Interim Review: This Is Your Brain on Music

This is going to make me sound like a snob, but it has to be said: I do not understand how this book ever became a bestseller in the U.S.  Same goes for Guns, Germs, and Steel for that matter.  They are too bloody hard.

They wouldn't be too hard for most of the people I know; I mean that they'd be too hard for Joe Public, and a fair few Joe Publics have to buy a book for it to hit the New York Times bestseller list, which both of these did.  I suppose you could make the argument that people wouldn't have to read them, just buy them, and that's true.  But I can't believe that ALL of those people bought the books and NONE of them read the books.  So either people in the U.S. are much smarter than I give them credit for, or so few books are being bought that a relatively small number of science nerds can throw off one of the most important measures of English-language book success.  I'm not sure which of those ideas is more upsetting to my world view.

Look, these books aren't unfathomable, and I don't want to put anyone off reading them.  But neither of them is the 'pop science' you might expect from such big sellers.  This Is Your Brain... is easier reading than Guns..., but not substantially; I think the difference is more down to the scope of the books rather than the level of the content.  I'll talk more about this in the full review, though.

In other news, my Christmas books have all arrived, and I've had to put the box on a very high shelf to keep me from diving right into them.  Must resist!

XOXO

Why I Can't Be Trusted

So despite the stated aim of this blog being to broaden our literary horizons, I have to cop to slacking: I have now started the third book that was entirely my choice, rather than a recommendation from Jac.  I have picked them all from the recommendations y'all have sent in, so I'm not a total degenerate, but To the Lighthouse is still hanging over my head, and in the meantime I've picked up This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin.  This was another of Tim's suggestions, and like my two previous reads was selected as much on the basis of accessibility (it was sitting on Tim's shelf) as my interest in it.

I'm only a couple of chapters in, not even enough for an interim review yet, so I won't talk much about it.  I will say that it's a bit drier than I'd expected, but I think that's because Levitin's introducing the music theory and science on which everything subsequent will be based, and it's hard to jazz up (no pun intended) information that dense.

As for To the Lighthouse, I am committing here and now to reading that while I'm in Boston, i.e. in the next three weeks.  It's the least I can do, and it'll keep me from tearing through my Christmas books too quickly.  I hit up Amazon for a bunch of books, and I'm wicked excited:

* Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby and Sarah Vowell

* Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World by Sarah Vowell

* Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

* Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category

* Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Libralism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show by Geoffrey Nunberg

Apart from the last one, which is by the author of the recently-read and -reviewed Going Nucular, it's a bit of a McSweeney's fest.  I mostly hate Dave Eggars (in a really annoying way, because I fully respect a lot of things he's done with his life, but there's just something about him that's crying out for a good kicking.  See also Butler, John.), but I do love a lot of what comes out of McSweeney's, especially from the folks who manage not to take themselves too seriously.  The extracts I've read from Created... about killed me, and I think I'm going to have to fight not to devour it the second it arrives ('I'm ravenous, Fran.').

Shakespeare... is the last installment in Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree collection, and if you like the idea behind this blog, I would urge you to check them out: there were two previous books, The Polysyllabic Spree and Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, which were also published together as The Complete Polysyllabic Spree.  Over a few years, Hornby had a regular column in the Believer, the McSweeney's magazine, in which he would talk about the books he'd bought and the books he'd read in the last month.  The interesting wrinkle, though, was that the Believer has a strict no-meanies policy, so if he didn't like a book, he couldn't talk about it by name.  (This policy was designed to ensure that the Believer would remain a safe space for writers, where they could discuss and contribute without feeling at risk of an attack.  I'm not entirely convinced of the validity of this policy - it's a bit touchy-feely for my liking - but it seems to work just fine for them, so whatever.)  As a result, his column was much more a conversation than a critique, and over time became an interesting discussion of why we like what we like.  Hornby has no time for the pretentious literati, and that's surprisingly refreshing.  And he's a complete riot to boot, which always helps.  Not being a regular subscriber to the Believer, I had thought that his column had finished, and I was thrilled to see that there was a new collection.

