Welcome to another day of our alternative "best-ish" nonfiction book lists, in response to Time magazine's 100 Best Nonfiction Titles list.
The other day it took me a while to post because I couldn't think of any titles that corresponded with one of the headings chosen by the Time listmakers, "Culture." With this post I had the opposite problem: I love essay collections. I'm supposed to narrow it down to just four titles? Impossible!
So here's what Time had to say:
Against Interpretation, and Other Essays, by Susan Sontag
A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf
Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, by David Foster Wallace
Actually, I can't really argue with any of those four. I've tried and failed to read the Sontag, but I think the failing there was on my part, not Sontag's (I was giving it neither the time nor attention it deserved, and I probably never will; I wish I'd studied it in college when I had time. I do think Sontag is a skilled writer.). I also can't quibble with the choice of Woolf, although I've never made it through that book either. And I'm pretty firmly on the record as loving both Didion and Wallace (not his fiction, can't do it; just his essays) and thinking they are both important contributors to American writing of the last fifty years. So whatever I suggest today is simply in the spirit of additional suggestions.
The Braindead Megaphone, by George Saunders. Remember, we read this one for a Book Menage? It remains one of my favorite collections ever. I love Saunders's voice: smart, but somewhat frustrated; interested, but sometimes stymied by the world around him. I can't get into his fiction but this is a neat group of essays that deserved a wider reading audience.
Anything, (not a title, just any essay collection you can get your hands on) by E. B. White. Of course the man who co-wrote The Elements of Style was a master of essay style.
The Long-Legged House, by Wendell Berry. Really, any of Berry's essay collections are books you wouldn't mind having if you were stuck on a desert island. They're easy to read but you find new things in them every time. This collection is particularly noteworthy for Berry's essay opposing the Vietnam War (a timely issue, then; the book was first published in 1969).
Up in the Old Hotel, Joseph Mitchell. If you love New York City you've got to read this classic.
I know I'm blanking on titles right now; it feels like I should have at least one woman author on there (although if Time hadn't done it I would have listed something of Didion's). Anyone have any suggestions for must-read essay titles?
It's been fun to think about this category. I love, love, LOVE essays. I wanted to have a chapter of nothing but essay collections in my second reference book, The Inside Scoop, but I lost that battle, and I'm still a little cheesed about it, if you must know. Sure, there's essay collections scattered throughout the book (and indexed under "essays") but I maintain that good essay titles can be a challenge to find, particularly in libraries, where they tend to get all jumbled up together in the Dewey graveyard of the 800s, somewhere in among the poems and the plays where only the hardiest readers wander. Hmm. Maybe someday I'll make a list of 100 essay titles, just for giggles.
speaking of a book menage....can we do another one? i miss them.
Posted by: Beth | 21 October 2011 at 09:13 AM
Beth,
Hey, we should. That's a good idea. Our last one was Joanna Kavenna and The Doctor's Plague--fiction/NF mix--what should we do this time?
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 21 October 2011 at 09:21 AM
how about....an essay collection ;) and then a fiction title about the same topic? i have no suggestions for this. however, if you have not yet read The Chairs are Where the People Go, you must read it right now. best collection of non-fiction sort-of-essays ever. AND he's canadian.
Posted by: Beth | 21 October 2011 at 09:28 AM
Just placed a hold on the book, Beth, thanks for the suggestion. (At least one of the magic words was "Canadian.")
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 21 October 2011 at 09:37 AM
haha, i thought so. another very smart, mildly quirky librarian friend recommended it to me and it's great. it's easy to read in short spurts as well, which is good if you have, you know, a tiny human to keep track of.
Posted by: Beth | 21 October 2011 at 10:02 AM
Did I hear MENAGE? Yes please. I liked the NF/F mix of last time. But don't forget, my very special request is a graphic novel. It would be my first. Surely Candadians write graphic novels too, eh?
Posted by: Ruthiella | 21 October 2011 at 05:02 PM
Sorry, got a little excited there. I mean "Canadians".
