Literary Disco discussion
What would you like Literary Disco to read and why?
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Julia
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Nov 13, 2012 08:47AM
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I second The Walking Dead or Feed by Mira Grant a zombie book off the YA shelf it is the first in the Newsflash Trilogy. Non zombie theme but still on the YA shelf The Hunger Games.
I agree with Andrew, a play would be cool. Perhaps Chekhov: Four Plays? Marquez is always a favourite.Turgenev's Fathers and Sons would be really interesting.Perhaps an anthology of short stories, those are fun to discuss (Eugenide's My Mistresses Sparrow is Dead, Calvino's Cosmicomics or Kundera's Laughable Loves).
I know this is a YA book, but Spinelli's STARGIRL is accessible to young and old. I think it's a beautiful sentiment, it softens us and reminds of us of young love, the practice of being humble and ultimately, it just tugs at the heartstrings.
S.
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Keep them coming!
Julia
The house of sleep by Jonathan coe. Really a unique find that I'd love to hear discussed.
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. First, because I'm reading it. Second, I would love to hear a discussion about the narrative changes used to tell the story.
. i like eggers and i think there are some interesting choices he made with writing this book. number one, that he writes from the first perspective although it's not his story. a powerful work.
This is more a comment for Julia rather than a discussion topic- after listening to (and laughing to) the episode on SVH, it got me to thinking about other books I read and loved as a kid. The author that I kept coming back to was Cynthia Voigt. Did you ever read anything by her? I especially loved the Tillerman books (I think I've read The Runner about 100 times). I've considered revisiting those, but I'm kind of nervous- what if they don't hold up? I don't know that I need to tear down all the books I read in childhood...
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Hi Callie-- yes! I loved Dicey's Song. Anything about children in traumatizing situations was right up my alley. (See also: The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney.) I am happy to report to you that Cynthia Voigt is a great writer and those books DO hold up.
-- Julia
Since I am completely biased, I would love you guys to read some young adult literature but not anything that has been on the NYTimes Best Sellers list. Blythe Woolston's "The Freak Observer" (The cover alone is amazing!), anything by Pete Hautman, "Boy Toy" by Barry Lyga or 'Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley. I think there are two perceptions of young adult literature and I would love more people to see/read this version of it.
I love the show and whatever you choose to read, I am always for. Have a Happy New Year.
~ Lourdes
Priya wrote: "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. First, because I'm reading it. Second, I would love to hear a discussion about the narrative changes used to tell the story."Yes. Yes. Yes. I love this book so much and I would love to hear your take on it. Great idea Priya.
I agree with The Hunger Games suggestion. Also, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn mainly because I've been hearing mixed reviews and would love to hear what you guys think before I decided if I want to pick it up. And Fifty Shades of Grey because I really want to hear you guys rip it apart!
Mod
Hi Stephanie-- Rider & I talk about Gone Girl in our "Best of 2012" episode (there's a hint on whether we liked it or not!). Happy listening!
Mod
. i like eggers and i think are some interesting choices he made with writing this book. number one, that he writes from the first perspective although it's not his..."LOVE this book. One of my favorites of all time. Elizabeth, you are a woman of taste!
Ali and Nino: A Love StoryIt is a tale of Ali, a Muslim, who falls in love with Nino, a Georgian noblewoman.Part love story/part adventure story. Published in 1937, its set primarily in Baku, Azerbaijan on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution. A time and a place when Jews, Christians, and Muslim interacted in a way so foreign its seems impossible to believe that such was possible given today's global politics.
I have not met anyone who has read this book much less heard of it. But I think that it is one that would have broad appeal. Not many books truly capture my imagination as this did.
There is also a fascinating back story regarding the author Kurban Said. Surely a pen name, but the true identity has been left for debate, although recently a strong case can be made that Kuban Said's true identity was Lev Nessimbaum. An Jew born in Baku, whose family fled to Austria, and later fled to Italy. Lev Nessimbaum adopted the personae of Essad Bey. This topic is tackled in another fantastic book The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life which is actually the book that led me to Ali and Nino.
