One of my blogging friends sent me an absolutely delightful little book, which I finished today. It is the story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and a little travelling library. The Queen is out walking in her garden one day, and her corgis lead her to the little library, and to a new life -- a life of reading. Her Majesty becomes obsessed with reading, to the detriment of all else in her life. The opening of Parliament, visits to hospitals, launchings of ships, royal audiences with Prime Ministers and all her other royal duties take a back seat to her new passion. Her ubiquitous purse that she carries with her everywhere now contains books. Books lead to more books, and she finds herself telephoning the British Library, of which she is a Patron, to order more books. She discovers the libraries in Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and devours the books there. Many of the authors she is now reading are authors whom she had met, and perhaps even knighted, and she regrets not having paid attention to their works years before.
It's a delightful little book, but it really has more to do with reading than it does with the Queen. Reading is the great equalizer of classes, wealthy or poor. In the Republic of Letters, all readers are equal, and bookstores welcome everyone. Some of my favorite places in the world are bookstores. When I was in New York, I discovered a little bookstore on Madison Avenue. Inside the store I found an edition of short stories by Truman Capote. It was at the very top of the stacks and I had to climb a ladder to reach it. I remembered thinking, "How surreal is this, I am in a bookstore in New York, purchasing a Truman Capote book that I have not read before." I felt a bit like Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's". The book I found is called "Music for Chameleons", and it is one of my treasures.I have been fortunate that I have enjoyed reading ever since I was very young, and I devoured (like her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth in "The Uncommon Reader") every book I could find. Here is a list of some of the authors I have read, and if you choose just one name from this list, and read one of that author's books, you will have hours of enjoyment. I received some wonderful books for Christmas, and now that the holiday season is over and I can get back to my
Albee, Edward
Alcott, Louisa May
Allende, Isabel
Angelou, Maya
Ashbery, John
Atwood, Margaret
Auden, W.H.
Austen, Jane
Baldwin, James (a favorite)
Beckett, Samuel
Beecher Stowe, Harriet
Bellow, Saul
Bennett, Arnold
Berrigan, Ted
Bradbury, Ray
Brooke, Rupert
Brooks, Gwendolyn
Bronte, Charlotte
Bronte, Emily
Burroughs, William
Capote, Truman (a favorite)
Carver, Raymond
Cather, Willa
Chandler, Raymond
Cheever, John (a favorite)
Christie, Agatha
Collins, William Wilkie
Conrad, Joseph
Cookson, Catherine
Cooper, James Fennimore
Cummings, E.E.
Defoe, Daniel
Dickens, Charles
Didion, Joan
Dinesen, Isac (Karen Blixen)
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Dreiser, Theodore
Du Maurier, Daphne
Dunne, Dominick
Eliot, George
Eliot, T.S.
Faulkner, William
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (a favorite)
Forster, E.M.
Flaubert, Gustave
Frost, Robert
Ginsberg, Allen
Golding, William
Gordimer, Nadine
Greene, Graham
Grisham, John
Hailey, Arthur
Hammett, Dashiell
Hardy, Thomas
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Hemingway, Ernest
Hughes, Ted
Hugo, Victor
Huxley, Aldous (a favorite)
Irving, Washington
Ishiguro, Kazuo
James, Henry
Joyce, James
Kerouac, Jack
King, Stephen
Larkin, Philip
Laurence, Margaret
Lawrence, D.H.
Lawrence, T.E.
Lawrence, Margaret
Lee, Harper (a favorite)
Lessing, Doris
Lewis, Sinclair
Lewis, C.S.
Mamet, David
Mansfield, Katherine
Maugham, W. Somerset (a favorite)
Melville, Herman
Michener, James
Millay, Edna St. Vincent
Miller, Arthur
Mitchell, W.O.
Montgomery, Lucy Maude
Morrison, Toni
Mowat, Farley
Munro, Alice
Nabokov, Vladimir
O'Hara, John
Ondaatje, Michael
O'Neill, Eugene
Orwell, George
Parker, Dorothy
Pinter, Harold
Plath, Sylvia
Poe, Edgar Allan
Porter, Katherine Anne
Pound, Ezra
Rendall, Ruth
Richler, Mordecai
Rushdie, Salman
Rowse, A.L.
Salinger, J.D.
