Your favourite reads? - Steven Conte
Posted by: Steven Conte
5 December 2008
Care to share recommendations, anyone? When I think about favourite books, it’s clear to me that I value different books for different reasons. Instead of trying to rank my favourite books, I’ve come up with the following disorderly list (omitting those books I’ve already mentioned this week).
- The Innocent - Ian McEwan. One of McEwan’s lesser known books, but for my money the best-plotted and with some of his most vivid characters (and most gruesome scenes). I have to confess that I’m a McEwan groupie, though not all of his books reach the high standard of his best.
- The Heather Blazing - Colm Toibin. In contrast to McEwan’s work, a book that achieves its wondrous emotional effects in a quiet, soft way.
- Affliction - Russell Banks. One of the few books about (American) working class life that has really held me rivetted throughout.
- The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell. Passionate purple prose. As a 20-year-old I lived in these books.
- Possession - A.S. Byatt. This book has a lot to answer for. By making scholarship sound romantic, it encouraged me to sign on for a postgraduate education.
- Underworld - Don DeLillo. Perhaps not the warmest book ever written, but staggering, astonishing, awe-inspiring. Seems at times as if the prose could have been written by a god.
- Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut. Science-fiction by someone who was there. Unforgettable eyewitness account of the annihilation of Dresden by Allied bombers. So it goes.
- All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy. It’s only the horses and the senoritas who are pretty here. McCarthy’s prose is unique.
- Lord of the Flies - William Golding. The sober, unvarnished truth about children.
- The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie. After this, Rushdie had nowhere else to go, and nor did his legion of immitators.
- Regeneration - Pat Barker. A compassionate book about men and war that only a woman could have got away with.
- Nice Work - David Lodge. One of his best. Great characters, funny, intelligent.
- Mates of Mars - David Foster. The best book by Australia’s most infuriating writer. Triumphantly two-dimensional.
That’s it from me (though I’ll be keen to take part in any discussion). Thanks for hearing me out this week, and have some happy summer reads.
Steven
(www.stevenconte.com)
“The Reader” (1856) by Ferdinand Heilbuth
December 5, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Oh goodie, more books to read, you are a veritable treasure trove Steven!
I have to agree with you about Possession, that would definitely make my fave list, and I did return to study after reading it. But, surely that was a coincidence, or was it?
I’m going to start keeping a reading list because as soon as I try to remember what books I’ve read I go blank….
Some faves from this year’s reading:
I love Ian McEwan too, my favourite is “Saturday”, a whole novel set in a day, brilliant, great for those “24” fans!
Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” - another great University set read
Nick Hornby’s “The Complete Polysyllabic Spree” – a book about books what more could you ask for?
Zadie Smith’s “On beauty” – men and women and the whole damn mess…
Robert Drewe’s “Grace” - such a great writer of people and their peculiarities
John Connelly’s “Book of Lost Things” - for readers who never grew out of fairy tales
Rachel Matthew’s “Vinyl Inside” - think Aussie caravan park in a 1970’s time capsule - it’s gorgeous
Francis Spufford’s “The Child that Books Built” - Along the lines of Steven’s posts; how reading shapes us as people.
P.S: Just finished reading Zookeeper’s War. It’s an awesome book, Steven. Reading it alongside your posts has been somewhat surreal and wonderful. So much reflection on confinement and freedom, and love. Thankyou.
December 5, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Well, I must say your list seems like a list of those authors and titles that one should read…I do say that due to the fact that there are one or two on there that I either have in my own collection and haven’t read or have heard from others is a great read and have yet to get there and read, if that makes sense.
My favourites, as you, in no particular order and I may inadvertently miss some:
Shantaram - David Gregory Roberts…It made a slow start to a popular book, a lot of people were keen for me to read it and then I resisted. Read it in my own good time and found it compelling and very sensitive. It made such an impact I bought a copy after borrowing it from the library.
The adventures of the wishing chair - Enid Blyton…I was taken away to a world of excitement, danger and intrigue previously outside of my imagination.
In my skin - Kate Holden…wow! a woman of similar age to me, growing up in some similar circumstances, such different paths and such determination.
The shadow of the wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon…written with style, intrigue and passion for books and reading, what more could you ask for?
When you are engulfed in flames - David Sedaris…laugh out loud funny. My first Sedaris and though some people don’t like his American crassness, I like his forthright comments and observations about the every day. I enjoy his chattering style and this got me hooked. I don’t laugh easily during readings of books, most often its more of a “oh, haha, yes…” type moment. David Sedaris frequently makes me do more than that.
I thought I should stop….there are more favourites but the list could just go on and on. A bit of an eclectic mix there,
Fiona
I agree with your comment about Lord of the Flies. I do believe thats how it would be, I do often wonder how it all came about and perhaps I can find the answer somewhere but have never conscientiously looked.
December 5, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for sharing your favourite books Steven.
A couple of titles I recently read that I would highly recommend, both touching and exceptional reads are:
Ann Patchett’s, Bel Canto- a graceful story with believable characters caught in the reality of terrorism and Sara Gruen’s, Water for Elephants -a colourful and memorable story in the midst of the Circus world