Book Meme

At long last. See the fun below the fold.

1. One book that's changed your life

All the good ones change your life in some way, but I'll give this to Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. It convinced me that fascinating as I find the problems of philosophy to be, it made more sense to spend my time trying to apply the skills I learned thinking about them to the problems of the world than to the problems themselves.

2. One book that you have read more than once

In part because it's conveniently brief, I've read Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time on several occasions. It's also a great book, capturing a particular time and place but also speaking to contemporary circumstances with what strikes me as remarkable force.

3. One book you would want on a desert island.

Something about desert survival, right? Alternatively, a really long novel. War and Peace -- it's good.

4. One book that made you cry.

I shed tears at the drop of a hat. One particularly amusing story is that some years after reading The Velveteen Rabbit I was actually diagnosed with scarlet fever and started bawling inconsolably because I thought they were going to burn all of our toys. That turns out not to be the preferred treatment of modern medicine (antibiotics work), but it took some time to convince me.

5. One book that made you laugh.

People kept telling me I'd find The Russian Debutante's Handbook hilarious and it turned out to be . . . hilarious. Absurdistan, too. But actually a lot of books.

6. One book you wish had been written.

Well, I hardly know of every book that's ever been written, so it's a bit hard to say. In my experience, though, there doesn't seem to be a good, serious book-length treatment of the Clinton years in American politics that really evaluates what happened there rather than grinding axes.

7. One book you wish had never been written.

This one has to go to Alexis de Toqueville's Democracy in America, which I've found myself pretending to have read many, many times over the years. The lying makes me feel bad, but I don't really want to read it either (it's so long!). I actually have read The Old Regime, his other book, and it's quite good.

8. One book you are currently reading.

Michael Berube's What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts. I actually thought I finished this one last week, but there turns out to be a final chapter I'd neglected.

9. One book you've been meaning to read.

The Corrections. It's good, right? I should read it.

And now for the passing of the baton. Kriston, Susan, and Phoebe get the nod.

Comments

The Corrections: not good. But a somewhat valiant failed effort.

Posted by right | September 28, 2006 9:32 AM

You probably wouldn't be able to get through "Jumping Mouse" without a couple of Kleenexes either. A generous mouse, on a quest across the forest, meets various creatures in need and successively gives up his faculties (hearing, mobility, sight, etc.) to help his fellow creatures. Ultimately the Great Spirit recognizes the mouse for his selflessness and turns him into a soaring (sniff) eagle (sob!). It's really quite moving and I have had to swear off it to maintain my dignity in front of my kids.

Posted by Mark | September 28, 2006 9:33 AM

Right is right about The Corrections. But then again, there is that brief expat-whoring-around-in-Eastern-Europe plotline at the beginning that might make it worth it.

Posted by tom | September 28, 2006 9:44 AM

The Corrections is good, and it's actually a pretty quick and easy read without being shallow. Kind of reminded me of White Noise as far as that quality and its well done portrayal of the peculiar experience of living in a (post)modern American family.

Posted by J | September 28, 2006 9:45 AM

"turns him into a soaring (sniff) eagle (sob!)"

Does he swoop down and eat his former family and friends?

Seriously, turning a prey animal into one of its natural predators sounds like a truly fucked up thing for a Great Spirit to do.

Posted by michael farris | September 28, 2006 9:45 AM

Yeah, thumbs down for the Corrections. You won't regret reading it, but it really isn't all that good.

Posted by Atrios | September 28, 2006 9:54 AM

I agree with J about the White Noise connection -- they're two of the very few books to try to make sense of what living in today's America is like. However, neither is actually a very good book, which is unfortunate. Still waiting for the great novel of today's America...

Posted by right | September 28, 2006 9:56 AM

"You probably wouldn't be able to get through "Jumping Mouse" without a couple of Kleenexes either."

Sounds like a similar story to Wilde's "Happy Prince". That one, and "The Selfish Giant", always choke me up.

Posted by Urinated State of America | September 28, 2006 10:02 AM

"Does he swoop down and eat his former family and friends?"

Who knows? All of the readers are crying at that point anyway.

Posted by Mark | September 28, 2006 10:04 AM

Woah.. Wait... *White Noise* isn't a very good book? Care to back that assertion up? I mean, I know we're only talking about opinions of aesthetic objects and therefore they're entirely subjective, my liking *White Noise* isn't anymore a valid fact than someone not liking, but I'm interested in what the critique is, given that it is one of my favorite books and, unlike most of DeLillo, manages to make an emotional connection at the same time as an intellectual one. And, unlike most DeLillo, is laugh-out-loud funny.

