Monday, January 5, 2015

What Book is on Your Nightstand?



The new year has arrived and one of my goals for 2015 is to make more time for reading and writing. One of the best sources for book suggestions, as well as literary inspiration, is the The New York Times Book Review. Do you read it every Sunday? Well, if you do then you probably read the column By the Book. Each week a writer is interviewed and asked questions about literature and the literary life.

I love reading the answers to questions such as: What book is on your nightstand? What book made you want to write? If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? What is your favorite literary genre? How do you organize your personal library? What books do you find yourself returning to again and again?  

I can't tell you how many times I've torn out this section of the Book Review to save for future use. It is filled with great book recommendations as well as illuminating insights into the writer's life. For example, I read Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield after Sylvia Nasar recommended it as one of her favorite comic novels. And she was right! I read Goerge Eliot's Middlemarch after Anna Quindlen called it her favorite book of all time. And I agreed with her that it is truly a great book. I loved J.K. Rowling's answer to the question: If you could be any character from literature, who would it be? She answered "Elizabeth Bennett, naturally." I felt as if I knew her a little bit better and we were kindred spirits. No matter what the topic, I am always inspired by the passion that these writers have for books.

 I was swept away by John Irving's answer to the question "What book changed your life?"

"Great Expectations. I was fifteen. It made me want to be able to write a novel like that. It was very visual -- I saw everything, exactly -- and the characters were more vivid than any I had heretofore met on the page. I had only met characters like that onstage, and not just in any play -- mainly in Shakespeare. Fully rendered characters, but also mysterious. I loved the secrets in Dickens -- the contrasting foreshadowing, but not of everything.You both saw what was coming and you didn't. Hardy had that effect on me, too, but when I was older. And Melville, but also when I was older."

His answer made sense and its infectious enthusiasm about great writing made me want to sit down immediately and try to write a novel! 

In a stroke of genius, the editor of this column decided to collect 65 of the best interviews and publish them together in a book that is aptly named By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review. I got it for Christmas and have spent the last week happily browsing its pages. It was fun to ask myself some of these questions. Here are three which were easy to answer:

1. What book is on your nightstand?

There are three right now: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, Summer in February by Jonathan Smith, and The Ambassadors by Henry James

2. What is your favorite book of all time?

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

3. Are you a rereader? What books do you find yourself returning to?

Yes, I am a rereader. The three books I find myself returning to again and again are Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, Howards End by E.M. Forster, and The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. These books never fail to take me to that cozy place I sometimes crave and always make me feel good.

 I would love to know your answers to these questions.

If you are a passionate reader and an aspiring writer, get this book. You will love it!

19 comments:

  1. Just finished ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE and really liked it. I have trouble finding fiction that I love, so I'll be listening with all ears.

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    1. Hi Donna, everyone seems to like that book. My book club is reading it next month. Can't wait!

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  2. This book sounds brilliant! It has definitely gone on my wish list! Currently on my beside table are Mansfield Park and Because of The Lockwoods (Dorothy Whipple).

    Miranda xx www.mirandasnotebook.com

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    1. Hi Miranda, I will now look for "Because of the Lockwoods." I always get such great tips from my English friends!

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    2. I'm really loving it! It may even be my favourite Whipple so far :) Hope you enjoy it! xxx

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  3. I enjoy your posts about books especially now realizing we have similar taste. I think I've recently realized I'm truly an Anglophile when it comes to books. I do not have a nightstand per say, it's actually a bookshelf with nearly 100 books. I'm currently reading The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell and am enjoying it very much. My next book will be The Vacationers for my book club and I believe I first saw it on your blog.

    It's so difficult to list a favorite book but the one I give as a gift most often because I want to "share the love" is A Prayer for Owen Meany by none other than John Irving. It's definitely one of my favorites and I gave away three as gifts this Christmas.

    I do not reread because there is simply too many I want to read but Little Women always calls to me as does Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden.

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    1. Lori, thanks so much for letting me know about "Owen Meany." I have read others by John Irving but not that one. My book club was divided on "The Vacations," with some really liking it and others finding it too light. I enjoyed it very much. Now that you've mentioned Jane Eyre, I am tempted to go back and reread. Btw, is it possible to comment on your blog? I have tried but still haven't been able to.

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  4. This is a wonderful book - I loved it! I've been wanting to re-read Howards End for some time... hope this will be the year.

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    1. JoAnn, I hope you get a chance to re-read Howards End. E.M. Forster is one of my literary heroes, and it is remarkable to think he only wrote 5 (I think) novels and all while he was a young man. But what treasures they were!

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  5. Sunday, this sounds like a book of my dreams. I so enjoy reading about other' reading passions. I just finished a book for book group, "Brain on Fire". I have stacks of books on my night stand. The two closest to me are an Anne Lamont book, "traveling Mercies" (a reread), and "In the Shadow of Paris". Wishing a happy new year! Bonnie

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    1. Bonnie, the same to you! I have never read Anne Lamont and you have reminded me that I need to read something by her. I will start with Traveling Mercies. Thanks!

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  6. On my nightstand: Big Little Lies and All the Light We Cannot See
    Favorite book of all time: One Hundred Years of Solitude
    Re-reader, yes: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Pride and Prejudice, Tender is the Night

    That book you received sounds fantastic and as I do read the Sunday NYT book review and often tear out and then misplace pages, I'm definitely going to get it.
    Thanks for such an inspiring post.

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    1. Kathy, I love your answers. Especially your favorite book of all time. I recently reread "Tender is the Night" and had forgotten how sad it is. Fitzgerald's writing is so beautiful.

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  7. Nightstand: Penelope Fitzgerald: a Life by Hermione Lee
    Favorite book: Middlemarch
    Favorite re-reads: Jane Austen, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope... and Love in a Cold Climate. ;-)

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    1. I got the Penelope Fitzgerald biography for Christmas and can't wait to read it. I am so glad I finally read Middlemarch. I can understand choosing it as your favorite book!

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  8. This book looks great! My library has it so I'll have to check out a copy. On my nightstand: The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen, The Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola and All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West. My Favorite Books: Excellent Women, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and Possession by A.S. Byatt among others. On Rereading: I don't do much of it. I only reread my very favorites.

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  9. It sounds fascinating. I will have to add it to my list! Right now on my nightstand are War & Peace, and The Cranford Chronicles (three novels in one volume) by Elizabeth Gaskell.

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  10. Thanks to this blog, I am reading Gladys Taber. What a cozy blanket of a read. Beverley Nichols I discovered years ago and love any gardening memoir.

    Outside of the garden genre, my favorite memoirs are "Child of the Jungle" and "Shanghai Diary". Both very powerful and unforgettable.

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  11. I love all of Barbara Pym's novels, but especially "Excellent Women."

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