-Isak Dinesen
I've been reading many books, most of them worth reading, since arriving in The Gambia. Here's the list:
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible -A. J. Jacobs (hilarious!)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -Mark Haddon (this was my second re-reading of this book. and I'm not usually a fan of re-reading books)
So Long a Letter -Mariama Bâ (one of the books given me to read during pre-service training. I read it one day while sick in bed...I can't remember my opinion of it)
Cat’s Cradle -Kurt Vonnegut (re-read this one accidentally--didn't realize until several pages in that I'd read it already, and by that point it was the only reading material in the car with me. a good book, all the same)
A Christmas Carol -Charles Dickens (I thought nothing could compare to the movie--the Muppets version--but the book comes pretty close)
Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney’s Humor Category -John Warner (I only laughed a couple of times.)
Custard and Company -poems by Ogden Nash, illustrated by Quentin Blake (best poems ever!)
Stiff -Mary Roach (really good book; don't be turned off by the fact it's all about corpses)
Catch Me If You Can -Frank W. Abignale (different enough from the movie that it's worth reading)
Flatland -Edwin Abbott Abbott (sadly, didn't actually help me understand fourth and fifth dimensions)
The Bonesetter’s Daughter -Amy Tan (can't remember much, other than I liked it. the not-remembering is probably my fault, not the novel's)
Laughing Without an Accent -Firoozeh Dumas (I liked Funny in Farsi better, but it still made me laugh. without an accent.)
Reading Lolita in Tehran -Azar Nafisi (I first started reading this memoir years ago...sophomore year of high school?, before I'd read Lolita and then I realized it might make sense to read Lolita first. and then it was a few years before I did that...sophomore year of college? so now I was able to enjoy Reading Lolita in Tehran, although not as much as I enjoyed Lolita)
Moominsummer Madness -Tove Jansson (I'll forgive the anglicized spelling of Mumin because that wasn't the author's fault.)
Moominland Midwinter -Tove Jansson (I jumped up and down and clapped my hands when I saw the school library had two Mumin books)
A Homemade Life -Molly Wizenberg (why did I torture myself with a memoir through recipes?)
Great Expectations -Charles Dickens (much better than when I read it in ninth grade)
Guns, Germs and Steel -Jared Diamond (totally fascinating answers to questions you never knew you had)
A Year in Provence -Peter Mayle (scrumptious! but again...why do I torture myself this way?)
The Tao of Pooh -Benjamin Hoff (thought I wouldn't like it because what right does this Hoff guy think he has to make up dialogues for Winnie the Pooh! but it turns out, I liked it anyway)
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing -Melissa Bank (pretty good. fiction, fyi, so I'm still incapable of hunting or fishing)
Marley and Me -John Grogan (cute!)
The Lexus and the Olive Tree -Thomas Freidman (interesting to see how the book's predictions have unfolded--it was published in 1999)
Little Bee -Chris Cleave (love love loved it!)
The Joy Luck Club -Amy Tan (also love love loved it!)
A Moveable Feast -Ernest Hemingway (I had to read A Farewell to Arms in high school and all I remember of it is the main character gets hepatitis. I liked A Moveable Feast a thousand times better)
The Catcher in the Rye -J.D. Salinger (despite J.D. Salinger being one of my favorite authors, I've only just now read The Catcher in the Rye)
Push -Sapphire (I enjoyed the writing...really sad story, though)
The Great Gatsby -F. Scott Fitzgerald (this is one of those books I feel I should like more than I actually do. so I keep re-reading it to see if maybe now I'll fall in love with it. nope. I haven't given up hope, though)
The Time Traveler’s Wife -Audrey Niffenegger (stupid. I've never read one of those paperback romance novels, but I feel like this was just one of those in disguise. except I think you're supposed to sort of fall in love with the leading man? and I could never fall in love with a man who walks into a bedroom and comments on the Laura Ashley sheets.)
Angela’s Ashes -Frank McCourt (good, but I didn't think it was that good)
To Kill a Mockingbird -Harper Lee (much better than when I read it in tenth grade)
Outliers -Malcolm Gladwell (explained why I'll never be a hockey super-star!)
Holidays on Ice -David Sedaris (turns out this is just a collection of stories previously published in his other books, so I'd read most of them, but: they were no less hilarious!)
