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Although I know lists like these are entirely subjective — and the creator of this one even admits such efforts can be “absurd” — I still am drawn to them. Last week, Flavorwire posted a list of a “single must-read book” from each of the last 50 years, together with anywhere from zero to a handful of “also recommended” books for each year. This one intrigued me because it is a fairly close match to my reading life. (But, no, I wasn’t reading The Bell Jar at age seven.)
There were a couple ground rules in coming up with the list, including that no specific author should be chosen for more than one
year and a focus on fiction over other genres. I noticed a couple other things although they also take the recommended books into consideration: there’s a bent toward short stories and the occasional “difficult” Novel (see 1973 and 1996) but also more speculative fiction than I might have anticipated.
Here’s how it breaks down for me with those I’ve read in bold, those on my bookshelves or ebook reader are underlined and the number of recommended books and how many I’ve read are in parentheses. I read less than 10 percent of the “must reads” — there’s even some I don’t know that I’ve heard of — although I’ve read close to a quarter of the recommendeds.
1963 — The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1/5)
1964 — Herzog, Saul Bellow (0/5)
1965 – The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley (2/5)
1966 – Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag (2/5)
1967 — The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (0/4)
1968 — Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion (1/2)
1969 — I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (2/5)
1970 – Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume (0/4)
1971 – The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor (1/3)
1972 – Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino (0/1)
1973 – Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon (0/2)
1974 – The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin (0/1)
1975 – The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux (0/5)
1976 – Speedboat, Renata Adler (0/2)
1977 – The Shining, Stephen King (1/4)
1978 – The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch (1/3)
1979 – The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter (2/7)
1980 – Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (1/3)
1981 – Outside Over There, Maurice Sendak (0/4)
1982 – The Color Purple, Alice Walker (0/3)
1983 – Cathedral, Raymond Carver (0/2)
1984 – Money, Martin Amis (2/4)
1985 – The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (2/5)
1986 – Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman (0 recommended)
1987 – Beloved, Toni Morrison (0/4)
1988 – Bad Behavior, Mary Gaitskill (0/4)
1989 – Geek Love, Katherine Dunn (0/2)
1990 – The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (0/3)
1991 – Possession, A.S. Byatt (1/4)
1992 – The Secret History, Donna Tartt (0/4)
1993 – The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx (0/3)
1994 – The Ice Storm, Rick Moody (0/2)
1995 – Sabbath’s Theater, Philip Roth (1/3)
1996 – Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace (0/2)
1997 – Underworld, Don DeLillo (2/6)
1998 – Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (0/2)
1999 – Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee (0/3)
2000 – Pastoralia, George Saunders (2/6)
2001 – Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald (1/2)
2002 – Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (0/3)
2003 – The Known World, Edward P. Jones (2/4)
2004 – The Epicure’s Lament, Kate Christensen (3/5)
2005 – Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link (2/3)
2006 – The Road, Cormac McCarthy (0/6)
2007 – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2/2)
2008 – Dangerous Laughter, Steven Millhauser (1/2)
2009 – Lit: A Memoir, Mary Karr (0/2)
2010 – A Visit From the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan (4/7)
2011 – Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan (2/6)
2012 – Building Stories, Chris Ware (2/3)
2013 – The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner (0/1)
… the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.
Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Random Observation
- You know it’s summer in South Dakota when the outdoor sign of national chain hotel on the main drag in the state capitol promotes having “Free Minnows”
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- The Insanity Virus (“Schizophrenia … does not begin as a psychological disease. Schizophrenia begins with an infection.”) (via)
Weird Shit of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
Take the time to be free
Dave Mason, “To Be Free,” Headkeeper
I’ve been an evangelist for Maria Doria Russell’s The Sparrow since I first read it in 1996. Although using science fiction as a vehicle, it is a thought-provoking look at philosophy and spirituality. I even have two first editions of it, the one I read and a rather pristine one as a sort of personal collector’s item. It is, of course, on my list of Desert Island Books.
 Two or three months ago I pulled my first copy of the shelves, thinking I should read it again. It got moved to the “TBR” bookshelves next to the bed — and it’s sat there ever since. Why? I’m afraid that, for whatever reason, it won’t be as good. I don’t think I’m alone in that regard. In fact, what prompted this post was another blogger’s post about in rereading one of her favorite books, she was unable to recapture it — or even make it more than 150 pages in.
I think I’ve only reread three of the ten books on my Desert Island list. And I know Darkness at Noon lost some of its force with Communist regimes falling by the wayside. Of course, the book was written more than 70 years ago (although just nine years before 1984).
I don’t know if I will overcome this fear. Every time I see the book spine I think of how much I loved the book — and then think how I don’t want to ruin that feeling.
If you saw a burning bush, would you (a) call 911, (b) get the hot dogs, or (c) recognize God? A vanishingly small number of people would recognize God … and most of them had simply missed a dose of Thorazine.
Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
Blog Headline of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.
Jane Wagner, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
I need to preface this post with two comments. First, I am a strong supporter of gun control. Second, school administrators and teachers often are in a no win situation when it comes to policies and procedures. But the fact some wacko people get ahold of guns and start shooting in schools, theaters, malls, etc., seems to have pushed us over the edge.
Here’s some news stories just from the last month:
- Elementary school students in Washington were suspended last week for bringing Nerf guns to school — with their teacher’s permission.
- A second grader in Virginia was suspended for two days for pretending his pencil was a gun while playing with his friend in class.
- An 11-year-old boy in Maryland was suspended for 10 days for talking about guns on a school bus ride home.
- As I noted in this month’s first Weekend Edition, a Maryland kindergartner was suspended for bringing a cap gun on a school bus.
- Another kindergartner, this one in Massachusetts, got in trouble for bringing a Lego gun the size of a quarter on the school bus.
Of course, the cause célèbre stems back to March when a Maryland school (what is it with Maryland?) suspended a second grader who chewed his Pop Tart into the shape of a gun. As I say, I don’t think we do enough as a nation to control weapons whose purpose largely is to hurt, maim and kill others. But plainly we have moved from common sense to hysteria.
Guns don’t belong in schools or on school buses, regardless of who possesses them. But some rule of reason has to be applied in each circumstance. These situations aren’t effective enforcement of rules and policies. Instead, they squander teaching opportunities.
Knowledge counts but common sense matters.
LouAnne Johnson, Dangerous Minds
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Disclaimer 
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