Good books

This page us still under construction.

Here too, I have restricted myself to a small number of books that I consider to be outstandingly fine and of permanent value. I have, thus, for instance, excluded many fine detective novels, for although I am an avid reader of them, and some are extremely well-done, they do not lend themselves to repeated reading. In contrast, I have striven here to compile a list of books that are worthy of possession and to which one might like to return even after they have once been read from cover to cover.

I have confined myself only to books available in the English Language - nothing in Armenian, Greek or French. Regarding the last two, I recommend the Penguin Books of Greek, and French, Poetry, very strongly. As for Armenian poetry, do please also feel free to explore my page, still under construction, of Armenian poetry in translation. Please feel free also to refer to my pages of fine excerpts, but which have all been drawn from books other than those mentioned here - to avoid repetition!

Well, here are some books then, in no particular order!

  • Umberto Eco (same chap as in The Name of the Rose and Fouceault's Pendulum, which, by the way, are also very fine books indeed, though not quite as fine as this one, which is truly exceptional): The Island of the Day Before - a really beautiful book, in my view even better than The Name of the Rose. It was written in Italian, but the translation by William Weaver is very fine indeed. (By the way - please refer to my "links" page for a site devoted to the author.)

  • Georges Perec: Life A User's Manual - this is a very intricate and highly-detailed tapestry of stories enmeshed to form a rather remarkable novel, based around goings on in a Parisian apartment block. It's not really easy reading exactly, as one will need frequently to refer to all sorts of indices etc. to refresh one's memory as to stories, sub-plots and personalities to which one had been introduced in previous "layers" of the book! But, as they say, the whole amounts to greater than the sum of the parts. I am not sure why; indeed, I formed this view long after I finished the book. (Incidentally, here too there is an interesting site to be found - do refer to my "links" page.)

  • Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex. Although it is a little out-of-date, it is written with such eloquence, passion and conviction that whether or not one agrees with everything in it, it is highly enjoyable! Her "Old Age" is also very interesting, but, if the pun may be forgiven, it is beginning to show its age rather more than The Second Sex. I am currently also reading her novel "All men are mortal", whereon I shall suitably opine in due course!

  • Stuart Sutherland: Breakdown (second edition, Oxford UP paperback). This is an autobiographical book by Prof. Sutherland, head of Experimental Psychology at Sussex, documenting in minute detail his own nervous breakdown and subsequent treatment, and then analysing the treatment with a critical professional's eye. Very refreshing, even entertaining and funny in places, as well as moving.

  • Theodore Zeldin: An Initimate History of Humanity - a really interesting and rather remarkable book - a mixture of history (world history - he keeps jumping from Europe to China to India to the US, etc. - so its scope is quite dazzling) and sociology, as well as interviews with modern subjects, mostly drawn from France (which is Zeldin's specialism - he's an Oxford Historian).

  • James Joyce: Ulysses. This is undoubtedly extremely fine and very rich indeed. It is, of course, a by no means easy read. My favourite is the Picador "Reader's edition", but which will need to be read in conjunction with a commentary, I think. I particularly like Harry Blamire's (published by Routledge).

  • Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities - an exceptionally eloquent and beautiful book. There are still a few hardbound reissue copies available, at the paperback price, at Waterstone's, where there was a special offer a few months ago (also including Eco's The Name of the Rose and de Berniere's Captain Corelli's Mandolin, amongst others. They are not sewn but glued, but they do have hard covers and are only 6.99, which is precisely how much the paperback versions cost!).

  • Italo Calvino: Mr Palomar

  • Italo Calvino: The Castle of Crossed Destinies

  • Bruno Schulz (transl. Celina Wieniewska, from the original Polish): The Street of Crocodiles and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass - this is truly first-rate, and so unknown. If you liked Invisible Cities (which this book may well have influenced), you are very likely indeed to enjoy this also.

    • I have been reading some Czech writers lately as well, partly as a preparation for my time in Prague. I particularly recommend two of Milan Kindera's novels:

  • Milan Kundera: Farewell Party - this is _so_ funny, with a very very clever and satisfying plot. It really made me laugh!

  • Milan Kundera: The Joke - in contrast, this book is actually very sad and moving, although it does involve an element of black comedy and political satire.

    • His book of short stories:

  • Milan Kundera: Laughable Loves - may also be highly recommended.

    • I also recommend:

  • Karel Capek: Trilogy (Hordubal, Meteor, An Ordinary Life) -- the trilogy is one of three mutually complementary but self-sufficient "philosophical novels". A very fine read indeed, even in (in this case slightly dodgy) English translation!

  • Karel Capek: Apocryphal Tales. This is a books of short stories, and is a lighter read than the trilogy of novels. The translation is good.

    • And still on Czech theme:

  • Angelo Maria Ripellino: Magical Prague. This is an amazing book, written much in the style later made famous by Roberto Calasso (see below), devoted to peregrinations (in time and space) within Prague, with quotations from writers such as Komensky (Comenius), Karasek, Kafka, Capek, Seifert and many others, and dwelling at length on various themes such as buildings, golems, Rudolph, alchemy, etc.. A splendid way of widening one's knowledge of Czech literature -- the various quotations serve as splendid little aperitifs and one might then wish to proceed to explore further.

  • Leo Perutz: By night under the stone bridge. A fine book of inter-related short stories, some of which are rather beautiful and quite moving.

