Knopf 100--Day 16

57. If you asked twenty people at Random House to name their top twenty favorite books, I bet over half them place Plainsong by Kent Haruf on that list. It's a deceptively simple novel about the fictional town of Holt, Colorado, and it’s inhabitants. Through a few characters--Maggie, Victoria and the McPheron brothers, --Haruf moves you through this small town. Occasionally you will hear someone describe reading a book and becoming so engrossed that you forget it’s fiction, or you think just for a moment that you know the characters. That’s what Kent Haruf is able to do. He transports you to this lovely town and so expertly writes engaging characters, that you absolutely lose yourself. Plainsong, by the way, is actually a trilogy; it is followed by the Eventide, and Benediction. I envy anyone who hasn't read this trilogy yet, you're in for a really wonderful treat. 

58. "Paper Moon is one of the best movies ever made!" I once had a thirty second conversation with Peter Bogdanovich and that's what I chose to say. I think he was pretty impressed that I didn't shower praise on the obvious masterpiece, The Last Picture Show. Anyway, don't let that play over and over in your head, it's cool. Bogdanovich had a pretty frustrating career as a director actually; I like to blame it on his very odd life choices but we aren't going to talk about that. We are going to talk about the excellent book, Who The Hell's in It: Portraits and Conversations (the Ballantine paperback edition has a slightly different subtitle of Conversations with Hollywood's Legendary Actors). This book was a follow up to conversations with directors, but Bogdanovitch studied under Stella Adler (she's in the book) and was a reporter before he was an actor or a director, so this book really is perfect. Who the hell's in the book? Everyone. Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, John Cassavetes, and Audrey Hepburn. I mean, it's a huge list, that's not even half. This book is an absolute must have for movie buffs. If you haven't seen Paper Moon...it's one of the best movies ever made!

59. What do Rita Dove, Charles Wright, Mark Strand, Jorie Graham, John Irving, and James Tate have in common? That's right! They're all Pulitzer Prize winning poets who were taught by Donald Justice. Well, okay, if you're going to be picky, John Irving isn't a Pulitzer Prize winning poet but he was taught by Justice and clearly adored him (read Hotel New Hampshire). Where to start with Donald Justice is easy--start anywhere: Collected Poems (2004) which was nominated for the National Book Award,  New and Collected Poems (1996) which was nominated for Pulitzer. Justice, by the way, would win his Pulitzer in 1980; you think he's going to let everyone else collect one?  Well, he probably didn't give much thought to these things, he was quiet, thoughtful, and incredibly modest. I will end with one of my favorite Justice poems, "On the Death of Friends in Childhood" which can be found in Collected Poems 

We shall not ever meet them bearded in heaven, 

Nor sunning themselves among the bald of hell; 

If anywhere, in the deserted schoolyard at twilight, 

Forming a ring, perhaps, or joining hands 

In games whose very names we have forgotten. 

Come, memory, let us seek them there in the shadows.

60. Nell Freudenberger came on the writing scene at the ripe old age of 25. She published a phenomenal book of short stories called Lucky Girls, which I loved. She continues the same theme of clashing cultures in her debut novel, The Newlyweds to great success. Amina, a  young woman from Bangladesh, searches for a mate on an international dating website where she meets a lonely man a decade older who pines for a family of his own. An arranged marriage of sorts follows and while this could easily fall into some dead end formula, Freudenberger nails this on every level. 

100 Knopf Books--Day 2

Gianna's going to be participating in picking 100 of our favorite Knopf titles for the Knopf 100th Anniversary, so that means that I need to pick as many of the ones I've read and loved as I can before she snatches them from me. She's cruel like that. If you missed yesterday's post, you can see it here. In that post I chose the first four Knopf titles of note. Let's continue, shall we?

5. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice, originally published in 1976 (the year of our Liz; a momentous year all around). It might surprise some people to know that I've read this book, and it might surprise some people further that I read it based on the recommendation of one of my college professors. Forget about the movie and we're going to pretend that the teen vampire Twilight stuff never happened. Interview With the Vampire is well written, genre defying, literary horror that brought Dracula back from kitschy 70's schlock films to intense, contemporary, humanizing horror fiction. The story of Louis confessing his life's journey with the charismatic Lestat to a skeptical kid reporter was a new angle in horror fiction and makes for addictive reading even today.

6. Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain, originally published in 1941. I read Mildred Pierce relatively recently, wanting to read the novel before watching the HBO series with Kate Winslet. I think it's a terrific book. Mildred is a tough woman trying to support herself and her daughter after leaving a bastard of a husband. While working as a waitress, she scrapes her way out of the working class and supports her daughter's burgeoning music career. Mildred has a weakness for the wrong type of man, though, and her daughter is, well, simply a nasty human being. I love Mildred because she's super strong, and the book can be read as feminist noir fiction. Also, Los Angeles is front and center as the perfect backdrop for this story.

7. Plainsong by Kent Haruf, originally published in 1999. Oh, the humanity! I love Kent Haruf's novels, starting with this one, Plainsong. The story of two older men taking in a teenage girl down on her luck is filled with the humanity and human decency rarely found in contemporary fiction. Plainsong is a lovely ode to human goodness and compassion and the pleasures and pitfalls of small town life (in small towns they'll gossip like no one's business, but they'll also prop you up when no one else will...also, LOTS of casseroles). Haruf passed away earlier this year and his death rocked the Knopf office because he was so universally beloved. Reading Plainsong gives a glimpse of the man's spirit.

8. The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard, originally published in 2015. First of all, Jim Shepard is a genius writer and everyone should be reading his work. While mostly I associate the National Book Award finalist as a short story writer, The Book of Aron is a short novel about...a kid named Aron. I hope that didn't spoil anything. Anyway, Aron is the troublesome kid in school who "can't learn" and won't sit still and is a constant worry to his parents. Life changes for all of them, though, when as Jews they are moved to the Warsaw Ghetto. Aron's horrible behavior in a classroom actually makes him ideal for such acts as sneaking around the ghetto and over the walls in search of food and supplies. He's a black market god, but as conditions worsen, he's also faced with more and more difficult decisions. The Book of Aron is a multi-layered novel that suggests on the one hand that a boy shouldn't be held responsible for making impossible decisions in the worst situations, and yet, isn't he also culpable? It's a thoughtful, complex, fascinating novel, and one of my favorites of the year.

New Year, New 30 Day Book Challenge, Day 15

Hey! We're halfway through!

Day 15: Favorite Male Character

Gianna:

Plainsong by Kent Haruf.  Raymond and Harold are brothers living on their family ranch in a small town in Colorado. These bachelors have a quiet life and know very little other than their small town. What I love about these men is that they made a decision to upend their lives, to change their world in order to help someone. In a world terrified of change, these two old geezers prove it’s worth doing.  I wish these guys were real because I would like to marry Liz off to one or the other. Sure, they are elderly, but they are homeowners. [Eh, I could do worse.]

  

The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin.  I have loved Steve Martin for as long as I can remember. I loved him for The Jerk, Roxanne, and L.A. Story. More importantly, I loved him in spite of Housesitter and Bringing Down the House. Turns out though, that I really love Steve Martin’s writing. Cruel Shoes was one of the first books I ever bought with my own money. I think I was twelve, too young to really get the nuance of these stories, but I still treasure this book.

 

Anyway, Daniel Cambridge is the main character of The Pleasure of My Company, he’s brilliant (he’ll tell you so), but he’s extraordinarily introverted and has a bad case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. How bad is his OCD? Well it takes him hours to get anywhere because he can’t walk over curbs.  Daniel has other ‘quirks’ but sees himself as pretty normal; in fact he enters a “Most Normal Person in America” essay contest. He does not win. Daniel is really sweet and smart, and madly in love with a woman he’s never met. You can’t help but love him. I know what you’re thinking, “Isn’t this guy another possible marriage contender for Liz?” Yes. [I think there are many, many people who are madly in love with me but have yet to enjoy the pleasure of my company.]

Liz:

I feel like I could go two ways here. I love a villain or flawed character, and to that end, I really don't think you could top Iago from Shakespeare's Othello.  Along that line, I also loved the Richard Nixon character in Thomas Mallon's novel Watergate. He's a villain, but he's also a man who's caught in a shit storm he can't escape.

