The most extreme proselytizing ever visited upon me was not from a religious nut asking if Jesus was my personal lord and savior, or a Birkenstock-wearing dumbass hippy saying that I should vote for Nader, but from a friend who insisted I read one of her favorite books.
During a visit, my friend expressed her amazement that I had not read any Paul Auster. About a week after she left, I got a package in the mail, a copy of Auster’s “Moon Palace.”
One of the greatest pleasures of reading is the sense of discovery. You read a novel from an unknown or unread author, and, bowled over by her faculty with language and storytelling, you feel as if have discovered a new continent, brand of fabric softener, or sex position.
You want to devour everything else the writer has ever put to paper, but you also start telling the world that you’ve made a Great Literary Discovery. Soon, you are breathing fire and brimstone with such force it would make Elmer Gantry proud.
Anybody who reads fiction knows of this excitement and need to proseltytize; if you’re unfamiliar with these emotions, you might be better served by hanging out at BeerBongFratBoys4Bush.com or such.
If there was ever a desire that writer’s share, it would be that their work engender that kind of devotion. The proselytizer does not recommend a book, but forces it on you, like a militant vegan trying to force feed a tofu burger to a meat-eating major of the 101th Airborne.
(Not that writers expect such adulation. Perhaps Henry James wasn’t thinking that when he wrote “The Turn of the Screw,” which has turned off generations of high school students to his work, but James wanted to be famous, without compromising his art, of course.)
I’ll lend you my copy
This kind of love is often contagious. After reading “Moon Palace” — a book I read at home, on the train, and at work — I told anybody who would listen that you absolutely have to read this guy. And while my affection for Auster has waxed and waned since (especially after he dissed me at a reading of his when I asked him a question he didn’t like), that particular emotion upon reading him recalls nice, warm memories, like of the family gathered around the Christmas tree, though we didn’t celebrate Christmas and my father, God bless him, would have set the house on fire before allowing a Chanukah Bush inside.
Sometimes, the authors who I will rant and rave about are in no need of promotion: I couldn’t shut up about “Midnight’s Children,” “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” “Portnoy’s Complaint,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” the first time I read them. (I still can’t shut up about them, in fact.)
But often, the author is a bit more obscure than Rushdie or Atwood or Roth. More than any other novel, “Invisible Man” made me want to write fiction. But most people would assume I meant H.G. Wells’ “The Invisible Man” instead of Ralph Ellison’s book written a half-century later. (You chunkheads! You have to read “Invisible Man.” Or else jump into a vat of cheese fondue.)
I’ve found this to be true of other writers, such as Robertson Davies, for whom I carried an embarrassing enthusiasm after reading “Fifth Business.” I was convincing enough that I actually got several people to read the whole Deptford triology.
I think the last book I felt so strongly that I recommended it to people without prompting was David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas.” You mean you haven’t read it? You bloody wanker!
As my friend can attest, I am not the only reader on this earth who finds something so amazing that their subsequent yakking to any poor sot who will listen makes them a potential murder victim.
You MUST read this. NOW. I mean it
So here it is, the first reader poll I have conducted:
What writers or books made you so excited that you insisted your friends, family, and strangers read them?
Post your answers in the comments section. Vote early, vote often. And remember, there are no wrong answers, unless I say so.
phoenix: always go with the classics, you can never go wrong. you seem to have an affinity for 19th century russians. also like pushkin, gogol?
collin: yaz? now that’s a blast from the past.
e.p.: i agree that if you haven’t read ellison you shouldn’t be allowed to read anything before you do.
my mother says i should read “cold sassy tree,” and you should always trust your mother. i’ll look up some of your suggestions.
phoenix: always go with the classics, you can never go wrong. you seem to have an affinity for 19th century russians. also like pushkin, gogol?
collin: yaz? now that’s a blast from the past.
e.p.: i agree that if you haven’t read ellison you shouldn’t be allowed to read anything before you do.
my mother says i should read “cold sassy tree,” and you should always trust your mother. i’ll look up some of your suggestions.
steve: you nailed it with irving. and “owen meany” is great stuff indeed.
madame d: despite the adulation, i’m not going to read the babysitters club. sorry
steve: you nailed it with irving. and “owen meany” is great stuff indeed.
madame d: despite the adulation, i’m not going to read the babysitters club. sorry
free winkie: glad that i could be of help to add to your book collection.
who is lee smith? i remember he was a relief pitcher for the cubs. who gave up a home run to steve garvey in the ’84 playoffs. bastard.
bruce b.: funny, i’ve read “i remember,” as has wife. great stuff, though we haven’t talked about it with many folks.
free winkie: glad that i could be of help to add to your book collection.
who is lee smith? i remember he was a relief pitcher for the cubs. who gave up a home run to steve garvey in the ’84 playoffs. bastard.
bruce b.: funny, i’ve read “i remember,” as has wife. great stuff, though we haven’t talked about it with many folks.