The Kite Runner -Khaled Hosseini (I kept starting and stopping this book and then I'd need to start over from the beginning...don't know why I did this, though, because it's a really good book)
The Green Mile -Stephen King (one of the English books leant to me in Sweden. I probably wouldn't have given it a chance otherwise, so I was really surprised I enjoyed it)
The Godfather -Mario Puzo (also not a book I would normally have given a chance. if I hadn't felt offended by EVERY SINGLE FEMALE CHARACTER I might've enjoyed it more.)
From the Darkness -Victoria Benedictsson (this was published by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), which I find hilarious. the short stories, however, were not hilarious. they confirmed my opinion that the only happy Swedish literature I'll read is children's books)
The Four Devils -Herman Blang (also published by SAS; this is a Danish author. I thought maybe since Denmark is further south--and sunnier?--its authors would be more cheerful. false.)
Alone -August Strindberg (again, published by SAS. my school library has a collection of August Strindberg plays that I attempted reading a few months ago when I learned he's Swedish. they were horrible. I couldn't finish them. Alone, however, I have high hopes of finishing. Update: finished reading Alone-- it was excellent)
The Partly Cloudy Patriot - Sarah Vowell (I liked it alright, but I can't really put my finger on why only "alright.")
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (I love this book. Her long, comma-filled sentences are not really my style, nor is their tendency to drift into poetic clouds... So I can't explain why I love the book, except that I do. I guess so much of it is, simply, true.)
Naked - David Sedaris (Pretty hilarious)
Pale Fire -Vladimir Nabokov (It's no Lolita)
The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean (You would think orchids would make for boring reading. You would be wrong)
The Arabian Nights (Awesome. I love stories about genies and stolen treasures and blood-thirsty tyrants! Also: in Aladdin, the princess Disney calls Jasmine is actually Princess Buddir al-Buddoor)
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes - Daniel L. Everett (Really awesome. I love true stories about intriguing cultures and languages even more than ones about genies and stolen treasures and blood-thirsty tyrants. As an added bonus, the book also mentions Amazonian pink river dolphins)
Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs (Before I left for The Gambia I tried finding this book in the library but never succeeded. Instead, I found it in the school library of a Gambian village. I am not sure what it's doing there, as it contains many words the students are both unlikely to know the meaning of and unlikely to find in their student dictionaries. Maybe it was there just so I could read it! It's a good book)
The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan (really not that great. it probably spent those months on the bestseller list because numerous other people were similarly deceived.)
Candide and Other Stories - Voltaire, Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by Roger Pearson (The other stories were Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull. I would've left this book on the shelf if it had not reminded me of a friend. glad it did, and that I didn't.)
Three Plays - August Strindberg, translated by Peter Watts (the The Father, Miss Julia and Easter. these were those Strindberg plays I formerly described as unfinishable. It turns out they are finishable, if you're sitting around with nothing much to do and in a "might as well" sort of mood)
Eugene Onegin- Alexander Pushkin, translated by Walter Arndt – (Usually I choose books whose titles I can pronounce, but this one had an intriguing illustration on the front cover. What is interesting, though, is that despite the novel’s being written in verse, never was “Onegin” rhymed with something that would have indicated its pronunciation. Opinion: I liked it very much at first, then grew bored of it.)
The First Book of Mythical Beasts, Helen Jacobson (I found this picture book in the library. It’s the kind of book you always hope you’ll stumble across in a dusty library, the kind that teaches you how to kill unicorns and why to beware of the Nandi bear.)
The Short Stories—The first forty-nine stories with a brief preface by the author, Ernest Hemingway (My favorites were those not about war or bullfighting --ha-- but I liked some of those ones too. Reached the end and sighed, then found another Hemingway novel on the bookshelf and unsighed).
I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Sloane Crosley (The cover of the book claims her style’s along the lines of Sedaris and Vowell…it's right! And this is a good thing.)
Maggie Cassidy, Jack Kerouac (Instead of reading this book, what I should have done is found someone with a nice voice to read it for me. It should be listened to. Also, I would’ve had this person not read the last couple of pages, because it was a good ending, but not one I liked).
Some of the following will lack an accompanying opinion. Not because I had no opinion, but because I had no time yet to put it into words.
The Best American Travel Writing 2004, Pico Iyer (editor) Jason Wilson (series editor)
The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
French Lessons, Peter Mayle - More scrumptious torture.
