I love Wendy Lesser’s Why I Read. Lesser discusses books and authors who mean the most to her. She enjoys Patricia Highsmith, Trollope, Mailer, and Dostoevsky. Lesser writes about her pleasure in reading Isaac Asimov. But she really loves Henry James. Lesser also writes about why she doesn’t like James Joyce’s Ulysses. One of my favorite chapters in Why I Read is “Elsewhere” where Lesser talks about reading books in translation. She shows why she likes certain translators (and not others). And, as a bonus, Lesser lists 100 books that are her favorites. Many of them I’ve read, but now I have a list of books I want to read. If you love to read, you’ll find a kindred spirit in Wendy Lesser. She loves books and loves to write about them. It doesn’t get better than this. GRADE: A
WENDY LESSER’S 100 FAVORITE BOOKS
Ackerley, J. R. MY FATHER AND MYSELF
Ambler, Eric. A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS
Austen, Jane. PERSUASION
Baldwin, James. NOTES OF A NATIVE SON
Balzac, Honore. COUSIN BETTE
Bellow, Saul. RAVELSTEIN
Bennett, Arnold. THE OLD WIVE’S TALE
Bishop, Elizabeth. THE COMPLETE POEMS
Bolano, Roberto. DISTANT STAR
Bowen, Elizabeth. THE HEAT OF THE DAY
Carroll, Lewis. ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Cather, Willa. THE PROFESSOR’S HOUSE
Chekhov, Anton. THE LADY WITH THE DOG & OTHER STORIES
Coetzee, J. M. DISGRACE
Collins, Wilkie. THE WOMAN IN WHITE
Conrad, Joseph. UNDER WESTERN EYES
de Waal, Edmund. THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES
Der Nister, THE FAMILY MASHBER
Dickens, Charles. DAVID COPPERFIELD
Dickinson, Emily. FINAL HARVEST
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. CRIME & PUNISHMENT
Dyer, Geoff. OUT OF SHEER RAGE
Eisenberg, Deborah. TWILIGHT OF THE SUPERHEROES
Elkin, Stanley. VAN GOGH’S ROOM AT ARLES
Ellison, Ralph. INVISIBLE MAN
Farrell, J. G. THE SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR
Faulkner, William. ABSALOM, ABSALOM!
Fitzgerald, Penelope. THE BEGINNING OF SPRING
Flaubert, Gustave. SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
Ford, Ford Madox. PARADE’S END
Ford, Richard. THE BASCOMBE NOVELS
Forester, E. M. A PASSAGE TO INDIA
Gissing, George. NEW GRUB STREET
Gluck, Louise. A VILLAGE LIFE
Goncharov, Ivan. OBLOMOV
Greene, Graham. THE QUIET AMERICAN
Grossman, Vasily. LIFE & FATE
Gunn, Thom. COLLECTED POEMS
Handke, Peter. A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS
Hardwick, Elizabeth. THE SIMPLE PLAN
Hardy, Thomas. JUDE THE OBSCURE
Hazzard, Shirley. THE TRANSIT OF VENUS
Heaney, Seamus. THE HAW LANTERN
Herzen, Alexander. MY PAST & THOUGHTS
Highsmith, Patricia. THE COMPLETER RIPLEY NOVELS
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. POEMS
Howells, William Dean. A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES
James, Henry. THE GOLDEN BOWL
Lahiri, Jhumpa. UNACCUSTOMED EARTH
Lampedusa, Giuseppe di. THE LEOPARD
Lawrence, D. H. SONS AND LOVERS
Li, Yiyun. GOLD BOY, EMERALD GIRL
London, Jack. MARTIN EDEN
Lowell, Robert. LIFE STUDIES
Macdonald, Ross. THE BLUE HAMMER
Mailer, Norman. THE ARMIES OF THE NIGHT
Malcolm, Janet. IN THE FREUD ARCHIVES
Malouf, David. THE GREAT WORLD
Mankell, Henning. SIDETRACKED
Mann, Thomas. BUDDENBROOKS
Mantel, Hilary. BEYOND BLACK
Marias, Javier. A HEART SO WHITE
Maxwell, William. SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW
McEwan, Ian. THE INNOCENT
Melville, Herman. GREAT SHORT WORKS
Michaels, Leonard. COLLECTED STORIES
Mistry, Rohinton. A FINE BALANCE
Munro, Alice. FRIEND OF MY YOUTH
Murakami, Haruki. HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND & THE END OF THE WORLD
Norris, Frank. THE PIT
O’Connor, Flannery. WISE BLOOD
Ondaatje, Michael. RUNNING IN THE FAMILY
Orwell, George. THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER
Pinsky, Robert. SELECTED POEMS
Platonov, Andrey. SOUL & OTHER STORIES
Price, Richard. CLOCKERS
Roth, Joseph. THE RADETZKY MARCH
Roth, Philip. I MARRIED A COMMUNIST
Rushdie, Salman. THE MOOR’S LAST SIGH
Queiros, Eca de. TH MAIAS
Sebald, W. G. THE RINGS OF SATURN
Serge, Victor. THE CASE OF COMRADE TULAYEV
Stafford, Jean. THE MOUNTAIN LION
Stendhal, THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA
Svevo, Italo. ZERO’S CONSCIENCE
Theroux, Paul. THE FAMILY ARSENAL
Toibin, Colm. THE MASTER
Tolstoy, Leo. WAR & PEACE
Trevor, William. THE CHILDREN OF DYNMOUTH
Trollope, Anthony. THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
Turgenev, Ivan. VIRGIN SOIL
Twain, Mark. HUCKEBERRY FINN
Verne, Jules. THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
West, Rebecca. THE FOUNTAIN OVERFLOWS
Wharton, Edith. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
Wolff, Tobias. IN PHARAOH’S ARMY
Wright, Richard. NATIVE SON
Zola, Emile. THE LADIES’ PARADISE

