huh ... thought it might be a clue as to what was going on. Well ... she needs to get the third book out ASAP.
You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like woman, I'm a mystery.
Mal ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Toddson - Jun 16, 2011 1:42:52 pm PDT #15343 of 28288
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
megan walker - Jun 16, 2011 1:46:40 pm PDT #15344 of 28288
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Sorry, I should have specified fiction, but not fictional places.
Dana - Jun 16, 2011 1:49:10 pm PDT #15345 of 28288
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
The Accidental Tourist?
dcp - Jun 16, 2011 1:49:32 pm PDT #15346 of 28288
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
suggestions for fiction that is about travel?
Huckleberry Finn
Kim
megan walker - Jun 16, 2011 2:06:18 pm PDT #15347 of 28288
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
John Irving's Until I Find You
Yes, this is the type of thing I'm looking for. The theme doesn't have to focus on traveling, but the story needs to involve traveling to more than one place, or be an extended journey, i.e., I'm not really interested in the type of thing that involves someone moving to Tuscany and settling in. I'm hoping the discussion will involve how non-fiction travel writing compares to fiction about travel.
megan walker - Jun 16, 2011 2:17:47 pm PDT #15348 of 28288
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
For the record, the non-fiction I'm considering putting on the list includes the following works. The problem will be keeping the list under 30, so anything here you that you think is really amazing, or not quite worth the time, would be good to know.
Almost definitely these, since they have an average rating of 4 or above on Goodreads:
Arabian Sands
(Wilfred Thesiger)
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
(Laurie Lee)
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
(Rebecca West)
Confederates in the Attic
(Tony Horwitz)
Danube
(Claudio Magris)
In a Sunburned Country
(Bill Bryson)
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft
(Thor Hyerdahl)
Labels
(Evelyn Waugh)
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
(Eric Newby)
The Snow Leopard
(Peter Matthiessen)
A Time of Gifts
(Patrick Leigh Fermor)
Travels with Charley: In Search of America
(John Steinbeck)
Venice
(Jan Morris)
These were all in the 3.5-4.0 range on Goodreads and many were on “best of” lists:
Among the Russians
(Colin Thubron)
Finding George Orwell in Burma
(Emma Larkin)
The Great Railway Bazaar
(Paul Theroux)
In Patagonia
(Bruce Chatwin)
Into the Wild
(Jon Krakauer)
The Journals of Captain Cook
(James Cook)
The Road to Oxiana
(Robert Byron)
The Valleys of the Assassins: And Other Persian Travels
(Freya Stark)
The Sex Life of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
(J. Maarten Troost)
Video Night in Katmandu
(Pico Iyer)
A Yank Back to England
(Denis Lipman)
Consuela - Jun 16, 2011 2:23:42 pm PDT #15349 of 28288
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
I would recommend The Songlines over In Patagonia, myself. But Chatwin's very good nonetheless.
My favorite Krakauer is probably Eiger Dreams, but I'm a climber after all.
And a non-fiction list without any John McPhee just makes me sad. Try Coming Into the Country or The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed or The Control of Nature (which is certainly relevant these days--the New Yorker just re-posted one of the essays from that collection on its website).
For fun, I can highly recommend one of Tim Cahill's collections: he tells marvelous stories about his travels all over the world. Like Pecked to Death by Ducks or Pass the Butterworms.
smonster - Jun 16, 2011 2:33:23 pm PDT #15350 of 28288
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.
Playing the Moldovans in Tennis by Tony Hawk is pretty hilarious. He also wrote Round Ireland with a Fridge. (yes, those are non-fiction)
hippocampus - Jun 16, 2011 2:49:50 pm PDT #15351 of 28288
not your mom's socks.
I would recommend The Songlines over In Patagonia, myself. But Chatwin's very good nonetheless.
I concur.
megan walker - Jun 16, 2011 2:50:46 pm PDT #15352 of 28288
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
I would recommend The Songlines over In Patagonia, myself. But Chatwin's very good nonetheless.
Ooh, that does look more appropriate.
Pecked to Death by Ducks
I may have to include this for the title alone.
It's going to be hard to limit the non-fiction to 15.
I think I'm set on fiction though. I'm going to add The Accidental Tourist, The Balkan Trilogy, The Portrait of a Lady, A Room with a View, and State of Wonder.
Thanks for the suggestions!