Two Plus Two Newer Archives - View Single Post - EDF book review, recommendations, etc

mbillie1 · #4 11-09-2007, 10:53 AM

Ok, after much delay, here are the rest.

Ernest Hemingway
books read: For Whom the Bell Tolls, In Our Time
Hemingway is sort of a fashionable writer to dislike lately, which I think is ridiculous. Easily one of the best American writers of the 20th century (if not the best), helped develop an entire new feel and style of writing.

For Whom the Bell Tolls: If you haven't read this, you should seriously consider it. This is one of my top 5 all time favorite books. A fantastic story, gritty and tough but idealistic and human all at once. Robert Jordan, in Spain during the Spanish civil war, is fighting against the fascists. He's there to blow up a bridge, and the book centers around this storyline. This is easily one of the iconic American novels of all time. Read it.

In Our Time: this put Hemingway on the map. It's a collection of related short stories, sort of like Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles in that some of the characters are the same, some different, they're thematically related, etc. It's short and easy to get through. Not his best work in my opinion, but still worth reading.

Sylvia Plath
book read: The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar: wow. This was stunning, an instant favorite. This is the very thinly veiled autobiographical story of the life of Sylvia Plath, complete with attempted suicides, her internship at a magazine in NYC, etc. This is one of the finest written novels I've ever read. It's beautiful, sad, cold, almost like Kafka and Camus, but more readable. I love Plath's poetry, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a novel she had written, but this is utterly fantastic. It chronicles the breakdown of Esther Greenwood, how she eventually feels like her life is covered by a bell jar that's between the rest of the world and herself. Almost every edition of The Bell Jar also includes the otherwise unpublished poem "Mad Girl's Love Song," which is also excellent. This is a must-read.

J.D. Salinger
book read: The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye: somehow my highschool managed to let me graduate without having read this. I'll assume most of you have read this, but briefly for those that haven't: a classic sort of coming-of-age story about a kid who spends a runaway weekend in New York City. Also a beautiful and touching sort of sibling story, his little sister is one of the most adorable characters I can remember. I loved it.

Tim Weiner
book read: Legacy of Ashes (history of the CIA)

Legacy of Ashes: one of the only 2 non-fiction books in here. This was stunning to read. Based entirely on recently declassified CIA documents and personal interviews the author conducted with CIA directors and other personel, this is just a chilling look at what really happens in the world. Secret prisons in the 50s and 60s, LSD and mind control tested on detainees, RFK ordering the CIA to use the mob to assassinate Castro, botched operations in countless wars/conflicts since the inception of the agency... when you finish reading this you're torn between wanting to do everything you can to ensure that the CIA is permanently disbanded, and wanting to go and join the CIA so there will be one more halfway intelligent person working there. Chilling, and probably a must-read for anyone who wants to know what's going on in the world. Terrifying and eye-opening.

Goethe
book read: Faust

Faust: well... everyone's read Faust, right?? This is an excellent play, a bit hard to read but wonderful. Not an enormous amount to say about it I guess, other than it's a classic and massively influential on European writing even today.

Marisha Pessl
book read: Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Special Topics in Calamity Physics: I read this yesterday and loved it, couldn't put it down all day. Aside from being apparently quite beautiful, Pessl has a quirky and fun style that plays with references to older works, a keen awareness of the personalities of intellectuals and pretentious windbags (like me ldo) and an ability to weave a very complicated storyline together seamlessly. One of the New York Times' "10 Best Books of the Year," and I'd agree. Thanks to Kimbell for the recommendation! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very funny, captivating, moving and surprisingly a page-turner, despite being relatively dense and not written for the "Da Vinci Code" crowd at all. An intelligent book that appeals on a number of levels and still provides a thrilling read. Spectacular.

David Sedaris
book read: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day: ok, I've heard people call books funny before. Even "laugh out loud" funny. And usually that doesn't mean anything, so when my girlfriend and her family told me that this book was hilarious, I was naturally quite skeptical. When the reviews said it was gut-busting, side-splittingly funny, I remained dubious. Let me tell you, this is the [censored] funniest book I have ever read. It seriously had me bursting out laughing at work, at home, wherever I was reading it. A sort of strange pseudo-memoirs almost from the sibling of Amy Sedaris (she did "Strangers With Candy" and some other stuff), hilariously written... just a thoroughly pleasurable read. Don't sneak it into Church or anything though... people will know you're doing something funny, because you will seriously burst out laughing at least a few times when reading this. Definitely recommended across the board, regardless of your taste in literature. Puts a giant smile on your face.