PS: Everyone should read Oakley Hall's WARLOCK. Now.

Posted by parabasis | September 28, 2006 10:13 AM

You'd probably also cry reading '101 ways to drop a hat'.

Posted by crack | September 28, 2006 10:14 AM

Read Civic Ideals before you read Democracy In America anyway...

Posted by Scott Lemieux | September 28, 2006 10:19 AM

I also agree thumbs up on both The Corrections and White Noise, although I'd rank White Noise higher. The Corrections was a powerful, disturbing book, beautifully written. Its beauty sucks you in, making you want to read about people and things you might otherwise prefer to avoid.

White Noise is similar, except it goes further. It makes you love characters who you normally would find yourself hating.

White Noise also has the additional feature of being a virtual primer in post-modern thought, without all the ponderous jargon of theorists. It shows the reader how we are living in a post-modern world, completely surrounded by it, immersed.

They are two of my favorite books. But I can understand why others disagree--I don't think not liking these books makes one a philistine. Read them and see for yourself.

Posted by RWB | September 28, 2006 10:31 AM

Hmm, I regard the Velveteen Rabit story with a high degree of skepticism. It sounds suspiciously like the kind of faux-sensitive thing might say trying to impress a girl.

Posted by flippantangel | September 28, 2006 10:35 AM

It sounds suspiciously like the kind of faux-sensitive thing might say trying to impress a girl.

I swear to god that this is a true story.

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | September 28, 2006 10:39 AM

Nicely chosen list. It's difficult to get just the right amount of sensitivity, intellectualism, and believability in a list like this, but I think this works. My wife thinks I was a deprived child for never having been given Velveteen Rabbit to read; she says it causes her to bawl too. Can't wait until the Kid is old enough!

Posted by Al | September 28, 2006 10:50 AM

4. One book that made you cry.
I shed tears at the drop of a hat. One particularly amusing story is that some years after reading The Velveteen Rabbit

You probably wouldn't be able to get through "Jumping Mouse" without a couple of Kleenexes either.

You'd probably also cry reading '101 ways to drop a hat'.

Sounds like a similar story to Wilde's "Happy Prince". That one, and "The Selfish Giant", always choke me up.

Ummm... you are all men, right? I assume you did the requisite cry at the Dirty Dozen?

Steve

Posted by Steve | September 28, 2006 11:17 AM

Dirty Dozen, kinda sorta. But The Wild Bunch, now that brings a tear to my eye. But come on, it's permissible for men to get teary eyed at sappy things. I mean, Brian's Song, anyone?

Posted by Al | September 28, 2006 11:34 AM

"a somewhat valiant failed effort" more accurately describes Infinite Jest than The Corrections.

Posted by dave | September 28, 2006 11:43 AM

Weirdest/lamest crying episode ever:

So a while back some TV network ran a special movie or miniseries or something about Anne Frank. Maybe it was this one, I'm not sure, I didn't actually watch it. Before it aired, however, I saw a television commercial advertising it. And of course the commercial was playing up the emotional drama of Frank's story, lots of tragic music & heartrending camera angles & whatnot. But I remained dry-eyed throughout. What got me, though, was at the end of the commercial, when the disembodied network voice announced that they'd be running the special commercial-free. Somehow the fact that the television network was forgoing profits in order to tell Anne's story at the length it deserved just hit me hard, and out came the tears...I just about lost it.

And yes, I know that makes no sense and, even if it did, would be the dumbest thing to cry at ever.

Posted by Christopher M | September 28, 2006 12:09 PM

I definitely rank White Noise above the Corrections as well. White Noise is a very interesting book, but completely loses steam plot wise about 60% of the way through and is a real bear to ultimately get through. I respect White Noise a lot more than I enjoyed it -- although it is indeed laugh out loud funny in many parts.

(This is actually in contrast to the Corrections I find, which is horrifically difficult to read until you get past the Chip and Gary parts, at which point it starts humming along nicely. If the corrections were about 40% less self-indulgent it might have been a great book.)

During the NYTimes recent "best novel of the last 25 years" blitz, Tony Scott had an interesting article about how few of today's novels are actually about living in today's world. Most of the top contemporary novels are either set in the past, or overwhelmingly concerned with events of the past and their ultimate effect on the present.

I think White Noise and the Corrections both come across as better books than they really are because they are among the few that actually attempt to grapple with late 20th/early 21st century America. That neither of them really succeed fully is beside the point; they can coast on the fact that they are working in more-or-less unchartered water to get credit.

