Hannah Campbell: Recommended Reading List: Graduate Seminar: September 2009

(See also my Goodreads.com Page)

Note: Not in order of preference, subject matter, or format.

1. Bluebeard, Kurt Vonnegut, published September 8th 1998 (first published 1987) by Dial Press Trade Paperback, isbn 038533351X (isbn13: 9780385333511)

“An old man recounts his past to a voluptuous widow, revealing man's compulsion to create and destroy what he loves.” Humorous and strange, this novel is a great story about art, artists, and art collectors, especially in the abstract expressionist vein as well as about strange relationships.

2. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer, published April 1st 2003 (first published 2002) by Harper Perennial, isbn 0060529709 (isbn13: 9780060529703)

The format of storytelling in this book is a great mix of traditional novel, strange Russo-English narration, letters both hilarious and touching, and history by an unreliable narrative. It is about a Young Jewish American man who travels to the Ukraine searching for information about his family from the time of the Holocaust as well as about his guide Alex Perchov, Alex’s grandfather, and their dog: Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.

3. Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters, Annie Dillard, published September 1st 1988 (first published 2007) by Harper Perennial, isbn 0060915412 (isbn13: 9780060915414)

A collection of stories about the natural world from a magical perspective, this book is wonderfully poetic and enumerates narratives from surprising places. The book’s namesake, for example comes from a story which is about a man actually attempting to teach an inanimate stone to speak.

4. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Hunter S. Thompson, Published May 12th 1998 (first published 1971) by Vintage, isbn 0679785892 (isbn13: 9780679785897)

One wild ride! Fear and Loathing is an exquisitely documented dialogue about a drugged-up trip to Las Vegas to cover a biker race in the Nevada desert for a sports magazine. All the while, Thompson and his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo seek to discover the “American Dream.” I recommend the audio format or reading it out loud.

5. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud, published April 27th 1994 (first published 1993) by Harper Paperbacks, isbn 006097625X (isbn13: 9780060976255)

McCloud’s comic book about comics and art/art making in general has great sections on all of the basic elements of art as well as those specific to comics, video, and other time-relational art media. It’s good for a new perspective on one’s art-making process as well as for beginners and teachers alike.

6. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, published July 1st 1990 (first published 1895) by Dover Publications, isbn 0486264785 (isbn13: 9780486264783)

Humorous banter on love and etc.: “The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty and to someone else if she is plain.”

7. Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts, Samuel Beckett, published January 18th 1954 (first published 1952) by Grove Press

Existentialist play with very minimal activity and strange, slapstick moments pulled from the interior of the mind onto the stage. This was one of my favorite reads in high school, and it was an amazing experience to get to see it performed live in the 9^th ward of New Orleans, as part of a project by artist Paul Chan.

8. Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917, T.S. Eliot, published April 5tg 1997 (first published 1996) by Harcourt Hardcover, isbn 0151002746 (isbn13: 9780151002740)

This is a large collection of the strange and often offensive poetry of T.S. Eliot with annotations by the editor Christopher Ricks.

9. In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot, Graham Roumieu, published May 22^nd 2003 by Manic D Press, isbn 091639784X (isbn13: 9780916397845)

"If you going to chase, please no spray with holy water.

"Ok. Listen. I not know where all you morons come from but holy water no hurt Bigfoot. Garlic and Crucifix also no. Fire, Pitchfork, Silver Bullet OK. Cryptonite do nothing. It not even real. Please stop sending letters asking 'What you vulnerability? What Bigfoot?' Like I tell. What next me bank account number? Why not you invest time in moving out of Parent basement? Maybe have sex or something."

Hilarious with great ink and watercolor illustrations throughout! Read out loud!

10. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character, Richard P. Feynman, published April 12th 1997 (first published 1985) by W.W. Norton & Company, isbn 0393316041 (isbn13: 9780393316049)

This collection of stories by Nobel Prize-Winning physicist Richard Feynman is a treasure trove of knowledge and laughter in an oddly-coddled together autobiography. It presents throughout the idea that true knowledge is gained through practice, understanding, and discovery rather than memorization.

11. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales, Oliver W. Sacks, published April 2^nd 1998 (first published 1986) by Touchstone Paperback, isbn 0684853949 (isbn13: 9780684853949)

These stories comprises one of the best science books I’ve ever read! Rare glimpses are offered into the lives of those with strange neurological disorders, which causes you to see your own world and ways of understanding a new light. The title story is about a man who literally cannot tell people and objects apart and is constantly confusing them. Also good is An Anthropologist on Mars.