Sarah Vowell features prominently on the list as well, and I'm pretty excited about that.  I've been meaning to read her books for ages, but I don't think she's particularly well-known in Australia (the McSweeney's cabal doesn't seem to have much distribution there, which surprises me a bit): you'd be more likely to know her as the voice of Violet in the movie 'The Incredibles' than for her writing or NPR (radio) work.  I'm happy to finally have my hands on a couple of them.

While none of these were recommended, and therefore don't qualify for the full review treatment, I will let you know if any of them is particularly spectacular.  I don't intend to make a habit of discussing 'outside reading' on this blog, but I also feel that good books are worth making noise about.  There's far too much ordinary in the world to ignore the good bits.

XOXO

Review: Going Nucular

So yes, I loved it.

Those of you who know me know that I am a language dork.  I like talking about it, reading about it, and thinking about it: how it's used, what it means, where it came from.  Geoffrey Nunberg has similar interests and infinitely more knowledge, so I was bound to enjoy his work.  And I did: he's funny, insightful and articulate.  And the articles are short essays (mostly transcripts of his NPR pieces, with the odd magazine bit thrown in), which means that it's a good book for the way I read (mostly bus rides, with the odd bit before bed thrown in).

The San Francisco Chronicle said, 'If there is such a thing as a standup linguist, it's Nunberg.'  While I wouldn't go that far (I reckon that'd be Richard Lederer if it's anyone), I do agree with the basic sentiment: he's funny and accessible without talking down to the audience.  He's also topical, taking his inspiration from events of the day and investigating the role that language plays in them.  This does mean that his material doesn't always age well - I've also just read The Way We Talk Now, his collection from the early- and mid-'90s, and some of the pieces do feel a bit dated - but even so, it's interesting to watch him pull it all together.

I will say that I didn't enjoy either of his books as much as Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but Nunberg and Truss are writing very different books: Nunberg notes that his books are not for the 'grammar sticklers' - which seems to be an unnecessarily narky dig at Truss - but it's not that Nunberg doesn't care about grammar; it seems to be more that he's interested in meaning and usage, not in grammar for grammar's sake.  I don't think that's all that far from Truss, really (her argument that good punctuation is important because it's the good manners of language, rather than just because it's grammatically accurate, would indicate that they're actually pretty close) but Eats... is much more instructional, while Nunberg's essays are more observational in nature, and they have a very different feel as a result.

I would heartily recommend either Going Nucular or The Way We Talk Now to anyone who's interested in language, even if - or even especially if - you don't consider yourself a grammar stickler.  Four strings.

XOXO

Interim Review: Going Nucular

Yes, yes, I know I'm meant to be reading To the Lighthouse.  I'll get there, but it involves a trip to the library and setting up a membership and blah blah.  In the meantime, I picked up Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times by Geoffrey Nunberg.  This was one of Tim's recommendations, and, conveniently, it was living on our shared bookshelf.

And I LOVE it.  Love love love.  I'd not heard of Nunberg before, though he has a regular spot on NPR's 'Fresh Air', but he's excellent: smart, funny and with lots of insight into the uses of language, particularly in public life.  I won't get into too much detail because I suspect I'll get through it pretty quickly and will return with a full review then, but go read it.  Absolutely.

XOXO

No Rest for the Literate

I'm starting A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (A double-recommendation! Thanks to Uncle Mr Bill and Auntie Fran). Of the 2 books E offered me for my next task, this one was at my local bookstore when I popped in this afternoon. I know absolutely nothing about it and haven't read The Kite Runner either so it's my introduction to this author. I'll have an interim review in about a week, I'd say.

I'm also starting Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. It hasn't been recommended by anyone - so isn't officially a LitGirls task - but it is the next reading for my bookclub, which meets next weekend. I listened, during my years (and years) as a performance studies undergraduate, to various recordings of Ginsberg reading Howl, but haven't returned to it since, nor read any of the other poems in the collection. I've always struggled with reading poetry, much preferring to listen to it be read by someone who's taken the time to get the rhythms and stresses right (and yes, if that's Stephen Fry, I won't complain). But I'm really looking forward to getting into this Beat Generation classic. Of course, if anyone knows where I can access any online audio files of Ginsberg's readings, I'd appreciate that, too.

xoxo

The Voices in my Head

(AKA Review: The Fran Lebowitz Reader)

I really wanted to like The Fran Lebowitz Reader. Really, I did. And I pretty much expected I would: it’s one of E’s suggestions and I trust her taste; it’s observational humour and that’s usually a hands-down winner for me; and it has stood the test of time (remember, most of the individual pieces were written in the ’70s and ’80s and yet it’s still out there, making good sales and keeping its writer fed and clothed despite her almost two decades’ writer’s block).