Jo Walton’s What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy was just published so it obviously isn’t a Forgotten Book. But Walton’s wonderful book explores plenty of forgotten books. This collection gathers 130 of Walton’s blog posts from Tor.com (July 2008 to February 2011). Walton writes about her favorite works of science fiction and fantasy in pithy, clever short essays. Of course, the result of reading Jo Walton’s What Makes This Book So Great is a big stack of forgotten books I want to read (or re-read). If you’re a fan of the science fiction and fantasy genres, Walton presents a great guidebook. Highly recommended!
SOME WRITERS DISCUSSED IN WMTBSG:
Daniel Abraham
Poul Anderson
Iain M. Banks
John Brunner
Steven Burst
Lois McMaster Bujold
Octavia E. Butler
C. J. Cherryh
Susanna Clarke
Pamela Dean
Samuel R. Delany
Lord Dunsany
George Alec Effinger
George Eliot
John M. Ford
John Fowles
Robert A. Heinlein
Ursula K. Le Guin
Tanith Lee
Ken MacLeod
George R. R. Martin
Maureen F. McHugh
Susan Palwick
Kim Stanley Robinson
Dorothy L. Sayers
Karl Schroeder
Francis Spufford
James Tiptree, Jr.
J.R. R. Tolkien
Vernor Vinge
Connie Willis
Robert Charles Wilson
Terri Windling
Jack Womack

Bernard Cornwell’s just published The Pagan Lord is the seventh volume of the adventures of Uhtred, a Danish warrior who fights to protect the Saxon kingdoms from the Vikings. Not too many adventure novels are set in the 9th Century so that’s some of the appeal of these books. In The Pagan Lord, Uhtred is framed for a kidnapping. His estate is burned and he’s on the run again. Uhtred finally figures out the shenanigans and once again he has to put together a fighting force to save the Saxons from being overrun by the Vikings. You don’t have to read the previous six books to enjoy The Pagan Lord but it helps. And, if you like this kind of historical fiction, you’ll want to read all of Cornwell’s Saxon Stories anyway. Cornwell gives some strong hints at the end of The Pagan Lord that the next book may conclude the series. GRADE: B+

Hellmann’s mayonnaise celebrates its 100th Birthday in 2014. I know mayonnaise has been demonized as unhealthy, but I still use it on occasion. Mayonnaise is the top-selling condiment in the U.S. and Hellmann’s owns half the market. I love Hellmann’s consistency, texture, and sweetness. Many nights I’ll just spoon some on my salad–it makes a perfect dressing. I’ve tried some gourmet mayos, but I keep coming back to Hellmann’s. I consider mayonnaise as a versatile condiment that goes well with sandwiches to burgers. And, in my opinion, Hellmann’s is the yummiest of them all!

Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner, Chris Pine, and Keira Knightley star in this “reboot” of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit isn’t based on any Clancy novel. Even when the four previous Jack Ryan movies appeared, loosely based on Clancy’s work, Clancy wasn’t happy with the results. Clancy told the Washington Post that “giving your book to Hollywood is like turning your daughter over to a pimp.” Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a typical action movie. Chris Pine plays intelligence analyst Jack Ryan as a smart and brave operative. Keira Knightley plays Jack Ryan’s fiancée who doesn’t know he’s in the CIA. Kevin Costner plays Jack Ryan’s boss. Kenneth Branagh plays the Russian Bad Guy and directs the movie. There are explosions, car chases, some computer hacking, and a cool motorcycle. Very vanilla, very predictable. I had a free ticked to this movie. GRADE: B

What better way to celebrate Martin Luther King Day than with an inspiring movie about Nelson Mandela. I’m a big fan of Idris Elba from The Wire and his performance on BBC America in Luther as well as his appearance in the Thor movies. Mandela is the story of Nelson Mandela’s life from childhood to his activism in civil rights to his years in prison through his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. The struggle for freedom and civil rights continues, but this story is uplifting. GRADE: B+

In their second game this season (aka, “The Real Super Bowl”) Brady and Manning face each other again. Denver is favored by 5 1/2 points, but don’t make the mistake of counting New England out. The Patriots have been winning with smoke and mirrors all season long. They lost their two tight ends, they have crappy wide receivers, they’ve become a running team. No matter. The Patriots find a way to win. This game should be fun to watch.

