New Year, New 30 Day Book Challenge, Day 14

Day 14: Favorite Book by Your Favorite Author

Gianna:

If I were to answer this question directly (for a change), I would say my favorite book by my favorite author is The Habit of Being: The Letters of Flannery O’Connor, but since these letters were published after her death, perhaps it's not exactly her book. If you’re going to be that picky (and why would I expect anything less from you sons a bitches), I would say Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories. Wait, that was also published after her death. Jesus, did anyone publish anything while this poor woman was actually alive?

Anyway, yesterday I added to the question of who my favorite author is and added a bonus answer of who my favorite author right now is (too lazy to go back one day and look? Don’t blame ya, I chose Miranda July). Today I thought I would choose some additional favorite books of late.

Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht. Set in the Balkans, the story follows a young doctor as she tries to uncover the truth surrounding her grandfather’s mysterious death. If you’re new to Tea, here is a wonderful interview on NPR.

Like You’d Understand Anyway by Jim Shepard. Sometimes you hit a lull in your reading life. You think that maybe you’ll never love a book again. Jim Shepard has the cure. I chose Like You’d Understand for this piece but really, I could have chosen any of his books. He writes about big subjects, far ranging subjects; Jim Shepard is big and bold.

Swamplandia by Karen Russell. What I love about Karen Russell is that she is truly original and fearless. How original and fearless? Swamplandia’s main character is a twelve year old alligator wrestler. And can I just say that if you are going to buy any book based on the cover...this is it.

Tenth of December by George Saunders. What all of the writers above have, including Flannery O’Connor and Miranda July, is a true sense of originality. Yes, Tenth of December is a collection of stories, but my friends, this will be, I promise you, this book will be on your top ten year end list. I know, it's only January and don’t Jhumpa Lahiri, Kent Haruf, Susan Minot, and Elizabeth Strout have books coming out t his year? Isn’t UT Press publishing Sam Shepard letters this year? Yes, yes, all true, but Tenth of December will be the very top of your list. 

Liz:

What the hell is this?

(chomp chomp chomp) Yeah.  I'm eating barbecue potato chips and American Idol.  There's a Muppet on there named Minaj or something. I don't know what's happening. And there's this kid who wants to be Justin Bieber, so apparently the contestants are extra delusional.

Hang on a second....I needed to lick the barbecue flavor off my fingers.

Okay. What am I doing now? Right. ....Dear god, Mariah's clothes don't fit.

Gah, the one-legged tap dancer is terrible. Cannot sing.

Joyce Carol Oates. Blonde. Or We Were the Mulvaneys. Or Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Why are ruffled chips better than flat?

Oh, great. Family-nominated "singers."  Extra delusional people. My ears! They should place a specific, keep away from Q-Tips when watching this show, warning label on the packages of objects I can shove into my ear canals.

I really love barbecue potato chips.

New Year, New 30 Day Book Challenge, Day 13

Day 13: Your Favorite Writer

Gianna:

My favorite writer is Flannery O’Connor, but I’ve written about her too many times on this blog. In fact, her estate in Milledgeville has asked me to stop. [I'm keeping all of our cease and desist letters in a large file.]

Miranda July

Instead, I thought this was a great excuse to write about my favorite writer this very minute, Miranda July.  She’s a genius, a creative monster, and a tour de force. She’s filmmaker, a writer, and an artist. It’s actually pretty sickening. What I love about her, well one of the many things I love about her, is that she takes art very seriously, even when she’s being absurd. She’s someone you can’t imagine ever not being creative. She’s inspiring. 

From July's Website 

Geez, now after all that I hope you’ll give her a chance. She’s written and directed two films, Me and You and Everyone We Know (starring John Hawks, yea, I love him too) and The Future. I highly recommend both films.

It Chooses You

Now, since this is a book blog, let's get to her books. She published a fantastic collection of short stories called, No One Belongs Here More Than You. It’s just breathtaking, and is in my top 50 books of all time. No Liz, we shouldn’t do a month long blog listing our favorite books in order. No. [Too late. I'll remind you repeatedly that it's your idea, too.]  

She wants to be my friend

Last year she published a book, and this is going to sound weird, but it's related to her film The Future, but she called up people who were advertising items for sale in the local The PennySaver newspaper, and asked if she could interview them. I know, it sounds trite, but these interviews, these stories are, sure, at times funny, but mostly just really moving. Anyway, it’s called It Chooses You.

One last thing about Miranda: please check out her website. It's really fantastic and she has lots of cool things including video of some of the folks she met while writing It Chooses You, and she answers readers' mail. [Really? Will she answer my questions? Like, why doesn't Gianna appreciate my singing?]

If  you like Karen Russell, George Saunders, Jennifer Egan, Chris Adrian, Sheila Heti, or Aimee Bender, Miranda July is for you. 

Rabih Alameddine

Liz:

Virginia Woolf, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Jennifer Egan, David Mitchell.  None of these people are surprises really. We do seem to write about this topic quite a bit. That's fine. One should never shy from praising wonderful books. Still, for the sake of variety, I am going to pick the guy I most wish would complete a new book.

Rabih Alameddine wrote a book that held me in awe when I read it--The Hakawati. I couldn't shut up about it. It's been five years and I am still obsessed.  I love books that weave together layers of stories, and The Hakawati (which is Arabic for storyteller) manages to blend more threads together than any other novel I've read.  It's the story of a man returning to Lebanon to be with his dying father and his family.  It's the story of a land told through myth and history and culture, told through the hakawatis who entertain listeners everyday in the tea houses of Beirut.  It's Arabian Nights, and jinns, and princes, and Scheherazade. It's an adventure story, a drama centered around the aerial battles of the Beirut pigeon teams, a war story in a land of religious turmoil, a romance, a comedy, a tragedy.  But like my favorite books, The Hakawati isn't just a feat of literary magic.  It has a soul, and Alameddine treats history, country, and characters with compassion.

I, the Divine is divine.

But let's go back. Before I read The Hakawati, and before I was a Random House rep charged with selling it, I was a bookseller and stumbled upon a book called I, the Divine.  I'd never heard of the author, but the premise sounded interesting and I gave it a shot. The main character here is Sarah. This is a novel, the story of Sarah's life, as told through her attempts to write her memoir. The problem, though, is that Sarah never manages to get through the first chapter of her book, so through her false starts we slowly discover her whole life. It's innovative and moving.  (The title is a reference to the "divine" Sarah Bernhardt, what Sarah the protagonist's grandfather used to call her.) After I'd read and fallen for The Hakawati, it dawned on me that the author's name was familiar, and I realized that Rabih Alameddine had also written I, the Divine.

Alameddine has written other books too--Koolaids, his first novel, and a collection of short stories called The Perv. But four titles isn't enough for my obsession. My question is, Rabih Alameddine, what are you writing for me now? I'm not known for my patience.  I can be whiny.