The Maverick Reading Smackdown Report #1

Just finished David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day. Thoughts: Adored his writing style. It felt oddly similiar to mine (my essay writing style, that is) in some ways, which is probably why, during the weak spots, I had “I could so totally write a book like this” fantasies. During the strong spots, I actually laughed out loud. To be more precise, I giggled several times while reading at Starbucks. Poor Marianne was trying to write and it must have been very annoying. But a great compliment to the author. I’m really not a laugh out louder, but sometimes he’s just so clever. On the technical side, two things struck me: 1) He leaves out so much detail, so much story…and you never miss it. 2) He’s a master of the slow, dry, comic build. Very satisfying.

After Sedaris I immediately picked up Edgar-winning mystery novel Silent Joe, and am finding it a bit difficult to engage. So far. Reading Sedaris was like talking to a brilliant conversationalist, a fellow wordie. I suppose most books tend to be judged on a global level at the turning of the last page: Did I just enjoy that story? Was it a satisfying read? But for me, when a book is really great, the enjoyment factor begins way down at word level. The turns of phrase, word choices, the purposeful juxtaposition of specific bits of vocabulary…I’ll never get through the story if the words themselves don’t shine on the page at that level–unless it has something else going for it that’s just spectacular.

Silent Joe is the sort of book that is more about plotting and pacing than word choice. It’s operating at a macro level, not a micro level. Obviously, the first book is creative non-fiction and the second fiction, so that’s not entirely surprising, but the macro/micro difference isn’t something I’d really thought about before. I’m interested to find out as I make my way through all of these different books if that issue becomes the defining factor separating my “Loved These” books from my “Didn’t Work For Me” books. I don’t force myself to finish books I’m not enjoying. So there aren’t going to be any “I Finished It and I Hated It” books. Besides, I’m not keen on dissing books I hated for sport. (Just in person. And it’s usually in the form of a rant. And there’s usually a drink involved. “Can you believe the second half of the second act? It just went on and on and on. Outrageous!”) So for the purposes of the Reading Smackdown, it’ll just be, “Didn’t Work For Me.”

Back to Silent Joe and its macro-orientedness. The point is that the voice isn’t reeling me in. So far, anyway. Too early to give up because I really dig the main character (and not just because I have a thing for heroes with facial disfigurement and/or missing body parts), but it’s not a good sign that I’ve also started Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian at the same time. I’m hoping if I just give it a little longer, SJ will suck me right in.

THE MAVERICK READING SMACKDOWN LIST
Updated 9:23pm, 7/17/08

Key:

** : Most likely to be read
♥: I loved it.  I probably hated the author a little bit because it was so good.
♥: I liked it.  There was something about it. 
♦: It didn’t work for me. 
X: I decided not to read this.

Alisa Kwitney suggests:
Silent Joe, T. Jefferson Parker** [IN PROCESS 7/17]
The Stand, Stephen King
Deep Blue Good-by, John D. Macdonald**(IN POSSESSION)

Jacob Beach suggests:
Less Than Zero, Bret Easton Ellis**

Megan Frampton suggests:
Cock Fighter/Burnt Orange Heresy, Charles Willeford**
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond** (IN POSSESSION)
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris [COMPLETED 7/17/08]♥ (Loved it)
WordFreak, Stefan Fatsis**
The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson**
Whistlejacket/Adventures in the Alaskan Skin Trade, John Hawkes

Carolyn Jewel suggests:
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie [COMPLETED 7/17/08] ♥ (Liked it)
Indian Killer, Sherman Alexie
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Blackburn, Bradley Denton (Oh.My.God!)**
Anything by Lee Child. Killing Floor is a good one to start with**
Faerie Wars, Herbie Brennan
The Bartimeus Trilogy (Bartimeus is the first one), Johnathan Stroud
His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid**
Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
Me Sexy, Drew Haden Taylor**
Freakonomics, Stephen J. Dubner

Marianne Mancusi suggests:
Neuromancer, William Gibson [IN PROCESS 7/18]

Stacey Agdern suggests:
Killing Floor & Die Trying, Lee Child**
Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
Without Remorse, Tom Clancy
How Soccer Explains the World, Franklin Foer
The Sushi Economy, Sasha Issenberg**
Charlatan, Pope Brock

Alison Kent suggests:
Something by Dennis Lehane**
Something by Harlan Coben
Something by Lee Child**
Something by Michael Connolly

Kim Buresh suggests:
Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin
Something by Bill Bryson** (IN POSSESSION)
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
Somthing by Anthony Bourdain**
Heat, Bill Bruford
Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright
Charlie Wilson’s War, George Cirile

Sybil suggests:
A Drink Before the War, Dennis Lehane**
Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions (Not that You Asked), Steve Almond (UNVOUCHED FOR)
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever, Joel Derfner (Previously unvouched for, since vouched for by the author himself, LOL)**

Audrey Crane suggests:
Tempest Tost/The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies**
Tender is the Night/The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Winter’s Tale, Mark Halpern
Secret Life of Walter Mitty/Any Short Story, James Thurber**

Chris Keeslar suggests:
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler**
Neuromancer, William Gibson [IN PROCESS 7/18]

Wind, Sand, Stars, Antoine de St. Exupery
I, Claudius, Robert Graves
Shogun, James Clavell (this one’s huge, but no one I know doesn’t love it)
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Choderlos de Laclos
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon**
Leave it to Psmith, P. G. Wodehouse**

Mark Williams suggests:
Any collection of short stories by Chekov
Something by Tobias Wolffe
Something early-to-mid Kurt Vonnegut**
Short stories & essays by Mark Twain**
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

Keira Soleore suggests:
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Fondling Your Muse, John Warner
A Man Without a Country, Kurt Vonnegut**
Tropical Classical, Pico Iyer**

Elizabeth Anonymous suggests:
X-Rated Bloodsuckers, Mario Acevedo**

Elizabeth K. Mahon suggests:
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
Angelica, Arthur Philips**
Freud’s Requiem, Matthew von Unwerth
Erotomania, A Romance, Francis Levy
Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill**
The Emperor of Ocean Park, Stephen L. Carter

My mother seconds the following suggestions:
Tempest Tost/The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies**
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid**

Joel Derfner suggests:
Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever, Joel Derfner**

Peter Novins suggests:
The Alienist, Caleb Carr
The Given Day, Dennis Lehane**
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
North River, Pete Hamill
The Professor & The Madman/Krakatoa, Simon Winchester**

Leanna Renee Hieber suggests:
Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke**

(The original Reading Smackdown post is here)