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert A brilliant, new, modern translation by Lowell Blair.
If you enjoy a novel whose protagonist you want to grab by the shoulders and shake firmly, you’ll love this book!”
Islam for Dummies Malcom Clark - Lots of useful information: who knew sneezes were a blessing from Allah?
The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
The Best American Short Stories 1999, Amy Tan, editor; Katrina Kennison, series editorOut of Africa - Isak Dinesen (I love this book. Her long, comma-filled sentences are not really my style, nor is their tendency to drift into poetic clouds... So I can't explain why I love the book, except that I do. I guess so much of it is, simply, true.)
Naked - David Sedaris (Pretty hilarious)
Pale Fire -Vladimir Nabokov (It's no Lolita)
The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean (You would think orchids would make for boring reading. You would be wrong)
The Arabian Nights (Awesome. I love stories about genies and stolen treasures and blood-thirsty tyrants! Also: in Aladdin, the princess Disney calls Jasmine is actually Princess Buddir al-Buddoor)
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes - Daniel L. Everett (Really awesome. I love true stories about intriguing cultures and languages even more than ones about genies and stolen treasures and blood-thirsty tyrants. As an added bonus, the book also mentions Amazonian pink river dolphins)
Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs (Before I left for The Gambia I tried finding this book in the library but never succeeded. Instead, I found it in the school library of a Gambian village. I am not sure what it's doing there, as it contains many words the students are both unlikely to know the meaning of and unlikely to find in their student dictionaries. Maybe it was there just so I could read it! It's a good book)
The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan (really not that great. it probably spent those months on the bestseller list because numerous other people were similarly deceived.)
Candide and Other Stories - Voltaire, Translated and with an Introduction and Notes by Roger Pearson (The other stories were Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull. I would've left this book on the shelf if it had not reminded me of a friend. glad it did, and that I didn't.)
Three Plays - August Strindberg, translated by Peter Watts (the The Father, Miss Julia and Easter. these were those Strindberg plays I formerly described as unfinishable. It turns out they are finishable, if you're sitting around with nothing much to do and in a "might as well" sort of mood)
Eugene Onegin- Alexander Pushkin, translated by Walter Arndt – (Usually I choose books whose titles I can pronounce, but this one had an intriguing illustration on the front cover. What is interesting, though, is that despite the novel’s being written in verse, never was “Onegin” rhymed with something that would have indicated its pronunciation. Opinion: I liked it very much at first, then grew bored of it.)
The First Book of Mythical Beasts, Helen Jacobson (I found this picture book in the library. It’s the kind of book you always hope you’ll stumble across in a dusty library, the kind that teaches you how to kill unicorns and why to beware of the Nandi bear.)
The Short Stories—The first forty-nine stories with a brief preface by the author, Ernest Hemingway (My favorites were those not about war or bullfighting --ha-- but I liked some of those ones too. Reached the end and sighed, then found another Hemingway novel on the bookshelf and unsighed).
I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Sloane Crosley (The cover of the book claims her style’s along the lines of Sedaris and Vowell…it's right! And this is a good thing.)
Maggie Cassidy, Jack Kerouac (Instead of reading this book, what I should have done is found someone with a nice voice to read it for me. It should be listened to. Also, I would’ve had this person not read the last couple of pages, because it was a good ending, but not one I liked).
Some of the following will lack an accompanying opinion. Not because I had no opinion, but because I had no time yet to put it into words.
The Best American Travel Writing 2004, Pico Iyer (editor) Jason Wilson (series editor)
The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
French Lessons, Peter Mayle - More scrumptious torture.
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert A brilliant, new, modern translation by Lowell Blair.
If you enjoy a novel whose protagonist you want to grab by the shoulders and shake firmly, you’ll love this book!”
Islam for Dummies Malcom Clark - Lots of useful information: who knew sneezes were a blessing from Allah?
The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (probably my new most-favorite book ever)
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
The Best American Travel Writing 2002, Frances Mayes, editor; Jason Wilson, series editor.
Ant, Charlotte Sleigh (It was fun up until the last chapter, where every other sentence contained phrases like “systemic autopoeia” and “Marxist subordination.”)
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
Bossypants, Tina Fey
The Best American Short Stories 2005, Michael Chabon, editor; Katrina Kenison, series editor
By the Seat of My Pants: Humorous Tales of Travel & Misadventure, Edited by Don George
The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
