Amber's book recommendation in her comment on my last post gave me this idea. Because my family didn't get to do our book exchange this year at Christmas, I would like to do one here. Every year, on my mom's side of the family, we get together on Christmas Eve (attendance has grown more and more scarce as we have married and have other families to visit, but it still generally happens). Part of our Christmas party is a spin on the white elephant game. We basically use the rules of the white elephant game, but instead of bringing a gag gift, we bring one of our favorite books or movies. It can be one or our all-time favorite books/movies or it can just be one of our favorites out of the books/movies we have read/seen in the past year. It is quite fun, and we all walk away with a cool new book/DVD and lots of other ideas for good books to read.
So, because we didn't get to do our book exchange this year, I would ask everyone to comment and suggest a few books/movies.
I will start. I would probably bring the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. It is absolutely brilliant! I finished it just after Christmas, and I haven't gotten around to reviewing it here yet; stay tuned for that. I might also recommend Elder Maxwell's biography, which is very interesting and well-written (a major plus, since many biographies about LDS leaders aren't very well-written, I feel). I also liked All Over But the Shoutin', which I reviewed here. As for movies, I really liked The Prestige, although I am not very qualified to give movie recommendations because I haven't seen hardly any since Grace was born.
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My book recomendation would have to be Watchmen. Its been hailed as the most famous graphic novel(meaning that it was a comic book series thats been bound as a book)of all time. Its the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award and its on The New York Times 100 best books ever list. I was very glad that I read it just because it was a very different read. I would recommend this book to just about everyone, but I will caution that it tackles some "adult themes" which include violence, language and rape.
Our family carried on with the book exchange in anticipation for next years cousin book exchange. I submitted 'A Confederacy of Dunces' which is a grand farce of an overeducated stay-at-home son coexisting with the city of New Orleans. The Pulitzer committee loved this novel enough to give Toole the Prize posthumously. Meaning that he is one novelist that had to die to get famous.
Here's a great overview of the novel:
"At the center of A Confederacy of Dunces is that contemptuous hypochondriac, that deadbeat ideologue, that gluttonous moocher Ignatius Reilly. A mountainous college graduate living off his mother's welfare check in her home on one of New Orleans seedy back streets. He spends most of his time waxing melodramatically philosophic, hiding out in the squalor of his bedroom, filling Big Chief writing tablets with his unique brand of Luddite/medievalist/anti-Enlightenment thought and penning incendiary letters to his sex-crazed ex-college-girlfriend Myrna Minkoff. His beleaguered mother by turns dotes and turns on him in their schizophrenic dance between adult child and aging parent."
Spence - We spent time in my "literature and literacy" class last semester studying graphic novels. I hope more good ones come out in the future. We read "Pedro and Me," which was written by Judd of MTV's "Real World" in San Fransisco. It was about heavy themes related his roommate Pedro, who had Aids...Anyway, it was ok, but a well done graphic novel. I have a cool X-Men graphic novel in a box in Saratoga Springs, too. I'm going to check out Watchmen. I like how the visual art sets a strong tone for a story.
Anyway, I actually put in a CD to our white elephant this year. It was "Bread: Anthology." I've been into 70's music for a while now, and Bread is one of my favorite slow rock bands from that decade.
Ah yes, Ignatious Reilly, the lovably pugnatious New Orleans literatus. I loved "Confederacy of Dunces," especially the first half. My favorite part is when Ignatious gets mad at his mother for upsetting his delicate nerves and threatens to faint right there in the middle of the street. The narrator then informs the reader that the mother knew that he would faint on purpose because he had, in fact, done it before, including one time in church during a sermon on sloth.
Bread is pure class. A very fine choice.
As for graphic novels, I'm not sure why I've always been a little leary of them. Maybe its time for me to break down my prejudices and try reading one.
One of my favorite things about Ian is that he laughs out loud when he's reading or watching TV alone. I remember him doing this with "Confederecy of Dunces."
Bread is classic.
My top picks for the year are the "Maisie Dobbs" novels by Jacqueline Winspear. They are Victorian mystery novels about private investigator/psychologist Maisie Dobbs. They are clean and a great read. My favorite is the second one, "Birds of A Feather."