Sandburg, Carl
Shaw, George Bernard
Shields, Carol
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (a favorite)
Stein, Gertrude
Steinbeck, John (a favorite)
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Stoker, Bram
Tan, Amy
Thomas, Dylan
Thurber, James (a favorite)
Tolstoy, Leo (a favorite)
Updike, John
Verne, Jules
Vonnegut, Kurt
Waugh, Evelyn
Wells, H.G. (a favorite)
Wharton, Edith
Williams, Tennessee (a favorite)
Wodehouse, P.G. (a favorite)
Woolf, Virginia
Wouk, Herman (a favourite)
Yeats, William Butler
What books did you get for Christmas? I have a feeling you received some wonderful books too. Happy reading...!
Cheers,
36 comments:
I look at book reviews on blogs the same way you look at recipes on blogs.
I think most blog readers like to read just as many of us like to cook but not everybody wants to read about what we've read or cooked.
Yours is a wonderful list of authors. I could add a dozen or more expecially the humorous mysteries.
Mia, well, I guess we just can't please everyone, can we? :-)
Blue Ridge Mountains, I would love you to add to my list. I'm always excited to read new authors. :-)
What a great list, you really can't go wrong with a list like that. I loved The Uncommon Reader it is a favourite, I also enjoyed the film version of History Boys by Alan Bennett, although I know that one makes some people uncomfortable. I got a couple of books for xmas; a volume of best essays of 2009, a new Neil Gaiman and my daughter gave me Queen Victoria Demon Hunter with the directive to have fun reading and blogging it, it looks like a cross between historical fiction and Buffy vampire slayer, looking forward to finding out.
Happy new year!
Timothy Findlay
Audrey Niefenegger
Philippa Gregory
... just a few more to add to your list.
You have a superb list there.. and a very big list too.....
Actually, I ordered a book I want by Nancy I. Sanders, six times. Each time, it was brought to my attention that someone else really needed the book, also. Ah, Christmas.
I'm still looking forward to getting the book for myself. *sigh*
***********************************
This is a copy of the same message I am posting in other places. I wanted to visit and thank everyone who has visited or followed any of my blogs. I have so enjoyed this new experience and look forward to getting to know each of you better. May this be a year of joy and prosperity for everyone.
Happy New Year!!!
Keep a hug on,
~ Just Joany
Red Wagon Flights
Word Designer
~ Yaya
Yaya's Changing World
Two new books this year, The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton, and The Tree That Time Built, a compilation of nature and science poetry to add to the more than 1200 books that crowd my tiny cottage!
Though some people may find book reviews on blogs boring, I always enjoy reading reviews of books and movies. I may not necessarily agree with reviewer but most of the time they provide interesting insight.
I think your post was quite interesting.
(See, once in a great while I can be almost civil -- not often but...! Heh!!)
Jo,
WOW! what a list...love all these. Especially Daphne du Maurier and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Pearl S. Buck might be another interesting addition. (Don't forget the romantic...Kathleen Woodiwiss.)
Love all the interesting topics you come up with. I wholeheartedly agree that there is much that could be accomplished with the money that is spent producing spectacles competing for the marketing dollars.
By the way, your life seems everything but boring!
It's funny, my to-be-read pile always seems to have a life of its own. For every book I read, two seem to spontaneously spring up in the various piles around the house. It's one of the wonderful things in my life.
I don't think this particular book would appeal to me, but as it is an opportunity to talk about books? Whee!
We've read a lot of the same authors, Jo, including James Thurber (a favorite of mine). Have you read The 13 Clocks? I adore that book and have since I was a child (it's a fairytale, of sorts). Such fun use of language.
The Last Duke of Coffin Castle, now who couldn't fall madly in love with words after reading that combination?
Happy New Year!
I've read and enjoyed a lot of the authors on your list, and I, too, have been a lifelong devourer of books.
I got a nook for Christmas, which is an ereader and I LOVE it. I was on the fence about them when the Kindle first came out, because I love hardcover books, but I have more paperbacks than I have space for. I can't believe it, but I've actually been reading more since I got it -- pretty much nonstop since Christmas. I was able to get a lot of classics on it for free, even.
Some books that I've gotten and plan to read soon or have read recently are The Help by Katherine Stockett and the Stieg Larsson books.
I'm a big fan of Baldwin too. I only have 2 books left by him to read. I've doled 'em out to myself.
With a quick look at your list of authors, I think I have read about 63 of those! I got a lovely coffee table book from my mother. It highlights the Como Park Conservatory here in St Paul, MN which is quite a unique and beautiful place. I also visited my sister's bookstore (I LOVE having a bookstore in the family) and purchased 3 children's books which looked interesting, so I'll be reading those soon.