And yet? Didn’t love it.

Why? Because of the voices in my head.

Lebowitz is unabashedly, outrageously, completely American. She’s East Coast American. New York American. She is, let it be known, a Capital N, Capital Y New Yorker. With a great many of the pieces in this collection consisting of carefully crafted anecdotes about life in that megatropolis (of which "Diary of a New York Apartment Hunter" is by far my favourite), you are never not aware of that fact. Fran Lebowitz equals New York, here.

And yet, there’s something in the tone in this collection – particularly in the early section “Metropolitan Life” – that doesn’t feel American. Or more precisely, it doesn't sound American. While the subject matter is decidedly so, something in the writing style, choice of words, sentence construction, doesn’t fit. It’s a little … out of whack, somehow. So I’m reading these pieces, smiling, enjoying the tricky callbacks and creative puns when a direct reference to Christopher Street, or a sweater, or Walter Cronkite crops up and I’m completely thrown because – in my head – the whole book is being read aloud by Stephen Fry.

Now, that’s not normal for me. Yes, I love Stephen Fry. No, I don’t usually hear his voice in my head (although this definitely tops my Christmas Wish List this year). But I suspect it comes back to the writing. There’s a – and I can find no better way to describe it, so work with me on this – decidedly British tone to a lot of the pieces which then clashes with the American-ness of its content. Lines like

[…] it is not feasible to bring into one’s own home all the desirable accoutrements of discotheque dancing such as deejay, several hours of tape, and the possibility, slim though it may be, of meeting one’s own true love.

are just screaming “British!” to me. It’s the same with

It was with considerable approval that I listened one Sunday evening to my weekend host instruct his chauffeur to drive us, his guests, back to New York.

Until the last two words, that is.

And while this experience lessens as the book continues, it was so strong initially that I couldn’t get passed it. I started to wonder, “is this a new literary technique Lebowitz is pioneering?”, “is it a greater comment on the subtleties of writing in the English language?”, “Am I going bonkers here?”. In the end, I simply couldn’t reconcile my imaginary, British voice-over with the ever-present American auteur herself and it ruins the book for me.

I love you, E but I’m sorry I’m just not with you on this one.

The Fran Lebowitz Reader: only Two Strings of Pearls from me.

xoxo

PS: Yes, I’m fully aware that this post probably says far, far more about me than it does about The Fran Lebowitz Reader but there you have it: it’s my blog and I get to write about Stephen Fry if I want to.

Challenge issued and accepted!

J has chosen my next book: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.  I haven't read much Woolf, only Mrs Dalloway, I think, but if I remember correctly I liked it well enough, so I'm happy to give another of hers a go.  I'll have to re-join the library in the next couple of days to get hold of it, but I'll check in again soon and let you know how it's going.

XOXO

Recommendations, and Thoughts on Being a Chucker

A few things to say.  First, recommendation from Another Matt:

* The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages by Norman Cohn

* Hyperion by Dan Simmons

* The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

* The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Second, I have decided to put Guns, Germs and Steel back on the shelf for a bit.  While I am enjoying it a lot more now, it's just taking me way too long, and as a result the blog is lying fallow.  Since Rule #1 of having a blog is: Post, stupid, I feel like I need to get going on some other books in the meantime.  I do fully intend to come back to Guns... in the not-too-distant, but right now I need something a bit more portable (much of my reading time occurs on buses and in random stolen moments).  I'm awaiting directions from J, and will let you know when she has assigned me something new.

In the meantime, here's what I would say about Guns...: it's an important book, and more people should read it.  There's a lot of great information in it that sheds light on human development around the world, and Diamond goes a long way toward his goal of beating the crap out of those my-people-won-because-we're-just-better arguments.  But the problem is that the book is pitched too high: the people who are able to get through it (and I don't just mean people who are able to comprehend the information, but people who would are devoted enough to read the entire thing) are almost certainly going to be the people who already agree with him and are looking to back up their own arguments.  Which isn't to suggest that the book is wasted, because Guns... is, as far as I know, the first book to collect all of the data and present it in one place, and that makes it very useful indeed.  But it's hard going, and I can't pretend otherwise.

