Dan's Library. Henry Miller Makes a List of "The 100 Books That Influenced Me Most" Take a survey of a hundred writers from the mid- to late-twentieth century about the books that influenced them most and you’re bound to find plenty of Henry Miller tucked in with the Victorians, the Russians, and the Beats. The Brooklyn-raised author of such notoriously banned novels as Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer has long appealed to contemporary writers not only because of his frank explorations of sexuality and other taboo subjects but also because—like so many avant-garde and not so avant-garde writers after him—he had the audacity to present his own life and loves as literary material. Long before the memoir became the dominant force in American letters, with all of the attendant controversies about truth-telling in the form, Miller blended fact and fiction in ways that made it hard to tell where one ended and the other began.
In his meditation on “his sources of creative spark,” Miller discusses at length his ideas about education, and its many failings. Chris Hedges: Written, Recommended, Referenced or Read (103 books) Ten Funny Books You May Not Have Read. What are the funniest books ever written? The answers always seem to be the same: Catch-22, A Confederacy of Dunces, and maybe Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In a way, these are the funniest books. They’re certainly among the cleverest books, their setup-and-punchline jokiness most closely resembling the type of humor we appreciate in today’s sitcoms and stand-up.
However, I would like to suggest that there are subtler modes of humor available as well—books whose humor is not always derived from the spasms of individual jokes but also from a slow accumulation of ideosyncracy. I’ve come to think of them as books that are “holistically” funny, if that makes any sense. They do indeed have healing powers. 1. This is the best book ever written about radio, and its wit, out-of-this-world language, and sense of wonder are a match for the best of that medium. 2. The most underrated member of the Oulipo group, Raymond Queneau writes like a sunnier James Joyce. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
VersoBooks.com. Feeling underwhelmed by your orthodox assigned readings? Expand your knowledge of left theory, give your political arguments some bite, and spark a love for revolutionary writers with this updated list of essential Verso titles for undergraduates. Whether you're a student of history, sociology, political science, or geography, look no further for key radical texts and indispensable primers on today's top thinkers. 1.The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. Top of the list, the second biggest-selling book ever published. 2. A foundational work of feminist theory, Women's Oppression Today looks at the relationship between women's liberation and Marxists ideas. 3. 4. Benjamin Kunkel, founder of N+1, offers an essential pocket-sized primer on some of the most important theorists on the current global economic crisis. 5. If you're looking for a more sweeping review of critical theory, Razmig Keucheyan's The Left Hemisphere brings together key debates in leftist scholarship and politics. 6. 7. 8.
The Very Best Cookbooks of the Year - Corby Kummer. A guide for chefs and food lovers alike Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America, by Maricel E. Presilla Few years yield books as encyclopedic and scholarly as this. Presilla, a culinary historian with a Ph.D. in medieval Spanish history, traveled everywhere in Latin America to bring an anthropologist's curiosity and trained cook's eye to the food of villages and cities. The result is the year's essential reference work, the first I've seen to comprehensively treat many countries whose food increasingly turns up in new restaurants--Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Cuba, of course Mexico--along with cuisines we never see, like those of Nicaragua, Uruguary, Paraguay.
As huge as the book is, it's designed to be usable by cooks, with chapters organized by ingredients and families of dishes, rather than by the many countries or ethnic influences Presilla carefully traces. Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi Modernist Cuisine at Home, by Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet. Staff Picks. The Lives of Things by Jose Saramago Staff Pick Originally published in Portuguese in 1978 (as Objecto Quase), The Lives of Things collects six short stories that are amongst the earliest of José Saramago's writings to have yet been translated into English. Released the year after Manual of Painting and Calligraphy (long out of print in English, but recently republished) and some four years before his epic Baltasar and Blimunda, The Lives of Things finds the Portuguese Nobel laureate experimenting with and developing the style that would later come to define his career. Saramago seldom wrote in the short story format, so in addition to glimpsing some of his earlier writing, this volume also makes for a curious entry in a body of work made up of predominantly full-length novels.
