What to Read Next?
Deciding what book to read next is a consistently difficult burden in my life, as it is for many bibliophiles, I imagine. And it’s something that never ends, a literary problem that keeps recurring, like some sort of sea creature that refuses to die no matter how many harpoons are shot at its eyes.
I’m not going to get into how, but I bumped across some tips in Allure magazine (slogan: “The Beauty Expert”) on how to choose a good book. Their tips? 1) Trust the experts. 2) Open up. 3) Borrow a favorite.
The third suggestion is terrible I think–I trust very few people with book recommendations. Most people don’t read much, and those that do rarely have my tastes.
But the first two are dead on. I am great believer in the eternal wisdom and beauty of the Great Books. So that’s a contstant list to go to. But I can’t always read classics, because my brain doesn’t work that way, and I need to know something post-1950. And that’s when the anxiety begins…
http://www.amazon.com/Emphyrio-Jack-Vance/dp/0743497759/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245810569&sr=1-3
if you like it, read his Dying Earth books.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is fantastic if you’re at all interested in the Napoleonic wars, Victorian style fiction, or magic.
And Wicked is quite good, actually, and has a strong decentralist message pervasive throughout.
Option 4: accumulate large stacks of books that look appealing at used book sales (libraries are useful, as are those unfortunate moments when your favorite bookstore in walking distance closes), then tell yourself that you’re not allowed to purchase any more books until you’ve made significant headway into the mess taking up a corner of your room.
Recommending her work seems to be par for the course at the blogs I frequent, but Marilynne Robinson’s prose is remarkable. Or, if you’re the short story collection type, Alice Munro is always a good choice.