When listening to the SVH episode and thinking about crappy (and horrifying) books I read as a kid, I couldn't help but remember V.C. Andrews. I think "Flowers in the Attic" would lead to a pretty entertaining conversation.
Opie wrote: "Ali and Nino: A Love StoryIt is a tale of Ali, a Muslim, who falls in love with Nino, a Georgian noblewoman.Part love story/part adventure story. Published in 1937, its set primarily in Baku, Aze..."
I read The Orientalist and also immediately wanted to read Ali and Nino! I haven't gotten to it yet, but lucky for me my library does have a copy.
How about...Bridges of Madison County? I would love hearing you guys tear it to shreds.
I know this would be kind of a pain to do, but would it be possible to list the books/poems/essays/stories you guys bring up during the episodes in the show notes? I have a selfish reason for asking- I have recently come across a gift card for a local bookstore, and I would like to spend it on poetry collections- I love poetry, but I've never had any good guidance on what to buy. I know you have mentioned poets previously, but short of re-listening to each episode... this would make it much easier.By the by, I had the funny experience of listening to the podcast as I was driving home through Vermont, and listened to the "A Separate Peace" ep as I drove through Bennington. Felt very meta.
Mod
...but I have to say, of all the suggestions, I think we should do VC Andrews. I haven't read Flowers in the Attic, and I'm confused, repulsed, and yet -- utterly intrigued. A "kids book" that involves being locked in an attic and incest? And millions of young American girls read this thing?
Yes.
I am positively giddy at the prospect of an episode devoted to the creepiness that is V.C. Andrews.
Mod
Someone recommended Pulphead on our facebook, so we're doing that very soon. Keep those ideas coming!
i've never read flowers in the attic, but i know many of my friends did. weird!
The Flowers in the Attic series just gets creepier and weirder the further through the series you read. I read and reread them over and over in high school and they just kept getting stranger.
Yeah, the second book, Petals on the Wind, definitely got pretty damn bizarre. And really, when you consider that the series starts with incest, it's almost impressive that it manages to get creepier than that.The movie version of Flowers in the Attic is worth watching, too, if only for the mockery-value. The ending is completely different from the book.
Mod
Loved the bit on The Hardy Boys. Maybe Literary Disco could read/discuss other children's lit like The Series of Unfortunate Events series.
The Hardy Boys episode was great, and I totally think you guys should read a Nancy Drew. If you're up for it, you should also check out the Trixie Belden series, in which the characters are younger (I think Trixie is 13 or 14) and Trixie is less stereotypically "girly". The third or fourth book, The Gatehouse Mystery, is my favorite.Also, I had never heard of the Stratemeyer Syndicate before- it sounds so devious! They also published the Bobbsey Twins series, which I read as a child. Looking back, I remember those as being surprisingly racist, but then again I was reading the original 1920s and 1930s versions from my grandmother's library, not the 1950s and 1960s revisions.
I'm probably in the minority, but I vastly prefer the original, racist, 1920s/30s version of the Nancy Drew books. Somehow, in the PC-ifying of them, the books lost something. It doesn't help that I am always annoyed when old books are "cleaned up." You can't change history. Right or wrong, this is how people talked and wrote back then. Far better, in my opinion, to accept it for what it is (and use it as a means to open up a dialogue) than to try to erase it.
I would really enjoy reading both the original and updated Nancy Drews, just to see what the differences were. I wish publishers would release a package of both, kind of like the DVD version of the first Star Wars trilogy, which had both the original versions and the Lucas do-overs. Sorry, that got really nerdy.
You DEFINITELY need to seek out the original Nancy Drews, Callie! Growing up, I didn't like Nancy Drew at all...but I was reading the cleaned up, updated, 1970s version. Once I learned how different the original editions were, I sought them out. They are SO much better. I think I would have really enjoyed the originals as a kid. (And several of my friends have said the same thing!)
