SPL Reads!

A trio of Springdale Public Library folk stepped out of the library for a few hours today to hear Arkansas author Kevin Brockmeier (The Brief History of the Dead) speak at the Fayetteville Public Library.  Mr. Brockmeier was addressing the annual Gathering of the Groups, a meeting and mingling of area book clubs.  After a light lunch, a representative from each group briefly introduced the various book clubs in attendance. 

Then, at last, we heard from Mr. Brockmeier.  He briefly introduced himself and did a short reading from The Brief History of the Dead, after which he entertained questions from the audience.  The questions varied widely, from those related to close details of the book to those related to his experience as a writer from Arkansas.  Mr. Brockmeier answered every question and observation in a genial, down to earth manner, and seemed willing to talk with his audience as long as possible.  He even related to us the story of his childhood encounter with Bill Clinton in a Little Rock bookstore. 

Of particular note was Mr. Brockmeier’s mention of a running list he has of his 50 favorite books (he also mentioned that he keeps a running list of his 50 least favorite books).  He was not exaggerating;  he brought copies of the list.  The titles from this list follow (reproduced here with the author’s permission):

“Several rules: (1) I have listed these books in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, rather than in order of preference–though I’ve marked each of my ten favorites with an asterisk. (2) I have chosen no more than one book per author, except in those cases where a pair of books or a trilogy seemed to call for a single shared listing.  (3) I have tried to be honest, which is why there are so few classics on this list and so many children’s books, semi-obscure fantasists, and slim, sad coming of age stories”–Kevin Brockmeier, May 30, 2007

1. A Death in the Family by James Agee (*)

2. The Complete Short Stories by J. G. Ballard (*)

3. A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle

4. Once in Europa by John Berger

5. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

6. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (*)

7. Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

8. The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino (*)

9. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

10. Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton

11. Novelties and Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction by John Crowley

12. Matilda by Roald Dahl

13. The Latin American Trilogy by Louis de Bernieres

14. Tales of the Neveryon by Samuel R. Delaney

15. The Unexpected Universe by Loren Eiseley

16. A Passage to India  by E. M. Forster

17. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman

18. Paris Stories by Mavis Gallant

19. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

20. I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal

21. The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis

22. Collected Stories by Richard Kennedy

23. Otherwise: New and Selected Poems by Jane Kenyon

24. Elegy by Larry Levis

25. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

26. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (*)

28. All the Days and Nights: the Collected Stories by William Maxwell (*)

29. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet

30. Essays by Michel de Montaigne

31. Complete Works and Other Stories byAugusto Monterroso

32. A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami

33. The Sharpshooter’s Blues by Lewis Nordan

34. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

35. Esther Stories by Peter Orner

36. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell

37. Metamorphoses by Ovid

38. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

39. Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars by Daniel Pinkwater (*)

40. My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

41. The His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman (*)

42. Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide  by Robert Michael Pyle

43. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (*)

44. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago

45. Indistinguishable from the Darkness by Charlie Smith

46. The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

47. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

48. The Immediate Experience by Robert Warshow

49. Essays by E. B. White

50. Stoner by John Williams

During his talk, Mr. Brockmeier assured the audience that he came from a strong background or reading, one in which he reads nearly 150 books a year.  After perusing his list, it’s hard to argue that he’s certainly well-read. 

All this talk (or blogging, as it actually is) of best-of or favorite lists got me down to the business of thinking about my own list of favorite books.  I’m way too indecisive to hash out a list of 50–something will always get left out–but I think I could possibly find 10 that I could stick with. 

I’d love for you to post your list of favorite books.  If you’d like to become a registered contributor for the blog, drop me a line at bcarter@springdalelibrary.org and I’ll help you get started.

As I was researching quotes for the library display on the New Weird, I came across something interesting in an interview with China Mieville, one of my favorite living writers.  Mieville said that when he’s bored or feeling uninspired, he picks up a random trade magazine–say, something devoted to tropical bird keeping or giant pumpkin farming–to read the op-ed or letters sections.  He says that in these publications, you get a glimpse into the passionate debate that rages within these small subcultures, a debate that is utterly foreign to outsiders.  I sometimes wonder if being an avid reader is eventually going to relegate me to one of these small, amusing subcultures.

Strange as it seems, I know people who do not read, at least they very rarely pick up a book for pleasure.  They listen with bemused bewilderment when I launch into some literary diatribe with one of our mutual friends who is, like me, a voracious reader.  And I wonder about recent polls that mark the spiralling decline of readership.  How do people get by without reading?  How do they remain sane?

A recent editorial in Fangoria magazine (the trade publication for those like me–horror nerds) blamed flagging readership on technology, on the portable DVD player and the ubiquitous iPod.  This made me sad.  Now, I’m certainly no Luddite;  I own an mp3 player and have a vast personal library of DVDs.  But no matter how many gadgets I acquire, I can’t ever see myself abandoning the simple pleasure of sitting down with a book.  In fact, with all the digital noise saturating my environment, I think I enjoy that simple pleasure more.

But sometimes being a book addict has its drawbacks.  I owe my red-eyes and yawning to this addiction.  Last night, I picked up a copy of Mister B. Gone, the new novel by Clive Barker.  I was excited because it’s been some time since Barker has written a novel for adults (his Abarat series for young adults and his book of paintings just haven’t satisfied in the same way).  Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop, not until long after my usual bedtime, and I’d already devoured nearly half the book.

Mister B. Gone is the first-person narrative of a demon from the middle ages.  The novel is structured like a memoir and opens with the line “Burn this book.”  Like most of Clive Barker’s fiction, the novel is dark, though not without a certain amount of humor to balance the visceral and sometimes violent plot.  Barker’s prose has is diamond hard and razor blade incisive.  Certainly not for the faint of heart, but recommended nonetheless.