The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Book Thread
Front-Ranger:
Someone was asking what ONE book a global person could read to give them an understanding of the US. The one I would choose would be the excellent book with a gay theme, among others, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. The reason is because there are actually at least four Americas: the South, the Midwest, and the two coasts. If you read a book set on one of the coasts, then you don't understand the other three. The South is rapidly becoming just like the other parts of the country, losing its distinction. But the Midwest is the true melting pot of the US, and that is where The Corrections is set. It's about a midwestern family, a chef daughter who is gay, a schoolteacher son, and a mother and father who go on a misguided cruise.
What would be your choice for the one US book the rest of the world should read? How about Canada?
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: henrypie on April 30, 2006, 01:01:26 am ---Speaking of London,
I was in London for an academic year, experiencing depression. The second apartment I lived in -- after I moved from a nicer one to save money -- was truly squalid: no heat; little furniture; fleas; ...the only thing I liked about this apartment was that in the kitchen there was a cupboard crammed with books. The previous tenant had left them. During the winter I got the flu -- of course I got the flu. So for a week I was so feverish and achy and miserable that I skipped all my classes and didn't leave the house, but I read and read of the books of the magic cupboard, huddled by the space heater in the kitchen. I read five books in five days and they were:
1984 (Orwell)
A Thousand Acres (Smiley)
Moo (Smiley)
Breathing Lessons (Tyler)
A Patchwork Planet (Tyler)
Other cupboard books I remember were Couples (Updike) and a dated, sexist nonfiction book about sex... And a book of stories by Katherine Ann Porter which I left on a train. I read so many other books in London, not necessarily cupboard books. The World According to Garp and A Widow for One Year, The Handmaid's Tale, West with the Night and Out of Africa, Rabbit, Run, The Corner, Wicked Women, Horse Heaven.
Moo is such a delight. Speaking of Updike, I also recommend In the Beauty of the Lilies.
--- End quote ---
I'm a little late with this but I'm just now reading Moo and loving it! A friend of mine met Jane Smiley and stayed at her house. She has a winning style of writing, pithy insights, and a rapier wit!!
Lynne:
This is a great thread. I must get back to reading. I was an avid reader before BBM, but somehow that led to learning about a zillion fabulous movies I'd never seen, so I became a DVD person.
I love getting lost in a good book. I read the short story before I saw the movie. And I have a stack in my to-be-read pile. Maybe tonight...no DVDs and I'll get started on the Sarah Waters book that was a gift from Amanda.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 16, 2010, 04:05:12 pm ---Someone was asking what ONE book a global person could read to give them an understanding of the US. The one I would choose would be the excellent book with a gay theme, among others, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. The reason is because there are actually at least four Americas: the South, the Midwest, and the two coasts. If you read a book set on one of the coasts, then you don't understand the other three. The South is rapidly becoming just like the other parts of the country, losing its distinction. But the Midwest is the true melting pot of the US, and that is where The Corrections is set. It's about a midwestern family, a chef daughter who is gay, a schoolteacher son, and a mother and father who go on a misguided cruise.
What would be your choice for the one US book the rest of the world should read? How about Canada?
--- End quote ---
I don't know of one good book that would cover everyone. The Midwest is definitely NOT the West Coast or East Coast or the South or the Southwest for that matter, much less Hawaii or Alaska. We're large enough to have distinct differences. The attitude and people of North Dakota are not the same as those in West Virginia.
One book couldn't possibly represent 'everyone'.
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 19, 2010, 06:47:12 pm ---I'm a little late with this but I'm just now reading Moo and loving it! A friend of mine met Jane Smiley and stayed at her house. She has a winning style of writing, pithy insights, and a rapier wit!!
--- End quote ---
A few notes on MOO...
"Most of the students sat upright but removed, like horses asleep on their feet in a field." p. 68
"He can have her pregnant by Christmas if they get on with the ceremony," p. 98
"Fornication never surprised him, he had fornicated himself before truly accepting Jesus, and he had drunk intoxicating liquors, and he had laid blows upon some of his fellow men--he was a man, wasn't he?" p. 212
"Meanwhile, Joy could hardly feel the cold. Listening to Dean was getting more and more like receiving muffled blows, let's say being hit over and over with a sofa pillow. It didn't hurt, it didn't raise bruises, and you could go on letting it happen for weeks, until you realized that the experience was numbing, and probably meant to be numbing." p 297
"He had moved out of the Lady X's house with only the wallet in his pocket and a change of clothes in a brown paper bag." p. 304
"He had told her that nothing suited him better than shucking all of that bullshit. 'Including your toothbrush?' she had challenged." p. 304
"Some people do wait their whole lives for something, and it's only when that thing arrives that they find out that they've been waiting rather than living." p. 308
I see Brokieisms!!
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