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| Hearsay: |
Laura Miller investigates the art of recommending books to others. I find it quite artless and mercenary. See? No, but seriously, I’ve been recommending ex-Ninja Peter Darbyshire’s The Warhol Gang mostly. I see it as required reading. So buy it. (Also, buy the aphorisms… I just finished reading them and they’re pretty damn good! That guy may be on to something.)
As Pearl sees it, four “doorways” allow readers to enter into any work of fiction or narrative nonfiction: story, characters, setting and language. “The difference between books is often a difference in the size of those doorways,” she explained. Someone who agrees with statements like “I stayed up late to finish the book,” is drawn to story, while someone who picks “I am in awe of the way the author could put words together,” cares more about the beauty of the prose.
The ideal book, of course, excels in all four aspects, but such works are rare. (Pearl lists “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove,” and “Angle of Repose” by Wallace Stegner as her fail-safes — that is, recommendations likely to please readers of any taste.) “For a recommendation to mean something, the book has to have a door that matches the person you’re recommending it to,” Pearl observes. “You can like a book that doesn’t have your doorway, but you’re going to have a harder time getting into it.”
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July 23rd, 2010 at 10:22 am
I’ve found Jonathem Lethem’s “Motherless Brooklyn” to be my single most successful recommendation.
Warhol Gang is one of my summer must-reads!
July 26th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I find it immensely difficult to reccomend books to people. I always feel some kind of personal responsibility to make them like it as much as i did, especially when i form some kind of emotional attachment to the book. I do reccomend Mr. Muray’s poetry to all my poetry reading friends. Ok. Friend.
Warhol Gang is being requested from my library as we speak. Well, not quite, but as soon as i close this comment and click on my library page.
July 26th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
My recommendations are honest hopes: may this book I loved be your love too. But they are also tests. Can you handle the things I love? Are you worthy? Example: I press “Never Let Me Go” on people who ask me (and they ask a lot) “What book should I read?” If they come back with “I didn’t really get it” I get a handle on their deficiencies as readers. If, on the other hand, they report edification and blubbery, unstoppable tears, they are my friends. (Such are the ways of subjectivity).
July 27th, 2010 at 7:33 am
I should set something up like Facebook so we can “like” each others’ comments… Until then: I like the way you think, AP.
July 27th, 2010 at 7:54 am
(just finished NLMG yesterday. Blubbering tears. Well, nearly… i was in public, so tried to restrain myself)
That’s a good way of looking at things, Andrew. We read the Time Traveller’s Wife in a book club, one of my favourite books. I actually got a little irate at someone who ‘didn’t get why he had to show up naked’ everyplace, and didn’t get the concept. She couldn’t get past the scifi aspect of it, to read the beautiful love story underneath. I didnt like her before, and that just confirmed my suspicion that she wasn’t worth wasting my breath on.
Andrew, have you read Before I Wake, by Robert Wiersema? I was in awe of that book. Still am.
July 27th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Great, Monica. Now Rob won’t be able to get into the Ninja clubhouse because his head won’t fit through the door…
July 27th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Sorry, George. Just trying to exercise my newfound bravery about recommending books.. your fault, entirely. (and he deserves it. Holy crow what a writer)
and..update on my Warhol Gang pursuit. I might ahve to actually buy it, My library doesn’t have it, and it’s too new to get ion interlibrary loan.
July 27th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
About five years ago a library asked me to lead a book discussion group. I hesitated, but decided to do it, in part because 1) I’d never taught nor done public speaking and was hopeless when it came to readings and 2) I figured it might be good publicity for my own stuff.
Now I do four libraries and have found it absolutely terrific to come up with a list of book recommendations for each library. There is some overlap (after all, preparing for the discussions takes a while, so I think it’s no unfair to recycle my research) but basically I’ve recommended about several dozen books over the years. I always ask for suggestions from the members, but in the crunch I get to decide.
Not everyone likes my recommendations, but when it comes to interesting discussions, a difference of opinion generally makes for more good conversation than a book most people like. I think that should be is true for more informal recommendations: someone admires your taste, asks for a book suggestion, and either likes or doesn’t like your choice. Then you take it from there into an exchange about books, life and the whole damn thing.
July 28th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Monica: Do I know of Rob Wiersema’s Before I Wake? Hell, I blurbed it! And I agree, it’s an excellent book.
(And by the way, I love book club secret fights. Buried under the politeness and “Maybe it’s just me, but…” and unsoftened by Chardonnay are real aesthetic positions and politics, and when they rise to the surface…hold onto your cheese plate!)
July 28th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Well, you were unidentified by a link, in your first comment, so i had no way of knowing. Loved your blurb. (i’m just benig polite, i dont remember your blurb). I can’t wait for his next one…
I long for another book club, or maybe a stint like Mary’s. The book club i belonged to kind of fell apart. It’s ok, for the most part, they were not fun, nor intellectually stimulating. I want to argue over cheese plates.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:20 am
oh.. Andrew, just figured out who you are. Killing Circle, one of my daughter’s favourite books. She’s been bugging me to read it for months now… i’ll move it to the top of my pile. Lately, my reading pile consists of people that are, like,.. you know, facebook friends of mine…. so.. i’m just sayin…. (ahem)Peter darbyshire(cough cough)
July 28th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Your daughter sounds like a charming and intelligent woman.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:11 am
she is, very much so. I’ll tell her you said so.