talking about technical manuals and government reports and 18th-century dictionaries. I’m focusing just on literary fiction, sci-fi, biographies, and history….for now.

So since we’re all writing/revising our New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve come up with some things I can do to read all those books. It’s a “game-plan” that takes into account all those factors that I can (try to) control. I’m sharing them with you now because I like you. You’re book dorks like me

Dear Jane Austen

Winchester Cathedral
Hampshire, England
December 16, 2013

Dear Jane Austen,

Let me first wish you a very happy 238th birthday. I mean, they say you died almost 200 years ago, but now, in 2013, you’re as well known as Elvis, whom people still see, and he’s supposedly dead, too. I’m stating the obvious here, but you’ve done what very few of us humble mortals can hope to do: achieve immortality through writing.

Books to Look For (December): Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Humor

Science Fiction

Strykers by K. M. Ruiz (St. Martin's Griffin, 640 pages, December 24)

The Kirkus Reviews blurb on the cover here says "Like X-Men on Steroids," and I don't even know what that means. But despite blurbs that just...blurb, this novel looks verrrrry interesting. I mean, it's over 600 pages and tells the story of two human societies trying to make do on an Earth ruined by a nuclear war that took place 250 years before (ok, one group is actually planning to leave the planet). It's rich vs. poor, powerful vs. weak, kicking ass and taking names vs. hiding under a rock. Looks cool.

A Literary Tour of Madison, Wisconsin

I came to Wisconsin several years ago to pursue a literature Ph.D. My two choices had been UW-Madison and UC-Davis, but I never even saw the California school because I fell in love with Madison the minute I stepped off the plane.

I had never traveled beyond the Mississippi before my grad school days and only knew about the flat, rolling land of the Midwest from books and movies. Tired of the cramped life I lived on the cramped east coast, I eagerly anticipated breathing in the fresher, cleaner air of Wisconsin, seeing real cows, and eating authentic cheesy cheese. Imagine my happy surprise when I realized just how literary Madison was. I mean, CLEARLY it was going to be a bookish city since it has a major university and is the state’s capital, to boot. But books are indeed at the very heart of this lovely Midwestern oasis. Bookshops jostle each other on State Street (the main drag linking the Capitol building to the university campus), UW-Madison has the 11th largest research library collection in North America with over 7 million volumes (and that was in 2004!), and book festivals are big news. No wonder Madison was named the Best Educated City in the U.S. in 2011! So let me take you on a little tour of my adopted city; I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it like I did.

Rachel's Random Recommendation #13: Science Fiction Hall of Fame

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One (2005) ed. Robert Silverberg

All I wanted to do was read some good ol' sci-fi.

I picked up this book thinking, "hmm, if it's a collection of 'The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America,' it must be REALLY good."

And I read it and it rocked so hard it was like getting punched in the stomach and run over by an eighteen-wheeler- in a good way. If that makes sense.

Books to Look For (December): History, Comics/Graphic Novels, & Travel

History

Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea Hotel by Sherill Tippins (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 480 pages, December 3)

If those walls could talk- WELL. They would speak of the artists who lived and worked there since its founding in 1884. They would tell us about the private lives of artists like John Sloan and Andy Warhol; of singers like Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and Patti Smith; of poets like Edgar Lee Masters and Allen Ginsberg. And what of the Chelsea now? You'll just have to read it to find out.

Rachel's Random Recommendation #12: Brooks

People of the Book (2008) by Geraldine Brooks

I don't quite remember why I picked up this book a few years ago. Maybe someone had mentioned that it dealt with rare manuscripts and preservation (which I'm pretty interested in). But whatever the reason, I count this novel as one of my favorites of all time. That's right. ALL TIME.

This was the first of Brooks's novels that I had read (I went on to read The Year of Wonders), and I was very pleased to find her writing to be fluid, natural, and even hypnotic at times. She has that ability to draw you into whatever story she's telling. I mean, she could be telling you about a snail skirting a mud puddle and it would be riveting.

8 Out-of-This-World Cover Illustrations from SF Magazines

Many consider 1938-1946 to be the “golden age” of science fiction, and who can blame them: John W. Campbell took over Astounding in 1937 and then proceeded to scoop up the best sci-fi writers of his day like the Borg scoop up new “recruits.” After all, you had Henry Cuttner, C. L. Moore, Lester del Rey, the truly great Theodore Sturgeon, Arthur C. Clarke (at whose feet I figuratively swoon), Robert Heinlein. and Isaac Asimov. Whew, now that’s a LIST. This age opened the floodgates of sci-fi magazines and the writers who filled their pages.

Even more astonishing than the farsighted and fantastic stories, though, are the covers of the magazines in which those stories could be found. Those editors sure knew what would sell: after all, if I was walking past a newsstand and saw a bright orange-and-red cover with a blue, eight-headed alien on it preparing to devour a terrified lady, I’d plunk down my change in a hurry.

