The College Book List

Seeing as I've accumulated a library of over 300 books (the number's somewhere between 320-380 right now), deciding which would be accompanying me up to Stanford was an arduous and heartbreaking feat.

I've settled on just around 30 (less than 10% of my total) and thought I'd post them here. Some are old favorites, some are books I haven't read and am planning on reading imminently. I'll indicate those not yet read with an "(NR)". All of those that have been read are highly recommended.

Fiction and Poetry:

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Answered Prayers by Truman Capote

Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor (NR)

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (NR)

Kensington Gardens by Rodrigo Fresan

The Mentor Book of Major American Poets edited by Oscar Williams and Edwin Honig

Les Fleur du Mal par Charles Baudelaire

L'Etranger par Albert Camus

Nonfiction:

Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote by Truman Capote (almost done reading)

The Kings and Queens of Britain by John Cannon and Anne Hargreaves

The Making of a Poem by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland

The Novel Volume 1: History, Geography, and Culture by Franco Moretti (NR)

The Novel Volume 2: Forms and Themes by Franco Moretti (NR)

A Handbook to Literature by C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon

Littérature Francophone par Nathan (publisher) (NR)

The Art of the Surrealists by Edmund Swinglehurst

The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt by Eleanor Roosevelt (NR)

The Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath (foreward by Ted Hughes) (NR)

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (NR)

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Culler

Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction by P.H. Matthews

Stream of Consciousness in the Modern Novel by Robert Humphrey (NR)

I suppose I loaded up pretty heavily on the nonfiction. It makes sense, as I think the majority of my library is nonfiction (although I've read more fiction). And the nonfiction books are much more useful for reference, just in case I need them.

Kaitlin

Recent Reads

Although I haven't gotten through much of my summer reading list (unfortunately), I have been reading since I last updated (obviously).

In reverse chronological order:

My Own Country by Abraham Verghese- This was part of my assigned Stanford summer reading, which has been fun largely. A work of nonfiction, it explores Verghese's early years as a doctor treating AIDS in a small town in Tennessee where residents were largely ignorant of its existence within their community and the stigma Verghese encountered simply for treating the disease. It's not riveting if one's not interested in infectious disease, but I do enjoy reading about the subject so I found it fascinating. The story is told through personal anecdotes and individual patient stories. It is a long and heavy read though.

Also by Abraham Verghese: Cutting for Stone (fiction)

The City of Fallen Angels by John Berendt- I read this on the recommendation of my dad and loved it. Technically a work of nonfiction, I like to call it "nonfiction with some creative liberty". In fact, it has sat on my fiction shelf for several months (oops). It did read like a work of fiction and was absolutely fascinating. He made me want to travel to Venice and encounter all these characters (real people) myself. I have now added "Venetian Palazzo" to my list of dream homes.

Also by John Berendt: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (highly recommended)

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino- I read this on the enthusiastic recommendation of Jane who always has great taste in literature. Calvino both enthralled and frustrated me (in a good way) and truly made me think about the connection between writer and audience since the point of the novel is to draw one's attention to that relationship. It's an absolute must-read for any lover of books. Highly literary and ultimately satisfactory. His craftsmanship of plot, chapter, paragraph, sentence etc. is extraordinary.

Also by Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities, many more, all translated from Italian.

I'm positive I've forgotten a few, but I will try to post those reviews soon, along with more (and varied blog posts). Hopefully, I can make updating a little more regular.

Stay classy,

Kaitlin

What I've Been Reading

First, the books that have kept me occupied recently.

The Family That Couldn't Sleep by D.T. Max
Nonfiction, but wonderful. The book is an exploration of prion diseases, which, if one's a genetics nerd as I am, are absolutely fascinating. Prions are misfolded proteins that can turn malignant and can turn other proteins malignant even though they contain no DNA. In simpler terms, they defy everything we know about disease and how diseases are spread. Max's storytelling skills, even in nonfiction, are superb. He covers a wide number of prion diseases from both an anthropological and biological perspective, though a bit heavy on the anthropological side. It's a fabulous read for anyone interested in medicine, disease, and genetics.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
I haven't read Gladwell's other books, but I took this recommendation from my psychology teacher. This was another great nonfiction book I read recently. It examines success and factors leading to success. It analyzes data such as birthdates, connections, and cultural differences. One of the most fascinating chapters was on airline communication and the cause of the many crashes Korean Air experienced in the 1990s. It was very straightforward and easy to understand, so one need not have any previous knowledge of anything pertaining to the subject matter.

Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote
As I have stated many times, I am a Capote fanatic. I cannot get enough of his work. Music for Chameleons was no exception; in fact, it was one of my favorites. The book is a collection of short stories and essays that were wonderfully, beautifully, perfectly written. The novella (short for even novella standards) Handcarved Coffins, left me completely in awe all over again. If you can only read one though, choose "A Beautiful Child", his exquisite and highly sensitive portrait of Marilyn Monroe. After that, I understand why she was his first choice to play Holly Golightly.

Answered Prayers by Truman Capote
Capote's last, unfinished novel. Had he finished it, it would have undoubtably been a masterpiece and one of perhaps most respected works in the English canon. It is absolutely incredible. I only wish it had been finished. The protagonist is nearly positively Capote himself, and the secondary characters he encounters shallow incarnations of the society people with whom he associated. I only wish he had finished it.

It's Been a While

I am a really horrible blogger, but I will make an attempt to improve.

As I've been absent for the last few months, I thought I'd share my reading list (fiction). I also have a nonfiction reading list that's not quite as interesting.

My Mistress’s Sparrow Is Dead (An anthology edited by Jeffrey Eugenides; to be finished)
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Ulysses by James Joyce
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

I'm currently reading Capote's Portraits and Observations, a collection of both his fiction and nonfiction short works. Every piece of his is perfection incarnate. After years of reading his work, I am continually impressed and surprised by his impeccable command of language, craft and ability to capture an ephemeral essence in words.

Poetry

Happy 2009!

I thought I'd write down some of my favourite poets and poetry collections:
Wilfred Owen- A soldier who died during World War I, his poetry speaks of the cruelty of war. It is used extensively in Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. I love "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Strange Meeting".
Sylvia Plath- Mentally unstable, suicidal-- but a brilliant poet. Lady Lazarus is my favourite work of hers.
Dorothy Parker- Light, funny verse, often with dark undertones. A lot of her work focuses on the idea of "good enough."
Robert Frost- Classic and his work is much more accessible than most. My favourites are "Something Like a Star" and "The Rose Family."
Edgar Allan Poe- His "Annabel Lee" may be my favourite poem.
My mother would like me to mention that she has always loved Ogden Nash.

I'm certain I left out a lot of wonderful poets and poems. There's such a vast quantity of quality work from which to choose. With the exception of Poe, my favourite poets tend to be 20th century, probably due to the greater accessibility of the language. I do have some wonderful poems from earlier centuries that I greatly enjoy. Perhaps that will be another post.