The three r's: reading, relaxing, and relaxing some more
I'm going to throw in one of my "Request for Comments" cards, where I shamelessly hit up my readership for thoughts and recommendations:
I need a book for the beach.
This sounds like a simple task at first. But to really find a great, engrossing book that'll take up my days sitting on the porch and keep me entertained after the rest of my family has gone to bed at 10:00? It's a trickier find than you'd think.
Plus, I'm picky about these things. Bad and/or bloated language makes me retch, so that makes me nervous about a lot of fiction, but I get easily distracted, so that keeps me away from a lot of non-fiction books that have fascinating subjects, but with writing so monotonous that I trail off after two sentences and my subject-jumping brain goes off. It's like college all over again.
So what do I like? What's made up some quality beach-reading for me? Ideally, I'd love some really well-written non-fiction. The Devil and the White City and all of Jon Krakauer's books fit that bill perfectly, and if anyone knows of something else in that style, suggest away. I've gotten more into non-fiction lately, because even if it's bad non-fiction, you still get some kind of learning out of it. But bad fiction is almost a complete waste of time.
But...the good fiction is amazing. It's just hard to find. So if anyone knows of a really good book, with a great plot and clever language and nothing with long paragraphs of unnecessary description ("Regina delicately placed her long, graceful, bony, aged, experienced fingers on the hard, white, hot, steaming porcelain of the small, dainty, also-hot, china tea-kettle...", etc), suggest away. I love fiction; I'm just picky about it.
So whatcha got?
19 comments:
Kavalier and Clay is great fiction and you learn a lot about the early days of comic books (albeit through fictional superheros and characters).
The Corrections is great fiction too, and you learn a little something about [can't say without divulging plot].
A Confederacy of Dunces is great fiction too (Pulitzer Prize great). It's an oldie but a goodie.
My fave non-fiction book of late is "Arc of Justice" by Kevin Boyle, about race in Detroit in the 1920s.
I also liked "Manhunt" by James Swanson about the hunt for James Wilkes Booth.
Good stuff. Thanks, Paul. I was actually wondering about 'Prep'. I may give that a shot. The omnivore book sounds great, but I may wait for a week where I'm not doing nothing but eating. I'm on vacation. I don't want to think about what's in the hot dogs (though it never really bothers me that much anyway).
Ninja, all three of those have been past beach reads for me. I had a love/hate relationship with both Corrections and Kavalier. With the former, sometimes the plot was brilliant and sometimes it made me want to fling the book across the room. With the latter, I really liked the plot, but didn't like his language at all. See? Picky. But with both, they ended up leaving a lasting impression, expecially the Corrections, whose points about family and the more selfish and cruel sides of human nature I thought were pretty great.
Susan, those both sound great. Did you read Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation? Lots of good stuff about John Wilkes Booth, who is apparently "really cute".
FICTION:
Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
(A long but extremely interesting page-turner; well-written and not wordy, as per your instructions.)
Ender's Game (though I think you've already read it) by Orson Scott Card
(One of the better science fiction novels)
NON-FICTION:
Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick
(Actually almost anything by this guy is good.)
QED: The Strange Theory of Light And Matter by Richard Feynman
(I know… it sounds horrible.)
Entanglement: The Greatest Mystery in Physics by Amir Aczel
(This shit is weird.)
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt
Mark Kurlansky has been writing micro-histories which are pretty interesting (Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed The World, Salt: A World History)
MOSTLY NON-FICTION:
The Professor and The Madman, A tale of murder, insanity and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
Any of the “Connections” or other books by James Burk are informative and interesting, though his ‘connections’ are occasionally a bit contrived. If you like the dry, British style of writing, he’s very enjoyable
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
...guess the Vowell book is off the list. Should have read the rest of the comments first.
WESTON!! So great to have you around here, and plenty of good recommendations. I'd forgotten about the Professor and the Madman book...I really should read that, though I'm sorry you're not around to talk about it. You're sorely missed.
Glad the toad's doing better.
I'm not much of a reader (if it's not about some dumb rock band, there's a 50% chance I'll never finish it), but I'd like to point out that Weston has recommended you no less than *three* books apparently about "everything". If you're not a genius by the time you return, don't blame him.
Oh wait...what about that book that Scott was hyping up the other week. The Davinci something or other?? Maybe Scott can loan you his dog-eared copy, since you're not likely to find it in a store.
Not exactly light reading, but I'd have to say the best non-fiction book I've ever read (besides Krakauer's Into the Wild which, I take it, you've read) is War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.
