Comments on: The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books

The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books

shivohum — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:16:54 -0800

The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books catalogs the top ten favorite books of over 140 major authors and growing, including Louis D. Rubin, Jim Harrison, David Foster Wallace, David Leavitt, Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, and many more. Here's the list of books rank-ordered by frequency and here are other lists compiled from the statistics.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:36:33 -0800

A very enjoyable book that makes me feel like I need to read so much more.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 22:50:38 -0800

Call me when the torrent's up.

By: akaJudge

akaJudge — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:23:15 -0800

David Foster Wallace's Top Ten includes two Thomas Harris novels and a Tom Clancy novel? That does not jibe with comments of his I've read elsewhere, but even if I hadn't read otherwise it would be troubling.

By: fallingbadgers

fallingbadgers — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:25:18 -0800

Good to see that famous writers lie just as much as the rest of us when filling in these kind of surveys. 'Oh yes, I mean I spend my days rereading the classics - Tolstoy, Faulkner, Middlemarch. You know, in many ways Lance Punchington, the main character of my new novel "Why All Other NYC Writers Suck and Never Invite Me to Their Parties" is a spiritual descendent of Dorothea'.

By: Ad hominem

Ad hominem — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:45:59 -0800

Well we puzzled over that DFW list last time it was posted, he did in fact assign Thomas Harris in his class.

By: akaJudge

akaJudge — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:52:47 -0800

I don't doubt that he liked Harris, but as much as he talked about Nabokov and Tolstoy I find it hard to believe he'd leave them off to make room for Clancy and King.

By: Ad hominem

Ad hominem — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:58:31 -0800

The one that threw me for a loop was Fear of Flying, I didn't know people still read that. It is like Portnoy's Complaint, The 7 percent solution or Jonathan Livingston Seagul in my mind, so of a certain period I didn't think people still found it interesting. That Alligator book is out of print and must have been something he picked up at the drugstore or something as a kid. I have my own version of that, a book name "Call it Courage" I read every couple years when I can't sleep. I guess he was at a time in his life he liked fast paced fiction that is essentially escapist and In a way comforting. I mean it is favorite books, not best books.

By: dismas

dismas — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:02:14 -0800

When he finally acts decisively, Hamlet takes with him every remaining major character in a crescendo of violence unmatched in Shakespearean theater. Someone hasn't read Titus Andronicus recently.

By: Corduroy

Corduroy — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:11:03 -0800

Really glad to see my 19th century literature classmates are doing so well! Have a great summer, guys!

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:44:49 -0800

Who wrote the blurbs for the books in question? I'd be interested to hear what these writers think of those writers but just these writers like these books is ... Kind of not all I hoped for.

By: TheRaven

TheRaven — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:45:51 -0800

James Joyce in the Top Ten of British Literature? "And in spite of everything, Ireland remains the brain of the Kingdom. The English, judiciously practical and ponderous, furnish the over-stuffed stomach of humanity with a perfect gadget - the water closet. The Irish, condemned to express themselves in a language not their own, have stamped on it the mark of their own genius and compete for glory with the civilized nations. This is then called English literature." (Joyce, as quoted by Richard Ellmann)

By: kariebookish

kariebookish — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 02:33:51 -0800

I always get depressed by how "books" are almost always taken to mean "novels".

By: timsneezed

timsneezed — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 03:34:24 -0800

sad to see no maugham love in there

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 04:57:40 -0800

David Foster Wallace's Top Ten includes two Thomas Harris novels and a Tom Clancy novel? Oh my. How dreadfully common.

By: How the runs scored

How the runs scored — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:09:25 -0800

The blurbs weren't written by the authors: the same one is used for a book no matter who's recommending it. They all have the same chirpy, credulous tone and sort of ruin the site for me.

By: Summer

Summer — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:11:38 -0800

Does anyone really read Middlemarch for fun?

By: Wolof

Wolof — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:21:17 -0800

It's about time! No, it really is!

By: Eyebrows McGee

Eyebrows McGee — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:49:28 -0800

"Does anyone really read Middlemarch for fun?" Oh, me! Me! I was assigned it in high school and got maybe 100 pages in before I gave up in boredom (must have been extra credit or I would have slogged through anyway). It was still sitting on my shelf glaring at me reproachfully a decade later, bookmark still where I gave up, so I pulled it back out and gave it another try because I hate leaving books unfinished, and the second time, it was great -- hilarious and touching and smart. I couldn't believe how funny and sly it was (in places), and I couldn't believe I had completely missed all that the first time. (I mean, I can believe it, I was 15 or whatever, you have to watch young adults make terrible life choices up close before the novel starts to make any sense; it was way too far over my head at that age.) However, I'm deeply suspicious of any person over the age of 15 who thinks "The Catcher in the Rye" is one of their favorite novels, because the only people for whom that is a favorite novel is people who have read so little literature that they get excited by books that say "fuck" in them. Phonies, the lot of them. So, you know, to each their own.

By: Summer

Summer — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 06:00:05 -0800

So I tried to buy some of these for my Kindle, only to find that Amazon does not do Kindle editions of most of them. I've actually had to buy proper books. Score one, Old World.

By: 256

256 — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:03:32 -0800

Frankly, most of them are available for Kindle from Project Gutenberg. Because apparently authors don't like to read books written in the last 50 years.