I gave books for Christmas this year and hope the recipients enjoy what I gave.
I see you have a long list of authors as I do. It was about a year ago, when a friend of mine sent me his list - very similar to yours, and we both 'traded back and forth' additions (yes, additions, not editions) of those we also read; and as we continued throughout the year, it grew even longer.
After a while I told Wayne (my friend), that since Google asks for books we've read on its profile, we should try putting it there for others to look at.
Well, it seems Wayne gave it a try, and there wasn't enough room on the Google profile (or so he told me), to list them all. Since I haven't tried it, I don't know if they now have space for that listing.
What's good about putting your books that you've read there, is you can 'quick-click' to match up with those who also have read those books. I also have not only listed books, but authors in this particular profile category and found 'friends-in-common' this way.
What would be helpful, is if you'd note the book you liked that each and every author you listed wrote - let's say, 'my favorite book by' so-in-so author. Obviously, you might have more than one that causes you to simply not be able to say what your favorite book is (i.e. the ultimate), but I think it would be fun to see a couple books that you've liked - written by each of the authors you've listed, so those who are book-lovers might see if they've missed that particular book, and could add that to their reading.
While on the topic of authors, a dear friend of mine (and well-known author) passed away on December 29, 2009 - any of you who followed the writings of Dr. James Kavanaugh, will want to see that your collection is complete (as mine is) because we won't have his lovely poetry and other writings, to enjoy in the future. When he started to fall ill a few years ago, he promised me he'd try to 'get well', and get more writing done in his latter years. Sadly, it didn't work out as he'd hoped; James was just a few months into his 81st birthday when he died.
I think his most bold and provocative book (not of poetry) was, A MODERN PRIEST LOOKS AT HIS OUTDATED CHURCH, and it's very hard to get the original edition as I have.
I'd also add another favorite book of mine is, THE ESSENTIAL GHANDI - it is a remarkable book indeed!
Another is, THE RICH AND SUPER RICH - one that truly is 'timely', since it will give some clues as to why the big $$$$ just keep rolling around within the same families of those who control the majority of the wealth in the USA.
A relative of mine is Ralph Waldo Emerson; I've never found a book of his, that wasn't superb. I'd mention, SELF RELIANCE, as probably the most beneficial to those in today's world - it's truly timeless.
I'm also a relative of Louisa Mae Alcott, and of course it's well known the closeness of Emerson to the Alcott family; how he even loaned money to Louisa's father (who constantly had trouble with money which is why Louisa had to spend the better part of her adult life, trying to pay of her father's debts). I think all of the young ladies of my age, read LITTLE WOMEN by the time they were 10 years of age. Since we know that Louisa actually wrote a myriad of pretty lurid articles under pen names (in her early years), I don't think anyone would quite remember her for those, because they were simply sensationalistic stories to be paid $10/$20/$40 for an article, so she could support herself and help her family.
When she wrote LITTLE WOMEN - a story that was very much about her own life; her family's life and struggles, it was pretty much her 'break-through' novel for which she was paid $8500 (not bad for her time). After that, even though she tried to break away from writing children's books, the public demanded more from her and she was prolific in producing them. I think LITTLE MEN was another precious story........
I regretted that sad ending to her life and the fact that her father died only two days before she did - she was only 56 years old; maybe by those standards in the 1800's it was a 'long life', but I'd love to have seen her write another 20 years at least.
I'd add Henry David Thoreau to your list; surely Walt Whitman - and if I missed it in reading your list, O'Henry. Also, if you like behavioral studies (as I do), then add Vance Packard as well as B. F. Skinne, Martin Buber, and Eric Berne.
One of my favorite books is THE PROPHET - read all of Kahlil Gibran's books for insight into life; to all that touches each of us as we travel through it, and hear the truths of the ages of man - this author is outstanding. Equally so, his own life story is extraordinary - a book in itself.
The LETTERS OF ANSEL ADAMS and books that John Muir wrote are worth your time I believe.
Ernest Hemingway; Nataniel (goodness, that spelling looks wrong to me) Hawthorne - Frank Yerby, Mark Twain - Taylor Caldwell, Edward Cayce - all have written excellent novels.
I guess I'd better stop; my list would end up being much too long for anyone to appreciate.
Happy New Year to you and your readers. Diane
I see that I should have added an 'h' to Nathaniel - ah well, I'm sure your keen eye caught it ahead of mine. Diane
Well, I for one enjoyed your book review. I think that's a little book I would like to read also.
