In no particular order, and subject to change.
Edward St. Aubyn, The Patrick Melrose Novels and At Last
Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding
Amor Towles, Rules of Civility
Martin Gayford, Man with a Blue Scarf
Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts
Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes
Elif Batuman, The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
Thank you for doing all of the heavy lifting and reading so many books. Now I can go to the store and know what to buy, using your top ten! Comments to follow.
Thanks, Abby — though I have to admit I’m just doing publicly what I would be doing anyway!
You saved me a ton of time tonight in my search for the perfect book to listen to while driving this weekend. I’m downloading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Soet. You write great descriptions! Thanks!
Oh, Peyton, I’m glad. I think that would be a good one to listen to and the visual nature of the book should be right up your alley!
Just finished the Jacob de Soet book. It was a great read (actually, I listened to it via a superb Audible recording). Now I’m perusing your list for the next read!
You might like “The Hare with Amber Eyes.” The author is a potter, and his focus on the way objects are used gives a new focus to a story about an inheritance. And it’s beautifully written. You can probably read a sample on Amazon.com. Don’t know if it’s an audible book, but de Waal himself has a lovely speaking voice — it would be a treat to hear him read it!
I didn’t see your note about “The Hare…” which I will order now. Instead, I listened to your suggested “The City of Tranquil Light,” which I finished this morning at 5:00 a.m. on my new pillow. Say what? Yup, my new pillow. I often listen to books or music on my iPod in a futile attempt to drown out my dear husband’s snoring, and the ear buds and long cords tangle me up all night long. Mark gave me this cool pillow that somehow has a speaker inside it. I plugged my iPod into the cord coming out of one corner, and fell asleep to a lovely meditation tape. When I woke too early, I listened to the last hours of your wonderful book. It was a terrific story. I learned a lot about China, and the couple’s deep faith left me yearning for the same. Thanks for another good read! Peyton
Peyton, I’m so glad you liked “The City…” Very moving, isn’t it? The other art-theme book that you might like, which I just read, is “Man with a Blue Scarf.” Hope you guys all had a wonderful Christmas! XXX
I enjoyed your review of “Man with a Blue Scarf,” Martin Gayford’s book about sitting for a portrait with Lucian Freud, and asked for it for Christmas. It really is a beautiful book. The paper, the photographs of the art work, the heft of the book, all great; a book I’ll keep forever. I just read James Lord’s book about sitting for a portrait for Giacometti so it makes a nice comparison. Thanks for a great recommendation.
On tape, I’m listening to your suggested, fun book, “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand.” I am enjoying it thoroughly, a great read for my long car drives. The Audible narrator is perfect, though I wonder how my experience of the book would differ had I just read it silently to myself. Bruno Bettleheim suggests that parents read fairy tales to their children, and not show them the illustrations, the idea being that their imaginations are better nurtured. I almost want to read this novel myself, and see how my experience differs.
I keep meaning to suggest a blog to you, one a dear friend does. I guess I’d call it spiritual memoir. Each month brings a short essay which she reads out loud. Her husband plays lovely guitar music on either end (this year, she sends $10.00 to Haiti for every person who signs up, an added bonus). She’s been doing this for a year now, and is getting better and better with each offering. http://www.listenwell.org
Thanks, Peyton! Your observations about reading/listening are really interesting. I don’t like listening to books or written material very much because it seems so almighty slow to me. I’m just not very patient. And we don’t drive much (don’t even own a car any more). But I do know that there are fascinating differences between the two experiences.
So glad you are enjoying the Gayford book as an object: I do, too. Rick is reading it now and loving it. In fact the other day he asked me out of the blue, “Would you pose nude for Lucian Freud?”
The answer was no, BTW!
Ok, so I’ve read and adored your suggestions (Wolf Hall, Tranquil Lights, Blue Scarf & Jacob DeSoet). Wolf Hall (fabulous on tape) took quite a while so now I have three credits on Audible (three books!). Obviously, Leaving Van Gogh is the next book on paper to read, but any other suggestions?
Did you take the photo of Van Gogh’s grave marker while over there?
I didn’t take that photo of the grave marker because I had left my camera in my duffel back in Paris, but they’re all over the Internet — probably better than the one I would have taken!
Book ideas:
look at Sarah Dunant’s wonderful Italian historicals (The Birth of Venus, etc.) Ian McEwan’s “Saturday.” Lily King’s “Father of the Rain” was very moving but also disturbing (WASP family dysfunction). And Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” might be great to listen to.
I’m new here and greatly appreciate the recommendations. I listened to the audio version of “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” found it so much fun. Over the last 20+ years, I have become an enormous fan of audiobooks and find I’m always listening to one audiobook while reading another. It happens that sometimes, I begin reading a particular series then switch to audio. I do find that narrator and characters in my head as I read are different from the characters as an audio narrator creates. But it’s never been jarring to me. If I begin a series by listening then read one or two of the books, the characters I hear as I read become the versions the narrators of the audiobooks have created. I find audiobooks particularly helpful when there are many dialects and they are difficult to read. I offer Diana Gabeldon’s incredible series as an example. I begin the series on audio. Friends I recommended the series to found the books simply too difficult to plow through. They found themselves struggling to simply understand what was being said rather than able to enjoy the story. When I suggested they listen rather then read, they became fans too.
Christy, welcome, and thanks for getting so involved! As you can see from some of the comments above yours, I’ve got other readers who love the audio way of reading. Clearly I’m going to have to put something on my iPod besides ABBA!
Did “Moby-Dick” make the list before or after you read “The Art of Fielding?”
Great question, JoAnn! Before, actually — I read “Moby-Dick” in May 2011 and “The Art of Fielding” in October. However I can’t claim that I could make much of a literary link between the whale book and the baseball book. I was just so swept up by the story!
I am writing this list down NOW! You have listed several books I have read, but I haven’t even heard of some of them. Must get cracking!
The good thing about that is, if you don’t agree with me about the books you have read, you’ll know to steer clear of the others!
The ones I have read are good, which makes me feel that I can rely on your list. I read “Bring Up the Bodies,” or rather inhaled it, this weekend. Now it’s my turn to write a review. I’ll be posting one tomorrow!
Oh, Kay, now that I’ve visited whatmeread I can see that we are on the same wave-length. Dorothy Dunnett! Georgette Heyer! Those darn early Byatt books about Frederica Potter! (Difficult to slog through, but indelible in ways…) Can’t wait to see what you made of his (he, Cromwell’s) latest adventures.