I am going to jump back into the blogosphere with a post on something we have yet to address here on The Stairs (I think)…books. With summer here, many people are looking for a good book to read on the beach or in their backyard as they soak up the UV rays necessary to get that coveted tan/sunburn that will turn tan (or if you are Irish like me, sunburn that will turn back to pale splattered with freckles). Apologies to those who are too cool for school and have “I don’t read” under Books on Facebook…I’ve attached some pictures to help you through this one.
NOTE: I have recently made it my mission to read as many “good” books as possible from now on. While my definition may differ from yours, by “good” I mean “not Nicholas Sparks or anything along those lines.” I know his books are worshipped by a majority of women ages 16 and up, but after reading The Wedding and predicting the ending a couple chapters in, I cannot give the guy any respect. There are only so many times you can write the typical romantic novel, and 14 times is simply overkill. So while Taylor, Pat, and Joey have embraced the music/movie snob roles on The Stairs, I’ll step in as the book snob, a.k.a. the nerd. I’m a bit behind on what is new and noteworthy but these ones are all from the 2000s. With that said, here are some books I have recently read that you should too:
1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Props to Joey Guisto on this one, who suggested I read it after he devoured it during our two-week journey around the South Island of New Zealand. I had never heard of the book or the author before, though I had heard of the movie based on his first novel, Everything is Illuminated (which I intend to read soon). Foer’s story of nine-year-old Oskar Schell searching for the lock that matches a key he found in his dead father’s office is a hilarious, heart-wrenching, and inspiring work which I can only sum up as “weird,” but in a good way. Foer uses a bunch of unconventional methods to frame his story, from one-word pages to run-on sentences to pictures (like the doorknob below) to stream-of-consciousness letters and passages that allow the reader to look into the minds of various characters in the book. See if you are not hooked after the first few sentences, which introduce you to the mind of Oskar:“What about a teakettle? What if the spout opened and closed when the steam came out, so it would become a mouth, and it could whistle pretty melodies, or do Shakespeare, or just crack up with me? I could invent a teakettle that reads in Dad's voice, so I could fall asleep, or maybe a set of kettles that sings the chorus of 'Yellow Submarine,' which is a song by the Beatles, who I love, because entomology is one of my raisons d'etre, which is a French expression that I know.”
2. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Chabon has quite a way with words in this story of two cousins (Sammy and Joe) who create a comic book chronicling the adventures of The Escapist, a superhero with powers to escape pretty much any situation. The Escapist is able to overcome the obstacles that the two boys are still trying to defeat in their lives, from Sammy being crippled from polio to Joe trying to rescue his family from the clutches of the Nazis in Prague. The interesting thing about this novel is that there is a story within the story. Chabon crafts the characters of Sammy and Joe and the people around them with great detail, and still manages to thoroughly highlight the legends of The Escapist, from his birth into superherodom (I think I made that word up) to his escaping abilities to his superhero counterparts. And there is more to the story than comics, for those like me who have never picked up a comic book in their life. There’s humor, there’s romance, there’s sadness – all the essential ingredients for a book that will stick with you after you’ve read the last word.
3. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Not really a summery book by any means, but I feel impelled to put it on here. Save it for a rainy day (you’ll only need one to finish this). You’ve most likely heard of The Road -- it was released on the big screen back in December. I have yet to see the movie so I cannot say if the book is anything like it, but whether or not you liked the movie, you MUST read the book. It is dark, it is depressing, it is scary, but somehow at the end it leaves you inspired (though still incredibly sad). McCarthy writes so honestly – he doesn’t mess around with flowery language or sappy, over-the-top dialogue; everything is to-the-point and essential to the plot. He connects you to the two main characters – a father and his son – and enables you to sympathize with them as they travel in search of a safe haven in a world on the brink of non-existence, even though you never know their names. As a book that has won the Pulitzer Prize and has made it to the top of countless “Books of the Decade” lists, I highly recommd it.
Not quite The Road
That is all for now…more to come soon for all you bookworms out there.
Peace out!
Meag
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