Top 10 Books First Read During 2010

[Melville]

Yeah, We is awesome.

Updating to promulgate the greatness of Either/Or.

Absolutely god damn right to both. Oh, and you should convince me to read Infinite Jest.

[kuehnepips]

Oh, and you should convince me to read Infinite Jest.

Me too please.

[EvilShoe]

1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
5. The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
6. The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
7. Cities of the Plain - Cormac McCarthy
8. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
9. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
10. All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

[

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11. The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
12. The Master and Margherita - Mikhail Bulgakov
13. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
14. The Neon Bible - John Kennedy Toole

]

[kuehnepips]

[*]Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace

In English?

[Milky Joe]

Absolutely god damn right to both. Oh, and you should convince me to read Infinite Jest.

Um, well, I'm in the middle of a Kierkegaard/Adorno class (with a total badass professor by the name of John Vignaux Smyth) and I'm about to start working on my final paper for it which will be a discussion of Infinite Jest's treatment of irony as it relates to Kierkegaard's Concept of Irony among other things. It's still in its infancy but after class today I'm having a nearly overwhelming amount of ideas swimming around in my head about it.

It's the most important piece of literary fiction of the 20th century, at least other than Gravity's Rainbow though that's arguable. It's deceptively complex, infinitely so. And Wallace was by no means a lightweight when it came to philosophy, continental or otherwise. Someone with your background could get so much out of it--more people such as yourself should read it, it really needs that kind of support. Wallace said that it's a book that should take about 2 months to read well--contrast that to the reviews of the book that came out a week after it was released... did those people really read it? It's a shame that Wallace was marketed as some kind of rock star or whatever, because that's so far from the writer that he actually was: deeply considerate of and influenced by the Western tradition, etc etc. I'm sure that if he had had the choice he would have been as reclusive as Pynchon.

Anyway, I don't know if I'm doing a good job of convincing you. By all means ask me questions and I'll try to answer.

In English?

Do you mean as opposed to German?

[Melville]

I'm about to start working on my final paper for it which will be a discussion of Infinite Jest's treatment of irony as it relates to Kierkegaard's Concept of Irony among other things.

Nice. I love me some Kierkegaardian irony (though I haven't read Concept of Irony). What's your thesis?

I've been reading (rereading, in some cases) a collection of Melville's stories. His is probably the most interesting use of irony I can think of.

It's the most important piece of literary fiction of the 20th century, at least other than Gravity's Rainbow though that's arguable.

How are you gauging importance? I liked GR, but I can't say I was as impressed by it as were most people on here.

[Adam]

I can't say how Milky Joe gauges importance but, by any standard, Infinite Jest is totally essential. This side of maybe Don DeLillo (who would win my "most interesting use of irony" award), David Foster Wallace was the author with the firmest grasp on the American mindset in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. Or at least he was the one who knew how to frame that mindset in the most logical way possible. Infinite Jest is the perfect snapshot of a mood and a time and a culture and thousands of years from now, people are going to read it and then they'll understand us

[Milky Joe]

Nice. I love me some Kierkegaardian irony (though I haven't read Concept of Irony). What's your thesis?

Don't really have one yet. I'll let you know when I do.

How are you gauging importance? I liked GR, but I can't say I was as impressed by it as were most people on here.

I'm in the same boat actually. I guess by important I somewhat shallowly meant "most likely to be canonized and read 100 years from now." It's a Major Work, in other words, that deals with essential themes in a completely systematic and completely original way. There is this great little review posted the other day that contains this (probably the main reason I mentioned GR actually--it's just so in vogue amongst the literati): "Harold Bloom (lampooned in endnote 366 of Infinite Jest) defines canonicity as: strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange. By this definition at least, it is safe to assume that Infinite Jest, the most important work of fiction in English, probably, since Gravity’s Rainbow, looks set to become canonical."

The 20th century could be broken down to its essentials as such: Joyce (Beckett), Gaddis, Pynchon/(Barth? Delillo?), Wallace, but that's mostly meaningless, the kind of measuring-contest crap people like to spout on internet forums. The point is you should read and enjoy it because it is eminently readable and enjoyable, particularly someone who enjoys the maximalism of say, Joyce, or Melville.

[lovejuice]

the maximalism of say, Joyce, or Melville.

haven't heard the word before. love it!

[Melville]

strangeness, a mode of originality that either cannot be assimilated, or that so assimilates us that we cease to see it as strange. By this definition at least, it is safe to assume that Infinite Jest, the most important work of fiction in English, probably, since Gravity’s Rainbow, looks set to become canonical."

Gotta love the uncanny. Okay, I'm sold on it, especially given your comparison to Joyce. Probably start reading it after Gide's Strait is the Gait and Bernhard's Correction.

[EvilShoe]

In English?

Definitely. Don't think there's even a Dutch version out there.

[ContinentalOp]

1. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
2. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
3. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
4. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
5. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
6.
7.
8.
9.
10

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
3. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
4. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
5. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
6. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Blown away by the last 150 or so pages of RUW. Such a darkly satisfying read. I'm well on pace to finish 20 books this year. Still working on Under the Dome (about 700 pages in) and I'm going to start either Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block or Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard.

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
2. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
3. The Financial Lives of the Poets - Walter
4. Escape from the Deep - Kershaw
5. The Poisonwood Bible - Kingsolver
6. Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt - Nina Burleigh
7. The Book of Basketball - Simmons

I can't bring myself to list The Kite Runner. It was far too abysmal to receive mention in a 'Best of' list. I'd rather the list remain shorter than give anyone the impression that it's worth reading.

[Milky Joe]

Updated w/ more Kierkegaard, plus bumping Woolf up a bit.

1. Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard
2. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
3. The Concept of Irony by Søren Kierkegaard
4. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
5. The Concept of Anxiety by Søren Kierkegaard
6. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
7. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
8. Confessions by Jacob Boehme
9. Cane by Jean Toomer
10. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

[Barty]

1. Human Action - Ludwig von Mises
2. Game Change - John Heilemann & Mark Halperin
3. Day of Deceit - Robert Stinnett
4. The American Story - Garet Garret
5. Lies the Government Told You - Andrew Napolitano

Currently Reading:

Economic Thought Before Adam Smith - Murray Rothbard
Free to Choose - Milton Friedman
Where Keynes Went Wrong - Hunter Lewis

[Dead & Messed Up]

01. The Dhammapada (Tr. Gil Fronsdal, 2005)
02. Welcome to the Monkey House (Kurt Vonnegut, 1968)
03. Teatro Grottesco (Thomas Ligotti, 2006)
04. The House of the Seven Gables (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851)
05. The Walking Dead, Volumes 1 - 11 (Robert Kirkman, 2003)
06. The History of the Devil (Clive Barker, 1980)
07. Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman, 2006)
08. Jaws (Peter Benchley, 1974)
09.
10.

[EvilShoe]

1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
5. The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
6. Friday Night Lights - H.G. Bissinger
7. The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
8. Cities of the Plain - Cormac McCarthy
9. Perfume - Patrick Süskind
10. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

[

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11. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
12. Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
13. All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
14. The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
15. The Master and Margherita - Mikhail Bulgakov
16. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
17. The Neon Bible - John Kennedy Toole

]

[ledfloyd]

1. Catch 22
2. 2666
3. Henderson, The Rain King
4. Chronic City
5. Herzog
6. The White Tiger
7.
8.
9.
10.

i've been doing too much rereading this year and over the last 7 weeks i've only finished about 3 books. need to pick it up.

[Melville]

Update to mark 20 books read.

1. We, Yevgeny Zamyatin - 10
2. Molloy, Beckett - 10
3. Blue Eyes, Black Hair, Duras - 9
4. Dance of Death, Strindberg - 8.5
5. 100 Selected Poems, E.E. Cummings - 8
6. The Malady of Death, Duras - 8
7. The Lankavatara Sutra, Anonymous - 8
8. Solaris, Lem - 8
9. Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainer Maria Rilke - 8
10. Billy Budd and Other Stories, Melville - 7.5
[

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11. The Concept of Anxiety, Kierkegaard - 7.5
12. The Long Goodbye, Chandler - 7
13. Strait is the Gate, Gide - 6.5
14. Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, Kingsland (translator) - 6
15. Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare - 6
16. The Trouble with Being Born, Cioran - 5.5
17. The Painted Bird, Kosinski - 5.5
18. Moderato Cantabile, Duras - 5
19. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston - 5
20. Don Pablos the Swindler, Francisco de Quevedo - 4.5

]

May as well make a list of comics too.

1. Pim & Francie: the Golden Bear Days, Al Columbia - 8.5
2. The Night Kitchen, Sendak - 8.5
3. I Was Killing When Killing Wasn't Cool, Al Columbia - 8
4. You Are There, Tardi & Forest - 8
5. The Biologic Show, Al Columbia - 8
6. The Complete Peanuts, 1973-1974, Schulz - 8
7. Misery Loves Comedy, Brunetti - 7
8. Criminal (deluxe edition), Brubaker & Phillips - 7
9. The Golem's Mighty Swing, Sturm - 7
10. Ultra Gash Inferno, Maruo - 6.5
[

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11. Lullabies from Hell, Hino - 6.5
12. Pyongyang: a Journey in North Korea, Delisle - 6
13. Fun Home, Bechdel - 6
14. A Contract with God, Eisner - 6
15. Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker - 6
16. Child of Palestine, Naji al-Ali - 5.5
17. In Pictopia! Moore & Simpson - 5
18. Kick-Ass, Millar & Romita jr. - 4.5
19. Uzumaki Vol. 1, Ito - 4

]

[Milky Joe]

2. Molloy, Beckett - 10

Oh, yes.

[Melville]

Oh, yes.

Yeah, took a break from Infinite Jest to read Molloy, but now I think I'll read the whole trilogy. Seriously brilliant stuff. Everything's falling apart. All the rifts in human existence are laid bare.

[Benny Profane]

1. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
2. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
3. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
4. Nine Stories - Salinger
5. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
6. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
7. Red Harvest - Hammett
8. The Blood Oranges - Hawkes
9. White Teeth - Zadie Smith

[ContinentalOp]

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
3. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
4. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
5. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
6. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Blown away by the last 150 or so pages of RUW. Such a darkly satisfying read. I'm well on pace to finish 20 books this year. Still working on Under the Dome (about 700 pages in) and I'm going to start either Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block or Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard.

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
3. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
4. The Moving Target by Ross MacDonald
5. Under the Dome by Stephen King
6. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
7. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
8. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

[D_Davis]

5. Under the Dome by Stephen King

Nice. Did you really like it, or is it just here because you haven't read much that is better this year?

Personally, I loved it. I think it's King's best single novel. It's 90% brilliant.

The first 200 or so pages are sublime, containing some of King's strongest writing.

[ContinentalOp]

Nice. Did you really like it, or is it just here because you haven't read much that is better this year?

Personally, I loved it. I think it's King's best single novel. It's 90% brilliant.

The first 200 or so pages are sublime, containing some of King's strongest writing.

I was impressed by and in awe of the first 700 pages or so, until a certain event happened, [

Show Spoiler

the explosion

]. I thought it lost a lot of the tension it once had and turned into something that didn't hold my interest as much. That said, King created some fascinating characters, interactions and situations. It was definitely worth a read for these pluses.