While I like The Sound and the Fury, I do see why someone might be put off by the wankiness of the structure (Faulkner had plans to "color code" the time shifts in the book--yikes!).
Absalom on the other hand is just irrefutable genius. One of the great explorations of race that this country has ever produced. On a par with Huck Finn, IMO. Has the greatest final exclamation of any novel I've ever read.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
Consider yourself lucky--it's much easier to break loose from structure than it is to turn around a structureless life.
You have plenty of time to become world-weary and disaffected. Just find the great project that drives you forward each day (even blindly). Maybe it's a lover. Maybe it's a book. Maybe it's traveling. Talk to your inner demons a while.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
As for books I'd recommend..
Ball Four, Summer of '49 (baseball books)
Cloudsplitter - Russell Banks (about abolitionist John Brown)
School's out. What did you expect?
If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL
We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
1. The physics of baseball
2. When I was a teenager, I was given Montaigne's essays and Marcus Aurelius' meditations. They are very useful books for life, then and now.
from "meditations":
"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it."
1. Field of Dreams - I love the movie but I think I might enjoy the book even more.
Non-baseball:
1) Long Days Journey Into Night
2) The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr. - has anyone read this book or read any Hubert Selby Jr.? - Trust me - READ THIS BOOK - It IS WILD - Also read "Last Exit to Brooklyn" - Selby's style is incredibly unique. Should be required American Literature reading, IMO. His most important work might, however, be "Requiem for a Dream" - MUCH better than the movie, which I did like, btw.
3) Walden by Henry David Thoreau - prolly the book that resonates with me the most in terms of describing my idea of heaven and what man should ideally ascribe to achieve with his life; very thought-provoking
4) Native Son - FCB I'd say that this book is just as good as anything Faulkner wrote in terms of highlighting the history of race and what it meant to be black in this country - awesome book
5) American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis; actually anything by Ellis is an interesting portrayal of the 80s (Less Than Zero; Rules of Attraction)
Last edited by WMR; 05-17-2007 at 07:08 PM.
Funny you mention Native Son; I just got finished reading it again. It is a marvelous book and certainly it too stands alongside Huck Finn and Absalom. Though I think as a work of art Native Son doesn't quite pack the same punch as many of the scenes in Absalom (or Ellison's Invisible Man for that matter--IM may have one of the greatest opening scenes in all of American writing).
I guess I'm just differentiating cognition/understanding/explication and affect. Absalom and Invisible Man just strike something beyond my understanding of race relations and racial histories in this country.
Last edited by Falls City Beer; 05-17-2007 at 07:22 PM.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
Have you read any Hubert Selby Jr.?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product//07...750820-9197718
Here's a Amazon link to "The Demon." I heartily encourage anyone not adverse to some dark, but incredibly well-written and poignant literature to check it out.
edit
Last edited by WMR; 05-17-2007 at 07:40 PM.
I've not. My reading schedule has kicked in to high gear for the summer. I've charted my reading for the first two months (yeah, I'm that schmuck), but I'll see where I am in August.
I like the O'Neill selection too btw. I think Moon for the Misbegotten is one of the most underheralded of his works--it's masterful. (Hey, vaticanplum. Ever done any O'Neill?)
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
Oh please, FCB, you must. It's actually a REALLY quick read. (you could probably read the 3 that I mentioned in a couple days at most)
They're the sort of books where the pages really fly once you get cranking, not onerous reading at all.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |