Since it’s that time of year (uh, the end) I thought I’d get into the prevailing spirit of the times and give you a “… of 2009″ list. Plus it’s time to remember all the good things and the things that make you all warm inside and the things that make you smile.
This one’s entitled My Favourite Books of 2009 (that’d be books I read, not just books published this year).
- Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates – again, I say, how did I NOT know about Richard Yates? Oh English degree, how you have failed me.
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman – button eyes will never be cute again. Never. NB this was read pre-blog so no review link.
Did I have a life pre-blog?? It’s like a haze…
- Under the Skin by Michel Faber – *speechless*. Creeped the jeebies out of me. Then made me feel ill. Then made me think, lots.
- The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams - whimsical and funny and perfect and written by my favourite celebrity. Celebrity books can be good – if they’re written well, surprise.
- The Messenger by Marcus Zusak – an ordinary guy being extraordinary – a basic story made powerful by brilliant writing.
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – yes, it was total fluffery, but it was such enjoyable fluffery.
- The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan – I listened to it as my first audiobook experience. What a good choice (pat on back). History at its best.
- Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett – of course.
More lists to follow…
P.S. Please thank me for not mentioning the ‘C’ word. And I do rather like whiskers on kittens but I’m not that fussed about raindrops on roses.
And your favourite things?
I’m having a bit of trouble trying to come up with a way to start this post. I’m also having a bit of trouble coming up with a way to keep writing this post, to be honest.
Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates – in my opinion a vastly underrated 20th century writer. I’ve already bent your ear about The Easter Parade. This title has recently had more exposure due to the Leonardio DiCaprio – Kate Winslet movie adaptation (“First time together since Titanic” – life really does go from the ridiculous to the sublime). I’m sure that induced many to quickly buy the book (complete with movie tie-in cover) and just as quickly never read it.
I pity them really. Because if they haven’t read it they’ve missed out on one of the most real, most heartbreaking reading experiences. Yates is a master at conveying lives being quietly strangled by expectation, convention and desperation. Frank and April Wheeler live in 1950s Connecticut, Frank commutes every day to an office where he does nothing (unless he’s drinking with colleagues or illicit afternoon trysts with a secretary), April is a housewife. This isn’t who they are, they tell themselves, they’re not part of the button-down suburban types they live amongst, they are better than that and have hopes and dreams and intellect to carry them above the lives they’ve found themselves living. They’re going to move to France and live lives that are free.
I wish I could be a good enough writer to accurately convey how devastating this book is – the breakdown of their dreams, and the slow reveal that shows all the dreams they’ve had to give up throughout their lives. Yates so perfectly captures the sheer tedium of corporate office life, the pressure of providing in a consumerist society, the harsh reality of living in a relationship with someone you really don’t love (or like), the cultural dumbing down to appeal to the masses, and the many little disappointments of life that it almost seems unbelievable that this book was first published in 1961. Plus ca change…
Anyway, I am going to keep this short as I’m disappointing myself now with what seems like silly ways of describing something so admirable. Needless to say, highly recommended. Read this book and meditate on life, love and the point of it all.
Now I’ll go out on a limb here and say that I think Richard Yates is one of the most underrated authors of the 20th century (along with Joan Didion – more on her in another post). Eleven Kinds of Loneliness is short story heaven – the kind of short story heaven that includes Dorothy Parker, Raymond Carver and Richard Ford so exactly my kind of heaven.
The Easter Parade is a novel, not an especially long one, that follows the life of Emily Grimes and through her eyes that of her sister Sarah, from their childhood in 1920s and 30′s suburban New York through marriage (for Sarah), a string of failed affairs (for Emily) and to their older age in the 1960s. It’s not an especially unusual story, necessarily, a seemingly blissful Arcadian marriage for Sarah that hides a darker and violent life, the casual alcoholism of their mother and later Sarah (and possibly Emily – this story fairly reeks of stale whiskey and cigarettes), and an inability on Emily’s behalf to find a satisfying relationship – or perhaps to connect to other people in a satisfying way.
What does make this novel stand out is the total believability of Yates’ voice as Emily and of this family. His timing is impeccable and there is no dancing around – the small and immaterial details of life are presented not as cyphers, but as exactly what they are – details that as a whole form the larger picture. Yates manages to marry a truly authentic voice of the mid 20th century with a meaningful “everyman/woman” voice that says “Here is life – painful … confusing … and marred by other people”. He also seems to accurately convey the way time can suddenly pass without being noticed – the surprise of catching your suddenly old age face in the mirror.
Yes, it’s a depressing vision. But not one that is without its redeeming moments. Maybe we can find an acceptance of life if we stop trying to mold others into, not only, our vision of them, but our vision of our life. Perhaps epiphany can be found in the realisation that we can’t truly know another, but if we are truly honest with them we may be lucky enough to experience the same in return.
