Calling for book recommendations
August 23, 2005
I am desperately in need of book recommendations.
Recently I have read Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (which in retrospect I am finding less unbearable), and The Last Waltz which I actually quite liked.
Currently I am between reading The Archivist by Martha Cooley (which is alright�I haven�t quite decided yet), and Philip Roth�s Letting Go, which has reminded me how much I love Philip Roth, but was getting too sad for me to keep reading. I�ll finish it. I just needed something to break up the melancholy which is why I picked up The Archivist�which has actually turned out to be pretty melancholy too, but you kind of ease into it.
Waiting to be read I have Miriam Cooke�s Hayati, and Thomas Pynchon�s V., but I have a feeling I won�t get around to reading either of these before I have to return them to the library in a week. And I�m not really so attached to reading them that I�d renew them.
I am going to finish the books I am currently reading because they are there, and I hate to not finish something I�ve started, but I haven�t been really drawn in by a book since I read DBC Pierre�s Vernon God Little a couple of months ago. Or did I read White Teeth after that? Anyway, it was one of those two books.
So, dear diary readers I need your help. I have realized that I am notoriously bad at making book selections for myself, and I am desperately in need of reading suggestions that will rekindle and validate my love of reading.
After finishing The Damn Masters I decided that I should lay off the Arabic literature for a while, and expand my horizons. (Not that, all told, I�ve really read that much Arabic literature at all, but�it seemed time to move West or further East.) Although, I guess I�d be interested in some good Arab-American literary suggestions if you�ve got �em. (And I swear to Allah if someone responds to that previous sentence by recommending that I read The Kite Flyer [Oops...KITE RUNNER. Thanks Yibba!] I am going to beat you over the head with a pedantic stick.) In addition, it seems that I am not (or perhaps never have been) in the mood for the often highly-philosophical writing style of continental Europe, and I seem to prefer the light yet heart-warming humor of Anglo or Anglo-educated writers. Non-fiction recommendations will also be accepted, but anything written before...1920 will not.
Please leave suggestions in the comment box below.
Thanks.