The Bookhive List: 'Love in the Time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A big part of the reason that I love this novel is that it was very difficult for me to get into it and to finally finish it, which is particularly embarrassing because someone I know had the same problem with One Hundred Years of Solitude and I gave them a lot of grief about it. If you are already a Gabriel Garcia Marquez fan, you probably already have read and love this novel, but if not I urge you to read all of it -- short stories, novels, and non-fiction. And this is not the novel to start with; you have to build up to Love in the Time of Cholera, but it is such a rich and rewarding experience, when you finally get there.

The Bookhive List: 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens

Last year I made an effort to read one Dickens novel per month -- I made it to June, which was my Little Dorrit month, and then I ran out of Dickens novels under 800+ pages, so that resolution fell apart completely. However, I definitely accomplished my goal, which was just to get better acquainted with an author I had somehow managed to dodge through all of high school and college, and who up to that point I thought I hated. I still don't love Dickens, and some of his books were painful at times, to finish, but I really loved Little Dorrit. Happy endings were had by all the characters I cared about, there was plenty of mystery and suspense and creepy Victorian weirdness, and many moments of comic relief, including one of the best descriptions of the British colonial government and its bureacracy I've ever read. It is definitely an under-appreciated DIckens novel, and if you're feeling lazy, check out the Masterpiece Classic version, starring Clare Foy (Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall, which speaks to her enormous skill as an actress in that she manages to play both women incredibly well). 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'Surfacing' by Margaret Atwood

Choosing a favorite Margaret Atwood novel is no small task, but Surfacing is really strange and special to me. It feels more distinctly Canadian than many of her others, especially because it largely takes place in very rural Quebec. Many of the recurring themes of Margaret Atwood novels (feminism, environmental concerns, sci-fi/fantasy elements) are present in Surfacing, and I found it to be one of her most overtly feminist novels, with the central character traveling further and further into the literal and metaphorical wilderness as the novel progresses. This summer I went on a very satisfying camping trip on which I managed to finish H is for Hawk while swinging in a hammock, and the thought struck me that if I had a copy of Surfacing as a follow-up, some kind of Platonic ideal of women in the wilderness would be achieved. 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson

The magic of Treasure Island is that it is very sophisticated book for young people that feels like a book for adults; as a result, a twelvish-year old me managed to read the whole thing in one sitting in front of the fireplace on a very cold day in Alaska, and as a result, I felt like some kind of genius. As an adult, revisiting the adventure novel, I realized that I was actually just your typical above-grade level reader, and that Treasure Island is distinctly a kid's book. But it is an excellent and fun book, either way, and the original is far better than any of the myriad bad adaptations and abridged versions, with the exception of Muppet Treasure Island, which remains one of the greatest films of our lifetime.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote

I used to think that true crime was not at all my bag but recently I've realized that it totally is -- I really enjoyed God'll Cut You Down and I've mainlined the entire 'Paradise Lost' documentary trilogy this year, and I just consumed an entire 12-episode run of the podcast 'You Must Remember This' on the Charles Manson murders. When I list all of these in a row, I suddenly worry that there's something seriously wrong with me...? Anyway, In Cold Blood is the Truman Capote book most people read, which is fine because it's undoubtedly his best, but I strongly endorse his novels and short stories as well. But the excellence of In Cold Blood is indisputable, and as tough as it was to get through, it was such an incredibly great book.

The Bookhive List: 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis

Everyone has read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which is all well and good, but if you haven't explored the rest of the C.S. Lewis series, you are truly missing out. After having read the entire series several times, I would say that TLTWANTW is far from my favorite, which is why I will now definitively rank them and include just enough of a description to entice you to read them:

1. The Magician's Nephew -- The origin story of Narnia, and something you can completely enjoy if you've only ever read TLTWANTW; it still confuses me why C.S. Lewis published this one so completely out of any logical chronology (it is actually book #6), but it really manages to outshine the others.

2. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader -- Again, it's not totally necessary to read any other books in order to love this one. Two characters from TLTWANTW make an appearance, and everyone basically sails around in a ship having adventures on their way to the end of the world, which turns out to be an actual place. This one is very whimsical and imaginative.

3. The Horse and His Boy -- A pretty random stand-alone story about a kid who lived during the reign of the TLTWANTW characters. There are talking animals and orphans so no further explanation needed.

4. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -- The first book published in the series and by far the most popular. Four siblings escape the bombing in London by staying in a country estate, and accidentally discover a portal to another world with talking animals. Pretty much the best thing ever, and worth re-reading as an adult if you've got a free hour or two.

5. The Last Battle -- This final book is a bit weird because all the previous characters come back to battle for Narnia, which they end up destroying but in the end it's not really destroyed? I don't know, but it's a nice fan service book that gets the whole gang back together.

6. The Silver Chair -- This one is very dark, with two kids searching for a missing Prince. I just remember being grossed out a lot when I read it, and there are some nasty giants and also their travel companion is some kind of frog man.

7. Prince Caspian -- This one is by far the lamest because it has the least amount of talking animals. It takes place in the Narnia far-future when talking animals have disappeared, and the original kids come back and mostly argue amongst themselves because they are going through puberty and are not kings/queens anymore. A general bummer.

As a final note, the Disney movie adaptations are really excellent; Ben Barnes is hot and completely redeems Prince Caspian as a character, and they manage to navigate the special effects of talking animals and so forth quite nimbly. It feels just realistic enough to have some narrative stakes, but it remains very aesthetically whimsical and cozy. They only did the first three, and it wouldn't surprise me if they never get around to The Silver Chair because it is so incredibly weird.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt

This book hits all my quadrants, so to speak: college students, New England, Classics majors, and un-ironic Bacchanalia that somehow manages never to feel smutty. The weather is turning cooler (at least in Michigan), and all I can think about are apples and pumpkins, so now is the time to get your hands on The Secret History, a novel meant to be read fireside, wrapped in Pendelton wools and Aran sweaters, with a steaming mug of grog or hot toddy in hand (I'd give you a recipe but I'm a spoiled jerk who married someone incredibly good at mixing drinks, so I just shout "Toddy, please!" like a woman with a butler and it magically appears in front of me). Many people loved Tartt's more recent novel The Goldfinch; even more people hated it -- I still haven't read it and probably won't get around to it anytime soon -- BUT! -- either way, don't let that stop you from The Secret History, which is incredible and is probably the real reason why she won the Pulitzer Prize. 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Sun Also Rises' by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway will always have a place in my heart for his Michigan connections -- for an anniversary my husband planned a Hemingway-themed road trip to Petoskey that was pretty awesome and only reinforced everything I already loved about the man. If you want to actually read his writing about northern Michigan, check out the Nick Adams stories, but my personal favorite have nothing to do with Michigan and everything to do with fishing, bulls, drinking, and wasting time in Europe. The Sun Also Rises is about...young adults who drink and fish and waste time in Europe...I don't know that it requires more explanation than that. They watch some bull fights. Some people have love affairs. I think espadrilles are worn. If that isn't enough of an incentive then I'm not sure why you read this blog?

The Bookhive List: Joan Didion

Normally the Bookhive List posts are about specific books that I love, but I refuse to choose a Joan Didion book I like best. They are all good and they are all short, so you really have no excuse for not reading all of it. But I suppose if you must limit yourself, please read A Year of Magical Thinking, Play it as it Lays, and The White Album. If you, like me, are already a major Joan Didion fan, you should check out this new biography of her, coming this month.