  • Dionysius the Areopagite: Divine Names; Celestial Hierarchies; Mystical Theology. Beautiful, inspired and inspiring writings which I recommend unreservedly. But the Corpus Areopagiticum (as the extant works are known) is not that easy to find. An inexpensive Greek edition, with a modern Greek translation on each facing page, in two volumes, is published by Pournara in Thessaloniki; the scholarly German edition is also in two volumes, but very heavily burdened with critical notes, and astronomical in price. As for English translations, the only two worth considering are the Shrine of Wisdom and the Classics of Western Spirituality (Paulist Press). Personally I am quite fond of the Shrine of Wisdom editions, which are inexpensive, hardbound, and translated into beautiful English. There are two volumes available: The Divine Names, and Mystical Theology and Celestial Hierarchies. The letters and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchies are not included. The Paulist Press edition includes the complete extant works and is more modern and scholarly, but is a sort of modern English translation with American spellings, and though it is easier to understand, it has (in my opinion) been interpreted rather more heavily than necessary, and from a rather Protestant point of view. Biblical allusions etc. are assiduously identified, but the volume is weaker from the point of view of the Neoplatonic aspects of the writings. (Perhaps the opposite criticism could be made, albeit to a lesser extent, of the Shrine of Wisdom edition.) The important thing is to get hold of at least some of those works in some shape or form! Very strongly recommended indeed! Some excerpts may be found amongst my pages specifically dedicated to the writings attributed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, which have been drawn from both translations discussed above.

  • Roberto Calasso: The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony; not an easy read, but an eloquent and rich book. If you like this, you might also like to try his The Ruin of Kasch as well.

  • Thomas Mann: Joseph and his brothers - a splendid tome, and loads of it to boot!

  • Elias Canetti: Auto da Fe' - it is difficult to describe this fine book; perhaps "black comedy" comes closest.

  • David Lodge: Therapy - this is the latest of Lodge's novels. It's half comedy, half tragedy. Some of it is extremely hilarious. (And bits of it are very moving.)

    • A very fine novel that was recommended to me relatively recently, and which I enjoyed a lot, and which is a mixture of the sad and funny, as a lot of good recent novels seem to be, is:

  • Louis de Bernieres: Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

  • Isabelle Allende: The stories of Eva Luna, and
  • Isabelle Allende: Eva Luna.

    • The latter is a novel, the former short stories. The two books are related but can be enjoyed separately or together and in any order. Personally I prefer the short stories, but I know others who prefer the novel.

  • Iain Sinclair: Radon Daughters; a remarkable book! One of the richest and most difficult I have read... a sort of cross between Joyce (see above) and Martin Amis (see below), leaving you wondering whether to laugh or weep, full of a mixture of disgust and admiration for London, particularly Whitechapel. The novel takes place partly in the basement of the Royal London Hospital, with the hero being and addict to irradiation by an X-ray machine. Remarkable use of the English language, including slang!

  • J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

  • Strangers and Brothers, C. P. Snow - omnibus of eleven novels

  • King James Version of the Bible INCLUDING the Apocrypha

  • Ernst Gombrich: The Story of Art

  • Karen Armstrong: A History of God

  • Homer: The Iliad - E. V. Rieu translation

  • Homer: The Iliad - Alexander Pope (verse) translation

  • Homer: The Odyssey - E. V. Rieu translation

  • Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War - Crawley translation

  • Italo Calvino: Italian Folktales

  • Martin Amis: London Fields; this is by far his best novel to date, in my opinion.

    • Borges: Labyrinths; the Penguin volume is the one I recommend, which includes "Fictions" as well as much other material. If you enjoy Calvino, you will almost certainly also love Borges, who may indeed have been an influence.<\li>

  • Helen Exley (ed.): Thoughts on Being Happy - this is a very handsome little volume drawn from sayings and writings from a variety of sources, and beautifully decorated by various life-affirming and pleasing-to-the-eye paintings. A copy of this volume was lent to me by Joanne, a fellow patient at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

  • Berlioz: Memoirs - ed. Cairns (revised paperback vers.)

  • The poetry of Edmund Spenser, Andrew Marvell and John Donne. The Penguin volumes of the last two are splendid, but the complete Spencer can be had only via an old Oxford paperback or a Wordsworth Everyman's Poetry reproduction from the older edition

  • Sherlock Holmes Omnibus - single-volume penguin (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

  • G. K. Chesterton -- the Complete Father Brown Stories (published in a single volume by Penguin)

  • Simon Schama: Landscape and Memory

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    Now for some very interesting and highly enjoyable books, but arguably of less enduring literary merit than those listed above:

  • William Dalrymple: From the Holy Mountain; both funny and moving, and including some sobering reminders of what went on, and is going on, in the middle east, not least in those parts of it currently in Turkey.

  • Norman Mailer: Ancient Evenings; this is an impressive book by an American writer who is able to use language very powerfully. Some readers may find the crudeness of his imagery at times disturbing, but it is well worth it. Also, the recent omnibus volume:

  • Norman Mailer: The Time of Our Time may also be warmly recommended - it includes highlights from a selection of his books, and will motivate the reader to read complete volumes according to individual tastes.

  • Alain de Botton: Kiss and Tell; The Romantic Movement; Essays on Love

  • Jilly Cooper: Appassionata

  • Bill Bryson: Notes From a Small Island

  • Ellis Peters - Brother Cadfael mysteries

  • Ruth Rendell: Bridesmaid (a number of her novels are very fine)

    • Hilarious and with clever plots, mostly poking fun of academic chaps:

  • David Lodge: Small World (and the even better sequel to it), Changing Places

    • For political satire, and for something that really is funny, I also recommend:

  • Malcolm Bradbury: Rates of Exchange (plus the companion volume, a sort of mock tourist guide, "Welcome to Slaka").

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