Very Favorite Books
These are books I read again and again simply because I love them and am perfectly comfortable in their worlds. These are not literary reviews by any means…as you’ll see.
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy
A friend borrowed this book to me back in the late eighties. I had no desire to read it, except I wanted to please her if she happened to ask me what I thought of it. I had no idea what it was about, but about two pages in, I was in love. There’s something mythologically beautiful about this book for me.
I knew the book by heart by the time the movie came out, so I couldn’t wait for it to hit the local theaters. You see, I was younger then and was innocent in the ways of Hollywood and didn’t understand, therefore, that if you have a favorite novel and someone should make a movie of it, they will ruin it. Absolutely ruin it, with few exceptions. The movie version of TPOT was awful, and was more about Barbara Streisand’s great need to be the core and hero of the story than anything Conroy might have intended. I don’t know if he participated in the script writing, but Pat, if you did…really. Why??
On the brighter side, part of the power of a good book is that it will always outlast poor film versions of itself. So I say: pretend you never saw the movie. Indeed, pretend it never existed and that Streisand has never even heard of Pat Conroy. Read the book, fall in love with Jack Wingo and feel the joy of his finest, his very finest, day.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry
Yes, I saw the mini-series first, so reading the book was exhillerating – at last, an inside look at the characters I’d cherished from the mini-series!
What can I say. It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner; it’s a beautiful, epic book; its characters are captivating and so real it makes you ache. I’ve read all the books in which Gus and Call have been featured, but none top the first. What a masterpiece.
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Come on, who among us hasn’t imagined Mr. Darcy with his haughty bearing and reserve confessing to us his improbable but too-potent-to-be-denied love, while we both disdain, and lust for, him? Don’t lie, now!
With Austen’s 19th century English prose, her irony and impatience regarding her characters, and her slowly built love-to-hate-you tension, it’s the perfect read for rainy days when your imagination is just crying for romance with some literary value packed in.
I’ve seen two versions of Pride and Prejudice: the PBS mini-series, and the latest version with whats-her-face – the skinny one – playing Lizzy. Loved them both. The newer version has a sexier Darcy (IMO) and much sexier proposal scene, but the PBS mini-series takes you deeper inside the book and I like their Lizzy better. Read the book, watch both the versions, and rejoice that there are such things as decent movie adaptions of some works of fiction.
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
This is probably the most beautiful, joyous, human, and love-filled book I’ve ever read. I can literally feel my soul open up with each reading, and phrases from this book have been lodged in my brain since I first read it in 1986.
I think I’ve read this book fifteen times, and I never, ever fail to break into gooseflesh and feel my heart squeeze when I get to the first line of the last chapter. It’s happening even as I write about it. Ms. Walker, thank you. Thank you so much.
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
My all-time warm-blanket-and-glass-of-milk, this book-turned-trilogy is what I reach for several times a year when I need the familiarity of old friends paired with the joy of believing in the power of hope and triumph in the face of adversity.
“The Fellowship of the Ring” is my favorite segment. I’ve never been a big fan of fantasy, but Tolkien hits the right notes for me. And yes, I consider this another example of a novel that was not done wrong by its film adaption. The film versions of the trilogy were over-simplified, and it miffed me that Jackson gave a slight “weenie” edge to Faramir and Theoden, but they both redeem themselves in the end, thankfully.
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Just a plain-ol’, charming, sweet book. I identified with Lily immediately, almost with a catch of my breath – that longing – and so it’s not surprising to me that I have a strong affinity for this book. It’s a feel-good book, and it makes me feel grand whenever I read it.
The Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
The Vampire Chronicles – Anne Rice
Ahh, Anne. Sexy, blasphemous, introspective vampires who contemplate the meaning of life (and the undead), the existance or indifference of God, and their own oh-so-human foibles that remain with them long after they cease to be human. “Interview with the Vampire,” “The Vampire LeStat,” “Queen of the Damned,” “Tale of the Body Thief,” and “Memnoch the Devil” – all beautiful, challenging, frightening (in ways different than you may suppose), and a pleasure to read and re-read.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susana Clarke