On the other hand, if I were to follow Gianna's model of finding potential mates, I think Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird could be the ideal fictional marriage bait.  He's moral, strong, patient, courageous, wise. He's a man who can shoot a rabid dog and he can stand up against an entire town and defend the defenseless.  Also, he's Gregory Peck. Mmm. 

Hey, Boo.

Of course, I could never live up to the Atticus Finch standard of perfection.  I need kind, but quirky, so I'd ultimately opt for Boo Radley.  He's quiet and reclusive (which I certainly would appreciate), but he's willing to risk his life for children he only really knows from a distance. Boo could leave me little chocolates on my pillow and we'd live down the street from each other, and occasionally he'd come to my rescue when Zorro was feeling particularly blood thirsty. Also, we're both really pale.  It could work.

The Book Nerd's Version of a Roaring Good Time

Liz here.  Last weekend I worked the Random House booth at the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association annual trade show, held in Denver.  On the one hand, aspects of trade shows make me a little crazy.  There's the standing around, the being polite (no, really, I have to be nicer than my usual self), the speaking in public, the constant and unending chatter.  On the other, these are fellow book nerds I'm talking to, from booksellers to other sales reps to authors.  It's a whole conference of socially awkward individuals, but without the need to dress like storm troopers and Spider-Man that you get with the truly freakish comic book conventions.  I can crack a joke about an author fabricating the premise behind his bestselling book and this group of nerds chuckle knowingly without the need for further elaboration.  Good times.

Loot from MPIBA

Here's the list of my highlights from the MPIBA trade show, listed in countdown form:

5. The hotel where the convention was held is across the street from a Planned Parenthood clinic, and you're absolutely correct if you wondered if I asked for a room that faced the clinic.  Protesters are fascinating creatures, even when they are torturing women who are already having bad days.

4. Books!  I came home with a stack of books from my pals at other publishing houses.

3. More books!  If I have to talk to people all day, I want to talk about my favorite reads for the fall, and I want to offer a sneak peek at the absolutely amazing looking graphic novel-in-a-box, Building Stories by Chris Ware.

(Part of) the Random House booth

2. I met two incredible authors--Kent Haruf, who wrote Plainsong and the upcoming Benediction, and Anthony Marra, who wrote the upcoming A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.  Kent and his wife Cathy and possibly the two kindest people I've ever met, and I love his books.  They are full of human characters (no saints here, but no demons either) for whom he shows incredible empathy.  Tony Marra is the kind of guy I want in my circle of friends.  He's super smart and talented, and he gets the joke, and he is a Russophile (you know I love Russia).  Both of these writers understand the worth of independent bookstores, too, be they in rural Colorado or urban Oakland.

Kent Haruf

1. How do book nerds unwind at the end of the day?  Literary trivia!  The trade show hosted a trivia contest and divided participating booksellers and reps up by state.  I played with the Texas team that included booksellers from Katy Budget Books, Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, and my Random House boss Valerie Walley.  Um...we weren't going to lose, 'kay?  I am a little crazy about trivia and I don't like to lose.  So while I appreciate the teams from the other states who played, I wasn't planning on losing.  I was planning on gloating. To the victors go the spoils.  What did we win?  iPhone covers that say "Read or Die" and a ribbon on our conference badges that says "Literary Trivia Champions."  I was hoping for cash.  Oh, and my teammates and I may have suggested that next year the conference should just go ahead and print "Two Time Literary Trivia Champs" ribbons next year, as we plan to repeat.  Hear that Colorado?  You will be losing next year too!

Anthony Marra

I bugged my pal Michele, who put together the trivia competition, for the questions.  There were five rounds, each with a sheet of questions based on book knowledge.  I'll post each separately.  Enjoy.

Round 1

WHO DUNNIT?

Give the name of the author who created each of the following characters:

1. Sam Spade
2. Easy Rawlins
3. Goldy Schulz
4. Bernie Rhodenbarr
5. Commissario Guido Brunetti
6. Philip Marlowe
7. Kurt Wallander
8. Adam Dalgliesh
9. Tommy Lynley
10. Mr. Moto

Answers (the ones in black we answered correctly, the ones in red we missed): Dashiell Hammett, Walter Moseley, Diane Mott Davidson, Lawrence Block, Donna Leon, Raymond Chandler, Henning Mankell, P.D. James, Elizabeth George, John P. Marquand.