Literary round-up
Top 10 books? Now that's difficult. But I managed it, and here it is. Warning though, I have a very pronounced tilt towards fantasy and science fiction, as can be seen below. So off the top of my head:
1. Perdido Street Station by China Mievillle. I cannot imagine liking a horror story where bio-engineered moths suck people's brains and terrorize a city, and the protagonist is in love with an artist who just happens to have an insect head built to chew color, mix them with her cud, and spit the resulting mess out into sculptural pieces- but I do! In fact, I love this fantastic un-categorizable award-winning novel that doesn't belong to any recognizable genre.
2. Dune by Frank Herbert. I mean, come on. Who can deny the genius behind this plot within a plot within a plot? Up to now I can recite the Bene Gesserit chant, and imagine how scary a gom jabbar is.
The last time I read it (again), I was still picking up on nuances I hadn't been able to get in prior reads. It was as much what he wrote as what he didn't that gave the story its flavor, and for sure, the next read will let me mine something else.
It's just so sad Kyle Maclachlan and his crew messed up the movie that no new fans were gained by this otherwise addictive millennium-spanning series, but an entire franchising universe could have been spawned by a good movie from this book.
3. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling - I don't care if this is classified as a children's book. Hogwarts was a completely new world that was fully imagined, letting me escape from mundanity any time, every time.
4. Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes - I read this before the movie came out, and I immediately bought copies for my friends. It was such a luminous introduction to Tuscany, it transported me better than any travel book could have. Up to now, I still wish I had the cash to buy a house in Italy.
5. The Wind-up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Imagine a dystopian future where food security is held hostage by Iowa food corporations and South East Asian nations are battling each other as well as famine, mutant pests and crop invasions. Then add a Bangkok where the city is kept safe from global warming by 24 hour pumps and a massive dike. In this exciting locale, a Japanese sex doll is hidden by her pimp, her military capabilities waiting to be triggered. Sounds exciting enough? Add ebola-like viruses and lady boys into the mix, and you get this delicious novel I fervently wished wouldn't end.
6. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Unfortunately, I read this first before Age of Innocence, so the impact on me of the aristocratic decay layered into the novel was greater. Encountering the nuances of gentle folk with no money was absorbing. I probably need to read this again to refresh the fascination.
7. Saga - Dean Vaughn and Fiona Staples. Well, I just had to throw in a graphic novel for good measure. Interstellar love affairs between horned beings and winged folk are enough to intrigue me. I saw this recommended by a Canadian bookstore, and as soon as I finished the first volume, I picked up the other 2 volumes the next chance I got to swing by Vancouver.
8. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. One of the few books I read that I liked even if I had watched the movie before. Doing one before the other usually kills the second for me, but not Stardust. The poignancy of the temporary love affair gets me every time.
9. Wicked by Gregory Maguire. This was so dark and scary that I couldn't believe it could be turned into a Broadway musicale, but unfortunately, that's what happened. Admittedly, the song and dance version is memorable in itself, but there's no way it should be linked to the pathos of the novel, the symmetry it draws from racial or sexual prejudice, and the terribly smart writing we get from Maguire.
10. Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis. Really the first time I remember serious literature incorporate the shallow fashion world in its midst. This is where I learned the term "Uma-ish" which up to this day has stuck (as Uma Thurman is still glamorous, anyway). Most of all, the closeted (?) bi-sexual protagonist slash victim has me rooting for him.
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