The Ashes series by William W Johnstone. There are 34 books in the series and they so rock. I think everyone should read them.
The Ashes series by William W Johnstone. There are 34 books in the series and they so rock. I think everyone should read them.
Anything by Jonathan Franzen or Jostein Gaarder
)
Anything by Jonathan Franzen or Jostein Gaarder
)
The Unquiet Grave. A truly briliant read.
Props for the topic.
I am a zealot when it comes to George Pelecanos, a DC-based writer of urban thrillers somewhat reminiscent of Pulp Fiction (multiple story lines coming together, urban crime backdrop, unusual characters). They are all stories of DC, but not lawyer or government DC. They are stories of the working class neighborhoods.
One of the hooks for me, that I think you may enjoy particularly BookFraud, is the barrage of musical references. It is like reading a novel with a soundtrack. Particularly good is “King Suckerman” set in DC during the week before the bicentennial. There is at least one musical reference per page and the title comes from a “Blaxplotation” movie that all of the characters are talking about throughout the movie.
I guess I went on a little long, but it is my bit of zealousness.
Book, I have an affinity for 19th century literature in general, but yes, especially Russians. Gogol, Pushkin etc.
I thought this would interest you.
“The Top Novels of the Last 25 Years”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
The Unquiet Grave. A truly briliant read.
The Unquiet Grave. A truly briliant read.
Props for the topic.
I am a zealot when it comes to George Pelecanos, a DC-based writer of urban thrillers somewhat reminiscent of Pulp Fiction (multiple story lines coming together, urban crime backdrop, unusual characters). They are all stories of DC, but not lawyer or government DC. They are stories of the working class neighborhoods.
One of the hooks for me, that I think you may enjoy particularly BookFraud, is the barrage of musical references. It is like reading a novel with a soundtrack. Particularly good is “King Suckerman” set in DC during the week before the bicentennial. There is at least one musical reference per page and the title comes from a “Blaxplotation” movie that all of the characters are talking about throughout the movie.
I guess I went on a little long, but it is my bit of zealousness.
Props for the topic.
I am a zealot when it comes to George Pelecanos, a DC-based writer of urban thrillers somewhat reminiscent of Pulp Fiction (multiple story lines coming together, urban crime backdrop, unusual characters). They are all stories of DC, but not lawyer or government DC. They are stories of the working class neighborhoods.
One of the hooks for me, that I think you may enjoy particularly BookFraud, is the barrage of musical references. It is like reading a novel with a soundtrack. Particularly good is “King Suckerman” set in DC during the week before the bicentennial. There is at least one musical reference per page and the title comes from a “Blaxplotation” movie that all of the characters are talking about throughout the movie.
I guess I went on a little long, but it is my bit of zealousness.
doubleb: 34 boooks in the series. wow, that’s like encyclopedia brittanica. you must really like them.
michelle: i haven’t read “sophie’s world,” though it has been recommended several times.
but…no peter carey? banjo patterson? no great aussie writers at all?
kathleen: i haven’t read “the unquiet grave” though i have heard of cyril connolly. wasn’t he primarily a critic?
mr. cheraldo: your zealotry is appreciated; nay, it is demanded.
why would i want a book with a soundtrack? to quiet the voices running in my head?
this is the second recommendation for g. pelecanos, so i’ll have to check him out.
Book, I have an affinity for 19th century literature in general, but yes, especially Russians. Gogol, Pushkin etc.
I thought this would interest you.
“The Top Novels of the Last 25 Years”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Book, I have an affinity for 19th century literature in general, but yes, especially Russians. Gogol, Pushkin etc.
I thought this would interest you.
“The Top Novels of the Last 25 Years”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Okay, a couple I’ve missed, that I actually have pushed recently…James Patterson. I love his Alex Cross series, though he also wrote “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”, and that’s almost punishable by death. I hate sentimental crap and avoid it at all costs. But several were made into movies “Kiss the Girls”, “Along Came a Spider”, and all have nursery rhyme lines as titles.
