What Fiction are you reading this week, June 2, 2024
I just got Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. "Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration."
Listening to Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig, the final novel from a great American storyteller. "Charming, wise, and slyly funny, this is a last sweet gift from a writer whose books have bestowed untold pleasure on countless readers." I'm loving it.
My internet was cut off for the past 2 days. So, I've got a lot to catch up on today. Thought I'd have to go to Mickey D's this morning for their wifi.
Brutal experience, I tell ya.
What's your story this week?
= new reply since forum marked as read
"The Occasionally Disgusting Adventures of Brian and Sprig" by Myriad Sprite
Loving this book. I would describe the humor as exuberant and surprising. I am hoping this author has other books. I would rush thru this book (45% done) but I don't want it to be over.
"Burr: A Novel" by Gore Vidal. Finding this much easier to get into then the later books in his series, which I plan to revisit after finishing this one.
"Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy. People keep putting this in their lists of the greatest American novels. The violence and bloodshed is not so shocking as I expected it to be, probably because I've read so much history of what Europeans did in North, Central and South America since their invasions. Some of the prose seems hallucinogenic to me and he definitely makes up words (on my Kindle I can underline the word but dictionary.com and wikipedia return no results). This book offers nothing to me, except perhaps a lesson that writers need not be limited to real words or coherent descriptions, ie., that impressions are enough. To someone unfamiliar with American history it might have an impact. I'm halfway thru it and don't plan to finish any time soon.
"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. My third attempt to read what is often hailed as one of the greatest pieces of American literature, I am not finding it hard going at all, like in my previous attempts. Having fun discovering his sly humor. 14% of the way in so far.
"Ask The Dust" by John Frante. Writers, and Amazon, hold this novel in high regard ("is a virtuoso performance by an influential master of the twentieth-century American novel"
. I can see why writers like it, he has an interesting, direct, plain-spoken writing style. We'll see if the subject matter ends up engaging my interest. So far (8% in ), no.
"American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis. Another novel claimed to be among the greatest. I'm gonna have to give it more time, only %5 in so far, but at this point all it is is a constant stream of designer name brand name dropping. I'm hoping there is more to this novel so I'll persist.
"You Dreamed Of Empires" by Alvaro Enrique. I am enjoying this book so far, although the prevalence of Aztec (?) names has made it a little hard to keep track. Reviewers have much praise for this book, most of which I join.
"The Judge Hunter" by Christopher Buckley. I absolutely love all his books. How such a politically insightful author could be the offspring of the thoroughly repulsive William F. Buckley, Jr. is beyond me. This book takes place in colonial America. If you haven't read any of his books, "Thank You For Smoking" is even better that the movie is was made into, and "Florence Of Arabia" is great fun, but you can't go wrong with any of his books.
I loved Demon Copperhead and will probably read it again in a couple years. I also loved Last Bus to Wisdom as Doig was a favorite of mine and a couple of other folks around here. So many good writers, so little time.
Thanks for the weekly thread, hermetic.
