Re: Compulsively readable books, warts and all?
- From: "Andrew B. Gross" <andrewgr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 13:36:50 -0800
"Hoi-Polloi" <terry_tn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1133833222.502385.163300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Here are some of my flawed, but compulsively re-readable books
> (C.R.Bs). Anyone have the same reaction, possibly to a different set
> of books?
It's not clear to me if you're trying to get at a sort of "guilty pleasure"
aspect when you refer to books that are "flawed".
The books that I have re-read most often in the last few years, all of which
I consider to be imperfect in some respect:
Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen -- certainly flawed in some ways, but IMHO a
masterpiece, and almost the very definition of "compulsively re-readable".
It will take a few more years for me to re-read this more often than I've
re-read Lord of the Rings, since I had a 20 year head start on the latter;
but I think it will catch up eventually. I usually pack this in my backpack
when taking a plane trip, and dig it out probably half the time or so.
Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein -- also flawed, in many ways moreso than
a lot of schlock fantasy that gets roasted in this and other forums. Almost
no concept of psychology, dreadful dialogue, non-existent descriptions of
important characters and event (what does a Balrog look like again?), but I
re-read it every year during the holidays, and enjoy it every time.
Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace -- after the 2nd re-read, I have taken
to skimming or skipping the philosophical dialgogues between the wheelchair
bound Canadian operative and the American CIA agent in drag (sorry, terrible
memory for names). This is probably about 3-5% of the book. I consider the
other 95-97% of the book to be almost without blemish, and taken as a whole,
I not only think this is the greatest novel ever written, but also one of
the most rewarding to re-read-- I cancel social engagements when I'm a few
hundred pages in and really get rolling.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series, Steven Erikson -- there are some plot
lines strewn throughout these books that I skim or skip while re-reading:
Felesin is a whiny brat that isn't much fun to read about, for example. But
by and large these are really, really fun books that deserve a much wider
audience than they have. And they get better as they go along, as opposed
to, oh, choosing at random, say, The Wheel of Time books. If forced to only
be able to ever re-read one fantasy or science fiction series ever again,
I'm pretty sure I'd choose this one, if not Lord of the Rings.
Hope that's of some interest,
Andrew
.
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