First Day's Find
Memoirs - I have been very interested in this genre since Josh's death. Truthfully, the more intense the better. I am most drawn to memoirs that are written from the heart, or better said, the gut.
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didon
- Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi
- Mentor: A Memoir by Tom Grimes
On Fiction - I am almost done listening to the audiocourse called The Art of Reading. It is fantastic. I picked up a couple of recommended books to read and have for reference.
- The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth
- How Novels Work by John Mullen
Non-fiction - Why I got this book, I have no idea. Just jumped out at me. I ended up giving it to my mom to read first. I loved the look on her face when she took the thick book, ran her hands over the cover, thumbed through it, all the while saying, "very good....I don't know much about her." Then my dad picked it up saying he was almost done with the book he is currently reading and may read this one next. I guess my parents will have to arm wrestle for it. I should've picked up two copies!
- The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China by Hannah Pakula
Journals - I look for these now in every Border's bookstore. They are MUCH cheaper than their Moleskin counterpart but work just as well.
Second Day's Find
Memoir
- A Widow's Story by Joyce Carol Oates
Classics: I have these on my Nook but have found through my participation on the Villette Read-A-Long sponsored by Unputdownables, that I really need to have the hard book - to dog-ear, underline, write in margins, etc. Of course, I couldn't just get one classic, now could I?
- Villette by Charlotte Bronte
- Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Non-fiction - have seen this recommended in more places than I can count.
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Fiction
- The Hours by Michael Cunningham - want to read this and see the movie. All I know is that suicide is a topic.
- Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee - recommended in the audiocourse The Art of Reading
I grouped these last as they are part of a personal challenge or goal. I picked up the Vladimir Nabokov book, and saw that he discusses several book in great detail. What I found most fascinating were pictures of notes all over the pages of his books and diagrams of the settings. I figured it would be like sitting in on one of his lectures. These are some of the books:
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens
- Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenon
- Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Frank Kafka
Oh my I'm so jealous of all your books! I went to a Borders closing sale too while I was in Florida but only got one book and a journal too, like you I thought it was worth stocking up! That's a gorgeous copy of Villette (I read it last year and at first was depressed by it but it stayed in my mind longer than many other books, in the end I realized it had become a favourite) and I wish I had the Nabokov book too! If you've got The Hours, you need to read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf too, as that's the inspiration for The Hours and also deals with the topic of suicide. Mrs. Dalloway is heartbreaking but also so beautiful, showing the terror of life but also the many joys of it. I just reread it and it's another that's become a favourite of mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comment on my blog, it's nice to meet new people with new perspectives on books. I admire you for being brave enough to write about your struggle with your son's death.