100 Knopf Books Day 3

Before there was Netflix we binge-read authors.  Personally, I have a pretty rich history of binge reading, which started when I would steal my mother’s books out of her room--Michael Crichton, John Le Carre,  and Patricia Highsmith to name a few. I found Anne Rice on my own, but she was well into the Vampire Chronicles by the time found her. To this day in fact, both of my parents read mystery/thrillers, but I find that I don’t read them that much these days. A shame because its sort of how I fell in love with books. 

It’s of my opinion that if the great Michael Crichton had only lived a few more years he could have had given us all an epic “I told you so!” I base this on one book and one book alone: Congo. I read this little gem thirty years ago, so while my memory is foggy on the full plot, what sticks is that the novel has gorillas (or a gorilla hybrid if that makes you feel better) killing humans. Just killing them to death. No tears, just killing them with obvious plans to take over the world. The main gorilla (the good gorilla…of course isn’t that what all gorillas want you to think?) communicates with humans and then saves them from the other vicious hybrid gorillas. Yea, something about diamonds in this book too, but it’s the thought of highly intelligent gorillas killing people that sticks with a kid. Also, I am certain gorillas, monkeys, chimps…we will be answering to them very soon (did you know that Liz is terrified of monkeys and such?). I think I read Andromeda Strain, Eaters of the Dead, and maybe Terminal Man. Later I would read Timeline and Micro (which I just loved), but I have for whatever reason, never read Jurassic Park (or The Lost World), something I am just now realizing. If you read The Martian, go back and read Michael Crichton, it’s all science and nerd fun.

 

I once spent an entire summer in Florida reading Anne Rice novels (indoors, about 100 yards from the beach).  Florida has many things to entice a twenty something and really that’s the way it should be: sun, booze, more sun, volleyball, more booze, a bonfire, a girl fight, police are called, and then more alcohol. All of this on the beach! Anyway, I stayed indoors and read four Anne Rice novels. I saw the film Interview with a Vampire and thought gosh, I wonder if the books are this good! Joke. I must have started in on the books in the mid 1990’s because Memnoch the Devil had just come out. That summer I read Interview with the Vampire, Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, and Tale of the Body Thief (which I accidentally read half of before a librarian hipped me to the fact that I skipped Damned so I had to go back. I was as angry as a book nerd could be). I always think I will re-read this series, one book a month for a year. Anyone want to do that with me?

 Tom Ripley came into my life in the same way so many good things come to me, via Matt Damon. I saw the trailer for the movie and immediately went out and bought The Talented Mr. Ripley. By the time I saw the film about a month later I had read, Ripley Underground, Ripley’s Game (my favorite of the five), and The Boy Who Followed Ripley. I didn’t read Ripley Under Water until a few years ago after I read a biography of Highsmith (she’s a Texan by the way, and that cancels out Ted Cruz). I need to go back and read that Highsmith lesbian novel all the kids are talking about, but I digress from Knopf.

I found John LeCarre’s The Naïve and Sentimental Lover on my mother’s bookshelf in her room. I was must have been in 8^th or 9^th grade and most likely looking for something as “interesting” as this seemed to promise. I’m still sort of like that when perusing shelves, always looking for something “interesting.” I found myself terribly disappointed by the lack of filthy sex and stopped reading after about fifty pages. A couple of years later however, well, more like twenty years later, I binge read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and The Russia House. What made me go back to John LeCarre? You guessed it…Michelle Pfeiffer. Gosh, I guess I would never read a thing if movies didn’t exist. So proud!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

(Gianna)

Gillian Flynn is a bit twisted. Twisted in a good way, like Dan Chaon is twisted. She is a smart, original, and truly gifted writer. But my God she is twisted.

Daniel Woodrell

 Last year I read an excellent biography of Patricia Highsmith.  After I finished it, I immediately bought and read  (I had not up to that point read any of her books) Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and The Price of Salt.  It is only now occurring to me after reading Flynn’s third excellent novel that she has Highsmith talent. She is that good.

