2 posts tagged “literature”

I just finished The First Man by Camus, which was one of the most poignant, beautiful books I've ever read. I haven't felt the need to openly cry over a book in ages. LT: 0 Camus: 1

After he died in a car accident, his family found the manuscript, along with notes and sections completely crossed out. His wife did not want it published and until her death, his children agreed. After they read it and thought about it more, they decided to go ahead and publish it to give his readers more insight into his life. When I started reading it, I felt a sort of disloyalty because as many of you know, I have struggled with letting certain things from people I have known who have died being brought out for public consumption. What I have learned from being allowed to read such a beautiful book, is that in the end, all that matters is that the original material should not be edited or retouched. It should be left as is--which is exactly what this book was to really honor that person and their wishes.

There are footnotes throughout the entire book, noting things like "illegible word" or "sentence ends here." The last section of the book are his notes--which mostly contain random facts and beautiful ramblings for thoughts on how some sections should be rewritten. It ends with two letters--which were so beautiful and humbling--I feel lucky that I was able to read them and peek inside this iconic writer's inner life.

The First Man is a semi-autobiography about Camus childhood in Algiers and the struggle he felt while growing up in poverty and the hope and passion he had for life because of it. It is an amazing book and I highly recommend it.

Case in point:
"...today he felt life, youth people slipping away from him, without being able to hold on to any of them, left with the blind hope that this obscure force that for so many years had raised him above the daily routine, nourished him unstintingly, and had been equal to the most difficult circumstances--that, as it had with endless generosity given him reason to live, it would also give him reason to grow old and die without rebellion."

Go read this book now!

KT once told me about someone she met that enjoyed talking to. She asked him for a list of 5 books she should read in her lifetime. She enjoyed the list. I loved that idea so I am asking you, dear friends, what 5 books would you tell me I must read before I leave this earth? Comment back please!

If I could only bring 5 books with me on a desert island and/or to my death bed, this would be my list*

*subject to change at any time and I am cheating by throwing in a 6th so I can get my poetry in there too

Anything by Edith Wharton is amazing. I love her to pieces. Her stories of Old New York are timeless but this one is pure magic.

*Sigh* He is one of my favorite authors, dead or living, hands down. I'm sad though because I've read everything--including his short stories, autobiography and magazine articles so I may have to reread this again soon for another fix

My generation's "Unbearable Lightness of Being" (just cheated again!) Hilarious and poignant--and love the diagrams (pre-Eggers)

Ok. This is a kids book. But this is not for the faint of heart. One of my first real-life (and not Hollywood) crushes was Mr. Loffler--my 4th grade teacher who read this out loud to us every day after lunch. One chapter a day. As we got towards towards the end, he started crying and tearing up so much that he couldn't finish the book and it became a home work assignment. When I finished it at home, I had to sleep downstairs on the couch, next to my parents room and with my dog right at my feet for quite a while. I cried like a baby over this book for a good week. I don't know if a book has effected me that much since.

Thus began my Lethem fetish.

Book of Poetry: Tie (extra cheating)

A line from "The Victims" to entice you--it's really powerful--all the poems are:

"Now I pass the bums in doorways,
the white slugs of their bodies gleaming through slits in their
suits of compressed silt,
the stained flippers of their hands,
the underwater fire of their eyes, ships gone down with the lanterns lit,
and I wonder who took it and took from them in silence
until they had given it all away and had nothing left but this"

I don't believe this fella requires an introduction.