I spend a fair amount of time on buses. And bus travelling time is the time I now use to read non research related literature.
My bus books include some my favourite series of novels set in the Napoleonic Wars and some books that I bought a long time ago to read 'just for fun' and didn't get around to. But I want to start interspering these 'for fun' reads with 'proper' literary reads. Books that any self-respecting literature academic ought to have read. I've just finished reading Orwell's 1984 as part of this drive to be a better rounded lit. person. The novel actually made me feel physically ill in parts, but, it is something that most people would think I would or should have read by now.
So now I'm looking for suggestions. Novels or collections of short stories that Autumn Song with a PhD in Literature who is hoping for a career in academia ought to have read / ought to read. Failing that, any book that you think is absolutely worth the read, whether it's an academic must or not. Any period, any author. Please leave suggestions in the comments...
6 comments:
I'm currently experiencing a voracious appetite for non-research reading and I would particularly recommend any/all of the ones I've just read over the last few weeks. Auster's New York Trilogy was very good, as was The Music of Chance, Waugh's Scoop was hilarious, McEwan's On Chesil Beach was a lovely little read and so was Bonjour Tristesse by Sagan. Disgrace by Coetzee was moving and disturbing, yet compelling. I'd also recommend any D.H Lawrence and any Steinbeck. Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited was also great. Alistair Gray's Lanark is astonishing if you can get into it (I did after a fashion!). I like to choose novels that are 200-300 pages or less so I feel I'm getting through them! I would NOT recommend Rushdie's Satanic Verses. I see why he has a fatwa against him - it must have bored them so badly as to prompt rage against it! I am suggesting these as I'm not sure what you have and have not read as yet....you may well already have read all or most of the above!!
Also - what in 1984 made you feel physically ill? I really enjoyed it, creepy in some parts as it can be. War of the Worlds has a similar feel to it, if you've read that.
Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! I've seen 'On Chesil Beach' recommended elsewhere too, so after the Sharpe novel I'm currently reading, I'll make a start on that.
I'm not sure I'd use 'enjoyed' to describe what I thought of 1984, but it was a good read (and, by the way, would be extremely useful for teaching Foucault), and yes, creepy in parts it is. But reading this part on the bus made me feel ill:
'his body was being wrenched out of shape, the joints were being slowly torn apart. Although the pain had brought the sweat out on his forehead, the worst of all was the fear that his backbone was about to snap ... "You are afraid" said O'Brien, watching his face, "that in another moment something is going to break. Your especial fear is that it will be your backbone. You have a vivid mental picture of the vertebrae snapping apart and the spinal fluid dripping out of them. That is what you are thinking, is it not, Winston?"
Yuck. Is all I have left to say.
Fair to say - that isn't the nicest of images!
In agreement with thephdlitchick, 'Brideshead Revisited' a fabulous read, but the TV series also so brilliant - and full - that a substitution would be quite justifiable. 'Disgrace' is a stunner, if very disturbing... in the same category I would add Ondaatje's 'Anil's Ghost', 'Beloved', Rohinton Mistry's 'A Fine Balance' and Amitav Ghosh's 'The Shadow Lines'. 'Midnight's Children' should probably be attempted once in a Literary Dr's lifetime... On a different track, no pun intended, Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' is an absolute stunner. But I feel my taste is running rather to the grim... Ermmm.... 'Possession'? 'Orlando'? 'White Teeth'? xx
PS. In radical DISagreement with my perhaps-colleague and co-blogger, I think The Satanic Verses is totally Rushdie's best and is an AMAZING read. Hard, yes, but boring??! The opening chapter alone is worth a look... xx
Thank you for the suggestions. I am now overwhelmed with reading suggestions... I think I'll start with the ones for which you are in agreement, and then go from there! ;o)
Post a Comment