So my verdict (for now) on Guns, Germs and Steel is this: Read it, by all means - it's certainly worth the effort - but expect to have to put some work in.  I would also advocate dipping into it over an extended period rather than trying to do it as I have.  It's too much information to take in all at once, for me at least, and trying to cram it all in over a short time just means that I'd have ended up missing important pieces of the puzzle.

XOXO

Further Recommendations

Two more lists have come in.

Matthew suggested:
* Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
* To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
* The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
* Atomised by Michelle Houellebecq
* Life of Pi by Yann Martel
* Vernon Goodlittle by DBC Pierre
* True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
* Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Toby suggested:
* His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
* The Accidental Buddhist by Dinty Moore
* Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

These lists of recommendations are starting to make me think of Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller... in which books are classified as follows:

- Books You've Read
- Books You Haven't Read
- Books You've Been Planning to Read For Ages
- Books Dealing with Something You're Working On At The Moment
- Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer
- Books You Need to Go With Other Books On Your Shelves
- Books You Mean to Read But There Are Others You Must Read First
- Books Too Expensive Now and You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered
- Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback
and (my favourite)
- Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too.*

On reflection, that last was the real impetus for this little project. There are so many books I feel I've semi-read, having listened to friends and family rave about them over the years. And here's my chance to reshelve some titles from the last to the first category.

Better get on with it, then.

xoxo

*This is not the full list but you get the drift, yeah?

Nice one, Tamara.

So J just texted me asking if I could pick a new book for her to grab at lunchtime, as she's in for Jury Duty and has almost finished The Fran Lebowitz Reader.  I suggested Maximum City by Suketu Mehta or, if she couldn't find that one, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  I haven't read either myself, so it was just luck of the draw.  We'll see what comes of it.

You'll note that I've changed our header per J's last post (LOVE).  I also want to note Anthony's remark about the need for 'a book club for sophisticated ladies of a certain disposition'.  I suspect that might find its way into the header at some point as well.

In other news, I'm enjoying Guns, Germs and Steel heaps more now that I'm into the section about human evolution and diseases and their contribution to the whole mess.  I like my life sciences, what can I say.  It's good, though, because I no longer despair of finishing the damn thing.  I will get there, and I'll even enjoy it.  More to follow.

XOXO

You Guessed it: More Recommendations

Tamara suggested:
* Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
* The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
* The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
* Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and then ...
* The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Tam's summation of the first was "trashy but with a literary bent" which I heartily endorse as the LitGirls' new tag-line.

A review of The Fran Lebowitz Reader will follow in a day or two, promise.

xoxo

Still more recommendations

Sorry, but I kept forgetting to post this.  Uncle Mr Bill (thanks!) sent through the following:

* The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

* Incident at Twenty-Mile by Trevanian (a Western!)

* A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I'm getting antsy to be finished with Guns, Germs and Steel and move on to whatever comes next.  I'm not sure if we've explained this to you-all yet, but J and I decided that the easiest way to split up the books would be for us to switch off picking books for ourselves and picking books for each other, so since I chose Guns for myself, J will pick my next book for me.  (And because there are enough books on here that neither of us knows, this will end up being more random than it seems at first glance.)  I'm hoping for something a bit more plot-heavy than this one has been, and that's not something I'd normally say, so I must be struggling with it even more than I'd realised.

XOXO

Interim Review: Guns, Germs and Steel

So.  This book has been much more of a struggle for me than I'd expected.  I enjoy science writing as a rule, and I don't need it to be especially pop-sciencey to enjoy it: I generally find that the facts are interesting enough on their own to sustain me without a lot of dressing-up.  But you still need to be able to tell a story if you want to keep my interest for 457 pages, or even 7 pages, and I'm not convinced that Diamond can do that.