2 authors who collaborate, and who I buy everything by is Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs. One of their early books, “Relic”, was made into a craptastic movie in ’97, I believe, and I’ve heard rumors that there’s a sequel in the works (they wrote one). They’ve written about 10 books with the same characters scattered through them…not always in each book, that sort of thing. They’re adventure books, usually taking a starting point from some sort of legend/urban myth. I can’t believe I read them, but they’re just so good.
doubleb: 34 boooks in the series. wow, that’s like encyclopedia brittanica. you must really like them.
michelle: i haven’t read “sophie’s world,” though it has been recommended several times.
but…no peter carey? banjo patterson? no great aussie writers at all?
kathleen: i haven’t read “the unquiet grave” though i have heard of cyril connolly. wasn’t he primarily a critic?
doubleb: 34 boooks in the series. wow, that’s like encyclopedia brittanica. you must really like them.
michelle: i haven’t read “sophie’s world,” though it has been recommended several times.
but…no peter carey? banjo patterson? no great aussie writers at all?
kathleen: i haven’t read “the unquiet grave” though i have heard of cyril connolly. wasn’t he primarily a critic?
mr. cheraldo: your zealotry is appreciated; nay, it is demanded.
why would i want a book with a soundtrack? to quiet the voices running in my head?
this is the second recommendation for g. pelecanos, so i’ll have to check him out.
mr. cheraldo: your zealotry is appreciated; nay, it is demanded.
why would i want a book with a soundtrack? to quiet the voices running in my head?
this is the second recommendation for g. pelecanos, so i’ll have to check him out.
Obsessively, obsessively, do I push Virginia Woolf on people. They have all sorts of wrong ideas about her, people do. What novel is more perfect than _Mrs Dalloway_?? What cuts to the heart of things more than _The Waves_? What’s as funny and true as _Orlando_?
Which is also why, sorry, but I hate hate hate _The Hours_ by Michael Cunningham. Blech. Ugh. Don’t get me started.
It’s gotta be Toni Morrison. I think it’s called… Beloved…? Wot?
The book I’m peeing my pants over right now is The Rachel Papers. I think because I didn’t expect to like it- and while it was clunky, it was so much fun and so exciting. Too bad I’ve never managed to get into any other Martin Amis.
The book I’m almost ALWAYS peeing my pants over is JD Salinger’s Nine Stories. Or anything by Anthony Burgess. Burgess is my Lord and Savior.
Wife’s Book Club (since you already know who would be on the list for Wife’s Music Club):
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Garcia-Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
Atwood’s Cat’s Eye
Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential
Jo Ann Beard’s The Boys of My Youth
Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides
Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
Okay, a couple I’ve missed, that I actually have pushed recently…James Patterson. I love his Alex Cross series, though he also wrote “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”, and that’s almost punishable by death. I hate sentimental crap and avoid it at all costs. But several were made into movies “Kiss the Girls”, “Along Came a Spider”, and all have nursery rhyme lines as titles.
2 authors who collaborate, and who I buy everything by is Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs. One of their early books, “Relic”, was made into a craptastic movie in ’97, I believe, and I’ve heard rumors that there’s a sequel in the works (they wrote one). They’ve written about 10 books with the same characters scattered through them…not always in each book, that sort of thing. They’re adventure books, usually taking a starting point from some sort of legend/urban myth. I can’t believe I read them, but they’re just so good.
Okay, a couple I’ve missed, that I actually have pushed recently…James Patterson. I love his Alex Cross series, though he also wrote “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”, and that’s almost punishable by death. I hate sentimental crap and avoid it at all costs. But several were made into movies “Kiss the Girls”, “Along Came a Spider”, and all have nursery rhyme lines as titles.
2 authors who collaborate, and who I buy everything by is Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs. One of their early books, “Relic”, was made into a craptastic movie in ’97, I believe, and I’ve heard rumors that there’s a sequel in the works (they wrote one). They’ve written about 10 books with the same characters scattered through them…not always in each book, that sort of thing. They’re adventure books, usually taking a starting point from some sort of legend/urban myth. I can’t believe I read them, but they’re just so good.
Obsessively, obsessively, do I push Virginia Woolf on people. They have all sorts of wrong ideas about her, people do. What novel is more perfect than _Mrs Dalloway_?? What cuts to the heart of things more than _The Waves_? What’s as funny and true as _Orlando_?
Which is also why, sorry, but I hate hate hate _The Hours_ by Michael Cunningham. Blech. Ugh. Don’t get me started.
Obsessively, obsessively, do I push Virginia Woolf on people. They have all sorts of wrong ideas about her, people do. What novel is more perfect than _Mrs Dalloway_?? What cuts to the heart of things more than _The Waves_? What’s as funny and true as _Orlando_?
Which is also why, sorry, but I hate hate hate _The Hours_ by Michael Cunningham. Blech. Ugh. Don’t get me started.
It’s gotta be Toni Morrison. I think it’s called… Beloved…? Wot?
