We're lucky to have a tremendously erudite bunch of readers here at If I Ran the Zoo. A couple of weeks ago, I asked for advice on what to read (as a New Year's resolution); below is the list of recommendations:
John Barth, The Sotweed FactorAlso One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Count of Monte Cristo, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Moby Dick, which I've read; and Against the Day, which I'm reading.
Chris Chester, Providence of a Sparrow
Robert Fisk, The Great Battle for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
William H. Gass, The Tunnel
Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire (maybe just the juicy bits)
Tom Holland, Persian Fire
Robert Massie, Dreadnought
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
Joseph McElroy, Women and Men
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, Lolita, and Speak, Memory
Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul
Richard Powers, The Goldbug Variations
Aleksandr Pushkin, Eugene Onegin (Nabokov's translation, at the same time as Pale Fire)
Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Gore Vidal, United States: Essays 1952-1992
Everything on there looks immensely interesting, although (obviously) I won't have time to read all of them (unless I'm unemployed for most of the year, in which case I wouldn't be able to afford them). Nabokov in general, and Pale Fire in particular, got multiple recommendations, so after I finish Against the Day I'll start with that. I'll also try to read at least another couple of the books on the list over the course of 2007, but I haven't yet decided what (and probably won't until I get there). In the meantime, we have what amounts to a darn good list of recommendations for anyone who's looking for something interesting and thought-provoking to read.
Thanks again to all of you who made book recommendations; they are much appreciated. My 2007, at least, will be more enjoyable because of them.
[That's all, folks]
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