I guess there is good reason I haven’t read David Foster Wallace.
I’m trying to think of the guy who wrote that big important fiction book about 1978. I was thinking it was David Foster Wallace, but no it was not because I looked up Wallace’s works and it was before .Wallace came on the scene. It was a literary accomplishment and everyone in my class was reading it and everyone agreed he was going to be a great author.
It will come to me. But anyway, it’s that guy that I have to read more of and I can’t remember if I actually read that first important novel of his or not.
edited to add:
It was Confederacy of Dunces, a 1981 novel published a decade after author’s death. His name was John Kennedy Toole.
Last edited by iris lilies; 12-14-19 at 8:33am.
I loved Confederacy of Dunces. It is my favorite BIL's all-time most favorite book in the world, and was an instant bonding point for us when we met back in 2000 (in addition to our mutual affection for DSIL).
LDAHL: I might go one step lazier and not even attempt it based on your input.
I have started:
The Stone Diaries
Pope Joan
Hole in My Life
A Simple Plan
I'm also reading this month's National Geographic on migration
Yppej: Please let me know what you think of The Simple Plan. That is on my list after reading The Ruins.
Radical Homemakers.....I'm halfway. I recommend mostly for the historical perspective of Part 1. It describes how our culture "evolved" to the state of the 90s.
I saw the movie, which was great. I'm sure the book has to be even better, as I've hardly ever seen a movie that was better than the book.
I just finished reading Joyce Carol Oates' A Widow's Story. I have always loved her. I read Them back in the 70s, I met her soon after I moved to NJ, when she was promoting American Appetites at Brentano's in Princeton--and I (and my kids) were the ONLY ones that went to see her!!! So I was able to talk to her for a little while. We Were the Mulvaneys is also a very special book to me.
A Widow's Story is different in that it's kind of a memoir--it's a personal exploration of the grief she felt after her husband of 47 years died unexpectedly. Not only was it a compelling read, as are many of her books, but I felt such a kinship because she described all the Princeton-area places I've lived in, near or with. She talks about Princeton Medical Center--and I think about my daughter being born in the ambulance outside that hospital's ER. She talks about Pennington Market, and I recall going there for lunch often when I worked as a temp in town. The local context made the story even more real for me.
A very personal book.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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