That's a wonderful list of authors! I've read works by many of them...but not all. You are very well read! I noticed that Edna St. Vincent Millay is on your list. Right now I'm reading a book about her. Fascinating!
I am addicted to book stores, wherever I find them.
A couple of my treasures are a little-known Henry Miller book called The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder, and a thin volume of poetry by Ernest Hemingway which I bought in Paris at a stall by the Seine. It includes the following, and this one's for you, Mark:
"They say monks masturbate at night,
That pet cats screw,
That some girls bite.
But what can I do to set things right?"
Hey Jo- I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year!!!
I love your post. Some of my best memories are of the public library. My home away from home. A place where I escaped to when home was difficult and scary. If it was not for books I can truly say I would not be here. My love of reading was passed down from my Mother and I am forever grateful to her for that. Books are a door to a thousand other worlds.
Sounds like a great book, I'm going to keep my eyes open for it. What a great list you've made too...
I received The Believers by Zoe Heller, a great writer, intelligent, at times biting & witty too. I've just started the story and I'm already hooked.
I also have a few of my guilty pleasure sci-fi/fantasy books at the ready, perfect when I want to tune out.
I'm really looking forward to my favorite author, Diane Chamberlain, to release her newest book, which comes out in a few months. She's a former therapist turned writer - her books are engaging, insightful & suspense filled - a great combo. Several people have told me Chamberlain is like a "southern" Jodi Picoult - Picoult's books are everywhere so I plan to check her works out this year.
Reading! Such an important part of life :)
Happy New Year & happy reading Jo!
Had to rewrite my comment -
Anyway, I would love to read this book - I'll add it to my queue. I always have at least one book, if not more going at the same time. Now that I read blogs, I don't have as much time for books :-(
I received rocks for Christmas - my current passion. But I do have the set of "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith to look forward to reading in the next couple of months.
I found the best-sellers list for this week; you might like it and your readers as well. Diane
1. "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing) (F-H)
2. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-H)
3. "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger (Mariner Books) (F-P)
4. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P)
5. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-H)
6. "The Shack" by William P. Young (Windblown Media) (F-P)
7. "92 Pacific Boulevard: A Cedar Cove Novel" by Debbie Macomber (Mira)(F-P)
8. "Alex Cross's Trial" by James Patterson, Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown) (F-H)
9. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P)
10. "Scarpetta" by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley) (F-P)
11. "A Good Woman" by Danielle Steel (Dell) (F-P)
12. "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) (F-H)
13. "Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin" by Kathy Griffin (Ballantine Books) (NF-H)
14. "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese) (F-H)
15. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine" by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions) (NF-P)
16. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam/Amy Einhorn) (F-H)
17. "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing) (F-H)
18. "Divine Justice" by David Baldacci (Vision) (F-P)
19. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson (Vintage) (F-P)
20. "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I" by Julia Child, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle (Knopf) (NF-H)
21. "Spartan Gold" by Clive Cussler, Grant Blackwood (Putnam Adult) (F-H)
22. "Dark Slayer" by Christine Feehan (Berkley) (F-H)
23. "Storm of Shadows (The Chosen Ones)" by Christina Dodd (Signet) (F-P)
24. "The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle" by L.J. Smith (HarperTeen) (F-P)
25. "Extreme Measures" by Vince Flynn (Pocket) (F-P)
26. "My Life in France" by Julia Child, Alex Prud'Homme, (Anchor) (NF-P)
27. "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak (HarperTrophy) (F-P)
28. "The Missing" by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House Publishers) (F-P)
29. "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris (Ace) (F-P)
30. "Culture of Corruption: Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies" by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing) (NF-H)
31. "The Brass Verdict" by Michael Connelly (Grand Central Publishing) (F-P)
32. "Blood Promise: A Vampire Academy Novel" by Richelle Mead (Razorbill) (F-H)
33. "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" by American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association) (NF-P)
34. "From Dead to Worse" by Charlaine Harris (Ace)(F-P)
35. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial) (F-P)
36. "The Quickie" by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge (Vision) (F-P)
37. "The White Queen" by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone) (F-H)
38. "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown) (NF-H)
39. "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) (NF-P)
40. "My Sister's Keeper: A Novel" by Jodi Picoult (Pocket) (F-P)
41. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre (Arthur A. Levine Books) (F-P)
42. "Shutter Island" by Dennis Lehane (HarperCollins) (F-P)
43. "The Bodies Left Behind" by Jeffery Deaver (Pocket Star) (F-P)
44. "Living Dead in Dallas" by Charlaine Harris (Ace) (F-P)
45. "The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Stieg Larsson (Knopf) (F-H)
46. "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout (Random House) (F-P)
47. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) (F-H)
48. "Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" by Julie Powell (Back Bay Books) (NF-P)
49. "206 Bones: A Novel" by Kathy Reichs (Scribner) (F-H)
50. "Hunting Ground" by Patricia Briggs (Ace) (F-P)
I see you have Tolstoy listed as one of your favorites. I haven't read any of his work but he is one of my husband's favorites, so he talks to me about him. Sometimes I wish all I had to do in life was to sit and read. Love it!
