reads to remember
So what were my most memorable reading experiences of 2008?
Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game. One of those books that one unaccountably manages to avoid reading. Which is sad, since it’s far better than any other Hesse novel I have ever read. But I’m glad I finally got around to it.
David Goldblatt, The Ball Is Round: a Global History of Soccer. I wrote a little about it here.
Jason Roberts, A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler. A biography of the once-famous — but forgotten even during his own lifetime — James Holman, who after the sudden onset of blindness when he was 25 took it upon himself to visit pretty much every part of the globe. Roberts manages a difficult task — there are considerable gaps in Holman’s story — with circumspection and great narrative skill.
Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: the Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals. A few thoughts are here.
Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains. A few thoughts are here.
Marilynne Robinson, Home. Brief comments and a link to my review are here.
Neal Stephenson, Anathem. My review is here. I didn’t get a chance to say this in the review, but Anathem owes a great deal to The Glass Bead Game.
Iain M. Banks, Look to Windward and The Player of Games. I had read Banks’s first novel of the Culture, Consider Phlebas, some years ago and was unimpressed. But these later books are exceptional. Look for my essay on Banks sometime in the coming year in The New Atlantis.
My guess is that of all these books, the one that will stay with me most powerfully is Mountains Beyond Mountains.
So you only read the Glass Bead Game this year? That’s very interesting, because I myself started reading it like two days ago, after putting it off for a while like you, and in fact I’m still putting it off. I know, in fact I’m sure it will be fantastic and yet for some reason I can’t get around to diving in.
— PEG · Dec 27, 04:43 PM · #
Yeah, well, I bought it for the first time thirty-three years ago, so watch out!
— Alan Jacobs · Dec 27, 04:58 PM · #
There’s a lot you can do in thirty-three years…
— PEG · Dec 27, 08:58 PM · #
I heartily recommend Excession, another of Banks’ Culture novels. It may not have quite the weight of some of the others, but I found it the most fun.
— rd · Dec 28, 01:01 AM · #
If you liked Ian M. Banks you’ll like Vernor Vinge (If you haven’t already read his books). He’s the guy who invented the idea of singularity and cyberspace. A Deepness in the Sky is brilliant, in my opinion. And Fire Apon the Deep is really good too.
The thing I find a little wierd about Ian M. Banks is the literary novels he writes as Ian Banks are usually pretty creepy, and the Sci fi (Ian M. Banks) are usually fun, humorous, and sunny ( as well as really well writen and intersting). It’s like he’s satisfying two sides of his personality.
— cw · Dec 28, 04:55 AM · #
I also read Home after reading your post and liked it a lot. What I found interesting about that book was that it seemed like to me that it worked like a common type of short story. The revelation at the end that changes how you view all the characters, which is a short story trick. That’s kind of cool in a novel.
I feel like there are probably layers accessed by biblical knowledge I lack. You seem to know a lot about Christianity. Do you think the novel refers to the bible much?
— cw · Dec 28, 05:03 AM · #
I am relieved to see that the Wheel of Time book didn’t make the list.
— Karl · Dec 30, 10:12 PM · #