My Five Favorite Books
Following Stephen Baldwin's lead, here are my five favorite books, in no particular order:
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkein: I would put LOTR as a whole on there, but as Mr. Baldwin separated Dance... I figured I should do the same.
Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner: I read this in high school and didn't get it, but on second reading I enjoyed it immensely.
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: Read it this summer and loved it.
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole: I sometimes wonder if I will end up like Ignatious J. Reilly...
Flashman by George MacDonald Frasier: The first and the one that I have enjoyed the most (although I haven't gone through the whole series).
There you are. Of course, I only have had a few years of true reading under my belt, so no doubt this is a very transient list.
My favorite periodicals? OK, I'll give you those, again in no particular order:
The New Criterion
The Atlantic (although I haven't read an issue in months. It has gone downhill since Michael Kelly left us.
The Spectator It adds to my pretention level.
National Review
City Journal
This reminds of when my co-president of the English Club at NYU remarked that her favorite writer was Stephen King, whereupon I ceased having any further dealings with her.
Posted by: The Jackal | 08 October 2004 at 18:14
Are you implying that one of my favorite books is "low brow"? Actually, I don't find Stephen King to be that awful of an answer (not that I've read him). She was being honest and at least she didn't say Dan Brown. (shudder)
Posted by: The Misspent Life | 08 October 2004 at 18:49
Funny, I would have guessed Jackals and Stephen King have alot in common.
Posted by: Janet Jackson | 08 October 2004 at 20:44
Agree!
The last time I went to a "book group," they were discussing The DaVinci Code, which took me all of 3 minutes to read in the car on the ride over. They kept talking about what a great "author" this guy is and I was almost embarrassed for him. I think if Dan Brown had been there, even he would have said, "hey, ladies, calm down. I wrote that thing on a plastic GI Joe typewriter that I bought for a dollar from a garage sale, with one hand, typing on newsprint with no ribbon, drunk as a coot, and a needle dangling from my other arm."
I distance myself from anyone who thinks that was a good book. You'd have to be the worst writer in the world to take a great premise like that and just sh*t all over it.
Posted by: KellyLove | 09 October 2004 at 18:29