Hello Jo
I came to via Kathy's Kampground and am really impressed with that list of authors. Even tho' I read a bit (theres always so much else to do) I may try track some down in my local library.
Just out of curiosity Is the book about the Queen fact or fiction?
Take care
Cathy
Books still make most of the magic in my life, now that I am a *ahem* Senior.
I am familiar with many of the authors on your list. May I recommend one? If you like John Grisham, you are bound to like David Baldacci. Start with Absolute Power and go to The Camel Club and anything else he has written.
My dad gave me The 13 Clocks when I was a child, Jo. I ended up giving it to my son, and introducing my husband to Thurber via that book. The Last Duke of Coffin Castle is in The 13 Clocks, by the way. I know how you feel, I remember loving the stuffing out of specific books but some character names, etc. are lost to time!
Land of shimp:
Oh I do love Thurber. Journeyman paranoid...Hell, I identify. Anybody who could write something like "The Night the Bed Fell on My Father" raises a huge horselaugh from me.
How many nights. How many beds.
@ivan, he's thoroughly marvelous, I agree. Such deft use of language, and he manages to use unusual language in way that is not in the least contrived. He's a great deal of fun.
It's odd too because when people start listing the well known authors, Austen, Bronte, Hemingway, Faulkner (etc. etc. etc.) it seems that Thurber is among the less likely to be on that list for most. It's a pity because he's so very readable on top of everything else.
There are books I've read because I've been told they are marvelous accomplishments (or frankly, I was required to read them for various classes) -- Ayn Rand exists as one of those authors -- but Thurber? Thurber is a pure joy.
Carla, a friend of mine gave me a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, which may possibly be the one you are reading too. It's a fabulous book, isn't it?
Hearts, LOL. That sounds more like Carl Sandberg poetry than Hemingway. It's wonderful to find little "found objects" like that, isn't it?
McIndesm, omigoodness...! I'm glad you found the library...! And yes, I think books have saved many people, haven't they? I certainly hope they don't become obsolete.
Zoe, a friend of mine is reading "The Believers" and she loves it. I will have to borrow it from her when she's finished. I have enjoyed some Sci/Fi too, and specifically Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarkson. :-)
Nancy, I find reading in front of the computer gets uncomfortable after a while, so I don't visit as many blogs as I should. My neighbor next door has read "The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency", and she loves it...!
Diane, my goodness, you have some impressive relatives/ancestors. Holy doodle...! And thank you for the best sellers list. A lovely blogging friend of mine from England sent me "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", so it will be next on my list to read. I had no idea it was on the best-seller list.!
Brenda, you must read "Anna Karenina". It's one of the best stories ever written! And also "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I love Russian authors.
Cathy, welcome! The book is fiction, but it is based on true characters. I think the Queen would chuckle if she were to read it, which I hope she has. :-) It has a "twist" ending.
Meggie, oh, goodness, you will never be a senior...! *heh* That was the term the Queen used in her book. :-)
Kenju, thank you...! I am always looking for new books and new authors recommended by other people.
Alane, oh, gosh, it was years ago that I read it, and I had forgotten. I am going to re-read it. My dad introduced me to Thurber as well. I loved "My World and Welcome to it".
Ivan, I read "The Night the Bed Fell on my Father", and I even have a copy around here somewhere. I'm going to read it again. Thanks!
Alane, I had forgotten that I had read Ayn Rand. "The Fountainhead", yes! My friend Lesley and I sat up until about 3:00 in the morning one night, discussing that book. It was quite refreshing.
I don't think I could remember all the authors I have read.
This sounds like a delightful little book, Jo. I must add it to my ever growing list of "must reads"! Thanks for the recommend.
I didn't get any books for Christmas, but I have kept our local library busy! ;-D
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