(no subject)

[aprilstarchild]

QoaD, pt. 2:

I need to read more. Tell me a book to read. Something you think I really need to read.

Any genre, fiction or non-fiction; but I have a definite taste for fantasy/sci-fi, memoir/autobiography, and anything with really strongly written characters.

I am currently in the middle of:

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Utne's Guide to Salons (I think I have the title right)

but I read fast. So, gimme some more ideas.

Comments

[jameslentz.livejournal.com]

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard. Zoë and I can loan you our copy, if you'd like. It's the best book ever.

[ourglasslake.livejournal.com]

I just came here to post this. But since I get my own rec, I recommend Lolita. It's not as squicky as you might think, and it's absolutely beautifully written.

[jameslentz.livejournal.com]

Since the poor Pilgrim seems to have a lot of competition for your attention, I figured I should come back and give some reasons why it's the best book ever.

First off, Annie Dillard is probably the best prose stylist writing in English alive, and quite possibly ever. Some big-name reviewer (I forgot who) said that she was the only writer who could consistently evoke awe in her readers. I've never felt so amazed at the world's beauty and complexity (while reading a book, anyway) as I do every time I read even a paragraph of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. For a while I referred to it as my bible; not because of its spiritual message (it has one, but its subtle) but because I kept it by my bed and would regularly open it to random pages, just to treat myself to Dillard's insight and artistry.

It's a memoir, or an autobiography. It's also her first book, and her first award: she won the Pulitzer for it. There's little plot. However, the imagery is so intense and the emotional content so raw and honest that the lack of plot doesn't matter. She went to a cabin in the woods of Virginia, near Roanoke, recorded her observations and thoughts on the natural world around her, and produced the the most moving, most rewarding, and most artful piece of literature I've ever read.

You should totally read it.

[ourglasslake.livejournal.com]

I know James is sitting across the room from my typing out his reasons for you to read this book, but here are mine, as well.

I'm usually a fast reader. A really, freakishly fast reader. But this book took me weeks to get through. I took it paragraphs, sentences at a time, because *every single sentence* is so carefully crafted, so full, so rich, that it's like reading the literary equivalent of a 88% cocoa chocolate bar. You can only take a square at a time, and even of those squares, a bite at a time, and just let it melt all over your tongue.

I can't really tell you what it's about, because it doesn't really have a narrative plot. Annie Dillard spent a while (a year?) at Tinker Creek, VA, and she wrote about it. But of course, it's more than that.

She's my absolute favorite writer, and if I could ever get over myself enough to actually do something about the fact that I want to be a writer more than anything, I would say she was my biggest influence. :)