BOOKS TO WRITE HOME ABOUT

My friend Daniel Arizona is an omnivorous reader. In an e-mail exchange this morning, I asked him a fairly standard question: "What are you reading these days? Anything to write home about?" He tossed off this response, which was charming enough to publish in full. ~ EB

"The Sandcastle" - Iris Murdoch

Chipping away at the entire Murdoch corpus. She's one of my all-time favs. The consummate English novelist. She went to Cambridge and Oxford for philosophy and even studied under Wittgenstein. Her philosophical output was limited--especially compared to her literary one--but top-notch. Her Sovereignty of Good is fantastic. Like Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, she was a superb writer first and a philosopher second. So, it comes as no surprise that her novels have a very strong moral bent (what books don't?), but she always crafts these perfect English characters who find themselves in the most absurd scenarios. Like Austen, if you read too many in the same year they feel too much of a piece, but the writing is so good, you don't really mind.

"The Complete Roald Dahl"

Doesn't really need any introduction. After a long debate defending Tim Burton's "Charlie [and the Chocolate Factory]", I had a strong desire to reread all of his most well-known works as well as all the lesser-known stuff and adult writings. Finished "James and the Giant Peach" yesterday and starting "The Minpins" today. I just love his nasty and grotesque side.

"Enduring Love" - Ian McEwan

I came to McEwan late in the game. I've read "Amsterdam" and everything after. Now I'm going backwards. He's not my favourite writer, but he has some undeniable moments that just can't be bettered by his contemporaries. He's a little too cerebral for his own good, which makes his love scenes seem too clinical and forced, and no amount of sudden violence can make his books proper thrillers. I prefer his mate, Martin, more (nice piece by Kavanagh). I did like the New Yorker piece on McEwan and so I'm kinda lookin' forward to his next one. I hope he writes about discovering his brother after decades of having no idea he existed; it's just such a good idea for a novel.

"Robinson Crusoe" - Daniel Defoe

Never read this one. I've read nearly all of the classics stranded on the Barnes & Noble summer reading islands, but this one always escaped me. Oddly, the first Defoe I read was "Roxana", which was a nice romp, and his essays which were also entertaining.

"Peter Pan" - J.M. Barrie

Just finished this one. Never read it before, just knew the movie. Holy God is this a good book. Loved it so much I thought I might write about it. I don't think many folks really know or remember how disturbing (or "problematic" in retarded grad-school parlance) this book is, but in a good way.

"The Unvanquished" - William Faulkner

Not one of his best, but so far damn fine. But what do you expect from the Master?

"The Poor Mouth" - Flann O'Brien

Drop-dead hilarious. Fucking through-the-roof funny. It's a fictional autobiography of the stereotypical miserable Irish peasant experience in the Gaelic foothills played up for huge laughs. He's another one I was thinking of writing about soon. I've got the new Everyman's Library edition of his Complete Novels that got him a little press over here. One of the last things Updike wrote was a glowing review of it. "At Swim-Two-Birds" and "The Third Policeman" are bona fide modern classics. Every American schoolchild should know this man's name, or names rather, because he used several great pen names.

"The Thin Man" - Dashiell Hammett

Just started this one and it's already awesome. I've been slowly hitting the noir genre--Hammett, Chandler, Himes, Cain--and this is the latest. I've always wanted to watch the "Thin Man" movies, too, but I've been holding off 'till I read the book first. But yeah, these hard-boiled narratives are just so wonderful because they were written by Actual Writers and not hacks. It's also fun because they are such an obvious influence on the Coens, so I find myself enjoying them even more as a result.

"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" - Milan Kundera

Another one I never got around to growing up. It's a crap book, but I mean that in the best possible way. The short chapters and punchy, witty, funny writing make it the perfect companion for sittin' on the pot. That's how I read all of those perfect Borges short stories. I can't recommend it highly enough.

"Silas Marner" - George Eliot

The consummate 19th c. novelist, and so much more. Her pages always throb with intellect. Unfortunately, she was about as funny as she was pretty, but oh well.

"David Copperfield" - Charles Dickens

The Master of Victorian Letters. Just an unstoppable force. A few years back, I did the complete Shakespeare, now I'm doing the complete Dickens. There's just no other way to do it. Thankfully, it's such amazing stuff that you don't even mind the investment. Unlike Eliot, Dickens is hysterical. I would have loved to have seen him perform onstage. Anyway, I always have a tome like this going on at all times, otherwise you'll never get around to 'em. Ten pages here, 50 pages there, and suddenly you're done!

~ DANIEL ARIZONA

Picture credit: Playingwithbrushes (via Flickr)