Don't wait too long to go to this page cuz I think they take them down after about 2 weeks.
The thing that bought my eye about this list was the number of novels by Don DeLillo. I've always meant to read him...Underworld in particular...but haven't yet got around to it.
Soon...as they say in Jamaica mon.
Also, the Updike novels, the Rabbit Angstrom series. I've only read the last one, but really liked it.
Finally...the #1 novel is Beloved by Toni Morrison. Never read it...but the review included in this article is by Margaret Atwood!
4 comments:
"Beloved",wasn't that one of Oprah's book club choices? And wasn't if filmed, also? With Oprah in it?
I have the book. Received it as a gift some years back. I started to read it then, but couldn't get through it. I guess I should try again, some time eh? In spite of her name and world wide fame, Margaret Atwood's writing does not always appeal to me either. Read several of her books. They didn't leave me a lasting impression. Except maybe "Cat's Eye". I remember I enjoyed reading that.
Don't know about Oprah. Never watch Oprah. Hardly watch TV at all.
Margaret Atwood...I understand your reluctance. I find her unsettling sometimes. But I also know that every time I read one of her novels I come across a passage or a couple of pages (often more than a couple) where I actually say out loud, "Holy Shit! I wish I'd written that!"
I found that especially in Alias Grace. Fabulous novel. Oryx and Crake also had glowing reviews, but I haven't read that. I think you have to learn to accept her dark visions. The Handmaid's Tale was a fascinating read, and perhaps a little prescient. I heard a piece on CBC last week in which the commentator described how George W. was the first president in American history to consciously create a religious political party. The face of American politics has really come to resemble Atwood's vision of Gilead in many ways.
Actually, the reason I mentioned that the review was written by Margaret Atwood was to point out that the NY Times Book Review section is no slouch when it comes to getting good reviewers. I've never really paid much attention to the NY Times Book Review. You know, that Sunday Times is like all the Lunchbucket Laments for a whole month rolled up into one. Daunting is what it is. Daunting.
Maybe that's why I'm confined to the Yoni School posting on an obscure electronic blog third planet from the yellow sun in the suburbs of the galaxy.
The time Oprah is on is my usual down time for the day. Sorta tuckered out and non energetic and in creative collapse. Then I reach for supperish food and turn on the TV to hear others speak. Long ago it used to be Bay Watch. Ah, if it hadn't been for Bay Watch, how would I have known to rescue Hans from the Victoria Park Lake, and if it wasn't for Oprah how would I know which books in the book store to avoid 'cause they have a sticker on them with, "Oprah's Book Club choice" and it irritates me to be chosen for. That's probably a Wild Thing illogic. (Did you know that noun?)
As for Margaret Atwood, her talent is indisputable. She's an 'among the best' literary lady. I like her too. I do not not :)read her much because she's a poor writer, but because her style of writing doesn't flow into me easily and it's so adulterous.... no, no, that's not what I wanted to say, it is so adult. Adults can be so boring. I mean Margaret looks through that, I'm sure and exposes that in her writing... but... Oh heck, I don't know!. It's likely because I am myself so politically uninformed, history poor, and so out of touch with society that I don't get half the stuff she is talking about...
I once, looking at a picture in a poetry workshop wrote: wandering on a wave of lines/opening into seas/opening opening/endlessly/a reastless mind set free///before my eyes/appears a door/hermetically shut/i shudder to a deadbolt halt/physical with fear
That hermeticall shut door with the deadbolt halt (without the fear) often happens to me, it slams shut on me when I read stuff that won't go in. And there was a time I would relentlessly push trough, be my true stubborn Taurus self, without having a revelation. So, Taurusses get older too, and stubborn doesn't count so much anymore, and "don't have to" smiles indulgently... So, those doors stay locked until life itself hands me the key.
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