A Book-Binge Survival Guide

Close your eyes and imagine. Oh wait, you need your eyes to read this- scratch that. Anyway, the holidays have passed. The first of the year has arrived. And there you are with SO MANY bookish gift cards/certificates that you feel giddy and sweaty and excited all at the same time.

Your first reaction is: MUST BUY ALLLLL THE BOOKS!!!!!

Your second reaction is: but then I’ll have a huge TBR pile on my floor and it’ll give me heart palpitations whenever I look at it because there aren’t enough hours in the day to read.

Books to Look For (December): Biography, Literary Fiction, & Mystery

Biography

Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find by John Batchelor (Pegasus, 448 pages, December 7)

Ok, not to be all silly and giddy or anything but DOG MY CATS!- I am a very big Tennyson fan. In fact, I love "Ulysses" so much that I have it memorized (you may have heard part of it recited in a little movie called The Dead Poet's Society). But anyway- Batchelor has written what may just be the definitive biography of the poet, one of the greats of the Victorian era.

Rachel's Random Recommendation #11: Rush

Kelroy: A Novel (1812) by Rebecca Rush

'Sup, all you lovers of old, obscure literature, do I have a book for YOU.

Now, you may or may not have heard of Kelroy or Rebecca Rush before, but you know about her now. And that's a great thing. Because the woman could WRITE, and even make you laugh out loud in a Jane-Austen-y kind of way.

Why, you ask, is Kelroy so obscure if it's so good? Well, the poor woman had the terrible luck of getting her novel published just before the War of 1812- you know, when the British and Americans went in for a second round. Everyone was so hung up on war and the British coming back and everything that no one really paid attention to novels published during those years.

From the TBR Shelf #2: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Sparrow (1996)  by Mary Doria Russell

In this my second "Catching Up" post, I confess that I had never heard of The Sparrow or Russell until a few weeks ago when it was highly recommended on the Book Riot podcast (sorry, not sure which episode...). The story sounded so intriguing that I ran out and bought it. I finished it just yesterday and I've found myself thinking through the characters' experiences and what I would have done in their place as though I was thinking through events in my own life.

The Sparrow is not like any other book I've read in recent years. It switches back and forth between a group of Jesuit priests and their lay friends/co-workers setting out to make contact with an alien race, and a time forty years later when a new generation of Jesuits in Rome try to understand what happened on that ultimately disastrous mission.

Rachel's Random Recommendation #10: Ellison

Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison

This literary masterpiece and I first crossed paths during my freshman year of college, when I was timidly venturing into mid- and late-20th century American literature. Austen, Dickens, Twain, Melville- they all needed to cool their heels a little while I checked out some of the other books that had been demanding my attention.

WELL. I had never heard of Ralph Ellison or this book before, and of course, I made the usual mistake of thinking "Invisible Man"? Wait, that's the H. G. Wells book, right? NO INDEED! The Wells book includes the article "The" in the title, while Ellison's doesn't. I could speculate as to all the possible litero-philosophical reasons for this, but I shall spare you that. Because I care about my readers. But I digress...

Lament for Three Bookstores

I’m not usually the sentimental type, but when I think back on those bookstores I used to frequent that are now closed, I gotta admit I get pretty teary.

One of these bookstores was a part of my younger life back in Baltimore, and two were in Madison, where I currently live. I list them below in the order in which I discovered them.

And so, to honor these three bookstores, I give you this, my lament. It may be late, but here it is, nevertheless.

5 Novels About the JFK Assassination

November 22 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Countless books have been written on the subject (some fiction, a TON of nonfiction [some more speculative than others]), each one trying to find that one clue or piece of evidence that could finally put to rest our speculations about what actually happened on that day in Dallas.

Of course, there are many different ways in which this kind of story can be told: as a series of flashbacks by eyewitnesses, as an event that can hypothetically be stopped by a time-travelling good guy, or even as a straight-up mystery requiring the mad skills of a seasoned detective. I even found novels about Sherlock Holmes and Columbo working the case (separately, of course), but that’s another story…

The novels that deal with the assassination range from postmodern to positively bonkers. They all, though, seem to fall into two camps: the “What If?” stories and the “What Really Happened?” stories. Here (in my humble opinion) are the most interesting five.

A Literary Award Pageant

Each year, literary awards are given to those writers who have produced superb pieces of literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, poetry, and children’s books. Some, like the Nobel, are so huge that people start speculating on the possible winner before the current year’s winner has even attended the awards ceremony in Stockholm. Others are awards for genre fiction, poetry, and translation.