Patricia Highsmith

I often think I have genre blindness. I always forget that Daniel Woodrell  (Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red) and even Kate Atkinson are mystery writers; in the same way I never really realized that Gillian Flynn is a mystery writer. Technically they are so good it doesn’t really matter, I guess, but I wouldn’t hesitate to put Flynn in with this group of top tier writers (and I am including Chaon in here, as I think he is an excellent comparison for those who like a more cerebral mystery).

 

Flynn has you by page one. She does, so, you know, don’t fight it, just give in. She had me on page one of Sharp Objects and Dark Places and she will get you too. Cancel your weekend plans, call in sick to work, order a pizza, and read. Her books have insanely good hooks, and much like Highsmith and Kate Atkinson, oh, the twists and the turns. [Liz here--I like her better than Kate Atkinson.]

 

Gone Girl is a literary novel, a thriller, a mystery, a book club pick that won’t disappoint when the discussion begins, and a beach read all at the same time. And if you want to talk "unputdownable," a completely overused made-up word in publishing; I feel no shame in using it for this book. Not only could I not put it down, but I was actually stressed out all the way through. I mean, it's great when a book entertains…but don’t you really want to be stressed out over a holiday weekend? I know I did.

The wonderfully twisted
Gillian Flynn.

A wife missing. A husband whose lies catch up with him one by one as he becomes the only suspect.  A novel where nothing is what it seems. Oh, and planning a wedding? This will give you pause.  

30 More Days Book Challenge: Day 9

Sticking with the genre trend....

Day 9: Favorite Mystery

Gianna:

I read mysteries in spurts but certainly have read my fair share. It’s too hard to pick my favorite mystery so I will just pick my favorite mystery writer who wrote several of my favorites. My favorite is Texan Patricia Highsmith. I tend to like psychological thriller more than a formulaic mystery (although they certainly serve a purpose), and the psychological thriller is Highsmith’s strength. She is most famous for the Ripley series but her first novel, Strangers On a Train, is probably my favorite. Highsmith was a sad troubled soul and I suppose that may be what draws me to her. In fact, I read a biography, Beautiful Shadow, which described her as “cruel,” and I thought, “hmm… alcoholic, talented, depressed, and cruel…I would date her.” [Based on this information, I'm more than a little surprised that Gianna hasn't tried to date me.  Maybe I don't drink enough?] Interestingly enough, and by interestingly I mean sadly, she was also very anti-Semitic (although one of her closest friends was Jewish – what was that dude's problem, right?) and she was racist as well. But everything worked out because in her old age she developed a terrible hump and couldn’t stand up straight (no pun intended…get it? She was a lesbian!).

Liz:

So I never read mysteries, and then I discovered that I would be selling to Murder By the Book, the premier mystery bookstore in Houston, and I decided that I should at least attempt to read a mystery or thriller.  I don't know why I never read a lot of mysteries; I love suspense movies and many of my closest friends (by which I mean, of course, about four of the six Liz Friends) are mystery fans.  I took a crash course in mysteries, reading The Big Sleep and learning names like Hammett, Cain, and Ambler.  I dutifully read the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc) and decided that "Lisbeth Salander" sounded an awful lot like "Liz Sullivan" and told a bunch of people that Stieg based the character on an intrepid, slightly disturbed, Random House sales rep.  I read Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo, Larsson's fellow Scandinavian writers.  If I have to pick a favorite book, though, I'm going to pick Mildred Pierce.  I admit it--I've never read this book.  I haven't seen the HBO movie yet either.  But the HBO movie stars Kate Winslet, and I've known Gianna long enough to know that Kate can do no wrong.  The HBO version, therefore, is perfect (and the Emmy nominations, 22 of 'em, suggest as much too), and the source material is obviously the finest mystery writing ever.  Therefore, it's my favorite. 

(I really should read more mysteries.  Tell you what--we'll take mystery suggestions, both here and on Facebook, and Gianna and I will read the top recommended mystery.  No, I haven't asked Gianna about this yet.  And in the meantime I'll try to squeeze Mildred Pierce onto my reading list.)

