I'm part of the anti-tagging league but Movable Jewel tagged me for a "name three favorite books others might not have heard of" meme and since other bloggers are doing book reviews this week, I thought, what the hell.
Besides, our air conditioning is out and I'm in no mood to blog about anything else.
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin. My favorite book by my favorite author. I've said it before: no way I'd commit suicide, because I'd miss her next book.
David A. Cooper, The Heart of Stillness. You don't have to be a Buddhist to benefit from examining your thoughts just as thoughts. Getting a little distance. Getting still. This book is really kind and carefully thought out.
Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction. It's written like a glossary but when read cover-to-cover is really inspiring. Will get your pen to paper, I promise.
I don't tag. If you want to pick this up feel free to leave a url in comments, so we can see your list.
I got my shot so I'm immune to the meme thing and don't do them either.
ReplyDeleteOne, thanks for the linky love.
ReplyDeleteTwo, here's a list:
Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina. There are at least two or three other books by this title. Not those. This is a novel about West Virginia coal miners. Ever see "Matewan"? Like that, but better.
Life if Pi by Yann Martel. This book only helped make me believe in God again. Nothing major.
They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky by Alphonsion Deng, Benson Deng, Benjamin Ajak, and Judy A. Bernstein . Did you read "Night"? This is the memoir of the tragedy of Sudan that will be compared to Elie Wiesel's classic.
Good stuff.. Quick! To the book depository!
ReplyDeleteme, A HISTORY OF GOD, karen armstrong
ReplyDeleteORIGINS OF EVENING, robert gibb
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, dalton trumbo,
it was written in 1938 and is even more relevant now.
never mind the movie. the book should be required reading before deciding about enlisting or starting a damn war.
I immediately thought of my number one: What is the What by David Eggers which is similar to They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky suggested by Quaker Dave. What is the What has a slightly more cohesive narrative line because it tells only the story of Valentino Achek Deng, which is why I prefer it, but both are good. Anyone who reads these books should be ashamed of any morsel of self-pity they've ever enjoyed. These men lived through years and years of harrowing torments.
ReplyDelete2. Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. Puts the motive to the madness of our foreign policy of the last 60 years.
3. An Unreasonable Woman by Diane Wilson. So well written you cannot believe the author is not a professional writer. Tells the story of standing up to the chemical giants in Galveston, Texas, where she was a shrimp boat operator and ran a fish house. Poetic piece of activism.
Sherry mentioned one that's on my list, the Armstrong title.
ReplyDeleteAnything by her is good.
I have to comment on one of QD's selections. Life of Pi is a great book and I understand his renewed faith in God because of it, it is simply that powerful. Any Martel book is interesting although the other two are slightly different than Pi.
ReplyDeleteAlso, BG now I have to check out Blind Assassin, I have read Handmaid's Tale and loved it, so now another Atwood book i will read.
I got this one a couple of years ago when most of the people who looked at the page only understood about every third post. (Why they coming back was beyond me.) Instead of follwing through on the meme I just talked at length about the book I was reading at the time - Terry Eagelton's 'After Theory.'
ReplyDeleteAnd I never got another meme again.
QD:
ReplyDeleteLife of Pi made me believe in God for the first time ever. But, like you said, no biggie...
"Horton Hears a Who" by Dr.Seuss-The profundity of Seuss is often under appreciated and/or overlooked altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov-Impossible to explain. Has everything in it, Giant talking cat, Pontius Pilate, Jesus, Stalin, Satan. Great book.
"Each time I hit a key on my electric typewriter, speaking of peaceful trees, another village explodes." Margaret Atwood
I put my list on the old blog: http://spacegoo.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI read Life of Pi a while back, and totally did not like it! What am I missing? Should I read it again?
I read The Master and Margarita a long time ago, and recently re-read it because I thought it couldn't really be as cool as I remembered it. It is!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late on thanking you for the link love, but I did want to say that this is a great meme; I'll have to give it some thought and post it myself one of these days (not to mention check out your picks).
ReplyDelete