Here we go.
It’s time to take a look at the next five books I’ll be reading from the Time list, with your input and suggestions last week.
These novels will numbers 65-69, and I’ll start them once I finish Ubik. When I’m done reading this next batch, I’ll be more than two-thirds of the way finished with the list.
So here are the novels I’ve chosen, in no particular order.
Their Eyes Were Watching God: A lot of you guys suggested this book. It’s actually one of my few remaining re-reads, as I read it in college. Looking forward to another visit with Zora Neale Hurston.
Possession: This novel, written by A.S. Byatt, won the Booker Prize in 1990. It’s one of the more recent novels on the list. Interesting fact about Possession: Byatt wrote the novel as a response to John Fowle’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman, which I currently have ranked in the top half of the first 64.
Call It Sleep: This one was written by Henry Roth, not to be confused with Philip, and published in 1934. The book, which is about a young boy growing up in a Jewish ghetto, was out of print for 30 years until Irving Howe put it on the cover of The New York Times Book Review in 1964. Then, it blew up.
Money: Another word for this novel, written by Martin Amis, might be “dirty.” The complete title is Money: A Suicide Note. The story is set in 1980s Hollywood, so that should about tell you all you need to know. On the bright side, it’s supposed to be funny.
The Day of the Locust: This short little book was written in 1939 by Nathanael West. It’s total coincidence that I picked this novel when it’s also set in Hollywood—this time during The Great Depression. Interesting that I’ll get to see Hollywood from two extremes, with Money being a portrait of excess. Small fact about this one: There’s a character named Homer Simpson. I’ll have to look into that.
So that’s what’s coming up on the blog in the next few months.
Any favorites here? What should I look out for?
