Maybe in This Lifetime

I use Goodreads to keep track of books I’ve read and want to read and every time I put another book in my “to read” list, I feel like I’m setting myself up for failure. I understand that I will never be able to read every book published and I’m fine with that. I just want to read every book I want to read and don’t seem to be making any headway. Even though I tell myself not to put any more books on my list until I finish a book or to review my current “to read” list to make sure I still want to read the books on the list, I never listen. The list grows and grows. Because not all books are created equal, there are some books in which I’m more interested in than others. Here are some books that scream at me when I look at my Goodreads list.

Fiction

        

    

At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories by Kij Johnson

• This is a book of science fiction short stories and while I read a lot of short stories, I haven’t read a lot of sci-fi short stories. The titles of the stories (“Schrödinger’s Cathouse”, “My Wife Reincarnated as a Solitaire”, and “The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change” are a few) make me think these stories will be ambitious and very interesting.

The Collected Stories of Grace Paley by Grace Paley

• I initially was interested in this book because it’s a. short stories and b. for some reason, I had confused Grace Paley with Grace Coddington and wanted to see what kind of stories Coddington had written. (Don’t worry about me; I’m fine.) Once I realized they were not the same person, I did a little research into Paley and she sounds like she was an interesting woman and was multi-talented, also writing poetry.

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

• I started this book about a group of adults who met at summer camp when they were young are still friends years later a couple of months ago, but didn’t have time to finish it. I really enjoyed what I read and have been hoping to get back to it. I also think the cover is beautiful.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

• Taking place in Mississippi right before, during, and just after Hurricane Katrina, Salvage the Bones follows the Batiste family as they deal with the storm along with their daily lives which are difficult enough in their poverty-stricken household.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

• Out of all the books on this list, this is probably the one I’ll get to next. Two founders of a poetry movement attempt to track down a vanished poet and end up on the run. The story follows them through several continents and is narrated by the people they encounter. I’ve also heard good things about Bolaño’s 2666 so may put that on my never-ending list once I finish The Savage Detectives.

Non-fiction

         

    

The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman

• I picked this up because of the title. It has chapters on not thinking positively, the hidden benefits of insecurity, and embracing your errors. The concept reminded me a little of Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin

• Since I’m from Indiana, I should probably have John Mellencamp’s biography on this list, but if I had to choose between reading a bio of Springsteen or reading a bio of Mellencamp, I’d probably choose Springsteen. (Sorry, John. It’s nothing personal. I used to dance in front of the TV when you came on. I remember you when you were John Cougar Mellencamp. I went to grad school near your town and never once stalked you. I sing your songs way more than I sing Springsteen songs. I respect you. I just think Bruce’s biography might be slightly more interesting.)

Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

• While I know a little about why the city of Detroit has declined, I’ve not yet sat down and read a book about it. LeDuff, a reporter and native of Detroit, dissects what led to Detroit’s decline with what I’ve heard is a darkly humorous eye.

Her by Christa Parravani

• I had this checked out and returned it because I had just finished Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen and didn’t think I was in a place to read another memoir just yet. Her is about twins, the author, Christa, and her sister, Cara. Both talented artists, their lives split apart and Cara dies while Christa struggles with being alone without her twin.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

• This has been recommended to me by several people. I don’t usually like to know how bad for me the food I’m eating is, but this sounds more like an investigative book and less like a health book so I’m more likely to read it and enjoy it.

Are there books you keep intending to read, but somehow they keep getting pushed down your to-read list? Or are you able to keep a tight rein on your to-read list? (If so, please tell me how.)

~Aisha

Intro to Fiction

I read this line from a review author Jonathan Franzen wrote recently, and while he’s prodding for a reaction, it works:

…haven’t we all secretly sort of come to an agreement, in the last year or two or three, that novels belonged to the age of newspapers and are going the way of newspapers, only faster? As an old English professor friend of mine likes to say, novels are a curious moral case, in that we feel guilty about not reading more of them but also guilty about doing something as frivolous as reading them; and wouldn’t we all be better off with one less thing in the world to feel guilty about?

from “Rereading ‘The Man Who Loved Children'”

As an avid defender of contemporary fiction, it’s heartbreaking for me to admit that this rings so true.  But the form is not dead:  there is too much to be said and too much changing in the world to not allow room for fiction to grow with it.  I am now, and always will be, a reader of fiction.  This post is about why.

I was not always so obsessed, making my way through works that have been heaped with praise and those relatively unknown to search for something beautiful to be said. But it’s been worth it, and it started with Jonathan Safran Foer. Until I read Everything Is Illuminated, I was happily working through classics, comics, and anything but modern fiction. I was interested, but but I knew nothing out there was for me. Illuminated changed it all, and for that I am grateful. I think I have copied about half the book in my journal, and I’ll still go back and read a passage and want to start the book all over again.

Shortly after that reading experience, I was finally introduced to David Foster Wallace. Evidently my blooming interest in contemporary fiction was limited to writers with three names. However, I wasn’t ready for Infinite Jest (nor, after attempting to read it three times since, do I think I ever will be), but I was graced with Wallace’s magnificent novel, The Broom of the System. This book showcases Wallace’s genius but never loses its focus — in other words, it’s like a short story within Jest.

By then I was totally hooked.  I read Shantaram (another three-named dude!), House of Leaves, and The Savage Detectives all in succession. The only problem with reading three amazing books in a row is that you are officially spoiled forever. No subsequent books will be this well-written, this fresh, or — as an added bonus — by relatively new authors.

In hindsight, I got lucky with the books that influenced me and encouraged me that not all contemporary writing was lost. It may not be so easy for others. But if you are ever in need of a pickup, check out one of these titles from your local library, and try to keep from writing every sentence in your journal.

— Tony