Comments on: Vacation Week: Favorite Reads

By: ChuckB

ChuckB — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 17:14:14 +0000

More good stuff, Lori.

By: Lori Widmer

Lori Widmer — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 18:00:21 +0000

Paula, I tried Professor and the Mad Man -- I'm not a fan of Simon Winchester's delivery. It felt a bit stuffy. My cousin borrowed the book and loved it, though.

Faulkner does have a map of that county he'd made up in one of the books. I'll dig through them sometime and let you know which one (I think I have them all).

Typos ignored. It's the comments section -- we're allowed to make mistakes. :)

By: Paula

Paula — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 16:52:48 +0000

Please ignore my many typos above. I'm still battling this cold…

By: Paula

Paula — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 16:51:10 +0000

You know I'm a Faulkner fan, too, Lori. The Sound and the Fury will probably always be my favorite novel. Not just because of the stories, but because of it's unusual construction. Faulkner may have included a map of his invented county in some of his books, but he didn't give the readers any roadmap to following who was narrating which sections of The Sound and the Fury. (I just pulled my copy off the shelve and plan to re-read it as soon as I get my new glasses.)

One book I had on my list over 12 years ago was Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. It's the novel the Broadway musical was based on, but I loved the book so much I was afraid I'd be disappointed by the musical. (I wasn't disappointed, even though they changed a lot for the musical and downplayed most of the socio-political themes of the novel.)

My real affinity is for non-fiction. I love character studies from people in a historical context. Devil in the White City is a must. And "Professor and the Mad Man," which is the true story behind the creation of the OED. (Years ago, when I mentioned to Favorite Editor that I was reading it she said she was envious that I was experiencing that story for the first time.)

By: Lori Widmer

Lori Widmer — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:02:08 +0000

Emily, WOW! I want that bookcase!

Agreed on all your Toni Morrison picks. Beloved was my first foray into her writing. Great books.

I've read Rebecca, as well, and I have Sunset Song and Until I Find You in my waiting-to-be-read pile. :)

Thank you for the hints on the other books. If you like Scottish books, you can't do much better than George MacDonald. Though his use of old Scots dialect in Robert Falconer is a bit of a stumbling block at first, he tells a magnificent tale.

And I am a huge fan of three authors: William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Toni Morrison. When I want a damn good, damn quick read, I grab a Raymond Chandler.

By: Emily Fowler

Emily Fowler — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 13:34:08 +0000

We don't get Thanksgiving here, s'not fair.

Great post though, I love, love, love books. Going to try to post a link to a photo of the most romantic thing my boyfriend ever did (in my opinion anyway!) He built this for me! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151136391047115&l=adb45767ab Hopefully that worked!

Onto books:

I agree with Jazz, and I'd also like to throw in Beloved and Paradise as two more of my favourite Toni Morrison.

John Irving is also one of my favourites (I'm not copying, honest!), but my favourite of his is probably Until I Find You. I've actually just started A Prayer for Owen Meany.

I've probably read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier about 500 times, so that has to be in there too.

Lewis Grassic Gibbons - Sunset Song. I found the language difficult to start with, but once I was immersed in the book I loved it.

Speaking of Scottish - Filth by Irvine Welsh. Although I thought the film was a bit 'meh'.

E.M Forster - A Room With a View. Fell in love with Florence before I'd even gone there.

For lighter reading I love Mo Hayder, although her subject matter can be unbelievably freaky :)