If I were planning a beach trip right now, I think I'd throw The Great Gatsby in my bag. It's been a while since I read it, and it never disappoints. And it's short, which leaves you plenty of time for another book or doing beachy stuff like swimming and getting drunk on frosty fruity things (or on alcohol, if that's your preference).
Weston: How can a book be long but not wordy? Discuss.
Oh, Weston's recommendations reminds me - Essay/Non-Fiction:
Anything by John McPhee but, "Encounter With The Archdruid" and "Control of Nature" are 2 of my not-totally-geologically related favs or you can go for a geological 3-some with "Basin and Range", "Rising from the Plains", and "In Suspect Terrane".
Yeah, I was waiting around for the paperbacks for Da Vinci Code and Charlotte Simmons. Those will be my first two beach books this summer, so they'd better live up to the hype. I just wish I could go into the DVC without the image of Tom Hanks with a mullet already imprinted in my mind.
Weston took my answer already, but by far and away the best non-fiction book I've read lately was Freakonomics. Plus it's a fast read...a good three hours on the beach ought to do it.
The last few fiction books I thought made good beach reads (these are a few years old now) were Life of Pi, The Time Traveler's Wife, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time.
Yeah, John Wilkes Booth was a total player and quite dapper. After the assisination it was understandably tabooo to have any association with him, so all these ladies he was "pen pals" with destroyed all their correspondence and love letters from him for fear they'd be run out of town (or worse) if it was discovered they knew him.
Xtian, I think you're on to Weston's secret. That's how he knows so much.
Also, are you going to recommend a 33 1/3 book or what?
Hans, did you read either of Krakauer's other books? I loved Into The Wild, but his other two kept me up reading until I could barely hold my eyelids open. Whenever he comes out with another one, I'm buying it in hardcover. You heard me.
There's no use in asking Weston a follow-up question. He only gets internet there in New Zealand for a few hours a day, and it doesn't start back up again until the internet machine in Auckland gets hand-cranked by a hobbit named "Stubbs". So he probably won't answer you.
Doug, your geology books sound strange and frightening to me. But maybe that's why I should read them. Maybe that's what a nerd does when he's trying to be more spontaneous: "Read a book that frightens you", and then slowly work up to "Do something every day that frightens you."
Scott, reading Charlotte Simmons might actually take a few minutes less than listening to Tom Wolfe's lecture a few weeks ago.
Here's the Book Of Questions question, Susan: if you could go back in time and make out with John Wilkes Booth, would you? I think I would. It'd be more scandalous than blowing a Clinton.
Yeah I read Krakauer's other books, and they were great, but Into the Wild really did it for me. But then, I also once tried to canoe the Mississippi from start to finish by myself.
Also, I'm pretty sure Weston has been in New Zealand long enough that by now he is a hobbit named Stubbs.
Reid: first of all, ask your Mom about a book to read...she's as well versed as anyone I've ever met. Secondly, there's no way your mom is in bed at 10...Laura and the kids, maybe, your dad, maybe, Mary doubtful (ok...I know Mary very precariously through your mom, but it's my guess)...your mom - no way! If nothing else she'll be enjoying the last of "Julie and Julia" or at least going through her magazines!
Thanks everyone for your comments. This is a great list here that I'll refer to a lot for a long time. And I say "a long time", because if you've ever been witness to me trying to finish a book, you can guess that it would take me several years to read even half of the books mentioned here, maybe even half of half of the books mentioned here. I'm a slow reader.
Hans, good point on your canoes gone Wild. That makes sense. If you'd tried to canoe up Mount Everest with some Mormons, then you would equally love all of Jon Krakauer's books. But as it is...
Tina, the only person in our family who really goes to bed at around 10 is my dad. It was just a little bit of blog-xaggeration. Mary and mom/Ginny/Gigi usually outlast me.
Um... did I just read something about a "geological 3-some"? Is that like Europe and Russia gang-banging Southeast Asia?
It reminds me of a character title by Terry Pratchett: The Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography.
Scott: The Da Vinci Code is a horribly written screed which should be boycotted by elderly scholars wearing corduroy jackets stained with pipe ash.
Hans: “How can a book be long but not wordy?”
Here’s how: Go to your window. Open it, and put your hand on the window sill. Close the windows REALLY HARD. That’s how a book can be long but not wordy.
Reid: When are you coming to New Zealand? Oh, and my hobbit name is taken from Sedaris. It's Crumpet.
My favorite author is Haruki Murakami - weirdo Japanese craziness. His stuff jumps headlong into nuttiness and make-believe, but is more often than not about people who's lives are in transition. Can't say if you'd like him or not, but it's usually not heavy.
Post a Comment