I want to have everybody that reads this site over to my house for a party. If I provide the champers and the olives, would you all come over?
It would be my way of thanking you for participating in the Odessa Book List. Who knows, it might still grow. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, I asked friends and visitors to recommend 3-5 books a few days ago. Not necessarily books of mindblowing genius, not even necessarily favorites, just a few recommended books.
And I got a big ole long list. I would always groove on it being longer, so add in a few (if you haven't already) in the comments to this post. I'll fit in the book where I can - if we haven't gotten to that part of the alphabet yet, all will be dandy. If not, it will just get added to the end.
Here's what I propose: I made a master list of all the books recommended as of March 10. I put it in reverse alphabetical order, because I like to do things just a wee bit differently. I'm going to give myself two weeks to read each book - figuring that is more than enough time per book - and I would groove on it if some of you read with me. It's like an online book club, but you're not required to join and you're not required to read and you're not required to go to meetings or to participate in the silly discussion. There will be no awkward silences. And you don't have to feel bad if you go to the meeting without having read the book, 'cause nobody will really even know you're there. On the flipside, if you are reading, you can say what you think about the book, get input from others, yada yada yada. There won't be any veggies and dip, but besides that it will be more or less the same thing as a real book club. Just with less responsibilities.
I'm going to start with number one and work my way forward - or backward, as the case may be. I'll announce the book in the corner box on the dailies page - just because it seems like a handy way to do things. And also because I might have a bit of a difficult time locating some of these books, I'll need a place to mention if we are/I am skipping a book until further notice. It's up to you: you can follow along, or not. Easy.
The reading will start next week - as soon as I have time to bring a copy of the book list to the bookstore and library to see what I can gather. For now, have a peek at the list thus far (in reverse alphabetical order by author's name of course).
1. Written on the Body - Jeanette Winterson
2. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
3. Fermat's Enigma - Simon Singh
4. Cracking India - Bapsi Sidhwa
5. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
6. The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
7. Memoirs of an Invisible Man - H.F. Saint
8. Blindness - Jose Saramago
9. Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
10. Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
11. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami
12. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. Basque History of the World - Mark Kurlansky
14. Shutterbabe - Deborah Copaken Kogan
15. The Long Walk - Stephen King
16. Sometimes A Great Notion - Ken Kesey
17. The Trial - Kafka
18. Jesus' Son - Denis Johnson
19. Glass Bead Game - Hesse
20. Tumble Home - Amy Hempel
21. Stones from the River - Ursula Hegi
22. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
23. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
24. Drown - Junot Diaz
25. Feast of Snakes - Crews
26. Godric - Frederick Buechner
The following books were taken off the list because I have already read them. But they came recommended by others (not necessarily by me along with them, though):
Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin
Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett
off the top of my head:
1. tess of the d'ubervilles - thomas hardy
2. the sixteen pleasures - robert hellenga
3. the harry potter series - j.k. rowling
4. a clockwork orange - anthony burgess
5. gone with the wind - margaret mitchell
when does this start? i would love to read with you. :)
Groovy! Next week, Babycakes, next week. I'll add numbers 1 and 2 'cause I've read the others. Changes will be made on the Master List page (called "bookworm" under the "around odessa" part of the expanding menu to the right - also called the Master List in the box to your right.)
Aquamarine, by Carol Anshaw. Something by M.F.K. Fisher (who likes to write about France and food). Did you already read the Margaret Atwood stuff?
I'll join you for the reading too. This will be lovely. (I'm reading 'The Autobiography of Malcom X' by Alex Haley for another online bookclubby thing.)
I reallly liked "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" however misleading the title may be. I liked the first half far better than the second half though. I read it when I was 17, though - maybe I should read it again now that I know just a wee bit more about, you know, the world and stuff.
Great great idea. So, I don't want to be left out:
· Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
· The Book of the New Sun (is really four books, but the belong together and read as one long book, starts with The Shadow of the Torturer) - Gene Wolf (noticed a conspicuous absence of sci-fi on your list, and I'm a crusader against the stereotype that sci-fi is only for kids and fat spinsters with too many cats)
· In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin (quite possibly one of the most interesting travel books around)
That'll do for now. Mind if I steal your idea for BC?
Go nuts. And I am adding your books to the list, too.
So you know, I could send some of this stuff to France for you. Some of it is quite cheap here, and I have access to some alternative (quality) overseas shipping arrangements through work. Just a thought.
Shit, how embarrassing. His name's Gene Wolfe with an e, not Wolf. And the four books are really small, and have been re-released as two books...