Summer Reading? 100 Novels to Consider

How many have you read?  Like all lists of this kind, it's plenty arbitrary and subjective.

I must confess that I thought Joyce's Ulysses was a bloated behemoth and a hot mess that isn't worth your time.  I can be an insufferable masochist, and even I could not force myself to get past the first half of this miserable monstrosity.  If you want Joyce, do yourself a favor and read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Wuthering Heights is a bit of Gothic nonsense with two of the worst characters I've met in literature.  Heathcliff and Catherine are both terrible people, and they pretty much deserve each other.  There, I said it.  If you must read a Bronte, read Jane Eyre.

Read more Jane Austen, please.

A Recipe for Renewal: A Baker Rebuilds in Post-Tsunami Japan

Meet Masayuki Kimura as he rebuilds the baking business that has been in his family for three generations.  That's some serious courage, hope, and commitment right there.  I think I have something in my eye.  The article also has a slideshow and this linked video, which I embed for you here:

Nerd Notes: 10 Lost Works of Literature

Just thinking about this makes my nerdy heart hurt a little -- or would, if I had a heart, which of course I don't.  Imagine too if we had more plays from ancient Greece and Rome ...  Of course, sometimes we do get lucky.

Call Me Ishmael: the 100 Best Book Opening Lines

This list is, of course, subject to debate!  I for one cannot stand James Joyce.  Oh, here, let me give you the top 3 novel openings.  I approve of the first two, though I think the opening of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities should have ranked higher than Gravity's Rainbow.

1. Call me Ishmael. —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)

2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

3. A screaming comes across the sky. —Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (1973)

For the record, I don't think Salinger belongs on this list.  Holden Caulfield is a loser!  Also, there are far too many 20th-century books in this list.  

Mashup Hilarity: Jane Austen's Fight Club

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I want you to hit me as hard as you can.

Previous Austen mashup hilarity here and here.  Now don't misunderstand: I love Jane Austen ... but I love playing with her books too.

Mashup Hilarity: Jane Austen + Doctor Who

Here's a shout-out to fellow literature-loving sci fi nerds everywhere, especially La Parisienne. Two of my favorite things, together at last:



"We are all fools in love." Well, that much is true enough. Exhibit A would be probably all of us who fell in love with fictional characters!

Movie Madness: "Iron Man 2" in IMAX

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

Now I want credit for mashing up Jane Austen with Tony Stark.

Nerdworld Soundtrack: Taylor Swift

Hey, it's a fun, fluffy combination of campus scenery and fictional student life, a dash of Jane Austen, a few references to Shakespeare, pretty outfits, and a catchy tune by a cute country music star (oh, to be that young! *sigh*). What's not to like? It's perfect for a cold rainy Friday evening.

Nerd Journal: Dickens on a Saturday Afternoon

I'm currently watching BBC's "Little Dorrit" miniseries on DVD. It's pretty good! And it's also faster than reading the Charles Dickens novel, since I can't very well work on my laptop and read a book at the same time, but a little TV/DVD is fine!

(See, I actually *can* watch something that's not campy pop culture silliness, OK?)

Besides, Matthew "Mr. Darcy" MacFadyen is kind of ... um, adorable.

Pop Culture Commentary: Harry Potter and the Death of Reading

This is an interesting take, even if I'm not really on board for all of it.

The writer in part laments how many adults like to read Potter and calls this "cultural infantilism." Well, OK, maybe, but it is actually possible to read both Potter and "acceptable" (according to this writer) books. I'm looking at my bookshelf now, and I wonder how much of it is "acceptable" to the writer of that article. A random selection of fiction authors include J.K. Rowling, William Shakespeare, Jasper Fforde, Robert A. Heinlein, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Virgil, Dante, Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, Ovid, Homer, Lindsey Davis, Ayn Rand, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis (Space Trilogy!), and Jim Butcher. They can all write rollicking good yarns, and isn't that that we want? I don't see why we have to constantly muck up the pursuit of a good story with snooty-sounding elitist fretting about how we're all mush-brained idiots with low sloping foreheads for liking pop culture along with the great unwashed masses. Or whatever.