Posted by right | September 28, 2006 12:37 PM

There is a very funny, scene in the corrections having to do with a buying or not buying a fish for dinner. I did laugh out loud.

Posted by Cathy | September 28, 2006 1:02 PM

I regret the time I spent reading The Corrections, which is mostly not convincing. The best of it are the bits about the father's decline, but better to read the piece that Franzen wrote about his father's Alzheimer's in The New Yorker in August or September, 2001.

Posted by Tyrone Slothrop | September 28, 2006 1:17 PM

Hey, glad you liked Shteyngart!

Posted by The Modesto Kid | September 28, 2006 1:30 PM

While I cannot say for certain that the Velveteen Rabbit story is true (I must have been like 3), I will say that it has been repeated as though it were true inside my family for years. Also, if you were going to disbelieve any part of that story I would start with the part about him actually having scarlett fever, I mean we grew up in Greenwich Village not the little house on the prairie. Also don't believe him about Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, he's just trying to impress you; like any reasonable person, Snowcrash was the most influential book in his life.

Posted by Nicholas Yglesias | September 28, 2006 1:47 PM

I would start with the part about him actually having scarlett fever, I mean we grew up in Greenwich Village not the little house on the prairie

Ah but the meaningful qualification here is that you grew up in Greenwich Village not Tara.

Posted by The Modesto Kid | September 28, 2006 2:11 PM

I would start with the part about him actually having scarlett fever, I mean we grew up in Greenwich Village not the little house on the prairie

Ah but the meaningful qualification here is that you grew up in Greenwich Village not Tara.

Nor do I think y'all grew up listening to a lot of Kenny Rogers

Posted by flippantangel | September 28, 2006 2:58 PM

If you're looking for one of the good ones that will change your life in some way, you could do much worse than Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. "Brilliant and subtle sci-fi love story" is a description that does the book a disservice, but it's the best I can do.

Posted by Adam P. | September 28, 2006 3:17 PM

Better know a Petey:

1) One book that changed your life?

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Cheesy, but true. It's a good introduction to dharmic thought.

2) One book that you have read more than once.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. The history of civilization is a fascinating topic.

3) One book that you would want on a desert island?

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. It's long, and it's about killing time.

4) One book that made you cry.

I cry at the movies instead.


5) One book that made you laugh.

The Great American Novel by Phillip Roth. A neglected classic.

6) One book you wish had been written.

Ezra has the correct answer for this one.

7) One book you wish had never been written.

The Old Testament. Far too tribal and destructive to be a healthy foundation for world thought.

8) One book you are reading currently?

The Other Hollywood by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osboune. Believe it or not, it's actually more interesting than their oral history of punk.


9) One book you've been meaning to read?

The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq. The newest book from the most interesting contemporary writer.

Posted by Petey | September 28, 2006 3:48 PM

Noise and Corrections are very good. I recommend John Irvings's Widow for One Year. Not brainy but really pulls you in. All time great read, 9 Stories by Salinger. I can read that anytime, all the time.

Posted by judson | September 28, 2006 3:53 PM

1. Love in the Ruins Walker Percy
2. The Underground Man Ross MacDonald
3. The Works of Williams S.
4. none
5. At Swim-Two-Birds
6. something from me
7. 90% of the books ever written, including #6.
8. Red Gold Alan Furst
9. Proust. For when I retire.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | September 28, 2006 4:26 PM

The Old Testament. Far too tribal and destructive to be a healthy foundation for world thought.

Oh, c'mon, Petey. I'll give you Leviticus, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Kings, Chronicles, and a lot of the prophets.

But I think that the Psalmsand some of the poetic passages in Isaiah are well worth holding onto.

Posted by flippantangel | September 28, 2006 4:34 PM

"But I think that the Psalmsand some of the poetic passages in Isaiah are well worth holding onto."

The Song of Solomon is pretty fun too.

But on the whole, the Abrahamic line of thought is a big bucket of wrong.

Posted by Petey | September 28, 2006 5:21 PM

Right On makes a good point that there are not a lot of books which try to depict with much ambition modern America. (Tom Wolfe made the same point in an essay in "Hooking Up.") I believe the same NYT "best novel last 25 years" blitz article referenced also noted that almost all the books which received votes were by authors who were shaped by living through the depression and/or WWII (Roth, Updike,Irving, Mailer, Morrison, McCarthy, etc. - Franzen was not on the list).

For those reasons alone, I think The Corrections is worth reading if you're a fan of literature or the idea of "Modern America." He takes on a big subject not a lot of other "serious" authors tackle and from a slightly younger worldview.