Funny enough, I actually think I've ONLY read the originals, with a few exceptions! All of the Nancy Drews I got were from my grandmother's house, and I'm pretty sure they were from the 1930s and 1940s. I hope we still have at least some of them at my parents' house, I have to get to the bottom of this!
I've just come back from the gym where I listened to your discussion on the Hardy Boys - I was laughing out loud so many times, at one point so uncontrollably ("Did you hear what happened to Ryder Strong? He got a bad case of Fenton Hardy and died."), I almost started crying with laughter and had to stop my workout for a few minutes to pull myself together. Great belly-laughing start to my Friday morning - THANK YOU!!!
Atlas Shrugged. So many people worship at Rand's altar when she just wasn't that good a writer.
I think you guys would be great to explain to poor little me what is all the big fuss with Graham Green's work? I just finished The Heart of the Matter and found it was the most boring book I ever read in my life (yes, worst than Next Episode of Hubert Aquin). Is it the fact that it is sooooo boring that makes it soooo great? Like an underground-hip thing?
Julie wrote: "I think you guys would be great to explain to poor little me what is all the big fuss with Graham Green's work? I just finished The Heart of the Matter and found it was the most boring book I ever ..."I loved The Quiet American. I liked The Heart of the Matter, Our Man in Havana and The End of the Affair as well. I wasn't keen on The Power and the Glory. But it has been a while since I read any of them. I think what I liked best was the transportation to a different time and place (pre war Vietnam, Cuba, West Africa, post WWII London. I really should re-read The Quiet American and see if it holds up for me. As I recall, all his books are very melancholy and realistic regarding human foibles but I wouldn’t call the books boring.
Ruthiella, your comment is interesting and still, the historical background is thin in The heart of the matter, and I think other authors have done better in that domain. I agree for the melancoly but I found Major Scobie's inside dilemma was not that profound. He quickly goes in despair, and concludes that suicicide is easier than trying to work things back to normal and repair his mistakes. I found him empty. But maybe that is the beauty of it. I will surely take a shot on The quiet American" Maybe it will change my opinion about this author.
I see Graham Greene's work as a continuation of Joseph Conrad's. World politics and espionage seen through a thoughtful, literary lens.
That a very interesting point of view, Eric. I like that! There is a parallel to make between The secret agent and what I have read from Graham Green.
The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola. I'm re-reading this right now, and I have a far greater appreciation for the story telling. And I mentioned The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao awhile ago, but I walked away from it not loving it was much as the librarian who helped me and other people I've talked to about it. I read somewhere not to judge a book by it's ending, and although I was hooked throughout the book the ending really did kill it for me. Also, I wasn't too keen on all the side notes the author put everywhere. For me, it killed the flow of my reading. I still would like to put it forth as a suggestion, because maybe you can explain the hype I received and maybe why it got a Pulitzer.
Another one to put in the pot, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya.
...but I have to say, of all the suggestions, I think we should do VC Andrews. I haven't read Flowers in the Attic, an..."
Yes! I read Flowers in the Attic when I was young and even my 12 year old self was like WTF is this?
Yes! I read Flowers in the Attic when I was young and even my 12 year old self was like WTF is this?
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Little Bee, Never Let Me Go, Night Circus.
Oh yeah. Night Circus. What a case of "Emperor's New Clothes" that book is!
Awesome by Jack Pendarvis, it's a short novel about a giant that can make robots and his adventures, this book is intended for adults and has a crazy absurd yet amazingly entertainingly good premise... Not to mention its hilarious !!! This book changed my life ... If you like Treasure Island!!! You will like this one... I'd love to hear you guys talk about it! :-)!
By the way I LOVE LITERARY DISCO!!! Keep it up... Do you guys have any merch? Like t-shirts/posters?
The 2013 Pulitzer Prize winners were just announced (http://www.pulitzer.org/). Maybe pick a past or present winner. Might be good for choosing a poetry episode as well.
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