Part of me is thinking that the article singles out Potter because he's just such an easy target. Nowadays anything popular and successful invites attack simply by dint of being popular and successful. The attacks usually come from the snobbish self-proclaimed egotistical intellectual elite. You know, folks who use terms like "cultural infantilism." (Did I say that out loud?) From the way he starts off, you'd think we were all heading for "Fahrenheit 451" territory or something. Get real. (You know, during the Dark Ages, literacy plummeted all over Europe, but somehow everyone all muddled through and came out the other side -- and even created some glorious bits of cultural magnificence along the way. We're currently living in the most literate period ever in the Western world. Think about that for a minute. And think about the sheer power of LITERACY, being able to read and write. And more people can do this now than ever.) Besides, is reading/books/writing alone the standard of measurement for "cultural infantilism" or even cultural vitality? Hardly.

And the really weird thing is the complaint that because a ton of people young and old read the Potter books, reading is in decline. It seems kind of, oh, oxymoronic somehow. Isn't it a good thing that a bunch of people discovered (or rediscovered) the pleasures of reading a rollicking good yarn? Apparently not, since it was the "wrong" kind of book?

Anyhoo, if I may engage in a little hypocritical digression: In all honesty, adults loving to read Potter is nowhere near as alarming as adults -- OK, let's say it, adult WOMEN -- loving to read the "Twilight" books and mooning over the execrable Edward Cullen character. I tried the first book to see what the media fuss was about, and (curiosity killed the nerd!) I wanted to gouge my eyes out afterwards. Rowling at least has a good STORY. All I'm going to say is: the Battle of Hogwarts.

My advice for everybody: read what you like and enjoy yourself, for goodness sake. Life is short. Don't let "cultural critics" dictate to you what you should or shouldn't read. They can offer their opinions, and that's it. Your choices are our own. Read with your friends and talk about what you read -- one of life's great pleasures (add coffee and cake, natch). I would also suggest reading the classics both (A) because they're fabulous in themselves and (B) you need them so you can appreciate delightful riffs on them such as Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" novels or "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."

Yes, yes, we should all read more good books, etc. etc., blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, und so weiter. But I'm not going to get into a big argument about what books are good ones (according to WHOM?). I can only tell you about books that I personally like and recommend. I'm going say, Go and have fun reading what you want to read, OK? If you have good books to suggest, please do so!

(You can also apply all this to movies too.)

Oh, and I owe you lot a "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" movie review, don't I? Oops. I've been too busy gushing over "Moon" and the information overload in the aftermath of Comic-Con. (In a nutshell, HP 6 was adequate, even good, but it wasn't anywhere near "Moon" or "Star Trek" for sheer delightful movie-going.)

Confucius Say, "Go John Galt"?

A PhD student in philosophy has an interesting application! These days I've been reading more Ayn Rand and Jane Austen than Confucius, but maybe I should crack open the Analects:

The Master said, “When a prince’s personal conduct is correct, his government is effective without the issuing of orders. If his personal conduct is not correct, he may issue orders, but they will not be followed.” -- Analects book 13

Going Galt, are we, Confucius?

Or it could be as simple as: hey, why should we pay taxes if Geithner and other DC fat cats didn't? It's called leading by example, folks.

Nerd Fun in Book Review: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"

Or, as the book reviewer has called it, ZOM ROM COM! Zombie romantic comedy!

I mentioned this book previously, and though I haven't read it, I intend to. I'm actually re-reading the original Pride and Prejudice for fun during breaks from WRITING YET ANOTHER HORRIFYING, FOOTNOTE-FILLED NERD PAPER.

The first line from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in search of more brains."

This could be hilarious.

RELATED POST: "Pride the Predator: the Movie."

Nerd Fun + Life Imitates Satire: "Pride and Predator" the Movie

Oh, yes, gentle reader! According to Variety (in a link given to me by -- who else -- the Cinema-Mad Sibling), a studio has committed to making movie combining Jane Austen and hellish monster aliens from outer space.

Guess what they're calling this flick. "Pride and Predator." No, really! Here's a blurb:

Will Clark is set to direct "Pride and Predator," which veers from the traditional period costume drama when an alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered protags, who suddenly have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about.

Shooting will begin in London later this year. John exec produces, and his Rocket partners Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish are producing.

. . . "It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect," Furnish said.

Weren't we just laughing about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies not too long ago?

PS: If you want some Austen fun but with no zombies or monsters, try Pride and Prejudice and Facebook.

Nerd Fun: Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" + Zombies

This is just too awesomely amusing for words, and you can order it at Amazon. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: the Classic Regency Romance -- Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!"

It is a truth universally acknowledged,
that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of . . .
BRAAAAAAINS! YUMMY BRAAAAAAINS!

Nerd Fun: "Pride and Prejudice" + Facebook

What if Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride and Prejudice" took place via Facebook?

Check out this delightful mashup of pop Internet culture and British literature.