Fifteen Books in Fifteen Minutes
Saw someone do this on Facebook, so I thought I’d give it a whirl…
According to the rules of this exercise,
Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I’m interested in seeing what books my friends choose.
(To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your 15 picks, and tag people in the note – upper right hand side).
In no particular order…
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
- A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
- The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
- High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
- Planet of the Apes, by Pierre Boulle
- Visions of the Anointed, by Thomas Sowell
- 1984, by George Orwell
- The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
- Slam. by Nick Hornby
- The Collected Short Stories of Philip K. Dick
- Kiss The Girls, by James Patterson
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
- Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen
To be honest, I don’t entirely understand what a book that “will always stick with you” means… Is it a book that if you grab if you ran out of your burning house? Is it a book that just left an impression on you? Whatever it means, I did the best I could to come up with books that “stick with me.” though I imagine there are some that may not always appear on this list if I was asked to do this exercise on a different occasion. Kiss The Girls by James Patterson for instance, may not be my favorite of his novels, but it was the first one I read, and began many years of reading and collecting his books. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley may not be a favorite book either, mut boy did it leave an impression on me.
This Is Where I Leave You
As readers of my blog know, I am a big fan of Nick Hornby. My enjoyment of his work has put me on a mission to find comparable authors that I might enjoy. This search ultimately lead me to discover Jonathan Tropper. Not long ago I acquired an advanced copy of his new novel This Is Where I Leave You. This novel is the story of Judd Foxman, who recently caught his wife cheating on him with his shock jock boss, and soon after returns home upon the death of his father and must spend a week sitting shiva with his dysfunctional family — in accordance to his father’s wishes. Dysfunctional might even be an understatement. Judd’s problems are juxtaposed with the dramas in the lives of his siblings.
I found the plot to be intriguing, and thus decided to take chance on starting with Tropper’s newest, rather than going chronologically. I must say that not only did I find the book enjoyable, but I have since got audiobooks of two other Tropper novels (The Book of Joe, and How to Talk To A Widower) which I vill listen to while I am flying to and from Hawaii for my honeymoon in two weeks. If all goes well (and I have every reason to believe it will) I will read his other two novels when I return.
I am not too worried. I believe Jonathan Tropper will be another author permanently on my radar.
Juliet, Reviewed
I didn’t become a hardcore Nick Hornby fan until I read A Long Way Down back in 2005. Since then, I have been hungry for new material. When I first heard about the release of Slam and that it would be a young adult novel, I was honestly disappointed, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. Still, Hornby’s latest Juliet, Naked (to be published late September) is a novel I have been waiting for since I finished A Long Way Down.
It was ironic to read a book about superfandom, considering my enthusiasm for Hornby’s writing — which some might perceive as superfandom, though by no means to the degree of the character Duncan in the novel, who gets an advance copy of a yet to be released album of solo acoustic demos of a reclusive 80’s rock star’s last & most famous album. I, unable (or unwilling) to wait until the end of September for the book to be published, got my hands on an advance readers copy (ARC) and read the book in one evening. I rather impressive feat for me. The last book I read in one evening was James Patterson’s Cat & Mouse, back in 1997. I started Juliet, Naked around 6 pm. I finished it around 1 am.
It is hard to say how the book ranks if I were to generate a top 5 list of hornby’s novels. It usually takes me a while to fully absorb a Hornby novel. I didn’t fully appreciate Slam (another book I got prior to publication) until months after I read an advance copy. So, perhaps anything I say about Juliet, Naked now, within 48 hours if finishing it, would be premature. It is hard, after years of built up anticipation, to give a novel proper, objective assessment. The two extreme responses are (a) built up anticipation results in extreme disappointment or (b) extreme desire to love something I have waited so long for ruins any objectivity, in favor of convincing myself that Hornby met or exceeded expectation. Such a problem isn’t present when you’re not dealing with your favorite contemporary author.
Perhaps both extremes are present and are canceling each other out. Nevertheless, this review today with most certainly need to be supplemented by a follow up review closer to the books publication, when I’ll also be more comfortable referencing details of the book. In a sense, this review won’t be so much a review, but a primer for a review, with some of my initial thoughts.
There are lots of Nick Hornby fans waiting for Juliet, Naked to be released. I can safely assure them that the book won’t disappoint them. It’s classic Nick Hornby, delving into obsession, loneliness in a way that Hornby’s fans love and new Hornby readers will appreciate.
How does Juliet, Naked rank compared to other Hornby novels. If I were to create a Top 5 list (which excludes Slam, with the understanding that Siam is technically a different genre) than here is where my list stands.
- A Long Way Down
- High Fidelity
- Juliet, Naked
- About A Boy
- How To Be Good
There is a lot a Hornby fan can read into this list. For one thing, High Fidelity is not #1, but A Long Way Down is. High Fidelity is a common favorite of Hornby fans (and especially the one’s who think of the novel before they think of the movie) and, from what I’ve seen, A Long Way Down is one the least favored. For reasons hard to explain, A Long Way Down is slightly more favored than High Fidelity, (an indecisive me would have given them shared first place status) and thus, when I met Nick Hornby at a book signing a couple years ago, I chose A Long Way Down for him to sign. These two books, nevertheless, are hard to beat, so, Juliet’s third place showing is actually nothing to scoff at. It is hard to compete with novels that, for years, have grown to mean a lot more to me than they did even after I first finished them.
That said, it is important to note that Juliet, Naked has all the qualities I love about Hornby’s writing, There are many levels one can appreciate Juliet, Naked… I’ve only just begun.
Until September…
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The other evening I finally finished Sideways by Rex Pickett and have now started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. I have been wanting to read this for a while, but hadn’t ever bought the book. I am still working on his collected short stories, but I felt it was time to try out a something by PKD that was a bit longer than a short stories that run a couple dozen pages each.
Science fiction isn’t my preferred genre, but I was introduced to a few of PKD’s short stories about a year and a half ago, and have since been reading his work more and more, starting with his short stories.
Nick Hornby Recommends…
Nick Hornby’s Top 40 Books is an interesting list. I will have to consider reading selections from it… and eventually make my own list.
She Said Yes
I am happy to tell my readers here that on Christmas morning I asked my girlfriend Beth to marry me…
…and she said yes.
I have lots more to say… but I also have an apartment that is in serious need of cleaning after a long battle with wrapping paper and scotch tape… so I will tell you all more later.
…and for those who have been asking about the ring:
