By ML Van Valkenburgh
1. Heart of a Dog/Mikhail Bulgakov
Bulgakov was one of the Soviet Union’s most banned writers, but largely because the Soviet leadership had no freaking clue what he was talking about rather than for specific political reasons, though his work was highly politicized. I’m reading it because my boyfriend bought me a copy.
2. Summerland/Michael Chabon
This one’s a re-read for me. I really love Michael Chabon. He writes about topics I love (comics, baseball), and he’s terrific at drawing you into his story and making you part of it. Granted, this is what “they” might call a “young adult” novel, but screw genre, it’s just a great story all-around. Who can’t relate to having been embarrassed by their parents or being awkward at sports or having weird friends or being really pissed off when your favorite nature spot becomes a victim of environmental degradation? Things like that transcend genre, and make a story for kids a book for everyone.
3. The Sandman Graphic Novels I-III/Neil Gaiman
Another re-read. I was about to loan them out to a friend, but before I did I felt compelled to dive back into the ground-breaking comics series that changed my perceptions about, well, a whole lot of things. Most importantly, they helped me understand that books with pictures didn’t have to be left behind in childhood.
4. Bangkok 8/John Burdett
They say if you really want to understand a culture, you have to immerse yourself in it. In this fictional crime novel, you get as close as you possibly can get to Bangkok without actually moving there. Burdett lived in Thailand for some time, and he understands Bangkok in a way I imagine few Westerners do. I grabbed it off an editor’s shelf a few years ago and it’s been sitting around my place ever since – he wasn’t interested in having a review of it done, but man, did his readers miss out on hearing about a smart, meaningful look into the very alien culture of Bangkok.
5. The Complete Strand Facsimile Edition Sherlock Holmes (with illustrations)/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I actually bought this at 221B Baker Street – how cheesy is that? But man, do I ever love Sherlock Holmes. This book is massive, which is a plus. Even if you are a fast reader like I am, it takes some time to get through; it includes all the stories. The illustrations are great, too. Holmes has been through the Hollywood (and BBC) treatment so many times, it’s a genuine pleasure to see him presented as he was originally imagined to be. The stories make for a great history lesson as well, as London changes with the years. The only stories that shouldn’t quite have made the cut are those narrated by Holmes himself – Watson’s observations add a flavor and color that Holmes, with his utter disregard for the human element, is unable to convey.
6. The Dark is Rising Sequence/Susan Cooper
These books (there are five) are not new – the first was published in the late Sixties and the series ended in the Seventies. But they were my favorite childhood books, and I re-read them at least once a year, if not more. They’re my alternative to eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and watching a COPS marathon. When I need to, I can curl up with Cooper’s books and immerse myself in the battle between the Light and the Dark, and the rest of the world can go to hell.
7. Captain’s Courageous/Rudyard Kipling
I wanted to read Kim, actually, but the person I was borrowing from only had this particular Kipling novel. I remember not really “getting” The Jungle Books as a kid, but that’s probably because I was trying to read them too young – I’d be willing to bet they’d go down more easily now. As for C.C., well, it’s not all that. It’s pretty implausible, and pretty predictable, and the only thing it really has going for it is the dialect of the fishermen, which is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Newfoundlanders’ in The Shipping News, which is a great book. Lesson learned? Just because a book is considered a classic doesn’t mean it’s worth your time.
8. Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants/Robert Sullivan
I picked up this little gem at Hyde Park Books and it was fascinating as hell, in a really grotesque way. I once owned a pet rat, Barnabas, may he rest in peace, but about two paragraphs into Sullivan’s book it was pretty clear that his rats – New York’s finest – were nothing like the domesticated rat you can get at any pet store. I have to admit Sullivan is probably on the slightly insane side – sitting in a lawn chair staring down an alley in New York observing a colony of rats for months at a time definitely indicates some kind of mental aberration. But his prose is enjoyable, and his rat lore is undeniably amazing. You have to hand it to the nasty little buggers . . . they really know how to live.
9. Wolf Boy/Evan Kuhlman
I never would have picked up this book on my own, but I got paid to review it. I was set to hate it – a novel that incorporated comic book elements? Talk about jumping on the bandwagon, and a few years late, at that. But no matter how hard I tried not to like it, I couldn’t help finding it a beautiful, transcendent, fantastic novel. Bonus points for being set in downstate Illinois and for excellent early ’90s cultural references.
10. The Letter Home/Timothy Decker
This is written as a children’s book, as a letter to a little boy from his father, a World War I medic. It’s gently written, and drawn in pen-and-ink with gorgeous yet simple detail. It makes no judgments about right and wrong, but is a quiet, contemplative book. I’ve shared it with friends, and it generally elicits appreciative silence, then intelligent discussion. How did this book find its way to me? From first grade through early college, Tim Decker was one of my closest pals. We lit GI Joes on fire and dropped them with parachutes from his window. We acted in high school musicals, got into philosophical debates that nearly turned into fisticuffs, and were part of the same pack of misfits and no-goodniks at school. I haven’t spoken word one to him in more than a decade, but I’m pleased to see he’s evolved into an artistic genius.
Posted on August 31, 2006