Identity Issues

It's eerie how often Gianna and I agree on books. Considering that we barely knew each other a little over two years ago (she actually walked up to me at Book Expo several years ago before I worked for Random House and I didn't have a clue who she was until she reminded me that we'd met before), we nonetheless seem to love many of the same books. We'll have these discussions where she'll call me and ask if I've read a book that I haven't thought about in years and I'll remember that I loved that book, and it turns out that she loved it too. So when Gianna recommends that I read a book, when she's so enthusiastic that she's sputtering with delight, I KNOW that I must read that title. She doesn't steer me wrong.

Back in January we began to find out what titles Random House planned to publish for this coming fall, and it's a phenomenal list to say the least. Gianna found out that there will be a new book from Dan Chaon, so she called me to see if I had read his previous books, AMONG THE MISSING and YOU REMIND ME OF ME. Of course I had, and of course I loved them. Chaon is one of the best writers out there and in a just world he would be a literary superstar and I would read about him on my cousin's Facebook posts instead of...the gagging drivel she reads and claims is "profownd" (sic). The new book, Gianna told me, was called AWAIT YOUR REPLY. Because it was on her side of the company, and because I needed to read about 15 other books before sales conference, I refrained from diving into the new Chaon book, the dessert to my meal of books that I would actually sell myself. Gianna kept teasing me, though. She sent me the first page of the manuscript, and she constantly asked, "Have you started it yet? You need to read it. I need to talk about it. Read it, read it, read it...."



So finally I read it. Holy crap! I love this book. The early comparisons among the sales force are authors like Patricia Highsmith (Talented Mr. Ripley series) and Flannery O'Connor, and in the acknowledgements Chaon mentions writers who've inspired him such as John Fowles and Joyce Carol Oates. AWAIT YOUR REPLY contains elements of all of these masters of fiction. The novel focuses around identity and what it means to exist (or not) in this world. The opening page Gianna sent me? Let me set the scene for you. A son is cradling his arm and drifting in and out of consciousness. His father is driving the car and trying to reassure the kid that they'll make it to the hospital. And sitting between them in an ice chest is the boy's hand, cut off at the wrist. AND the boy isn't convinced that his father's even taking him to the hospital. Who doesn't want to keep reading a book that starts this way?

There are three stories swirling around each other through AWAIT YOUR REPLY, and what Gianna didn't tell me when she kept harassing me about reading the book is that one story line focuses on a set of twins. Twins are freaky and weird and a bit of an obsession for me and I'll read just about any book that features the multiples. It makes lots of sense that twins feature prominently in Chaon's book, too, since the theme is identity. Without giving away too much of the story, how do you know who you are? Say you don't have your name. Are you the same person? What if I weren't named Liz? Wouldn't I be a totally different person if I went by, say, Stephanie? I would have missed out on all of the elementary school "lizard" names. And people named Liz, in my experience, are smart asses. Nice, vapidly sweet Elizabeths are usually shortened to Beth. I am not a Beth. So twins further complicate self-identification. Here's your carbon copy(if you're identical, but to a lesser extent the same holds true for fraternals), yet you are two distinct people. At the same time, though, you cannot separate your identity from that of your twin. Twins know each other before they even meet their mother and they grow up with a mirror image of themselves against which to measure. Your life is a jumbled mess of identity politics. It's fascinating...and weird...and perfect for Chaon's book.

So, confession, I am a twin. I sometimes hate it, but I cannot imagine my life otherwise, and I hate to think of a world in which my twin no longer exists. I look at her and marvel that we're even siblings (she's an aerospace engineer) and I try to imagine what I would be like if I had followed her course in life. I still respond to her name when someone calls it because growing up people constantly confused us even though we're fraternal and she's friggin' blonde for crying out loud. More often we were just "the Sullivan twins." So I personally related to the parts of AWAIT YOUR REPLY that deal with twin brothers on different paths, seeking each other and running away. What if my twin were a hustler, or a Broadway singer, or Lindsey Lohan? Wouldn't I have a different identity if she were someone else? (The answer is yes.)

Dan Chaon is a terrific writer. I can't emphasize this point enough. This book works on so many levels--literary exploration, character study, thriller--and both Gianna and I are giddily anticipating the publication in August. AWAIT YOUR REPLY may be the best book I read this year.