12. The World’s Wife: Poems, Carol Ann Duffy, published April 9^th 2001 (first published 1999) by Faber & Faber Paperback, isbn 057119995X (isbn13: 9780571199952)

Each poem in this collection is about the woman in the life of some famous historical or mythological male hero including Midas’ wife, Queen Kong, Frau Freud, Tiresias (after his sex change,) Elvis’ sister, and Medusa as the Devil’s wife.

13. My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrel, published August 3^rd 2006 (first published 1956) by Puffin Books Paperback, isbn 0141321873 (isbn13: 9780141321875)

This book was a surprise. Left carelessly at my house in my youth by a friend getting rid of some old junk from her room, I was sure it would be a bore and, so, waited until I had absolutely nothing to read to pick it up. I found one of my favorite books of all time! It follows a young boy whose family has just moved to Greece on his excursions to explore and document the strange and wonderful flora and fauna of the isle of Corfu (including his hilarious family.)

14. The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor, published January 1^st 1991 (first published 1971) by Farrar, Straus and Giroux/The Noonday Press, isbn 0374515360 (isbn13: 9780374515362)

I hardly know how to describe how much I love this book. It includes stories ranging from her time in graduate school at the University of Iowa all the way to the last story she shipped off to her publisher before dying. If pressed, I suppose I would describe it as an illuminating journey into the deep, dark, dusty South.

15. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard, published June 2000 (first published 1974) by McGraw-Hill Companies, isbn 0072434171 (isbn13: 9780072434170)

“An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons-a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays -King of the Meadow' with a field of grasshoppers.” (goodreads.com)

In a way, this is a more modern, feminine version of Thoreau’s Walden Pond.

16. The Disappointment Artist: Essays, Jonathan Letham, published March 14^th 2006 (first published 2005) by Vintage Paperback, isbn 1400076811 (isbn13: 9781400076819)

This incredibly written collection of essays talks about film, comic books, music, New York, and his artist father and how these cultural phenomena along with others made him into the man and writer he is today. Letham is generally considered a “man’s writer” for some reason (this is my book clerk past speaking,) but I love his work. It feels like reading the diary of a great artist or scientist and feeling a million connections spring from the text as little light-bulbs blinking on in one’s own mind.

17. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers, published September 8^th 2000 (first published 1940) by Mariner Books, isbn 0618084746 (isbn13: 9780618084767)

That Carson McCullers published this great tome of Southern literature at age 23 inspires me to up my game each and every day. This tale is about the strange inhabitants of a small Georgia town and, most especially, the heroine Mick Kelly’s coming of age. I also love McCuller’s book The Member of the Wedding.

18. Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger, published January 1^st 1991 (first published 1953) by Little, Brown and Company, isbn 0316769509 (isbn13: 9780316769501)

“The war hangs over these wry stories of loss and occasionally unsuppressed rage. Salinger's children are fragile, odd, hypersmart, whereas his grownups (even the materially content) seem beaten down by circumstances--some neurasthenic, others (often female) deeply unsympathetic.” Goodreads.com

19. Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories, Lydia Davis, published September 1^st 2002 (first published 2001) by Picador Paperback, isbn 0312420560 (isbn13: 9780312420567)

Lydia Davis is the recipient of a McArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant” for her outstanding writings and wonderful translations. As a translator, she has an amazing feel for pushing the boundaries of language and grammer and shaping them smooth as butter into astounding literary feats ranging from novel to story to poetry. She was one of the translators chosen to do the new version of Proust’s The Way by Swan’s. See also Almost No Memory: Stories which is the first book I ever read of hers. I stumbled upon it in a chain bookstore for cheap because the spine was cut, and I’ve never looked back.

20. Alva and Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City, Edward Carey, published 2004 (first published 2003) by Harvest Books Paperback, isbn 015602960X (isbn13: 9780156029605)

This book was written and illustrated by the English playwright and husband of famous author Elizabeth McCracken. She came to Tulane as a honored writer in residence and a small talk was put on for her husband in a side room—but I was so happy I attended for he spent a great deal of time talking about his process of creating art and writing at the same time to construct his narratives. After the talk, I have since picked up two of books and adore them.

21. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, published October 5th 2003 (first published 1985) by Vintage, isbn 140003468X (isbn13: 9781400034680)

“With humorous sagacity and consummate craft, García Márquez traces an exceptional half-century story of unrequited love. Though it seems never to be conveniently contained, love flows through the novel in many wonderful guises--joyful, melancholy, enriching, ever surprising.” Goodreads.com

22. Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut, published Januyary 12^th 1999 (first published 1952) by The Dial Press, isbn 0385333781 (isbn13: 9780385333788)

“Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a super computer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut–wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.” Goodreads.com

23. Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, published January 19^th 2004 by Scribner, isbn 0743254430 (isbn13:9780743254434)

“In her extraordinary bestseller, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the intricacies of the ghetto, revealing the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. Focusing on two romances -- Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar -- Random Family is the story of young people trying to outrun their destinies. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between survival and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and, throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty.

“Charting the tumultuous cycle of the generations -- as girls become mothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation -- LeBlanc slips behind the cold statistics and sensationalism and comes back with a riveting, haunting, and true story.” Goodreads.com

24. The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace, published May 25^th 2004 (first published 1987) by Penguin (Non-Classics), isbn 0142002429 (isbn13:9780142002421)

I was first introduced to David Foster Wallace by the eccentric internet author Scott David Herman of erasing.org when he and one of my best high school girlfriends started a brief, largely digital romance.

This is the brilliant author’s first book (published when he was 24 years old), which seems to flit in and out of print every few years. My favorite character is an obese man who claims to be on a “Project Yang” where he will eat and eat and eat until he covers the whole world, and then he will never be lonely again.

“At the center of this outlandishly funny, fiercely intelligent novel is the bewitching heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio. Lenore's great-grandmother has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau, and boss, Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous, and her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psycho- babble, Auden, and the King James Bible. Ingenious and entertaining, this debut from one of the most innovative writers of his generation brilliantly explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.” Goodreads.com

25. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace

This is my favorite of Wallace’s books. It is a strange collection of fictitious essays about love, sex and relationships. Wallace loves to toy with format, often including excruciatingly long footnotes which carry on separate or tangential narratives. The shortest story is only seven lines, and is one of my favorites: "A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life"

"When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.

“The man who’d introduced them didn’t much like either of them, though he acted as if he did, anxious as he was to preserve good relations at all times. One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one.”

26. Music for Chameleons, Truman Capote, published January 25^th 2001 (first published 1980) by Penguin Books Ltd, isbn 0141184612 (isbn13: 9780141184616)

“In these gems of reportage Truman Capote takes true stories and real people and renders then with the stylistic brio we expect from great fiction. Here we encounter an exquisitely preserved Creole aristocrat sipping absinthe in her Martinique salon; an enigmatic killer who sends his victims announcements of their forthcoming demise; and a proper Connecticut householder with a ruinous obsession for a twelve-year-old girl he has never met. And we meet Capote himself, who, whether he is smoking with his cleaning lady or trading sexual gossip with Marilyn Monroe, remainds one of the most elegant, malicious, yet compassionate writers to train his eye on the social fauna of our time.” Goodreads.com

27. Middlesex, Jeffery Eugenides, published September 16^th 2003 (first published 2002) by Picador USA, isbn 0312422156 (isbn13:9780312422158)

“"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the "roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time." The odd but utterly believable story of Cal Stephanides, and how this 41-year-old hermaphrodite was raised as Calliope, is at the tender heart of this long-awaited second novel from Jeffrey Eugenides, whose elegant and haunting 1993 debut, The Virgin Suicides, remains one of the finest first novels of recent memory.” Goodreads.com

28. Strapless, Deborah Davis, published May 3^rd 2004 by Tarcher, isbn 158542336X (isbn13:9781585423361)

“The subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous painting was twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. A relative unknown at the time, Sargent won the commission to paint her; the two must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame.

“Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting either the prelude to or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home.

“Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials, and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is a tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal. AUTHORBIO: Deborah Davis is a writer and veteran film executive who has worked as story editor and analyst for Warner Bros., Columbia TriStar, Disney, Miramax, and the William Morris Agency.” Goodreads.com

I remember my favorite moment in this book as a description of a pet turtle with a shell covered in precious jewels by its owner. That image has stuck with me ever since.

29. Lolita, Vladamir Nabokov, published February 3^rd 2000 (first published 1989) by Penguin Putnam~trade, isbn 0141182539 (isbn13:9780141182537)

Oh, you know. Also try The Defense which, despite being about chess, isn’t boring at all!