Also, for more of the same, go here. And here.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Tiger's Wife' by Tea Obrecht

Yet another recommendation that stems from my book club (thanks ladies!), and one of the first contemporary novels I had read after a very long exile into classics-ville that started in college. This book got me excited about contemporary literary fiction again, a habit I've managed to keep up with. Now that I think of it though, this was such a sensation when it was published, in part because of Tea Obrecht's incredibly young age, so where is the next big Tea Obrecht novel?! I wouldn't blame her for being incredibly intimidated by the potential for a sophomore slump, because her debut novel was truly excellent and demonstrated total maturity. I'm also surprised there's been no talk of adapting this into a film; granted, it would have to be simultaneously dark and whimsical and surreal, but I can just imagine a great Julie Taymor version of The Tiger's Wife.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Woman Upstairs' by Clare Messud

I loved this book the first time I read it, and I absorbed it over the course of a week of travel to Oregon, which was immensely satisfying. I became even more of a champion for The Woman Upstairs when I found out the rest of my book club members were indifferent to it at best, and some of them even disliked it. Messud's feat of writing a feminist novel about contemporary art is truly impressive, because that sounds like an utterly impossible task, and she pulls it off very elegantly. The whole novel reads like a slow-burning thriller, and it gave me the most delicious sense of dread the entire time, and yet it is so undeniably a piece of exquisite literary fiction. 

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye was the first novel of Toni Morrison's I read (it was also the first novel she published), and it is still my favorite (although Sula gave it some serious competition).  I read it for a high school English class, and I raced through it in one day. Then I went back and read it again, this time underlining and making notes, which was time-consuming because I had multiple notes on each page. As short of a novel as it is, each page has some revelation of prose and rhetoric, and it is still one of the best examples of language I've ever read -- it is not a novel that gets hung up in its own plot or context or narrative structure -- it comes across as simply words on a page, and those words just happen to be yielded in a very complex and powerful way. It demonstrates a complete mastery of writing that no one can compete with.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Orphan Master's Son' by Adam Johnson

There aren't many contemporary novels that make the cut for the Bookhive List, but The Orphan Master's Son really knocked me off my feet. Apparently the Pulitzer committee had the same reaction, but if you didn't read it when it made a splash in 2013, please take the time to read it now. There is no better fictionalized account of North Korean culture and the meticulously-researched context provides a really rich backdrop for an otherwise incredible narrative. And if you really love it, check out some of of Johnson's short stories, which I haven't gotten around to yet, but which I've heard are really, really terrific (and highly recommended for fans of George Saunders).

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'Lolita' by Vladimir Nabokov

There was no way this list was going to continue with a Nabokov reference, so here it is. I read Lolita in middle school, which is not normal. I remember distinctly checking out Kafka's Metamorphosis on the same day, so I was definitely in a weird phase. Either way, I read Lolita and really fell for the prose, which sparked a long era of Nabokov obsession in my life, which is thankfully at an end. I loved it so much that I lent it to a friend who rudely never returned it, so I bought a replacement, lent that to another friend, who never returned it, and thus, Lolita is also responsible for my strict no-lending policy.

I associate this novel so strongly with summers and vacations and it really is one of the best American road trip novels out there, so now is a good time to dig in if you haven't read it yet.

he Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books

The Bookhive List: 'Moby Dick' by Herman Melville

This post was meant to happen a few weeks ago to coincide with my What I'm Reading post on Billy Budd, but somehow I got my wires crossed...I do have a life and a job outside this blog so it's going to happen sometimes. 

I have a very different appreciation of Moby Dick than your average Melville fan -- my husband and I spent our honeymoon in Nantucket which inspired me to read the book, about half before the trip and half afterward. The historical and cultural context you gain from visiting the island really enhances the book itself, particularly the chapters most people struggle with, regarding the history of whaling (shout-out to the Whaling Museum, which is WAY more awesome than it sounds).