I finished the first one while we were in the delivery room waitiing for Gracie to come. Hooray for epidurals! I'm grateful to Cathie for introducing me to them.
Maise Dobbs...cool-I haven't heard of her before. We'll have to check those out.
Another entry I would make is the children's book "Diary of a Worm." Working at a library for k-12 future educators, I can't help but learn all about children's and young adult literature. It's been kind of nice to learn about good books for Mary.
Anyway, "Diary of a Worm" by Doreen Cronin is full of journal entries by a worm. It's a series of life vignettes from the worm's perspective. It is full of dry humor, and I think is pretty clever. It's probably a 3 year level book at least, but I bought it anyway for Mary's Christmas present. Other books Cronin has written include "The Diary of a Spider" and "Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type."
Ya'll get ready for this.... Allison has a book recomendation, and yes I did read the whole thing! Both Arlynn (my step-mom) and Cathie gave me the book for Christmas and I loved it so much that I wish I had kept both copies so I could give it to someone else. The Book was The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. Now all you book people have probably already heard of it, but for me it was a really amazing memior about this unbelievable family who make it through so much. I loved the way the author is able to tell the story with such love, when she had been put through so much. I know that is vague, but I don't want to ruin it for you. I literally could not put it down. I read 290 pages in like 4 days ( this is coming from the girl who never quite finnished little house on the prarie in the 4th grade even though I checked it out from the library at least 32 weeks in a row!)
Look at that It only took me 3 years and 5 months as a Davis and I officially loved a book, Hats off to Cathie, job well done.
Ian, maybe I'll make you deal that if you read Watchmen, I'll read something by Jane Austen. I can't imagine anything that I want to read less, except for maybe the Work and the Glory.
It truly was amazing to see Allison read so much. She really enjoyed that book. I have even put it on my to read list.
Allison, I am very impressed that you read an entire novel and in record time. Nice work. Katie is really excited to read that book, and I'll probably take a look at it, too.
Spencer, I would much rather read an X-men graphic novel. When you say that Watchmen deals with adult themes, I assume that means that those adult themes are also visually depicted, which I would like to avoid. But if you're looking to read a Jane Austen novel, I would recommend "Persuasion." It is shorter and better than anything else she wrote. I never thought I would read or like a Jane Austen novel, but I was proven wrong. She is a really good novelist.
That would be a possibility. I'll have to look into it and see if there is a difinitive X-men graphic novel. Would you be interested in a Batman graphic novel? Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Night Returns is also touted as one of the greatest graphic novels ever. I've heard that the most recent Batman movie, "Batman Begins" draws many themes from this graphic novel. I'm not sure if its clean or not. I'll check it out and let you know.
Cblakes, "Dairy of a Worm" sounds funny. We'll check it out. We would like to keep hearing more of your book recommendations.
Way to go Allison! That book sounds really neat. I will definately read it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Spencer, if you are planning on delving into some British literature, I highly recommend Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It's a classic
currently reading "the dew breaker" (w/ angel & my's "book club"). quite good. some of my previous favorties have been: "in cold blood", "beloved", "the idiot", "reading lolita in tehran" & "sister of my heart".
note: it is too taxing on my fingers to write up reviews ;) head to www.amazon.com.
I don't know if "dive" is the right word, but I may be considering it.
Chantelle: You have read some dandies--The Idiot & Reading Lolita in Tehran!!
Katie and I listened to Azar Nafisi speak at the National Book Festival two years back (one of the many perks Washington, DC, offers). Here's a link if you are interested in hearing what she had to say: http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3617
Have you read any other Dostoevsky novels? He's one of my favorite authors. I just finished Bros. Karamazov and I'm now reading Demons.
jayme: i have read "crime & punishment" (i actually forgot that angel & i read it for our "book club"..it was that memorable) and am reading (well, acutally listening to)"brothers karamazov". we will have to chat after :) thanks for the link...i am going there next. often i wish we were still on the east coast again.
we finished "the dew breaker"...and started "the glass castle". it has taken me a while to get into. i am also reading "the plague".
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