We hear about these numerous awards during the year, but we mostly focus on the PEOPLE who have won them. What about the TROPHIES, the PLAQUES, the COINS?? Frankly, they’ve been ignored, and it’s time to make it up to them. So here, for your viewing pleasure, is an award pageant, where these tangible proofs of literary skill can finally have their due.

Books to Look For (November): Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Humor

Science Fiction

 
Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor Books, 320 pages, November 5)

Oooohooooooo, aliens interfering with human development, making earthlings nice and passive, in order to do...what with them? Book sounds freakishly cool. But also sounds somewhat like Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, so...

Bookish PSA

Hello all you awesome readers, just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for following along and commenting on the posts. If you have any ideas for a guest post, or for book recommendations you wish I would share with the world, leave a comment here or drop me a line on the BW facebook page or on Twitter @Rcordas. On the fb page I drop links to the latest blog posts and share other bookish news and fun things from around the bookternet, as they say.

Happy reading!

- Rachel

Rachel's Random Recommendation #9: Cather

The Song of the Lark (1915) by Willa Cather

Willa and I go way back. We are buddies, compadres, BFFFFFFs, or whatever. We understand each other.

And that is why I dragged the poor woman all through high school and college and grad school, writing about her short stories and novels and essays until she was about ready to slap me silly. But she understands me and why I love her work.

Like many Cather readers, I started with her novel of immigrant life, My Ántonia (1918), and then moved on to the bleaker O, Pioneers! (1913). In each case, I was drawn into the world she was painting without even knowing how fast I was moving until I was halfway through. Cather's prose is patient, methodical, melodious at times, and quite hypnotic. But I'm also drawn to her subjects: opera singers and musicians, lonely and frustrated artists, individuals searching for companionship in an isolating world.

An (Imaginary) Thanksgivukkah Reading List

Stephen Colbert once said, “How dare you, Hanukkah! Pretty soon school kids will think Thanksgiving started when the Wampanoags sat down with the Maccabees and the yams lasted for eight nights.”

I hear the man, I really do. I mean, what? WHAT? Hannukah on Thanksgiving?! It hasn’t happened since 1888, apparently, and it won’t happen again until we’ve colonized other planets and have built a wonderful utopian society. But that’s neither here nor there.

Books to Look For (November): History, Comics/Graphic Novels, & Travel

History


Servants: A Downstairs History of Britain from the Nineteenth Century to Modern Times by Lucy Lethbridge (W. W. Norton & Co., 400 pages, November 18)


The vividly told lives of British servants and the upper crust they served. And with recent novels like Longbourne reimagining Pride and Prejudice from the servants' perspectives, this looks like a good read.

Things Famous Authors Liked

I don’t know about you, but I’m really getting tired of all the hating lately, especially in the book world. I mean, there’s the Franzen “I-hate-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink” thing, the Bret Easton Ellis “I’m-jealous-of-Alice-Munro-cause-she’s-a-better-writer” thing, the Sherman Aliexie – Brandon Halpin thing (Jill provides a great overview here), and, how could we forget, the David Gilmour “I-only-teach-books-by-manly-men-men” thing.

(Deep breath!)

Review: Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan

Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan (Random House, 2002, 608 pages)

If you're looking for an exquisitely detailed and well-researched book about the debacle that was the Paris Peace Conference ending World War I, then this is most certainly your book.

I should say here, if you didn't already know, that I am a bit obsessed with history. Love reading it, love talking about it, love watching documentaries, etc. etc. So while MacMillan doesn't necessarily grab you by the collar and whisk you off into a colorful and crazy place where you stay up all night just wanting to read a little bit more...that's ok. 'Cause if you're a history buff, you'll plow through the book on your own momentum, carried along by MacMillan's crystal-clear prose. No wonder this book won the Samuel Johnson Prize, among a BUNCH of others.

If Books Ruled the World

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if books ruled the world? As in a “booktocracy”? I mean, everything would revolve around reading and learning and discussing, and everything else in life would come second to books. Sure, it would suck for some people (you know, those people who actually don’t like books! I know- bizarre), but they’d eventually come ’round. And yeah, maybe we’d all have to wear glasses, but SO WHAT? Hyperopia is a small price to pay for knowledge.

So if books ruled the world:

Everyone on the planet would know how to read. I’m talking 100% literacy, guys.

Rachel's Random Recommendation #8: Zola

Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies Paradise; 1883) by Émile Zola

If you've read some of my Book Riot posts, you'll know all too well that my love for Émile is strong. As in "want-to-read-every-word-dude's-ever-written-cause-he's-so-awesome" strong. And he's written A LOT of words.

I mean, writing 20 novels about a family living during France's Second Empire (1852-1870) is a monumental feat. I can barely write a short story! But I digress... 