Posted by: Ruthiella | 21 October 2011 at 05:03 PM
Oh, that potential list of 100 essay titles would be Good! I would troll through it looking for sub-groups I'd need to read.
My favorite essay book of recent time is The Fiddler in the Subway by Gene Weingarten. That dude can *write*.
Posted by: Unruly Reader | 21 October 2011 at 06:33 PM
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman.
Posted by: nan | 22 October 2011 at 11:36 AM
Elizabeth Bishop's Complete Prose (same pieces can be found in the one-volume compendium the Library of America put out a couple years ago). George Orwell's collected essays are pretty great. Practicing History by Barbara Tuchman. And if you can consider them as a group, the Best American Essay collections and the Best American Science and Nature Writing annuals almost always deliver -- and frequently introduce me to cool writers I'd never come across because I don't subscribe to 2,000 magazines.
Posted by: nan | 22 October 2011 at 11:42 AM
Last one and I'll stop, I swear! Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints by Joan Acocella and Virginia Woolf's Nose by Hermione Lee. Of course either of those could also be filed under "Culture" ...
Posted by: nan | 22 October 2011 at 11:44 AM
Nan,
Thanks for all the most excellent suggestions! (You never have to feel badly about listing too many titles here.) And I love the Best American Essays series; I actually collect them in a lowkey kind of way (meaning I always scan the shelves at Half Price Books for them).
I may have to try Ex Libris again. A lot of people feel very strongly about that book; all I remember is that I couldn't finish it. Maybe it's time to try it again.
Ruthiella,
I knew what you meant! Further details about a new Menage soon, I hope...
Unruly,
Just ordered Fiddler in the Subway from the library! Thanks!
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 24 October 2011 at 07:44 AM
Maybe we could read Ex Libris for the Menage? Just a suggestion. I find that reading in a group (even via the internet) really helps me better appriciate books I normally would not read, or like, or comprehend, etc...I'll forego the graphic novel if needs be. It is not like I couldn't read one on my own...but I need the excuse of a Menage.
Posted by: Ruthiella | 24 October 2011 at 12:28 PM
Ruthiella, just go read Life with Mr. Dangerous by Paul Hornschemeier or Mister Wonderful by Daniel Clowes.
Quirky, beautiful graphic novels about relationships. Note: the only kind of relationship books I read. If they aren't quirky and beautiful (you know, like people are) then what's the point?
Just suggestions. I am annoyingly full of them. As usual.
Posted by: Beth | 25 October 2011 at 08:44 AM
Thanks Beth! My library only has "Ghost World" and "Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron" by Clowes and "Mother Come Home" and "The Three Paradoxes" by Hornschemeier. I'll try one of those, or maybe splurge and purchase one of your recommendations.
Posted by: Ruthiella | 25 October 2011 at 10:59 AM
Ruthiella,
I can attest to the fact that Beth always makes good graphic novel suggestions. If I might suggest one, have you tried "Mom's Cancer" by Brian Fies? One of my all-time favorites (I'm moving a bookshelf in my house and just found and re-read that one this afternoon--that's why it's on my mind).
Beth, as always, thanks for the recommendations for me and for others! You are a librarian/reader extraordinaire.
Posted by: Citizen Reader | 25 October 2011 at 01:42 PM
If it's one of your first, Hornshcemeier can be a bit of a challenge, but Mother Come Home is very beautiful and more straightforward that The Three Paradoxes, although both are good. Ghost World is a classic and highly recommended. I second Mom's Cancer. It's wonderful.
And thanks CR ;) I'm reading the new one by Craig Thompson (who wrote the gorgeous Blankets), called Habibi. I am finding it very challenging but worth it at every turn. I recommend that as well if you're in the right mood and have the mental energy to tackle it. Nice review of it here: http://www.readingrants.org/2011/10/16/habibi-by-craig-thompson/
Posted by: Beth | 27 October 2011 at 09:52 AM
It is really impressive and attractive post. I will recommend it to others . Your work is really being appreciated.
Posted by: Essay Title | 08 November 2012 at 05:02 AM