Friday, July 10, 2009

What Classics NOT to Read

I like this salubrious counterweight to all the lists of books we are always being told we are supposed to read, should read, should love and cherish without question. It reminded me to try to think for myself, something I thought I learned how to do long ago, but still seem to have trouble doing.

3 comments:

  1. The Road?! I guess I'll have to live with that. I also was bored to tears by "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "The Corrections" was no pic-nic either. I'm middle of the road on some of the others. And the ones I haven't read......?
    thanks for saving me from myself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I especially enjoyed the dissing of Absalom, Absalom--hilarious. I don't agree with all of them (loved Solitude, for example), but I think it's healthy to keep shaking up the canon. I guess you're not middle of the road on The Road? Hahaha.

    ReplyDelete

Labels

2011 (1) 2012 (1) 2666 (1) A Gate at the Stairs (1) A Visit from the Goon Squad (1) Adam Gopnik (1) alcoholism (1) Ander Monson (1) Anne Frank (1) archives (1) Barnes and Noble (1) best (1) blog (2) blogosphere (1) book (1) book club books (1) book list (4) book lists (2) bookbook (1) books (2) Bryant Park (1) caregiving (1) coffee (1) Colm Toibin (2) Colum McCann (1) crime (2) David Shields (1) Denis Johnson (1) digital publishing (1) disclaimer (1) dragon tattoo (1) dream (1) e-book (1) e-reader (2) E.M. Forster (1) electronic writing (1) Elfreide Jelinek (1) event (1) fiction (3) Flannery O'Connor (1) Freedom (1) Freud (1) Fuckhead (1) genre fiction (1) gods (1) Hilary Mantel (1) Holocaust (1) Jayne Ann Phillips (1) Jonathan Littell (1) Judy Garland (1) Kindle (2) Krishna Das (1) Laurie Anderson (1) Let the Great World Spin (1) Lisbeth (2) literary journal (2) literary magazine (1) Lorrie Moore (1) Matthew Cheney (1) Mia Farrow (1) Michael Chabon (1) Mikael (2) mysterious (1) Mysterious Bookshop (1) mystery (1) narrative (1) Nathan Zuckerman (3) Neil Gaiman (2) Nicholson Baker (1) novel (2) novelist (1) Obama (1) Orange Prize (1) Otto Penzler (1) palate cleanser (1) Pasha Malla (1) Philip Roth (6) Philippe Petit (2) plot (1) poetry (1) poets house (1) posman books (1) preservation (1) publication (1) publishing (4) reading (1) reading room (1) Reality Hunger (2) Robert Bolano (1) self-publishing (1) Stieg Larsson (3) story (3) submission (1) summer reading (1) Susie Boyt (1) Sylvia Plath (1) Ted Hughes (1) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (3) The Kindly Ones (1) third mind (1) Tom Robbins (1) type (1) Vanishing Point (1) vook (1) war (1) website (1) William Faulkner (2) word lovers (1) writers (1) writing (3) Zoe Heller (1)

About Me

My photo
New York, NY, United States
Overeducated mom, addled by constant interruptions due to demands of family and dog, trying to read books and write coherent sentences about them. Luckily, yoga keeps me centered. Sharing my love of yoga through teaching helps make sense of it all. I have a yoga blog at susiemarplesyoga.com. <- That's not really a picture of me. http://profile.to/susiemarples http://pinterest.com/susiem66

Followers

Search This Blog

Susie's  book recommendations, reviews, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists
Read the Printed Word! Shop Indie Bookstores