As with much of his fiction, the half dozen tales in The Lives of Things are richly imagined allegories, a few of which are informed by Saramago's characteristic political sensibilities. 10 Wonderful Russian Novels You Probably Haven’t Read. As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the 2014 Winter Olympics start tomorrow in Sochi, Putin’s favorite vacation spot. So why not commemorate the event by doing something wholly un-sports-related and not the least bit outdoorsy, and pick up a Russian novel? If you somehow managed to get to the Olympics, you can commune with the locals — if not, you can get yourself in the Russian mood just in time to watch the ice skaters.
Now, it’s a good bet that you already have a few Russian novels under your belt. After all, they have a reputation for being philosophical, multi-character tomes, the kind of things you want to hold a parade for yourself after finishing, and an entire squadron of them have been elevated to the kind of classics every American teenager is asked to read at some point or another. Day of the Oprichnik, Vladimir Sorokin. 5 Black Children’s Authors and Illustrators You Should Know | Baby & Blog.
By Alicia Barnes, liciabobesha.com Black people are doing great things in all fields though that’s not often the story we hear. That’s why I turn to black storytellers to make sure my son’s exposed to beautiful images and stories written by people and featuring characters who look us. Here are some black children’s illustrators and authors to add to your child’s bookshelf. 1. Kadir Nelson Partnering with authors including celebrities such as famed filmmaker Spike Lee, Kadir Nelson has brought us some gorgeous illustrations of black children and families.
Kadir Nelson’s books to look for: Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson (Coretta Scott King Honor Book)Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange and Kadir Nelson (Coretta Scott King Book Award Winner)Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee and Kadir NelsonPlease, Puppy, Please by Spike Lee Tonya Lewis Lee and Kadir NelsonSalt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Deloris Jordan, Roslyn M. 2. 3. Whose Toes are Those? 35 Perfect Examples of the Art of the Short Story. People can argue all day about the greatest novels, but there is never enough discussion about short story collections. In honor of the first exceptional example of 2014 – Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus — and the fact that The New Republicis publishing short fiction again, we were inspired to come up with this list of essential collections by masters of the form and up-and-comers alike. Some entries in this canon are anthologies of an author’s complete works, while others are individual books that are perfect on their own; either way, these 35 volumes are required reading.
Airships, Barry Hannah If we were to build a Mount Rushmore of great southern writers, Barry Hannah’s face would be placed right alongside Faulkner and O’Connor. This 1978 collection, edited by Gordon Lish, is the perfect place to start if you want to experience Hannah’s sense of humor and storytelling at its finest. Just be prepared to get hooked. HHGA Books | Dedicated To Real Hip Hop. The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list | Books | The Observer. 1. Don Quixote Miguel De CervantesThe story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries. • Harold Bloom on Don Quixote – the first modern novel 2. Pilgrim's Progress John BunyanThe one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair. • Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: The Pilgrim's Progress 3.
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe The first English novel. • Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Robinson Crusoe 4. Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision. • Robert McCrum's 100 best novels: Gulliver's Travels 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83.
10 of the Greatest Essays on Writing Ever Written. If there’s one topic that writers can be counted on to tackle at least once in their working lives, it’s writing itself. A good thing too, especially for all those aspiring writers out there looking for a little bit of guidance. For some winter inspiration and honing of your craft, here you’ll find ten great essays on writing, from the classic to the contemporary, from the specific to the all-encompassing.
Note: there are many, many, many great essays on writing. Bias has been extended here to personal favorites and those available to read online. “Not-Knowing,” Donald Barthelme, from Not Knowing: the Essays and Interviews of Donald Barthelme. In which Barthelme, a personal favorite and king of strange and wonderful stories, muses on not-knowing, style, our ability to “quarrel with the world, constructively,” messiness, Mallarmé, and a thief named Zeno passed out wearing a chastity belt. “The not-knowing is crucial to art, is what permits art to be made. The Weekly Ansible, 50 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Works Every Socialist Should Read (by China Mieville) 50 Books That Define the Past Five Years in Literature. Five years ago this month saw the publication of Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 in English — which made it one of those rare moments when you could walk into a coffee shop, step onto a bus, or enter a bookstore and find someone raving about or devouring an ambitious novel that topped a thousand pages.