Also an enjoyable read in my opinion. I find Franzen to be in the Rabbit/Chabon/Wolfe/Russo/"Lad Lit" fun to read group. As opposed to the Roth/Delillo/McCarthy great authors but don't keep you up all night reading group. A definate plus.

I wish more authors tried to capture "modern america" with the ambition and zest Franzen showed. For that reason, I inevitably recommend people read it. But for someone like yourself Matt, whose job is to think and write about Modern America, especially well worth your time.

Posted by ben | September 28, 2006 6:05 PM

"I find Franzen to be in the Rabbit/Chabon/Wolfe/Russo/"Lad Lit" fun to read group. As opposed to the Roth/Delillo/McCarthy great authors but don't keep you up all night reading group."

Have you ever actually read any early Phillip Roth?

Dude basically invented lad lit. It reads like candy.

Posted by Petey | September 28, 2006 6:10 PM

The Song of Solomon is pretty fun too.

I've never been able to think about raisins the same way since :)

Posted by flippantangel | September 28, 2006 7:09 PM

Dave:

You're right about Infinite Jest being a valiant failed effort, but I don't regret the hours upon hours I spent getting through it. It's very rewarding . . . almost to the "Book that changed your life" category for me. You've got to have a really high tolerance for showing off to read like a thousand pages of David Foster Wallace though, which most people don't (and are justified -- the showing off just doesn't bother as much as it probably should)

right:

The best parts of White Noise are indeed the first 60% -- but that's before it even really tries to have a plot. It's when the plot gets going that the book suffers, IMHO.

Posted by J | September 28, 2006 9:19 PM

God. Doesn't anyone read for fun?

1 - Early Bill James Baseball Abstracts. Not because of the baseball content, but because of his approach to science vs. conventional wisdom

2 - I love The Water-Method Man by John Irving. The best thing he ever wrote, and it's not close. Seriously, read it.

3 - Desert island book? Hmm. Something entertaining, though. Most of the choices listed would make me do myself in. Maybe the Lord of the Rings or something.

4 - Bridge to Terabitha. The Velveteen Rabbit is complete crap.

5 - The Water-Method Man makes me laugh repeatedly. But I already used it. So, I'll go with The Phantom Tollbooth. Which makes me laugh now.

6 - Hard to say. I love The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis, and I wish he'd written a sequel.

7 - Most of the inaccessible shit you guys are praising. DeLillo is such a fucking slog. OK, seriously? The Client, by John Grisham. Because I picked it up one night when I was bored and it was such a piece of crap that after reading 85% of it I just put it down and never bothered to finish it. I cared about nothing and nobody in the book.

8 - I'm rereading The Panda's Thumb by Stephen Jay Gould.

9 - Meaning to read? Hard to say. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I reserved it at the library, but didn't pick it up when they called me, so I guess I don't want to read it that badly.

Wow. I can't believe how much better my answers are than anyone elses. Damn you guys picked some boring-ass books.

Posted by not a poser | September 29, 2006 1:33 AM

if you're looking for an intro to Franzen that is less of an investment (both in page-count and in slog-factor) the 27th city is pretty excellent. i like it better than the corrections, but, i think if you don't like 27th you can safely skip the corrections.

i'm a big delillo fan, but, i think great jones street is strangely forgotten by people peddling his books. i thought it was more fun that white noise.

joshb

Posted by joshb | September 29, 2006 11:53 AM

The 27th City isn't nearly as good as the Corrections, IMHO. It structurally doesn't work as a novel, whereas The Corrections does. Also, Franzen is really unsure whether he's writing social satire or social epic in The 27th City, in The Corrections, he figures out how to modulate between the two clearly and effectively.

Infinite Jest is a good book, but Wallace's two collections of essays are better. And better than most books of the last 25 years, I'd reckon. Especially the two essays on writing. Amazing.

I don't like Roth, but I think I get why people do. For me... I find him too reactionary, and I find the Nathan Zuckerman device renders even Vietnam-era terrorism tediously boring.

Again, can I get a witness for Oakley Hall's amazing *Warlock*? I sweat it might just be the Great American Novel.

Posted by parabasis | September 29, 2006 12:54 PM

The Corrections is not a very good book, mediocre. But it's readable because giant sections (the stuff about Chip mostly) are fun, trashy, light 1990s academic gossip/culture wars stuff. The stuff about the family is OK but you're read it all before. The "epic of our time" overreaching is just bad.

Michel Houllebecq's first book, "The Elementary Particles", is brilliant and a great novel. His best book. Easy reading too.

Posted by MQ | September 29, 2006 2:30 PM