So a few days ago someone asked, "Who are your favorite authors? And what are your favorite books?" ...hmmm... Well f*ck!... That stumped me. I actually didn't have any real idea. I mean, I had some stock answers. But nothing that was thoughtful about why I like certain books and authors more than others. So for the past week I've thought about it every time I've run - always a good time to ponder a question.
I'd actually like to make a couple of lists. The first, which I'll cover today is a list of my favorite works of fiction. The second, for a later date, will be for non-fiction. I'll have some comments after the list of top 10 books.
1) The First Man - Albert Camus
2) What We Do Is Secret - Thorn Kief Hillsbery
3) The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
4) At Swim Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill
5) Call Me By Your Name - Andre Aciman
6) The Swimming Pool Library - Allan Hollinghurst
7) The Moon Is Down - John Steinbeck
8) Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
9) A Separate Peace - John Knowles
10) I'm Losing You - Bruce Wagner
Honorable Mention - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon, The Beautiful Room is Empty - Edmund White, The City and the Pillar - Gore Vidal, Look Back in Anger - John Osborne, A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood, To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee, The Chosen - Chaim Potok, Dawn - Elie Weisel, Death In Venice - Thomas Mann, A Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Shipping News - Annie Proulx, Side Effects - Woody Allen, Dirty Havana Trilogy - Pedro Juan Gutierrez, Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden, Music for Chameleons - Truman Capote, And the Ass saw the Angel - Nick Cave, Daughter of Fortune - Isabelle Allende
OK - I could continue with the honorable mentions for quite a while, but I will stop where I am. For those who now know my favorite novels you can close this page. For those who want a more in-depth discussion, please keep reading.
For Camus and Hemingway, I could've picked almost any work by either author. I love their entire collections. I chose the most personal and autobiographical of the works by Camus. It was what he was working on when he died. It somehow affected me more than any other work he ever did. The Plague and The Outsider/Stranger both certainly could've been my pick as well. As for Hemingway, I nearly picked a volume of short stories. But really, his mastery of Europe between the wars (an interesting period), is best summed up in a full-length novel.
My number two choice could easily have been my number one if he published a bit more. What We Do Is Secret follows a relationship between Darby Crash (yes THE Darby Crash of The Germs) and a fan. Hillsbery is a phenomenal writer. He writes in such an appealing manner that I never want his books to end - a very rare occurrence for me. Hillsbery's other novel, War Boy, covers the story of a deaf kid running away from an abusive dad and follows him through the west coast drug and post-punk scene. It is as riveting as WWDIS. Hillsbery is supposed to have another novel out soon (his third, I believe). I continue to wait with anticipation.
My fourth choice was interesting (to me, at least). I think Jamie O'Neill is a fantastic writer who not only captures characters, but is also places them in a very difficult historical context in this work. I had thought of listing something by Brendan Behan - another Irish writer who I greatly admire. But, I'm almost surprised to write, that I think O'Neill gives the reader the immediacy of what was happening in Ireland just at the outset of WWII in a way that no one else I can think of has done.
Call Me By Your Name, a work by Andre Aciman is elegantly written. It is a coming-of-age story set alongside the Mediterranean. While I haven't come out with my non-fiction list yet, it is very likely that Aciman will also have a work mentioned there as well. If Aciman keeps writing, he seems to be the type who will one day win a Nobel - seriously.
The Swimming Pool Library is a work by an author who may be the best living writer, Allan Hollinghurst. Hollinghurst's books sell very well around the world, but I worry that he is considered a writer of gay fiction, rather than a writer of fiction/literature. He is another writer where I could've chosen any of his works and felt justified in doing so. I simply picked the work that launched him. All are worth reading, however. And, in some ways, I would list his latest work, The Stranger's Child, to be his most ambitious and also his most accessible.
John Steinbeck's, The Moon is Down, is the novel I've read more often than any other. It is about what happens in a Norwegian town during the course of an occupation. Though a lesser-known novel, it is short and powerful. It was also made into a play.
Chinua Achebe is the only African writer on the list. And he certainly deserves to be included. Things Fall Apart is told in beautiful prose. But the story, about loss of culture as colonization occurs, is anything but light reading. You will laugh, cry, and, in the process, come to understand Africa a bit better.
A Separate Peace is possibly the best coming-of-age novel ever written. John Knowles is able to convey what it is to be a boy on the cusp of becoming a man - in this case preparing to leave boarding school and head off to war. Knowles understands the dynamics of teenage interaction and friendships, and he effectively communicates the (sometimes overwrought) ways in which this demographic views the world around them. The novel is an absolute classic that will remain with you.
Finally comes Bruce Wagner's I'm Losing You. The 10th choice was difficult. I think there are certainly better writers than Wagner, though I love (make that adore) his work. For me, he certainly is worthy of a top 10 author. Wagner is the quintessential California writer - much as Diebenkorn or Thiebaud could be described as quintessential California painters. He tells stories of modern day California and both the shared humanity and disconnection that seem to accompany any description of the state. All of his novels are worth reading.
Now the takeaway: Once this is posted, I am certain that I will think of many other novels and writers who I would rather have placed on top of the list than those who appear on it (ie: Carlos Fuentes). But for now, for this day, this is a snapshot of who and what I like to read in fiction.
The glaring problem with the list that I can plainly see is the dearth of female authors. I do read works by women, but perhaps I don't read them in such a way that they stick with me. I plan to remedy that shortly. If there are suggestions, I will gladly welcome them.
Feel free to write and comment on what would should be added or omitted. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to post your own list(s) as well.
Until later - Happy Running and Reading.
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