Right now, there is one little thing that transmutes work into a tolerable experience from one that would result in a hastily planned and executed suicide, and that is an iPod. It's the nature of my work that you can listen to headphones for 8 hours straight. It's also the nature of my work that it's so simple you don't have to think about it, not really at least, so you can pay attention to what you're listening to.
Since even I get stir-crazy sitting in a chair listening to music for 8 hours straight, I've started listening to audiobooks. With 40 hours a week you can burn through some serious material.
But I'm running out of ideas. I've put a serious dent in my "always meant to read it" list, and all that's left are those books that, while they're classics, don't look like they'd divert me, which is what I'm looking for. Anna Karenina might be one of the best books ever, but a lot of what it's famous for is the style, not the story, or so I understand. I don't know, though. If anyone has actually read Anna Karenina and wants to put in a good word, I'll listen.
So, please help me - what are your favorite books? What books capture you? What books won't you hear a word against? What books did you borrow for a class and then buy a copy of later because it was so incredibly good? I honestly don't care about the era, style, content....just give me a good story, a well-written work of fiction. Airport-fare or literary genius, as long as it spoke to you. Best-selling author or virtual unknown. Sci-Fi or dreary, Grapes of Wrath realism.
So leave a comment, or send me an e-mail if you're embarrassed that your favorite book ever isn't considered a literary masterpiece. I've read more books than anyone I know, and there are decent percentage of them that are obscure as fuck.
Also don't worry if what immediately pops into your head is something that everyone has read. Basically, what I'm trying to get across is that the only thing I care about is if you personally thought it was a great book.
I don't know about you guys, but there are some books for me that I like so much that they become intensely personal. I almost don't want to talk about them because of the severity of feeling I have for them. Two of those books for me are The Sun Also Rises and Sometimes a Great Notion. I'd recommend them to anyone, unconditionally. If you have a book like that, by all means let me know. You don't even have to give a reason.
So, please help me make going to work not grounds for suicide. Thanks.
-Indy Z
10 comments:
Get everything you can read by Martin Amis.
Kurt Vonnegut- Mother Night
Zadie Smith- White Teeth
Martin Amis is good but Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim owns his offspring's inferior works.
Empire Falls (Richard Rousseau) and The Cider House Rules (John Irving) are good-not-great books (that I have a soft spot for because they're set in Maine) that I'm sure you'll be able to find good audio versions of (and they will be enjoyable--both authors are very strong story-tellers).
Also, I know you requested fiction, but while we're on the topic of romanticizing Maine, you should consider some E.B. White essays (One Man's Meat is pretty awesome).
And although it doesn't exist (for at least one obvious reason: a massive amount of exhaustive footnotes which would make making an audio book a thoroughly challenging endeavor), an audio-book version of "Infinite Jest" would kill a solid few weeks for you.
Let's see here. You requested Sci-fi, but how about some fantasy instead? Most of my youth and a fair amount of my adolescence was haunted by a figure named Roland Deschain, also known as the Gunslinger. This guy was the epitome of badass for me, and it doesn't bother me at all that he was created by Stephen King. The Dark Tower series is seven books long, and I certainly loved them.
Another incredibly long, violently complicated, and potentially unrewarding series of books is written by a man who I believe to be dead, Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time. It's pretty awesome. As of this point it is 11 volumes in length, each of which coming in at over 700 pages, and the final installment, a nearly 1500 page monster compiled by some spirit of the otherworld from the notes put together by the late author, is due out in November and I haven't been more excited for anything since Harvest Moon 64. Take it or leave it.
Finally, for something less daunting, I'm reading the two volume fantasy series "The Wizard Knight" (the first book is The Kinght, and the second, The Wizard) by a man named Gene Wolfe right now, and it is fairly riveting fiction. It manages to step out of the realm of barely pubescent dragon on elf princess sex that most fantasy works find themselves mired in (though there actually is elf queen on lost little boy sex to be found) and into the realm of myth, which I appreciate.
I also I really liked Midnight's Children and the Satanic Verses.
If you haven't read Harry Potter, or even if you have several times, I've heard that the audio books of it are amazing and nothing is more entertaining than Harry Potter.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Rathwell, I'm having some trouble finding any Martin Amis audiobooks online, but if I do I'll certainly give them a shot.
Eli, downloading Mother Night right now; it's the next thing on my iPod. I've only read a few Vonnegut books, but Sirens of Titan I liked very much.
Chad, I downloaded The Gunslinger but the guy who read it had this incredibly slow, ponderous voice that nearly put me to sleep. That's the gamble you take with audiobooks, I guess. I might try to find a different version if there is one.
Marine, I have indeed read the Harry Potter series. J.K. is such a good storyteller that it might be worth going back to, though. They're hella easy reads, so it might be just the thing for work since my focus is split.
Has anyone read any of these books? I"m also considering them:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
Fool - Christopher Moore
Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted
"The Alchemist" by Paolo Coalo. (Spelling?) A short read that is very relevant to the stage of our lives and overall just a good, well-paced story.
Also, "A Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Marcia Marques. I've never read a more beautiful novel.
I agree with Todd about One Hundred Years of Solitude. That book is magical and it changed my life. Love in the Time of Cholera is a pretty good follow up if you're in the mood for more Marquez. Some other personal favorites are On The Road by Kerouac and The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Wolfe (I might not do hella drugs, but books are better when the authors do...). Also, any story with pioneers counts as an automatic win as far as I'm concerned.
Indy, I just finished "The Sea Runners." Certainly a book to be read out loud to receive it's full effect. It takes place on the coast of the Pacific Northwest in the winter of 1853. Should be pretty easy for you to visualize. I can't remember if I already told you about it, but it's a fun little caper. Think "The Great Escape" meets "Castaway".
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