By: crazy_yeti

crazy_yeti — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:06:18 -0800

Who wrote the blurbs for the books in question? Clearly not the authors who chose the books. (See the identical descriptions of Moby-Dick on Paul Auster's and Russell Banks' lists). This is weak.

By: akaJudge

akaJudge — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:15:11 -0800

"Oh my. How dreadfully common." Ugh, I realize it sounds condescending, but that's not how I meant it. I only meant that I've seen him mention some of his favorite novels before, and I know he really, really loves some Russians, so I was very surprised to see none of that on his list.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:30:01 -0800

The books link to Amazon with an affiliate code. There is shilling and money involved that gives the whole project a bad odor. Sure, they probably don't make much money, just to "pay the bills" etc.. whatever. It used to be cool to link to Amazon, now not so much. Who knows what kind of arrangements might be involved here. Amazon is the octopus.

By: IjonTichy

IjonTichy — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:46:48 -0800

It's bizarre how samey these are. Almost every one is a selection of obvious picks from the Western Canon with an emphasis on the 19th century. There's nothing wrong with that, necessarily--those are great books, to be sure--but what's the point of an exercise like this if no-one points out any rare gems?

By: hwestiii

hwestiii — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 09:21:23 -0800

Re Middlemarch, I'm not sure this qualifies as fun, but only read it because I'd seen it mentioned frequently on MeFi and I wanted to see what the fuss was about, not because I was assigned in some class. I didn't find it to be the be all and end all of English Literature, but it's a damned good book and I'm glad I read it.

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 09:49:55 -0800

what's the point of an exercise like this if no-one points out any rare gems? Sandra Cisneros (who I have not read) has a really fascinating list. The Dermout and the Rulfo volumes seem to me to be among those wonderful hidden gems of books. Both beautiful, albeit in very different ways.

By: Summer

Summer — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 10:28:42 -0800

I was only joking about Middlemarch. I quite liked it, although I wouldn't include it in a list of my ten favourite books.

By: Catch

Catch — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 12:33:18 -0800

"Here's the list of books rank-ordered by frequency " Oh no! I rolled my eyes so hard I can't stop! Going to pass ou...

By: elsietheeel

elsietheeel — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 13:35:41 -0800

I just gained a little respect back for my old pal Douglas Coupland because he did not feel the need to populate his list with the classics.

By: joost de vries

joost de vries — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 13:43:10 -0800

kobayashi, The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermoût is definitely worthwhile. I find that the language of her writing has a mysterious poetic quality. It's probably the same in the English translation.

By: hwestiii

hwestiii — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:04:07 -0800

I have to admit that one of my personal projects for the past several years has been to actually read a lot of those samey, canonical titles for the very reason that they are samey and canonical, and against the Twain dictum about classics being books that nobody actually reads. For the most part, I feel I've profited from the effort, although there have been a few clinkers in the bunch. I'm looking at you Stendhal.

By: BWA

BWA — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:41:51 -0800

sad to see no maugham love in there Interesting you should say that. My guess is that if you had done this fifty years ago, possibly even less, he would have been there.

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 16:36:36 -0800

joost de vries, yes, the English translation of The Ten Thousand Things is a marvel. I don't know that I've read anything else quite like it.

By: kozad

kozad — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 21:05:12 -0800

Much better than the MLA list, I have to say. And regarding the disparaging remarks about Catcher in the Rye above...I have selected five passages I use for my students in which the narrator discusses...umm...art. Usually of the inferior variety. But his specificity about why the art (music, dancing, acting, etc.) is "phony" is remarkably astute. It has to do, especially, with audience reward for superficial skill and frills. This is THE novel that illustrates the benefits of using an "unreliable narrator," a very common device these days, to good purpose. The author's meaning is clear. Adults may not remember how they felt as adolescents...and many did not feel like Holden Caulfield, to be sure...but J.D. did an artful job of channeling these feelings.

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:17:34 -0800

Ugh, I realize it sounds condescending, but that's not how I meant it. I retract my impersonation of the Dowager Countess.

By: dott8080

dott8080 — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:26:05 -0800

Annie Proulx writes "I find this list of ten books project to be difficult, pointless, and wrong-headed. Just so you'll give it a rest, here is a list. [...] Lists, unless grocery shopping lists, are truly a reductio ad absurdum." That makes me wonder how editor J. Peder Zedane introduced his project to these writers. A bit too persistently, methinks.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:39:47 -0800

Annie Proulx writes "I find this list of ten books project to be difficult, pointless, and wrong-headed. Just so you'll give it a rest, here is a list. [...] Lists, unless grocery shopping lists, are truly a reductio ad absurdum." Yadda...yadda....yadda....how pompous can you get, out with the damned list already....

By: Zed

Zed — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:02:59 -0800

David Foster Wallace's Top Ten includes two Thomas Harris novels and a Tom Clancy novel? Those two Harris books meant more to me than a pretty large percentage of the Acknowledged Classics of Literature (that I've read) at the tops of these compilations.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:34:42 -0800

Thomas Harris's Red Dragon is a Goddamned fuckin' masterpiece..

By: Chrysostom

Chrysostom — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:57:49 -0800

hwestiii: "although there have been a few clinkers in the bunch. I'm looking at you Stendhal." Oh, I quite liked The Charterhouse of Parma.