Well, no, that's a bit too harsh.  I think he probably can tell a story, but in this book it feels more like he's tried to write a book-length journal submission.  I'm having trouble working out quite what doesn't work for me about his style: it's not that it's dry, exactly, nor is the density of it really a problem for me (though it is seriously dense); and it's bugging me, because I feel like I should like it more.  I'm certainly learning a lot, and about things that interest me, so why can't I get into it as much as I'd like?  (For those who don't know, it's an examination of why certain cultures ended up so much more technologically advanced than others, and the repercussions of that advancement on other aspects of human history.  It's comprehensive and honest, and goes a long way toward putting a nail in the coffin of those 'some races are just better' arguments that make me long to punch people squarely in the balls.)

That all having been said, I should note that I'm finding it much easier going now that I'm a good ways into it, but I shouldn't have to get almost halfway into a text like this before it grabs me.  Tim said that he'd started it a few times and never got far, and I now understand why; were I not reading it for Lit Girls, I suspect that I would have chucked it aside by now.  And that would have been a shame, because there is a lot worth reading in it: it's one of those books that answers questions you hadn't realised you wanted to ask by filling in blanks you hadn't realised were empty.  And Diamond has done most of his work (his 'real job' is as a biologist studying bird evolution) in the South Pacific, so he has a great deal of knowledge about the history of this part of the world, and that makes it more interesting to me: having grown up in the U.S., I didn't even get the tiny amount of education about this history that Australian students get.  But... I don't know, I still don't love it.  And the people I know who like it are really passionate about it, so I feel like I must be missing something.

Anyway.  I'll post again when I've finished it, and we'll see how I feel then.  Cross fingers it will continue to improve.

XOXO

Yet More Recommendations

They're coming in thick and fast now.

Paul suggested:
* The Master and Margarita or Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
* The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe
* Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Melanie suggested:
* A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
* Almost French by Sarah Turnbull
* Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
* Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
* A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Lynn suggested:
* Bliss by Peter Carey
* The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
* Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

I have to say, there are many goodies there I've not read so I'm keen to get them on my list.

Keep 'em coming, people. This is fab!

xoxo

Off and Reading

A quick post to let you know I've started my first project; it's Elena's offering - The Fran Lebowitz Reader. My review post will follow when I've actually, you know, read it.

But, based on the number of pages E has folded over - her time-tested method of marking particular pages that have something she wants to return to, read again, share with friends - it's going to be a great read!

Kisses,
J

More Recommendations

Yay!  More recommendations have come in.  Caitlin has posted in the comments (thanks!); others have come back via e-mail.

My Dad suggested:

* Any books by Elizabeth George, Dennis Lehane or Dick Francis (mystery/crime)

* Agony at Easter: The 1916 Irish Uprising by Thomas Coffey

* Sarum: The Novel of England, London: The Novel, The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga and The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherfurd

* 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal

* W.C. Fields by Himself: His Intended Autobiography by W.C. Fields

* Cagney by Cagney by James Cagney

Bernie suggested:

* And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic (1980-1985) by Randy Shilts

* The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

* A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Paula suggested:

* Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

* The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

* Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

* The Given Day by Dennis Lehane

Auntie Fran suggested:

* A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

* Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Rein

* The Other Queen: A Novel by Philippa Gregory

Irena suggested:

* Shopgirl by Steve Martin

* To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

* Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Harry suggested:

* Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Fredman

* Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

* Contents under Pressure by Edna Buchanan

* Never Let Them See You Cry by Edna Buchanan

So many to choose from!  I'll post more as they come in.  And while I mentioned that J and I have agreed to draw straws on who reads what, I plan to start right into PT's suggestion of Guns, Germs and Steel, as it's on my shelf already (borrowed-into-stolen from a former next-door neighbour, and I feel guilty every time I look at it because I still haven't read the damn thing).  I'll let you know how I go.

xoxo

Recommendations

A few people have already submitted recommendations!  Tim posted his in the comments section for the first post; other people sent theirs along to me by e-mail.

Anthony suggested:

The Double: A Poem of St Petersburg by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (oy vey)

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

PT suggested:

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Factory Girl by Leslie Chang

Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years by Jared Diamond

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta

Cath suggested:

Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine and South America's Strangest Jail by Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young

The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison by Warren Fellows

(Cath notes: 'All the books I read relate to life in a foreign prison or people who get busted for drug smuggling and then end up in a foreign hellholle.'  Make of this what you will.)

