Tuesday, April 28, 2020

My Ideal Book Shelf


This is not a random shelf. It was put together to constitute My Ideal Bookshelf.

Last week, much to my surprise, I got a lovely box of books and DVDs in the mail from George Kelley. In there was a book called MY IDEAL BOOK SHELF and it queried famous writers, artists, chefs, etc as to what would be their ideal shelf.  I think there were permitted to choose books that they didn't actually have on a shelf. But since I don't have an artist to illustrate book spines, I am limiting mine to books I own. Of course, there are many others I might have chosen had I had them. Instead I read them from the library or gave them away over the years. Certainly A FAN'S NOTES would be here, RABBIT RUN and THE GREAT GATSBY. And most surely, LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER by Stewart O'Nan.

I also have to confess although there are many, many mysteries on my shelves when it came to choosing books that endured, they came further down in the list. As much fun as mysteries are, it is rare that they touch my heart and soul. The closest I came to choosing one on here is THE MUSIC OF CHANCE, (Paul Auster) which is certainly noir if not a classic mystery. If I had owned THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR by Tey or a Rendell book, they might have been one of the fifteen. Or perhaps A PLACE OF EXECUTION by Val McDermid.

The titles here are a little hard to read. Half of them are story collections. I could easily have included more. Only two of these books are non-fiction. THE FIFTIES, which I find fascinating and have read several times. And PICTURES OF A REVOLUTION, which is about the five films nominated for Best Picture in 1967 and how they reflected on Hollywood's Past and Hollywood's Future. I wanted to choose a biography because I do read a fair number. But that meant I had to remember how strong the writing was not just how much I admired the subject. If I owned A. Scott Berg's bio of Max Perkins, that would be on my shelf.

I wanted to have an even balance between men and women, but it was not to be.

In case, you are having trouble making out titles, here they are.

HOUSEKEEPING, Marilynne Robinson-When I forced this on my book group, they didn't get it because the main character is problematic. But I loved it.
NEVER LET ME GO, Ishiguro-A speculative book, unusual for me, but I found it mesmerizing. It concerns the fate of clones created for a specific and cruel purpose.
THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER, Anyone who thinks Cheever only writes about suburban angst needs to read "The Swimmer" or "The Enormous Radio."
WHERE I'M CALLING FROM, Raymond Carver, the most influential ss writer in the last half of the 20th century. Even if Gordon Lish rewrote his stories.
AMERICAN PASTORAL, My favorite Roth. No, my favorite if I were to be honest would be GOODBYY COLUMBUS but this is the better novel. Although his last NEMESIS comes close. I would not rank THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA is the top five.
OLIVE KITTEREDGE, Elizabeth Strout, Again a cranky, quirky, sometimes annoying protagonist who still captures our hearts. OLIVE AGAIN, is almost as good.
DESPERATE CHARACTERS, Paula Fox.  New York in the seventies has never looked grimmer as a couple make their way through it.
LOST IN THE CITY. Edward Jones. This collection came out of nowhere and captures life in DC for African-Americans. Then Mr. Jones disappeared again and reappeared ten years later to write THE KNOWN WORLD, about black slaveowners. But the short stories just sweep me away.
ELEVEN KINDS OF LONELINESS, Richard Yates, I might have included REVOLUTIONARY ROAD or THE EASTER PARADE but they are not on my shelves. His stories are plenty great enough though.
I talked about the two non -fiction books and THE MUSIC OF CHANCE.
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, Tim O'Brian, Brilliant stories about Vietnam and the men who came home from it.
DANCE OF THE HAPPY SHADES, Alice Munro. Her first collection, stories set in Ontario.
SHILOH AND OTHER STORIES, Bobbie Ann Mason, who went on to write IN COUNTRY, which I could also have included. Stories about simple people in Kentucky. Very influential on my writing. Known for K-Mart realism, because she referenced actual stores more often and perhaps earlier than most.

Pictures are not necessary but what books would be on your ideal book shelf?

19 comments:

Jerry House said...

My ideal bookshelf would be about 782 miles long and would contain a few favorites and plenty of books I have not yet read. The books would be arranged alphabetically by author. I would throw out any books by Aaron A. Aardvark so the shelf would start with ABBOTT.

Todd Mason said...

