After a lot of time thinking about what books to take on my upcoming trip I've finally decided what books are going into my suitcase.
There have been many revisions to my previous list of possibilities and almost none of the books I originally had my eye on made it.
I finally had to ask my friend, who is traveling with me, to help decide. We will be sharing books on the trip, that way I get to pack more, so I figured she could cast the final vote (like a superdelegate).
This is the "ballot" I gave Mimi with very poor spelling and not a lot of information other than,
"The last two will be the most fun, the others are kind of suspenseful but literary, so I don't know how you would like them. one almost won the pulitzer prize (the stories) the top and the last were national book award finalists." (I added the * to note the titles I was leaning towards).
Fieldwork* Berlinski, Mischa
Alias Grace? (margret atwood)
Shakespeare's Kitchen* (Lori Segal) stories
House at Midnight (galley)*
There have been many revisions to my previous list of possibilities and almost none of the books I originally had my eye on made it.
I finally had to ask my friend, who is traveling with me, to help decide. We will be sharing books on the trip, that way I get to pack more, so I figured she could cast the final vote (like a superdelegate).
This is the "ballot" I gave Mimi with very poor spelling and not a lot of information other than,
"The last two will be the most fun, the others are kind of suspenseful but literary, so I don't know how you would like them. one almost won the pulitzer prize (the stories) the top and the last were national book award finalists." (I added the * to note the titles I was leaning towards).
Fieldwork* Berlinski, Mischa
Alias Grace? (margret atwood)
Shakespeare's Kitchen* (Lori Segal) stories
House at Midnight (galley)*
Mayor's Tongue* (nathaniel Rich)
spellman files (lisa lutz)
then we came to the end (josh ferris)
And this is what she decided:
Fieldwork* Mischa Berlinski this one also sounds interesting but I like all the other ones better.
Alias Grace? (margret atwood) - this might to be too cerebral for the trip, but i would be interested later
#4 Shakespeare's Kitchen* (Lori Segal) stories
#2 House at Midnight (galley)* - This one seems to have an uncomfortable love story... i like it
spellman files (lisa lutz)
then we came to the end (josh ferris)
And this is what she decided:
Fieldwork* Mischa Berlinski this one also sounds interesting but I like all the other ones better.
Alias Grace? (margret atwood) - this might to be too cerebral for the trip, but i would be interested later
#4 Shakespeare's Kitchen* (Lori Segal) stories
#2 House at Midnight (galley)* - This one seems to have an uncomfortable love story... i like it
#3 Mayor's Tongue* (nathaniel Rich) - I like that it sounds like there will be great language like raw shark text.
spellman files (lisa lutz) - I'll read this one when I come home, you own it right?
#1 then we came to the end (josh ferris)- if the office was a book? how could I pass this up?
spellman files (lisa lutz) - I'll read this one when I come home, you own it right?
#1 then we came to the end (josh ferris)- if the office was a book? how could I pass this up?
So my bags are packed and I'm ready to go! I'll let you know how the reading goes. Feel free to make bets on how many books I actually finish (I'm shooting for two).
2 comments:
A passerby offers his opinions --
I love Lore Segal's stories, which seem autobiographical and all of which relate to each other.
The Savage Detectives was really good. It is long, and the middle section is long and unshapely, but the book captures the milieu of young people committed to the avant garde in literature, and specifically in Mexico City in the 60s, and the consequences of that life.
And when you want to spend a quick time with a delightful narrator of novels about family life, The Spellman Files and its sequel are the thing.
Unshapely is right! When I got into that middle section of The Savage Detectives, though, I began thinking of them as individual stories in a collection, and in that regard some of them we hands-down, flat-out, wow-bang, Cheesus Criminy good.
And the story of Belano and Lima's night with Amadeo Salvatierra (is that his name) is laced through the others, giving you some suspense -- or at least relief to be reading the continuation of a familiar scene!
-Patrick
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