Bolaño’s posthumously published book topped almost every year-end list and signaled yet another shift in literary tastes, creating larger audiences for works in translation, historical storylines, and narrative complexity. The years since the publication of 2666 have been a strange but undeniably excellent time to be a fan of literature. Between the uncertain future of the publishing industry, the rise of indie presses, new literary magazines, and, of course, the Internet and ereaders, I believe we will look back on this bittersweet period for the book industry as a very unique and fruitful time for book lovers.
Open City, Teju Cole (2012) Writers and critics on the best books of 2013. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental portrayal of contemporary China. It made me think and laugh. I also love Dave Eggers' The Circle (Hamish Hamilton), which is a sharp-eyed and funny satire about the obsession with "sharing" our lives through technology. It's convincing and a little creepy. William Boyd By strange coincidence two of the most intriguing art books I read this year had the word "Breakfast" in their titles.
They were Breakfast with Lucian by Geordie Greig (Jonathan Cape) and Breakfast at Sotheby's by Philip Hook (Particular). Bill Bryson Eleanor Catton My discovery of the year was Eimear McBride's debut novel A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing (Galley Beggar Press): in style, very similar to Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, but the broken ellipses never feel like a gimmick or a game. Shami Chakrabarti Sarah Churchwell Jim Crace Roddy Doyle Richard Ford Jonathan Franzen Antonia Fraser John Gray. Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia. Dr.Henry A. Giroux-Books. Books ______________________________________________________________ 57. America's Education Deficit and the War on Youth: Reform Beyond Electoral Politics Monthly Review Press (2013) New!
56. Youth in Revolt: Reclaiming a Democratic Future (Critical Interventions: Politics, Culture, and the Promise of Democracy) Paradigm Publishers (2013) New! 55. 54. 53. 52. 51. 50. 49. 48. 47. 46. 45. 44. 43. 42. 41. 40. 39. 38. 37. 36. 35. 34. 33. 32. 31. 30. 29. 28. 27. 26. 25. 24. 23. 22. 21. 20. 19. 18. 17. 16. 15. 14. 13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 10 Highbrow Books for Smart Stoners. Rejoice, habitual imbibers of the magic herb. This year, the smoke-filled 4/20 falls on a Saturday, so you can celebrate the holiday unencumbered by the work day (if you still have one).
If you’d like to supplement tomorrow’s afternoon festivities with a little bit of quality reading but can’t bear the obvious drug-addled narratives or trippy lit, we’ve got you covered with a list of highbrow books for smarty-pants stoners. Check out your options, and while you’ve still got your wits about you, add to our list in the comments. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño No, this novel isn’t a trippy escape down the rabbit hole — unless you count all the various voices of the polyphonic narrative echoing around in your head. Then there’s the “visceral realists,” a phrase that might appeal to the stoner in you, the sometime poets who wander around the desert in a ’75 Impala and fund their magazine, Lee Harvey Oswald, by selling high-grade marijuana. 10 Books Still Transforming The Consciousness of Black People. 15 Works of Dystopian Fiction Everyone Should Read. Dystopian fiction has enjoyed a renaissance in these scary post-9/11 times, and the fact that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is sure to destroy all competition at the box office is a testament to the fact that, weirdly enough, fiction set in some post-apocalyptic world run by some totalitarian government has occupied the same place in the current cultural zeitgeist as otherworldly monsters like vampires and zombies.
Although the books were initially written for teenagers, adults have helped make The Hunger Games a cultural phenomenon. Maybe the trilogy is not as iconic as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (all of which you should already have read), but it’s definitely required reading if you find yourself drawn to dystopian fiction.
Here are some other great books that fall into that category. Invitation to a Beheading, Vladimir Nabokov. David Bowie's must-read books revealed.