The Cheever is likely to be on my shelf thus, too. Plenty of suburban angst in those two cited stories, but they do go a bit broader and deeper, while "The Swimmer" is nearly speculative fiction (it's been anthologized as horror, which is pushing it just a little) and "The Enormous Radio" is inarguably so. Fantastic opens up some metaphors for use...even if Roth might not've used them for his most deeply felt work (such as OUR GANG).

Old friends such as Avram Davidson's Eszterhazy volumes, Jorge Luis Borges's co-translation of his own work, Vivian Gornick's ESSAYS IN FEMINISM, Emma Goldman's LIVING MY LIFE, a couple volumes of Mark Twain at least, Sophocles, Damon Knight's short fiction and nonfiction, Joanna Russ's fiction and essays, Algis Budrys's fiction and essays, at least one of Robert Arthur's and Harold Masur's anthologies, some of Noam Chomsky's historical writing, some of Lewis Lapham's essays, Patrick Moore's pop science writing, Muriel Spark, Shirley Jackson, Thurber, Guy Davenport, Ambrose Bierce. THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES and BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES if I could include just two annuals. Kate Wilhelm's DEATH QUALIFIED, at least, and the complete Carol Enwhwiller, re-proofread. At least a volume or two of Walter Tevis; the volume of Wilma Shore fiction I or someone should assemble, at least a couple of volumes of Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, Margaret St. Clair, Theodore Sturgeon. Donald Westlake, John D. MacDonald (THE EXECUTIONERS if nothing else), Walter Van Tilburg Clark and Kit Reed, Lee Hoffman and backfiles of F&SF, BLACK MASK, FANTASTIC, TRIQUARTERLY, NEW AMERICAN REVIEW, CONJUNCTIONS, THE ONTARIO REVIEW, EQMM, HARPER'S, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, COLLIER'S...poetry by William Stafford, Langston Hughes, Adrienne Rich,, maybe Marilyn Hacker, don marquis. THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH...bell hooks, Katha Pollitt, some Eugene O'Neill, some G. B. Shaw, some William Saroyan. And some books by friends. Groaning shelf, as mine would need to be...and I haven't even gotten to the art books.

Margot Kinberg said...

I like this idea, Patti, and thanks for sharing your ideal shelf. Hm....I'd have to do some real thinking about what would be on mine. I agree with you about the variety, and you've got some great choices.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Nice choices! I love the idea and I like the choices you made and the others you referenced - Carver, Exley, McDermid, O'Nan, Updike, Yates, O'Brien, Mason, all excellent picks.

If I was just going with things I have on my shelves? Here is one list:

Leon Edel, Henry James - The Complete Biography (5 volume boxed set)
Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time (12 volumes in 4 paperbacks)
Jack Finney, Time and Again (favorite time travel book; also his From Time to Time and Ken Grimwood's Replay, among other time travel books)
Shirley Jackson, Life Among the Savages & Raising Demons (so not like her typical work, these deal with raising her four kids; very funny)
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere (terrific fantasy, makes great use of London)
Frederick Exley, A Fan's Notes (drinking and football)
Stanley Elkin, The Dick Gibson Show (crazy tale of late night talk radio call-in show)
Stephen King, The Stand (still my favorite of his)
Don Miller, B Movies (if you love '30s and '40s black & white cheesy movies, you need this)
Barzun & Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime (this meant a lot to me when it first came out, and I read it cover to cover)
J. K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series
The Baseball Encyclopedia (another book I pored over endlessly)

pattinase (abbott) said...

Great choices. TIME AND AGAIN is so brilliant. I have THE MAGIC OF SHIRLEY JACKSON and considered that.
Jerry-I think they were limited on how many books they could have on their shelf.
I do have a Muriel Spark collection. I have more story collections than novels I think. Harder to part with them for me.

Rick Robinson said...

What a cool idea, and I like your choices, at least those I'm familiar with I have the Cheever, but not the rest.