Bookish News (week of November 4)

Antarctica now has a poet-in-residence- Jynne Dilling Martin. She wants to explore the wonders of science through language, but I think she'll have to work on keeping her fingers warm, first-and-foremost, you know?

The author of the final short story in the Doctor Who e-book series is Neil Gaiman. All I can say is: AWESOME.

In case you haven't heard, this is National Novel Writing Month. So you know that idea you've had for a book- the one about the floating alien head that becomes best friends with a shark and they go on this great adventure in the Kalahari Desert? Yeah, it's time to start typing.

Review: The First of July by Elizabeth Speller

The First of July by Elizabeth Speller (Pegasus Books, November 14, 352 pages)

Well.

Rachel was not impressed.

I dove into this World War I novel with no expectations, probably because I hadn't heard much about it- and it doesn't officially come out until next week. I hadn't ever read anything by Elizabeth Speller, and the only WWI novel I'd read before was Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. So into the novel I dove.

From the TBR Shelf #1: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides

Ok, so I had said previously that my first order of business was to read Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, but that plan was foiled for a number of boring reasons that I won't go into right now. Suffice it to say that I'm getting to it.

I'm sure many of you have already read this, and you're wondering what took me so long. Well, you know, dissertation, blah blah blah, stuck in the 19th century, etc. etc. Let me just say BOY AM I GLAD I READ THIS. I mean, HOT DAMN. (I guess I now know why this book won a Pulitzer).

Books to Look For (November): Biography, Literary Fiction, & Mystery

Biography

Primo Levi: The Matter of a Life by Berel Lang (Yale University Press, 192 pages, November 26)

Italian Jew, chemist, and Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi wrote some of the most poignant fiction and nonfiction dealing with the horror and tragedy of World War II. Lang, in this short biography, portrays Levi as an "innovative moral thinker" who fused his science background and writing to explore what it means to be human.

Pearl Buck and the Posthumous Novel

A short time ago, I came across Shortlist.com’s list of the “30 Greatest Posthumous Novels.” There were the usual suspects: Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger, David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, etc. etc. Some of the books on the list I had read or just heard of, and some I was surprised to learn were published after the author’s death. Not knowing the circumstances behind the posthumous publications of most of these works, though, allowed me to fit them into my mental bookcase with ease. Okay, so The Mysterious Stranger was published six years after Twain’s death, but all that was nearly a century ago. Not much, therefore, has changed when I think about Twain’s body of work.

To My Fairy Bookmother

Dear Fairy Bookmother,

You usually come through for me. Each year, when I send you the list of books I’d like to receive for my birthday, you find a way to make it happen, whether it’s by whispering wished-for titles into the ears of my family and friends, or sending me cash or gift cards that I can use to physically or figuratively romp among books (and then buy a whole bunch of them).

As you know, I am turning the big 3-1 at the end of October. I’ve been having moments of OH MY GOD I REALLY AM IN MY 30s. But that’s beside the point. Right now, I’m asking for something different. This is not the usual List o’ Books, my bookish winged lady. No, this is a more complicated, complex list. I ask for books, but I also ask for other, less tangible things.

So in the spirit of family tradition, where we like to halve our ages, here are 15 1/2 birthday requests. Make it happen, Fairy Bookmother. You’re my only hope.

Reading Aloud

It was the summer of 2008, and I couldn’t look at my dissertation ANY LONGER. I loathed its very existence, I despised its snarky attitude, the way in which it glared back at me from my computer screen, saying, “you gonna work on me today? Huh? huh? huh? Give me your best shot!” Like I said, I couldn’t take it anymore.

And then it hit me- why not volunteer somewhere, you know, make myself actually useful. It would put my dissertation into perspective (i.e. dissertation = pointless droning; volunteering = beneficial work). I applied to a retirement community near where I lived, which I’ll call “The Lakes.”

Rachel's Random Recommendation #7: Dugard

Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (2003) by Martin Dugard

I listened to this story of the search for Dr. David Livingstone via audiobook, and I often had the urge to just take in the entire book in one go. Yes, it was that awesome.

Livingstone, a British missionary who had lived in Africa for years, was asked by his government in the 1860s to solve one final geographical mystery: the source of the Nile. When he disappeared into the hostile and forbidding terrain, an American reporter, Henry Morton Stanley, was sent in to find him. During the search, Stanley sent regular reports that were printed in the New York Herald, like a serialized novel. American and British readers drank it up- couldn't get enough of it, apparently.

Bookish News (week of October 28)

Apparently board book adaptations of literary classics are a booming business (wow, that was some rockin' alliteration right there!).

This week, Amazon launched Kindle MatchBook, which lets customers buy discounted ebook versions of books they've already bought in print (from Amazon). But really, I'm just not seeing the point.

And Jane Austen's gonna be on bank note. What will they think of next. Somewhere, Austen's smiling sadly and shaking her head.