But as a result, I also really strongly associate the novel with one of the happiest times in my life and one of the best vacations I've ever taken, so I just have warm feelings and beautiful memories associated with the novel. Besides that, it is one of the best, most intense reading experiences I've ever had. It's incredible the way a thousand-page book can manage to be so suspenseful and exciting. Everyone needs to read it in their lifetimes, and preferably read it a few times.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books

The Bookhive List: 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' by Betty Smith

I first read this book in late high school, as I was preparing to attend the Honors College at the University of Michigan. When I initially picked it up, I had no idea it would end with Francie moving to Ann Arbor and starting a new life as a wife and university student there, but needless to say I was delighted and it forged an immediate connection. I also credit the novel with my love for HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire,' which. while focused on Prohibition-era gangs, somehow manages to explore many of the same themes, and through the same historical context, i.e., Irish immigrants trying to make it in America during the first half of the twentieth century.

A lot of folks write it off as a young adult novel, and it's definitely something I would put into the hands of any cool adolescent girl I knew, but I've really enjoyed revisiting it as an adult. There is lyrical evidence that Jay-Z is a fan of the novel, so another ringing endorsement.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books

The Bookhive List: 'Sentimental Education' by Gustave Flaubert

If you love 'Les Miserables' and feel a lot of genuine emotion when you watch it, then Sentimental Education is not for you. I don't want to say it makes the French Revolution funny, exactly, but it certainly finds the humor in 19th-century France. This is the novel, after all, that brought us the fictitious painting of a train begin driven by Jesus Christ through a virgin forest, an image that has never left my mind since I first encountered the novel in an art history seminar in college. If you are even remotely interested in 19th-century French art (Monet, Manet, Degas, Cezanne, etc etc etc), then Sentimental Education is the best segue into that cultural milieu, along with the poetry of Baudelaire. On a very basic level, it's a coming-of-age novel about Frederic and his fellow would-be lawyers living in Paris; Frederic lusts after an older, married woman, and when he finally decides to do something about it, his walk to her house is interrupted by a revolution in the streets. The satire of French politics is so rich and multi-layered and the whole thing is just brilliant.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books

The Bookhive List: 'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kingsolver

I have already espoused my love of Barbara Kingsolver, and I have also already related the story of my 12th grade dramatic interpretation of The Poisonwood Bible, in which I played a mute girl with a limp for a class presentation. It's pretty rare that I would ever pat my younger self on the back for a good decision, but reading and loving The Poisonwood Bible is one of those instances that makes me appreciate my younger, stupider self. It's like 17-year old me gave 28-year old me a gift in the form of a well-worn, dog-earred, much beloved book that has filled a decade of my life with Barbara Kingsolver's incredible prose. The women in the novel feel so real to me, and I've read it so many times that I almost feel like another sister in their family, silently observing the unraveling.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books

The Bookhive List: 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad

To say that Heart of Darkness has had a complicated existence is putting it mildly. It is simultaneously one of the most revered and reviled fictional accounts of colonialism -- all the more reason for it to be considered essential reading.

I have always personally enjoyed this novella, especially for its adventure qualities, seething and subtle as they may be. It's a great quick book for a very hot, muggy day, and if you haven't read it since high school, please give it another look.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.

The Bookhive List: 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare

I first read The Tempest as a junior in high school, and I really didn't care for it. I liked it well enough, but I didn't connect with it in the same way that I had with other plays by Shakespeare, particularly the tragedies, which probably appealed to the melodramatic angsty teen in me. I also remember our teacher making us watch a truly horrific tv adaptation that relocates the story to the swamps of Louisiana during the Civil War, and that wretchedness still lingers in my psyche.

I encountered it again in a college Shakespeare class that emphasized a theatrical reading over a literary one, and I realized so much of what I had missed the first time around.

My love for it was finally solidified when I was able to see an actual performance of it -- in this case the July Taymor/Helen Mirren film adaptation. (The trailer is very Taymor-y, but don't let that deter you -- it is a really incredible film. The performances are remarkable, especially Felicity Jones and Helen Mirren, and the production design is amazing).  I'd really like to see it performed live but I've never had the opportunity. The next time it's performed at Stratford, I'll be there front and center.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.