My shelf? Right off the cuff:
THE RAYMOND CHANDLER OMNIBUS which has The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window and Lady in the Lake.
THE HERCULE POIROT CASEBOOK by Agatha Christie, which has most of the short stories.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by Tolkein.
THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durrell, the four novels Justine, Balthazar, Montolive and Clea.
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL by James Heriot. I love all four of the novels in this set.
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM by Hemingway, maybe my favorite of his.
THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES by Arthur Conan Doyle, which has all of his novels and stories about the great detective.
A poetry collection, perhaps BEST AMERICAN POEMS or a collection of the classic British poets.
NOW WE ARE SIX by H. H. Milne, children's poems I loved as a child and still do.
BOUNDARY WATERS by William Kent Kruger, my favorite (just barely) of the Cork O'Conner series.
SHOGUN by James Clavell

There would be others, but without going to my shelves and browsing that's what I came up with.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

This is off the top of my head.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Rhe Hainish Novels & Stories-Ursula LeGuin (LOA)
The Classic Crime Novels by Elmore Leonard(LOA)
Hard Boiled Wonderland-Haruki Murakami
The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth
Water Music by T. C. Boyle
The Collected Short Stories of T.C. Boyle (2 volumes)
Things We Carried by Tim O'Brien
Tapping the Sorce by Kem Numm
Intruder In the Dust by William Faulkner
The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth

pattinase (abbott) said...

Have never been able to read Barth, Gaddis, Pynchon, all those guys. That style of writing goes right over my head. Even THE CRYING OF LOT 49, which is supposedly more accessible. I like McMurtry a lot. I have never read that Faulkner but love A Light in August and As I Lay Dying.
Phil liked Murakami but again, he eludes me. I am a plain speaking reader, I guess. I read something by Numm, can't remember if this was the one.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

I already wrote this once and it disappeared into the cloud I guess.

Pynchon-I like V and Crying of Lot 49 when I first read them. Attempted Lot 49 last year and found the writing style very annoying.
Never read Gaddis-looked a bit difficult.
Barth- I loved The Sot Weed Factor when I read it about fifty years ago. Afraid to try it again.
Intruder in the Dust is a bit like To kill a Mockingbird. A lot of people are turned off to Faulkner because their first experience with him is usually The Sound and the Fury which is one of his more difficult reads.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Tried the Sound but very difficult.

Jeff Meyerson said...

I almost put LORD OF THE RINGS on the list too. SHOGUN would definitely be on it, but I don't seem to have a copy at the moment. Ditto LONESOME DOVE.

Bill Crider was - of course - a big proponent of Pynchon's V.

George said...

Great idea, Patti! And I'm glad you enjoyed MY IDEAL BOOK SHELF. It's fun to browse. Like Jerry House, my ideal book shelf would be 782 miles long. But, here are 10 books off the top of my head:
1. COMPLETE SHORT STORIES by Henry James
2. COMPLETE Sherlock Holmes by A. Conan Doyle
3. BEST SHORT STORIES by P. G. Wodehouse
4. COMPLETE HERCULE POIROT SHORT STORIES By Agatha Christie
5. COMPLETE MISS MARPLE SHORT STORIES By Agatha Christie
6. COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
7. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE By Jane Austen
8. THE WHITE ALBUM By Joan Didion
9. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE By Shirley Jackson
10. THE DYING EARTH By Jack Vance

pattinase (abbott) said...

I thought about THE WHITE ALBUM or SLOUCHING TOWARD BETHLEHEM, but for me it would be just rounding out the shelf rather than a book I truly loved. Good list. I should have included a Jane Austen since I've read them most often.

George said...

Patti, I have a one-volume edition of all of Austen's novels, but the type is microscopic so I figured I'd just go with my favorite Austen novel, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. I also have a thick volume of Joan Didion's collected writings that tempted me. But I think Didion hit it out of the park with THE WHITE ALBUM. The same goes for the LIBRAY OF AMERICA volume of Shirley Jackson: Novels & Stories.

Mathew Paust said...

Great set, Patti. I thought that Cheever jacket looked familiar! I have one in one of the boxes I still haven't unpacked after several moves. Virtually all of my reading now is on my laptop's Kindle app.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I can only do so much kindle and it starts to seem like I am reading the same book. Not sure why.It does keep down the clutter and I have downloaded a bunch in the last six weeks. Today DEATH IN VENICE. Not sure I will be able to read it though.

George said...

Patti, I read DEATH IN VENICE and was underwhelmed. I know what you mean by reading e-books and they all end up seeming the same. The look and feel of a real book enhance the reading experience. Maybe, that's why I have so many books!

Jeff Meyerson said...

I was in an advanced English class in high school, and DEATH IN VENICE was one of the books we had to read. Like George, I was underwhelmed. We also read DUBLINERS and PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN. Neither was typical for mid-1960s. This teacher did what she wanted.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I loved THE DUBLINERS. I am now a shopaholic.