The book I’m peeing my pants over right now is The Rachel Papers. I think because I didn’t expect to like it- and while it was clunky, it was so much fun and so exciting. Too bad I’ve never managed to get into any other Martin Amis.
The book I’m almost ALWAYS peeing my pants over is JD Salinger’s Nine Stories. Or anything by Anthony Burgess. Burgess is my Lord and Savior.
It’s gotta be Toni Morrison. I think it’s called… Beloved…? Wot?
The book I’m peeing my pants over right now is The Rachel Papers. I think because I didn’t expect to like it- and while it was clunky, it was so much fun and so exciting. Too bad I’ve never managed to get into any other Martin Amis.
The book I’m almost ALWAYS peeing my pants over is JD Salinger’s Nine Stories. Or anything by Anthony Burgess. Burgess is my Lord and Savior.
Wife’s Book Club (since you already know who would be on the list for Wife’s Music Club):
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Garcia-Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
Atwood’s Cat’s Eye
Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential
Jo Ann Beard’s The Boys of My Youth
Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides
Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
Wife’s Book Club (since you already know who would be on the list for Wife’s Music Club):
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
Garcia-Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
Atwood’s Cat’s Eye
Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential
Jo Ann Beard’s The Boys of My Youth
Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides
Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
madame d: i find it hard to believe that collaborations in fiction writing work, but there you go.
amy: i am not crazy about v.w., but i understand why people are fanatical about her.
so you don’t like “the hours”? i smell a fight here. yeah baby!
b: so many people swear by martin amis. kingsley, too.
glad to know you like salinger. and i can’t dis anyone who gave us a little bit of moogs and the ultraviolence.
wife: i’ve never heard nor read any of these so-called “masterpieces.”
Mmmm, cheese fondue…
Oh, sorry. Um…how about Jude the Obscure!
madame d: i find it hard to believe that collaborations in fiction writing work, but there you go.
amy: i am not crazy about v.w., but i understand why people are fanatical about her.
so you don’t like “the hours”? i smell a fight here. yeah baby!
madame d: i find it hard to believe that collaborations in fiction writing work, but there you go.
amy: i am not crazy about v.w., but i understand why people are fanatical about her.
so you don’t like “the hours”? i smell a fight here. yeah baby!
b: so many people swear by martin amis. kingsley, too.
glad to know you like salinger. and i can’t dis anyone who gave us a little bit of moogs and the ultraviolence.
wife: i’ve never heard nor read any of these so-called “masterpieces.”
b: so many people swear by martin amis. kingsley, too.
glad to know you like salinger. and i can’t dis anyone who gave us a little bit of moogs and the ultraviolence.
wife: i’ve never heard nor read any of these so-called “masterpieces.”
Mmmm, cheese fondue…
Oh, sorry. Um…how about Jude the Obscure!
Mmmm, cheese fondue…
Oh, sorry. Um…how about Jude the Obscure!
Definitely John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany is the book I’ve thrust upon more people than any other. I recently demanded my 17 year old read Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Wouldn’t tell him the new password on his computer until he finished it, so that’s maybe a bit beyond proselytizing.
Hemingway’s In Our Time is my frequent recommendation for attempting to convert people who say they don’t read much. Joan Didion is fav non-fiction recommendation.
And, if you throw short stories into the mix, I’m always quick to recommend two very different stories: Ursula Le Guin’s The Eye Altering and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. No other short story has made me laugh so hard but also cry like The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.
Definitely John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany is the book I’ve thrust upon more people than any other. I recently demanded my 17 year old read Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Wouldn’t tell him the new password on his computer until he finished it, so that’s maybe a bit beyond proselytizing.
Hemingway’s In Our Time is my frequent recommendation for attempting to convert people who say they don’t read much. Joan Didion is fav non-fiction recommendation.
And, if you throw short stories into the mix, I’m always quick to recommend two very different stories: Ursula Le Guin’s The Eye Altering and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. No other short story has made me laugh so hard but also cry like The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.
Definitely John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany is the book I’ve thrust upon more people than any other. I recently demanded my 17 year old read Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Wouldn’t tell him the new password on his computer until he finished it, so that’s maybe a bit beyond proselytizing.
Hemingway’s In Our Time is my frequent recommendation for attempting to convert people who say they don’t read much. Joan Didion is fav non-fiction recommendation.
And, if you throw short stories into the mix, I’m always quick to recommend two very different stories: Ursula Le Guin’s The Eye Altering and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. No other short story has made me laugh so hard but also cry like The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings.
Fraud- Kingsley sucks ass. So does Martin, most of the time. That’s why I was so surprised that I liked The Rachel Papers.