Sorry Niner fans, I think Seattle will win this game. Seattle impresses me as the best team in the NFL. They are very tough to defeat on their home field. If any team can do it, it could be the Niners. But that would be a huge upset. The Seahawks are favored by 3 1/2 points. I’m going with the Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots in the Super Bowl February 2.

Nick Bilton’s zany story of the origins of Twitter is full of lies, deception, trickery, and back-stabbing. Yes, nerds can be vicious too, when billions of dollars are at stake. Bilton shows how the super-popular social media tool went from obscurity to an addictive app on almost every cell phone. My students tweet dozens of messages per day. I have to admit that I’m not on Twitter and regard it as a vast waste of time. But I understand the attraction have having thousands of followers who read about what you’re having for breakfast and where you’re going and what you’re doing. Narcissism to the max! GRADE: B+

Ramble House and Surinam Turtle Press achieve something close to a publishing miracle with the appearance of What If? Volume #3. The first volume of What If? Stories that Didn’t Win a Hugo, But Should Have was published in 1980. The second volume of What If? was published in 1981. The third volume of What If? was in the galley stage of the publishing process when the series was canceled. Decades passed. Then editor Richard A. Lupoff found those long-missing galleys and bought them from a dealer. Now, we have all three volumes of stories that should have won the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction story of the year. The bonus is Lupoff’s detailed history of the Hugo Awards year-by-year. I was astonished to learn that in 1953 there were 43 different science fiction magazines available on the newstand! Sadly, little by little, the publishing business changed and paperbacks became more popular than SF magazines. If you’re interested in great science fiction stories with intriguing essays by Lupoff on the development of the genre in the Fifties to the Seventies, I highly recommend the What If? series.

What If? Volume 1
Introduction: Earned Glory-Richard A. Lupoff
1952 “Firewater!:-William Tenn
1953 “Four in One”-Damon Knight
1954 “The Golden Helix”-Theodore Sturgeon
1955 “One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts”-Shirley Jackson
1056 “The Man Who Came Early”-Poul Anderson
1957 “The Mile-Long Spaceship”-Kate Wilhelm
1958 “Two Dooms”-Cyril Kornbluth

What If? Volume 2
Introduction: My Aunt Cora-Richard A. Lupoff
1959 “The Pi Man”-Alfred Bester
1960 “The Lost Kafoozalum”-Pauline Ashwell
1961 “The Sources of the Nile”-Avram Davidson
1962 “Where Is the Bird of Fire?”-Thomas Burnett Swann
1963 “Stand-by”-Philip K. Dick
1964 “Now Is Forever”-Thomas M. Disch
1965 “All the King’s Men”-Barrington J. Bayley

What If? Volume 3
A Note on Publishing History-Richard A. Lupoff
Shining Examples: An Introduction-Richard A. Lupoff
1966 “Light of Other Days”-Bob Shaw
1967 “The Star-Pit”-Samuel R. Delany
1968 “The Barbarian”-Joanna Russ
1969 “Sundance”-Robert Silverberg
1970 “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”-Gene Wolf
1971 “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow”-Ursula K. Le Guin
1972 “Painwise”-James Tiptree, Jr.
1973 “My Brother Leopold”-Edgar Pangborn

Dangerous Women weighs in at 784 pages. The idea obviously is “a little something for everyone.” Several genres are represented: science fiction, fantasy, crime fiction, and historical fiction. My favorite story in Dangerous Women is Brandon Sanderson’s eerie “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.” The more I read of Sanderson’s work, the more respect I have for Sanderson’s talent. Megan Abbott’s noirish tale is a gem. Joe R. Lansdale’s “Wrestling Jesus” sparkles. For fans of political intrigue, Sharon Kay Penman’s “A Queen in Exile” delivers several surprises. The Big Attraction in Dangerous Women is “The Princess and the Queen,” another installment of George R. R. Martin’s fabulously popular “A Song of Ice and Fire” fantasy series. If you’re in the mood for a sprawling anthology, Dangerous Women delivers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION, by Gardner Dozois
SOME DESPERADO, by Joe Abercrombie
MY HEART IS EITHER BROKEN, by Megan Abbott
NORA’S SONG, by Cecelia Holland
THE HANDS THAT ARE NOT THERE, by Melinda Snodgrass
BOMBSHELLS, by Jim Butcher
RAISA STEPANOVA, by Carrie Vaughn
WRESTLING JESUS, by Joe R. Lansdale
NEIGHBORS, by Megan Lindholm
I KNOW HOW TO PICK ‘EM, by Lawrence Block
SHADOWS FOR SILENCE IN THE FORESTS OF HELL, by Brandon Sanderson
A QUEEN IN EXILE, by Sharon Kay Penman
THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR, by Lev Grossman
SECOND ARABESQUE, VERY SLOWLY, by Nancy Kress
CITY LAZARUS, by Diana Rowland
VIRGINS, by Diana Gabaldon
HELL HATH NO FURY, by Sherilynn Kenyon
PRONOUNCING DOOM, by S.M. Stirling
NAME THE BEAST, by Sam Sykes
CARETAKERS, by Pat Cadigan
LIES MY MOTHER TOLD ME, by Caroline Spector
THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, by George R.R. Martin