XOXO

First reviews

It's harder than I expected to write reviews of books, even - or maybe especially - ones I know well and love completely.  I've given Jac three books that I more or less know by heart, but I'm still struggling to come up with interesting things to say about them.  I'm just going to dive in and hope that what I write makes sense; fingers crossed that I'll get better at it over time.

Perfect Skin: Nick Earls is one of my favourite authors.  He's Australian, from Brisbane (well, actually born in Northern Ireland, but has lived in Brisbane since he was a kid), and I think what I love about him is that he writes like my friends talk, if that makes sense.  Better, obviously, because he has the luxury of multiple drafts, but it still feels very comfortable and familiar.  A stellar example from Perfect Skin:

I think you'd like it, Ashley, Oscar says.  It's very sociological.  Very influenced by the icons of our contemporary consumerist digital society.

Sounds good, Ash says, and convincingly too, though we all know that Oscar delved a little too deep into the adjective bucket to make complete sense.

See?  Brilliant.  I've read this book dozens of times, and that line still makes me laugh out loud every time.

Perfect Skin is the follow-up to Bachelor Kisses, but you don't need to have read that to read Perfect Skin - only the main character carries over, apart from a couple of small references here and there.  I preferred Bachelor Kisses for a long time, or thought I did anyway; as time passed, I found myself reaching for Perfect Skin more and more often.  I don't think it's Earls's best book (that would be The Thompson Gunner, which I also highly recommend), but it and Zigzag Street are my favourites.  They're the comfort food of literature, or maybe more like security blankets: when I feel crap, these are the books I pull off the shelf.  I carry them around, I read them in spare seconds, I fall asleep with them on the pillow next to me.  They've become more than just books.

The Fran Lebowitz Reader: My best friend Sarah gave me this book for my birthday several years ago, and it's so battered and exhausted now I'm always a bit afraid it's going to disintegrate in my hands.  It's a collection of articles and essays originally written for magazines, mostly back in the '70s.  Her writing hasn't aged a bit, though: she's dry as dirt, but so, so funny.  She's one of those rare geniuses who can write pieces full of one-liners that don't end up just sounding like transportation for those one-liners.

Generally speaking, I look upon [sports] as dangerous and tiring activities performed by people with whom I share nothing except the right to trial by jury.

The Reader is a compilation of two earlier collections, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies.  Unfortunately, Lebowitz hasn't actually written much.  Apart from the two books that were then republished together as the Reader, she has one kids' book... and that's it.  A damn shame, because she's been rightfully classed with Dorothy Parker and S.J. Perelman as one of the great modern American humourists.

A Room with a View: I came to the book after falling in love with the movie.  It was the first Merchant-Ivory production I saw, and it resonated with my teenaged flair for the dramatic.  (And the first person to say, '...teenaged?' is barred.)  The book is even better, and not just in that book-is-better-than-the-movie way.  Forster writes beautifully and with surprising restraint given the subject matter (young love in end-of-the-Victorian-era England and Italy), while at the same time being a total, total bitch.  It's that bitchiness - and the very considered ways in which he employs it - that elevates Room from a simple love story to a brilliant social satire:

'Come this way immediately,' commanded Cecil, who always felt that he must lead women, though he knew no whither, and protect them, though he knew not against what.

Take nothing away from the love story aspect, though: it's perfectly rendered.  It's honest and passionate without being overwrought, which is a hell of a trick.  And I would recommend the movie as well, if only to be reminded of what Helena Bonham-Carter looked like before she went crazy and married the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' guy.

XOXO

The gauntlet is thrown.

So that we're not sitting around waiting too long (and so that there's something up here for people to read), J and I have decided to give each other three books to start with.

And I'm kicking it off.  I've toyed with this for a while, but I've finally narrowed it down to:

* Perfect Skin by Nick Earls 

* The Fran Lebowitz Reader by Fran Lebowitz

* A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

There are a heap of others I'd like to foist upon her, of course, but this seems like a good start.  I'm going with light-ish stuff to start with for a bunch of reasons, key among which is that I want us to be able to get through these fairly quickly and onto your suggestions.  Assuming, that is, that we get suggestions from you, which I really hope we will.

Over to you, J.  Give me something to fill my time.  And in the meantime, I'll check back in shortly with my own brief reviews of these books.

XOXO